
<?phpxml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
>
<channel>
<title>Haaze.com / AnastasyC4 / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 05 May 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Bevy of noteworthy upgrades in new iMac]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bevy-of-noteworthy-upgrades-in-new-imac</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bevy-of-noteworthy-upgrades-in-new-imac</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 05 May 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bevy-of-noteworthy-upgrades-in-new-imac</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The iconic iMac aluminum enclosure houses a bevy of noteworthy upgrades, including Intel's and Advanced Micro Devices' latest silicon and the latest Intel-Apple interface, as iFixit's teardown of the 21.5-inch iMac ably reveals.Let's look at a below-the-radar item first since there's already been plenty of ink devoted to the marquee features. There is a Starship Enterprise-esque look to the main logic board, as iFixit points out. And the gleaming copper heat pipes add an interesting aesthetic to a purely functional layout. (Credit:iFixit)Intel Z68 chipset: This is Intel's freshly minted chipset. New enough that you won't find it--at least not prominently--on Intel's Website because it hasn't been officially released. The Z68 supports SSD caching: that is, using a relatively small-capacity, solid-state drive as a &quot;cache&quot; for a larger magnetic hard disk drive (see photo below). Interestingly, this SSD-HDD configuration is widely used in transaction-heavy businesses such as banks, where the top of the storage pyramid is composed of SSDs that act as a cache for the larger-capacity, and slower, magnetic drives. Intel, in fact, is expected to bring out SSDs targeted specially at this kind of application. The area--which is under the Sony Optiarc optical drive--shaded in red is &amp;39'presumably&amp;39' where the optional SSD is housed, according to iFixit.(Credit:iFixit)Intel desktop-class Sandy Bridge processors: In the model torn down by iFixit, the processor is a 2.5GHz quad-core Sandy Bridge Intel Core i5-2400S. This is a pure 32-nanometer processor (previous-generation Intel silicon with graphics integrated into the same chip package was a 50-50 split, the processor was 32nm but the graphics was 45nm). Other i5-2400s goodies include a decent clock speed of 2.7GHz, which overclocks (what Intel calls Turbo Boost) to 3.7GHz, a 6MB cache, and 65-watt thermal envelope, which is respectably low for a high-performance quad-core desktop-class chip with built-in graphics. Though not a critical issue for desktop jockeys because of the use of discrete AMD HD 6000 series graphics, it is nevertheless interesting to note that Intel's desktop Sandy Bridge silicon has lower-performance HD 2000 integrated graphics compared with its HD 3000 mobile counterpart. But don't take my word for it, here's what Intel says: &quot;The primary difference between Intel HD Graphics 2000 and Intel HD Graphics 3000 is the number of execution units contained in the processor. Intel HD Graphics 2000 contains six execution units, and Intel HD Graphics 3000 contains 12 execution units. This means that Intel HD Graphics 3000 is better suited for more graphics intensive applications such as those that use 3D.&quot; AMD graphics processor: Which leads to AMD's Radeon HD 6750M GPU. This is paired with four Hynix 1Gb GDDR5 SDRAM chips (totaling 512 MB), according to iFixit. A lot has been written about this graphics processing unit, so suffice to say that it integrates 480 Stream Processing Units and 24 Texture Units, according to AMD's spec page. Also of note is an engine clock speed of 500MHz-725MHz, and processing power (single precision) of 480-696 GigaFLOPS. And note that higher-performance Radeon HD 6770M or Radeon 6970M graphics cards are offered on higher-end iMacs. AMD&amp;39's Radeon HD 6750M GPU with four Hynix memory chips. (Credit:iFixit)Other components worth mentioning include a Broadcom BCM57765B0KMLG Integrated Gigabit Ethernet and Memory Card Reader Controller, a Cirrus 4206BCNZ audio controller, and Intel L102IA84 EFL Thunderbolt port chip. Thunderbolt: The merits of Thunderbolt have been written about ad nauseam. In brief, the new connection technology combines high-speed data transfer and high-definition video on a single cable. Running at 10Gbps, Thunderbolt can, theoretically, transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds. The new iMac has two of these ports. Because Thunderbolt can act as a video port, it will allow you to connect two additional monitors to the iMac, according to Rich Brown, who wrote CNET Review's take on the new iMac. Serial ATA: Finally, there's an interesting tidbit at MacFixIt, which cites a blog posting by Other World Computing. &quot;The company mentions that the latest firmware update for the new 2011 iMacs has unlocked SATA III capabilities in the systems, allowing for up to 6Gb/sec data throughput on the internal hard drive bays. The past iMac and MacBook Pro models have shipped with SATA II drive controllers that handle up to 3Gb/sec throughput, but the new systems apparently use updated controllers,&quot; according to MacFixIt's Topher Kessler. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Mastering social media saturation at SXSW]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mastering-social-media-saturation-at-sxsw</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mastering-social-media-saturation-at-sxsw</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:10:54 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mastering-social-media-saturation-at-sxsw</guid>
<description><![CDATA[For SXSW attendees, finding friends or events during a week when there are hundreds of things to do every day, such as CNET's Buzz Out Loud party Sunday, can be difficult.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)AUSTIN, Texas--There was a time, just a couple of years ago, when you could figure out almost everything going on at the South by Southwest Interactive conference (SXSW) just by keeping an eye on the SXSW hash tag. Whether it was an impromptu wine party hosted by Gary Vaynerchuck or a Laughing Squid meet-up or word about a great panel going on, that hash tag was many people's essential organizing principle.But with the explosive growth of SXSW and Twitter, the thousands who are prowling around day and night here this week looking for the next great thing to go to or do have had to branch out. Thanks to Twitter's 2007 coming-out party here, and Foursquare's launch in 2009, the conference is now seen as the proving ground for many new social media services, and as such, there are always a steady flow of new technologies that are breaking ground in helping people figure out what's going on. Add the network effect of a massively connected community like that of SXSW Interactive, and you can quickly test whether a new service is going to be useful or not.This week, though, Austin has been overrun by what seems like a larger than ever mass of attendees, and with them, an overwhelming number of panels and talks, barbecues, official SXSW parties, and unofficial gatherings. And that's meant that anyone who has any hope of figuring out where to go to find their friends, or something to do, has to have a game plan. Otherwise, they've faced the fruitless effort of trying to mine the dozens and dozens of SXSW tweets rushing through each minute (see video below) for something fun. This year, the hot new technologies have been group messaging. Services like Beluga and GroupMe have been in heavy use given that they allow people to create ongoing mobile-based group conversations. To Chris Carella, the founder of social-software developer Super + Fun, GroupMe has been a saving grace at SXSW. Asked about the service, Carella e-mailed (from hisiPhone) to CNET how it had helped him make his way through one of the party-soaked evenings here this week. &quot;I'm in [a] post-2 a.m. SXSW group,&quot; Carella recalled. &quot;The entire group is heavily tapped into the party scene and are constantly updating each other on the status of parties and converging on locations that are fun. I'm finding out about VIP parties I wouldn't have otherwise and if it's hard to get in, someone in the group finds a way to get me in, even if I don't know them. Then, of course, as the name implies, after things close at 2 a.m., the group coordinates to extend the night. This group is a truly amazing experience for me (a first time [SXSW attendee]).&quot; Beluga, another group messaging platform that's getting a lot of attention here, has its fans, as well. The information coming from the service &quot;is crowdsourced based on specifically what my friends are relaying,&quot; said Boulder, Colo.-based social-media consultant Ef Rodriguez.Another service that has been getting the thumb's-up around town this week has been LocalMind. In a post on his favorite new app at SXSW, uber-blogger Robert Scoble said of LocalMind, which lets users ask questions of people checked in near them, &quot;It's like Quora and Foursquare got together and had a baby.&quot;Scoble lauded LocalMind for giving SXSW attendees--and others back in the rest of the world--the ability to pose questions about whether a certain party is still going, if there's still an open bar, or if folks are moving on to the next thing. &quot;It shows you people who have checked in with Foursquare and have LiveMind open near you in the past few minutes,&quot; Scoble wrote, &quot;and then you can ask them questions. Right now I'm using it and there's dozens of different venues with people checked in right now at them. I can ask them questions, like, 'how long is the line for the Mashable party' and get an answer back right away.&quot;Sched.orgThe problem at SXSW, of course, is that there are thousands and thousands of people here, and what seems like as many or more things to do. The list of official panels and talks alone would be enough to cow just about anyone, and that doesn't even begin to touch the additional list of unofficial goings on that people might want to get to. Add to that the complexity of trying to connect with one or more friends, and someone feeling social or wanting to attend something has encountered a logistical nightmare.For Jeremy Tanner, also a Boulder-based social-media strategist, one of the best ways to navigate the maze has been a tool called Sched.org, which he uses on hisiPad. The service brings together a wide variety of event listing and descriptions, and lets users see not just what they are interested in, but also what members of their social networks are interested as well. &quot;If you want to be lazy and let them do all the [scheduling] work,&quot; Tanner joked, &quot;you can decide what your friends are doing that you want to do too.&quot;However, Sched.org only lists official events and parties, Tanner said, &quot;so when someone says they're going to take a bus of 20 down to [Austin's famous barbecue joint] Salt Lick, that's not on there.&quot;In its 2009 infancy, Foursquare was a great tool for solving the problem of finding out what the hot unofficial gathering was because it let people see just where their friends were checking in at any given moment. And because Foursquare--and its check-in rival Gowalla, which also launched that year--was new, there wasn't yet a critical mass obscuring the real value of the information.But Tanner said that's no longer the case, and that anyone at SXSW trying to use Foursquare to find out where they should go next is probably fighting a losing battle.&quot;The problem with Foursquare,&quot; Tanner said, &quot;is that with trending topics, by the time something has become that hot on a location-based social network, it's over.&quot;The phoneDespite the newer social media tools he uses to find his way around SXSW, Tanner also said that there are some more well-known systems that people can use to find the needle in the haystack of friends' activities and gatherings. For one, the four-time SXSW attendee said, don't bother with the SXSW Twitter hash tag. Instead, create Twitter lists of friends, a step that could cut way down on the noise-to-signal ratio.Then again, why even try to rely on new-fangled social media tools, Tanner said. There are better ways to find out what your friends are doing right now. &quot;Pick the phone up,&quot; he advised. &quot;Text them. Voice and simple text are still the world's largest social networks--bigger than Facebook.&quot; And then there's an even more analog way to conduct an active SXSW social life.For Ben Huh, the CEO of Icanhascheezburger.com publisher Cheezburger, Inc., SXSW is a place to connect with the passionate community of users of the famous LOLcat site, and many others in the Cheezburger network. And &quot;it's [also] my geek spring break,&quot; Huh said.Huh said he's here with people from cities around the country, and that they've been using Foursquare and text messaging to arrange activities. But sometimes, he added, his social calendar involves little more than ending his daily work of meetings and interviews by sitting on a couch in the lobby of the Downtown Hilton here--which is across the street from the Austin Convention Center, where SXSW is centered--and waiting for friends to materialize. &quot;Someone will come along and say, Hey what are you up to, and we'll go over [to some event],&quot; Huh said. &quot;I'm not here to go to specific events. I'm here to find serendipitous things.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[A sneak peek at Legoland's 'Star Wars' models]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-sneak-peek-at-legolands-star-wars-models</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-sneak-peek-at-legolands-star-wars-models</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 30 Jan 2011 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-sneak-peek-at-legolands-star-wars-models</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Legoland personnel brought several models from the forthcoming 'Star Wars' Miniland attraction to CNET's San Francisco headquarters yesterday. All told, the attraction features 1.5 million bricks, weighing 1.3 tons. Scenes from all six 'Star Wars' live-action films and the Clone Wars series will be depicted.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--If you were walking down Second Street here yesterday morning, and thought you might be losing your mind, let me reassure you: Those really were life-size Lego Chewbacca and R2-D2 models and the world's-largest Lego Millennium Falcon.On March 31, Legoland California will pull back the wraps on its brand-new &quot;Star Wars&quot; Miniland, an all-new interactive area at the amusement park that will feature more than 2,000 individual models from the George Lucas-created universe.And yesterday, as part of a small tour to promote the new attraction, several Legoland personnel swung through CNET's headquarters here to show off some of the best of the models that will soon be entertaining kids and adults alike at Legoland in Carlsbad, Calif.As part of my Road Trip at Home series, I got the chance to take a look at the models--all of which were designed and built at Legoland Germany and then shipped mostly assembled to California. The Legoland people brought only a few models for me to inspect, but even that small collection was enough to stop almost every passerby in his or her tracks. After all, who can help doing a double take if you see a giant Lego Millennium Falcon resting on a cement pedestal on an average city street.Legoland 'Star Wars' models invading California According to Legoland California master model builder Gary McIntire, Lego's retail &quot;Star Wars&quot; line has been the most successful in the company's history, so it should come as no surprise that Lego and Lucasfilm got together to design and build a full-scale Miniland.&quot;Putting Lego and 'Star Wars' together is a natural,&quot; said McIntire. &quot;It's like peanut butter and jelly.&quot;Over the course of 13 months of development and construction, eight master model builders, as well as two animation electricians at Legoland Germany designed the 2,000-plus models that all told required more than 1.5 million bricks and weigh 1.3 tons. Legoland Germany, as well as the company's flagship park, Legoland Billund in Denmark, and Legoland California will each get a &quot;Star Wars&quot; Miniland. Most of the models were made three times at the German model shop, with full sets of the models being shipped off to Billund and Carlsbad.The models are based on all six of the live-action &quot;Star Wars&quot; films, as well as the animated &quot;Clone Wars&quot; series. The Miniland will feature models that depict one scene from each of the six live-action films and from &quot;Clone Wars.&quot; From the original three films, visitors will be able to see Lego renditions of Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine--Uncle Owen's farm' the cantina' and the starport, where the Millennium Falcon will be installed--the Rebel's Hoth refuge from &quot;Empire Strikes Back'&quot; and the Endor system from &quot;Return of the Jedi.&quot; As well, from the prequels, the Miniland will feature scenes from Naboo, Geonosis, and Kashyyk and Mustafar. Finally, &quot;Clone Wars&quot; fans will recognize a scene from Christophsis.Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and moreYesterday, I only got a chance to see life-size models of Chewbacca and R2-D2. But visitors to Legoland will be able to lock eyes, so to speak, with both of them, as well as a life-size Darth Vader. According to Lego, planning for the attraction began in March 2010, and involved in-depth consultation between Legoland and Lucasfilm. Among the reference materials used in designing construction blueprints for the models were pictures and drawings of figures, vehicles, spacecraft, landscapes, and more.&quot;The model designers used a special Lego drawing paper for this, on which one square is equivalent to one Lego knob,&quot; a &quot;Star Wars&quot; Miniland release reads. &quot;In the next step, they calculated how many bricks and which colors and forms would be needed for the models. For particularly difficult model parts, prototypes are first built, before the model is constructed brick by brick. To help the Lego models last longer, all of the bricks are glued together and then sprayed with a special UV coating.&quot;And how many bricks are used in the individual models It's hard to say in the case of many of them. But suffice it to say, it would be beyond most fans' budgets to build even one of the large-scale models I got to see yesterday. The Millennium Falcon model required 19,000 bricks, while R2-D2 came in at a healthy 15,000 or so, and topping the charts was Chewbacca, McIntire said, at about 32,000 bricks.But while a cursory look at the Millennium Falcon made me think that perhaps the model builders had created some custom bricks just for this project, McIntire assured me that wasn't at all the case. Each and every bit of the models is &quot;pure Lego,&quot; he said, save for some wiring for lights. &quot;That's something we really pride ourselves on,&quot; McIntire said, referring to the builders' refusal to use special bricks in any of their models. &quot;We don't cheat.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Microsoft: Kinect shortages aren't intentional]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-kinect-shortages-arent-intentional</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-kinect-shortages-arent-intentional</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Dec 2010 08:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-kinect-shortages-arent-intentional</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Kinect is in short supply.(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Microsoft isn't intentionally making it hard to get your hands on its Kinect motion-gaming peripheral, a company spokesman said in a recent interview.Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Neil Thompson, Microsoft'sXbox manager in the U.K. and Ireland, said Microsoft is not intentionally offering a low supply of Kinect to drum up demand for its motion-gaming peripheral, which allows users to control on-screen action with only body movement. Rather, he said it's simply a matter of demand being extremely high.&quot;It's absolutely not a strategy,&quot; Thompson told the gaming publication. &quot;We want to get the product into consumers hands as quickly as we can because we think its exciting, it's innovative. We wanted to do that for Christmas and that's what we've done. We've built a really strong supply and resupply chain over the coming weeks.&quot;Thompson went on to say that &quot;no region is being penalized&quot; in their supply of Kinect units. &quot;We're trying to make sure every region has a good amount of stock every week,&quot; he said.Last month, GameStop President Tony Bartel said the possibility of the games retailer running out of Kinect stock this holiday season was quite high.Kinect &quot;will be a hot item through the holiday season and the key opportunity will be just to continue to keep them in stock,&quot; Bartel said during an earnings call with investors. &quot;So, whenever consumers do see Kinect and they want Kinect for the holiday season, they should pick it up because it will be in short supply in the holiday.&quot;He said that he wouldn't be surprised if &quot;consumers [are] following the UPS truck to our stores to pick up that product as soon as they can find it.&quot;However, even with those supply issues, Microsoft expects to sell 5 million Kinect units by the end of the year, easily besting the competingPlayStation Move controller, which analysts believe, will sell 3 million units this year.But supply shortages are nothing new in the motion-gaming space. As soon as theNintendo Wii launched, it was extremely popular, making it one of the more difficult products to find on store shelves for quite some time after its launch. In 2007, those supply issues prompted concern from critics who believed Nintendo was keeping Wii consoles in warehouses to increase demand for its product during the holiday season. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime responded swiftly to those claims, saying that &quot;there was no ability for [Nintendo] to stockpile systems in the summer for the holiday rush.&quot; Nowadays, the Wii is still selling exceptionally well. Nintendo announced last week that it sold 600,000 Wii units between November 21 and 27, the week that included Black Friday. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[NORAD ready for 55th year tracking Santa]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=norad-ready-for-55th-year-tracking-santa</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=norad-ready-for-55th-year-tracking-santa</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=norad-ready-for-55th-year-tracking-santa</guid>
<description><![CDATA[NORAD&amp;39's Santa tracking service is up and running for the 55th year in a row. On Christmas Eve, the service will provide constant updates on Santa&amp;39's progress around the world. This image is from 2009.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)If you're wondering what route Santa Claus will be taking as he soars through skies this Christmas Eve, don't worry: NORAD has got you covered.For the 55th straight year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command will be providing its Santa tracking service, offering in seven languages up-to-the moment updates on St. Nick's progress around the world.Last year, I got a chance to look behind-the-scenes at NORAD's Santa initiative, which involves countless military volunteers, as well as donated corporate help, all in the guise of giving the curious the best information about where the jolly fellow in the red and white suit is at any given moment on December 24.As I wrote last year, the program began in 1955 when Sears Roebuck ran an ad in a local paper in Colorado Springs, Colo.--the home of the NORAD predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center--with a phone number that kids could use to call Santa. &quot;Hey, Kiddies! Call me direct,&quot; the ad read. &quot;Call me on my private phone and I will talk to you personally any time day or night.&quot;The only problem The number was off by a digit, and when kids called to find out what Santa was up to, they instead dialed a number that was meant only for the kinds of calls that would come if the Russians were attacking.Answering the phone that morning, U.S. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup must have expected the worst. Instead, he heard a tiny voice ask, &quot;Is this Santa Claus&quot;The Sears Roebuck ad that started it all.(Credit:NORAD)&quot;Dad's pretty annoyed,&quot; said Terri Van Keuren, Shoup's daughter, recalling the legend of that day in 1955. &quot;He barks into the phone,&quot; demanding to know who's calling. &quot;The little voice is now crying,&quot; Van Keuren continued. &quot;'Is this one of Santa's elves, then&quot;Shoup was apoplectic, but before long the phone was going crazy. And instead of staying angry, Shoup found an airman and told him to &quot;just pretend you're Santa,&quot; Van Keuren recalled.With that, as NORAD puts it, &quot;a tradition was born.&quot;Now, the project has become an annual favorite of thousands the world over, and each year, it gets a little bit more sophisticated. This year, Santa watchers can track his updated progress on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, and TroopTube. In each case, NORAD says, simply search for &quot;@noradsanta.&quot; And beginning at 1 a.m ET on Christmas Eve, NORAD will be posting updates on both Google Maps and Google Earth via the NORAD Santa site. NORAD personnel will begin answering phone calls and e-mails at 3 a.m. ET on Christmas Eve and will continue to do so until 4 a.m. ET on Christmas. You can reach the program at 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or by e-mail at noradtrackssanta@gmail.com.Of course, not everyone believes in Santa. But Joyce Frankovis, who handles public affairs for the NORAD Santa tracking program, said that those handling skeptical phone calls or e-mails are trained to respond with this simple answer: &quot;We believe, based on historical data and 51 years of NORAD tracking information, that Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of people throughout the world.&quot; E-mails from the kidsVan Keuren said that Shoup died in March, 2009, and that in his last years, she and her family would bring the retired colonel to NORAD headquarters every year to take part in the Santa tracking program. &quot;That was a big thrill for him,&quot; she said. It was clear that his part in the tradition meant a lot to him, and in his final days, he would go everywhere with a briefcase full of printouts of e-mails from kids about the Santa tracking program. &quot;For the last weeks of his life, he carried them around in his briefcase like they were top secret papers,&quot; Van Keuren said. &quot;Those were just precious to him. I'd read them to him over and over.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Road Trip Pic of the Week, 11/18: What is this]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-1118-what-is-this</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-1118-what-is-this</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-1118-what-is-this</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you know what this is and where it was taken, you could win a prize in the Picture of the Week challenge.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)What a nice house. And what a beautiful background. But what is this, and where is it locatedIf you know, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Week challenge. If you have those answers, please e-mail them to me no later than 6 p.m. PDT Friday (to daniel--dot--terdiman--at--cnet--dot--com, and PLEASE include &quot;Picture of the Week&quot; in the subject line). I'll choose a winner at random from among everyone who sends in both pieces of the correct answer. Please forgive me if you don't hear from me if you're not the winner. I get dozens of responses. Also, I've turned off comments because some people would post the correct answers there. I hate to shut down discussion, but I want you to figure out the answer on your own.One caveat: no individual can win more than two prizes. Also, for everyone who played regularly during Road Trip 2010, please note that this is the 13th of the weekly Picture of the Week challenges. With Road Trip 2010 officially finished--and therefore no more new Road Trip pictures per se--the challenge is now taking place each Thursday, and the photos could come from anywhere, not just Road Trip 2010 locations, and might be related to stories I've written in the past. So, please have fun playing today, and then come back each Thursday. For most of the summer, Geek Gestalt was on Road Trip 2010. After driving more than 18,000 miles in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Southeast over the last four years, I drove 5,266 miles this summer looking for the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation and more throughout the American Northeast. You can follow me on Twitter at @GreeterDan and @RoadTrip and find the project on Facebook.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Facebook to Foursquare: You're out]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-to-foursquare-youre-out</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-to-foursquare-youre-out</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-to-foursquare-youre-out</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It's obvious that Facebook sees serious potential in mobile check-in service Foursquare: it tried to buy it for $125 million.That didn't work. So Facebook started to get into the location game, too. It launched Facebook Places, its own geolocation service. And today, Facebook went ahead and launched a big new suite of mobile features that includes, notably, enhancements to Facebook Places that let businesses easily automate &quot;deals&quot; for when users check in. On the surface, given Facebook's scale, this looks like it could spell difficult times ahead for Foursquare.Like Foursquare, Facebook's new deals product lets businesses draw in customers by offering a deal or discount to those who &quot;check in,&quot; and those deals can be created by any business, small or large, through a self-service tool. It gets more sophisticated: Activate the deal, and it'll be shared on your Facebook wall. There are also multiple kinds of deals, such as charity deals, with which a business donates a given amount for every check-in' group deals, which a Facebook user can only activate by bringing friends (and checking them in through Facebook Places as well)' and loyalty deals that reward members for multiple check-ins. (Foursquare also offers &quot;loyalty&quot; rewards, as well as rewards for the &quot;mayor&quot; of a venue--the person who has checked in the most.)Facebook has well more than 500 million users around the world, and while CEO Mark Zuckerberg declined to comment on the specific reach of Facebook Places in his presentation today, he did say, &quot;We know that it's multiples larger than any other location service.&quot; And that's why a potential partner might be allured to Facebook Places deals, as opposed to Foursquare--simply more reach.It also appears that running a Facebook Places promotion is free, as it is for basic deals and promotions on Foursquare. When asked about financial specifics in Wednesday's press conference, Facebook representatives simply said the way that they will monetize these deals is to encourage businesses to buy Facebook display ads to promote them.Foursquare representatives declined to comment on the nature of their relationship with Facebook, but all signs seem to indicate that it may be chilly. For one, there was the botched attempt to purchase Foursquare. Then there was the more subtle fact that in Facebook's press conference, deliberate attempts were made to mention other players in the &quot;geo&quot; space but not Foursquare. One location-based networking service, Loopt, is a partner in Facebook's new mobile API rollout--as is Yelp, which operates a check-in feature as part of its business reviews service. Facebook executives also name-dropped Gowalla, a check-in app that has been a Facebook partner. Foursquare didn't get any shout-outs, nor has it implemented the Facebook Places API for check-ins.In the past, Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley--who was mum on a reaction to Wednesday's announcement--has said Foursquare has an advantage in its playful brand personality: &quot;It's difficult to build services that are supposed to scale to, you know, 30, 50, 100 million users right off the bat, because they got to be kind of tailored down. By definition, they have to be a little bit generic to speak to that large of an audience,&quot; Crowley said at the time.But the potentially positive news for Foursquare in the wake of Wednesday's announcement is that Facebook's aggressive attempts to move into the space show that the massive social network sees enough promise here that it's willing to fight to own it. It's the old &quot;validating the space&quot; argument--which, of course, can sometimes just be positive spin. In this case, Foursquare has some tricks up its sleeve' it's already started to move into offering branded &quot;guides&quot; and tips on behalf of advertisers whom users can opt to &quot;follow,&quot; and there are hints that it may be moving into personalized recommendations, something social-networking services have had a tough time nailing. As Soraya Darabi--co-founder of restaurant check-in and food photo app Foodspotting, a likely Facebook Places developer in the near future--put it, &quot;There is room for everyone to play in this space.&quot; She added that she sees location-enabled promotions as evolving into their own form of advertising so that its traditional display ads that should be threatened, not Foursquare.The other good news for Foursquare is that, given Facebook's size, it may be like a bull in a china shop, as it experiments with the increasingly personal territory of location sharing. Many active users of services like Foursquare and Gowalla maintain significantly smaller lists of contacts on those services than they do on Facebook, keeping it restricted to an intimate selection of people with whom they often spend time. Facebook does let its users group their friends into tiers of profile access and limitation, but executives have said it's a service that doesn't get used often.Consequently, redeeming a Facebook Places deal requires checking in and hitting an &quot;activate&quot; button, which shares the deal on that user's Facebook wall. That's great for businesses that want to spread the word, but possibly not so much for Facebook users eager to save money on deals at the local Botox clinic or adult-toy emporium.&quot;When you check in to claim a deal, your action is posted to your friends' news feeds, similar to when you check in to a place,&quot; a statement from Facebook read. &quot;The privacy settings you have chosen for Places apply to your claimed deals, as well, so you never have to share this information with anyone you don't want to.&quot;But you don't have an on-off switch for individual check-ins and deals, the way Foursquare does, so it's a bit of an all-or-nothing game. And that will be the big decision factor for users and businesses looking to flock to Facebook Places as an alternative to something like Foursquare: something that's so big and open can promise unprecedented exposure, but exposure can be of both the good and bad variety.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[A day seen through Google searches]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-day-seen-through-google-searches</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-day-seen-through-google-searches</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 02 Nov 2010 07:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-day-seen-through-google-searches</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google likes to think of itself as the world's information barometer, the most complete repository of human intent as measured by the Internet search query. Around every hour it updates a list of the queries it has determined are spiking disproportionately due to breaking news, seasonal holidays, or pop culture phenomena. Google has recently started to promote this list more prominently than in the past, with a weekly Google Beat YouTube series and frequent references to trending topics on its official blog. But how does something become a trend on Google We spent yesterday monitoring the U.S. version of Google Trends, several major network television shows, and the discussion boards of the day to try to figure out what sparks a trend big enough for Google to notice. Here's a few of the searches that went into overdrive yesterday, and the real-world events that led to their rise.7:45 a.m. PDT: wilmington Trust, thanksgiving wallpaper, where do i voteAmerica's money was on its mind the morning after Halloween, as Google users pondered the merger of two major banks: Wilmington Trust and M&amp;T Bank, one of which, Wilmington, was in dire straits due to bad investments in real-estate construction. Both terms ranked in the top five Google Searches at this hour, along with two terms that would remain themes for the day: Thanksgiving (now that Halloween is over) and today's mid-term elections in the U.S., with many people attempting to find their polling place on Google.Google Trends is not simply a list of the most popular searches conducted on Google. If not, porn and weather-related queries would probably dominate the list. Instead, it's a list of topics that people are talking about in disproportionate numbers to the usual number of queries for that subject, and it involves two aspects: Google Hot Topics and Google Hot Searches. For the purposes of this exercise, we focused on Google Hot Searches, which is a measure of searches actually conducted on Google as opposed to Google Hot Topics, which is a combination of messages on social-media services like Twitter, and news stories.10:10 a.m. PDT: discover card, comic con 2011, stephanie powersStefanie PowersNews that Discover was doubling rebates on purchases during the holiday season sent searchers looking for more information on the offer, boosting Discover into the top Hot Searches position. It's the first day to register for Comic Con, the annual comic book geekfest in San Diego, and those looking to purchase tickets surged onto Google. (Technical problems due to volume actually knocked registration offline) And remember Stefanie Powers from Hart to Hart She's got a book out, and an appearance on the Today Show to promote that book lifted her name into the top 10 searches as people struggled to remember why she was famous, as well as how to spell her name. Google says there are more than 1 billion searches a day on its Web site. Many of those are rote searches for things like hotels or recipes, but the an awfully high number are clearly driven by events in the world. In a way, this is a testament to Google's power, in that when people hear news about something (a bank merger, a superhero convention, or a disgruntled wide receiver) they flock to Google for more information on that topic. But it's also interesting in that many queries are driven by whatever people are watching on television or listening to on the radio, as with the Stefanie Powers query rising up the list.2 p.m. PDT: randy moss cut, voting locations by zip code, elizabeth smartStunning news out of Minnesota that talented but mercurial wide receiver Randy Moss had been cut by the Minnesota Vikings vaulted his name to the top of Google's Hot Searches, as millions (including myself) checked Google to confirm the news after hearing it from a friend. Voting queries continue to dominate the results, and apparently inspired someone to create this off-color guide to polling places. And the trial of the man who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart 8 years ago began in Utah, and was a prominent feature on almost all morning news and talk shows. Google Trends has evolved from a labs project to a source of information used by many companies around the world. There are several motivations in using Google Trends: news organizations attempt to figure out what people are searching for as to get stories on those topics out onto the Web, in hopes of getting some of that search traffic directed their way. But the service is also a godsend for spammers. On just about every search trend identified during yesterday's exercise, there were a few Web sites featured on the Google Hot Searches page purporting to be news sites that were simply inserting the query language somewhere onto their Web page in hopes of getting sucked up into the search vortex. Google at least appeared to have learned its lesson about malware providers, but has another battle on its hands with the content farms. Savvy promoters also know how closely Google and news organizations watch the list and have been known to orchestrate mass Google searches in order to get their cause on that list. The Alex Jones Show does this regularly, picking articles they want to promote and directing listeners to search for a phrase in the headline in order to drive traffic to the story.6:11 p.m. PDT: yoga studios, coffee shops, golf coursesSomewhat bizarrely as night fell in California, Google Hot Searches spiked with the above benign search queries, three-quarters of which were determined to come from the small town of Sanger, Calif., outside of Fresno. What was it that led seemingly everyone in Sanger (population 18,000) to search for those terms Who knows. Google declined to provide more information for this story on how Google Trends works to establish this list. It's a fascinating--if somewhat misleading--look at the zeitgeist each day and actually has the potential with better spam detection to divide the news cycle even further into mere hours. However, it's clear that Google is scrubbing the list to present only content that has been deemed suitable for the masses. This is a tougher call than it may seem, as Google's going to get criticized one way or another for either sanitizing search results beyond all meaning or exposing minors and overly sensitive people to prurient content. But that means there is another dimension to Google Trends that Google chose not to address: just how it deems certain search trends worthy of discussion. Google's search log is one of the most interesting collections of data on human behavior in the world, and while it's willing to offer up certain morsels from time to time, it's clear that's a heavily edited list.        Tom Krazit   Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Verizon unveils new tiered data plans' keeps unlimited plan]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-unveils-new-tiered-data-plans-keeps-unlimited-plan</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-unveils-new-tiered-data-plans-keeps-unlimited-plan</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-unveils-new-tiered-data-plans-keeps-unlimited-plan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We were afraid that when Verizon announced its shift to tiered data pricing, it would do away with its unlimited option, much like AT&amp;T did. Not so, as Verizon's new tiered data plans suggest. Unlimited 3G smartphone data is still available for $29.99, but it's no longer required when purchasing a new smartphone. You can now opt for a cheaper $14.99 plan if you think you can survive on just 150MB with $0.10 per MB of overage.  The same goes for feature phones, but with an added option of $1.99 per MB on a pay-per-use basis (with this option, you'll have to cough up an extra $5 for e-mail service). No word on 4G/LTE pricing yet of course, but the carrier has indicated that it'll provide more information on that as 4G becomes more widespread.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Judges bring out their knives for Appconomya4a4s group app]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=judges-bring-out-their-knives-for-appconomyâÂ€Â™s-group-app</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=judges-bring-out-their-knives-for-appconomyâÂ€Â™s-group-app</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=judges-bring-out-their-knives-for-appconomyâÂ€Â™s-group-app</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Well, that was rough.Enterprise mobile startup Appconomy just announced a new app called Groupin at today&amp;'s Launch conference in San Francisco. The idea is that everyone belongs to groups on different social networking services, but they might want to collaborate across all those sites. So with Groupin, they can participate in discussions that stretch across groups and networks, and it includes email as well.The demonstration went fine. I could imagine people using the product, although the pitch of mobile chat and cross-network communication sounds familiar. More noteworthy than the presentation itself was the response from the expert judges &amp;8212' who were, in a word, unimpressed.David Sacks, a former PayPal executive and now chief executive of Yammer, asked what someone could do in Groupin that they couldna4a4t do in a Facebook Group. The point, said Appconomy chief executive Brian Magierski, is to reach users outside of Facebook too, but Sacks said thata4a4s an ever-shrinking number of people, and it also leaves out the early-adopter crowd that startups should be targeting.George Zachary of Charles River Ventures, who invested in Yammer, added that the groups market seems awfully crowded &amp;8212' he estimated that he sees pitches for at least two group startups per week.To cap things off, Dave McClure of 500 Startups said that if Groupin is focused on the consumer market, a4AYoua4a4re going to get killed unless youa4a4re best in class.a4 He also complained that Magierski seemed &amp;''bored&amp;'' by his own presentation.To be fair, Magierski responded to the criticisms, acknowledging that there are a lot of group apps but arguing that theya4a4re either focused on text messaging or creating a separate channel for communication, rather than connecting to existing tools. And SGN chief executive Shervin Pishevar suggested that the judges were being a little rough, joking that McClure had become the a4AGaddafi of startups.a4After the presentation, conference organizer Jason Calacanis said, &amp;''We didn&amp;'t promise it would be easy.&amp;''Appconomy has raised $1.5 million from True Ventures and is based in Austin.Next Story: Daqri wants to be the augmented reality&amp;'s YouTube Previous Story: Unleash the power of your iPhone&amp;'s camera with ProCameraPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Grou.ps, GroupinCompanies: Appconomy, GroupinPeople: Brian Magierski, Dave McClure, David Sacks, George Zachary, Shervin Pishevar          Tags: Grou.ps, GroupinCompanies: Appconomy, GroupinPeople: Brian Magierski, Dave McClure, David Sacks, George Zachary, Shervin PishevarAnthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site 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. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[How Facebook plans to reinvent email and online messaging]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-facebook-plans-to-reinvent-email-and-online-messaging</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-facebook-plans-to-reinvent-email-and-online-messaging</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-facebook-plans-to-reinvent-email-and-online-messaging</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Facebook announced a new version of Facebook Messages today that could put the social networking site at the center of your online communication.The company describes this as an attempt to consolidate different kinds of online messaging, starting with email, SMS text messages, Facebook messages, and instant messages. Director of Engineering Andrew Bosworth noted that currently, when you want to reach someone, you usually choose different communication methods for each person &amp;8212' you may have one friend who prefers receiving text messages, while your grandmother might only respond to emails.With Facebook Messages, you shouldna4a4t have to think about that stuff anymore. You just send a message to the person you want to reach, then they receive that message through the medium of their choice. You can manage those messages on the Facebook site itself, or have them forwarded to email, sent to your instant messaging account, or sent via text message as needed.a4AIt should feel like a conversation,a4 Bosworth said. So if you need to step away from your desk during an IM conversation, you dona4a4t have to tell them, a4ABe right back.a4 Instead, you step away and just continue the conversation via text message.Facebook isna4a4t just consolidating communication media. Facebook Messages also ditches the idea of email threads grouped by subject. Instead, all of your conversations with someone show up in a single thread, which could theoretically contain the entire history of your communication with someone.Facebook is also using your contact list to prioritize your emails. Messages are grouped into three areas &amp;8212' a4Amessagesa4, a4Aothera4, and a4Ajunka4. Messages come from your Facebook friends, a4Aothera4 comes from folks who arena4a4t friends, and junk contains the messages that are flagged by the spam filter. Users will be able to shift contacts into different groups. So if you&amp;'ve agreed to be friends with thousands of people, you don&amp;'t have to prioritize messages from all of them.The company will be gradually rolling this out over several months. (Ia4a4m part of the first wave of outside users, so Ia4a4ll probably write a post this afternoon outlining my impressions.) As part of the rollout, users will be able to activate Facebook.com email addresses. Despite that feature, and despite speculation about the service as a a4AGmail killera4, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said, a4AThis is not an email killer.a4You can read more details in Facebook&amp;'s blog post.Next Story: Fox News High Why Rupert Murdoch is bullish on digital education Previous Story: Motorola&amp;'s Motopad tablet may be the first Android 3.0 devicePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Facebook MessagesCompanies: FacebookPeople: Andrew Bosworth, Mark Zuckerberg          Tags: Facebook MessagesCompanies: FacebookPeople: Andrew Bosworth, Mark ZuckerbergAnthony 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>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Spotify close to nabbing $50M from Facebook-backer Li Ka-Shing]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spotify-close-to-nabbing-50m-from-facebook-backer-li-ka-shing</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spotify-close-to-nabbing-50m-from-facebook-backer-li-ka-shing</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Science</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spotify-close-to-nabbing-50m-from-facebook-backer-li-ka-shing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[UpdatedSpotify, the streaming music service with more than two million users across Europe, may close a round of investment totaling up to $50 million and valuing the company at $250 million, the Financial Times reported today. The Swedish startup has reportedly piqued the interest of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing&amp;'s charitable foundation and London venture capital firm Wellington Partners. (Ka-Shing, pictured left, invested $60 million in Facebook last year.)Heralded as a potential iTunes killer, the Swedish start-up boasts a library of more than six million tracks available for free streaming. The company has said it wants to be &amp;''better than piracy,&amp;'' by making free streaming dead simple and is poised to make waves if Apple approves its iPhone app.A $250 million valuation will put the pressure on the young company to deliver high-octane results where other music startups have failed because of steep royalty fees. Spotify has three levels of service: free streaming with ads, a day pass at 99 pence that gives access without advertisements, and a monthly premium subscription at9.99, which gives access to higher-quality streams, early releases and no advertisements whatsoever.Absurd story update: Spotify did respond, but instead of confirming or denying the news, they said &amp;''Great stuff!&amp;'' and then wanted to use a more flattering photo of Ek (dutifully added at left). Spotify adds: &amp;''We never comment on speculation. One of the benefits of being a private outfit!&amp;''Next Story: PlaySpan says there are 50 ways to pay for your lover&amp;'s virtual flowers Previous Story: INQ releases super-bargain &amp;''social&amp;'' phones &amp;8212' when will Americans get themPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: music, spotify, wellingtonPeople: Li Ka shing          Tags: music, spotify, wellingtonPeople: Li Ka shingKim-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>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Chevy Volt: An Electric Car With Its Own IP&nbsp'Address]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-chevy-volt-an-electric-car-with-its-own-ipnbspaddress</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-chevy-volt-an-electric-car-with-its-own-ipnbspaddress</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-chevy-volt-an-electric-car-with-its-own-ipnbspaddress</guid>
<description><![CDATA[CrunchGear&amp;'s Matt Burns recently called the Chevy Volt GM&amp;'s &amp;''knight in shining chrome and white plastic.&amp;'' Burns was not citing projected sales numbers, instead he was making the point that the Volt has saved GM by forcing the troubled automaker to &amp;''change internally and reinvent nearly ever aspect of how it does business.&amp;''In support of Burns&amp;' thesis, IBM and GM revealed new details on Monday on the car&amp;'s electronic backbone and how it came together in 29 months, from concept to finish.Although the Volt is far from the first car with computer functionality, it is a major technological step forward for GM. According to IBM, the Volt is equipped with 100 electronic controllers, its very own IP address and roughly 10 million lines of software code.a4s That&amp;'s far more than its peers and, according to Robert LeBlanc, SVP of IBM&amp;'s Middleware Software, that&amp;'s also more than today&amp;'s Boeing 787 Dreamliner which features a paltry 8 million lines of code.&amp;''Think of it as a data center and computer on wheels,&amp;'' LeBlanc says.Given the Volt&amp;'s reliance on its software and electronic components, it&amp;'s no wonder that GM relied heavily on IBM&amp;'s software to put all the pieces together.As explained in Monday&amp;'s press release, GM used IBM&amp;'s suite of Rational software products (which includes design and simulation tools) &amp;''to develop some of the Volta4a4s critical electronic controls for the vehiclea4a4s innovative battery system, electric drive unit, and cabin electronics.&amp;'' According to LeBlanc, IBM&amp;'s software allowed disparate engineering teams to collaborate, put products to the test and it helped them model and better understand how various electronic systems would interact.That&amp;'s a significant departure from the past, when GM&amp;'s engineering teams would develop components independently, with minimal sharing during the development process.Forging ahead, the GM/IBM partnership for the Volt is expected to be a template for the development of new GM cars: &amp;''We hope to extend the Rational platform to other vehicle lines. Cars are only going to be more complex, every automaker will have to deal with that higher level of complexity and interaction.&amp;''Here&amp;'s GM&amp;'s promotional video on the Volt&amp;'s computer system and its relationship with IBM. For more information on the Volt, check out recent CrunchGear articles here.CrunchBase InformationIBMGeneral MotorsInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Smith Electric&'s CEO On Delivering Zero Emission Trucks, Avoiding The&nbsp'G-Word]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=smith-electricrsquos-ceo-on-delivering-zero-emission-trucks-avoiding-thenbspg-word</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=smith-electricrsquos-ceo-on-delivering-zero-emission-trucks-avoiding-thenbspg-word</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=smith-electricrsquos-ceo-on-delivering-zero-emission-trucks-avoiding-thenbspg-word</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bryan Hansel, chief executive of Smith Electric Vehicles U.S., headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., almost disdains the word &amp;''green.&amp;'' His company makes all-electric trucks for medium-duty commercial and industrial use. They compete against brands like Ford, Peterbilt and Hino.Smith&amp;'s EV technology is also constantly compared to traditional diesel, gas and alternative fuel combustion engines. Hansel believes his trucks have to dominate based on performance and cost savings in light of this. Even the company&amp;'s logo is orange not green.The CEO emphasizes the relative price predictability of electricity over liquid fuels instead of strictly environmental benefits. In 2008a4&quot; the year Hansel joined Smith Electrica4&quot;a4s the transportation sector used 13.88 million barrels of liquid fuels per day, and the industrial sector used 4.75 million in the United States according to the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. Liquid fuel demand is expected to increase, with those sectors using 14.27 million and 4.82 million barrels of liquid fuel per day by 2015.The cost of liquid fuels (primarily petroleum-based) fluctuates more dramatically than electricity&amp;'s. The prices are impacted by crude oil production, world oil pricing, taxes, and advances in fuel technology. Meanwhile, electricity can be generated from renewable sources, on or off the grid (like a rooftop solar array) and purchased from a utility at a price that&amp;'s locked in over the long-term.For every gallon of gasoline used, according to the U.S. EPA 2,421 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) are emitted into the atmosphere, and 2,778 grams per gallon of diesel. The greenhouse gas emissions could also be taxed in the future.Hansel&amp;'s cost savings message resonated with some major corporations, including Staples, Frito-Lay and Coca Cola. Currently, The Smith Newton is the only all electric, medium-to-heavy truck offering on the GSA schedule, which means soon Smith Electric may count the U.S. military a large customer.Hansel spoke with TechCrunch this week about how Smith is convincing American fleet managers to try electric trucks, and some of the challenges the company faces as it scales to meet the demand. (Interview after the photo.)Smith Electric Vehicles was founded in 1920 in the UK. How and why did you join the companyI never thought about designing vehicles, or woke up and said &amp;8216'I&amp;'ll be the electric truck guy,&amp;' but I had been around mechanical engineering and manufacturing my entire life. I ran a product development company for more than 15 years where we helped bring products to market for Fortune 500 companiesa4&quot;a4sthat was Virdev.This particular opportunity came about for me when a friend of mine acquired Smith [in the UK] and had brought its technology and business to the strong state that it is in today. He said, &amp;8216'hey, you need this technology that Ia4a4ve got [in the United States].&amp;' He knew that I understood what it takes to scale product, drive costs out, and that this was in my fiber.It really happened this quickly. On a Friday, I sold a business making medical devices in October 2008. By Monday, I was thinking about bringing electric trucks to North America. I had closed a deal to license the technology by January of 2009.How do you deal with &amp;''haters,&amp;'' people who don&amp;'t believe electric vehicles will ever be on par with combustion engine vehicles, or worth the investmentPersonally, I don&amp;'t run into these people. That&amp;'s because I&amp;'m not in a consumer environment. I&amp;'m not telling anyone &amp;8216'Here&amp;'s an electric vehicle that&amp;'s going to replace the sports car or family sedan you&amp;'re so emotionally attached to already.&amp;' In the business to business environment that we focus on, people make logical financial and operational decisions.We talk to customers about the ten-year total life cost of their fleets and individual vehicles. We ask them, &amp;8216'Can you predict diesel fuel costs for ten years How would you like to do that versus buying electricity at a more predictable level&amp;' If they buy a new diesel truck todaya4&quot;a4sSmith Electric vehicles end up being 80% cheaper on a per mile basis from fuel savings.Over ten years, for total life cost, if you&amp;'re driving about a 50-mile route every day, and coming back to the place to recharge overnight, at a central depot, then they&amp;'re at  least 50% cheaper.What about your business keeps you up at night I&amp;'ve been overwhelmed by corporations saying &amp;8216'Wea4a4re ready to go, wea4a4ll take thousands of vehicles! Can you build em&amp;' Therea4a4s nobody ready to supply those parts. People are telling them the battery supplies and motors are just around the corner. It&amp;'s not quite that easy.We have to sell our suppliers on the fact that we have orders. We work with one company that was a supplier to the EV-1! They have hung around and maintained in the industry this long, and theya4a4ve heard every story. One company in the industry said it would build 200,000 hybrid-electric vehicles. They only made 25,000. So suppliers have reason to be cautious, I understand.We have to do everything we say wea4a4ll do to win them over. And we have to trust them. What has kept me up is trying to give them disclosures. Should we put them in touch with our customers, directly We&amp;'ve done so with Frito-Lay, Coca Cola and Staples. We&amp;'ve had our clients and suppliersa4&quot;a4sand some of them regard each other as competitorsa4&quot; in the same room, talking about their various challenges of adoption.How many Smith Electric Vehicles are operating in the U.S. alreadyThere are more than a hundred out there already. Hundreds more will be on the road domestically by early next year. We also have a Department of Energy grant to deliver 510 vehicles that will ship before the middle of next year. We&amp;'re certainly ramping up production. The vehicles each have on-board data collection. Wea4a4re real time downloading data to understand how theya4a4re being deployed, how they&amp;'re working and what&amp;'s optimal for our customers.Who have been your most important customers to date and whyThey&amp;'ve all been pioneering and important strategic launch partners. We actually said no to potential clients, at times. When you are a company that&amp;'s new to the U.S., it&amp;'s hard to say &amp;8216'Wea4a4re not selling to you yet. At this time, we&amp;'re only selling to launch partners.&amp;'A focused strategy has worked for us, and created a level of demand thata4a4s unprecedented in the sector here. It was a magic bullet. Prospective clients wanted us to electrify other things, or sell quantities we wouldna4a4t sell. A more focused strategy helped us maintain a higher quality overall.Our largest order came from Frito-Lay. I have to give them credit for being visionaries. They have dedicated staff, engineering and fleet managers to bring their electric vehicles program online, and make electrification work in their business.Your trucks can&amp;'t plug into the wall, or recharge at EV stations that are becoming more pervasive in the U.S.a4&quot; would you ever go into building EV charging stations for trucksWe have a three-phase, 60 amp service requirement, and all the charging technology is built into our trucks. Today, it&amp;'s true that there is no commercially available charger for our trucks. EV charging station companies [like Coloumb or ClipperCreek] dona4a4t have a product available for us yet.If they do bring something to market, that would help push our customers in that direction. Right now, customers have a central depot or warehouse setup. The trucks go back and charge at the same place when they&amp;'re not in use. While commercial availability of EV charging stations is part of the evolution of our business, wea4a4ll never build charge points. It&amp;'s not part of our service offering.CrunchBase InformationSmith Electric VehiclesInformation provided by CrunchBaseCrunchBase InformationCoulomb TechnologiesInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The Incredible, Amazing, Brilliant, Wonderful, Jaw-Dropping Back To The Mac Keynote&nbsp'Video]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-incredible-amazing-brilliant-wonderful-jaw-dropping-back-to-the-mac-keynotenbspvideo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-incredible-amazing-brilliant-wonderful-jaw-dropping-back-to-the-mac-keynotenbspvideo</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-incredible-amazing-brilliant-wonderful-jaw-dropping-back-to-the-mac-keynotenbspvideo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Perhaps you missed Apple&amp;'s Back to the Mac event at their headquarters in Cupertino, CA last week. You know, the one where they showed off iLife &amp;'11, a sneak peek at OS X Lion, and the new MacBook Air. You can watch the entire 90-minute presentation online for free now. But why do that when you can watch the entire thing in 104 seconds and get the key takeawaysOkay, not really.What you will get in the video below is a minute and a half of hilariously awesome superlatives. This is nothing new for Apple. And while this video and the ones that have come before it are cut to be funny, it also showcases something much more meaningful.First, Apple employees from Steve Jobs on down are great salesmen who understand the importance of positive and enthusiastic language in a pitch. Second, this only works if the people doing the pitching really believe in what they are selling a4&quot; or if they are really good at lying. With Apple, it really, truly, absolutely does seem to be the former. It&amp;'s remarkable. Incredible. Exciting. Amazing. Great. Brilliant. Jaw-dropping. Wonderful. CrunchBase InformationAppleInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>
