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<title>Haaze.com / gsambermgm / Published News</title>
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<pubDate>Wed, 08 Jun 2011 07:10:46 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook facial recognition prompts EU privacy probe]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-facial-recognition-prompts-eu-privacy-probe</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-facial-recognition-prompts-eu-privacy-probe</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Jun 2011 07:10:46 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gsambermgm</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-facial-recognition-prompts-eu-privacy-probe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Facebook and its opt-out-by-default policies have struck again, this time with automated photo-tagging through facial recognition, which had been in tests but is now being rolled out internationally.  Bloomberg reports that European Union data-protection regulators say they will investigate the photo-tagging feature. The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, which advises national data protection agencies that could then potentially establish punishments, will evaluate whether the feature breaks privacy rules, according to member Gerard Lommel's comments to Bloomberg. Facebook, which calls the feature &quot;Tag Suggestions,&quot; admitted it messed up at least a little bit, telling various news outlets &quot;we should have been more clear with people during the roll-out process when this became available to them.&quot; Tag Suggestions are &quot;now available in most countries,&quot; according to a Facebook blog post yesterday, which said Facebook users tag more than 100 million photos per day. The company said facial recognition is meant to address user complaints that tagging photos can become a chore, especially in large albums that depict the same people over and over again. Facial recognition is one of the touchiest subjects in online privacy, with Google Executive Chairman (and former CEO) Eric Schmidt saying publicly, most recently at D9, that mobile facial recognition is something he personally worked to stop at Google, even after it had already been developed. Apple last year boughta facial recognition company called Polar Rose.  Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.Story Copyright (c) 2011 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sprint's Common Cents plan to become Virgin Mobile PayLo]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sprints-common-cents-plan-to-become-virgin-mobile-paylo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sprints-common-cents-plan-to-become-virgin-mobile-paylo</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gsambermgm</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sprints-common-cents-plan-to-become-virgin-mobile-paylo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Sprint)Sprint will discontinue its Common Cents prepaid plan, CNET learned today, and will instead transition existing customers into the PayLo plan run by Virgin Mobile, a different Sprint prepaid brand. Related links Sprint and Wal-Mart offer cheap prepaid plan Sprint expands Common Cents serviceSprint and Wal-Mart launched Common Cents as an in-store brand last May to compete against retail handsets like TracFone's StraightTalk brand, but the program wasn't rolled out nationally. Existing Common Cents customers will join Virgin Mobile this May, cutting off the plan's lifespan at one year.&quot;Current Common Cents customers need not make any change, but will now have access to more options for plans and handsets under payLo as well, a Sprint spokeswoman told CNET in an e-mail. &quot;Common Cents is due to move out of Wal-Mart in mid May' those pegs will be taken over by Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk plans, which have already seen solid success in Wal-Mart.&quot;Sprint is promising an automatic shift for current customers, and will continue offering 7-cent-per-minute calls, plus access to Virgin Mobile top-up cards to refresh minutes. There is some information of the Common Cents Web site, and Sprint has promised more details in the coming weeks.In addition to Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile and Assurance Wireless are also Sprint prepaid brands.[Via Fierce Wireless]Article updated at 1:11pm PT: With a quote from Sprint.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nissan pushing Leaf to full production]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissan-pushing-leaf-to-full-production</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissan-pushing-leaf-to-full-production</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:10:53 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gsambermgm</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissan-pushing-leaf-to-full-production</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Nissan Motor, Japan's second-biggest automaker, said today that Leaf production will reach full capacity by March at its factory south of Tokyo. The company has gradually ramped up output of the Leaf, its first mass-marketed zero-emission car, since it started building them in late October, completing about 3,000 units to date.By March, the pace of production will rise to full capacity of about 4,000 Leafs a month at the Oppama factory, putting Nissan on track to hit a target of producing a total 10,000 units by the end of March, a Nissan official said.&quot;We'll build more Leafs in the next two months and add overtime and holidays to keep up with production of the other vehicles on the line,&quot; said Seiji Honda, head of the Oppama factory, noting thatcar demand typically ticks up at the end of Japan's fiscal year in March.Nissan&amp;39's Leaf(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)Nissan and partner Renault want to lead the auto industry in the field of battery-run electric vehicles, and delivered its first electric vehicle, the Leaf, to customers in Japan and the United States last month.Until production starts at its Tennessee and Sunderland factories in 2012 and 2013, respectively, Nissan will supply the car from Oppama.Journalists today toured the 430,000-units-a-year Oppama plant, where the Leaf hatchback is assembled on a mixed line alongside gasoline-engine models such as the Juke, Cube, and Note.With battery packs and electric motors waiting on the side of the trim and assembly lines instead of fuel tanks and engines, the Leaf's frames flowed seamlessly on conveyor belts between those of the Juke crossover and Cube minivan.The battery modules and other EV-specific parts are put together in a separate &quot;sub-line.&quot;&quot;Right now, about one in every seven cars is a Leaf, and we'll start building more until we reach maximum capacity in March,&quot; Honda said.Nissan has taken orders for 6,000 Leafs in Japan and 20,000 in the United States so far, closing reservations for the time being. It sold the first Leafs in Portugal this month and will begin deliveries in select European markets in the coming months.Nissan Americas Chief Carlos Tavares said earlier this month the automaker has committed to delivering the Leaf to all 20,000 U.S. customers by September.Nissan and Renault are preparing factories around the world to manufacture a combined 500,000 lithium-ion batteries a year, mainly for their electric vehicles, by 2015.The companies' joint CEO, Carlos Ghosn, has predicted that one-tenth of all new vehicles sold worldwide would be all-electric by 2020, and wants the alliance to take the biggest share, much as Toyota Motor has done with gasoline-electric hybrids.Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple doesn't want to reveal CEO succession plans]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-doesnt-want-to-reveal-ceo-succession-plans</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-doesnt-want-to-reveal-ceo-succession-plans</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gsambermgm</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-doesnt-want-to-reveal-ceo-succession-plans</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Steve Jobs addressed the state of his health during an Apple event in October 2008. (Credit:James Martin/CNET)Apple is once again being asked to discuss what the company would do without CEO Steve Jobs. Apple said today in regulatory filings that it was informed that Central Laborers' Pension Fund, which owns over 11,000 shares of Apple stock, plans to submit a proposal at Apple's annual shareholder's meeting on February 23, that if passed would require Apple to &quot;adopt and disclose a written and detailed succession planning policy.&quot; Apple's board of directors said in the filings that it has recommended shareholders vote against the proposal. They say they have already established a succession plan and disclosing it publicly would only hurt the company's ability to retain and recruit top executive talent. Apple wrote that competitors could poach top Apple execs who learn they aren't in line for the top jobs or those execs might leave voluntarily. Few leaders are as closely identified with their companies as Jobs. Some shareholders appear to get nervous anytime there's a debate about what the company's prospects are without him. In the event that Jobs won't or can't continue with his duties, some shareholders want to know how Apple would respond. Those plans haven't been publicly disclosed. The debate took on a greater urgency after Apple revealed that Jobs underwent a liver transplant in 2009. As part of Central Laborers' plan, Apple's board would be required to &quot;develop criteria for the CEO position which will reflect the company's business strategy and will use a formal assessment process to evaluate candidates&quot; as well as identify and develop top candidates from within the company. The proposal also calls for Apple to maintain nonemergency and emergency succession plans. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Angry Birds maker predicts the death of console gaming]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=angry-birds-maker-predicts-the-death-of-console-gaming</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=angry-birds-maker-predicts-the-death-of-console-gaming</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gsambermgm</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=angry-birds-maker-predicts-the-death-of-console-gaming</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Peter Vesterbacka, whose company Rovio makes the immensely popular Angry Birds game, has a big vision for the future of mobile gaming.Vesterbacka leads business development for Rovio, and he already outlined some of his vision earlier this week when Rovio announced $42 million in new funding led by Accel Partners. But he was even more expansive today, at a panel I moderated at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin.Innovation in gaming has clearly moved into mobile and social, Vesterbacka said, largely because those companies are more a4Animblea4 &amp;8212' ita4a4s easy to develop and release new content quickly. In fact, he said as mobile gaming (including games on tablet devices like the iPad) continues to grow, console games are a4Adyinga4. Vesterbacka scoffed at the traditional model where companies charge $40 to $50 for a game that&amp;'s difficult to upgrade. (Nokiaa4a4s Tero Ojanpera, who was also on the panel, countered that therea4a4s still a place for consoles, because gamers arena4a4t going to plug tablet devices into their televisions.)Of course, those $40 and $50 games are more likely to bring substantial revenue than Angry Birds (which is available in a free version and one that costs 99 cents), and that seems more sustainable for companies spending a lot of money building high-quality games using cutting-edge technology.When it comes to the business model for mobile gaming, Vesterbacka acknowledged, a4ANo one has figured it out yet.&amp;'' But when a game can become as wildly popular as Angry Birds (Rovio just announced that it has crossed 100 million downloads), Vesterbacka said therea4a4s clearly a business opportunity. He added that the key for Rovio is to continue experimenting and not become attached to any particular model.By the way, when people talk about this trend, they often paint it as a competition between casual games like Angry Birds and the hardcore games found on the consoles. Vesterbacka said hea4a4s tired of the phrase a4Acasual gamesa4. He complained that no one talks about a4Acasual moviesa4, and he argued that an Angry Birds player can be just as involved and addicted as any other gamer &amp;8212' Vesterbacka said he has seen players throw their phone across the room when they din&amp;'t quite beat a level.Next Story: Hacker claims to have jailbroken the iPad 2 already Previous Story: Foursquare co-founder: How to stop worrying and love data overloadPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Angry Birds, console gaming, Mobile gaming, South by Southwest, South By Southwest Interactive, sxsw, Sxsw InteractiveCompanies: RovioPeople: Peter Vesterbacka, Tero Ojanpera          Tags: Angry Birds, console gaming, Mobile gaming, South by Southwest, South By Southwest Interactive, sxsw, Sxsw InteractiveCompanies: RovioPeople: Peter Vesterbacka, Tero OjanperaAnthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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