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<title>Haaze.com / xtracoolit / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Motorola kills off Android 2.1 update for Cliq XT]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=motorola-kills-off-android-2-1-update-for-cliq-xt</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=motorola-kills-off-android-2-1-update-for-cliq-xt</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=motorola-kills-off-android-2-1-update-for-cliq-xt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Motorola Cliq XT owners got the bad news today that their smartphones will be left to limp off into the sunset with Android 1.5 Cupcake. According to the Motorola Support Forums, Moto recently scrapped the Android 2.1 Eclair plans after it determined that the Cliq XT would not deliver an &quot;optimal customer experience.&quot;Forums manager &quot;Moto Matt&quot; delivered the news in a post today, while acknowledging that the news will likely frustrate a number of users who anxiously awaited the update. &quot;Our product team members worked for months to attempt to create a version of Android 2.1 that would perform well on the Cliq XT,&quot; he wrote. &quot;They gave it everything they had. We even took the unprecedented step of investigating the benefits of code provided by the independent developer community to try to improve XT performance.&quot;If you think you've heard this joke before, it's because you have. The Behold II from Samsung also ran into a wall of sorts when it came to updates. That T-Mobile handset only saw one update, Android 1.6 Donut, before Samsung quit supporting the device.Forget Gingerbread, the Cliq XT will never even see Donut.(Credit:Motorola)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Panasonic announces Lumix FX78 high-power ultracompact]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=panasonic-announces-lumix-fx78-high-power-ultracompact</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=panasonic-announces-lumix-fx78-high-power-ultracompact</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:10:53 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=panasonic-announces-lumix-fx78-high-power-ultracompact</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Panasonic)One of the best parts about Panasonic's higher-end touch-screen ultracompacts is that they feature brighter than usual lenses. In the case of the FX78, you get an f2.5-5.9 24mm-equivalent wide-angle lens with a 5x zoom. That's not as nice as the f2.2 on its predecessor the FX75, but it's still good.Its other key specs include a 3.5-inch touch-screen LCD and a 12-megapixel high-speed CCD sensor. The sensor is a new design and it's paired with Panasonic's Venus Engine FHD processor. This combo allows for high-speed burst shooting--full resolution at 3.7 frames per second--and full HD movie capture in AVCHD format. The high-speed shooting also gets you 3D photos. The FX78 will apparently fire off 20 shots and then it picks the two best for overlaying to create a 3D MPO file that can be played back on 3D-enabled TVs, computers, and photo frames.Boosting the usefulness of the touch screen, Panasonic added its features for retouching faces, clearing skin textures and whitening teeth, and adding makeup to portraits as well as an Art Retouch function for adjusting brightness and color saturation.The FX78 will be available in March in black, gold, and white versions. No pricing was announced. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Analyst: Hey Apple, go buy Netflix]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=analyst-hey-apple-go-buy-netflix</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=analyst-hey-apple-go-buy-netflix</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Dec 2010 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=analyst-hey-apple-go-buy-netflix</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Netflix)Apple and Netflix are competitors in the online movie rental business, but one analyst is suggesting that instead of competing, Apple should buy its rival.Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher &amp; Co., suggested in a note to clients yesterday that Apple's iTunes movie and TV rental business is only about one-tenth the size of Netflix. He estimated that Apple rents approximately 475,000 TV shows and movies every day, while Netflix rents about 5.1 million DVDs and pieces of streaming media per day, according to Computerworld.Looking at the cash side of the business, Marshall estimated that Apple is pulling in about $60 million in rentals and another $50 million in purchases per quarter. Netflix, by comparison, generates about $550 million a quarter.&quot;If Apple can grow its rental business similarly to Netflix's historical profile, it's feasible iTunes' annual rental revenue could exceed $1 billion by 2015,&quot; said Marshall.Trying to grow as quickly as Netflix has over the years is one approach, but Marshall sees another way for Apple to boost its rental business--buy Netflix.&quot;What I'd like to see is Apple buying Netflix,&quot; said Marshall. &quot;Netflix has approximately 150,000 titles, while Apple has just 15,000. Apple has a tremendous opportunity.&quot;Apple revamped its Apple TV offering earlier this year, giving users the ability to rent movies and TV shows from iTunes and watch on their televisions. It also added support for Netflix to let people rent from Apple or log in to their Netflix account and watch movies or television shows using that service.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Dell drops ultrathin Adamo 13 to $899]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dell-drops-ultrathin-adamo-13-to-899</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dell-drops-ultrathin-adamo-13-to-899</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Dec 2010 08:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dell-drops-ultrathin-adamo-13-to-899</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Dell Adamo 13 is very thin and made from aluminum--just like Apple&amp;39's MacBook Air. (Credit:Dell)A lower-priced Adamo 13 has popped up on Dell's Web site. The Adamo page is now showing the price of the aluminum-clad ultrathin laptop at $899--and this discount comes with an unexpected bonus, too. The Adamo is a slick, well-conceived alternative to Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air, which now starts at $1,299. And at 0.65 inches thick, the Adamo is about as thin as a 13-inch Windows laptop gets. Dell has not only brought down the price but also upped the configuration from the $999 model it had been selling for a while. Now, for $899, you get a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo SL9600 Intel processor and 4GB of memory--along with the standard 128GB solid-state drive and 64-bitWindows 7. Before, the Adamo 13 had been offered at $999 with a lower-performance, ultra-power-efficient 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo chip and 2GB of memory. The more robust 2.13GHz configuration had been selling for $1,099, before dropping to $899.Other specs remain the same: a machined-aluminum chassis, 13.4-inch screen, 6-cell battery, with the option for an internal broadband 3G modem. Ports include USB and USB/e-SATA and Ethernet. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Steve Jobs mocked in anti-gay marriage '1984' spoof]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=steve-jobs-mocked-in-anti-gay-marriage-1984-spoof</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=steve-jobs-mocked-in-anti-gay-marriage-1984-spoof</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=steve-jobs-mocked-in-anti-gay-marriage-1984-spoof</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The lady in the tight shorts clutches the hammer. She runs up to the screen, towards Big Brother's large projected face.And, in a strident attempt to explain to Big Brother that gay marriage is not a good thing, she tosses the hammer...at Steve Jobs.Perhaps you have yet to see this 2010 version of Apple's &quot;1984&quot; ad. The version in which Steve Jobs is portrayed as Big Brother.The ad was made by the National Organization for Marriage. The organization is upset that an app called &quot;The Manhattan Declaration&quot; was first approved by Apple and then, as the ad so quaintly puts its, killed.I have not enjoyed the distinction of perusing this app. However, Gawker reported that the only way you could &quot;win&quot; in this app's game was to condemn gay marriage and abortion rights.Apple hasn't always been entirely transparent about its app approval procedures. It has admitted that there have been some slight snafus. However, the company's explanation for this app's removal seemed quite clear (which doesn't necessarily mean it is, to some minds, justified).&quot;We removed the Manhattan Declaration app from the App Store because it violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people,&quot; an Apple spokesperson told CNET.Apple fully expressed its support for gay rights during the Proposition 8 controversy in California. And its decision certainly came after pressure from pro-gay marriage groups. However, the Manhattan Declaration nation explained that its anti-gay marriage stance is &quot;civil, non-inflammatory and respectful.&quot;That may well be. But then some might wonder why, in order to further its cause, the anti-one-gender marriage folks have created an ad that seems touchingly uncivil, inflammatory, and disrespectful. Do they really think that such a work of art will somehow move Apple's CEO to anything more than a snortThose with an excessively lawyerly bent will also ponder whether this group sought Apple's approval to use images from its most iconic ad. Somehow, one suspects this might have escaped the creators' to-do list.Perhaps they are hoping that Apple threatens to sue, thereby offering further opportunities for banging a public drum.Perhaps, though, for an organization that consists of &quot;prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders, and scholars,&quot; there might be better ways to protest alleged injustice. You know, civil, non-inflammatory, respectful ways. Like revising the app (as the Manhattan Declaration has reportedly done). Or like creating an Android app instead. Surely that will be approved it. Won't it<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[iPhone app reveals that sex makes us happiest]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=iphone-app-reveals-that-sex-makes-us-happiest</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=iphone-app-reveals-that-sex-makes-us-happiest</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=iphone-app-reveals-that-sex-makes-us-happiest</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Rosenfeld Media/Flickr)Of the 2,200 people who filed 250,000 mood status updates through theiPhone app called Track Your Happiness, those who were at their happiest were two things: highly focused and having sex. In fact, they rated their emotion level an average score of 90 on a scale of 1 to 100.Perhaps unsurprisingly, sex turned out to produce the highest rating of any activity recorded, according to research published in Science by Harvard psychologists.Whether they actually rated their mood mid-coitus or waited until after remains unknown, which is a shame, because it would be interesting to know whether people are actually happier during sex or after.Perhaps the biggest surprise out of the Harvard-created Track Your Happiness project involved mind-wandering. Out of those quarter-million responses, people reported that their minds were wandering some 47 percent of the time. Again, it remains unclear whether people's minds actually wander half of their waking hours or just half the time they are using their iPhones to report on happiness levels.Assuming the former, it turns out that the more people's minds wander, the less happy they report themselves feeling. In fact, during sex, people reported wandering thoughts only 10 percent of the time. Exercise was next best, then conversation, listening to music, followed by walking, eating, praying, meditating, and cooking.Personal grooming, commuting, and working rounded out the bottom of the list. Sorry, dear boss and fellow bus passengers.Another iPhone happiness tracking app, called Mappiness, gathers data from 22,000 users in the U.K. and boasts more than a million happiness ratings. For most people, Saturday at 8 p.m. ranks the highest.The secret to happiness, the research out of Harvard suggests, is what those who engage in meditation have been saying for years: live in the moment.&quot;If you ask people to imagine winning the lottery, they typically talk about the things they would do--'I'd go to Italy, I'd buy a boat, I'd lay on the beach'--and they rarely mention the things they would think,&quot; Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert recently told The New York Times. &quot;But our data suggest that the location of the body is much less important than the location of the mind, and that the former has surprisingly little influence on the latter. The heart goes where the head takes it, and neither cares much about the whereabouts of the feet.&quot;If you're interested in tracking your own happiness levels, or you think these findings are bull and want to prove them wrong, the researchers continue to seek more app users, and thus data.Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to indulge in a little daydreaming. Defying the wisdom of experts, after all, surely has a role to play.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The 404 707: Where Sweet Lou takes us back to the future (podcast)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-707-where-sweet-lou-takes-us-back-to-the-future-podcast</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-707-where-sweet-lou-takes-us-back-to-the-future-podcast</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-707-where-sweet-lou-takes-us-back-to-the-future-podcast</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The (Revised) 404 Podcast(Credit:CNET/The 404 )Wilson and I are super jealous that Jeff is in Hawaii right now just playing ping pong in paradise, so we're taking this opportunity to chat with his Dad, Mr. Lou Bakalar, who joins us on today's episode to give us his insight into how Jeff grew up--turns out not much has changed since he turned 12!<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[From The Video Vault: Barbie Video&nbsp'Girl]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=from-the-video-vault-barbie-videonbspgirl</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=from-the-video-vault-barbie-videonbspgirl</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=from-the-video-vault-barbie-videonbspgirl</guid>
<description><![CDATA[With holiday shopping season now in full swing, it is time to revisit one of the strangest toys to come out this year.  Yes, I am talking about the Barbie Video Girl.  Or, as I like to call it, Surveillance Barbie.  It is a Barbie doll with a video camera embedded into her chest, a USB port in her back, and batteries in her legs.  When Mattel released this $50 Barbie last July, it sparked all sorts of spirited commentary and some entertaining videos.Here are two videos that tell you all you need to know about Barbie Video Girl.  The first one, above, shot by Brandon Bloch, compares it feature-by-feature with a Canon 7D camera.  It was widely viewed at the time, but worth another look.  The second one, below, is a viewer favorite from the TCTV vault.  In it, our own Paul Carr and John Biggs discuss whether or not it is a good idea to give one of these surveillance Barbies to a six-year-old.  Biggs tries to treat it like any other gadget until Carr shames him into admitting it should be buried in cement.Watch both videos for some Sunday morning entertainment, but don&amp;'t show your kids (Fair Warning: Carr drops a few F-bombs).<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[AOL cofounder Steve Case on why the Time Warner merger went wrong]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=aol-cofounder-steve-case-on-why-the-time-warner-merger-went-wrong</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=aol-cofounder-steve-case-on-why-the-time-warner-merger-went-wrong</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=aol-cofounder-steve-case-on-why-the-time-warner-merger-went-wrong</guid>
<description><![CDATA[AOL cofounder and former chief executive Steve Case looked back on the unsuccessful AOL-Time Warner merger today at Business Insider&amp;'s Ignition conference &amp;8212' not just to relive old history, but also to find tips about why other mergers might go wrong in the future.The companya4a4s decline in value, which led AOL to leave Time Warner, was a4Adisappointing and frustrating, no doubt about it,a4 Case said. He described the deal as a a4Agood idea poorly executed.a4 From AOLa4a4s perspective, with the Internet landscape changing and a sense that the company would have difficulty sustaining its growth, it made sense to diversify its revenue. Plus, it was a good deal since AOL got 55 percent of the equity in the joint company while only bringing in 20 percent of earnings.So what actually went wrong Case said that in retrospect, one of the big problems was a mismatch in mentality.a4AThere are companies that are attackers and there are companies that are defenders,a4 he said. In 2000, at the time of the merger, AOL was an attacker that was trying to a4Adisrupt and change the world,a4 while Time Warner was trying to defend business models that were decades old.  a4AWhen AOL lost that attacker mentality, I think it&amp;'s kind of lost its way.a4Case also talked about the current tech landscape. He has invested in PostUp, the startup formerly known as TweetUp, which promises to highlight the a4Aworlda4a4s best tweeters,a4 so he has been thinking about Twitter as a platform for developers. Case said that when Twitter launched, he didna4a4t see the potential, since it just offered AOL Instant Messengera4a4s status updates a4Awith some persistency and an open API.a4 But users took over, and a4Athe value now isn&amp;'t what you&amp;'re doing, it&amp;'s actually what you care about.a4And therea4a4s an opportunity for PostUp a4Aaround essentially rolling up assets in the Twitter ecosystem,a4 he said. Still, Twitter faces challenges as it builds a platform. On the one hand, it needs to develop its own products, which might compete with third-party party apps, and being too open would make it hard to improve. On the other hand, Case said, if Twitter goes a4Atoo far towards doing their own thing and controlling their own ecosystem, it will wither&amp;'' and developers will go elsewhere.[photo by Owen Thomas]Next Story: Blizzard secures dominance of online games with World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (review) Previous Story: Why an online-ad guru thinks TV ads are too cheapPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Ignition, Ignition 2010, mergersCompanies: aol, PostUp, Time Warner, TwitterPeople: Steve case          Tags: Ignition, Ignition 2010, mergersCompanies: aol, PostUp, Time Warner, TwitterPeople: Steve caseAnthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.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[NSFW: 404 Alcohol Not Found (Or, Social Media is Overrated, but it&'s Helped me Stay&nbsp'Sober)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nsfw-404-alcohol-not-found-or-social-media-is-overrated-but-itrsquos-helped-me-staynbspsober</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nsfw-404-alcohol-not-found-or-social-media-is-overrated-but-itrsquos-helped-me-staynbspsober</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nsfw-404-alcohol-not-found-or-social-media-is-overrated-but-itrsquos-helped-me-staynbspsober</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Earlier today, my friend Oli emailed me to say hea4a4d noticed that one of my sites was showing a 404 message.Specifically, he was emailing to congratulate me.a4sAccording to the site in question -a4sispauldrinkingagain.com &amp;8211' it has been 404 days since I last drank alcohol. And, for reasons I&amp;'ll explain in a moment, I owe a large amount of credit for that to the power of social media.Making that admission is slightly awkward, given that on Tuesday youa4a4ll be able to watch me take part in a CNNMoney / Webbies debate with Gary Vaynerchuk where I argue in favour of the motion that &amp;''social media is overrated&amp;''. And yet my reason for supporting the motiona4sis simple: despite how much I owe it, social media is overrated.Ita4a4s overrated when it comes to politics: the fanciful claim that it can win elections (any more than can offering immobile voters a ride to a polling station or any other kind of grass-roots initiative) is completely unproven. Ita4a4s overrated when it comes to foreign policy: despite a million green avatars and an appeal to Twitter by the state department to postpone scheduled maintenance, Ahmadinejad remains in power &amp;8211' as powerful and bat-shit insane as ever.Most harmfully of all, Ia4a4d argue, ita4a4s overrated when it comes to charity: for every idea like Twestival &amp;8211' where Twitter was used successfully to encourage donations from people who previously might not have given &amp;8211' there are a thousand Facebook groups and a4Aplease RTa4 campaigns perpetuatinga4sthe lie that clicking a button and thus a4Araising awarenessa4 of an issue is the same as volunteering or donating money or &amp;8211' you know &amp;8211' doing anything even slightly meaningful.Ita4a4s hard to tire of Malcolm Gladwella4a4s stat (in the New Yorker) that, from the millions of people who joined the a4ASave Darfura4 Facebook group, the average donation was nine cents.a4sa4AThata4a4s better than nothing!a4 cry the social media fans &amp;8211' an argument that assumes none of those people had a charitable bone in their body before Facebook came along. Far more likely is that many of those people wanted to do something charitable and where previously that would have required them to write a check &amp;8211' for far more than nine centsa4s- they can now satisfy their conscience with a simple click. To those people, Pete Cashmorea4a4s trite maxim that a4Aattention is the new currencya4 is as smugly satisfying as the old miserly idiom &amp;''charity begins at home&amp;''. Sadly, as any economist will affirm, the new currency is currency.And yet, and yet&amp;8230' there is one area where I concede that social media is &amp;8211' as the kids might say &amp;8211' a a4Agame changera4 where it can, as those same kids might say, a4Ado us all a solida4. And thata4a4s in situations where a single person needs a small amount of &amp;8211' usually selfish &amp;8211' help from aa4srelativelya4slarge number of people. Some people (say, those who want to sell books) might call it a4Acrowd sourcinga4' to my mind ita4a4s closer to group therapy.Gladwell concedes this point too &amp;8211' referring to Clay Shirkya4a4s story of a New York man who used social media to track down &amp;8211' and shame &amp;8211' the kid who stole his cellphone. Good for him! Gladwell also points to the slightly more heartwarming case of Sameer Bhatia who used Facebook to encourage people to join a bone-marrow registry in order that he might find a donor to aid his treatment for myelogenous leukemia.A little over 400 days ago, the selfish assistance I needed from a large number of people was in helping me give up drinking. And, as with most effective social media campaigns, what I needed those people to do was virtually nothing.Anyone who has read my previous book &amp;8211' or most other things I wrote before October of 2009 &amp;8211' will know the reasons why I had to quit drinking. Anyone else probably wona4a4t care. All you need to know is that there came a point where I decided I absolutely, definitely had to stop. The problem was I&amp;'d found myself trapped in a ridiculous cycle where my livelihood &amp;8211' and more importantly, my ego &amp;8211' was built on a reputation for drinking to excess and then writing about the resulting adventures, for fun and profit.In order to end the cycle, I realised I would have to use that same ego to the opposite effect. And so I decided to announce &amp;8211' on my blog, on Twitter and on a variety of other social networks &amp;8211' that henceforth I would never be seen with another drink in my hand.Once Ia4a4d made that declaration, sheer force of ego demanded that I stick to it. I had no way of knowing who had read about my decision, but based on my (then) Twitter follower count, the number of retweets and the traffic stats to the relevant post on my site, I knew that within the first couple of months they numbered just shy of a quarter of a million. No matter where I was in the world, if one of those people spotted me with a drink in my hard, they would know Ia4a4d failed' something my ego simply wouldn&amp;'t allow. (When I decided to quit social media, I registered ispauldrinkingagain.com to keep the pressure on, but also to cut down the number of emails I receive asking me if I&amp;'m back on the sauce.)Of course, Ia4a4m lucky to have other platforms that I could have used to similar effect &amp;8211' this TechCrunch column, for example. But therea4a4s something about the immediacy, faux-intimacy and reciprocity offered  by social media that makes it by far the most effective way to solicit help from strangers, and to be accountable to those strangers afterwards.As Ia4a4ve never been someone who drinks alone, the watchful eyes of those thousands of strangers &amp;8211' along with a decent amount of willpower and the support of some amazing friends &amp;8211' have kept me sober for 404 days. For that reason &amp;8211' in spite of my cynicism, and my continued insistence that it&amp;'s massively overrated &amp;8211' I owe social media a debt of gratitude.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft says &''Not!&'' to Kinect sex game]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-says-8220not8221-to-kinect-sex-game</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-says-8220not8221-to-kinect-sex-game</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-says-8220not8221-to-kinect-sex-game</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft got excited when hackers started coming up with novel uses for its Kinect motion control system which debuted for the Xbox 360 in November. But it was less than thrilled with the idea of using Kinect for sex games.If the porn industry finds a way to exploit Microsoft&amp;'s new technology, it wouldn&amp;'t be a surprise. Sex and technology have an intertwined history. The video cassette recorder was sold as way to watch blockbuster movies. But it became an enabler for watching porn at home, resulting in huge sales for VCRs. The same was true for DVD players and internet movies.This attempt was predictable, given the motion-oriented nature of Kinect. Austria-based ThriXXX said it planned to create a 3-D sex game for the Kinect system where you can pretend to touch women in various states of undress. Kinect uses a 3D motion-detection camera to let video game players control games via body movements. You no longer have to use a game controller to control a game. You can wave your arms in front of the camera to initiate game movements such as throwing a punch in a fighting game.Shortly after Kinect came out, hackers circumvented Kinect&amp;'s security system, which allowed hackers to create new applications for Kinect without the need for Microsoft&amp;'s approval. Hackers started posting the various apps they created.But then ThriXXX proposed the sex game &amp;8212' posting a video on YouTube showing what it intended &amp;8212' and Microsoft shot it down. Of course, there&amp;'s nothing stopping users from using Kinect for kinky things. Kinect has a video conferencing system that users can use to talk to each other in the privacy of their own living rooms.  &amp;''This isn&amp;'t the first example of a technology being used in ways not intended by its manufacturer, and it won&amp;'t be the last,&amp;'' Microsoft told the Los Angeles Times. &amp;''Microsoft did not authorize or license its technology for this use. Xbox is a family friendly games and entertainment console and does not allow Adults Only (AO) content to be certified for use on its platform, and would not condone this type of game for Kinect.&amp;''Next Story: Free-shipping day was one of the busiest ever for online retail sales Previous Story: Week in review: The top 10 video games of the yearPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Kinect, motion control system, sex gamesCompanies: Microsoft, ThriXXX          Tags: Kinect, motion control system, sex gamesCompanies: Microsoft, ThriXXXDean 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.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[Oh Pre, we barely knew ye: Sprint axes the Palm Pre]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=oh-pre-we-barely-knew-ye-sprint-axes-the-palm-pre</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=oh-pre-we-barely-knew-ye-sprint-axes-the-palm-pre</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=oh-pre-we-barely-knew-ye-sprint-axes-the-palm-pre</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It seems like it was just yesterday when Palm made a last-ditch effort to take on the iPhone with the Palm Pre. What we got was a pretty slick phone with multitasking and a mobile operating system, WebOS, that would go on to do much greater things a4&quot; but one that wasn&amp;'t quite a match for the iPhone.Now things have come full circle and Sprint a4&quot; which at one point heralded the Palm Pre as its flagship device a4&quot; has taken the Palm Pre out of its stores and signaled the end of its life.Palm said it expected thousands of developers to quickly begin making applications for the platform. The unfortunate truth was that all those developers flocked first to the iPhone operating system, and then to Google&amp;'s Android operating system. To date, there are around 300,000 apps on the Apple App Store and around 100,000 on the Android marketplace.Now that Sprint has all but killed support for the Pre, the major damage may come from a lack of developers. Most Pre users ended up on Sprint a4&quot; and this could serve as a signal for them to upgrade to a more powerful phone. With a smaller user base, more developers will likely end up turning to the iPhone operating system, iOS, or Google&amp;'s Android to remain relevant.A slightly upgraded Palm Pre and Palm Pixi a4&quot; it&amp;'s smaller, underpowered sister a4&quot; have found their way to Verizon, but have once again went more or less unnoticed. That prompted Verizon toslash the prices of the two phones to$49.99 for the Pre and $29.99 for the Pixi a4&quot; both with two-year contracts. So developers probably won&amp;'t be getting any help on Verizon&amp;'s end, either.And Palm has suffered a slew of high-level departures. WebOS user interface designerMatias Duarte left Palm to work on Android at Google, WebOS notification mastermindRich Gerringer moved to Apple, and former senior VP of Product DevelopmentMike Bell went to Intel. Peter Skillman,the lead designer behind the Palm Pre, then decided to take off.Sprint Nextela4a4s highly publicized launch of the Palm Pre smartphone failed to turn around losses in the companya4a4s subscriber base yet. In the quarter after the Pre&amp;'s launch,the company lost $384 million a4&quot; compared to $344 million loss in the same time a year ago. Part of that probably had to do with Palm waiting to launch the phone until after Applereleased the iPhone 3GS.The olive branch finally came when Hewlett-Packard announced it would buy palm for $1.2 billion. During a conference call discussing the acquisition, HP executives emphasized thatthe deal to acquire smartphone maker Palm was about more than phones. Executive Vice President Todd Bradley described Palma4a4s WebOS operating system as something that can also power tablet computers (or, as HP prefers to call them, a4Aslatesa4) and the low-end laptops known as netbooks.There&amp;'s obviously a lot of potential for WebOS a4&quot; HP has acknowledged that by paying out a whopping $1.2 billion to get access to it. HP also recently announced the next iteration of WebOS, as well as a new version of the Palm Pre that will make its way to Verizon in the coming months.But it might be too little, too late with Android and Google clearly leading the pack in terms of App developers.Previous Story: City Labs energizes long-life battery business with new funding roundPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Palm Pixi, Palm Pre, Palm Pre 2, webOSCompanies: Hewlett Packard, HP, PalmPeople: Matias Duarte, Peter Skillman, Rich Gerringer          Tags: Palm Pixi, Palm Pre, Palm Pre 2, webOSCompanies: Hewlett Packard, HP, PalmPeople: Matias Duarte, Peter Skillman, Rich GerringerVentureBeat 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[Can book retailer Borders survive without its own e-reader]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-book-retailer-borders-survive-without-its-own-e-reader</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-book-retailer-borders-survive-without-its-own-e-reader</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-book-retailer-borders-survive-without-its-own-e-reader</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Book and media retailer Borders announced today that it will hold off on paying some publishers in order to buy time and reorganize its debt amid ayear of weak sales in its brick and mortar stores in the era of digital distribution.The company has seen declining sales in books, movies and music since electronic book readers emerged and consumers started to use digital distribution marketplaces like iTunes.Borders&amp;' revenue was down 17.5 percent in the most recent quarter when compared to the same quarter a year ago, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its loss has also doubled to $74.4 million, up from a loss of $37.7 million the same quarter a year earlier.But despite losing out on sales of books and other products, Borders is essentially looking to pull a GameStop and stay focused on its brick and mortar stores. Borders acknowledged e-books and e-readers as a definitive threat to its business but expects its in-store sales to remain intact, according to its most recent 10-Q filing. That being said, the company doesn&amp;'t plan to open any new stores in the near future.Barnes &amp;amp' Noble, the largest book retailer in the country, decided to take on the e-reader trend by producing its own electronic reading tablet, the Nook. The Nook became Barnes &amp;amp' Noble&amp;'s best-selling product in more than 40 years, according to a recent announcement by the company a4&quot; beating out titles like Harry Potter and The DaVinci Code. Barnes &amp;amp' Noble also recently released the Nook Color, a light version of an Android tablet. The device includes Facebook and Twitter functionality as well as some apps like music service Pandora.Borders doesn&amp;'t plan on developing its own e-reader and expects to find a niche as a neutral provider of e-books for every e-reader in the market. So why does Borders want to focus on its brick and mortar stores in the era of digital distribution and e-readers, where consumers can basically snap their fingers and get a book or song There is basically no reason for an e-reader user to visit a brick and mortar store to pick up a new copy of a book.It&amp;'s hard to argue with the popularity of e-readers, with companies like Barnes &amp;amp' Noble and Amazon seeing runaway successes with their versions. Borders&amp;' shareholder confidence has already dropped off this year, with its share price dropping around 72 percent to less than $1 from its high of $3.29 this year. So now seems to be the best time for Borders to make a move into something new.[Photo: mikemol]Previous Story: GM leads Nissan in December electric car sales as supply trickles inPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: books, ereader, kindle, NookCompanies: Amazon, Barnes &amp;amp' Noble, Borders          Tags: books, ereader, kindle, NookCompanies: Amazon, Barnes &amp;amp' Noble, BordersMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.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[Down Goes Arrington: WordPress.com Getting Top Author Stats&nbsp'Shortly]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=down-goes-arrington-wordpress-com-getting-top-author-statsnbspshortly</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=down-goes-arrington-wordpress-com-getting-top-author-statsnbspshortly</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=down-goes-arrington-wordpress-com-getting-top-author-statsnbspshortly</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If 75 percent of my day is spent writing, the remaining 25 percent is probably going over TechCrunch stats. I&amp;'m obsessed with it. That&amp;'s why I do so many posts about things like Chrome getting ready to&amp;nbsp'overtake Firefox as the dominant browser among TechCrunch readers (less than 1 percent away now). So I was obviously happy when WordPress.com (which hosts us) overhauled their Stats area earlier this year. But it was always missing just one thing.WordPress.com&amp;'s Stats area gives you a solid overview for how your blog is doing overall. And unlike Google Analytics, the data is up-to-the-minute fresh. You can see your top posts, top referrers, top search engine terms, top clicked links, and a few other things. One thing it doesn&amp;'t have though is the ability to see how each author is doing in terms of traffic to their posts. In other words, it&amp;'s lacking in the vanity department. But that&amp;'s coming shortly.WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg shot us over a quick snapshot of the new feature that they&amp;'re cooking up. As you can see, it will be a new box that shows you the Top Authors alongside the others like Top Posts, etc. The top ten list also shows you corresponding traffic numbers (I&amp;'ve removed those in the screenshot) and apparently the total number of your posts getting traffic on any given day (at least I think that&amp;'s what the number is parentheses is).Obviously, I&amp;'m happy because I&amp;'m at the top. But that&amp;'s just for today (plus, I clearly have a huge back catalog, so it&amp;'s a little unfair).Sure, there are a range of other plug-ins for WordPress that offer similar functionality, but now the vanity element will be fully baked into WordPress&amp;' real-time analytics system. This is a nice addition for larger multi-author blogs. Previously, it has been kind of a pain to get these numbers in an accurate way.Mullenweg notes that this feature should roll out in the next week or so.CrunchBase InformationWordPress.comInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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