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<title>Haaze.com / parsirlim254 / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 May 2011 07:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Verizon's Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot review: Fast, not so furious]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizons-samsung-4g-lte-mobile-hotspot-review-fast-not-so-furious</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizons-samsung-4g-lte-mobile-hotspot-review-fast-not-so-furious</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 May 2011 07:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizons-samsung-4g-lte-mobile-hotspot-review-fast-not-so-furious</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Verizon&amp;39's Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH-11 is the fastest 4G mobile router on the market to date.(Credit:Dong Ngo/CNET)In our experience, Verizon's claim about offering the fastest 4G network has been consistently correct in CNET tests. Its LG VL600 LTE USB Modem proved the fastest among its peers, and now the Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH-11 is by far the fastest among 4G cellular routers CNET has reviewed. But it's far from perfect.Measuring just 3.5 inches by 2.3 inches by half an inch, Verizon's compact and good-looking Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH-11 is about the same size as Sprint's MiFi 4082 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot or T-Mobile's 4G Mobile Hotspot ZTE MF61. All three routers support 3G and 4G networks and offer Internet access for up to five Wi-Fi clients. However, the similarity ends there. The Samsung device doesn't support most features available in the other two, such as GPS, Wi-Fi Protected Setup, an external antenna port, microSD slot for network storage, and so on. The router doesn't even allow Wi-Fi clients to communicate with one another. It's just a simple router that shares a very fast connection to the Internet. So how fast is it In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Samsung SCH-11 consistently offered download speeds of around 9.5Mbps and upload speeds of around 7.3Mbps, about two or three times the speeds of the alternatives from T-Mobile and Sprint. Basically it's fast enough to justify the lack of features. What the Samsung mobile router can't justify, however, are the data plans Verizon offers with it. There are two of them that cost $80/month and $50/month with the monthly data allowance of just 10GB and 5GB. When these caps are reached, users will be billed another $10 for each gigabyte.Considering the fact that the device allows you to burn through 10GB of data in just less than two hours, these caps are just way too low for the speed the router offers. So you just need to watch your usage carefully. To find out if the Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot SCH-11 is the right mobile Internet solution for you, check out the full review.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[All 550 pounds of Lego USS Intrepid docks in NY]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=all-550-pounds-of-lego-uss-intrepid-docks-in-ny</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=all-550-pounds-of-lego-uss-intrepid-docks-in-ny</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:10:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=all-550-pounds-of-lego-uss-intrepid-docks-in-ny</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The 550-pound Lego USS Intrepid was built and unveiled recently aboard the real, 30,000-plus ton aircraft carrier.(Credit:Ed Diment)Built during World War II, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Intrepid served with distinction in several conflicts, and performed other duties, before being decomissioned in 1974. After sailing thousands of miles around the world, the massive ship eventually became a sea, air, and space museum in New York.Now, following all those decades of service, the Intrepid has been reimagined with Legos.About 250,000 pieces were used to construct the 550-pound model, which is now viewable to the general public in the museum through September 2011. The ship was built by artist Ed Diment, a 39-year-old Lego enthusiast and extraordinary British brick builder. Diment was inspired to build the ship after visiting the Intrepid on vacation from his home in Portsmouth, England. The dimensions are impressive, as this larger than life Lego model is 22 feet long, 4.5 feet tall, and 4.5 feet wide. There are even little planes, artillery guns, and sailor figures onboard for extra realism. An instruction manual, if one were to exist, would probably be as thick as the King James Bible.Diment has been building with Legos since he was three. (And here I was thinking that I was something special for having a Lego city as a child.)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple taps Navy techie for global security head]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-taps-navy-techie-for-global-security-head</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-taps-navy-techie-for-global-security-head</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 23 Jan 2011 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-taps-navy-techie-for-global-security-head</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple has tapped security expert and author David Rice to be its director of global security, several sources have confirmed to me. He's expected to start at Apple in March.Apple hasn't returned calls seeking comment.There's no word yet about what precisely Rice's job will entail, and knowing secrecy-obsessed Apple, there likely won't be. But it's not hard to make a reasonable guess.With iPhones and iPads penetrating the enterprise in ever more impressive numbers, companies want to know they're secure.David Rice(Credit:All Things Digital)Late last year Apple started working with Unisys to help it sell Apple products to corporations and government agencies, all of which are concerned about the security implications of iPhones and iPads running on their networks.Those who know Rice describe him as a deeply respected name in IT security circles who not only can speak the kind of language that makes CIOs comfortable, but can also back up that language with the skills and knowledge to match.Rice hasn't yet responded to my messages seeking comment, but his bio is fascinating. He's a 1994 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has a master's degree in Information Warfare and Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He served as a Global Network Vulnerability analyst for the National Security Agency and as a Special Duty Cryptologic officer for the Navy.His LinkedIn profile says he's executive director of the Monterey Group, a cybersecurity consulting firm. He's also on the faculty of IANS, an information security research company.He also works with the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, a nonprofit organization that researches the potential for cyberattacks and their impact. Before that he worked for the security firm Neohapsis.His 2007 book, &quot;Geekonomics,&quot; has been described as the software industry's equivalent of Ralph Nader's &quot;Unsafe at Any Speed.&quot; In it he argues that software is modern infrastructure--just like a bridge (hence, the picture on the cover)--and if it's poorly made or insecure, it constitutes a public hazard.Those who buy software--consumers, corporations, and governments--end up being &quot;crash test dummies&quot; for an industry with no accountability for losses incurred by their customers, he argues.He goes on to peg the costs of patching faulty software at $180 billion a year, and says that's probably conservative. Patching software for security weaknesses takes capital that might be used for other, more productive, things.(Credit:All Things Digital)His solution Taxes. In a 2008 interview with Forbes, he compared security vulnerabilities in software to the unavoidable pollution emitted by factories. Since software can never be perfect, a &quot;bug tax&quot; keyed to the number and severity of software bugs discovered would create an incentive for better quality control.Rice would be the latest in a string of high-profile security hires at Apple.Last March, it hired Window Snyder, the former security chief at Mozilla, as its senior product manager for security, and in 2009 it hired Ivan Krstic, the former head of security for the One Laptop Per Child project, to work on core security forMac OS X. Jon Callas, the former CTO of encryption software maker PGP, now a unit of Symantec, joined Apple last year.Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Khronos aims to ease coding for audio, video hardware]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=khronos-aims-to-ease-coding-for-audio-video-hardware</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=khronos-aims-to-ease-coding-for-audio-video-hardware</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=khronos-aims-to-ease-coding-for-audio-video-hardware</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Two updated standards from the Khronos Group: OpenSL ES and OpenMax AL(Credit:The Khronos Group)The Khronos Group today released updates to two interfaces designed to make it easier for programmers to tap into the power of computing hardware.First is OpenSL ES 1.1, an interface for C programmers to use sound hardware on mobile devices. The interface abstracts technologies such as graphic equalizer processing, reverberation or 3D spatial Doppler effects, playback and volume controls, and audio data recording.The purpose of the interface is to liberate programmers from having to recraft their applications each time a new device arrives with a different, often proprietary interface. Khronos released profiles tailored for phones, music players, and gaming devices.Second is OpenMax AL 1.1, which provides an interface to video and audio codecs. The AL stands for the specification's application-level interface' using it on supported systems, programmers can write software in a standard way to either read data from input devices such as cameras, TV tuners, and microphones or output devices such as headphones, phone vibration devices, and digital TVs.The Khronos Group got its start standardizing an SGI-spawned graphics interface called OpenGL that provides a way for software to tap into 2D and 3D graphics chip power without knowing particulars of those chips.Although Microsoft's DirectX interfaces dominate on Windows, OpenGL is used onMac OS X and Linux, and with Windows design software. More notably, in the mobile market where Microsoft is comparatively weak, OpenGL ES, the embedded version, is supported both with iOS and Android, making it an incumbent standard in that market when it comes to game graphics. OpenGL ES also is the basis for WebGL, a 3D Web graphics technology supported by four of the top five browser makers--all but Microsoft.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Search warrants and online data: Getting real]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=search-warrants-and-online-data-getting-real</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=search-warrants-and-online-data-getting-real</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:11:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=search-warrants-and-online-data-getting-real</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Larry Downes' bio below.There was good news yesterday for Internet intermediaries and other cloud-computing service providers. In a highly readable decision (PDF) from Judge Danny Boggs of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the court held that key provisions of the Stored Communications Act are unconstitutional. The case is U.S. v. Warshak.Under SCA, law enforcement agents can compel Internet service providers to disclose the contents of private communications they hold on behalf of users. Such communications include, of course, personal and business e-mail, along with other documents, photos, and videos maintained on third-party computers in the rapidly expanding cloud-computing architecture. While the disclosure of telephone calls and traditional mail ordinarily require a search warrant, SCA gave investigators access to e-mail and other electronic documents without the same level of judicial oversight. SCA orders, for example, do not require a showing of probable cause.The SCA, a 1986 amendment to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, has long been viewed as dangerously outdated by the evolution of electronic communications as a principal means of business and personal interaction. SCA applies, for example, to any stored communications that the intermediary has on its systems for more than 180 days. In 1986, stored information was likely held in transit en route to a user's computer. The expectation may have been that data left for more than 180 days had essentially been abandoned.Male enhancement yields massive fraud Yesterday's decision involved the operation of the benignly named Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, a company now operating under the name Vianda that started as a family business but which grew to more than $250 million a year in sales, with the introduction of its flagship product, Enzyte. Enzyte, a supplement, promises to magically and dramatically extend the size of a consumer's penis.Under modern Fourth Amendment analysis, judges focus less on whether an investigator &quot;searched&quot; or &quot;seized&quot; something tangible from the defendant and more on whether the collection of evidence in any form violated an &quot;expectation of privacy.&quot;Perhaps to no one's surprise, the product, its development, marketing, sales, and operations all turned out to be an enormous fraud. The names and existence of two scientists who had supposedly developed the product were made up, as were data in &quot;studies&quot; of the product's efficacy and in customer satisfaction &quot;surveys.&quot; Customers were put on automatic-payment plans without their knowledge, and the company played games with credit card transactions to keep from being cut off from merchant banks due to high chargeback volumes. The Better Business Bureau compiled thousands of complaints--though not, apparently, about the product so much as the auto-shipping plan.At issue in yesterday's decision was evidence collected by the federal grand jury from an Internet service provider used by Berkeley's principals. Although investigators complied with the SCA, the court held that disclosure of some 27,000 e-mails required a warrant to satisfy the Fourth Amendment. That Amendment protects the &quot;right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,&quot; a response to roving searches by British customs agents before the American Revolution. Since the investigators had a good-faith basis to believe the SCA was constitutional, criminal convictions for Berkeley's executives will not be overturned. But &quot;to the extent that the SCA purports to permit the government to obtain such e-mails warrantlessly,&quot; the decision holds that henceforth, &quot;the SCA is unconstitutional.&quot;A big win for cloud providers--as well as users The decision, assuming it survives a potential appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, marks a major turning point in the evolution of Fourth Amendment law in the Digital Age. Congress and the courts have struggled since the dawn of computers to understand just what kind of protections are appropriate for users of third-party computer services, from time-sharing systems in the 1960s to today's consumer-oriented cloud services, including e-mail, social networking, document and other work space collaboration, and text messages. Law enforcement agencies have consistently argued that advances in computing make it easier for criminals to hide their activities, necessitating looser standards for criminal investigations to remain effective. Civil-liberties groups have taken the opposite view, noting that new technologies including infrared cameras, electronic surveillance, and forensic analysis expand the ability of police to intrude on traditionally private and even intimate aspects of the lives of ordinary citizens.Courts are regularly called upon to balance these two views. Under modern Fourth Amendment analysis, judges focus less on whether an investigator &quot;searched&quot; or &quot;seized&quot; something tangible from the defendant and more on whether the collection of evidence in any form violated an &quot;expectation of privacy.&quot; If that expectation is &quot;reasonable,&quot; the Supreme Court has held, then the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant based on probable cause and approved by a judge or other judicial officer.What constitutes a &quot;reasonable&quot; expectation of privacy, however, necessarily changes over time with the evolution of social norms driven by new technology. When home telephones were connected via shared, or &quot;party,&quot; lines in the 1920s, for example, courts found no reasonable expectation of privacy in the content of those calls. By 1968, however, the Supreme Court held in the seminal Katz case that a user of a phone booth had a reasonable expectation of privacy. The court in that case rejected the use of evidence collected by police who attached a listening device to the outside of the booth.Today, cell phone calls cannot be intercepted without warrants, but users who conduct their side of the conversation in public places do not enjoy Fourth Amendment protections. To take another example, trash kept in cans inside a fenced yard of one's home cannot be searched without a warrant, but once the can is placed on the curb, the expectation of privacy disappears. In a case decided last month in Chicago, another circuit court held that trash cans behind a fence can be searched without a warrant during the winter, because a local ordinance prohibits taking cans to the curb and requires residents to provide access to trash collectors.As these and many other cases suggest, &quot;reasonable&quot; privacy expectations are constantly being re-examined in light of changing conditions and social norms. Law enforcement agencies have long argued that users who store data with third parties cannot reasonably expect such data to be protected by the Fourth Amendment. The Sixth Circuit disagreed. The judges explicitly rejected the view that since most terms-of-service agreements include provisions that allow an ISP to inspect or audit the user's information, users cannot reasonably expect that their data is private, once stored in the cloud.The same provisions, the court noted, also apply to telephone service--and did so at the time of the Katz decision. &quot;Given the fundamental similarities between e-mail and traditional forms of communication,&quot; the court reasoned, &quot;it would defy common sense to afford e-mails lesser Fourth Amendment protection.&quot;The decision, if upheld and adopted by other circuits, is a win not only for individuals but also for Internet intermediaries. There was never any doubt that data stored locally on a user's home computer could not be searched without a warrant. But if the same information was stored on a remote computer or anywhere in the cloud, the SCA put service providers in the uncomfortable position of having to retain and turn it over to police without a warrant, often without disclosing that fact to the user.Uncertainty over whether, and under what circumstances, data stored with a third party was entitled to the same Fourth Amendment protections as local data was seen by many leading cloud providers as a serious limitation on the value and usefulness of their service to consumers. Cloud providers, including Google, felt obliged to warn users that e-mails and other data stored for more than 180 days suddenly lost constitutional protections.With the warrantless provisions of the SCA voided, consumers would no longer forfeit their Fourth Amendment rights simply by moving storage to the more flexible and convenient cloud.The Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with a wide range of public-interest groups of all political persuasions, have argued for many years that SCA and other provisions of the ECPA are sorely in need of congressional update. The &quot;Digital Due Process Coalition,&quot; as the group calls itself, certainly has a point. The last time such laws were given serious attention, there was no commercial Internet.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Start-up squeezes flowing wind to boost turbine power]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=start-up-squeezes-flowing-wind-to-boost-turbine-power</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=start-up-squeezes-flowing-wind-to-boost-turbine-power</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=start-up-squeezes-flowing-wind-to-boost-turbine-power</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There's a small cadre of companies trying to crack into the wind power business with a seemingly improbable approach: making machines that work in low-wind areas.V Squared Wind (V2 Wind) today is competing as a finalist in the Clean Tech Open competition in Santa Clara, Calif., where it will reveal details on the technology it's developing. The company has been funded by friends and family until now and is looking to raise money.The two founders of V2 Wind have designed an unconventional device which they say taps into an area of fluid dynamics that few other entrepreneurs have explored. The idea is to increase the speed of wind as it passes through a tube, where the interior has a geometry that roughly mimics the shape of an hourglass.An artist&amp;39's rendition of a 1.5 megawatt wind machine from V2 Wind with 49 individual modules.(Credit:V Squared Wind)Stacking several of these plastic tube-shaped modules together into a cube-shaped framing will create a wind turbine. Since it's a modular design, the turbines can be placed on the top of buildings or made several hundred feet high.In field tests of a scaled-down machine, the machine can roughly double the speed of incoming wind, said CEO Fred Ehrsam of V2 Wind, which was founded three years ago. The inside of each tube is tapered so that it constricts the flow of wind, he explained. Part way down is essentially a small version of a large wind turbine's rotor with fan-like blades which generate electricity using a permanent magnet generator. The opposite &quot;outtake end&quot; of the tube is longer than the intake, which is crucial to the acceleration, explained Chief Technology Officer Rob Freda.Based on its model, Ehrsam projects that a full-scale machine, where each tube has a diameter of about 10 feet, can generate electricity cheaper than current grid prices, he said. But because it concentrates wind, this sort of machine would be well-suited for areas that don't have the best wind, which is the majority of the U.S.&quot;Low wind speed regimes are a real sweet spot because the majority of the U.S. population lives in these sites, it minimizes the requirements for transmission (lines), and it's (an area) relatively void of competition,&quot; Ehrsam said.There are a handful of wind companies which have designed machines that can concentrate the wind to get more usable power.FloDesign Wind Turbines, which received an $8 million ARPA-E grant, built a turbine based on the dynamics of a jet engine. Another company is OptiWind which has a cylinder-shaped tower which accelerates wind around the edges where fans are placed.Ehrsam said that performance of a larger-scale prototype, which V2 Wind intends to build next, should be the same or better than its current model.In terms of size, a machine suitable for an office building and able to generate 75 kilowatts would be about 25 feet by 25 feet by 25 feet. A very large 7-megawatt machine would be about 270 feet in each dimension. Full-scale land turbines can generate about two megawatts and can be about 300 feet at the top of the blade.V2 Wind is in an earlier stage as a company than OptiWind and FloDesign, which have working prototypes they are testing. But if these machines manage to work economically in marginal wind areas, it would open up wind to many other places, such as retail parking lots, office buildings, and industrial facilities.&quot;This changes the decision. Instead of choosing between two of the big competitors, like GE and Vestas, it comes down to whether they want wind at all,&quot; said Ehrsam.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[This week in Crave: Tron, Google raises, Boxee]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=this-week-in-crave-tron-google-raises-boxee</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=this-week-in-crave-tron-google-raises-boxee</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=this-week-in-crave-tron-google-raises-boxee</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It was Galaxy Tab week here at Crave, for sure, as carriers and retailers get ready to sell what some are considering the first real challenger to theiPad. But that's not all that we've talked about, because that's not how we roll. This week has also been about giveaways, cases, and Internet TV.A must-have iPad case.(Credit:Credit: CNET/Sarah Tew)&amp;149' We're giving away a Mint robot floor cleaner. Don't you need one&amp;149' Boxee's hardware gets Netflix and Hulu Plus.&amp;149' We go all crazy over the best iPad cases.&amp;149' OK, so something about the Galaxy Tab: How do you feel about a 10-incher&amp;149' Have you heard about this Black Ops thing people keep talking about&amp;149' Apple pushes out a new OS update, a new iTunes, but not an iOS update as many thought.&amp;149' Congratulations on the raise, Google employees!&amp;149' The TSA's getting heat for wanting to see you all naked.&amp;149' History Channel comes to your Windows Phone.&amp;149' I want to see Tron Legacy so bad I can taste it. In 3D!<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Air meets iPad]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=air-meets-ipad</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=air-meets-ipad</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=air-meets-ipad</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A report on Friday claimed &quot;anecdotal evidence&quot; of the 11.6-inch MacBook air cannibalizing theiPad. Hmm...so, is that what Steve Jobs meant by iPad-meets-MacBook MacBook meets the iPad. Either-or buying decision(Credit:Apple)This research note came to me Friday from Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman &amp; Renshaw. &quot;Signs of cannibalization: There is anecdotal evidence that the MacBook Air is cannibalizing the iPad. A fully functional notebook in a very attractive form factor may be resonating more with consumers than a content consumption only device.&quot; That &quot;content consumption only device&quot; being the iPad, of course. So, is this what happens when the iPad meets the 11.6-inch MacBook Air Consumers walk away with the MacBook instead If only partially true, it's an interesting twist on a trend that's actually going in the other direction. Nvidia believes next-generation Android tablets will obviate the need for traditional laptops, as tablets become more adept at multitasking and begin to approach the processing power of low-end laptops. And hybrids make this argument seemingly irrelevant. The Windows-based Dell Duo fuses a laptop with a tablet. If that kind of design proves popular, who needs a boring, old traditional laptop For now, the smaller MacBook Air looks and feels a lot like an iPad with a built-in keyboard. Until we're well into 2011, we won't know who's cannibalizing whom. But my money is on the tablet doing the devouring. With the iPad leading the way. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Free Firefox add-ons detect Firesheep snooping]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=free-firefox-add-ons-detect-firesheep-snooping</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=free-firefox-add-ons-detect-firesheep-snooping</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=free-firefox-add-ons-detect-firesheep-snooping</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Every wireless-network user should know the perils of signing into a Web service over an unencrypted connection. Elinor Mills explains the perils of using open Wi-Fi networks in her InSecurity Complex blog. The safest approach is to enter user IDs and passwords only when the page's address begins with &quot;https://&quot; and it has a lock icon at the top or bottom of the browser window. Otherwise a network snoop could monitor your actions without your knowledge. Note that the lock icon may have an exclamation mark even though the page address begins with &quot;https:&quot;. This indicates that some of the current page's content could not be authenticated. Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, and other popular Web services still don't encrypt their sign-in pages. The recent release of the Firesheep add-on forFirefox makes capturing user sign-in data easier than ever. Firesheep's author Eric Butler claims he was motivated to release the malware by the failure of Web services to safeguard user sign-in data. Evelyn Rusli looks deeper into the matter on TechCrunch. Two free Firefox add-ons detect and prevent Firesheep from snooping your sign-in data: Zscaler's Blacksheep and the Electronic Frontier Foundation's HTTPS Everywhere.Blacksheep turns Firesheep against itself Last August, I described Zscaler's Search Engine Security (SES) Firefox add-on designed to protect against malware-bearing search results. The company has responded to the security threat posed by Firesheep by creating a Firefox add-on that uses much of Firesheep's own code to alert users to the presence of the malware when they sign into an unencrypted network.Zscaler&amp;39's Blacksheep add-on for Firefox mimics Firesheep&amp;39's network polling--using fake data--and reports when it detects Firesheep doing likewise.(Credit:Zscaler Research) I haven't tested Blacksheep, but the add-on has been criticized for defending against only Firesheep and not other so-called sidejacking attempts. HTTPS Everywhere, which EFF developed in conjunction with the Tor Project, attempts to encrypt all communication with the site, although some content delivered by the site will likely remain unencrypted.Secure unencrypted network connections with VPN The best way to avoid having your private data siphoned from an unencrypted wireless network is not to use such networks. Your second-best bet is to use a virtual private network (VPN) connection, which you can establish by using a product such as LogMeIn Hamachi. The program is free for noncommercial use and $33 a month or $199 a year for a business license. VPNs will likely slow your connection, but a little longer wait for page loads is a small price to pay for the added security VPNs provide. For more information on creating and using a VPN, see Jolie O'Dell's instructions on Mashable. Other popular encryption products include the free, open-source TrueCrypt and the free but not open-source UltraVPN.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ellison pressed to quantify TomorrowNow concerns]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ellison-pressed-to-quantify-tomorrownow-concerns</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ellison-pressed-to-quantify-tomorrownow-concerns</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ellison-pressed-to-quantify-tomorrownow-concerns</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Larry Ellison onstage at Oracle Open World in 2009. (Credit:James Martin/CNET)OAKLAND, Calif.--Oracle CEO Larry Ellison took the stand today at his company's TomorrowNow trial versus SAP and was pressed to quantify how many customers were lost to his archrival over third-party support.Oracle is seeking damages of $1 billion from SAP over infringement by its now defunct TomorrowNow unit, which offered third-party support for PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards software. SAP has admitted guilt and the trial in U.S. District Court for Northern California is designed to pinpoint damages. Ellison was trying to paint a picture that Oracle would lose 20 percent to 30 percent of its customers to SAP over TomorrowNow. Oracle didn't lose those customers, but did argue that it lost 358 customers to SAP due to TomorrowNow.SAP lawyers pressed Ellison to quantify matters--where were the e-mails or documents revealing his concerns &quot;I would never write anything like that down,&quot; said Ellison.Read more of &quot;Oracle vs. SAP: Ellison pressed to quantify customer losses over TomorrowNow&quot; at ZDNet's Between the Lines.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Dine, dance, drink and play, 50 meters above ground - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dine-dance-drink-and-play-50-meters-above-ground---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dine-dance-drink-and-play-50-meters-above-ground---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Entertainment</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dine-dance-drink-and-play-50-meters-above-ground---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Wea4a4ve been watching Belgian Dinner in the Sky for years as ita4a4s expanded to offer live entertainment, weddings and other special events. The company has now hosted more than 1,000 events 50 meters above cities in 40 countries around the world, but we couldna4a4t resist sharing news that just last week it launched a brand-new platform.Whereas participants in the original Dinner in the Sky events all sat around a central table capable of accommodating 22 people in roller coaster-style seats, the new generation of Dinner in the Sky is designed more like a real restaurant. Specifically, there are eight lighted tables for four situated around a central bar, and the seats are more like those on an airplane. The new platforma4a4s flexible configuration enables not just greater intimacy, but also more customisation. The company explains: a4AThis new platform lets you share a dinner or a glass of G.H. Mumm champagne with friends while listening to the sounds of Ghanaian drummers' arrange a match of bridge or poker' sip Chivas while enjoying a fine Havana cigar' play a round of baccarat while being entertained by French cancan dancers' participate in a quiz or a talk show broadcast live from the stars' attend a DJ jam session ... all from an altitude of 50 meters.a4Is there any sign that the experience economy is fading away Nope. The skya4a4s the limit a4&quot; or not! '-) (Related: Yellow Treehouse: pop-up restaurant, 10m up a tree.) Website: www.dinnerinthesky.comContact: info@dinnerinthesky.com<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[StayHealthy launching calorie-tracking devices' iPhone app to follow]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=stayhealthy-launching-calorie-tracking-devices-iphone-app-to-follow</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=stayhealthy-launching-calorie-tracking-devices-iphone-app-to-follow</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Science</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=stayhealthy-launching-calorie-tracking-devices-iphone-app-to-follow</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Monrovia, Calif.-based StayHealthy wants to put health monitoring devices used widely in research into the hands of mass-market consumers. It has built two devices, a body composition machine retailing at $99.95 and a calorie tracker for $69.95. But it&amp;'s also working on phone-based apps to help users monitor their calorie burn rate that should be available later this year.So obsessive iPhone e-mail checkers may soon be able to apply that tenacity to their calorie count.&amp;''We think that information is key for people taking control of their health and the question is how do you make it most conveniently accessible&amp;'' said StayHealthy president Brian Baum. &amp;''We recognize that people don&amp;'t want to walk around with a half-dozen devices and the most ubiquitous device from a market perspective is the iPhone.&amp;''StayHealthy focuses on body composition, which is measure of a person&amp;'s bone, muscle and fat levels, over weight because it is a more accurate gauge of health, Baum said. Because muscle is easier to lose than fat, a dieter may inadvertently lose more lean mass if they just cut back on calories without any exercise.When a person is measuring their body composition, they grip StayHealthy&amp;'s device with two hands. It sends an electric pulse through one hand and measures the time it takes to pass through the entire body and into the other hand. Because water conducts electricity well, a slow response time might mean the person has a higher level of fat.StayHealthy&amp;'s second device is a calorie tracker and uses an accelerometer you wear on your waist to gauge how active you&amp;'ve been during the day. The devices relay that information privately online so users can keep track of their goals and how far they&amp;'ve progressed. They can also let outsiders like doctors or fitness trainers monitor their data to bring on extra pressure to meet health goals. StayHealthy isn&amp;'t focused on marketing its devices directly to consumers and is instead partnering with fitness centers, health providers and weight-loss centers to sell its products.Baum said the company had sales of the devices in the &amp;''low thousands&amp;'' so far and that this is the year it will focus on deployment. The company is privately held and has raised $12 million since its inception in 1995. A few other companies are in the health and wellness space on mobile phones, including Bones in Motion, which lets athletes track the distance and speed of their training regimens using GPS technology, iHeartRate, which tracks heart rate and has a calorie burn calculator, iFitness, which shows images of more than 230 exercises sorted by body region or target muscle group, and Tap &amp;amp' Track, which lets users follow the calories they ingest and burn.Next Story: Palm lines up carriers to launch Pre in Europe, Canada Previous Story: Augmented reality finds you organic food, London tube stopsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'                        Kim-Mai covered social networking for VentureBeat until July 2010. To reach VentureBeat's current writers, email tips@venturebeat.com.VentureBeat 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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<title><![CDATA[More free photocopying, this time for charity - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-free-photocopying-this-time-for-charity---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-free-photocopying-this-time-for-charity---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-free-photocopying-this-time-for-charity---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We at Springwise are always happy to chronicle the spread of a good idea, but never more so than when those doing the spreading are part of the Springwise community themselves. So it''s with great pleasure that we bring our readers one more tale of free photocopying for students, this time launched by one of our very own Springspotters in his home country of the Philippines.At the Philippines'' Prime University Ateneo De Manila, Matthew Cua is project manager of Celadon, the university''s official Chinese-Filipino organization. Charged with the task of planning the group''s Mid-Autumn Gratia faculty appreciation day celebration for this fall, Cua says he was inspired by our free love coverage to incorporate free photocopying for students into the event. Scouting around for sponsorship, Cua found a receptive audience in Dr. Diana Cua-Balcells, a local breast cancer surgeon and alumna of the university, who picked up on the idea as a way to promote breast cancer awareness on behalf of nonprofit organizations including Bosom Buddies, I Can Serve, Pink for Life, Carewell Community and the Cuabang Foundation. Accordingly, among the festival''s many offerings was a free photocopying kiosk that aimed both to promote breast cancer causes and to help support Celadon. Equipped with just a single photocopier, the outdoor stand in the middle of campus produced 8,200 free photocopies over the course of the five-day festival, serving some 500 students plus a number of faculty who made copies for their entire classes. Celadon even took the free copies idea one better by designing the paper used to serve as notepaper on the reverse side, allowing it to do double-duty in class or be reused afterwards.Celadon made minimal profit on the event, Cua says&amp;8212'aiming mainly to cover its costs&amp;8212'but the group is planning a similar effort for November, this time with commercial sponsorship, that it expects will be more lucrative. And because &quot;moist paper doesn''t work in a photocopying machine,&quot; Cua also notes that better precautions will be taken next time to keep the paper dry in Manila''s humid open-air environment, using heaters and special packaging. More projects are planned for Chinese New Year as well. Is there any mountain free love can''t climb We think not. :-) Be inspired!Website: www.freelovephilippines.com Contact: ateneo.celadon@gmail.com<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google working on search results without searching &8212' &''contextual discovery&'']]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-working-on-search-results-without-searching-8212-8220contextual-discovery8221</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-working-on-search-results-without-searching-8212-8220contextual-discovery8221</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-working-on-search-results-without-searching-8212-8220contextual-discovery8221</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you thought Googlea4a4s instant search was fast, but it&amp;'s about to get even faster. Soon, with the company&amp;'s push into &amp;''contextual discovery&amp;'', you wona4a4t even have to type in a search query to get useful data.Googlea4a4s Marissa Mayer, now the head of consumer products, spelled out the companya4a4s plans at the LeWeb a410 conference in Paris, France today, speaking with TechCrunch&amp;'s Michael Arrington. With contextual discovery, Google will be able to look at a usera4a4s browsing and location profiles to deliver relevant data without the need to search.According to Mayer, a4AThe idea is to push information to people.a4 On a mobile device, for example, you could potentially see the menu of a restaurant when youa4a4re actually there. There may even be added social elements, like seeing which items on the menu your friends like. Google is still in the early stages with this concept. Mayer says that on a computer, it could potentially take the form of some sort of panel in your web browser.The push towards delivering data before we even ask for it is to be expected &amp;8212' after all, where else can Google go after unleashing its lightning-fast Instant Search Ita4a4s also a natural move given that location data on mobile devices is now more readily available thanks to the proliferation of GPS-equipped smartphones. The real question is how contextual discovery will play out on actual computers &amp;8212' I suspect it will rely more on the rich amount of browsing history we build up on desktops and laptops, rather than on location data.Google has to play it safe when it comes to automatically recommending search results, though, lest it evoke memories of Microsofta4a4s annoying (and now dead) Office helper, Clippy.Find a transcript of Mayer&amp;'s talk over at TechCrunch, and a video embedded below:Next Story: Bebo co-founder Michael Birch buys back a piece of his baby Previous Story: Andreessen Horowitz writes big check for Factuala4a4s data platformPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: contextual discovery, instant search, location, searchCompanies: GooglePeople: Marissa Mayer, Michael Arrington          Tags: contextual discovery, instant search, location, searchCompanies: GooglePeople: Marissa Mayer, Michael ArringtonDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.VentureBeat 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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<title><![CDATA[Online Holiday Spending To Reach $32B' E-Commerce Sales Already Up 13&nbsp'Percent]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-holiday-spending-to-reach-32b-e-commerce-sales-already-up-13nbsppercent</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-holiday-spending-to-reach-32b-e-commerce-sales-already-up-13nbsppercent</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-holiday-spending-to-reach-32b-e-commerce-sales-already-up-13nbsppercent</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Good news for online retailers this holiday shopping season. According to data collected by comScore, e-commerce spending should increase by 11 percent this holiday shopping season. Already, consumers have spent $9 billion online in the first 21 days of November, which is an 13 percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.comScore is forecasting that online spending from the November to December period will reach $32.4 billion, representing an 11 percent gain versus year ago. In 2009, consumers spent $29 billion on holiday e-commerce purchases. Last year&amp;'s e-commerce holiday spending rose by 4 percent from 2008. Of course, we haven&amp;'t even hit Black Friday or Cyber Monday, which are expected to bring in big sales for online retailers. The company also surveyed a small group of respondents (500) to measure sentiment around the holiday shopping season. According to the survey, 36 percent of respondents said they are seeing more discounts, sales and promotions. When asked how important free shipping is for making an online holiday purchases, 77 percent of consumers said that this was an important factor. It&amp;'s no surprise that free shipping is popular this holiday season' 41 percent of online retail transactions for the third quarter of 2010 included free shipping. Consumers are increasingly looking to save on free shipping and retailers are responding with promotional offers. CrunchBase InformationcomScoreInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A first look at Toyota&'s electric RAV4, powered by Tesla]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-first-look-at-toyotarsquos-electric-rav4-powered-by-tesla</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-first-look-at-toyotarsquos-electric-rav4-powered-by-tesla</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-first-look-at-toyotarsquos-electric-rav4-powered-by-tesla</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As they say, everything old is new again.Fourteen years after it launched its very first RAV4 crossover at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota returned to Los Angeles to launch an all-electric version of its latest RAV4.And this one is, as the logos in a teaser photo released earlier said, &amp;''powered by Tesla.&amp;''The launch of the second version of the RAV4 EV is on a fast timeline, led by a working group made up of Toyota&amp;'s Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a team from Tesla Motors.In Toyota&amp;'s words, the team has treated the project as similar to a typical mid-cycle a4Amajor-minora4 product change. Starting with a current RAV4, it was viewed as a major powertrain upgrade along with minor changes to features and cosmetics.Japan&amp;'s largest automaker has worked with Silicon Valley electric-car maker Tesla since the May announcement that Toyota would buy a stake in Tesla and the companies would develop electric cars together.The partnership will build 35 &amp;''Phase Zero&amp;'' test versions of the latest RAV4 EV next year, with production launch expected in 2012.Few technical details were released, and Toyota USA president and CEO Jim Lentz stressed that many details remained to be resolved. Those include final manufacturing site, technical specifications, and pricing.Tesla will build the lithium-ion battery pack and various other electrical components at its new facility in Palo Alto, California, and Toyota will manufacture the cars at its current assembly plant in Woodstock, Ontario.The goal for the car, said Lentz, is to offer driveability capabilities at least comparable to the existing RAV4, despite a weight penalty he estimated at 220 pounds. Acceleration from 0 to 60 mph is currently almost as good as the V-6 version of the RAV4.Styling changes to the all-white RAV4 EV unveiled at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show include a new grille front bumper, fog lamps and headlights up front. Inside is custom seat trim, changes to the dashboard displays, and a Tesla-style push-button shifter.No cargo area was lost in the conversion' with the rear seats folded down, the RAV4 EV offers 73 cubic feet of storage, just as the current gasoline model does.Nonetheless, the news should make the hundreds of owners of eight- to 12-year-old first-generation RAV4 EVs happy. Of the 1,484 built over six years, almost 750 are still on the road.Within two years, those owners will be able to replace their aging electric vehicles.Written by John Voelcker, this post originally appeared on Green Car Reports, one of VentureBeat&amp;'s editorial partners.Next Story: ReplyBuy shows text messaging can make some serious bank with daily deals Previous Story: Foursquare looks for full team of West Coast engineersPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: electric cars, electric vehicles, Los Angeles Auto Show, RAV4, RAV4 electric, Rav4-EVCompanies: Tesla, ToyotaPeople: Jim Lentz          Tags: electric cars, electric vehicles, Los Angeles Auto Show, RAV4, RAV4 electric, Rav4-EVCompanies: Tesla, ToyotaPeople: Jim LentzVentureBeat 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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<title><![CDATA[Twezr launches one-stop iPhone app for email and social networking]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=twezr-launches-one-stop-iphone-app-for-email-and-social-networking</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=twezr-launches-one-stop-iphone-app-for-email-and-social-networking</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=twezr-launches-one-stop-iphone-app-for-email-and-social-networking</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The newly launched Twezr iPhone app (free on the App Store) has an ambitious goal: To combine all of your communication with friends and close contacts, including email, Facebook and Twitter, in a single iPhone application.But, as is usually the case when you try to juggle functionality for so many services, Twezr ends up not handling any of them particularly well.Setting up Twezr is simple: Install the app on your iPhone or iPod Touch, then configure it with your email, Twitter and Facebook accounts. It will then take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes for the app to combine your contacts data. Once you&amp;'re past the setup process, the app presents you with a combined list of contacts across all of your services, and after a few minutes you&amp;'ll see updates from all of your connected social networks and email accounts.Or at least, you should. After setting up the app and waiting more than 30 minutes, Twezr still failed to show any email or social network messages for me &amp;8212' even as I was receiving emails. I&amp;'ll chalk this error up to launch day woes. Still, Twezr should consider displaying the most recent messages users have received upon sign up, instead of forcing them to wait for new ones. This will allow users to jump right into using the app, instead of being forced to take a coffee break.Eventually, I started to receive updates on Twezr, and the app worked as promised. I was able to see Twitter, Facebook, and email messages in a single feed, and Twezr even offers basic functionality for those services &amp;8212' like being able to post on a friend&amp;'s Facebook wall, or send a direct message on Twitter. It&amp;'s certainly no match for dedicated Twitter clients, or the Facebook iPhone app, but for users who don&amp;'t want to juggle multiple apps it may offer some relief.Twezr also offers some nice features when it comes to contact management. The app combines your friends&amp;' social network and email presence in a single contact, and it can even intelligently combine duplicate contacts from your address book. It will also recognize and prioritize the contacts you chat with the most.There&amp;'s definitely room for improvement with Twezr, but I could see how some people who feel overloaded with multiple social networking apps may find it useful. After a few updates, Twezr has the potential to become the single place you go to deal with email and social networking.Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., Twezr has 7 employees and is self-funded.Check out a video interview below by tech personality Robert Scoble with Twezr CEO Dilep Andra:Next Story: &amp;''LinkedIn&amp;'' of cleantech investing OnGreen raises $1.4 million Previous Story: Review: Microsoft&amp;'s Kinect motion-sensing game system isn&amp;'t as good as we hopedPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: apps, email, gmail, social networkingCompanies: Facebook, Twezr, Twitter          Tags: apps, email, gmail, social networkingCompanies: Facebook, Twezr, TwitterDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.VentureBeat 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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<title><![CDATA[For energy savings, work with consumers or around them]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-energy-savings-work-with-consumers-or-around-them</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-energy-savings-work-with-consumers-or-around-them</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>parsirlim254</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=for-energy-savings-work-with-consumers-or-around-them</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There&amp;'s a growing movement to figure out how to squeeze more energy savings out of homes. The big question: Do you do it by working with consumers, or in spite of themPlayers on different sides of this issue talked about that today at VentureBeat&amp;'s GreenBeat 2010 conference &amp;8212' OPower executive Rod Morris, EcoFactor executive Scott Hublou and Bill Weihl, green energy czar of Google.OPower is the reigning industry darling in engaging consumers &amp;8212' which is shaping up to bequite a dilemma as more and more companies try to get their products in homes. The company worked with behavioral scientists to figure out what would push consumers to care about cutting their energy use. The answer they came up with was, more or less, pit them against each other &amp;8212' in other words, appeal to people&amp;'s competitiveness.&amp;''There are other behavioral science tricks (besides) using competitiveness&amp;'' that the company is testing, Morris said. He mentioned getting utilities to implement opt-out programs as one example.The company works with utilities to produce bills that show customers how their energy usage compares to that of their neighbors&amp;', and to regional averages. You get a smiley face if you&amp;'re performing above average, and OPower has used that approach to great success, meting out energy savings across a large market of homes. The company&amp;'s growing fast, too.&amp;''We have twice as many customers as we did three quarters ago,&amp;'' Morris said, and mentioned OPower currently needs to hire Java engineers to help support its growth.On the other side of the aisle, EcoFactor is pushing a set-it-and-forget-it type approach. I spoke with Hublou after the panel, and he believes that, by and large, customers want to be left alone. In fact, he used a funny term for it &amp;8212' MTKD, or &amp;''mean time to kitchen drawer.&amp;'' People lead busy lives, and no matter how great a user interface is, they will eventually become too busy and the home dashboard product will wind up, well, gathering dust in the kitchen drawer.EcoFactor uses a smart thermostat system that metes out &amp;''30 to 40&amp;8243' types of energy savings &amp;8212' each worth maybe a nickel in savings &amp;8212' that add up over time to big overall reductions in a home energy bill with little to no effort on the part of the customer, Hublou said.&amp;''We&amp;'re actually finding our greatest savings is in the detection of waste,&amp;'' Hublou said.As for Google They have PowerMeter, which crunches home energy data. But Weihl says he&amp;'s most interested in an open system that enables third-party access. He pointed out that there&amp;'s still not total access to real-time data, as OPower&amp;'s bill comes monthly in the mail.&amp;''The real-time information does give some real benefits,&amp;'' Weihl said. &amp;''We&amp;'re trying to build (a system) &amp;8230'so other people can get in there and provide services to users.&amp;''[Image via Flickr/toffeehoff]Next Story: Mint.com founder backs Capire Micropower&amp;'s engine-on-a-chip Previous Story: Screw the thermostat! InThrMa brings building climate to the WebPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: consumer efficiency, GreenBeat, GreenBeat 2010, home energyCompanies: ecofactor, Google, OPOWERPeople: Bill Weihl, Rod Morris, Scott Hublou          Tags: consumer efficiency, GreenBeat, GreenBeat 2010, home energyCompanies: ecofactor, Google, OPOWERPeople: Bill Weihl, Rod Morris, Scott HublouIris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you  pronounce her last name).VentureBeat 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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