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<title>Haaze.com / mariacosmm / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[CES: Leaked Microsoft CES slide touts 'Avatar Kinect']]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-leaked-microsoft-ces-slide-touts-avatar-kinect</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-leaked-microsoft-ces-slide-touts-avatar-kinect</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariacosmm</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-leaked-microsoft-ces-slide-touts-avatar-kinect</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A purported slide from Microsoft&amp;39's 2011 CES keynote, showing off a new feature that makes use of the Kinect accessory.(Credit:Glimpse Dog)A purportedly leaked slide of Microsoft's 2011 CES keynote speech, snapped by blog Glimpse Dog, shows off an upcomingXbox 360 feature the company is dubbing &quot;Avatar Kinect.&quot;According to Winrumors, the feature will come as part of a system software update, and will make use of the Kinect camera accessory to map user body movements to their Xbox Live avatar. It's also said to bring the mapping feature to games, and other avatar-enabled areas of the Xbox dashboard and its applications. Avatars, which came long before Kinect, offer users a way to create a virtual character that's attached to their gamertag and user account. Microsoft also offers a built-in digital storefront to sell digital clothing and toys through piecemeal microtransactions.As part of last November's Xbox 360 dashboard update, Microsoft gave its avatar program a visual refresh, to more correctly proportion them for skeletal tracking with Kinect. This new program then could very well be the next step toward making that functionality more apparent to end users. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Visa, Mastercard fail Web shoppers again]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=visa-mastercard-fail-web-shoppers-again</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=visa-mastercard-fail-web-shoppers-again</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariacosmm</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=visa-mastercard-fail-web-shoppers-again</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Beware: The New York Times reported that the man who operates DecorMyEyes.com racked up scores of complaints but that Visa and Mastercard did little to stop him.(Credit:Screen shot by Greg Sandoval/CNET)commentary Internet shoppers once again have reason to question whether Visa and Mastercard are the best means for buying online. People have taken to Twitter and online forums to express shock about a compelling expose published in The New York Times on Friday. The story focused on an online retailer with a dubious history of customer service that included responding to complaints from unhappy patrons by allegedly threatening their lives. The newspaper reported that Vitaly Borker, a resident of New York, had generated so many complaints from selling eyewear on his site, DecorMyEyes.com, that all the negative comments had served to raise his site higher in Google's search results. Besides finding potential problems with Google's search algorithms, David Segal, the story's author, unearthed all kinds of e-commerce collateral damage. Among the companies that should be embarrassed by the report for either failing to protect customers or an inability to track down rogue retailers were eBay, Citibank, and the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The reputations to suffer most were those of Visa and Mastercard, two of the nation's largest transaction companies. Among the many complaints about Borker was that he refused to issue refunds and one of the ways he got away with it was due to an apparent flaw in Visa's and Mastercard's security systems. Red flags go up at Visa and Mastercard if a merchant generates too many &quot;charge-backs,&quot; the term used to describe when a customer successfully disputes a transaction and obtains a refund. This is what the Times wrote: &quot;Precisely how many of these charge-backs is too many is one of the few business subjects that Mr. Borker deems off the record, but suffice it to say he tracks that figure carefully and dials down the animus if he's nearing his limit.&quot;Deja vu. A year ago, I heard about how some merchants with ill intent game Visa and Mastercard's systems. I was speaking to a source who once worked at some of the so-called post-transaction marketing companies that were investigated by the U.S. Senate last year as part of one of the worst online retail scandals in history. Shame shame: Decade's 10 biggest tech scandals (images) Companies such as Vertrue, Webloyalty, and Affinion paid a large number of top e-tailers, including Orbitz, Buy.com, and Priceline to allow them to charge the credit cards of their customers even though the customers never supplied the card number. A shopper would be nearly done completing a transaction and would be presented with an ad that typically offered some free service. Often the ad appeared to be coming from the merchant. Plenty of people didn't see the tricky small print buried in the mass of ad copy. A Senate subcommittee found that maybe as many as a million people were duped by this &quot;scam&quot; and were unknowingly paid these companies every month. The retailers and marketers walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars. The source, who continues to be employed in online marketing, said that one of the reasons managers at Webloyalty and competitors were able to operate under the noses of Visa and Mastercard was that it was so easy to game the system. They knew exactly the number of charge-backs they could acquire before having to scale back operations, the source said. To be fair to the credit card companies, this isn't an easy problem to solve, as people like Borker are well aware. The Internet offers a perfect way for unsavory characters to mask their identity. Borker told the Times: &quot;If Visa and MasterCard ever shut me down, I'd use the name of a friend of mine. Give him 1 percent.&quot;To Mastercard's credit, the company did shut down Borker, at least for a little while. Noah Hanft, a Mastercard lawyer told the Times that it booted Borker for going over his charge-back number. Nonetheless, the company has no idea how Borker was allowed to continue accepting Mastercard transactions. &quot;No system is perfect...keep in mind, millions of transactions are conducted on our system every day, with 30 million merchants,&quot; Hanft told the Times. That is almost exactly what Visa and Mastercard representatives told me during the post-transaction marketing scandal. In the wake of the Senate investigation into that mess, Visa and Mastercard promised to do more to protect shoppers. It doesn't appear they've done enough. For now, all consumers can do to protect themselves is look for safer ways to buy online. Earlier today, Peter Pham, a venture capitalist and former Photobucket exec, posted a note to Twitter that included a link to the Times story. Pham wrote: &quot;Why I only use Amex.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nokia makes giant, cold touch screen from ice]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nokia-makes-giant-cold-touch-screen-from-ice</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nokia-makes-giant-cold-touch-screen-from-ice</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariacosmm</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nokia-makes-giant-cold-touch-screen-from-ice</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Nokia)Check it out. Nokia did something cool with a touch screen. I did not see that coming.We're not sure why researchers from the phone maker would do what they did (other than that they were probably going stir crazy during the long Nordic winter), but they did. So this exists: possibly the world's biggest touch screen, which is made of ice.The Fins stacked ice blocks together and fused them with a heat gun to make an ice wall. That itself isn't that awesome, but then they added a projector behind it that shot the back of the ice wall with infrared light.  When people touch the wall--which is about 6.5 feet long, 5 feet tall, and 10 inches thick--their hands reflect the infrared light back, and a sensor feeds the data into a computer, which in turns projects visible light in response to the users' touches. Thus it becomes a giant touch screen.Right now all the chilly ice screen does is make an interactive light display, which is fun. But I want to play Angry Birds on a wall. Nokia, can we make that happen Check out the New Scientist video below.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Free 'Conan' on Google TV: It works, with quirks]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=free-conan-on-google-tv-it-works-with-quirks</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=free-conan-on-google-tv-it-works-with-quirks</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariacosmm</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=free-conan-on-google-tv-it-works-with-quirks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google TV owners can stream &amp;34'Conan&amp;34' for free, as long as they can tolerate the quirks.(Credit:Matthew Moskovciak/CNET) As both a longtime Conan fan and cable-cutter, 2010's late night debacle was a double-whammy for me. Not only did Conan lose his 11:30 p.m. &quot;Tonight Show&quot; slot after just eight months, but he moved to basic cable, which meant I couldn't watch his new show with my over-the-air TV antenna. Luckily, Conan's return to late night coincided with the rollout of Google TV, which is designed to do exactly what I need: let me watch the free full-episode streams of &quot;Conan&quot; from TeamCoco.com on my home theater HDTV. Yes, I could connect my laptop to my TV via HDMI every time I wanted to watch &quot;Conan&quot;, but it's a bit of a hassle compared with a dedicated streaming-video box.  Using the Logitech Revue with Google TV at home, I've been able to watch the first two episode so far (they go online the morning after they air) and for the most part the experience is positive, although it's a step-down from watching on cable.Google TV&amp;39's search doesn&amp;39't find &amp;34'Conan&amp;34' online yet.(Credit:Matthew Moskovciak/CNET) The first surprise is that the new show doesn't show up in Google TV's search bar. You'd think it would be impossible for anyone not to know about Conan's new show given TBS's near-constant promotion, but Google TV's search bar has no idea &quot;Conan&quot; exists. The search brings up several unhelpful results and Conan fans won't be amused to see &quot;The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien&quot; still listed. (&quot;Conan&quot; on TBS will show up in search if you have cable/satellite service, although it doesn't have a dedicated Google TV series page yet and it's not aware of the online presence.) Commercial breaks for online streams are at the same points they'd be for cable customers, but online viewers are treated to only a single 30-second commercial. I don't mind the commercials themselves, but every time a commercial plays, Google TV switches out of full-screen mode, so you need to click the full-screen button after each commercial. It's an annoyance, but since you're already wasting time watching a commercial (they are unskippable), I didn't find it too troublesome.While closeup shots like this can look quite good, long-range shots fared much worse. (Click for larger image.)(Credit:TBS) Image quality of the streaming video from &quot;Conan&quot; on my 50-inch plasma ranged from bad to acceptable. That's to be expected, since the streams are optimized for people watching on a computer monitor, rather than more specialized services like Netflix and Amazon VOD, which expect you to watch on a big screen TV. It's also dependent on your home network and broadband connection. (There's no indicator for stream quality, unfortunately.) In general, we found the picture quality fared the worst during any kind of long-range shots (like a pan of the audience), where there were lots of blocky compression artifacts. The best-looking shots were during the close-up desk segments, but videophiles will still notice the soft image and less blatant video compression issues. It's a compromise, but one I'm willing to make to avoid a pricey cable bill. Overall, catching &quot;Conan&quot; on Google TV is certainly workable for cable-cutters willing to put up with the quirks. But before you run out to buy a Logitech Revue to get your CoCo fix, remember that TBS could follow in the footsteps of major networks at any time and block Google TV from streaming episodes. In fact, TBS's TV-optimized Web site, promoted by Google TV in the &quot;spotlight&quot; section, shows only clips of &quot;Conan,&quot; indicating that TBS might not want you to stream full episodes to your TV. If TBS offered an online-only subscription of &quot;Conan&quot; with better image quality, I'd definitely sign up, but until then I'll be taking advantage of free streaming to my TV as long as its available.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Get Your Wallet Out And Help Build A Children&'s&nbsp'Hospital]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=get-your-wallet-out-and-help-build-a-childrenrsquosnbsphospital</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=get-your-wallet-out-and-help-build-a-childrenrsquosnbsphospital</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariacosmm</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=get-your-wallet-out-and-help-build-a-childrenrsquosnbsphospital</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Help us make social media history in support of a great cause, the UCSF Challenge for the Children.  They are trying to raise $600 million for a $1.6 billion massively awesome project. We&amp;'re asking for your help, and I&amp;'ll personally match the first $10,000 in donations through TechCrunch.The UCSF Medical Center, as part of the overall project, is building a new, freestanding children&amp;'s hospital in San Francisco with $100 million from  Marc and Lynne Benioff.  People already travel from around the state, and in fact from around the country, for highly specialized cancer treatment, surgeries and other critical treatments to the UCSF Medial Center.  The new hospital will offer a wonderful new environment where children and their families can feel more comfortable. SV Angel investor Ron Conway is a board member of UCSF Medical Center and contributes a significant amount of time to the cause.That&amp;'s where we come in.  UCSF has partnered with Causes to host the UCSF Challenge for the Children.  Between now and December 16, the team that gets the highest number of contributors (minimum donation of $10), will be able to gift and name &amp;''The Link,&amp;'' a children&amp;'s activity space for learning play and discovery in the new Hospital. This is normally reserved for benefectors at the million dollar level and above. It&amp;'s also a super cool way to use social media as a major vehicle to drive awareness and broadscale participation in the construction of a new hospital. Team TechCrunch is excited to participate.We&amp;'ll be holding weekly contests to support team TechCrunch in the Challenge for the Children.  This week, the person or start up that helps us get the highest number of contributions will be awarded a Day at TechCrunch in San Francisco. We&amp;'ll be happy to host up to six people for a day at the office. Get a tour, see the video studio, have lunch, watch breaking tech news in action, play with new tech gadgets and generally work hard play hard with us. We&amp;'ll also randomly select six donors who share their donation with friends through Facebook or Twitter for TechCrunch tshirts. This week&amp;'s contest will close noon pst Friday, November 19.To participate in this week&amp;'s content, make a donation to Team TechCrunch for UCSF Challenge for the Children.Stay tuned. We&amp;'ll have new giveaways each week leading up to December 16.  The startup that helps us get the highest number of total participants over the duration of the drive will be able to name the hospital room for team TechCrunch. How often do you get the chance to name a room in a children&amp;'s hospitalIf you prefer to start your own team, you can do so on the Causes page here. An anonymous donor has agreed to add $1,000 to each of the top 25 teams in the challenge.There will be heavy competition. Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, foursquare, DailyBooth, Seesmic and others are all participating, and it will be interesting to see how each company uses its platform to drive awareness and participation. Of course, we&amp;'re very competitive at TechCrunch, so just because we&amp;'re a tech blog, don&amp;'t expect us to just sit back and cover the news&amp;8230' if you have an idea for how team TechCrunch can win, let us know in the comments below or tell Elin our new community manager on our Facebook page.  BTW, today is National Philanthropy Day and a good excuse to support a great cause.Make your donation HERE.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Glass company invests $2.6 million in NLAB Solar&'s cheap, transparent solar cells]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=glass-company-invests-2-6-million-in-nlab-solarrsquos-cheap-transparent-solar-cells</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=glass-company-invests-2-6-million-in-nlab-solarrsquos-cheap-transparent-solar-cells</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariacosmm</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=glass-company-invests-2-6-million-in-nlab-solarrsquos-cheap-transparent-solar-cells</guid>
<description><![CDATA[NLAB Solar just landed an investment of $2.6 million fromFasadglas Bcklin, Scandinavia&amp;'s largest glass facade company. NLAB Solar manufactures energy-producing dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC). The cells which can be integrated into transparent and colored facades such as those produced by Fasadglas. The funding will be used to accelerate product development in NLAB&amp;'s new plant in Stockholm.DSC operate in a similar manner to photosynthesis in plants.In nature a dye called chlorophyll, which gives plants their green colour, absorbs solar energy. That energy is used to convert carbon dioxide into sugars which feed the plant. DSC cells use an artificial dye to absorb the energy in sunlight. Most solar cells available today are based on silicon. When sunlight hits the silicon, electronsflow through the material to produce electricity.Although DSC has a lower efficiency rate than silicon cells, it can be made transparent and produced in different colors, which explains Fasadglas&amp;'s interest in the technology.The DSC film can be built into windows and building facades where sun shading film is normally used.Based on an energy efficiency of 5.1 percent, one meter of glass facade in Stockholm (1000 hours of sun per year), could provide electricity for approximately one square meter of office space. NLABaims for 4 percent efficiency in transparent cells for window applications in urban environments.DSC cells also have other advantages such as higher efficiency under low and angled light conditions. DSC cells are much cheaper to manufacture than silicon since they do not require pure silicon as a raw material or the related complex manufacturing equipment.NLAB Solar&amp;'s twist on DSC technology is to add aone-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC). This is a transparent mirror placed inside the DSC that reflects certain wavelengths of light back through the dye layer. This increases the number of photons striking the dye and leads to higher efficiency. The company claims to have seen a 37 percent improvement over standard DSC, which would improve the efficiencyfrom 4 percent to approximately 5.5 percent.NLAB Solar previously received a $2.5 million grant from the European Commission to build Swedena4a4s first pilot plant for the production of DSC solar cells. The plant will be built in Stockholm in 2010-11 and cost $5.75 million in total. NLAB Solar&amp;'s plant will be the first in the world to manufacture DSC with iDPC on an industrial scale.Next Story: Finally, the official Google Voice iPhone app hits the App Store Previous Story: Activision drops the hammer on Bizarre Creations&amp;' 200 employeesPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: dye-sensitized solar cells, solar cells, stockholmCompanies: Fasadglas, NLAB Solar          Tags: dye-sensitized solar cells, solar cells, stockholmCompanies: Fasadglas, NLAB SolarCiara Byrne is a full time techie and part-time writer. She has worked as a software developer, team lead, engineering manager and mobile standards expert. Ciara is based in Amsterdam and her interests include creative companies, useful technology, torture by piano and cycling in high heels. Follow her on Twitter at @deciara. 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[Skyrim gameplay trailer proves Bethesda&'s still got the epic touch (video)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skyrim-gameplay-trailer-proves-bethesdarsquos-still-got-the-epic-touch-video</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skyrim-gameplay-trailer-proves-bethesdarsquos-still-got-the-epic-touch-video</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariacosmm</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skyrim-gameplay-trailer-proves-bethesdarsquos-still-got-the-epic-touch-video</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The first trailer featuring actual gameplay for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim finally landed this morning, and it&amp;'s sure to make the wait for the game&amp;'s fall release as unbearable for gamers as it is for investors.Skyrim is the fifth entry in Bethesda Softwork&amp;'s flagship Elder Scrolls series, and it looks to continue the series&amp;' penchant for majestic open environments and swordplay. And yes, there be dragons.Excitement for the game is palpable from gamers, who have waited five long years since the release of the last official Elder Scrolls game, Oblivion. On Twitter this morning, it was hard to look at my feed of followers without finding countless people gushing over Skyrim.Investors too must be pleased by the fan response: Bethesda&amp;'s parent company ZeniMax Media landed $150 million in private equity funding from Providence Equity Partners in October last year. And that&amp;'s on top of a previous $300 million investment the firm made in October 2007. Judging from the fan response, investors are likely confident that Skyrim will be another bestselling (and award-winning) title like its predecessor Oblivion. That game received review scores in the mid-90s across all platforms, according to the review aggregator Metacritic. Oblivion also won Game of the Year from G4 and Spike TV in 2006.Skyrim pits the player as the last surviving Dovahkiin (Dragonborn) who must save the land of Skyrim following the death of its king, and the rise of the God-turned-dragon Alduin who wishes to destroy the world. Yup, just another day in dragon country.Skyrim will be released on November 11, 2011 (11/11/11) on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Windows PCs.Check out the trailer below:Via Game InformerNext Story: AudioMicro unleashes its Facebook-style content service Previous Story: Minus a partner, Accel puts energy in China cleantechPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimCompanies: bethesda softworks, Zenimax Media          Tags: The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimCompanies: bethesda softworks, Zenimax MediaDevindra 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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