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<title>Haaze.com / megaicenek / Published News</title>
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<pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Dell drops top mobile executive]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dell-drops-top-mobile-executive</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dell-drops-top-mobile-executive</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>megaicenek</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dell-drops-top-mobile-executive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Ron Garriques(Credit:Dell)The man brought in to turn around Dell's consumer business will be leaving the company at the end of January, Dell announced today.Ron Garriques, a high-profile hire from Motorola in 2007, during Dell's last major shake-up, was charged with heading a newly created consumer division at the PC maker. He was transferred to head Dell's communications products group late last year. Dell released its first in a series of promised tablets, the Streak, under his watch, as well as a smartphone that was met with less-than-rabid enthusiasm.Although he plans to continue to advise the company for the remainder of the year, Garriques' last day will be January 28. He's not going away empty-handed, though: Garriques is entitled to severance totaling $1.44 million and an incentive payment of $368,000, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His consultation contract with Dell over the course of 2011 will net him an additional $6.3 million.It looks as if another shake-up of Dell's consumer business is under way. The recently broken-out communications unit will be integrated across the Consumer and Small/Medium Business, Enterprise, and Public Sector divisions. A company representative said the decision was motivated by the desire to incorporate mobile devices across all the company's business units, not just its consumer business.Dell is in the midst of launching a new branding strategy for its consumer PCs--focusing on less expensive models such as the XPS, and doing away with the designer-friendly Studio and pricey Adamo laptops. We also hear from a source that Alex Gruzen, former senior vice president of consumer products--who was lured away from Hewlett-Packard in 2004 and pushed the Adamo line--was quietly let go in June.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Reports show HP was right to dump Hurd]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reports-show-hp-was-right-to-dump-hurd</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reports-show-hp-was-right-to-dump-hurd</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 06 Nov 2010 07:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>megaicenek</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reports-show-hp-was-right-to-dump-hurd</guid>
<description><![CDATA[commentary Mark Hurd is now a Silicon Valley symbol for self-destructive behavior. On Friday, The Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine published detailed reports on what prompted the HP board to ask then-CEO Hurd to resign in August. The stories paint a picture of a reckless man who was given the trust and support of HP's board only to repay that trust with betrayal. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, B-movie actress Jodie Fisher, who accused former HP CEO Mark Hurd of sexual harassment, also alleged Hurd touched her body in 'sexually suggestive ways.' The man whose face is obscured is not Mark Hurd. (Credit:Jodie Fisher&amp;39's Facebook page. ) The reports should finally silence the critics who slammed HP's board after Hurd was forced out of HP, after five years as CEO. Up to now, we knew few details about what led up to Hurd's ouster, outside of the allegations that he lied on his expense report and was accused of sexually harassing Jodie Fisher, an HP contract employee and former actress. The Journal and Fortune stories flesh out many more details that seem to support the board's choice for firing Hurd. They really had no choice. But make up your own mind. Read the Fortune and Journal stories and put yourself in the shoes of HP's directors. Imagine one day that Hurd, your CEO, tells you he's been accused of sexual harassment and that he's innocent of all wrongdoing. Then he tells you the accuser is a former soft-core porn actress hired by him to greet important clients at company mixers and that he has flown her all over the country for two years on the company's dime. He has done all this even though she occupies a low-level public relations position at HP and has little prior experience. Imagine that the woman, Fisher, who once appeared nude in Playboy and in several B-movies, has accused the CEO of touching her body in sexually suggestive ways. You learn that Fisher has hired attorney Gloria Allred, famous for her ability to stir public outrage against those her clients accuse of misconduct. Then imagine that with the threat of scandal looming, investigators find evidence that he lied about some of his contacts with Fisher and that he didn't know about her past in racy films. Do you believe him when he denies having sex  with her despite knowing he has met her twice alone in her hotel room, and on several other occasions for reasons not related to work Mark Hurd denied any wrongdoing in his dealings with Jodie Fisher and later lashed out at the HP board. Maybe you chuckle nervously when informed the former actress wasn't hired from among HP's legion of experienced PR reps or through an employment agency but was recruited by one of Hurd's underlings who saw her compete on a reality TV show. On the show, older women compete against younger women for the affections of a tennis pro. Is this a recruiting pool worthy of HP Maybe you start to get really nervous when you learn the actress has claimed the CEO told her about HP's plans to acquire Electronic Data Systems months before the deal was done. A question might flash into your mind as to whether the information was true and, if so, whether Fisher or someone connected to her traded stock as a result. Amid all this, you learn your CEO also filed false expense reports, some of them related to contacts with Fisher. Sooner or later, your mind is likely to drift back to another incident where Hurd's flexible ethics helped drag HP into the most reputation-blackening scandal in company history. In 2006, HP's chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, elected to plug news leaks coming from the company's boardroom by hiring detectives to ferret them out. She OKed the use of some dubious investigative practices, some of which are now illegal, to hunt down the leaks. Hurd acknowledged giving his approval to some of these practices as well as to the overall investigation. Dunn resigned and HP had to suffer through embarrassing public hearings on Capitol Hill. This is where you might ask yourself some basic and reasonable questions: Wouldn't a guy with any kind of judgment or moral compass have steered HP away from the lamebrain spying activities Shouldn't the CEO of the country's largest tech company have enough smarts to avoid the kind of relationship he had with Fisher Even if it were innocent, he put himself and his company into a compromising position. Then there are the expense reports, the tales about being unaware of Fisher's background, and the apparent attempts to cover up his relationship with her. Wouldn't you ask yourself, if this guy is capable of this kind of deceit, what else is he capable of doing In that situation, you might ask what would happen if you looked the other way and kept him on as CEO, and then he later committed some other, more harmful misdeed. You would know that this Fisher fiasco would come out and you'd be on the hook for not doing anything about him sooner. Don't you think all the people who lost their shirts on Enron stock wish the board there had done something sooner about founder Ken Lay In the late 1980s, years before the company collapsed, Lay prevented investors from learning about $100 million in losses. The board gave him another chance. Lay repaid them by leading Enron into one of the country's largest accounting frauds. Does a board have to wait for an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission or for a CEO to be indicted before determining he's not morally fit to run a company If so, isn't that the kind of inaction that boards have been criticized for in the past and the stuff that investor lawsuits are made ofI hope HP's board is an example to others. A company shouldn't let some guy with a string of positive quarters under his belt ignore the rules--for his sake, as well as the sake of investors. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[California approves Tessera solar plant]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=california-approves-tessera-solar-plant</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=california-approves-tessera-solar-plant</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>megaicenek</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=california-approves-tessera-solar-plant</guid>
<description><![CDATA[NTR's Tessera Solar won approval for a 663.5-megawatt solar plant near Barstow in Southern California, the latest in a string of giant solar plants planned for the nation's most populous state.The Calico Solar Project won the green light from the California Energy Commission (CEC) yesterday afternoon, following last week's approval from the Interior Department.Development of alternative energy has been a major platform of President Barack Obama and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as a way to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and create new jobs.The Calico project will use SunCatcher mirrored dishes developed by Sterling Energy.(Credit:Salt River Project)Tessera's Calico plant will cost more than $2 billion and will power 200,000 to 500,000 homes, according to the Interior Department. If the company secures financing, it could start construction by year-end and begin generating power late in 2011.Calico would use a concentrated thermal-power technology called SunCatcher that relies on mirrored dishes to convert sunlight into electricity. The technology was developed by Sterling Energy, which like Tessera is majority-owned by Irish infrastructure company NTR.The plant is one of a group of fast-tracked solar power projects that state and federal agencies are coordinating. Those include projects from Abengoa Solar, NextEra Energy, and Solar Millennium.If they start construction by December 31, the plants can qualify for a program that provides a 30 percent cash grant from the Treasury Department.For many of the projects, securing a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy is just as important as the regulatory approvals.&quot;To get this first wave of projects off the ground, the loan guarantee is pretty much critical,&quot; says Sean Gallagher, vice president of marketing and regulatory affairs for Tessera Solar North America.Tessera is also applying for a loan guarantee for a 709-megawatt solar plant in California's Imperial Valley. That plant won CEC approval last month and Interior Department approval this month.But the Department of Energy is moving slowly on its approval process. Earlier this month, Solar Millennium said it did not know if it would receive a guarantee by year's end, which throws the future of its 1,000-megawatt solar plant near Blythe, Calif., into question. The company is also trying to develop a 500-megawatt solar plant in Palen, Calif.Like many of the other planned solar plants, Tessera's Calico plant has met opposition from environmentalists over fears it will harm desert tortoises, a threatened species in the state.Environmentalists are also concerned about water use and bighorn sheep that live in the mountains above the planned project.Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Punchbowl Acquires Friendster Founder&'s Party Planning Startup&nbsp'Socializr]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=punchbowl-acquires-friendster-founderrsquos-party-planning-startupnbspsocializr</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=punchbowl-acquires-friendster-founderrsquos-party-planning-startupnbspsocializr</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>megaicenek</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=punchbowl-acquires-friendster-founderrsquos-party-planning-startupnbspsocializr</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Remember Socializr, the party planning and event management site founded by Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams The site launched in 2006 as the Evite 2.0, but was unfortunately was forced to lay off all of its staff last Fall. It looks like there&amp;'s a good end to the story, as start to finish party planning site Punchbowl is announcing this evening that it has acquired Socializr. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Socializr, which raised $2.25 million in total, is similar in function to Punchbowl and coordinated party planning and invitations for consumers. Last year, the startup launched Event Connect, which allowed users to aggregate and respond to all of their events from sites like Facebook, Meetup, MySpace, and Evite in one place.Matt Douglas, Punchbowl&amp;'s founder and CEO, says that his company is acquiring all of the assets, underlying technology, and domains associated with Socializr (he declined to reveal how many active users Socializr currently has). Douglas says that eventually all users will merge together in Punchbowl. He adds that Abrams will not be joining Punchbowl, but that he will &amp;''maintain a close relationship&amp;'' with the party planning startup. Punchbowl seems to be growing strong, the startup has grown to one million registered users and rebranded from MyPunchbowl. The platform allows users to create beautiful online invitations and track RSVPs. The platform also provides tools that let you find supplies, organize an after party and even set a date, via an algorithm that recommends the best date for your party. The site also allows you to set up gift registries, save-the-dates, message boards, integrate Google Mapsa4a4 to display the location, and share comments, photos, and videos. Basically, Punchbowl helps you plan and organize an event from start to finish.This isn&amp;'t the first acquisition for Punchbowl' the startup acquired local vendor listings site I&amp;'m In last November. CrunchBase InformationPunchbowlSocializrInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[RIM shuts out red-hot mobile chat application Kik &8212' without explanation]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rim-shuts-out-red-hot-mobile-chat-application-kik-8212-without-explanation</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rim-shuts-out-red-hot-mobile-chat-application-kik-8212-without-explanation</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>megaicenek</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rim-shuts-out-red-hot-mobile-chat-application-kik-8212-without-explanation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Kik, the hot mobile chat application we wrote about two weeks ago that was seeing explosive growth, has been pulled from the Blackberry app market App World.RIM, the maker of Blackberry phones, told Kik on Friday afternoon that no new downloads could be made of the app, citing concerns that it a4Acould not elaborate on at the time.a4 Kik has now been closed for new registrants on Blackberry devices all weekend. The application continues to be available in Apple&amp;'s App Store and the Android app market for iPhone and Android device users.So Kik is being left completely in the dark for now, creating serious uncertainty for the app that was seeing unprecedented growth.Kik&amp;'s chat service is notable for its blazing speed, and intuitive interface. Ita4a4s seen a quicker initial uptake than other chat services, such as WhatsApp and PingChat, that also let you message across platforms (iPhone, Android and RIM). Kik says it has hit 2.25 million registered users &amp;8212' an impressive count for an app that has been up all of three weeks. It&amp;'s not clear how many of those will remain active, but Kik says about 1 million users have sent a message in the last 48 hours. Until Friday, the users were about evenly distributed across all three platforms.Youa4a4d think that RIM would want to support a service that provides a great chat experience on the Blackberry, so ita4a4s not clear why the company has taken this action. One explanation could be that RIM fears Kik could overtake RIMa4a4s own messaging service, Blackberry Messenger. But such fears wouldna4a4t make much sense, because RIM doesna4a4t lose any revenue if users adopt Kik.RIM has not responded to a request for comment. Ted Livingston, founder of Kik, said RIM hasna4a4t responded to his requests for timelines for when the issue will be cleared up.True, Kik has drawn scrutiny for the aggressive way it has pulled contacts into usersa4a4 address books, with some people saying it violates Applea4a4s iOS Developer Terms of Service, because it imports contacts without asking for permission. However, Livingston created a fix for this last week, which he is pushing out today in an update for the iPhone and Android apps. The fix allows users to opt out of the contact-import feature. Hea4a4d planned to push the fix to RIM too, but RIM won&amp;'t let him. Also, competitor WhatsApp in fact appears to pull a copy of a usera4a4s contacts onto its own servers &amp;8212' making it even more aggressive than Kik on that measure &amp;8212' and yet RIM hasna4a4t pulled WhatsApp [Update: Actually, there's some disinformation out there about WhatsApp. The company says its application lets users contact you if they know your phone number, and that yourphone number is transmitted via SSL for detection of otherWhatsApp contacts, &quot;but they are never stored&quot;]. So it doesn&amp;'t appear that privacy concerns are behind RIM&amp;'s move. Also, Kik has updated the app so that it is not as much of a drain on battery life as some competitors, so Livingston says this issue has also been taken out of the equation.Another upstart steamrolled by the big guys Stay tuned to see how this unfolds.Update: As pointed out in comments below, another reason for RIM&amp;'s action could be that Kik&amp;'s traffic has overburdened RIM&amp;'s network. That would be embarrassing enough for RIM not to want to comment. But not saying anything may be worse, because it comes across as developer unfriendly, as the other comments below suggest.Next Story: On the GreenBeat: Tesla sees Japan as growth market, Nissan Leaf sees delivery delays Previous Story: Microsoft moves into social games, allies with CrowdStarPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: BlackberryCompanies: Kik, RIMPeople: Ted Livingston          Tags: BlackberryCompanies: Kik, RIMPeople: Ted LivingstonMatt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, 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[Vader Waves Hand. &''There Is No iPhone.&'' But There Is a4a4 In A Big Way In&nbsp'Japan.]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vader-waves-hand--8220there-is-no-iphone-8221-but-there-is-mdash-in-a-big-way-innbspjapan-</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vader-waves-hand--8220there-is-no-iphone-8221-but-there-is-mdash-in-a-big-way-innbspjapan-</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>megaicenek</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vader-waves-hand--8220there-is-no-iphone-8221-but-there-is-mdash-in-a-big-way-innbspjapan-</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Remember back in 2008 when there was a lot of talk about how the iPhone would flop in Japan 91 percent of Japanese would not be buying the device, said one survey. By 2009, that talk inevitably turned to how it had already flopped. With some even writing about how the Japanese people &amp;''hate&amp;'' the device. Then something funny happened. That kind of talk abruptly stopped. And for good reason. As it turns out, the iPhone is actually a massive success in the country.Much like it did in the U.S., the iPhone is transforming the mobile landscape in Japan. Two stories today highlight this. The first, talks about the Japanese iPhone &amp;''craze&amp;'' and details how app developers are rushing to get into the potentially huge market for Japanese iPhone apps. The second story notes howa4sNTT DoCoMo, Japan&amp;'s largest mobile carrier, isa4sturning to marketing to make up for the fact that they don&amp;'t have the iPhone (it&amp;'s sold there by rivala4sSoftbank). Marketing involving yes, Darth Vader.The Vader choice is a very interesting one. You can also see him waving his hand in the commercials and stating matter-of-factly, &amp;''there is no iPhone.&amp;''But there is. And despite the early doubts and reports, it has become a massive success in the country. I was in Japan for a few weeks earlier this year, and while I didn&amp;'t see a huge number of iPhones at the time, I also didn&amp;'t see a huge number of smartphones a4&quot; most people seemed to have the same flip phone device. Apparently, that&amp;'s now changing, quickly.From The Wall Street Journal&amp;'s Japan Realtime blog:The iPhone accounts for about two-thirds of the domestic smartphone market, making DoCoMoa4a4s efforts even more challenging in image-conscious Japan, where the iPhone is starting to become a must-have personal accessory among many young people.And while I didn&amp;'t see a ton of iPhones, I did see a ton of iPods. And I do mean a ton. I feel like every other person I saw had one. So it makes sense that the iPhone would eventually catch on there. At first, there was talk that it was a matter of getting used to the touchscreen for character input. Again, apparently, that&amp;'s happening now.From the Yahoo story:Everywhere one turns, on commuter trains and urban cafes, people are tapping away at their iPhone screens in a relatively rare Japanese embrace of technology that isn&amp;'t homegrown.Meanwhile, I can&amp;'t recall seeing a single Android device while I was there. Nor did I see any store advertising them (the iPhone, on the other hand, was everywhere). But that&amp;'s apparently changing now as well. In fact, Darth Vader&amp;'s campaign is actually to promote the Samsung Galaxy S, an Android device. And early sales have apparently been very good.The next question: can Android use a similar strategy toa4smimica4stheir U.S. success Android has risen to power in this country thanks to a plethora of devices on a range of carriers. Many are quick to point to the fact that the single biggest factor of the rise has been that Verizon, the largest carrier in the U.S., put their marketing muscle behind the devices. That&amp;'s now whata4sNTT DoCoMo, again, the largest carrier in Japan, is doing. And with The Force, to boot.How will Apple strike back More:a4sDarth Vader Calls Apple About His iPhone 4 Antennaa4s[Video]CrunchBase InformationiPhone 4NTT DoCoMoInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Strategy means nothing without implementation]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=strategy-means-nothing-without-implementation</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=strategy-means-nothing-without-implementation</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>megaicenek</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=strategy-means-nothing-without-implementation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Everyone loves to talk about strategy, but simply having a plan won&amp;'t get you anywhere. Mark Forchette, CEO of OptiMedica says strategy is only as good as the tactical execution behind it in this Entrepreneur Thought Leader Lecture given at Stanford University.Forchette tells of his time with Alcon, where sustained focus on implementing strategy led to a notably larger market share for the company.(Can&amp;'t see the video Click here)Next Story: Q&amp;038'A: Nvidia chief explains his strategy for winning in mobile computing Previous Story: How popular are you online PeekScores knowsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Stanford University          Tags: Stanford UniversityChris Morris is editor of the Entrepreneur Corner on VentureBeat, helping start-up business owners launch and grow their companies. He previously worked at Yahoo! Finance, where he was managing editor, and as director of content development at CNNMoney.com. He is also a widely respected journalist in the video game and technology fields, whose work has appeared in Variety, CNBC.com, AOL and Forbes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MorrisatLarge 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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