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<title>Haaze.com / Tara01 / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:11:09 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Internet's taxing times (week in review)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=internets-taxing-times-week-in-review</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=internets-taxing-times-week-in-review</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:11:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=internets-taxing-times-week-in-review</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We may be basking in the waning sunlight of tax-free Internet shopping.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[AT&T: Buying T-Mobile speeds LTE shift in U.S.]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-buying-t-mobile-speeds-lte-shift-in-u-s-</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-buying-t-mobile-speeds-lte-shift-in-u-s-</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:11:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-buying-t-mobile-speeds-lte-shift-in-u-s-</guid>
<description><![CDATA[AT&amp;T CEO Randall Stephenson at Mobile World Congress 2011(Credit:Stephen Shankland/CNET)AT&amp;T, facing major regulatory scrutiny of its $39 billion plan to acquire T-Mobile USA, is making the case that the deal will improve the fortunes of the United States and its citizens.In a conference call today with analysts and press, AT&amp;T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson and other company executives repeatedly argued that the deal would mean more U.S. citizens would get next-generation wireless technology called LTE, that they'd get it sooner, and that the country would reap rewards as a result.&quot;This is a major investment and commitment by a U.S. company to advance U.S. leadership in mobile broadband. It's the beginning of shift to build a powerful LTE network that will be the critical infrastructure&quot; in the future economy, Stephenson said. &quot;It puts towns and states on a level playing field to compete for jobs...This infrastructure will be a competitive advantage for the U.S. for many years to come.&quot;And with the T-Mobile USA acquisition, &quot;We'll reach 95 percent of the U.S. population&quot; with LTE, Stephenson added, helping the country reach its National Broadband Plan goals. &quot;That's a level neither company would reach on its own.&quot;Regulatory barriers are a major challenge for the acquisition. Playing the patriotism card indicates that AT&amp;T--a company that antitrust regulators once broke up into several &quot;Baby Bells&quot; in the wire-line telephone era--is making its case not just to the antitrust authorities at the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission but also to federal legislators.AT&amp;amp'T projects wireless data sent over its network to grow by a factor of 8 to 10 in the next five years.(Credit:AT&amp;amp'T)AT&amp;T expects to prevail over any antitrust concerns, convincing the DOJ that there's strong competition in local markets and the FCC that the acquisition &quot;is in the public interest&quot; through reaching rural customers and improving national competitiveness, said D. Wayne Watts, AT&amp;T's general counsel.&quot;Eighteen of the 20 largest markets in the U.S. have five or more competitors today,&quot; he said, calling attention to not just to top competitors such as Verizon and Sprint but also to Leap Wireless, MetroPCS, LightSquared, and regional players that he said are aggressive, expanding, and gaining market share.But AT&amp;T might not get all of what it would like. When Verizon Wireless acquired Alltel in 2008, the DOJ required Verizon to divest assets in 22 states where the two companies overlapped.AT&amp;T worked to convince customers and shareholders of the merits of the deal, too.For those who subscribe to AT&amp;T or T-Mobile today, the company promised better service.AT&amp;T's mobile network carries about 80 times more data now than four years ago, and growth will continue by another factor of 8 to 10 in the next five years to reach 150 petabytes per month. The new growth is fueled by smartphones,tablets, and cloud-computing services on the Net, Stephenson said.AT&amp;amp'T said acquiring T-Mobile would let it reach rural areas with the next-generation LTE network that it previously wouldn&amp;39't have reached.(Credit:AT&amp;amp'T)&quot;Every time we increase speeds, usage has jumped. Every time we opened up access to content, usage has jumped,&quot; Stephenson said. Now, &quot;it's a quantum leap on both horizons. We're doing both of these at the exact same time. Very soon you can expect every business process, your systems in your home orcar, your appliance, your personal data--everything is going to be wirellessly connected.&quot;The challenge is going to be enormous,&quot; he added, implying thatiPhone users and other AT&amp;T customers who've been unhappy with the company's network would only grow unhappier without the T-Mobile USA acquisition.T-Mobile USA will let AT&amp;T improve coverage in urban areas where more cell base stations will be in service and increase the breadth of LTE deployment to places that previously wouldn't get anything.The acquisition would &quot;increase our capacity in some of our most densely populated areas by 20 to 40 percent,&quot; said John Stankey, CEO of AT&amp;T Business Solutions.In addition, it will let AT&amp;T expand faster because it can use existing T-Mobile cellular base stations rather than go though the slow process of acquiring new sites, he said. In some areas, though, AT&amp;T will reduce the number of base stations where there is redundancy.&quot;The acquisition will bring benefits to some customers within a year of closing and to all customers within two years of closing,&quot; Stankey said.   Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&amp;T Mobility, predicted business benefits for AT&amp;T shareholders.One big one: an increase in average revenue per user, or ARPU. Part of that would come from selling smartphones, with their higher service plans, to T-Mobile customers less likely than AT&amp;T customers to have them already, he said. He also predicted better business by lower &quot;churn,&quot; the loss of customers to rivals.And of course, there's cost-cutting. The combined company would have a lower total advertising budget than the two companies have independently, will &quot;rationalize&quot; retail stores (in other words close some where there's overlap), won't have to spend as much on acquiring new customers, and will have lower administrative expenses, de la Vega said.Chief Financial Officer Richard Lindner said there will be a price to pay up front, however: $7 billion in integration costs and $2 billion in capital expenses.&quot;Those costs will be offset quickly by sustained synergy benefits,&quot; he hastened to add, referring to cost savings and new revenue resulting from the merger.One big one: less need to purchase expensive swaths of wireless radio-frequency spectrum: Acquiring T-Mobile will mean &quot;reduce future outlays in wireless spectrum and capital,&quot; Lindner said. AT&amp;T plans to use some of T-Mobile's current wireless spectrum for the future LTE expansion.The overall result: AT&amp;T expects earnings per share to diminish somewhat in the first two years after the acquisition, but then to be larger after that, Lindner said.Updated 7:09 a.m. PT, 7:29 a.m. PT, and 7:52 a.m. PT with further comments from AT&amp;T. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Sony debuts touch-screen Wi-Fi universal remote]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-sony-debuts-touch-screen-wi-fi-universal-remote</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-sony-debuts-touch-screen-wi-fi-universal-remote</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Jan 2011 08:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-sony-debuts-touch-screen-wi-fi-universal-remote</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sony RMN-U1 universal remote(Credit:Sony)LAS VEGAS--Sony introduced its new HomeShare audio streaming platform with wirelessiPod docks and wireless speakers, and it also rolled out a new touchscreen Wi-Fi universal remote to control them: the RMN-U1.The RMN-U1 is capable of controlling new Sony HDTVs and home theater products over Wi-Fi, using their built-in DLNA compatibility. Of course the catch is that all your other gadgets will still need to be controlled via infrared, which the RMN-U1 can handle as well.Sony is also promising a slick user interface, using activity-based commands (think: Harmony), plus eye candy like album art showing up on the remote screen.Sony says the RMN-U1 will be available in March with a list price of about $300. That's a lot to ask, especially when the outstanding and established Logitech Harmony 900 is available for about the same price.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Report: Hurd told contractor about EDS buy]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-hurd-told-contractor-about-eds-buy</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-hurd-told-contractor-about-eds-buy</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:11:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-hurd-told-contractor-about-eds-buy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sexual harassment, inaccurate expense reporting, and now disclosing inside informationThe Wall Street Journal is reporting that former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd revealed confidential company information to former contractor Jodie Fisher, whose claim that he sexually harassed her led to his resignation from the company this summer.That bit of information reportedly came out of a letter written to Hurd by Fisher's lawyer Gloria Allred on June 29, which is what set off the board investigation into Hurd's activities. In the letter, Allred accused Hurd of sexually harassing Fisher, and that &quot;Hurd told her of HP's intention to buy EDS at an HP event in Madrid in March 2008,&quot; according to the report. Fortune has a broader overview of the events leading up to Hurd's dismissal, and also notes that Allred's letter accused Hurd of dishing a &quot;professional secret&quot; to Fisher. HP officially announced its intent to acquire EDS for $13.9 billion in May 2008.That he allegedly spoke about the EDS buy ahead of time could shed a bit more light on Hurd's sudden departure in August. He copped to not complying with HP's code of business conduct, but denied having any romantic entanglement with Fisher, something she echoed, which made his departure perplexing, considering his success in turning around the company.It always seemed there was something missing from that story, that there was another reason he lost the confidence of his board of directors so quickly. Certainly revealing the company's strategic plans to a contractor could do just that.HP, for the record, declined to comment on the reports.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Samurai II: Decapitation and disembowelment]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samurai-ii-decapitation-and-disembowelment</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samurai-ii-decapitation-and-disembowelment</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:23:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samurai-ii-decapitation-and-disembowelment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Screenshot by Joe Aimonetti)Complicated at first but easy to grasp, Samurai II: Vengeance offers a balanced mix of slashing, bloody violence, and a puzzle-solving storyline. The highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed Samurai: Way of the Warrior brings a retooled gameplay method, ultrasmooth manga-inspired graphics running at 60 frames per second, and, of course new, bloodier fight techniques.Daisuke seeks vengeance on his arch-rival, Orochi, and will stop at nothing to defeat him. The 3D levels are tracked by a dynamic camera that floats in and out of the action, revealing vicious adversaries and challenging obstacles in each level.The battle sequences are intense and extremely gory (decapitation, disembowelment, and skewering are just some of the ways to dispose of your enemies), but an array of moves (that you acquire throughout the game by leveling up) allow for continued variance in fighting. If the levels get too frustrating (those swinging spikes can be a real pain) there's Survival Mode, where you can build your skills as a sword-swinging samurai.You can watch the official Samurai II: Vengeance trailer here.Game Center compatibility allows users to track the global leaderboard and various achievements. Samurai II: Vengeance is available in Apple's App Store for $2.99 and is universal, playable oniPhone,iPad, andiPod Touch. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Road Trip Pic of the Week, 10/14: What is this]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-1014-what-is-this</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-1014-what-is-this</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:24:56 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=road-trip-pic-of-the-week-1014-what-is-this</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you know what this is a picture of, and where it was taken, you could win a prize in the CNET Picture of the Week challenge.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)Update (Monday, 11:47 a.m. PDT): The answer to last week's Picture of the Week challenge--which 28 people got--is the U2 concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on October 25, 2009. The concert, part of the band's 360 tour, was said to be the largest ever at the Rose Bowl, and was also said by YouTube to be the largest live-streamed event in history. Thanks to all who played, and to everyone, please come back on Thursday for this week's challenge. That sure is a lot of people, and those are some bright lights. But what is this And where did it take place If you know, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Week challenge. If you have those answers, please e-mail them to me no later than 6 p.m. PDT Friday (to daniel--dot--terdiman--at--cnet--dot--com, and PLEASE include &quot;Picture of the Week&quot; in the subject line). I'll choose a winner at random from among everyone who sends in all three pieces of the correct answer. Please forgive me if you don't hear from me if you're not the winner. I get dozens of responses. Also, I've turned off comments because some people would post the correct answers there. I hate to shut down discussion, but I want you to figure out the answer on your own.One caveat: no individual can win more than two prizes. Also, for everyone who played regularly during Road Trip 2010, please note that this is the eighth of the weekly Picture of the Week challenges. With Road Trip 2010 officially finished--and therefore no more new Road Trip pictures per se--the challenge is now taking place weekly, each Thursday, and the photos could come from anywhere, not just Road Trip 2010 locations, and might be related to stories I've written in the past. So, please have fun playing today, and then come back each Thursday. For most of the summer, Geek Gestalt was on Road Trip 2010. After driving more than 18,000 miles in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Southeast over the last four years, I drove 5,266 miles this summer looking for the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation and more throughout the American Northeast. You can follow me on Twitter at @GreeterDan and @RoadTrip and find the project on Facebook.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[We&'re about to Find out Just How Powerful Tencent&nbsp'Is]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wersquore-about-to-find-out-just-how-powerful-tencentnbspis</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wersquore-about-to-find-out-just-how-powerful-tencentnbspis</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wersquore-about-to-find-out-just-how-powerful-tencentnbspis</guid>
<description><![CDATA[At Tencent headquarters there are pictures of its cutesy penguin mascot everywhere. Sometimes he&amp;'s winking and smiling, and sometimes he&amp;'s getting all badass, seen to your left. It&amp;'s also how the company behaves in the market.As you may have read, a strange and dramatic fight is escalating in the Chinese Internet between Qihoo 360 and Tencent, maker of the ubiquitous QQ messaging platform.In short, anti-virus software maker Qihoo 360 accused Tencent of giving out private user data and turned its privacy protection software guns on QQ. Tencent has big muscles in China and its flexing them: It accused Qihoo 360 of something similar, telling users to uninstall the software if they want to keep using QQ. That the standoff is so tense &amp;8212' and critical to the Chinese Internet given the power and reach of the two players&amp;8211' that the country&amp;'s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Public Security have stepped in. There doesn&amp;'t appear to be any solution yet.Why should you care if you&amp;'re not in China Because China is the largest Web audience in the world and Tencent is the king of it. At north of $40 billion, it also has the third largest market capitalizations of any Web company globally, just edging out eBay and a4ssoaring even higher in the last few months. And it has international ambitions. It owns 10% of Mail.ru, which in turn owns huge chunks of Facebook, Groupon, Zynga and other Western Web 2.0 giants. Watching how Tencent throws its weight around the Web is now as important as watching precedents set by Google or Facebook.I know what you&amp;'re thinking: Chinese companies are up in arms about the rights of individuals online But let&amp;'s put that aside for a minute. This is a test of just how powerful Tencent is becoming&amp;8211' more important, how it views its power in the world&amp;'s largest Internet market. Chinese sources are saying they&amp;'ve never seen a battle like this amid the normally low-key Web giants, and it&amp;'s hard to remember one like this in the Valley. The closest I can remember is the throw down between eBay and Google over payments where eBay blocked Google Checkout transactions on its site and when Google pushed back, eBay pulled its ads. No one won: As Mike said in the link above Google came off like a wimp and eBay came off like a bully.That spat was nakedly about power in the check out market. This fight is ostensibly about user&amp;'s infomation anda4sa4sthe crucial question is whether either of these companies are indeed sticking up for users&amp;' privacy rights or it&amp;'s all just competitive posturing. As far as I can tell no one really knows. And that&amp;'s the point. In the blackbox of the Chinese Internet, it&amp;'s almost impossible to know who is protecting users and who is just protecting their fiefdom. That means it&amp;'s not in the interest of China or the Web for any one site to have the power to strong-arm users stop using another popular service.We&amp;'ll see how the market votes. Will the desire to connect with friends over QQ win out over software that prevents viruses The world&amp;'s Web elite should pay attention: If Tencent has that much power, that&amp;'s even more staggering than its market cap.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Survey Says&8230' Gilt City Is Still A Work In&nbsp'Progress]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=survey-says8230-gilt-city-is-still-a-work-innbspprogress</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=survey-says8230-gilt-city-is-still-a-work-innbspprogress</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=survey-says8230-gilt-city-is-still-a-work-innbspprogress</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Since its launch earlier this year, Gilt City has been a somewhat reluctant competitor to daily deal juggernaut Groupon. Although their business models overlapa4&quot; with both offering local deals for a limited timea4&quot; Gilt says it purposefully goes after a different demographic.In line with Gilt&amp;'s larger mission to cater to a luxury lifestyle, City was designed to target a more high-end clientele, versus, Groupon which has more of a mass market appeal. But that line of demarcation hasn&amp;'t been as cut and dry. In a recent survey of Gilt City consumers, Gilt came to four basic conclusions, which they exclusively first shared with TechCrunch:a4a4s 87% are a4Alikelya4 or a4Ahighly likelya4 to rebook with the business they visiteda4a4s 74% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with their experiencea4a4s 91% told 2 or more friends about their experience Gilt Citya4  57% of members agree that Gilt City is a4Amore uniquea4 and a4Amore luxury orienteda4 than competitor sitesAs evidenced by the results, Gilt achieves high marks for consumer loyalty, satisfaction and reach, with each metric scoring above 70. But, when it comes to brand perception, only 57% of users thought the City service was &amp;''more unique&amp;'' or &amp;''luxury oriented&amp;'' than other daily deal/social buying sites. One could argue that this is a case of half-empty or half-full. Indeed, a Gilt representative said the number was proof that City projected a more &amp;''covetable lifestyle.&amp;''However, for all of Gilt&amp;'s dominance on the luxury flash sales side (i.e. its flagship women&amp;'s retail sales pipeline), my bet is that the company was hoping to score higher than roughly half, or 57%. Of all the boxes on the survey, brand perception should have been an easy home run for the retailer, which is on track to hit roughly $500 million in revenues this year.With more than 1 million subscribers anda4sjust 7 months old, Gilt City is no failure.On the contrary, the service has done very well in attracting new users and offering luxury deals, like spa packages with free jet rides and discounted gourmet dinners. According to Gilt, City is their fastest growing vertical, ahead of children and home. But, as the results indicate, there does seem to be something off with the pitch and how Gilt orchestrates buzz around its City deals. The site will have to work harder to crawl out of Groupon&amp;'s shadows (which also frequently offers spa packages and gourmet dinners), differentiate its offerings and build legitimate excitement around the City brand, the way they&amp;'ve been able to execute on women&amp;'s and men&amp;'s apparel. Perhaps its in the formula, the marketing, the pricing, the structure of the deal (for example the lack of time sensitivity, as deals can be open for days), but it&amp;'s missing that awe factora4&quot; the intangible feeling of got-to-buy-it-now.Last month, the company made its first acquisition for Gilt City: Bergine, a SF-based luxury group buying site. Gilt&amp;'s new CEO, Kevin Ryan, told us that the company made the acquisition to expand its footprint on the West Coast and bring Bergine&amp;'s executive team on board. When asked whether this would be the beginning in a long line of regional acquisitionsa4&quot; in the same vein as Groupona4&quot; Ryan said no, Gilt will make acquisitions as they make sense but this is not the first step in a global shopping spree.a4s That&amp;'s good news, because as the survey says, geography is not Gilt&amp;'s first problem. CrunchBase InformationGilt GroupeGrouponGilt CityInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Viber gets 1M downloads in 3 days for dead simple iPhone VoIP calls]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=viber-gets-1m-downloads-in-3-days-for-dead-simple-iphone-voip-calls</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=viber-gets-1m-downloads-in-3-days-for-dead-simple-iphone-voip-calls</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=viber-gets-1m-downloads-in-3-days-for-dead-simple-iphone-voip-calls</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Just when you thought Voice over IP (VoIP) couldn&amp;'t be exciting again, along comes Viber with its free iPhone app for simple VoIP calls. After launching on December 2nd, the company reports that the app has been downloaded over 1 million times in its first three days.That&amp;'s an impressive feat for such a young service, and it&amp;'s a sign that there are big things to come from Viber. The company also tells us that it&amp;'s also the No. 1 free app in the Netherlands, Spain, Singapore, Taiwan, Israel and several other countries.Viber, like other VoIP services, lets you make calls of your phone&amp;'s data network. Viber can make calls over 3G and WiFi connections. A call between Viber users therefore doesn&amp;'t use any cellular data minutes, and the app doesn&amp;'t charge extra for international calls &amp;8212' making it an ideal choice for users with friends and family abroad.After playing around with the app, I can see why it&amp;'s becoming such a phenomenon. Unlike other VoIP services like Skype, Viber doesn&amp;'t require any user registration to make calls. You simply download the app from the App Store, plug in your phone number and the app finds everyone on your contact list that also has the app. Viber users show up with a Viber icon within the app. For other members of your contact list, you have the option of easily inviting them to the service.Another nice thing about Viber is that you don&amp;'t have to be logged into the app (since there&amp;'s no login process) to receive Viber calls. The service will also alert you if you&amp;'ve missed a call, even if your phone was off, or if you didn&amp;'t have data service.The company also has plans to release apps for Android, BlackBerry and Symbian phones in the near future. Eventually, Viber is going to get into the free texting game as well, but there&amp;'s no telling yet when that&amp;'s going to happen.Viber is based in Israel and was founded this year by the folks behind the file sharing service iMesh. We&amp;'re awaiting funding details from the company.View a demonstration of Viber&amp;'s app below:Previous Story: Natural gas looks to oust coal and win over oil companiesPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: apps, iPhone, voipCompanies: Viber          Tags: apps, iPhone, voipCompanies: ViberDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.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[EA&'s Pogo takes casual games into mobile sphere with iPhone launch]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=earsquos-pogo-takes-casual-games-into-mobile-sphere-with-iphone-launch</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=earsquos-pogo-takes-casual-games-into-mobile-sphere-with-iphone-launch</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=earsquos-pogo-takes-casual-games-into-mobile-sphere-with-iphone-launch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After a long prep period, video game giant Electronic Arts is launching its first Pogo game on the iPhone tomorrow.Pogo.com has been around as web site for casual gamers since 1998. EA bought the company in 2001 and has built it into a popular casual game site with 5 million unique monthly visitors. Now the company is launching an iPhone app that is integrated with the web site. The integration is what took a long time to do, and it is the integration that could help set this site apart from other casual mobile game portals. EA has been careful to replicate the Pogo web experience on the iPhone.For other big brand companies, this is the wave of the future. Gone are the days when game companies could create a Facebook app, a web app, and a mobile app that didn&amp;'t talk to each other. When you are dealing with a multi-platform brand, the game experience should be integrated across the platforms.EA has done that. If you&amp;'re a member of Pogo.com, you can sign up for the iPhone app and view your web account stats. You can see your friends, challenges and leaderboards. If you play a game on the iPhone, your results can be incorporated into Pogo&amp;'s own web stats.&amp;''We&amp;'re taking Pogo from a consumer web experience and taking it to where consumers are,&amp;'' said Michael Marchetti, senior vice president and general manager of EA&amp;'s Pogo division. &amp;''We want Pogo to be a classic casual gaming brand that can travel across platforms.&amp;''EA also said yesterday that its Poppit! game, one of the popular Pogo titles, will be available on the Chrome Web app store as well. Pogo games are also already available on Facebook. On the iPhone, EA will make five Pogo games available: Word Whomp, Turbo 21, Poppit! (pictured at top), Sweet Tooth 2, and Mahjong Safari. The Pogo app is free and ad-supported. If you want to turn off ads, you have to pay a one-time $2.99 fee. If you are already a premium subscriber to Club Pogo, the iPhone ads are turned off automatically.Marchetti said that EA couldn&amp;'t bring Pogo to phones before because it require richer graphics capability. The iPhone, however, is perfectly capable of displaying such graphics. It took about nine months because it isn&amp;'t easy to create the verification system which authenticates the Pogo identity. When you activate the Pogo app, you can choose among the games and tap to initiate one. As more Pogo games are launched, EA can add them to the Pogo iPhone app window.The social layer of the Pogo community should help the games spread. On the iPhone, getting a game to be viral isn&amp;'t as easy as it is on Facebook. So the social discovery helps games get noticed and played in the mobile setting. But EA doesn&amp;'t yet have that same strategy across all of its games, mainly because of branding differences. On Facebook, for instance, you can play FIFA Superstars, a soccer game, and see a promotion for Madden NFL Superstars. But on the iPhone, you won&amp;'t see cross-brand promotions, such as Pogo recommending that you try out Need for Speed Shift or other EA Mobile games.Overall, this sounds like the approach that will help EA&amp;'s games stand out among the tens of thousands of games on the iPhone.Next Story: Apple&amp;'s iPhone game guru bids adieu Previous Story: GM backs hydrogen fueling stations in Hawaii &amp;8212' setting the stage for Chevy salesPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: PogoCompanies: Apple, Electronic ArtsPeople: Michael Marchetti          Tags: PogoCompanies: Apple, Electronic ArtsPeople: Michael MarchettiDean 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[We&'ll say it again: Nokia&'s keen on Microsoft&'s Windows Phone 7]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wersquoll-say-it-again-nokiarsquos-keen-on-microsoftrsquos-windows-phone-7</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wersquoll-say-it-again-nokiarsquos-keen-on-microsoftrsquos-windows-phone-7</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wersquoll-say-it-again-nokiarsquos-keen-on-microsoftrsquos-windows-phone-7</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Now this sounds familiar. For the past month, Nokia has apparently been in discussions with Microsoft about putting its new Windows Phone 7 software on Nokia hardware, according to an editorial by Eldar Murtazin of the Russian site Mobile-Review.Murtazin writes that Nokia&amp;'s new management &amp;8212' which includes Stephen Elop, former head of Microsoft&amp;'s business division and Nokia&amp;'s new CEO &amp;8212' has started talks with the software giant to increase their cooperation. Primarily, Nokia seems to be interested in putting Windows Phone 7 on its hardware, pushing it through its normal distribution channels and adding features common to its own phones.The news points to Nokia&amp;'s desperation to get a modern operating system on its phones while we wait for its next-generation Meego OS. Such an arrangement would also put Microsoft&amp;'s software in the hands of many more users. Teaming up would make sense for the companies because they both consider Google a common enemy with its Android platform.VentureBeat&amp;'s Matthaus Krzykowski in September reported exactly the same news, and it was confirmed by multiple sources. But Nokia was quick to deny it, saying that it had no plans to add more software platforms. Given that Elop was named Nokia&amp;'s CEO earlier in September, the notion that the phone manufacturer was getting in bed with Microsoft didn&amp;'t seem that far-fetched.Now after the lackluster release of Nokia&amp;'s Symbian-powered N8 smartphone (which I was thoroughly disappointed by), it&amp;'s becoming clearer that the company needs a stop-gap software solution before its long-delayed Meego OS is released.Murtazin is known for his scoops in the mobile arena, so the fact that he&amp;'s now hearing about Nokia/Microsoft talks tells me that our initial report was mostly on the money.If Nokia is indeed going to adopt Windows Phone 7, it will have to move quickly. Word is that the company&amp;'s Meego phones won&amp;'t be coming until late 2011, so if Microsoft&amp;'s software is meant to fill that release void, Nokia will need to implement Windows Phone 7 soon.Via Unwired ViewNext Story: Amazon offers free one-day shipping for last-minute holiday shoppers Previous Story: 3D printing: The state of the artPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: meego, smartphones, Symbian, Windows Phone 7Companies: Microsoft, nokiaPeople: Eldar Murtazin          Tags: meego, smartphones, Symbian, Windows Phone 7Companies: Microsoft, nokiaPeople: Eldar MurtazinDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.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[YouTube CEO Chad Hurley Leaving Position To Take Advisory&nbsp'Role]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=youtube-ceo-chad-hurley-leaving-position-to-take-advisorynbsprole</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=youtube-ceo-chad-hurley-leaving-position-to-take-advisorynbsprole</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=youtube-ceo-chad-hurley-leaving-position-to-take-advisorynbsprole</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I&amp;'m currently in Dublin, Ireland, for a (most excellent) event dubbed Founders, where I was invited to handle a fireside chat / interview with YouTube cofounder and CEO Chad Hurley earlier tonight. We had an interesting conversation about the company, although nothing particularly newsworthy came out of it, except for this little nugget: Hurley is moving to an advisory role at the Google subsidiary and will soon focus most of his attention on other projects.Hurley casually mentioned this when I asked if he still felt as motivated as he was in early 2005, when he started the company along with fellow ex-PayPal employees Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. The company ended up getting picked up by Google for roughly $1.65 billion in 2006, Hurley made a bundle, and I was interested to know if, after almost 6 years, he wasn&amp;'t ready for change.Fully vested for a couple of years now, I actually wondered what kept Hurley at YouTube / Google for so long in the first place. In a conversation at dinner after the interview, he explained to me that he started to transition into a somewhat more advisory role two years ago already, but felt that he needed to stick around to accomplish a number of things in terms of growth on multiple levels, product development and other aspects of the business.The time to move on has now come, said Hurley, adding that he&amp;'s already working on other projects, but declining to detail what those are exactly. For the record, we&amp;'re not talking about his adventures in Formula One world or the fashion business called Hlaska he co-founded, but actual Internet businesses.To clarify, Hurley said that former VP of web applications at Google, Salar Kamangar, is currently handling most of the day-to-day operations at YouTube already. The message he wanted to convey: it&amp;'s not like that much would change at YouTube where he to leave anyway.Asked if he had any interest in becoming an active angel investor, Hurley told me that that sort of thing just is simply not what makes him tick. In fact, he said in no unclear terms that he feels as though there&amp;'s something of an &amp;8216'angel bubble&amp;' swelling up in Silicon Valley these days.Hopefully someone captured our talk on video a4&quot; we&amp;'ll post a recording of the event if we find one.(Image via Flickr / World Economic Forum)CrunchBase InformationChad HurleyYouTubeInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google acquires Groupon for $2.5B]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-acquires-groupon-for-2-5b</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-acquires-groupon-for-2-5b</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tara01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-acquires-groupon-for-2-5b</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Rumors of a Google/Groupon deal have been swirling for weeks, and now Google has apparently bought the daily deal company for $2.5 billion, an anonymous source tells the news site Vator News.Neither company has confirmed the news yet, and we&amp;'ve sent in our own inquiries regarding the deal. All Things Digital reported a few weeks ago that Google and Groupon were in talks, which sparked countless follow-up rumors. At the time, we argued that a Google buyout would be terrible for Groupon because the search giant lacks a human touch.Still, a Google/Groupon union makes sense. Groupon is the largest, and most well-known, daily deal site on the web &amp;8212' it was valued at over $1 billion following a large round of funding in April. Just like how Google&amp;'s $1.65 billion YouTube purchase makes more sense now than it did in 2006, purchasing Groupon could easily pay off for Google down the line. It&amp;'s also clear that Google is getting more interested in online shopping now, having recently launched the fashion site Boutiques.com.The news follows reports that Yahoo tried to purchase Groupon for as much as $4 billion, after rumors from earlier this month that the deal site was after more funding that would value it at $3 billion.Image via GrouponNext Story: The Economist for iPad is barebones and featureless, but that&amp;'s okay Previous Story: Nintendo says its sold 1.5M Wii and DS game systems during Black Friday weekPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: acquisition, daily deals, dealsCompanies: Google, Groupon, Yahoo          Tags: acquisition, daily deals, dealsCompanies: Google, Groupon, YahooDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.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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