
<?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 / AspisaMypsupt / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[SF passes Twitter tax break]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sf-passes-twitter-tax-break</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sf-passes-twitter-tax-break</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sf-passes-twitter-tax-break</guid>
<description><![CDATA[SAN FRANCISCO--As expected, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors today approved a payroll tax cap for some businesses willing to move to the city's Mid-Market neighborhood.The legislation and subsequent amendments passed by a vote of 8 to 3.The Board  in a preliminary vote agreed to grant the tax breaks last week by the same margin, 8 to 3. Mayor Ed Lee has said he will sign the measure. The legislation's passing should come as good news to growing businesses in the city, but the poster child for this effort has been Twitter. The company currently resides in a building in the South of Market neighborhood and has been considering a move out of the city due to San Francisco's high payroll taxes and rents. Other tech firms like social-gaming company Zynga and Yelp, all born in San Francisco, have also threatened to leave the city for similar reasons.The legislation that officially passed today will cap payroll taxes for companies with a payroll of at least $1 million for the next seven years. That cap would remain even if the companies add to their ranks. Additionally, employee income from exercising stock options will not be taxed. Critics have said the legislation will drive away residents from one of the few neighborhoods in San Francisco with affordable rents and will deprive the city of a valuable source of revenue.But those in favor say it will revitalize an economically depressed neighborhood and encourage successful businesses to remain in a city whose tax structure has been increasingly unfriendly to businesses.CNET's Kent German contributed to this report.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Apple fan's faith put to the test (Q&A)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-fans-faith-put-to-the-test-qa</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-fans-faith-put-to-the-test-qa</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-fans-faith-put-to-the-test-qa</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Mike Daisey traveled to Shenzhen, China, last year to find out for himself about the working conditions at Foxconn.(Credit:Ursa Waz) It'd be easy to label monologist Mike Daisey a theater geek, but he's a tech geek through and through. His hobby is technology. He's obsessed with reading Apple rumors sites. Sometimes just to relax, Daisey will field-strip his MacBook Pro. He even once played the role of &quot;fat geek&quot; in a Microsoft industrial video. And he worked at Amazon.com in the late '90s, which he detailed in his show and subsequent book &quot;21 Dog Years.&quot;  In his new show, &quot;The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,&quot; Daisey chronicles his longtime love affair with Apple and, in parallel, recounts the rise of the company. It is, at times, hilarious. But it's also sobering--sobering when he turns his focus on the harsh working conditions at Foxconn factories in Shenzhen, China, where some Apple devices are assembled. And Apple isn't alone among tech companies in manufacturing products in China, nor in using Foxconn. Apple did not respond to two requests for comment. Foxconn also did not respond to a request for comment. A report earlier this month by Chinese environmental groups criticized Apple for its response to a spate of employee suicides at Foxconn last year. In response to that story, a Hong Kong-based Apple representative told Bloomberg: &quot;Apple has had an extensive supplier auditing program since 2006 and we have lots of information available through our Web site.&quot; Daisey has performed the monologue in such places as Portland, Ore.--where I saw the show--and Hyderabad, India. The show has settled in for a run at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California, in repertory with Daisey's &quot;The Last Cargo Cult,&quot; through February 27.  In a phone interview last week, Daisey talked about what led him to travel to Shenzhen, where he heard devastating stories from Foxconn factory workers, and why he thinks change is possible. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.Q: You did a four-part monologue called &quot;Great Men of Genius.&quot; Where would Steve Jobs fit in among Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla, and L. Ron Hubbard  Mike Daisey: He's clearly a genius. And he does fit the mold of a number of people who I've been engaged by and fascinated by in my career--which is people who are, to a degree, megalomaniacal, who have a strong, intense vision for the shape of the world, and then they use their considerable gifts to implement that vision in the world. In your new show, &quot;The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,&quot; you say that your chosen OS is a window into how you see the world. You compare it to a religion, that you have faith, and sometimes that faith is tested. How would you describe your faith in Apple lately Daisey: It's complex. My faith in Apple design and their belief in cleanness and simplicity is not doing too poorly, although their desire to tie all their products into an ecosystem that locks people into their sort of way of life is troubling. Something that starts out enabling your users to have a lot of freedom and a lot of ease of use by making really clean, wonderful aesthetic suggestions, like anything, as it becomes more and more complete and overarching, you start to feel strait-jacketed. So there's that side of it.  The deeper side for me is the circumstances under which the devices are made and that is more troubling and complicated, and stretches across far more than Apple and implicates the entire electronics industry. I find myself very conflicted these days. I find it very painful. The idea for &quot;The Agony and the Ecstasy&quot; came to you a few years ago after seeing some pictures of a Foxconn factory worker that hadn't been wiped from an iPhone before it was sold. You couldn't stop looking at them. Why did they have such an impact on you Daisey: I think they had an impact on me for the same reason that they should have an impact on any conscious person. Because if you're truthful with yourself I think most people in our culture, especially people associated with technology, would recognize that they never think about where their technology comes from--ever. Daisey is performing &amp;39'The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs&amp;39' at Berkeley Rep through February 27. (Credit:Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com) And it's a remarkable thing given that those of us who are involved and fascinated by technology spend a huge amount of time thinking about the capabilities of the technology, exactly what the specifications are, getting very granular with every detail of the technology except the circumstances under which it was made. I actually think that's a tremendous piece of cognitive dissonance. An entire culture actually has to grow up and work very hard so that we don't think about those circumstances. Though I know a great deal about Apple equipment and it's been my only hobby for many years, at that moment I realized that I had never thought in a systematic way about how these devices were made. That really struck me in a real blinding instant. At what point did you decide to go to China Daisey: I think it was a year and a half later. Things had to grow and develop. As the idea grew, like all the monologues grow, it caused me to do more research and more investigations. I don't remember the exact timeline, but it became clear after some time that I was going to have to actually go to Shenzhen if I wanted to get at the heart of things. In Shenzhen you visited factories and talked to Foxconn employees. With the help of a translator you interviewed workers, some as young as 11, during shift changes over the course of many days. Given the heavy security there and the suicides, were you surprised by how many workers were eager to talk to you Daisey: Yes and no. I was surprised because all the journalists I'd talked to before going, both in America and Hong Kong, had assured me that no one would ever want to talk to me, that they were going to be incredibly closed off and silent. I think that there's a disconnect between what we think people are going to do and then what they actually do. The only way to find out how people actually feel and what they're actually going to do is to go and ask the questions. So when I thought about it afterwards it didn't seem that surprising that people might want to talk about the circumstances of their lives, just as people like to talk about the circumstances of their lives everywhere.  Perhaps--I don't want to be too speculative--but it has crossed my mind that it's very convenient for journalists if we convince ourselves that no one will talk to them, then that saves us the difficulty of having to actually do our jobs. We just convince ourselves that no one's there and no one's going to talk. Then you don't even have to go. This show is not just storytelling. It's a call to action too. After the show, audience members are given information on what they can do to try to get Apple and other electronics makers to change working conditions in Shenzhen. What made you decide to take that extra step Daisey: How could it be otherwise Frankly, it's the least I can do. It doesn't even seem like it'd be ethically responsible to perform a show illuminating these things and proposing that there is a chance for us to turn things around, to begin the process of waking up, and then not provide some ideas toward what that might entail. It would actually just be irresponsible as a citizen. What are you hearing from people who have taken some of the steps you suggest  Daisey: Just today some people have been calling Apple's customer relations and using the information I gave them to get to an actual person. The [customer relations] people seem discomfited and made nervous by the fact that people are calling. Before his leave of absence, people were e-mailing Steve Jobs. Sadly he's not in charge of day-to-day operations now so I'm not telling people to do that right now. But back in the fall when people wrote to him, a large number of them received responses which they then forwarded to me. Steve Jobs certainly knows about the situation. I have no doubt that everyone involved is well aware of the situation. What they need to become aware of is the growing consciousness of the public and how they feel about how these devices are made. In the past, have you contacted Steve Jobs yourself Daisey: I don't need to contact Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs knows where to find me. The show is running near his house, so if Steve Jobs wants to see it he can. In an e-mail, he responded to someone who wrote to him and said I think that Mike doesn't appreciate the complexity of the situation.  I appreciate that because, first, it acknowledges that there's a situation. So then we're just bickering about response to the situation. I would be interested in that dialogue. I'd be interested in anyone from Apple coming to talk to me and we can talk about how I met 12-, 13-, and 14-year-olds working at the plant on their devices and interviewed them, and they can explain to me what complexity it is that I'm not understanding. I'd be very interested in that conversation. We've gotten so used to ever-cheaper tech gadgets. Is it also going to take a change in our culture as consumers to produce better working conditions Do we need to be willing to pay more Daisey: This is one of the saddest parts of this entire story that people don't fully appreciate, and is actually focused on more in the version of the show that's happening now versus the one in Portland. It's actually almost totally pathetic because the news coverage always talks about this like we cannot speak of any of this without endlessly talking about the cost that we'll be paying for the devices.  The vast majority of the people I spoke with who had serious problems in Shenzhen, their problems are because there are no labor standards, because we let our corporations be loose there and do whatever they want to the people. Labor laws don't actually equal incredibly increased expenses. For example, while I was in the country there, someone worked a 32-hour shift at Foxconn and then died from overwork. It does not require a lot more money to keep people from working to death.  So I think it's the height of disingenuousness when people raise their hands to say, well, [the devices] will be so much more expensive now. They don't know anything. The problem is that people making these devices are not valued as human beings. They're valued as machines. They're machines that are used until they break down and then they're thrown away. The heart of it has much less to do with how much people are making per hour and a lot more to do with the circumstances under which the devices are made. &quot;I love Apple more than any other company that has ever existed. I love the design. I love the devices, and I think it's a rare opportunity for someone to see someone who speaks their language in a context where they might learn about something, they might be shaken awake to something that impacts every part of their lives.&quot;  When I was in the country, Foxconn eventually responded to the rash of suicides. Their big response was that they raised wages across the board by 30 percent. And it was amazing to watch all the press, all the tech press' they said, well, they're dealing with it. Not one person thought for a moment about how if you can raise your labor costs 30 percent overnight without blinking then something is wrong. No one thought that. The lack of critical thinking on these issues from the journalists who ostensibly cover them, it is appalling. We have not done our job to cover this story in any way. As a consequence, people do not understand what's at stake or what's happening. You don't think boycotts are the answer, but have your buying habits changed since your trip to China Daisey: They have. It's all a work in progress, like I suspect it is for everyone. I take a lot less joy in technology than I did, so I find myself making less impulsive purchases. I find myself really weighing the cost, not just the cost in money for me, but the cost of the device being made. And that changes the equation about whether or not I need it. Last summer you took the show to India, including in Hyderabad where the audience included Microsoft employees and business students. What kind of feedback did you get Daisey: A lot of it was very illuminating for me. I didn't realize how the show is a product of my own culture, so I didn't realize how much of a problem Americans have with China. I hadn't fully understood that we are so terrified of China. We are terrified of what it signifies. We are terrified about the future. We're terrified about losing power. We're terrified about our ethical implications, but we don't want to talk about any of these things. So we're very, very conflicted about China.  But in India they're not conflicted about China. It's fascinating for them, but they know these stories already. I had these educational events while I was there and talked to 40 to 50 people at a time. We'd all sit in circles and talk about storytelling and the nature of this kind of performance. I would tell these students, teachers, academics, and people in technology that the average American has never heard the word Shenzhen, that they have no idea what city that is. No one could believe me. They thought that was the most ludicrous thing they had ever heard, the idea that we could be so dislocated that we don't know the name of the city where all our [stuff] comes from. I think they're right about that.You work from an outline, not a script. How much has the show changed since you first performed it last summer In light of the news that Steve Jobs is taking another medical leave, have you made any notable changes in the show Daisey: It changes constantly. It's been evolving since we started working on it. And there have been changes since he left day-to-day operations at Apple, but it's actually hard to tell if those changes are directly connected to that news. That news is huge but at the same time, [the show] sort of traces the arc of an era at Apple with Steve that is ending. And it posits this transformation from the hobbyist to the consumer, and it sort of posits that that transformation is pretty much complete now.  I feel like Steve leaving day-to-day operations at Apple is really just the period at the end of that sentence. It just intensifies the circumstances under which the show is already making its arguments, that an era of titans in technology who have verve and personality is passing into history and in its place is corporatism and all of its machinery. And sadly, those titans didn't succeed in having a vision to make a humanist future. That thing that Steve Jobs dreamed of as a young man, he sold that dream out. He didn't achieve that at all. I'd say that's his greatest failing. He may not recognize it as such but I'm confident that in time the world will. That a company that espouses such humanist values to have done business as usual, to have failed so entirely to &quot;think different,&quot; I don't think they'll be judged well historically for that. Unless, of course, they'd like to change.  And I think change is eminently possible and that's the whole reason that I want to put pressure on them and the rest of the electronics industry. We are the sum of the choices we make. This isn't even about dollars and cents in many cases. If the companies put people on the ground, were dedicated to these ends, actually believed that it was important that workers be treated humanely, if they actually did those things, change would occur. I just need to raise the consciousness of people until we as consumers are asking these questions full-throatedly back to the companies. And then I suspect they will begin to fully wake up. The beginning of the show's run at Berkeley Rep coincided with Macworld. Was there a conscious decision to do it then Daisey: It's mostly coincidental. We were already talking to Berkeley Rep about when they were thinking of doing the show. But I definitely took into account Macworld when looking at where the opening of the show would be so that the people going to Macworld who are very devoted to Apple would have an opportunity, if they're feeling adventurous, to hear the story. Because I love Apple. I love Apple more than any other company that has ever existed. I love the design. I love the devices, and I think it's a rare opportunity for someone to see someone who speaks their language in a context where they might learn about something, they might be shaken awake to something that impacts every part of their lives. My hope is some of the people, even if they're wary, even if they're feeling a little suspicious, might take a chance in coming onboard. I think they would really gain a lot if they were willing to do that. That was the hope, to extend an olive branch and open a door. How do you get people to the theater in the Digital Age Daisey: I'll tell you the secret: it's easier. It's easier for me anyway. I don't know what everyone else in the theater is going to do. I don't know what people are going to do who do traditional plays. I like a lot of traditional plays, but I like even more my theater to be live and living and relevant. The truth is, many people in technology don't appreciate this, when we speak to one another on our phones, even this conversation, the bandwidth of this connection is so thin compared to the bandwidth in a room in a living performance that is actually being spoken in front of you, that is not scripted, that is composed in the air between the audience and I. The bandwidth is so much more in those spaces than it is through any of the technology we know. I love technology. [But] it's entirely insufficient for what I need it to do at this time. It can't even remotely approach the live experience. I need that live experience because I believe even if I reach less people it opens the chance that I might reach them more deeply. I believe very strongly in the live experience because if I did not, I would make YouTube clips of the show and I would post them. And I'd be like, I'm all done. Instead I really believe in the refining fire of going through the show night after night. I learn about my ideas and my passions. I learn about my arguments by doing them again and again and in different ways, shifting and changing them. It's a remarkable way to live. It's a pleasure and it's an honor to get to do it with live audiences. And that's why I make the work I do. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[CES: Nvidia unveils site for 3D video, photos, sports]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-nvidia-unveils-site-for-3d-video-photos-sports</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-nvidia-unveils-site-for-3d-video-photos-sports</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-nvidia-unveils-site-for-3d-video-photos-sports</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Nvidia&amp;39's new site for showcasing and rating 3D content.(Credit:Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Graphics chipmaker Nvidia, eager to hasten the arrival of the 3D graphics era and spur demand for new 3D hardware, today unveiled a site for content called 3DVisionLive.At the site, people can share their own 3D photos and see more from professional photographers' watch short videos, trailers, and sports' and rate the content they see. The site supports Nvidia's 3D Vision technology and old-school anaglyph technology with the blue and red glasses.3D is a theme at CES this year--and not for the first time. Moving the industry is a massive undertaking that involves content creation, content distribution, and any number of hardware support and compatibility issues.&quot;The goal of 3DVisionLive.com is to create an online community where users can experience the best applications and content for 3D PCs,&quot; said Phil Eisler, general manager of 3D Vision, in a statement. &quot;Now photo and video professionals and enthusiasts will see the future of their profession or passion in 3D with an easy-to-use Web site.&quot;A quick glance at the site reveals some imagery that one might expect to appeal to the stereotypical gaming nerd who pays for premium graphics technology--photos of scantily clad women and stills from various video games. There also are plenty of landscape and other subjects with potentially broader appeal.Videos cover sporting subjects such as surfing, mountain biking, flying, and racing. Here, too, video game content and &quot;Bikini Carwash&quot; duke it out with nature documentaries for setting the tone.Nvidia announced the site at the Consumer Electronics Show, taking place this week in Las Vegas.Also at the show, Nvidia will demonstrate several new PCs and displays with 3D Vision.One will be the Asus All-in-One PC ET2400XVT, available now for sale online. It has a 23.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, multitouch display, a Blu-ray drive, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M GPU.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[23andMe lands $22M from Google Ventures and others to expand personal genetics research]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=23andme-lands-22m-from-google-ventures-and-others-to-expand-personal-genetics-research</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=23andme-lands-22m-from-google-ventures-and-others-to-expand-personal-genetics-research</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=23andme-lands-22m-from-google-ventures-and-others-to-expand-personal-genetics-research</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Personal genetics company 23andMe has raised $22 million in a third round of funding, according to a filing with the SEC. Founded by Anne Wojcicki, wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the company analyzes DNA to provide customers with personalized information on ancestry and genealogy.New investor Johnson &amp;amp' Johnson Development Corporation and existing investors New Enterprise Associates and Google Ventures participated in the round. 23andMe plans to use the funding to accelerate research and development.Based in Mountain View, Calif., 23andMe was founded in 2006 and has raised more than $44 million to date.Previous Story: TechShop gets $1.7M to expand workshops for inventorsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: 23andme, Google, Google Ventures, Johnson &amp;amp' Johnson Development Corporation, New Enterprise AssociatesPeople: Anne Wojcicki, Sergey Brin          Companies: 23andme, Google, Google Ventures, Johnson &amp;amp' Johnson Development Corporation, New Enterprise AssociatesPeople: Anne Wojcicki, Sergey BrinVentureBeat 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[Week in review: Apple&'s daylight saving bug]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=week-in-review-applersquos-daylight-saving-bug</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=week-in-review-applersquos-daylight-saving-bug</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=week-in-review-applersquos-daylight-saving-bug</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Herea4a4s our roundup of the weeka4a4s tech business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:Apple fails to fix iPhone Daylight Saving Time alarm bug for US &amp;8212' If you live in the US, we hope you didna4a4t rely on your iPhonea4a4s alarm clock to wake you up on Monday morning.Microsofta4a4s Kinect gaming control hacked already &amp;8212' Just a few days after the launch of Microsofta4a4s Kinect motion-sensing game system, hackers broke the security behind it.Gmail creator Paul Buchheit leaves Facebook for Y Combinator &amp;8212' Y Combinator, the increasingly famous Silicon Valley incubator, announced two new general partners Friday a4&quot; Gmail creator/FriendFeed co-founder Paul Buchheit and Harj Taggar, who was already working at YC as a startup advisor.The iPhone app is the Flash homepage of 2010 &amp;8212' In the late 1990s, it was common for companies to spend $50,000 to $150,000 for a Flash homepage that looked like a beautiful brochure. However, they soon learned that Flash was cumbersome, slow to load, expensive to build, and hard to update, and moved on to HTML. Guest columnist Peter Yared argues that the same trend is replaying itself on the iPhone.Amazona4a4s secret retail empire &amp;8212' Jeff Bezos has a loud laugh. But Amazon.coma4a4s founder and CEO is keeping quiet about his expansion efforts, which now include sites as varied as BuyVIP.com, Zappos, and as of Monday, Diapers.com.And here are five more posts we think are important, thought-provoking, fun, or all of the above:Attention, flight-search startups: Priceline, Expedia say hotels are where ita4a4s at &amp;8212' Are todaya4a4s flight-focused travel-search startups like Hipmunk trying to solve the wrong problemWhy Windows Phone 7a4a4s first day sales numbers dona4a4t matter &amp;8212' Following a flurry of online speculation about the sales of Microsofta4a4s new mobile platform, VentureBeata4a4s Devindra Hardawar said hea4a4s becoming convinced that the actual first day sales dona4a4t matter.Are fleet sales the future of electric cars GE will take 25,000, please &amp;8212' GE announced plans this week to make the largest purchase in the history of electric vehicles a4&quot; 25,000 cars by 2015.Privacy on social networks a concern for old, not young &amp;8212' Concerns about privacy on social networks have increased drastically since a year ago among older users, but not younger ones, a new study shows.Will RockMelta4a4s social features shake up the browser market &amp;8212' Therea4a4s been a flood of news coverage for RockMelt, a new Web browser thata4a4s just opening to the public. The response isna4a4t surprising, since the founders have big ambitions and have been validated with funding from Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape. But therea4a4s been some backlash too, in part because RockMelta4a4s promises sound awfully familiar.Previous Story: How Facebooka4a4s partnership with Bing will change SEOPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: electric cars, iPhone, iPhone 4, Kinect, Microsoft Kinect, privacy, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7Companies: Amazon.com, Apple, Expedia, GE, Hipmunk, Microsoft, Priceline, RockMelt, Y CombinatorPeople: Harj Taggar, Jeff Bezos, Marc Andreessen, Paul Buchheit          Tags: electric cars, iPhone, iPhone 4, Kinect, Microsoft Kinect, privacy, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7Companies: Amazon.com, Apple, Expedia, GE, Hipmunk, Microsoft, Priceline, RockMelt, Y CombinatorPeople: Harj Taggar, Jeff Bezos, Marc Andreessen, Paul BuchheitAnthony 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[First Look: Zynga Takes On Rivals With CityVille, A Casual Virtual&nbsp'Metropolis]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=first-look-zynga-takes-on-rivals-with-cityville-a-casual-virtualnbspmetropolis</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=first-look-zynga-takes-on-rivals-with-cityville-a-casual-virtualnbspmetropolis</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=first-look-zynga-takes-on-rivals-with-cityville-a-casual-virtualnbspmetropolis</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It&amp;'s time to meet the latest Zynga game that&amp;'s destined to join the ranks of Facebook&amp;'s most popular applications: CityVille. It&amp;'s SimCity meets FarmVille, and it&amp;'s got plenty ofa4scompetition.  CityVille isn&amp;'t quite finished yet a4&quot;a4sZynga says we can expect it to go live globally in the coming weeks a4&quot;a4sbut I got a chance to see a 45 minute demo, which was enough to get the gist of what users should expect. When it does launch, the game will be internationalized in German, Italian, Spanish and French, which will mark the company&amp;'s first global launch.Zynga&amp;'s entry into this genre isn&amp;'t a surprise: Digital Chocolate&amp;'s Millionaire City has 12.6 million monthly active users, making it one of the top games on Facebook' other competitors include Playfish&amp;'s My Empire, Crowdstara4a4s Hello City, and Playdoma4a4s Social City, along with many others. But despite the fact that it&amp;'s joining the fray months after its competition, CityVille is sure to see at least some success, because Zynga will be able to steer players of its existing mega-hits to the game.So does it look any good  Before I get into that, I should make it perfectly clear that I&amp;'m not the sort of person who enjoys FarmVille or FrontierVille a4&quot;a4sI like my games to involve a bit more strategy and thinking. And, from what I can tell, CityVille comes a little closer to what I&amp;'m looking for. It&amp;'s no Civilization or SimCity, but this is probably Zynga&amp;'s &amp;8216'smartest&amp;' game yet.If you&amp;'ve played SimCity or any of the aforementioned social city building games, CityVille will feel pretty intuitive. After firing up the game you&amp;'ll be walked through a series of introductory missions the instruct you to lay down roads and plot out your first houses and businesses. As your population grows you&amp;'ll see an increasing number of people wandering around your town, and you&amp;'ll gradually gain access to new, more impressive looking buildings that will help you evolve your town into a virtual metropolis.And you can&amp;'t just start arranging your city willy-nilly, either. Well, actually you probably can, but if you put some thought into it, you&amp;'ll find it grows more quickly. That&amp;'s because each building and decorative item you place can affect the value of the area around it. There&amp;'s also some basic micromanagment around each business&amp;'s supply chain. And from a visual perspective this is Zynga&amp;'s best looking game a4&quot; buildings are rendered as 3D sprites, and you can rotate them depending on where you want to place them (this is the first Zynga game to use 3D).Zynga claims this is their most social game yet. As with Zynga&amp;'s other games this social element is still asynchronous (i.e., you aren&amp;'t actually playing the game with a friend in real-time). But there are a few additions that boost your interaction with friends. The biggest is the ability to allow a friend to run a business located in your city. They have to ask for permission, but once you&amp;'ve granted it, your friend will control that business&amp;'s operations. I&amp;'m told that they can&amp;'t really run the business into the ground (it will still do fine even if they never log in), but if you work with friends who are especially attentive, you&amp;'ll benefit more. You can also exchange goods with friends using the game&amp;'s transit system, which includes trains and ships.One interesting point: in FarmVille and most of Zynga&amp;'s other popular games, you get punished when you don&amp;'t log into the game frequently enough (in FarmVille your plants start to die off).  CityVille isn&amp;'t employing this kind of punishment mechanic a4&quot;a4syour city won&amp;'t grow as quickly if you aren&amp;'t tending to it often, but it doesn&amp;'t start falling to shambles over time, either. a4sThat sounds less stressful, but it could possibly lead to less engagement over time. One thing I&amp;'ve learned from my experience with other city simulations is that once you&amp;'ve achieved a decently high level a4&quot; enough to access most of the more impressive buildings a4&quot;a4sthe appeal of the game wears off quickly.But Zynga has a few tricks up its sleeve to keep gamers interested. The biggest is a mission system a4&quot;a4sfrom the moment you start playing the game, you&amp;'re given tasks to complete. These run from the very basic (build a coffee shop) to much more involved a4&quot;a4sone story arc involves an archeological dig, which of course requires you to revamp the layout of your city.One last, completely hilarious, thing to note: Zynga says CityVille will let you uproot trees and plant them somewhere else on your plot of land instead of demolishing them, allowing for a more eco-friendly experience than FrontierVille, which only lets you chop them down. I think they&amp;'re serious.CrunchBase InformationZyngaInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Microsoft says 2.5M Kinect motion-sensing units sold in first 25 days on market]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-says-2-5m-kinect-motion-sensing-units-sold-in-first-25-days-on-market</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-says-2-5m-kinect-motion-sensing-units-sold-in-first-25-days-on-market</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-says-2-5m-kinect-motion-sensing-units-sold-in-first-25-days-on-market</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Thanks to strong demand over the Black Friday weekend, Microsoft said it has sold more than 2.5 million units of its Kinect motion-sensing system for the Xbox 360.The sales numbers show that Kinect is proving to be a big hit since its debut 25 days ago. Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, said the company is on pace to hit its forecast for 5 million units sold by the end of the year. The hands-free game control system is Microsoft&amp;'s latest bid to dominate the living room in its ongoing battle with Sony and Nintendo. Kinect has a 3D motion-sensing camera that allows you to control a game with body movements, without the need to hold a game controller in your hands.&amp;''Kinect on Xbox 360 was a top performer at Target this weekend,&amp;'' said Nik Nayar, vice president, merchandising, at the Target retail chain. &amp;''We expect Kinect will be a must-have gift this holiday season, so Target will continue to receive consistent shipments of Kinect throughout December.&amp;''Kinect is now available at more than 60,000 retailers in 38 countries. Nintendo, for its part, said this morning it sold 900,000 DS handheld units and 600,000 Wii consoles during the week of Black Friday. Sony has said its PlayStation Move motion-sensing wand units are in short supply as well, but it has not disclosed any sales numbers, beyond saying the company shipped 1 million units to retailers in its first 30 days. It&amp;'s a safe bet to assume that Microsoft is coming out on top among the console makers in the current round of competition.Kinect isn&amp;'t perfect, as we noted in our review of the system. But we do expect it to be one of the top gifts of the holidays because it offers a kind of magical, easy-to-learn experience for people who don&amp;'t consider themselves to be gamers.Next Story: Screach takes social TV beyond check ins Previous Story: Microsoft developing a touchscreen that lets you feel objectsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Kinect, Playstation Move, wiiCompanies: Microsoft, nintendo, SonyPeople: Don Mattrick          Tags: Kinect, Playstation Move, wiiCompanies: Microsoft, nintendo, SonyPeople: Don MattrickDean 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>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Daily deals site 1SaleaDay raises tens of millions]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=daily-deals-site-1saleaday-raises-tens-of-millions</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=daily-deals-site-1saleaday-raises-tens-of-millions</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=daily-deals-site-1saleaday-raises-tens-of-millions</guid>
<description><![CDATA[1SaleaDay, a daily deals company that seems to be flying under the tech pressa4a4s radar, just announced that it has raised what it calls a a4Amassive capital injection.a4A company spokesperson wouldna4a4t give me an exact funding amount, but said it was a4Aa high 8-figure numbera4, i.e., in the tens of millions of dollars.There are obviously tons of popular daily deals services online, led by group deals site Groupon. 1SaleaDay says that across its five sites (1SaleaDay.com, Shadora.com for jewelry, Bena4a4s Outlet for electronics, Dynamite Time for watches, and GlassesUnlimited.com for watches) it reaches 1.5 million customers.Herea4a4s how founder and chief executive Ben Federman described the way his company stacks up against the competition:As far as all the other deal-a-day sites, there are many. A few small ones, there are very few that are as large as we are. What sets us apart from all the other sites is that we follow the integrity of the day-to-day deal. We make sure that, even when we have an item that we&amp;'re able to markup a little bit, we intentionally don&amp;'t a4&quot; we stick to our small margins and move more volume than anything, and make sure the customer is satisfied.We never say, let&amp;'s take an item today, since we have 350,000 people, and mark it up $5 or $10 a4&quot; we just don&amp;'t do that. Everything has to be at the best offered price. So we&amp;'re essentially pushing the wholesale cost to the customer with a very small markup, and people love it. Some days, we&amp;'re even willing to lose money to attract people. The funding comes from Optima Ventures, an affiliate of Optima International. Optima and 1SaleaDay are now teaming up to form Octagon Commerce, a parent company that owns all five sites and will launch new social media and e-commerce products. (For more thoughts about social commerce, see my write-up of One Kings Lane CEO Doug Macka4a4s comments earlier today.)Previous Story: DEMO: QPrize winner Enterproid is the mullet haircut for Android phonesPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: daily dealsCompanies: 1SaleaDay, Octagon Commerce, Optima International, Optima VenturesPeople: Ben Federman          Tags: daily dealsCompanies: 1SaleaDay, Octagon Commerce, Optima International, Optima VenturesPeople: Ben FedermanAnthony 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[Google launches counterattack on malware with fixes and &''remote kill&'']]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-launches-counterattack-on-malware-with-fixes-and-8220remote-kill8221</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-launches-counterattack-on-malware-with-fixes-and-8220remote-kill8221</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-launches-counterattack-on-malware-with-fixes-and-8220remote-kill8221</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Earlier this week, 58 malicious apps were discovered on the Android Market, causing deep embarrassment to Google and considerable alarm for users whose data was compromised.Now Google has responded with an update to the situation. The company says that the malicious apps were downloaded to 260,000 devices before Google removed them on Tuesday evening. Google says that device-specific information was compromised. The phone&amp;'s IMEI number (which identifies a device) was leaked, but no other personal data or account information was transferred by the rogue apps. The whole incident has created a big scare about mobile security' and if users are scared about the safety of apps, they may not download as many of them, and that will hurt commerce on Google&amp;'s fast-growing Android platform.Tonight, Google is going to initiate a &amp;''remote kill&amp;'' function that lets it zap applications on any infected phones from afar. The user doesn&amp;'t have to do anything. Google will automatically send a security update to the infected devices that should remove the malware, known as a root kit. Users will receive an email notification about it.But Google can&amp;'t automatically patch the security problem that made the malware possible in the first place. Phone companies and phone makers have to distribute the patch to their users. They can take Google&amp;'s patch and push it to users. Google says that the vulnerability is present only in versions 2.2.1 of the Android operating system, and lower.Google said it is taking steps to stop this from happening again. But it&amp;'s not saying what it is doing. Clearly, it seems like a flaw that Google can&amp;'t push an urgent security patch directly to users.The whole reason this happened in the first place is that Google doesn&amp;'t screen apps. Rather, it institutes some security for users by requiring apps to notify users with alerts whenever they intend to access sensitive information on a phone such as the user&amp;'s contacts. By contrast, Apple approves apps.Previous Story: RIM marketing chief drops out weeks ahead of PlayBook launchPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android, Android Market, apps, malwareCompanies: Google          Tags: Android, Android Market, apps, malwareCompanies: GoogleDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>
