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<title>Haaze.com / Samgeogry / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Road Trip Pic of the Week, 2/3: What is this]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-23-what-is-this</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-23-what-is-this</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-23-what-is-this</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you know what this is and where this photograph was taken, you could win a prize in the Picture of the Week challenge.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)That is one huge, and very strange looking building, isn't it But what is it, 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 the answer, please e-mail it to me no later than 6 p.m. PT 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 the correct answer by the deadline. Please forgive me if you don't hear from me if you're not a winner. I get dozens of responses for each challenge. 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. However, now that it's 2011, I'm resetting the tally, and past two-time winners are eligible again. The Road Trip Picture of the Week challenge takes place each Thursday, and the photos could come from anywhere, not just Road Trip 2010 locations. Plus, they 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 last 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. And look for Road Trip 2011, which will be heading to Europe, coming this summer.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[True cost of a smartphone: Price plan comparison]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=true-cost-of-a-smartphone-price-plan-comparison</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=true-cost-of-a-smartphone-price-plan-comparison</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:10:57 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=true-cost-of-a-smartphone-price-plan-comparison</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As anyone who has bought one can tell you, the cost of a smartphone is more than just the initial price of the device. You also have monthly payments to deal with, for voice minutes, text messages, and of course, data. You can choose to either be frugal if you can squeak on by with the bare minimum or you can go for the pricier package if you want unlimited everything.In light of recent changes to smartphone data plans and in anticipation of potential new 4G plans, we've compiled and calculated the cheapest and most expensive pricing plans below to help you in your carrier decision. To keep things simple, we did not include corporate or family plans, and we also didn't include T-Mobile's no-contract price plan as the other carriers don't have a comparable model. All of the carriers have plans that range in between the cheapest and most expensive, but as these plans vary so widely from carrier to carrier, it was difficult to compare all of them. We decided that comparing just the cheapest and most expensive would be the most useful.We calculated the cheapest plans by adding up the cheapest of all the voice, messaging, and data options (we assumed that most smartphone users will want at least a basic messaging plan rather than no messaging plan at all). Conversely, we calculated the most expensive plans by adding up the most expensive of all three options. As all four major carriers require a data plan with their smartphones, we've also included that by default. Typically, the costliest plans include unlimited voice, messaging, and data. For the non-unlimited data plans, we've also included overage fee information.We also know a lot of smartphone users don't use a lot of talk minutes, but are ardent users of text and data, so we added up monthly plans with the lowest minutes but with unlimited text and/or data usage. Interestingly, only T-Mobile and Verizon have plans that don't require a voice plan at all. The Verizon one does let you make voice calls, but for 40 cents a minute, so it's for those who don't plan on making a lot of calls. Last but not least, we added the cost of mobile hotspot/portable tethering to the chart for those who have a smartphone that can be used as a 3G or 4G wireless hotspot or modem.NetworkSprint*T-MobileAT&amp;TVerizonCheapest bundle$79.99 for 450 minutes, and unlimited text and data*$59.99 for 500 minutes, unlimited text, and 200MB data$64.99 for 450 minutes, 1000 messages, and 200MB data$59.99 for 450 minutes, 250 messages, and 150MB dataCheapest bundle with unlimited textSee aboveSee above$74.99 for 450 minutes, unlimited text, and 200MB data$74.99 for 450 minutes, unlimited text, and 150MB dataCheapest bundle with unlimited data (or the highest data)See above$79.99 for 500 minutes, and unlimited text and data$74.99 for 450 minutes, 1000 messages, and 2GB data$74.99 for 450 minutes, 250 messages, and unlimited dataCheapest bundle with unlimited text AND dataSee aboveSee above$84.99 for 450 minutes, unlimited text, and 2GB data$89.98 for 450 minutes, and unlimited text and dataMost expensive bundle$109.99 for unlimited everything*$99.99 for unlimited everything$114.99 for unlimited voice, text, and 2GB data$119.98 for unlimited everythingOverage fees for non-unlimited data plansN/A200MB plan: 10 cents per MB with a maximum of $50 for data200MB plan: $15 for each additional 200MB' 2GB plan: $10 for each additional 1GB150MB plan: $15 for each additional 150MBData plan only (unlimited, no voice plan)N/A$49.99N/AN/A (see below)Data and messaging only (unlimited, no voice plan)N/AN/AN/A34.99. No voice plan, but you can make calls for $0.40 a minute.Mobile Hotspot/Tethering$29.99$14.99$20$20*We've added $10 to the Sprint plans due to the carrier's recent decision to implement a premium $10 monthly data add-on for smartphones.We understand all of the different pricing options can be confusing and we hope this chart is helpful to you. We admit that we were quite overwhelmed ourselves when researching this article--the carriers don't exactly make it easy. If you have anything to add, or if you have any questions, please reply in the comment thread below or send us an e-mail.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hertz adds more EV options]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hertz-adds-more-ev-options</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hertz-adds-more-ev-options</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:10:16 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hertz-adds-more-ev-options</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Hertz is adding 100 Coda EVs to its California rental fleet for 2011 as part of its Hertz Global EV initiative to introduce electric car options to its customers.(Credit:Hertz)Starting in 2011, Hertz will offer a total of 100 Coda EV sedans to its California rental fleet, the company announced Tuesday.Coda's four-door sedan gets between 90 and 120 miles on a single charge, and can be plugged in to a standard household outlet as well as a fast-charging EV station.The deal is part of the Hertz Global EV program, in which the company plans over a period of time to add all-electric vehicle options, EV charging stations, and a car-sharing program to its existing rental car business.In February, Hertz announced it was partnering with Nissan to offer the Leaf EV starting in 2011 at certain city rental locations in the U.S. and Europe. Then in September at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) the auto rental giant announced its Hertz Global EV program and commitment to promoting electric vehicles.Hertz already offers a &quot;Green Collection&quot; in its U.S. rental car lineup that includes the Smart ForTwo, the Toyota Prius, and the Nissan Altima hybrid, among others.In addition to offering an EV option to rental car customers, the change provides a showcase to participating automakers and a venue through which drivers interested in leasing or owning an EV can experience an extended test drive.Hertz' latest NeverLost GPS system informs drivers of the nearest Hertz drop-off location, in addition to offering weather updates, airport info, Yellow Pages listings, and typical GPS information. It's possible the company plans to also use the tool to inform EV drivers of the nearest available charging station.Hertz has repeatedly said that because it already has an established network of rental locations, it is in a unique position to get its clients--consisting of &quot;urban drivers, university students, travelers, and corporations&quot;--interested in electric vehicles.A recent study found that fleet buyers may have the biggest influence on whether electric vehicles are widely adopted.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Human brain has more switches than all computers on Earth]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=human-brain-has-more-switches-than-all-computers-on-earth</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=human-brain-has-more-switches-than-all-computers-on-earth</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=human-brain-has-more-switches-than-all-computers-on-earth</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The human brain is truly awesome.A typical, healthy one houses some 200 billion nerve cells, which are connected to one another via hundreds of trillions of synapses. Each synapse functions like a microprocessor, and tens of thousands of them can connect a single neuron to other nerve cells. In the cerebral cortex alone, there are roughly 125 trillion synapses, which is about how many stars fill 1,500 Milky Way galaxies.This is a visual reconstruction from array-tomography data of synapses in the mouse somatosensory cortex, which is responsive to whisker stimulation.(Credit:Stephen Smith/Stanford)These synapses are, of course, so tiny (less than a thousandth of a millimeter in diameter) that humans haven't been able to see with great clarity what exactly they do and how, beyond knowing that their numbers vary over time. That is until now.Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have spent the past few years engineering a new imaging model, which they call array tomography, in conjunction with novel computational software, to stitch together image slices into a three-dimensional image that can be rotated, penetrated and navigated. Their work appears in the journal Neuron this week.To test their model, the team took tissue samples from a mouse whose brain had been bioengineered to make larger neurons in the cerebral cortex express a fluorescent protein (found in jellyfish), making them glow yellow-green. Because of this glow, the researchers were able to see synapses against the background of neurons.They found that the brain's complexity is beyond anything they'd imagined, almost to the point of being beyond belief, says Stephen Smith, a professor of molecular and cellular physiology and senior author of the paper describing the study:One synapse, by itself, is more like a microprocessor--with both memory-storage and information-processing elements--than a mere on/off switch. In fact, one synapse may contain on the order of 1,000 molecular-scale switches. A single human brain has more switches than all the computers and routers and Internet connections on Earth.Smith adds that this gives us a glimpse into brain tissue at a level of detail never before attained: &quot;The entire anatomical context of the synapses is preserved. You know right where each one is, and what kind it is.&quot;While the study was set up to demonstrate array tomography's potential in neuroscience (which is starting to resemble astronomy), the team was surprised to find that a class of synapses that have been considered identical to one another actually contain certain distinctions. They hope to use their imaging model to learn more about those distinctions, identifying which are gained or lost during learning, after experiences such as trauma, or in neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's.In the meantime, Smith and Micheva are starting a company that is gathering funding for future work, and Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing has obtained a U.S. patent on array tomography and filed for a second.This four-minute video explores the pial (outer) surface of a mouse's cortex through all six layers and subcortical white matter to the adjoining striatum:<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Forget the Beatles, Garth Brooks still AWOL on iTunes]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=forget-the-beatles-garth-brooks-still-awol-on-itunes</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=forget-the-beatles-garth-brooks-still-awol-on-itunes</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:10:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=forget-the-beatles-garth-brooks-still-awol-on-itunes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple pitched today's announcement that The Beatles' music can now be downloaded from iTunes as a &quot;day you'll never forget.&quot; But in the wake of the news, many are responding that Apple overhyped the announcement and are reminding the company that many popular musical acts are still missing from iTunes.A search for Garth Brooks on iTunes yields only karaoke versions of his most popular songs. (Click to enlarge)(Credit:Screenshot by Erica Ogg/CNET)Garth Brooks: The biggest selling U.S. solo artist of all time--and second in overall album sales to, guess who, The Beatles--is still at loggerheads with Apple on the practice of selling albums online. In the past, he's stated he believes iTunes is &quot;killing&quot; music, and says he won't give in until Apple offers variable pricing and will allow more album-only downloads. A search for his name on iTunes reveals merely karaoke versions of some of his most popular hits. AC/DC: The Australian band has been vocal about its anti-iTunes stance for years. The band refuses to offer music through iTunes because it isn't interested in selling individual songs. In 2008, while promoting its album, Black Ice, which was sold only through Wal-Mart and the band's Web site, lead singer Brian Johnson took some swipes at Apple.&quot;Maybe I'm just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless 'em, it's going to kill music if they're not careful,&quot; Johnson told Reuters. &quot;It's a...monster, this thing. It just worries me. And I'm sure they're just doing it all in the interest of making as much...cash as possible. Let's put it this way, it's certainly not for the...love, let's get that out of the way, right away.&quot;AC/DC&amp;39's most recent album was purposely kept out of Apple&amp;39's music stores.(Credit:Last.FM)Kid Rock: Another artist opposed to selling his music track by track, Kid Rock, embraces some digital music outlets--but not iTunes. You can download his full albums only from Amazon.com and the Rhapsody MP3 store.Bob Seger: You can find one song from Seger in iTunes, &quot;Roll Me Away.&quot; There's a catch though: the song is part of the original &quot;Armageddon&quot; movie soundtrack, and while most other songs on the soundtrack can be bought individually, the only way to nab Seger's is to purchase the whole album. He, like many of his fellow holdouts, objects to single-song sales.Tool: Another group that doesn't want its songs sold off piecemeal, the L.A.-based prog rock band has kept its music from the clutches of Apple's online empire.Def Leppard: You can find the English group's classic &quot;Pour Some Sugar On Me&quot; on iTunes--but not its original version. Only covers of Def Leppard's hit are currently available on iTunes. Some of its albums have been sold through Apple's store in the past, but have been pulled.Those are the biggest names, but who else is missing Are there any other acts you'd still like to see in iTunes Let us know in the comments.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[U.S. Cellular to launch LTE network by 2012]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--cellular-to-launch-lte-network-by-2012</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--cellular-to-launch-lte-network-by-2012</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--cellular-to-launch-lte-network-by-2012</guid>
<description><![CDATA[U.S. Cellular offered additional details on its next-generation LTE network yesterday when a company exec said it would begin testing early next year. According to Steven Campbell, CFO and executive vice president, the regional carrier will select its first trial market in late 2011 with full commercial deployment following in 2012. Campbell made the remarks while speaking the Wells Fargo Technology, Media &amp; Telecom Conference in New York City.U.S. Cellular has yet to select an LTE equipment vendor, but Fierce Wireless reported that the carrier is open to securing deals with companies like Clearwire and Ligtsquad, particularly if they can provide additional spectrum. Campbell did not offer additional details and said only that the carrier was not feeling &quot;a sense of crisis or urgency.&quot;If the 2012 date holds, however, U.S. Cellular will be far behind its rivals in rolling out a next generation network (though carriers bill them as such, LTE and its the competing WiMax standard aren't officially 4G technologies). Sprint has steadily expanded its WiMax network since it debuted in Baltimore in 2008 and Verizon Wireless has promised to launch 38 LTE cities by the end of the year. Also, regional carrier MetroPCS now operates LTE service in Detroit, Dallas, and Las Vegas.As the the nation's sixth largest country after the &quot;big four&quot; (Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&amp;T) and MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular serves 6.1 million customers in 26 states scattered around the center of the country, New England, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southeast.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[California unveils greenhouse gas trading plan]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=california-unveils-greenhouse-gas-trading-plan</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=california-unveils-greenhouse-gas-trading-plan</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=california-unveils-greenhouse-gas-trading-plan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO--California unveiled its final draft of a market system to curb greenhouse gases, relaxing expected rules in the face of a weak economy in a measure that could set the tone for the nation's climate policy. By agreeing to give away virtually all necessary permits to factories and power plants when the scheme starts in 2012 rather than sell them at auction, the state with the biggest economy and population is acknowledging the challenges of double-digit unemployment--and the reality that pollution decreases as the economy slows. California aims to cap total emissions of gases linked to global warming and let factories and power plants trade for an ever-decreasing number of permits to emit gases. In theory, market forces will drive efficiency in the system, known as cap and trade. There is still a debate about the economic merits of the plan, which planners in the Friday draft (PDF) estimate will shave about 0.1 percent from annual state growth. Many Californians see such environmental regulation as positive for the economy by spurring &quot;green&quot; jobs. Voters on Tuesday could put on hold a climate change law, including the emissions market, but polls show the Proposition 23 challenge to the state's climate change law is set to be rebuffed. After the failure of federal climate legislation, the fate of California's law and the details of its cap-and-trade plan are seen as a U.S. turning point--either away from addressing climate change or toward stronger action. The state's 2006 law requires it to return to 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and the hobbled economy has produced fewer greenhouse gas emissions than expected, making the goal less onerous. The state agency planning cap-and-trade has responded in part by ignoring a suggestion by a panel of economists last year to auction off the emissions permits. Under the plan unveiled on Friday and likely to be adopted December 16 by the powerful Air Resources Board, the brunt of the market force will not be brought to bear for years. Planners say that by setting clear limits and clear rules for the scheme, it hits a compromise that will allow polluters flexibility to act, investors certainty, and it will improve the environment without causing economic disruption. The plan ensures easy compliance terms in early years, and planners reserve the right to give preferential terms to industries that are at risk of fleeing the state. Polluters will be given on average about 97 or 98 percent of the permits they will require in the first year, with a longer term goal of some 90 percent. In addition up to 8 percent of their permit needs could be met with so-called offset credits from projects that avoid emissions or soak up greenhouse gases--such as planting trees. The state will create as many permits as expected emissions in the first year, and it will set aside an average of 4 percent of permits over 2012-2020 to be sold if trading prices go too high. The reserve will be about 1 percent in 2012. Any permits auctioned by the state will cost at least $10 per tonne in the first year, rising to $15 in 2020. There will also be a range of ceiling prices each year, in case trade becomes too volatile, rising in steps between $40 and $50 per tonne in 2012 to a top range of $60 to $75 in 2020. Transportation fuels will not be covered until the second round of trade, starting in 2015, when roughly 85 percent of state emissions will be governed by cap-and-trade. California is part of an 11-member group of states and Canadian provinces, the Western Climate Initiative, which aims to start a joint trading scheme in 2012, beginning with a few members. A similar cap-and-trade system is in place in Europe and a limited scheme already is operating in the U.S. northeast. Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Kurani Interactive gets a shot of angel funding to get the Internet&'s opinion on the fly]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kurani-interactive-gets-a-shot-of-angel-funding-to-get-the-internetrsquos-opinion-on-the-fly</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kurani-interactive-gets-a-shot-of-angel-funding-to-get-the-internetrsquos-opinion-on-the-fly</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kurani-interactive-gets-a-shot-of-angel-funding-to-get-the-internetrsquos-opinion-on-the-fly</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Kurani Interactive, developer of the Opinionaided iPhone application, announced today that it has secured $275,000 in funding from crowdsourcing angel investor Chuck Chesler and Al Angrisani, a former CEO of market research companies.Opinionaided is an application for the iPhone and iPad that lets users post questions that any other user can answer. The idea is to get the consensus opinion of the Internet on matters ranging from fashion to which restaurant to visit. Users can post a picture and ask a question to go with it. Other Opinionaided users can then give the question a thumbs up, thumbs down or neutral vote and leave a comment with their vote.Active users can become experts in certain categories and will receive badges that flag them as experts. So if users aren&amp;'t convinced that the rest of the opinions are right, they can seek out the opinions of experts. There&amp;'s also a social networking element to the app. Users can become friends with other Opinionaided users and track their activity. Friends on Opinionaided can also chat in real time, similar to chat services on Facebook and other social networking sites.Opinionaided is one more app in a long line of question-and-answer applications that are seeing a lot of interest from investors. The biggest player in the space thus far is Quora, which has raised around $11 million so far. Facebook, the largest social network in the world, has also introduced a question-and-answer service.But a large component to the success of the Q&amp;amp'A service is how quickly users can get responses. Quora is particularly speedy, and Facebook actually includes a number of questions in the right rail on a news feed to generate quick responses. Opinionaided has so far generated around 6 million responses to 80,000 questions. Kurani Interactive said the application had 3 million responses to questions in the past week alone.The newest Q&amp;amp'A player on Apple&amp;'s App Store also looks like it has a bit of a jump on the rest of the market. Quora hasn&amp;'t released an official mobile application a4&quot; although there is a version of its site optimized for mobile Internet browsers. It was appealing enough to investors to pick up the angel funding, and that brings Kurani Interactive&amp;'s total funding up to $775,000 after an earlier seed funding round.Previous Story: LG releases first water treatment solutionPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: crowdsourcing, Q&amp;amp'A, question and answerCompanies: Kurani Ineractive, quoraPeople: Al Angrisani, Chuck Chesler          Tags: crowdsourcing, Q&amp;amp'A, question and answerCompanies: Kurani Ineractive, quoraPeople: Al Angrisani, Chuck CheslerMatthew 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[DataPop gets $1.7M to help marketers create the ads consumers want]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=datapop-gets-1-7m-to-help-marketers-create-the-ads-consumers-want</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=datapop-gets-1-7m-to-help-marketers-create-the-ads-consumers-want</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=datapop-gets-1-7m-to-help-marketers-create-the-ads-consumers-want</guid>
<description><![CDATA[DataPop, a startup that optimizes copy for online advertisements, has raised $1.7 million in a first round of funding. The round was led by Rincon Venture Partners with participation from IA Ventures, Momentum Ventures, Accelerator Ventures and a group of angel investors.DataPop can fine tune ads for marketers by combining business data like product SKUs, price, inventory and geo-specific deals with a consumer&amp;'s search intent. The technology allows marketers to quickly deploy custom ads that fit their audience. For example, if a consumer in Chicago searches for a 42 inch screen TV, DataPop may include a TV screen size in the ad, along with where that TV can be purchased and how many are in stock.Based in Los Angeles, the startup works with retailers and travel advertisers. CEO and co-founder Jason Lehmbeck said that though the additional processing may make individual ads more expensive than traditional ads, marketers on average have seen a 30 percent increase in sales and a 15 percent decrease in cost per sale because of DataPop&amp;'s creative optimization.Founded in 2008, the company is currently in private beta but is planning a full release for early 2011, and DataPop plans to use this latest funding to build its engineering team and scale the platform.Previous Story: Check out the user-friendly Firefox share button: F1PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: Accelerator Ventures, DataPop, IA Ventures, Momentum Ventures, Rincon Venture Partners          Companies: Accelerator Ventures, DataPop, IA Ventures, Momentum Ventures, Rincon Venture PartnersVentureBeat 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[Foursquare: 5 million users, 25,000 new ones a day]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=foursquare-5-million-users-25000-new-ones-a-day</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=foursquare-5-million-users-25000-new-ones-a-day</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=foursquare-5-million-users-25000-new-ones-a-day</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Foursquare cofounder and chief executive Dennis Crowley just took the stage at Le Web, an Internet conference held in Paris, France, and noted the company now has 5 million users, is adding 25,000 new users daily, and is seeing more than 2 million check-ins a day.The company recently announced it was expanding with a full team of engineers in San Francisco, California. The hiring is taking placein part to handle the companya4a4s monthly user growth of 30 percent. While the company noted it had more than 4.5 million users at that time, Crowley updated this number today to 5 million total users.The New York City-based company, founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding and currently has close to 40 employees.Next Story: AT&amp;038'T and Elster announce smart grid offering Previous Story: DocuSign ropes in $27M to continue domination of electronic signature spacePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: check-in, location, location based services, location-basedCompanies: FoursquarePeople: Dennis Crowley          Tags: check-in, location, location based services, location-basedCompanies: FoursquarePeople: Dennis CrowleyCody Barbierri is a social and digital media consultant. He works for Piehead and blogs about social media at Social Tab. (None of his posts are about clients or their competitors.) Reach him at Cody@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Cody on Twitter.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[IBM makes Corpus Christi into a smarter and more sustainable city]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ibm-makes-corpus-christi-into-a-smarter-and-more-sustainable-city</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ibm-makes-corpus-christi-into-a-smarter-and-more-sustainable-city</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ibm-makes-corpus-christi-into-a-smarter-and-more-sustainable-city</guid>
<description><![CDATA[IBM said today it has been helping to make the Texas city of Corpus Christi to make it into a smarter, more efficient, and environmentally sustainable city.The deal to help the city of 280,000 residents manage its future is part of IBM&amp;'s Smarter Planet business initiative, which promises to use state-of-the-art technology to transform cities. IBM will supply software to measure, monitor and improve the way the city manages water, roads, airport, parks, and utilities. The aim is to make the city staff smarter about evaluating problems and responding to them quickly. While it makes money for IBM, it could also improve the quality of life for residents and help make the city more environmentally sustainable.The software is aimed at automating paper processes and giving city departments and managers a dashboard for viewing the city in real-time, much like people do in simulation games such as SimCity. Steve Klepper, an administrative superintendent for Corpus Christi, said the software automates work orders and provides a real-time view of infrastructure, which includes a busy port, tourism, and higher education.Using IBM&amp;'s Maximo Asset Management software, the city analyzes the status of tens of thousands of physical assets such as water mains, traffic lights, bridges, park lawns, fire hydrants, garbage trucks and storm water ditches. IBM also supplies call center software, One Call Center, to speed responses to resident calls. During fiscal year 2009, the software, which is already in use, generated more than 45,000 electronic work orders from across the city. The city also uses bird&amp;'s-eye view mapping software from IBM&amp;'s partner Esri to show managers an aerial view of problems, color-coded by urgency.Previously, citizen calls were routed to departments on paper index cards before being entered into spreadsheets. The staff had no way to view the work history on each call. There was no way to accurately track how long it took to respond to problems. And without mapping, it wasn&amp;'t easy to see if problems were isolated or part of a larger problem. Now the city&amp;'s data is stored in digital form for more city staff to access, including workers who are out in the field and can only access the city&amp;'s networks via Wi-Fi wireless networking.IBM software also manages six wastewater treatment plants with millions of gallons of capacity. During one audit, the staff found that 33 percent of the department&amp;'s effort was devoted to resolving problems at 1.4 percent of customer sites.The city also studied 3,843 water main breaks over three years and found that smaller-thickness water mains represented a disproportionate share of the broken pipes. Now the city is replacing the mains with larger pipes.Besides Corpus Christi, IBM is also working on projects in 300 cities, including London, Stockholm, Sydney, Dublin and Amsteradm. Yep, sounds like SimCity to me, without the UFO invasions that tear up city blocks. Check out the video below.Previous Story: DEMO Early Bird deadline this WednesdayPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: SimCity, Smarter CitiesCompanies: IBM          Tags: SimCity, Smarter CitiesCompanies: IBMDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Reddit Chief Takes Flight To Hipmunk, Explains Why He&'s Leaving&nbsp'Now]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reddit-chief-takes-flight-to-hipmunk-explains-why-hersquos-leavingnbspnow</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reddit-chief-takes-flight-to-hipmunk-explains-why-hersquos-leavingnbspnow</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reddit-chief-takes-flight-to-hipmunk-explains-why-hersquos-leavingnbspnow</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This morning, top Reddit administrator/engineer Chrisa4sSlowe announced that he was leaving the social link sharing site to join Hipmunk, the flight search startup that closed a  hyper-competitive  angel round last month. Slowe joined Reddit back in 2005 as the company&amp;'s first employee a4sa4&quot; now he&amp;'ll be reunited with Reddit founders Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, both of whom are now at Hipmunk.But why is Slowe leaving nowReddit&amp;'s traffic has been hitting record highs in the wake of Digg&amp;'s failed redesign, so the timing on this seems strange. In a blog post announcing the move, Slowe writes that his &amp;''parting with [Reddit parent company] Cond Nast has been nothing but amicable&amp;''. But given the issues the companies have had recently this is hard to believe a4&quot; soa4sI got in touch with Slowe to get a better handle on the situation.Slowe claims that  the differences Reddit had with Cond Nast over the summer have been largely resolved. Until recently,a4sConda4shad been very restrictive when it came to allowing Reddit to hire additional developers (the company has been severely understaffed for a long time), but in the coming weeks there will be blog posts announcing additional open positions. &amp;''I feel like we&amp;'re at the top of the hump,&amp;'' he says.Slowe also notes that his job position will be left open for someone else to claim a4&quot;a4swhen Reddit&amp;'s original founders left a year ago, existing personnel had to absorb their responsibilities because of a hiring freeze.a4sAnd, as further evidence of the goodwill between them, Slowe says that even after he leaves he&amp;'ll be available to Reddit on a contractual basis.But despite these positive changes at Reddit, I still don&amp;'t buy Slowe&amp;'s claims that the companies&amp;' differences have been resolved a4&quot;a4sI&amp;'ve heard multiple times that Reddit still hasn&amp;'t gotten the resources it probably deserves from Cond Nast. But I do believe Slowe&amp;'s second reason for his departurea4sa4&quot; he&amp;'s ready for another adventure:I decided to leave mostly because it was time to do something new.  Five years in technology is a long time anywhere, and, without suggesting that reddit is a completed project or anything but a continuously moving and evolving target, it was time to move onto something that is less fully formed with room to explore.  That, and [Hipmunk founder] Steve Huffman really has been bugging me to join hipmunk for months.  ')Finally, Slowe talked a bit about the Digg redesign and the impact it&amp;'s had on Reddit (and why not everyone over there is throwing high-fives):Though it&amp;'s been a windfall for reddit traffic-wise (having just last month exceeded 10M uniques and 420M impressions for the first time), it really did make me sad to watch the whole thing happen.  Intercommunity animosity has been at worst a playful rivalry for years, and we&amp;'ve respected one another&amp;'s space.  Seeing their front page turn from an active, vibrant community forum into a virtual ghost town in such a short time is, frankly, terrifying to watch (being in an analogous space as we are).  It reminded us that there is no room to rest on our laurels, and it is the community as much as the content that makes the site.CrunchBase InformationChris SloweReddithipmunkInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[IPO Gives Chinese Video Site Youku A $3.3 Billion Market Cap' Worth More Than&nbsp'AOL]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipo-gives-chinese-video-site-youku-a-3-3-billion-market-cap-worth-more-thannbspaol</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipo-gives-chinese-video-site-youku-a-3-3-billion-market-cap-worth-more-thannbspaol</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samgeogry</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipo-gives-chinese-video-site-youku-a-3-3-billion-market-cap-worth-more-thannbspaol</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Shares of Chinese video site Youku soared on its IPO  today, closing at $33.44, which is 160 percent above its offering price of $12.80.  Since Youku&amp;'s 15.8 million shares of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) represent 16 percent of the total shares, the closing price gives Beijing-based $Youku a market cap of roughly $3.3 billion.  In other words, it is worth more than $AOL (owner of TechCrunch), which has a market cap of $2.7 billion.  Earlier today, I referred to Youku as the YouTube of China, but it is more like the Hulu of China.  About two thirds of the videos on YouKu are syndicated from traditional media companies in China.  The company was founded in November, 2005 and the site launched in December, 2006.  YouKu never really relied on user-generated content because it took longer to develop as a phenomenon in China than the U.S.  &amp;''Unlike the US, we are still in the development phase for user generated content so we didna4a4t rely on that,&amp;'' CEO Victor Koo tells me.  YouKu boasts 40 percent penetration rate among the 420 million Chinese people on the Internet, or about 200 million unique visitors a month in China (comScore estimates a smaller 78 million).  Koo describes the IPO as a &amp;''graduation ceremony&amp;'' in China and hopes to leverage it to extend his lead there among mainstream video sites. The company currently relies on video advertising, and recently launched a paid subscription service in beta along the lines of Hulu Plus.  &amp;''The revenue growth is certainly growing faster than user growth,&amp;'' says Koo.  Most of its $35 million in revenues for the first nine months of the year came from advertising, and grew 135 percent.  Viewer growth is closer to 50 percent.  Even with that stellar growth and huge audience, the company still lost $25 million in the first nine months of the year.  The reason for this is because advertisers in China don&amp;'t value viewers as much as they do in the U.S.  Part of that has to do with vast differences in disposable income, but Youku captures more and more of Chinese consumers&amp;' time, then it should be able to eventually charge more for its advertising as well.  But the $3.3 billion valuation is based more on the idea of owning the YouTube or Hulu of China than any tangible economic results at this point. Since it has no earnings to speak of, that gives it a trading multiple of 94 times revenue.  The Internet bubble has now officially been resurrected in China via the New York Stock Exchange.CrunchBase InformationYoukuhuluAOLInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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