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<title>Haaze.com / PhognogUnlaro / Published News</title>
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<pubDate>Sat, 07 May 2011 07:10:10 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Sony: More testing needed before PlayStation relaunch]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-more-testing-needed-before-playstation-relaunch</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-more-testing-needed-before-playstation-relaunch</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 07 May 2011 07:10:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PhognogUnlaro</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-more-testing-needed-before-playstation-relaunch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Click image to check out CNET's complete coverage of the PlayStation breach.Sony's breachedPlayStation Network may well be offline longer than the company had expected, according to a Sony executive.In a post on Sony's PlayStation.Blog late yesterday, Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications and social media for the company, said Sony was still performing security checks on the system and that it might not be back up and running in the originally announced timeframe. Part of the problem, Seybold said, has been the hitherto unknown size of a breach of the Sony Online Entertainment gaming network, discovered during Sony's investigation into the PlayStation intrusion.&quot;When we held the press conference in Japan last week, based on what we knew, we expected to have the services online within a week,&quot; Seybold wrote. &quot;We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system.&quot;Meanwhile, the company said today that on Thursday it removed 2,500 customer names and partial addresses that had been&amp;nbsp'stolen by hackers and posted on a Sony Web site. The names belonged to mostly U.S. customers who had entered a contest in 2001.&amp;nbsp'Sony said the Web site was &quot;out of date and inactive&quot; when discovered and that the company took the page down. CNET reported on Thursday that hackers were planning to break into an unspecified Sony Web site this weekend and post information gleaned from the attack somewhere online.PlayStation chief Kaz Hirai said last Saturday that most services on the PlayStation Network would be restored &quot;within the week,&quot; including online game play for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable' chat functionalities' and the ability to play downloaded movies from PSN and to play unexpired movie rentals through PSN and Qriocity. Hirai said the company hoped to restore the entire network, including the PlayStation Store and purchasing features, &quot;within the month.&quot;The network went down in late April and it took Sony about a week to notify customers that the system had been breached by an unknown entity, who gained access to millions of customers' personal data--including, perhaps, credit card information. The company has since been criticized--by members of Congress, among others--for keeping customers in the dark and for what some see as lax security measures.Related links &amp;149' PSN breach exposes records of millions (roundup) &amp;149' Exclusive: Third attack against Sony planned &amp;149' Sony CEO Stringer apologizes for PlayStation breach &amp;149' Did Sony know its security was outdated &amp;149' Sony says planted file in attack was named 'Anonymous'On Thursday, CEO Howard Stringer apologized for the outage and breach and attempted to explain Sony's delayed response. The company also announced details regarding third-party identity-theft monitoring services it will offer free to U.S. customers affected by the breach. In yesterday's post, Seybold didn't say when the system would be back online.&quot;We've begun the process of restoring the service through internal testing of the new system,&quot; he wrote. &quot;We're still working to confirm the security of the network infrastructure, as well as working with a variety of outside entities to confirm with them the security of the system. Verifying the system security is vital for the process of restoration. Additional comprehensive system checks and testing are still required, and we must complete that process before bringing the systems online.&quot;CNET's Erica Ogg contributed to this report.Updated at 6:17 p.m. PDTwith details about the posting and removal of some customer information.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[IBM: 'Internet of things' to improve infrastructure]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ibm-internet-of-things-to-improve-infrastructure</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ibm-internet-of-things-to-improve-infrastructure</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:10:44 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PhognogUnlaro</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ibm-internet-of-things-to-improve-infrastructure</guid>
<description><![CDATA[WALTHAM, Mass.--Even as much of the tech world fixates on running out of Internet addresses, Deborah Magid from IBM's venture capital group predicts many more devices not traditionally considered computers will join the Internet.I met with Magid, who is the director of software strategy at IBM's Venture Capital group, when she was in the Boston area last week to hear about IBM's view of software start-ups and new technology. Not surprisingly, IBM is tracking software advances in mobile, cloud computing, and health care, but the energy field and technologies to improve basic infrastructure figure highly as well. IBM is seeking to work with governments around the world to tackle societal problems on big projects, such as improving water distribution systems, reducing city traffic congestion, or making the electric grid more reliable and efficient. The computing giant, which makes more than half of its revenue from consulting-led engagements, is also involved in environmental projects, such as monitoring water quality in Galway Bay in Ireland and the Hudson River in New York.In many of these projects, the proliferation of computing power into more and more devices, often called the &quot;Internet of things,&quot; opens up new possibilities. &quot;You can put technology into places that you could never do before,&quot; said Magid, who says there are already trillions of sensors in use today. &quot;Then you have a foundation to do things that many customers don't realize is possible.&quot;Companies, including IBM, have been talking about the Internet of things, or pervasive computing, for many years. But cheaper processors and a higher penetration of broadband networking is making that idea more of a reality, if gradually. The growth of cloud-computing services feeds the trend because embedded processors can now report data to back-end computers systems.For example, adding more sophisticated sensors along the transmissions lines of the electricity grid can collect electricity data, such as voltage and current, and alert grid operators to potential problems before they occur. There are more consumer-facing applications of the Internet of things, or pervasive computing, too. IBM is involved in a project in Barcelona, Spain, where parking meters convey information to alert drivers where free parking spaces are open, Magid said. Municipal leaders are pursuing the project because it improves productivity and reduces carbon pollution by 20 percent to 30 percent, she said.For IBM, more data-producing processors create demand for back-end hardware and software in the cloud to handle the data. For the Barcelona project to work well, the system needs sophisticated algorithms based on driving patterns at different times of the day and other factors. One of the small software companies that IBM has sought to work with is U.K.-based World Sensing, which makes a software platform for writing applications that collect sensor data.The sheer amount of data that non-computer devices produce requires a heavy dose of analytical software, too. IBM has bought a number of software companies in this field, including Cognos, DataPower, and Neteeza.For example, a building or data center which is instrumented to use energy more efficiently by monitoring conditions in the physical setting cannot rely on people to read the data and configure heating and cooling for efficiency. Instead, the building management systems need to interface with the computing systems to make changes automatically or notify building managers of a problem. &quot;This is one big information management problem. A lot of it is pulling information and monitoring it. It's piles of stuff that no human could possibly understand,&quot; Magid said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[PlayStation Phone may carry Xperia branding]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=playstation-phone-may-carry-xperia-branding</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=playstation-phone-may-carry-xperia-branding</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PhognogUnlaro</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=playstation-phone-may-carry-xperia-branding</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Might the Playstation Phone be marketed under the Xperia brand instead(Credit:PocketNow)A handful of new PlayStation Phone rumors surfaced this week, adding to a long list of unconfirmed reports surrounding the device.The latest gossip concerns the smartphone's eventual name. According to information uncovered by Pocket-Now, Sony Ericsson has registered for trademarks on Xperia Play, Xperia Neo, Xperia Duo, and Xperia Arc. It's possible that the Xperia Play could refer to the device itself or an umbrella of services related to the phone.The Unofficial Xperia X10 blog also discovered that a Sony Ericsson PR firm had registered the XperiaPlay.com, XperiaPlay.net, and XperiaPlay.org domain names. Again, it could be specific to the device, or it could be part of a user experience or portal.It's unknown when we'll actually see the handset, though a Mobile World Congress debut looks to be the most likely scenario. Indeed, we've heard from Sony Ericsson representatives that the company plans to make a big splash at the annual event, hinting at their &quot;most anticipated presentation of the last 10 years.&quot; This matches up with details provided by a Pocket-Lint source, which suggests that the phone will arrive in shops in April, following a February launch.I don't know about you, but I think the phone would sell much better underPlayStation branding. The Xperia name hasn't made much of an impact yet, especially in the United States.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft and Google&'s war takes to the skies]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-and-googlersquos-war-takes-to-the-skies</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-and-googlersquos-war-takes-to-the-skies</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PhognogUnlaro</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-and-googlersquos-war-takes-to-the-skies</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft a4&quot; along with a number of other new companies a4&quot; has joined an increasingly large bandwagon trying to keep Google from purchasing ITA, a provider of flight information for search engines, for $700 million.Google is looking to acquire the flight data provider for around $700 million to improve results for Web users making travel plans. The deal seems innocuous enough a4&quot; Google said it had no plans to sell plane tickets and would direct Google search users to other sites to purchase tickets. Still, a number of companies including travel search company Expedia and Microsoft, which runs search rival Bing, have launched the Fair Search Coalition to try to stop the acquisition.Keeping Web surfers on search sites for as long as possible has become the new game for search providers like Microsoft and Google. Google&amp;'s added a lot of functions to the search engine that offer direct answers. Searchers can drop in simple mathematical equations and questions about things like sports scores and get direct answers on Google&amp;'s search page. Google also already embeds some flight data in its search engine, as does Bing.The acquisition of ITA promises to make Google&amp;'s data more accurate and up to date than it already is. That can prove to be the deciding factor that keeps a search user on the page long enough to leave an impression and generate some ad revenue. Multiply that by the number of people who use Google search on a daily basis, and it adds up to a ton of additional revenue for Google. So it makes sense why Google is paying $700 million for the data, and why Microsoft would love to stop the deal and get a slice of that information.The coalition argues that it would increase prices and drive down competition and business innovation, but it really all boils down to advertising revenue.Travel is a huge part of e-commerce a4&quot; worth around $80 billion a year, according to the Wall Street Journal report. ITAa4a4s software handles around 65 percent of all e-commerce flight bookings, and travel advertising accounted for about 6 percent of all online advertising revenue, according to thecoalitiona4a4s website, FairSearch.org. Stealing just a small slice of that a4&quot; which Google probably already owns a large part of a4&quot; represents a significant financial gain.Next Story: Media6Degrees raises $17M to aim ads at social audiences Previous Story: CES preview: A bigger show with everything from connected TVs to smart grid monitorsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Bing, Bing Search, e commerce, flight search, Google Search, travel searchCompanies: Expedia, Google, Microsoft, Priceline          Tags: Bing, Bing Search, e commerce, flight search, Google Search, travel searchCompanies: Expedia, Google, Microsoft, PricelineMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[VCs flocking to mobile photos: Instagram raises $7M]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vcs-flocking-to-mobile-photos-instagram-raises-7m</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vcs-flocking-to-mobile-photos-instagram-raises-7m</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PhognogUnlaro</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vcs-flocking-to-mobile-photos-instagram-raises-7m</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Instagram, the startup behind a popular iPhone application for editing and sharing photos, just announced that it has raised $7 million in funding led by Benchmark Capital.Back in December, I heard that Instagram was raising funding from Benchmark, although the deal wasna4a4t closed yet. Instagram said today that Benchmarka4a4s Matt Cohler, who was formerly Facebooka4a4s vice president of product management and has been described as a close advisor to CEO Mark Zuckerberg during Facebooka4a4s early days, is joining Instagrama4a4s board of directors.Instagram also unveiled some famous new angel investors, including Quora co-founder/former Facebook chief technology officer Adam Da4a4Angelo, Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey, and Lowercase Capitala4a4s Chris Sacca.Ia4a4ve already been impressed by the speed of Instagrama4a4s growth, and the San Francisco startup shared more numbers today &amp;8212' it said it now has nearly 2 million registered users who post more than 290,000 photos per day. Again, thata4a4s less than four months after the app first launched.Instagram launched at around the same time as two other high-profile mobile photo apps &amp;8212' Path and Picplz. All three companies now have high-profile backing. Andreessen Horowitz invested in Picplz (the firm also backed Instagram back when it was focused on location app Burbn, but partner Marc Andreessen said he will take a passive role in Instagram), and yesterday Path announced funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers.Noticeably absent from the investor lineup is Sequoia Capital, which was earlier rumored to be backing Instagram. Sequoia did end up investing in blogging service Tumblr, which is so photo-heavy that it could be seen as a photo-sharing site.Next Story: How to maximize the value of your organizationa4a4s IP investment Previous Story: News Corp. launches The Daily iPad newspaper with ApplePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: mobile photo-sharing, mobile photosCompanies: Benchmark Capital, Instagram, Lowercase CapitalPeople: adam dangelo, Chris Sacca, Jack Dorsey, Matt Cohler          Tags: mobile photo-sharing, mobile photosCompanies: Benchmark Capital, Instagram, Lowercase CapitalPeople: adam dangelo, Chris Sacca, Jack Dorsey, Matt CohlerAnthony 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>
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<title><![CDATA[After winning Game of the Year, BioWare shares details on upcoming Mass Effect 3 (video)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=after-winning-game-of-the-year-bioware-shares-details-on-upcoming-mass-effect-3-video</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=after-winning-game-of-the-year-bioware-shares-details-on-upcoming-mass-effect-3-video</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PhognogUnlaro</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=after-winning-game-of-the-year-bioware-shares-details-on-upcoming-mass-effect-3-video</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Last night, BioWare&amp;'s Mass Effect 2 video game beat out Rockstar&amp;'s Red Dead Redemption, the big favorite, to win Game of the Year at the 14th annual Interactive  Achievement Awards.That sets the stage for Mass Effect 3, which BioWare, a division of Electronic Arts, will publish later this year. Mass Effect 3 has the potential to be one of the year&amp;'s blockbusters, as the sci-fi game series is gaining momentum and spreading to more platforms more quickly with each installment.Mass Effect&amp;'s popularity shows that a game with deep storytelling and lots of action can still hold the attention of gamers, who have a lot of choices these days.It is also a critical series for Electronic Arts, which hasn&amp;'t had the best of luck in creating long-lasting franchises in its more recent history. By contrast, Activision Blizzard has scored big with its World of WarCraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Call of Duty franchises. To keep up with Activision Blizzard, EA&amp;'s BioWare division has become a critical asset.We talked with the BioWare founders at the Dice Summit video game conference in Las Vegas, where they offered a little tease on the next installment of the Mass Effect series that started in 2007.Muzyka says that innovating in the game play is still a priority for BioWare, just as the company innovated in the leap from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 by allowing users to import the major decisions they made in the original game into the second game. The ramifications of those decisions altered the course of the story for the second game.You can expect to see more exploration of the universe as well as the defense of Earth itself as the villains, known as the Reapers, take the fight to the homeworld of the human race. I&amp;'m looking forward to seeing whether BioWare can make further breakthroughs in making the game more movie-like, making the human characters more graphically realistic, and improving the quality of the artificial intelligence behind non-player characters. BioWare has innovated on those fronts before.Luckily, the entire Mass Effect series will have the luxury of being made on one generation of consoles, since the first game debuted on the Xbox 360 and the second and third will be able to as well. (EA is supporting the PC and PlayStation 3 as well). That means that BioWare can concentrate on game play and story for Mass Effect 3, rather than have to worry about inventing a new technology for a new game console. This kind of game making, where the focus is on the craft of making a game, is similar to movie making, where the focus is on creating a great movie rather than inventing a new camera with every film.The best game award was a sweet coincidence as BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame on the same night. Mass Effect 2 also won for best story and best role-playing game.Here&amp;'s the full list of award winners below, and check out the video with Muzyka (pictured left) and Zeschuk (pictured right) below.Game of the Year: Mass Effect 2Role Playing / MMO Game of the Year: Mass Effect 2Outstanding Achievement in Story: Mass Effect 2Lifetime Achievement Award: Bing GordonPioneer Award: Bill Budge, early employee at Electronic Arts and engineer at GoooleOutstanding Achievement in Animation: God of War IIIOutstanding Achievement in Art Direction: Red Dead RedemptionOutstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering: Heavy RainOutstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering: Red Dead RedemptionOutstanding Character Performance: Red Dead RedemptionFamily Game of the Year: Dance CentralRacing Game of the Year: Need for Speed: Hot PursuitOutstanding Innovation in Gaming: Heavy RainOutstanding Achievement in Original Music: Heavy RainOutstanding Achievement in Soundtrack: Rock Band 3Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design: LimboAdventure Game of the Year: LimboOutstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay: Starcraft II: Wings of LibertyAction Game of the Year: Red Dead RedemptionSports Game of the Year: FIFA 2011Fighting Game of the Year: Super Street Fighter IVStrategy/Simulation Game of the Year: Starcraft II: Wings of LibertyPortable Game of the Year: God of War: Ghost of SpartaCasual Game of the Year: Angry Birds HDSocial Game of the Year: CityVilleOutstanding Achievement in Game Direction: Red Dead RedemptionNext Story: Zoom! StumbleUpon traffic doubles in 6 months Previous Story: On the GreenBeat: GE buys wind turbine tech company, Solazyme to IPO soonPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3Companies: Bioware, Electronic ArtsPeople: Greg Zeschuk, Ray Muzyka          Tags: Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3Companies: Bioware, Electronic ArtsPeople: Greg Zeschuk, Ray MuzykaDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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