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<title>Haaze.com / michealrrdavid / All</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple bumps Google as most valuable brand]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-bumps-google-as-most-valuable-brand</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-bumps-google-as-most-valuable-brand</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>michealrrdavid</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-bumps-google-as-most-valuable-brand</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Millard Brown Optimor)Chalk another one up for Apple.Apple is the world's most valuable brand with a value of $153.3 billion, according to Millard Brown Optimor's annual &quot;BrandZ: Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands&quot; study released today. In just one year, Apple's brand value has increased by 84 percent, the study said. Google, the leader in the study for four years running, was knocked down to second place this year, losing 2 percent of its brand value to end up at $111.5 billion.IBM, McDonald's, and Microsoft rounded out the top five with brand values of $100.8 billion, $81 billion, and $78.2 billion in brand value, respectively. The marketing and advertising industry, not surprisingly, believes strongly in the importance of brand value. &quot;Strong brands, while not immune to the vicissitudes of the market, are more protected, prepared, resourceful and resilient,&quot; David Roth of WPP, parent company of Millard Brown Optimor, said in a statement.If that's the case, Apple's ability to insulate itself from market issues has exploded over the last several years. Millard Brown Optimor said Apple's brand value has increased 859 percent since 2006--the first year of the BrandZ study. Moreover, Apple's year-over-year growth has easily overshadowed the rest of the market. According to the study, the top 100 brands have seen their combined value increase by 17 percent to $2.4 trillion since last year.Apple wasn't the only fast mover in the study. Facebook's brand value jumped to 35th place, increasing 246 percent year over year to $19.1 billion. China's biggest search engine, Baidu, saw its brand value increase by 141 percent year over year to $22.5 billion, which gave it 29th place.Such companies have helped tech lead the way in brand value. The researchers said tech companies make up one-third of the top 100 brands worldwide. Amazon.com was also able to beat Wal-Mart to become the most valuable retail brand with a value of $37.6 billion.Emerging markets are playing a bigger role in the top 100 list. Back in 2006, just two companies from emerging markets made the list. Last year, that tally reached 13. And this year, 19 of the top 100 brands came from emerging markets.Millard Brown Optimor's BrandZ study is derived from both financial performance and &quot;in-depth&quot; interviews of consumers about their perceptions of brands and why they choose a specific product over another. The company's database includes 2 million such interviews from 30 countries.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[What would AT&T, T-Mobile deal mean for Sprint]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-would-att-t-mobile-deal-mean-for-sprint</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-would-att-t-mobile-deal-mean-for-sprint</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:10:53 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>michealrrdavid</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-would-att-t-mobile-deal-mean-for-sprint</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Things have just gotten a lot more complicated for No. 3 U.S. wireless operator Sprint Nextel, which has slowly been rebuilding its damaged brand and stemming heavy customer losses. On Sunday, the No. 2 U.S. wireless operator, AT&amp;amp'T, announced plans to buy No. 4 wireless operator T-Mobile USA in a deal valued at $39 billion. If the acquisition is approved by regulators, it could spell big trouble for Sprint. The carrier, which has been a distant third place to Verizon Wireless and AT&amp;amp'T, will be even further behind in terms of customers. At the end of 2010, Sprint had about half the number of customers as Verizon Wireless and AT&amp;amp'T, ending the year with 49.9 million customers. Verizon had 102.2 million customers, and AT&amp;amp'T had about 95.5 million. If AT&amp;amp'T adds T-Mobile's 33 million customers, the new provider will have a total of about 129 million subscribers, giving the joint company nearly three times as many customers as Sprint has. &quot;There's no question this puts Sprint in a very difficult position,&quot; said Kenneth Rehbehn, principal analyst at the Yankee Group.Sprint recognizes that the imbalance will significantly change the industry. And in its statement issued Sunday night, the company urged regulators to take a close look at the merger. &quot;The combination of AT&amp;amp'T and T-Mobile USA, if approved by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), would alter dramatically the structure of the communications industry. AT&amp;amp'T and Verizon are already by far the largest wireless providers. A combined AT&amp;amp'T and T-Mobile would be almost three times the size of Sprint, the third largest wireless competitor. If approved, the merger would result in a wireless industry dominated overwhelmingly by two vertically-integrated companies that control almost 80 percent of the U.S. wireless post-paid market, as well as the availability and price of key inputs such as backhaul and access needed by other wireless companies to compete. The DOJ and the FCC must decide if this transaction is in the best interest of consumers and the U.S. economy overall, and determine if innovation and robust competition would be impacted adversely and by this dramatic change in the structure of the industry.&quot;The sheer size of its competitors with respect to Sprint is certainly an issue, but the merger between AT&amp;amp'T and T-Mobile is also bad news for Sprint for a number of other reasons.For one, T-Mobile has been one of Sprint's primary sources of subscribers, according to equities analyst Craig Moffett at Bernstein Capital. He wrote in a research note to investors on Monday that a combined AT&amp;amp'T/T-Mobile will likely reduce churn on T-Mobile's network, which could dry up new subscriber growth for Sprint. For nearly two years, Sprint had been rumored to be eyeing T-Mobile for an acquisition. The companies have also admitted that they have pondered a possible partnership between T-Mobile and Clearwire, which is building a 4G wireless network using 2500 MHz spectrum from Sprint. Nothing ever materialized from these discussions. But if T-Mobile is gobbled up by AT&amp;amp'T, Sprint no longer has a potential telco partner to share the cost of the Clearwire network build.&quot;Sprint will now be left having to fund Clearwire on its own, with future development costs likely falling in a multibillion-dollar range,&quot; Moffett said in his research note. &quot;Despite the difficult network economies posed by Clearwire's 2.5 GHz spectrum, it is still in Sprint's interest to see Clearwire succeed, given the size of its investment. A deal with T-Mobile would clearly have offset this burden in part.&quot;The spectrum crunch and 4GIn addition, a deal between T-Mobile and AT&amp;amp'T, strengthens AT&amp;amp'T's spectrum position, which ultimately makes Sprint more vulnerable as it goes up against AT&amp;amp'T and Verizon Wireless, which both have very strong spectrum positions for the future. &quot;It would have been Nextel all over again, and look how long it's taken Sprint to rationalize that acquisition.&quot;--Kenneth Rehbehn, Yankee Group analyst&quot;With T-Mobile out of the picture, there are no large blocks of spectrum left for Sprint to use in the future for LTE,&quot; Rehbehn said.Sprint committed early to using WiMax as its technology of choice for a 4G wireless network. And it partnered with Clearwire and dedicated its 2500MHz spectrum to build the nationwide WiMax network. But since the companies began building the WiMax network, it's become clear that the rest of the world--including the two dominant wireless operators in the U.S.--are using LTE for their future mobile networks.  Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has said repeatedly that the company remains committed to WiMax, but insiders have hinted that LTE could be on the carrier's road map. Clearwire has also indicated that LTE could be used on its network in the future. But some experts are skeptical that the high-frequency 2500MHz spectrum that Sprint and Clearwire are using to build the WiMax network will work well for LTE. A tie-up between T-Mobile and Sprint could have given Sprint more spectrum with which to build an LTE network. T-Mobile has built itself a strong backhaul position, investing a lot in recent years in fiber and other infrastructure that connects its cell towers and base stations to the traditional Internet and phone networks. Now, it looks like T-Mobile's AWS spectrum and its gussied-up backhaul will go to AT&amp;amp'T, which it plans to use to strengthen its own network. And a stronger AT&amp;amp'T, means bad news for smaller competitors. T-Mobile has good coverage in cities, such as New York City, which AT&amp;amp'T could leverage to alleviate problems it has in those markets. And it can use the AWS spectrum to eventually add capacity to its LTE network. Still, a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile would have been a nightmare for Sprint. &quot;It would have been Nextel all over again,&quot; said Rehbehn. &quot;And look how long it's taken Sprint to rationalize that acquisition.&quot;Sprint bought Nextel, which used a network technology called iDEN, in 2005. While Sprint gained more customers through the acquisition, it is still--six years later--struggling to integrate the iDEN network with its own CDMA network. Meanwhile, Sprint continues to bleed former Nextel customers every quarter.T-Mobile also uses a completely different technology from Sprint, called GSM. And trying to integrate a Sprint CDMA network with T-Mobile's GSM network would have been difficult.What's next for SprintSome industry observers wonder if Verizon Wireless might make a bid for Sprint. The two carriers both use CDMA. And like the deal between AT&amp;amp'T and T-Mobile, a marriage between these two major players would offer a wide variety of spectrum options for a combined carrier.&quot;As we move into the next era of wireless, spectrum is what matters,&quot; said Rehbehn. &quot;Spectrum translates to bandwidth and that's what is needed in future wireless networks.&quot;But such a deal would certainly be scrutinized by regulators.&quot;The regulatory hurdle for Verizon to acquire Sprint would be much higher than it was for Verizon to acquire Alltel,&quot; said Ross Rubin, an analyst with NPD Group. Verizon bought Alltel, a regional CDMA player, in 2009.Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel Mead told Reuters on Monday that Verizon isn't interested in Sprint because it doesn't need them. He also said that Verizon wouldn't oppose the merger between AT&amp;T and T-Mobile.There is a chance that Sprint might join forces with a regional wireless player. Leap Wireless, which owns the Cricket brand, is expanding its network in an attempt to become a national carrier. Leap also uses CDMA and could be a good merger candidate for Sprint. What's more, Leap is also building an LTE network, which could give Sprint its LTE future. A merger between Sprint and a smaller wireless provider would likely be encouraged by regulators, since it would bring more customers to Sprint, making it easier to compete with the No. 1 and No. 2 players.Other possibilities include a major cable operator acquiring Sprint. Comcast and Time Warner Cable are already partners with Sprint in Clearwire. The companies have also worked together in the past on a joint venture that would allow the cable operators to resell Sprint's wireless services. The bundled services never got off the ground. But Comcast and Time Warner Cable have continued to look for a wireless play.In 2006, the companies also acquired spectrum in the AWS auction run by the FCC. So far, they haven't said what they plan to do with this spectrum, but if they bought Sprint they could use the AWS spectrum to build an LTE network.Meanwhile, Sprint is doing the best it can to compete in the existing market. Specifically, it is trying to differentiate itself by offering customers what it considers a more open experience. For example, on Monday, Sprint announced it plans to integrate Google Voice into its cell phone service.The integrated Google Voice service will allow Sprint customers to use a Sprint phone number as a Google Voice number. Sprint is also allowing Google Voice users to use the Google Voice services, such as voice mail, instead of Sprint's own voice mail services. In short, the company is allowing a third party to control some of the customer experience on its devices. This is significant because Sprint is giving up control of the customer experience to some extent in order to enable this service. But in return, Sprint is opening up some of its services to a third party that can continue to innovate and create new and better experiences for customers. &quot;Letting go of some things opens us up to more markets,&quot; said Kevin McGinnis, vice president of Product and Technology Development for Sprint. &quot;Over the last two years we have shown far more innovation than our competitors in this respect. We've focused our development resources on enabling an innovative ecosystem.&quot;The big question is whether consumers will value this &quot;openness&quot; enough to choose Sprint over its two biggest competitors. The jury is still out on that. But Sprint is making headway with consumers. Even though Sprint is still losing customers every quarter, it has managed to slow the losses. &quot;We've always strived to differentiate ourselves by being open to third parties,&quot; McGinnis said. &quot;So that's not a new idea for us. And we don't think any of the recent events will require us to change that. We're staying the course.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nuvixa cuts and pastes speakers into their own presentations]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nuvixa-cuts-and-pastes-speakers-into-their-own-presentations</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nuvixa-cuts-and-pastes-speakers-into-their-own-presentations</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>michealrrdavid</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nuvixa-cuts-and-pastes-speakers-into-their-own-presentations</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Have you ever wanted to be inside your own presentation It&amp;'s not a crazy as it sounds, as a startup called Nuvixa lets you do just that.It&amp;'s a creative example of taking a technology that was designed for motion-sensing video games and converting it so that it can spice up normally boring presentations, training sessions, educational videos or any other video communications.Using the company&amp;'s upcoming StagePresence app, you can use Nuvixa to create a slide show and then use a 3D depth camera which is similar to that used by Microsoft for detecting motion with its Kinect motion-sensor for the Xbox 360 video game console. You can use the 3D depth camera to capture a 3D image of yourself talking and then insert yourself into a presentation.&amp;''Nuvixa is revolutionizing the way people communicate with video by creating new capabilities and ways of interacting that will make video much more useful,&amp;'' said Sanjay Patel, chief executive of Nuvixa.Champaign, Ill.-based Nuvixa has created a technology that it calls UserExtraction, which snips a person&amp;'s image out of any background in a kind of virtual &amp;''green screen&amp;'' effect similar to film editing techniques.Using Z-Definition Technology developed by Nuvixa, you can capture a video of someone speaking and then insert that video into the content or presentation. You can also use it to bring a video conference to life, placing participants in a shared virtual space such as the one you can see with the squirrel.Nuvixa says its technology can be used to create better video conferences, customer service sessions, education and training, webinars, and presentations. Nuvixa can detect your form and take you out of the image, in cookie cutter fashion. Then it can paste you into your own presentation.The StagePresence software will be available this fall along with Nuvixa&amp;'s own HD Z-Definition camera. But today the company is showing a sneak peek of its software, which works with a Kinect camera.The company was founded in 2009 and it has 11 employees. The founders include Patel, former chief technology officer of Ageia Technologies, a physics technology firm that was bought by Nvidia. Others are Minh Do, chief technology officer, computer scientist Dennis Lin, and video expert Quang Nguyen. All are faculty or students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.There are no direct competitors, but the incumbents in video conferencing include Cisco, Citrix, Adobe, Polycom and Vidyo. Nuvixa&amp;'s solution blends voice, video and content into a single view. Nuvixa has raised $650,000 to date from Advanced Micro Devices, Illinois Ventures, and Serra Ventures.Here&amp;'s some video samples here and here. Also embedded below is a how-to-install video for StagePresence. Next Story: Intuit Collaboratory launches new challenge for mobile apps Previous Story: RIM&amp;'s BlackBerry PlayBook follows iPad pricing, coming April 19PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'                        Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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