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<title>Haaze.com / dveri-Vopmeseapsugs / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 May 2011 07:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Just how big is Foxconn]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=just-how-big-is-foxconn</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=just-how-big-is-foxconn</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 May 2011 07:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=just-how-big-is-foxconn</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Foxconn&amp;39's army of workers is bigger than most military forces.(Credit:CC Bert van Dijk/Flickr)Until the past year, it's safe to say that many of us had never heard of the Taiwan-based company Foxconn, whose Chinese factories (they also have a few, smaller facilities in the U.S. and other countries) make a huge amount of our gadgets for companies like Apple, Dell, and Amazon. That was, until the company was besieged by a string of negative revelations, mostly focused on working conditions and employee suicides--something the company tried to address by having workers sign a pact not to kill themselves--and most recently, this month's deadly explosion at aniPad polishing plant.Now that Foxconn is fully in the spotlight, it makes sense to get to know the company a little better. So, I did some research and came away with one basic conclusion--this company is huge. To see what I mean, here's some key Foxconn statistics put into perspective:Foxconn by the numbers:1.3 million employees: That's the number the company said earlier this year that it hopes to have in place by the end of 2011, when it announced it had already exceeded a million workers. If they reach that number, there will be more people working for Foxconn than:&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'live in Alaska and Wyoming combined'&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'live in the entire New Orleans metro area'&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'live in the cities of Dallas or San Francisco'&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'serve as active duty troops in the military forces of every country in the world except China, the United States, and India (and India has just slightly more troops than Foxconn has employees)'&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'work for Wal-Mart Stores in the United States. OK, not quite but close. Wal-Mart has 1.4 million, but by most estimates, Foxconn would have the edge in a count of full time workers, most of whom work much more than full time'&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'the number of unemployed Americans who want a job but aren't looking (1.2 million), according to a November 2010 jobs report--perhaps because they heard how many jobs have been outsourced to Foxconn.500,000 employees:The number of workers at Foxconn's Shenzhen facilities alone. &quot;Foxconn city&quot; covers 1.16 square miles, has more than a dozen factories, its own downtown, swimming pool, fire department, and hospital. With most workers housed in crowded dormitories, this enclosed industrial city is: &amp;149'&amp;nbsp'more populous than the cities of Atlanta or Miami'&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'by far the &quot;city&quot; with the highest population density in the world, more than five times as dense as Mumbai.500: The number of retail stores that a Foxconn subsidiary plans to open in China to sell some of the products it makes, including Apple products.More than 100 million: The approximate number of iPhones Foxconn has produced.&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'in other words, just about all of them.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Phones and Androids at Google I/O]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=phones-and-androids-at-google-io</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=phones-and-androids-at-google-io</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2011 07:10:41 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=phones-and-androids-at-google-io</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google I/O is mostly for developers, but the show can offer a lot of interesting sights for your average smartphone geek. Between robots, a Switch Pitch ball, and giant Android figures that doubled as device charging stations, the conference can be a visual feast. That's provided, of course, that you like the color green.My biggest attraction, though, is the glass case that shows Andorid phones from around the world. It's a great resource for checking out handsets that aren't sold by a U.S carrier. And unlike last year, Google thoughtfully packed its display case with a selection of collectible Andorid figures. So for a closer look, out the phones and Androids below. A world of Android phones at Google I/O (photos) Androids at Google I/O (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft demos 3D photo avatars, display tech]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-demos-3d-photo-avatars-display-tech</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-demos-3d-photo-avatars-display-tech</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-demos-3d-photo-avatars-display-tech</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft has taken the wraps off some of the natural user interface (NUI) projects currently in development within its research group. As a follow-up to a NUI-centric and Kinect SDK TechForum event yesterday, the company today posted videos of 3D talking heads, as well as new initiatives in smart displays--both of which make use of camera technologies to create new types of interaction experiences. The first is an evolution of Microsoft's face-mapping technology, that is soon to be introduced as part of theXbox 360's Avatar Kinect feature. Instead of mapping facial movements to a virtual character though, the technology grabs a 2D, high-quality video of a person from a Webcam (or Kinect) and maps it onto a 3D facial mesh model. The end result is a 3D face that can track speech or head movements it picks up on camera and display it back on the 3D avatar. In the demo, Microsoft Research principal researcher Zhengyou Zang demonstrates that you can take that model and have it play back any text as well:The other set of demos feature a number of smart display technologies. These get shown off by Steven Bathiche, who is Microsoft's director of the applied sciences group and the co-inventor of Microsoft Surface. Bathiche demos the company's efforts to track movements on top of surfaces using camera systems that are mounted above a computing area. This is combined with a surface computing system so that users can interact with the same system using either interface. Bathiche also demos a company prototype that makes use of &quot;wedge lenses&quot; that can pick up activity above a surface using cameras that are mounted below a flat screen (as opposed to above it in the previous example). Those same wedges can be used to transmit light back out the other way as two separate images to create an auto-stereoscopic image' this allows for glasses-free 3D in displays. The wedge technology can also be combined with head tracking from Kinect to determine where users are situated in front of a panel. This has led to two advances in the displays, Bathiche notes. The first is that you can set the system up to recognize if there are two viewers and offer them different angles of the same image. The second, is that you can dial that control up even higher, and give each player a different image on the same display, as some TV manufacturers like Vizio have implemented (though with glasses). You can see examples of this in action, along with a demo of head tracking being used to mimic the experience of looking out of a window while viewing an LCD display in the below video:In a separate video about the projects, Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer for Microsoft, described them as part of one of the biggest shifts in the evolution of computing.&quot;Computing is becoming more invisible. It isn't in things you call 'computers' anymore, you call them something else,&quot; Mundie said. &quot;If we want to bring the benefits of computing to literally billions of more people, and in many many other parts of their lives, we've got to make it a lot easier for them. We've got to, in essence, get rid of the learning curve.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hands on with Sygic Aura GPS app for Android]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hands-on-with-sygic-aura-gps-app-for-android</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hands-on-with-sygic-aura-gps-app-for-android</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Feb 2011 08:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hands-on-with-sygic-aura-gps-app-for-android</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Sygic Aura app for Android features 3D building and terrain data. (Credit:Screenshot by Antuan Goodwin/CNET)One of the first and biggest hurdles any third-party navigation app will need to clear on Google's Android platform is Google itself. While this may not be the case with other mobile OSes, Android (or at least devices running version 1.6 or better) comes more or less bundled with Google's free Google Maps with Navigation app. So, why would a user go out of their way to check out another navigation app So, of course, this is the first question I asked when evaluating the Sygic Aura GPS navigation app. Aura lists for free in the Android Market and is a 3.3MB download. However, that's not the full story. After installing, users must also download the maps for their area. I chose to download only maps of California and Nevada, which occupied 263MB and 40MB of my SD card, respectively. Maps of all of the continental United States would take up to 2GB. Sygic recommends you perform these downloads over Wi-Fi, but we were able to grab our maps over 3G. Fortunately, the app allows users to resume incomplete downloads.  The obvious advantage of having locally stored maps is that they only have to be downloaded once, which means that even if you find yourself outside of your carrier's coverage area, you can continue to navigate. This is also advantageous to users who don't have an all-you-can-eat data plan and need to closely monitor their download allowances or those who find themselves roaming in a foreign country and need to keep charges down.The investment in the Aura app doesn't stop with a few megs of storage space. Additionally, after a 7-day trial, the app will prompt the user to purchase an activation key. For the United States' regions, that means shelling out 19.99 euro ($27.44 U.S. at time of publication). Yeah, we also see the oddity in paying for North American maps with European currency.If you're the sort of user who falls into either of the previously mentioned categories (world roamer or data miser) and the money you could save on roaming or data overages meets or exceeds the 20 euro you'd spend on this app, then it's worth your consideration. Read on! The navigation experienceUpon loading the Sygic Aura app, I was greeted with a beautifully rendered map of the area around me. In downtown San Francisco, that map included 3D representations of most of the buildings around me with noteworthy buildings that serve as landmarks getting more detailed, premium models. The app, rather smartly, reduces the height of the closest buildings, allowing users to focus more clearly on the road instead of on the graphic eye candy.POI icons litter the map screen, but not in a way that distracts from readability--of course, users can always opt to disable the POI icons in a menu. In the upper left corner of the map is a small weather widget that shows the current temperature and an icon for the conditions (for example, a sun for &quot;sunny&quot;).With a destination chosen, Aura gives the user spoken turn-by-turn directions, but without the aid of a text to speech (TTS) engine. So, while Aura can say &quot;take the next exit to US 101,&quot; it can't say &quot;then turn left on Mission Street.&quot; This led to a few missed turns when the upcoming lefts and rights were in rapid succession in dense urban areas. Aura also notifies you when you've exceeded the speed limit with a chime and sounds a warning for nearby traffic and speed cameras. With the touch of a button, users can also report police traps or incident locations to be shared with other Sygic users.There are a few interface annoyances that bear mentioning. Firstly, the app runs full screen, which means that it hides the Android notification bar when in map mode, so you won't be able to monitor, for example, your phone's battery while navigating. When in the menus, there is a Sygic status bar along the top edge of the screen with battery state, GPS signal strength, and the time, but users are unable to interact with this bar. Aura uses its own onscreen keyboard, instead of the user&amp;39's chosen input method.(Credit:Screenshot by Antuan Goodwin/CNET)However, while I can sort of understand Sygic's need to hide the notification bar--after all, you won't need to check for e-mail while driving--there's one interface change that the app brings that I can't get past: the onscreen keyboard. When inputting information, the Aura app ignores the user's selected input method and presents its own keyboard. So those of us who've grown accustomed to using the stock Android keyboard, a custom keyboard (such as Swype or SwiftKey), or Google's voice input will be forced to use Sygic's arguably inferior input method. For some this will be a small issue, but for me it was jarring--slowing my inputs significantly.Multitasking and the destination bugIf you leave the app (either by hitting the Home button or if a phone call interrupts), navigation is suspended. When you return to navigating, the app will have to reinitialize (about 5 seconds on my first-generation Motorola Droid), reacquire GPS position (another second or so), and recalculate its route (2-3 seconds more). This adds up to about 10-seconds before navigation resumes, which wouldn't be so bad if Aura was still pointing you in the right direction. Unfortunately, that's not always the case.Aura seems to be rather inconsistent with exactly what destination it will grab upon resumption of routing. For example, on day one of my testing, Aura successfully got me from work to a friend's home in San Francisco. Then the next day, while following Aura's instructions to a client meeting in Cupertino, I had to answer a phone call (hands-free, of course). When routing resumed, Aura had reset my destination to the friend's house from the previous day. In fact, it continued to reset our destination to that same friend's house with every subsequent navigation session for the duration of our testing. Perhaps the app is trying to tell me something about this particular friend, but that's highly unlikely.Proper multitasking would be the best solution to this problem, but--at the very least--that route resumption bug needs a second look.Social networking and communicationAura integrated with our Android contacts, allowing me to browse for friends with stored addresses as potential destinations. However, while the app could display my contacts and their addresses flawlessly, it ran into issues when attempting to translate the stored addresses into points on the map--the app would give a &quot;no address found&quot; error message, despite the fact that an address was visible. This meant that I was often forced to reinput the address before I was able to navigate, which sort of defeats the purpose of address integration.Although the contact entry clearly shows an address, Aura threw a &amp;34'No address found&amp;34' error.(Credit:Screenshot by Antuan Goodwin/CNET)Also rolled into Aura is Sygic's own Aura social network, which allows users to add friends with whom they can share their location, status, messages, and events. I'm not entirely convinced that I need yet another social network to manage, but perhaps other users will find some value here. For me, Foursquare, Facebook, or Twitter integration--while not necessary--would be more warmly welcomed.Is it worth itI'm still a bit hard-pressed to recommend Sygic Aura over Google Maps to all but a very specific group of users: the data misers and world roamers mentioned earlier. For these users, being able to get around being tied to the cloud for map and address data could be worth the price of admission. However, for the overwhelming majority of users, Aura's bugs and quirks combined with the fact that users are being asked to pay for what many have grown accustomed to getting for free, create a huge barrier to entry.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Paging Larry: Google's new CEO has lots to do]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=paging-larry-googles-new-ceo-has-lots-to-do</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=paging-larry-googles-new-ceo-has-lots-to-do</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jan 2011 08:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=paging-larry-googles-new-ceo-has-lots-to-do</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google&amp;39's Larry Page (right) has plenty of work now that Google&amp;39's ruling trio of Eric Schmidt (left) and Sergey Brin has changed.(Credit:Joi Ito/Flickr)Back in 2001, Larry Page wasn't ready to lead Google's 200 employees. Ten years later, with 24,400 employees, Page takes control of a much more complex operation, and both still have much to prove. Ready or not, it's Page's company now, following news that former CEO Eric Schmidt would be moving up and out of the way to assume a traveling statesman role as Google's public face. Page's longtime partner Sergey Brin will focus more on product and technology direction while Page assumes control of Google's overall strategy and financial performance, which is a similar working relationship the two enjoyed before Schmidt came on the scene. For all who levy the one-trick pony accusation at Google these days, back then that's exactly what is was. Now not only does Page have to make sure that Google stays atop the search world, he needs to figure out a way to make Google relevant in social media, oversee a burgeoning mobile software platform, nurture an enterprise-software sales and support group, and figure out a way to keep Google's best employees from departing for Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and the other darlings of the start-up world. Oh, and the government is watching.Page is easily the shyest member of Google's Big Three, and with his elevation arguably becomes the most socially awkward CEO of any of the ruling powers of Silicon Valley. His performance on stage at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show was awkward even by geek standards, as Page's monotone delivery and handheld paper notes lulled the Vegas crowd to sleep. But he is not one to be underestimated' the engineer who created PageRank with a keen mind for strategic concerns and a sense of what people want from Google. For example, he bootstrapped the Google Street View project by driving around Palo Alto, Calif., with a video recorder hanging out the side of hiscar. He famously wrote in the letter accompanying Google's 2004 initial public offering that &quot;Google is not a conventional company. Eric, Sergey and I intend to operate Google differently, applying the values it has developed as a private company to its future as a public company.&quot; Now that that ruling troika has changed, what's next for Page Perhaps the most immediate change is that Page now holds the legal responsibilities of a CEO, responsible for Google's financial statements and accountable to the demands of any legal actions in which Google is involved. Like most companies its size, that's quite a few, and staying on top of all those considerations will sap a lot of time from Page's schedule. The aforementioned 2004 letter was inspired by Warren Buffett's approach to management, and if Page adopts many of the Oracle of Omaha's tactics, he'll probably be all right. Yet while Google is far from broken as a financial and technical machine, Page's biggest challenge is the longer-term problems facing Google. As noted in our 2011 resolutions for Google, in addition to the social-media concerns, it needs to successfully confront government regulators and ramp up its game in consumer software to match the Apples of the world. If Schmidt is free to concentrate on Google's external opportunities and threats, Page and Brin can tag-team Google's strategic and execution problems when it comes to product development. Page also needs to figure out a way to make Google a more nimble decision-maker and more attractive place for those with entrepreneurial leanings. Google has experimented with alternative management structures that created autonomous teams, as it has did with the Google Wave team (perhaps not the best example from Google's point of view). However, there's just no getting around the fact that young, talented engineers looking to make a score before they settle down aren't as attracted to working for Google has they once were five years ago, when Google was the place to be. While life at Google has hardly turned into sweatshop labor, there are alternatives to its particular brand of engineering playgrounds filled with gourmet food and volleyball courts. Is Page merely a placeholder CEO, keeping the chair warm until another adult can be brought in to supervise It's certainly hard to imagine Google adding an external CEO at this point in its career, but an additional challenge for Page will now be succession planning and executive retention. For when the CEO is only 38, the experienced senior vice presidents who are invaluable when it comes to running the company can do the math and calculate whether their careers would be better served elsewhere. In any event, it's his company now. When Page wrote that 2004 letter, he envisioned working as one leg of a stool alongside Schmidt and Brin for a long time. While Schmidt isn't exactly leaving, he is putting an outsized amount of responsibility on the back of a brilliant engineer who hasn't run a company in 10 years. It's up to Page to prove that he's ready for the challenge of running one of America's most important and most targeted organizations. Google might wait a while before booking him on the Stephen Colbert show.See also:&amp;149' Schmidt: 'Adult supervision' at Google no longer needed&amp;149' CEO shake-up at Google: Page replaces Schmidt&amp;149' Eric Schmidt's letter on stepping down as CEO<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google Voice finally in Apple's App Store]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-voice-finally-in-apples-app-store</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-voice-finally-in-apples-app-store</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-voice-finally-in-apples-app-store</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google Voice for the iPhone is finally available as a native application.(Credit:Google)There haven't been too manyiPhone applications that prompted a federal investigation, but one that did--Google Voice--is now finally available in the App Store.Google announced the availability of the official app today, nearly a year and a half after it first submitted Google Voice to Apple. Apple's reluctance to approve Google Voice--Google claimed that Apple actually rejected the app while Apple said it was evaluating it--led to an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission into Apple's App Store approval policies, and a deepening of the rift between the two formerly close partners.Apple relaxed those rules in September, which has led to a number of formerly banned applications making their way onto iOS devices.. Google Voice lets users give out one phone number that can ring multiple phones, and transcribes voice mails. A Web version has been available for the iPhone since January. Google said iOS users have to be running version 3.1 or later, and it's only available in the U.S. at the moment.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Vote for your favorite cigarette health warning]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vote-for-your-favorite-cigarette-health-warning</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vote-for-your-favorite-cigarette-health-warning</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vote-for-your-favorite-cigarette-health-warning</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today unveiled 36 graphic cigarette warning images, 9 of which will make their way to cigarette packages and advertisements in 2012, and they've given the public two months to weigh in, starting Friday.This is one of 36 proposed graphic health warnings.(Credit:FDA)Tobacco use is the leading cause of premature and preventable death in the United States, according to the HHS, and it is responsible for 443,000 deaths each year, with 1,200 current and former smokers dying prematurely every day due to tobacco-related diseases.Dozens of countries around the world, including the U.S., already mandate the presence of some form of health warning on cigarette packages. A smaller number, including Brazil and Australia, require that graphic images take up a certain percentage of those ads and packages' Canada led that pack, so to speak, with images that cover at least half of the entire package since 1994.The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, introduced in March 2009 and signed into law by President Barack Obama in June 2009, requires the Food and Drug Administration to issue final regulations requiring these color graphics by June 22, 2011, after a review of &quot;the relevant scientific literature, public comments, and results from an 18,000-person study.&quot; The final rule prohibiting companies from manufacturing cigarettes without new graphic health warnings on their packages for sale or distribution in the U.S. will go into effect in September of 2012.The nine graphic health warnings must appear on the top of the front and rear panels of each cigarette package and take up at least the top 50 percent of these panels.&quot;Some very explicit, almost gruesome pictures may be necessary,&quot; FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told The Associated Press.Judge for yourself on the FDA's Web site. Images range from a rather gruesome close-up of rotting teeth to a far less messy cartoon of a mother blowing smoke in her baby's face, to a black-and-white rendering of a cigarette package followed by an arrow pointing to a headstone with the letters RIP.Of course, denial is a strong force. In 2003, The Telegraph reported that sales of cigarette cases in the United Kingdom grew by 300 percent in one year, as people tried to hide stern health warnings on cigarette packages. Another choice alternative was to cover the warnings with stickers such as, &quot;You could be hit by a bus tomorrow&quot; and &quot;Smoking is cool.&quot;If you find the FDA's proposed images too graphic, check out what Brazil's Health Ministry chose:In 2001 Brazil became the second country in the world to require that warnings and graphic images illustrating the risks of smoking cover some portion of cigarette packages.(Credit:Instituto Nacional do Cancer)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[TRON: Legacy &8211' Does Kevin Flynn&nbsp'abide]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tron-legacy-8211-does-kevin-flynnnbspabide</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tron-legacy-8211-does-kevin-flynnnbspabide</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tron-legacy-8211-does-kevin-flynnnbspabide</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In about 3 hours I&amp;'m heading over to a press event to interview some of the major cast and crew for the upcoming Disney release of TRON: Legacy.I was working on my list of questions to ask last night and realized that the TechCrunch community should really be asking them instead of me. Interviews take place from 12:30p &amp;8211' 4:30p (Pacific Time) and I&amp;'ll have my computer with me to look at the questions &amp;amp' comments here.I don&amp;'t know about you, but I have been waiting for a TRON sequel my whole life. When IMDB launched, there was a teaser that something called TRON 2.0 was coming out and was constantly in a state of production.TRON was a huge part of my childhood, teen years and early adult years. I got something from it at different times in my life and Ia4s still consider it one of the most beautiful movies ever made. The technology Disney used at the time was ground breaking and the hand drawn backgrounds were breath taking. They created a world that has developed a bit of a cult following and I&amp;'m looking forward to how they do it for our next generation of children. The great thing about TRON vs other films I grew up with, is that visually a sequel can only get better because it is a plot based on technology and video games. Just think about how far both have come since the first release of TRON in 1982. We went from Discs of TRON the arcade game vs what you can play on your console at home now.I&amp;'m taking the interview footage back to the TechCrunch office Monday, so hopefully we&amp;'ll have the videos up on TechCrunch TV starting on Tuesday. Here&amp;'s the list of folks I&amp;'m scheduled to interview:Olivia Wilde a4AQuorraa4Jeff Bridges &amp;''Kevin Flynn&amp;''Michael Sheen a4ACastora4 AND Beau Garrett a4ASiren Gema4James Frain a4AJarvisa4 AND Bruce Boxleitner a4AAlan Bradleya4 Joseph Kosinski (Director) AND Sean Bailey (Producer)Daniel Simon (Vehicle Concept Designer)Eric Barba (VFX Supervisor)CrunchBase InformationThe Walt Disney CompanyInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Yahoo Connected TV Expands Platform To Paid Apps' Will Launch Store In&nbsp'2011]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-connected-tv-expands-platform-to-paid-apps-will-launch-store-innbsp2011</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-connected-tv-expands-platform-to-paid-apps-will-launch-store-innbsp2011</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-connected-tv-expands-platform-to-paid-apps-will-launch-store-innbsp2011</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Yahoo Connected TV service, which provides widgets and apps on TVs, is expanding its developer program today. Originally launched earlier this year, Yahoo&amp;'s API that allows developers to build app  for connected TVs is now providing developers the opportunity to create Paid TV Widgets to be featured in the Yahoo Connected TV Store expected to launch in the Spring of 2011.The Yahoo Connected TV service allows users to access more than 80 Yahoo TV Widgets, including those for Twitter, Pandora, eBay, CBS, and USA Today, and thousands of content sources.   The company has struck deals with TV manufacturers including Sony, Samsung, VIZIO, LG, and Toshiba, to include the service on their TVs at sale. Yahoo says that up to 70% of the TVs sold with Yahoo Connected TV are connected to the Internet and up to 60% of TVs sold with Yahoo Connected TV become monthly users.Now developers can create paid TV widgets through the widget development kit. Paid Widget pricing will be a one-time purchase between $0.99 to $99.00. Yahoo will handle payment processing for the Paid TV Widgets and deliver payments to Paid TV Widget developers, based on a revenue share of 70% of the purchase price. The Paid TV Widget developer program is initially open to developers and publishers in the US, UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, France, Canada and Australia.  It&amp;'s unclear how much of a future Yahoo Connected TV has now that Google has introduced a similar service with Google TV. Yahoo partner Samsung TV is planning to integrate Google TV into its televisions. CrunchBase InformationYahoo!Information provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google takes aim at low-quality sites in search, Demand Media unfazed]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-takes-aim-at-low-quality-sites-in-search-demand-media-unfazed</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-takes-aim-at-low-quality-sites-in-search-demand-media-unfazed</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-takes-aim-at-low-quality-sites-in-search-demand-media-unfazed</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google last night announced a major update to its search algorithm that aims to remove low-quality sites from search results and improve the rankings for high-quality sites.But notorious content farm Demand Media &amp;8212' who some think that Google was specifically targeting with its update &amp;8212' seems unfazed by the news. The site is best known for churning out tons of content aimed specifically at search engines &amp;8212' hence the term content farm.Google says its algorithm improvement &amp;''noticeably impacts 11.8 percent&amp;'' of queries. It describes low-quality sites as those &amp;''which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful.&amp;'' Those sites&amp;' rankings will go down, while high-quality sites that feature &amp;''original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, [and] thoughtful analysis&amp;'' will rise.In a blog post, Demand&amp;'s EVP of media and operations Larry Fitzgibbon seemed overly understanding of Google&amp;'s need to improve the consumer searching experience. &amp;''We have built our business by focusing on creating the useful and original content that meets the specific needs of todaya4a4s consumer,&amp;'' he said. &amp;''So naturally we applaud changes search engines make to improve the consumer experience a4&quot; ita4a4s both the right thing to do and our focus as well.&amp;''Fitzgibbon went on to say that Demand&amp;'s content library saw some ups and downs following Google&amp;'s algorithm change. &amp;''Ita4a4s impossible to speculate how these or any changes made by Google impact any online business in the long-term a4&quot; but at this point in time, we havena4a4t seen a material net impact on our Content &amp;amp' Media business,&amp;'' he said.In its first earnings call as a public company, Demand&amp;'s chief executive Richard Rosenblatt defended the company&amp;'s reputation. Not surprisingly, he doesn&amp;'t consider the site a content farm.Google says that it isn&amp;'t relying on feedback from the new Personal Blocklist Chrome extension for the algorithm changes. But in a comparison between the Blocklist data and the sites flagged by the new algorithm, Google found that the algorithm change addresses 84 percent of the most-blocked domains by users of the extension. That&amp;'s a big confirmation that the algorithm changes will be mostly beneficial to users, even though some companies may be hurt in the process.Previous Story: HighlightCam aims to make video editing simple and mobilePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: content farms, PageRank, search, SEOCompanies: Demand Media, GooglePeople: Larry Fitzgibbon, Richard Rosenblatt          Tags: content farms, PageRank, search, SEOCompanies: Demand Media, GooglePeople: Larry Fitzgibbon, Richard RosenblattDevindra 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. 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[Hey, Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare: Zynga and I Are in Indonesia. Where Are&nbsp'You]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hey-facebook-twitter-and-foursquare-zynga-and-i-are-in-indonesia--where-arenbspyou</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hey-facebook-twitter-and-foursquare-zynga-and-i-are-in-indonesia--where-arenbspyou</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hey-facebook-twitter-and-foursquare-zynga-and-i-are-in-indonesia--where-arenbspyou</guid>
<description><![CDATA[JAKARTA&amp;8211' You&amp;'ve probably heard about the swell of Internet users coming from Indonesia. It&amp;'s already the second largest market for Facebook, after the United States. It&amp;'s &amp;''only&amp;'' the fifth largest market for Twitter, but it&amp;'s number one in terms of the ratio of people online to Twitter adoption. And Google trends ranks Indonesia as the top Foursquare country&amp;8211' two slots above the United States.Six months ago all of this was newsy and surprising. Since then, Indonesia&amp;'s love affair with social media has only been growing. But as love affairs go, it&amp;'s a staggeringly unrequited one.I&amp;'m attending the SparkxUp awards in Jakarta yesterday and today, a first-time, flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants startup competition that was besieged with more than 400 entrepreneur applicants. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are all sponsoring, and TechCrunch is a media sponsor. Executives from Yahoo and Google both did keynotes. Zynga is here too to meet the Indonesian consumer face-to-face and try to figure this out-of-nowhere Web force out. We toured some smokey Internet cafes late last night together, where I snapped the above photo.But Facebook, Twitter, and FourSquare&amp;8211'a4s the companies that may be gaining the most love and traffic from Indonesia&amp;8211' are nowhere to be found, and according to locals, their executives haven&amp;'t made a single official appearance on the grounda4.ever. Maybe they came here and just didn&amp;'t call anyone, but I&amp;'ve asked the question in dozens of individual meetings at a 100-person event earlier in the week. No one has reported seeing as much as a business card from any of these companies. If they&amp;'ve come to check out Indonesia, they did it without talking to anyone in Jakarta&amp;'s Web scene.Oh, wait. There was that one time an executive from Facebook was scheduled to do a keynote. The entire Web scene was in a fever pitch to attend. And then he cancelled at the last minute&amp;8211' reportedly to go to Brazil instead. He hasn&amp;'t rescheduled. In fact, this morning I met with Izak Jenie, the director of content strategy for Nexian, the number two handset company in Indonesia. They sell about five million handsets a year' most of them are scaled-down, full-keyboard smartphones that sell for between $60-$80&amp;8211' a steal compared to the $400 Blackberry. He says he recently met with Google about putting a search box on every phone, but Facebook Well, Facebook won&amp;'t even return his calls and emails.Wow. ReallyOk, let me get this straight. These three companies taken together have raised just over $1 billion in venture capital and have more than a thousand employees, and not one of them can be bothered to make a single fact-finding, goodwill trip to what&amp;'s arguably their hottest, fasting growing market in the world Not even send an intern flying coach Meanwhile Zynga is here now, Google is opening local operations in the first quarter, and Yahoo is a regular in the start-up scene, already completing one acquisition.It&amp;'s shaping up to be the Valley and China in the Web 1.0 days all over again: The implicit arrogant assumption on the Valley&amp;'s part that either these people will just keep using our products because they can&amp;'t build competitive ones on their own, or we can&amp;'t profit of them so we just don&amp;'t care.Wake up, guys. Emerging markets aren&amp;'t just about offense anymore, they&amp;'re about defense. This isn&amp;'t the age of eBay, Yahoo, and Amazon when you could expand in the US first, and worry about the rest later, nor is this an age of Friendster where a big Southeast Asian Web presence is worth little more than a sandwich. As Fred Wilson (you know, a Twitter, Foursquare and Zynga investor&amp;8230') recently said to GigaOm, &amp;''If you look at Facebook, Twitter, Google&amp;8211' 75% to 80% of their users are outside the US, so globalization of Web services at scale is something I&amp;'m really interested in&amp;8230'So globalization is probably the number one thing I&amp;'ve been thinking about.&amp;'' Understanding your users isn&amp;'ta4sa nice-to-have luxury' it&amp;'s a must-have or someone will beat you.Let me give you a primer on the Indonesian user: Half of Indonesia&amp;'s 240 million person population is under the age of 29. They are Web obsessed, and unlike the rest of Southeast Asia they have a huge domestic market. They are hungry, they are scrappy, they are smart and they are building their own Web companies. They love usinga4s Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare&amp;8211' for now. But, frankly, the attitude is starting to piss many of the most Web savvy ones off. And every entrepreneur knows what pissed off Web users do: They start competitive companies. At the conference yesterday several people challenged the usual bragging that Indonesia is Facebook&amp;'s second largest market, saying &amp;''Why do we need to use Facebook Why can&amp;'t everyone else use an Indonesian site&amp;'' Sure it&amp;'s just the Web elite saying it now, but the drumbeat is starting.I know Indonesia isn&amp;'t a priority when you&amp;'re growing at the speed of Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. Indeed, it&amp;'s a brutally hard market to monetize with a nascent advertising market and little ecommerce to speak of. Only about 3% of the population even has credit cards. And it&amp;'s not always a comfortable market to be in: The traffic is horrible, I went through four SIM cards before finding one that worked, and I&amp;'ve had little luck getting a consistent Web connection this week.a4s And I doubt many of you speak Bahasa. But you&amp;'re not going to understand this customer any better sitting in the Valley.a4s (I don&amp;'t speak Bahasa either, for the record, but after 40 weeks in emerging markets I could beat you all at charades.)You can&amp;'t have it both ways, Web 2.0 elite. You can&amp;'t brag in local presentations about how global your reach is and not visit one of your largest markets. You can&amp;'t trumpet that it&amp;'s a brave new Web world with two billion global users and only cater to the first billion.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[More bicycle-delivered farm produce, now in Minnesota - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-bicycle-delivered-farm-produce-now-in-minnesota---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-bicycle-delivered-farm-produce-now-in-minnesota---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dveri-Vopmeseapsugs</dc:creator>
<category>Food</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-bicycle-delivered-farm-produce-now-in-minnesota---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Distribution is a key to every product''s success, but for some it requires a little more creative thinking than others. Take locally grown produce. Rather than expect consumers to seek it out at farm stands and other select venues, we''ve already seen one effort that brings it to commuters with specially priced USD 5 bags, for example. Delivery by bicycle is another approach, as we''ve seen in Florida, and recently one of our spotters alerted us to a similar initiative in Minnesota.Minneapolis-based VeloVeggies aims to make it easier for consumers to put farm-fresh fruits and vegetables on the table. Toward that end, it delivers produce and specially assorted boxes of veggies to consumers'' door. Community-supported agriculture (CSA) participants can have their shares of produce delivered by VeloVeggies, which will also pick up consumers'' compostable waste for delivery to its partner community gardens and vermiculture processor' as with Compost Cab, participants are also entitled to a portion of the resulting soil and worm castings in return.  Perhaps most interesting of all, though, is VeloVeggies'' VegBox, which features a selection of fresh, locally grown vegetables and fruits from the Twin Cities farmersa4a4 markets. During the growing season, VeloVeggies packs its VegBoxes fresh every morning and delivers them by bicycle the same day. This past season, pricing per VegBox began at USD 18, including delivery.The delivery of fresh food has always been fraught with challenges, of course, but it seems to be dovetailing beautifully with the current urban bicycle revolution. Time to start a4Apedalinga4 some produce for delivery through the city streets near you... (Related: Organic soups, delivered weekly by bicycle a4&quot; Waitrose using bicycles &amp; carts for greener grocery deliveries.)Website: www.veloveggies.comContact: hello@veloveggies.comSpotted by: Frank Jaskulke<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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