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<title>Haaze.com / Bob001 / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Digging through AT&T's FCC filing]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=digging-through-atts-fcc-filing</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=digging-through-atts-fcc-filing</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kristofsif</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=digging-through-atts-fcc-filing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As we told you last week, AT&amp;T has formally kicked off its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile by filing the official merger paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission. We don't have access the the full materials, but AT&amp;T posted a 381-page redacted executive summary (PDF) for public consumption. To save you the bedtime reading--actually, it would take most of the night--we took the weekend to peruse the somewhat rambling, and occasionally amusing document. When it's not pounding home the argument that the merger is the only way to alleviate the spectrum constraints facing both carriers, AT&amp;T spends time diminishing T-Mobile's competitive tole, extolling its own history, and wrapping itself in the flag (even President Obama's broadband goals get a nod). The carrier also has a lot of praise for its rivals. Even Sprint, which is aiming to stop the merger, is labeled as a &quot;tough&quot; and &quot;significant&quot; competitor.Though there is some truths to AT&amp;T's arguments--such as the need for more capacity and the massive data use of smartphone users--the arguments are rather melodramatic. Yes, acquiring T-Mobile would be a quick way to increase spectrum efficiency and add cell sites, but AT&amp;T makes it seem like the merger is it's only chance for survival in the face of better-resourced competitors (crying about Sprint's unlimited data plans was especially rich). T-Mobile's spectrum would no doubt help with LTE deployment, but as analysts and some consumer groups have pointed out, AT&amp;T has unused AWS spectrum for getting LTE started. So, &quot;poor AT&amp;T&quot; is a stretch. What's more, the relentless criticisms of T-Mobile were bizarre and way over the top. AT&amp;T goes out of its way to dismiss T-Mobile as a viable competitor--even less so than Cellular South--by bashing on everything from its phone lineup and network. At the end of the document, you begin to wonder why even with its spectrum holdings, AT&amp;T wants T-Mobile at all.We've highlighted our favorite excerpts below. And if you're a T-Mobile customer, be sure to notice AT&amp;T's promises that you can keep your T-Mobile service plan if the merger is approved. Happy reading!Trust us, we built wireless as you know it!&quot;AT&amp;T has helped lead America's mobile broadband revolution for many years, achieving network-technology breakthroughs at AT&amp;T Labs and then pioneering their deployment to consumers. AT&amp;T introduced the first widely adopted smartphone--Apple'siPhone--in 2007.&quot;What about early BlackBerry and Palm devices&quot;For decades, AT&amp;T has conducted basic research that has led to profound advances. AT&amp;T invented the first mobile phone and the first mobile network, and AT&amp;T developed modern &quot;cellular&quot; technology that is the foundation of today's mobile wireless systems.&quot;But now we're in trouble!&quot;AT&amp;T faces network spectrum and capacity constraints more severe than those of any other wireless provider, and this merger provides by far the surest, fastest, and most efficient solution to that challenge...[AT&amp;T] cannot simply wait for the next major auction to resolve them.&quot; &quot;[The] spectrum crunch is hitting AT&amp;T harder and sooner than the industry at large. And because AT&amp;T plays a key role in supporting the cycle of mobile broadband innovation in the United States, its capacity problems could have ripple effects throughout the broadband ecosystem.&quot;If only customers didn't use so much pesky data!&quot;Smartphones are exploding in popularity' data-intensive mobile applications are proliferating' consumers are feeding a limitless appetite for streaming video and social networking sites' and cloud-based computing services are fast emerging. Yet that unprecedented adoption rate is placing similarly unprecedented congestion on mobile broadband networks.&quot;&quot;A smartphone generates 24 times the mobile data traffic of a conventional wireless phone and the explosively populariPad and similartablet devices can generate traffic comparable to or even greater than a smartphone. AT&amp;T's mobile data volume thus surged by a staggering 8,000 percent from 2007 to 2010. Put differently, in just the first five to seven weeks of 2015, AT&amp;T expects to carry all of the mobile traffic volume it carried during 2010.&quot; And T-Mobile stinks!&quot;T-Mobile likewise faces capacity constraints in a number of key markets. It also has no clear path to deploy LTE services because it has already dedicated its spectrum resources to today's less spectrally efficient technologies. T-Mobile also faces new questions about its long-term capital support.&quot;T-Mobile has never been specific about LTE, but it has discussed probable scenarios. &quot;T-Mobile's absence from the marketplace will not have a significant competitive impact...AT&amp;T is more focused on Verizon and Sprint than on T-Mobile, and AT&amp;T too is seeing increased competitive threats from rapidly growing mavericks like MetroPCS and Leap and other providers. These other competitors can quickly replace the diminished market role T-Mobile plays today.&quot; &quot;T-Mobile and AT&amp;T are not close competitors, and other providers already fill--or could easily move to fill--the competitive role T-Mobile occupies today.&quot; &quot;To the extent that T-Mobile's prices are lower than those received by AT&amp;T and Verizon Wireless for otherwise comparable subscribers, T-Mobile's lower prices have not stimulated growth in its share of retail subscribers. This indicates that other aspects of T-Mobile's service are in some way lacking.&quot; &quot;T-Mobile is now 'struggling for relevance' in this increasingly competitive market. AT&amp;T does not believe that T-Mobile has a particularly compelling portfolio of smartphone offerings as compared to AT&amp;T, Verizon, and Sprint.&quot;Never mind its strong Android lineup like the G2 and the MyTouch 4G. &quot;While AT&amp;T tracks T-Mobile's activities (along with those of other providers), it does not view T-Mobile as a close competitor, let alone as a major competitive threat&quot; Consumers win!&quot;T-Mobile customers will also gain access to a broader range of current devices such as the iPhone, the iPad, and the Atrix 4G, as well as faster access to the next generation of devices.&quot; &quot;With the efficiencies associated with the transaction, the combined company will deploy LTE to over 97 percent of the U.S. population, including in rural and smaller communities, thereby reaching approximately 55 million more Americans than under AT&amp;T's current LTE deployment plans.&quot; &quot;Because the transaction will alleviate AT&amp;T's severe capacity constraints and avoid spectrum exhaust, AT&amp;T's GSM and UMTS customers will receive higher quality of service in the form of fewer dropped and blocked calls, better in-building and in-home coverage, and faster, more consistent, and more reliable data services, particularly during periods of peak use.&quot; &quot;[The wireless industry] will remain every bit as dynamic and competitive after this transaction as before. Indeed, the wireless marketplace will be more competitive because this transaction will expand overall output and relieve both AT&amp;T and T-Mobile of capacity constraints that, absent this transaction, would reduce their competitive impact.&quot; This transaction will enable AT&amp;T to build on its strong track record for disaster preparedness by expanding the infrastructure and spectrum resources from which it can draw during emergencies. Keep you rate plan, we promise!&quot;AT&amp;T will map T-Mobile's rate plans into AT&amp;T's billing systems as we have done in the case of prior acquisitions, so that if a T-Mobile consumer wishes to change her existing smartphone to a comparable smartphone from AT&amp;T's device portfolio, she will be able to keep her existing data plan.&quot;They just won't tell you what happens when your T-Mobile plan ends. &quot;Consumers who are happy with their T-Mobile rate plans will be able to keep them, so they will enjoy the benefits of improved customer experience without losing the rate plan of their choice.&quot; &quot;Finally, the transaction will enhance the diversity of rate plans available to T-Mobile customers. Consumers who are happy with their T-Mobile rate plans will be able to keep them, so they will enjoy the benefits of improved service quality and thus a lower quality adjusted price.&quot; Our competitors are great, and sometimes even better than us!&quot;Verizon Wireless is the nation's largest wireless provider with a leading reputation for high-quality network performance, and it competes with AT&amp;T in almost every local market. It has an exceedingly robust spectrum position. &quot;Verizon Wireless has a strong reputation for network and service quality. As mentioned, many consumer groups and surveys give Verizon Wireless higher rankings than other carriers. AT&amp;T's performance in these rankings highlights the importance to AT&amp;T of efforts to improve the quality of service that it offers.&quot; &quot;Sprint also has lured subscribers searching for faster data speeds and inexpensive, unlimited data plans.&quot;Remember that you used to have unlimited data plans too. &quot;Other 4G devices offered exclusively by Sprint include the HTC Evo Shift 4G, the HTC Evo 3D, which was awarded &quot;Best Smart Phone&quot; and &quot;Best in Show&quot; by Laptop Magazine, and the HTC Evo View 4G tablet, which was rated 'Best of CTIA 2011' by Phonearena.com.&quot;What they don't tell you is that the Atrix won CNET's Best of CES 2011 award for the smartphones category. &quot;Sprint also has a stronger reputation for service quality than AT&amp;T or T-Mobile, generally ranking second among national carriers in customer satisfaction behind Verizon Wireless.&quot; &quot;U.S. Cellular's wireless service will become even more compelling to consumers after it launches its LTE network in 2012.&quot; &quot;U.S. Cellular appears to serve its customers well. It was one of only 40 companies in twenty major industries to earn a customer service award from J.D. Power, and enjoys one of the lowest churn rates in the industry.&quot; &quot;MetroPCS, Leap, and others can fill any gap T-Mobile USA might leave in the competition for value-conscious consumers when the transaction is completed.&quot; &quot;MetroPCS and Leap have now become the industry's leading &quot;mavericks,&quot; a term that does not apply to providers that, like T-Mobile.&quot; It's patriotic!&quot;The U.S. leads innovation in areas throughout the mobile broadband ecosystem, from networks to operating systems to mobile applications. That leadership arises from a complex, virtuous cycle of innovation, in which network providers play a critical role. This transaction will help maintain that global leadership.&quot; &quot;This transaction will be good not only for AT&amp;T and its customers, but for America's high tech sector as a whole. &quot;Finally, the transaction will advance the universal broadband deployment goals of the Obama Administration and theFCC's National Broadband Plan.&quot; Random facts, but we'll throw them in anyway!A report by the Pew Internet &amp; American Life Project, for example, found that 'African Americans are the most active users of the mobile internet--and their use of it is also growing the fastest.This means the digital divide between African Americans and white Americans diminishes when mobile use is taken into account'.&quot;And how is this related &quot;As [FCC] Commissioner Mignon Clyburn recently pointed out, the African American and Hispanic communities have 'excelled' in their adoption of mobile broadband services, and both groups 'take advantage of a much wider array of their phones' data functions than their white counterparts.' AT&amp;T's LTE initiative will thus be a key part of keeping these and other minority groups on the leading edge of the broadband revolution.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Report: Apple seeks dismissal of FairPlay lawsuit]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-apple-seeks-dismissal-of-fairplay-lawsuit</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-apple-seeks-dismissal-of-fairplay-lawsuit</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 18 Apr 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Enladavoill</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-apple-seeks-dismissal-of-fairplay-lawsuit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple asked a federal judge today to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed against the company over the FairPlay digital rights management software it formerly employed in its iTunes music store.FairPlay's encoding of digital music files ensured that songs bought through iTunes would play only on iPods and not other music players and that songs bought through other digital music stores would not play on aniPod. In July 2004, RealNetworks challenged Apple with the release of software called Harmony that was designed to crack through FairPlay's DRM and allow its own digital music files to play on the iPod. Apple responded by updating the iPod in October and rendering RealNetworks' content unplayable.Apple eventually dumped FairPlay in 2009, but a group of iPod and music buyers sued in 2005, claiming that the company's use of FairPlay allowed it to maintain a monopoly over both digital audio players and music downloads.The blocking of downloads that used competitors' software was designed to improve iTunes customers' experience, Robert Mittelstaedt, an attorney for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company said at a hearing today in San Jose, Calif., according to a Bloomberg report. &quot;Apple's view is that iPods work better when consumers use the iTunes jukebox rather than third-party software that can cause corruption or other problems,&quot; Mittelstaedt reportedly told U.S. District Judge James Ware. The request for dismissal comes nearly a month after a federal judge ordered Apple CEO Steve Jobs to answer questions in a deposition related to the suit. Attorneys for Apple had argued that his testimony in this case would be repetitive of what has already been offered, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd ruled that was not sufficient to preclude Jobs from testifying.Apple representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft opens up Office 365 as public beta]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-opens-up-office-365-as-public-beta</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-opens-up-office-365-as-public-beta</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 18 Apr 2011 07:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>wiigame02</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-opens-up-office-365-as-public-beta</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Microsoft has opened the tap on its cloud-based Office 365 and is now offering the service as a public beta for anyone to try out.Available in 38 countries and in 17 languages, the new beta follows several months of limited testing among a couple thousand businesses that were able to kick the tires on the service. After the public beta, Office 365 will officially launch later this year.Unveiled last October, Office 365 is Microsoft's attempt to offer businesses a cloud-based alternative to some of its traditional desktop and server products. The service combines Office Web Apps with hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint as well as Microsoft's Lync product, which provides the online communication and collaboration piece.As such, Office 365 is designed to offer a gamut of features, including document creation and sharing, e-mail, IM, online meetings, and public Web sites. Microsoft is also including protection in the form of its enterprise ForeFront security client and is promising a 99.9 percent uptime for the entire service.Once it officially launches, Office 365 will be offered as two different plans depending on the size of the company. Smaller businesses with 25 or fewer employees can pay $6 per person per month to receive Office Web Apps and the hosted versions of Exchange and SharePoint. Larger enterprises will have to choose one of four different plans at a cost of anywhere from $10 to $27 per person per month.In addition to targeting the business world, Microsoft is reaching out to the educational market with five different plans geared toward faculty, staff, and students.Also now available as a beta is the Office 365 Marketplace. Designed to supplement Office 365, the marketplace tries to help businesses find apps and services offered by different Microsoft partners.CNET reporter Josh Lowensohn took Office 365 for a spin last November to evaluate the service's pros and cons. He found that everything worked as advertised, but that, as things stood at the time, &quot;Google Apps this is not.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Verizon and Sprint Galaxy Tabs drop to $199]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-and-sprint-galaxy-tabs-drop-to-199</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-and-sprint-galaxy-tabs-drop-to-199</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 Apr 2011 07:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>JesusX13</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-and-sprint-galaxy-tabs-drop-to-199</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Will the Wi-Fi version of the Galaxy Tab spur additional sales for Samsung(Credit:Samsung)Both Sprint and Verizon Wireless have dropped the price of their versions of the Samsung Galaxy Tab to $199.99 with a two-year agreement.With at least two new Samsungtablets on the horizon, it makes sense that the tablet's price is coming down. And given the moderate success the company had with sales, I can't help but wonder if it could have done better by dropping prices earlier.In my opinion, the Galaxy Tab should have been this price all along. After extended time with Honeycomb and kicking the tires on the Evo View, the Galaxy Tab experience feels more like a large Android smartphone by the day. On a related note, three months after officially announcing the Wi-Fi model of the Galaxy Tab, Samsung has finally tapped the device with a $349.99 price tag and an April 10 launch date.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hulu eyeing half a billion in sales this year]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-eyeing-half-a-billion-in-sales-this-year</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-eyeing-half-a-billion-in-sales-this-year</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>berassironlinegames</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-eyeing-half-a-billion-in-sales-this-year</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Hulu CEO Jason Kilar(Credit:Greg Sandoval/CNET)Hulu is forecasting sales of close to half a billion dollars and more than a million Hulu Plus subscribers this year.In a blog posted yesterday, CEO Jason Kilar marked the end of the first quarter with some notable figures and projections about the company's recent past and upcoming future.The forecast of almost $500 million in sales for the year follows the first quarter in which revenue shot up around 90 percent compared with last year's initial quarter, according to Kilar. For 2010 as a whole, Hulu took in sales of $263 million.Touting the expected rise in Hulu Plus subscribers to more than a million this year after the pay option launched last summer, Kilar said that as far as he knows, this marks the fastest start of any online video subscription service.Of course, Hulu Plus has faced a bumpy road. Its initial $9.95 price tag, the inclusion of ads, and the limited selection compared with Netflix triggered complaints among many users. Competing against the likes of Netflix, Hulu was forced to drop the price of Hulu Plus to $7.99 in November.In an effort to expand its offerings, Kilar pointed out that Hulu increased its number of content partners to 264 in this year's first quarter, up from the 211 partners it had during the same time period a year ago. During that time, the company saw ups and down with its partners. Viacom broke off with Hulu early last year amid concerns that the partnership wasn't yielding enough revenue. However, a renewed deal between the two in February has since allowed Viacom shows from MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, and other cable channels to appear on Hulu and Hulu Plus.Hulu's &quot;content community&quot; is expected to earn around $300 million over the course of the year, said Kilar. The service is also boasting more advertisers: 289 for the first quarter of 2011 compared with 194 in the same quarter last year.Despite Hulu's rosy results so far this year and Kilar's positive forecast, the company and its CEO are in the midst of some challenges.Reports have arisen about tension between Hulu and its owners, NBC Universal, Disney, and News Corp. Hulu and its parents have reportedly long disagreed over key aspects of Hulu's basic business model, such as how much content should be free. Certain content providers themselves have also reportedly complained that Hulu brings in too little revenue and disrupts their other forms of distribution. Kilar almost certainly added fuel to the fire in February with a blog post in which he criticized traditional TV advertising and distribution.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[In the lab, designing the ultimate biofuel bug]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=in-the-lab-designing-the-ultimate-biofuel-bug</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=in-the-lab-designing-the-ultimate-biofuel-bug</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=in-the-lab-designing-the-ultimate-biofuel-bug</guid>
<description><![CDATA[CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--To reinvent the fuel business, engineers at biofuel start-up Joule Unlimited tinker with tiny life forms all day.The four-year-old start-up is on the front lines of a branch of biotechnology that taps into the wealth of knowledge from genome sequencing and powerful computer tools to start from scratch and ask: if you wanted the ideal fuel, how would you make it The answer they've come up with is a diesel secreted by a genetically engineered microbe in flat plastic bioreactors. The only inputs for its &quot;biofactory&quot; organism are sunlight, pumped-in carbon dioxide, and some nutrients. Building a microscopic biofuel factory (photos)  Joule Unlimited has a long way to go before it's a commercial home run. But a look at its business strategy and labs here demonstrate the possibilities of biotechnology in reshaping the liquid fuels industry. After disappointing progress in making ethanol from agriculture wastes or grasses, much of the public attention has turned to plug-in electric vehicles to make transportation greener. But replacing petrofuels and chemicals with plant-based sources is still very much part of the picture. Joule Unlimited was co-founded by venture capitalists at Flagship Ventures who took a &quot;blue sky&quot; approach to making biofuels at scale after investing in two other biofuels start-ups also using techniques from synthetic biology--Mascoma and LS9.Rather than use algae or shuffle the genes of industrial workhorses, such as e.coli bacteria, Joule is doing metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, which is thought to have evolved 2.9 billion years ago and is the granddaddy of all water-splitting photosynthetic organisms.During a meeting at the company's offices, in what Cambridge calls &quot;Life Sciences Square,&quot; Joule Unlimited's senior vice president of biological services (and the company's first employee), Dan Robertson, shows me a thick Department of Energy report that identifies a number of barriers to making fuel with algae.The bio-engineers at Joule set out to address all of those barriers, Robertson said. Instead of growing biomass and then extracting the fuel from it, Joule and others want to make fuels secreted directly from micro-organisms. Instead of feeding sugar--typically from sugar cane--to e.coli and then fermenting the solution to brew alcohol-based fuel, Joule has designed a system of continuous fuel production. Algae wasn't pursued because so much water needs to be removed and it's harder to engineer.&quot;In one place, the light is being absorbed and the carbon dioxide taken up where you can get carbon molecules to ultimately make your product,&quot; Robertson explained. The cyanobacteria in bioreactors produce hydrocarbons, which are siphoned off from the green-colored water solution. There's no feedstock to procure and ship or even biomass to gather and then process. The company is running a pilot facility in Texas, where it is trucking in carbon dioxide for testing purposes. For future sites, it intends to get CO2 from an industrial partner. Emissions from a coal-fired power plant could be fed to the cyanobacteria after normal scrubbing of mercury and arsenic, Robertson said.Bug controlBreeding specific organisms, such as e.coli, for specific purposes has been going on for decades. But advances in biotech are allowing biologists to manipulate organisms with far finer control and speed.In Joule's case, biologists are optimizing the metabolism of cyanobacteria for their purposes. Instead of taking food and sunlight to make more of themselves, the natural pathways of Joule's genetically modified organisms have been altered to produce alkanes, a hydrocarbon to be mixed with diesel fuel. They have even been programmed with a &quot;carbon switch&quot; to shift their metabolisms from making more of themselves to making fuel. Joule envisions starting up production of its microbes in its bioreactors and, once they reach a certain density in water, operators will add ingredients to get the organism's metabolism to start pumping out alkanes.&quot;You essentially co-opt the carbon that would be used for something else (to make fuel) and make the organism feel that it's OK,&quot; said Robertson. &quot;It's all very controlling.&quot;In the lab, engineers re-create real-world conditions to isolate different strains by tweaking carbon dioxide, sunlight, and nitrogen levels. For example, one specialized machine allows an engineer to simulate the sunlight conditions for a whole day, representing different seasons and changing temperatures. With each test, engineers get closer to the optimal gene combinations for different conditions. Since the bioreactors would be placed in different locations, the company has settled on somewhere between 10 and 20 strains, after constructing some 4,000 strains, according to Robertson.Biologists spend more of their time designing tests or isolating DNA on gene databases, rather than actually performing lab tests, Robertson said. &quot;Because so much genome sequencing has already taken place, there's an immense database available arranged by the chemistry that they do,&quot; he said. &quot;There are lots of tools at our disposal, so we can rapidly test things.&quot;Long road to pipelinesJoule Unlimited is just one of many companies in the race for a better biofuel technology. The Department of Energy's ARPA-E agency is funding many research efforts in &quot;electrofuels,&quot; which make fuels directly from electricity, sunlight, and water. There are dozens of other companies pursuing completely different approaches, such as thermochemical processes. Analysts at Lux Research call synthetic biology is the &quot;flashiest&quot; technology vying for the lead. Joule Unlimited has high potential, but it still has to prove that it can move from a small-scale operation to commercial scale, Lux Research said. Specifically, it lacks partners and it will require a lot of capital and land to reach cost parity with today's petrofuels, it said in a recent report.The company's next step is to build a 10-acre demonstration plant located at an industrial facility, such as a power plant or waste water facility, which it expects to do by mid-2012. Then it plans to start construction of a facility larger than 1,000 acres at the end of 2013 that would be able to make 12,000 gallons of fuel per acre per year. When fully scaled up, it would make 15 million gallons a year of fuel.The cyanobacteria need nutrients, including nitrogen and trace amounts of minerals, to be fed into its bioreactors. And to be commercially successful, its bioreactors need to be engineered for low operational costs and maximum production. Next door to its labs, engineers are designing the actual hardware for growing the fuel, another key part to whether the company will be able to scale up.Although Joule's employees clearly see the power of metabolic engineering, they are very cognizant of concerns over genetically modified organisms, said Robertson. Its bioreactors will run for six to eight weeks' then the solution is flushed out, the actual organisms are burned, the bioreactors are sterilized, and a fresh medium is put in, he said.Even with Joule's impressive technical achievement and three patents, it still has a ways to go before it will make a dent in reducing fossil fuel use and pollution. But if the biotechnology techniques it and others are pursuing bear fruit, the face of fuels in the future may well be a petri dish, rather than an oil well. Updated at 1:15 p.m. PT with corrections. The bioreactors will be made from plastic, not glass, and Joule's demo facility is using trucked-in CO2.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sony to restart battery plant' six others still out]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-to-restart-battery-plant-six-others-still-out</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-to-restart-battery-plant-six-others-still-out</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:10:58 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>goolilh</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-to-restart-battery-plant-six-others-still-out</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sony plans to restart a lithium-ion battery plant that it closed following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan earlier this month, Reuters is reporting.According to the report, Sony will open its plant, which is located in the Tochigi prefecture, tomorrow. However, six other plants that Sony closed after the earthquake and tsunami will remain closed for the time being.This could be bad news for several markets in which Sony competes. The factories that remain closed are used to produce lasers for Blu-ray players, Blu-ray discs, and Blu-ray players, among other products.Japan was hit by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake earlier this month that spawned a devastating tsunami in the northern part of the country. After the tsunami hit, thousands lost their lives and millions were left without food or water. The cost to rebuild the affected areas could reach into the billions of dollars.Sony isn't the only technology company that has seen its productivity slip since the quake. Following the earthquake, reports claimed that Sanyo, Sharp, Mitsubishi, and Panasonic were among the companies that were forced to shut down manufacturing. In an attempt to help the Tokyo Electric Power Co. maintain power as long as possible, game developer Square-Enix said last week that it would shut down game services for Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XI, and PlayOnline for at least a week.According to Reuters, Toshiba has also been negatively affected by the earthquake. The company is currently working to bring its production of large-scale integration chips back up, but it's unsure when it will be successful. Toshiba also reportedly told Reuters that its liquid crystal display plant, which produces panels for smartphones and other mobile devices, will be down through mid-April.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Report: Microsoft's tablet OS not due until 2012]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-microsofts-tablet-os-not-due-until-2012</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-microsofts-tablet-os-not-due-until-2012</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kimsky99</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-microsofts-tablet-os-not-due-until-2012</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft doesn't plan to challenge Apple and Google with a newtablet operating system until late next year, according to a published report.The software giant won't release a Windows operating system tailored especially for tablets &quot;until the 2012 back-to-school season,&quot; according to a Bloomberg report that cited people with knowledge of the company's plans. Testing with partners and customers is not expected to begin until the end of the year, according to the report.Microsoft representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The news is a further setback for the company that dominates the PC market but is trying to break into the surging market already dominated by Apple's iOS. Apple unveiled its iPad 2 yesterday and boasted that the company had more than 90 percent market share of the tablet market. Meanwhile, the Motorola Xoom, the first tablet sporting Google's new Honeycomb OS, was released to consumers last month. (Honeycomb is based on Android, whose popularity with consumers recently made it the dominant operating system for smartphones in the U.S., according to data released today by market researcher Nielsen.)Windows 7 is already being used on a number tablets, but that operating system's PC heritage makes it less than ideal. And with Microsoft prepping the next version of Windows to run on devices with ARM processors, the company may have a tough time persuading tablet makers to use Windows 7 on Intel's low-power x86 chips in the meantime.In a research note released last year, Goldman Sachs pointed to weaknesses in the company's tablet strategy and mobile devices at large. &quot;A tablet response is still not forthcoming and our early read onWindows Phone 7 has not yet changed our view that Microsoft's share in mobile OSes will remain at only the single-digit level,&quot; the research note said.Bloomberg's report notes that Microsoft needs to update its Windows 7 operating system for tablet devices, but Business Insider reported Monday that the software giant planned to demonstrate tablets running Windows 8 by the end of June. Also, a recently leaked plan from Dell has Windows 8 tablet, code-named Peju, slated to arrive on store shelves in early 2012. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hey, look! Lenovo's got an eye-controlled laptop]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hey-look-lenovos-got-an-eye-controlled-laptop</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hey-look-lenovos-got-an-eye-controlled-laptop</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:11:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennings</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hey-look-lenovos-got-an-eye-controlled-laptop</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Henrik Eskilsson, CEO of eye-tracking software maker Tobii, tests the motion-sensing laptop. The good-size hump on the back of the computer contains the cameras that track a user's eye movements.(Credit:Tobii)When we first heard about Lenovo's new eye-controlled laptop, we worried that we'd have to stop winking at our monitors every time Justin Bieber popped up in our browser--or risk a seriously messy desktop. Fortunately, the eye-tracking technology is reportedly highly accurate and probably wouldn't be overly sensitive to our odd little tics.  The functional laptop prototype, being demonstrated this week at the CeBit tech fair in Hannover, Germany, lets you point, select, and scroll with your eyes alone. With a stare, for example, you can make a cursor appear, zoom in on pictures or maps, or switch between open windows and browse e-mails and documents. To increase battery life, the computer can auto-dim and brighten the screen when it recognizes your peepers. Also, as demonstrated at CeBit, gamers can glance to pull off actions like burning up incoming asteroids. The laptop tracks eye movements by shining infrared lights into the user's eyes' hidden cameras then detect the glint in the retinas. The system needs to be adjusted to fit each individual user and works for those with or without eyeglasses.  Eye-tracking software is among the motion control methods already in use for people with disabilities, but it has yet to find a general audience. Swedish company Tobii, Lenovo's partner for this laptop, has for a decade been supplying its technology to researchers and people with special needs, but hopes to make its eye-tracking components small and cheap enough to broaden their reach within a couple of years. (Due to the built-in cameras, the prototype Lenovo laptop is twice as thick as an ordinary such machine.) &quot;More than anything else, the Tobii laptop prototype is proof that our eye-tracking technology is mature enough to be used in standard computer interfaces,&quot; said Henrik Eskilsson, CEO of Tobii. The computer--which could be particularly appealing to those with gadget-weary wrists and arms--has yet to be commercialized.  Despite our concerns that eye movements would randomly open applications and send text messages we didn't want sent, Engadget got its eyeballs on the demo Windows 7 laptop and reports that &quot;it works extraordinarily well--Tobii clearly knows what it's doing, because even with our sloppy calibration at the start of the session, the system still detected where we were looking with pinpoint precision.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Congress zeroes in on FCC's Net neutrality rules]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=congress-zeroes-in-on-fccs-net-neutrality-rules</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=congress-zeroes-in-on-fccs-net-neutrality-rules</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:10:59 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>IzzyStarr</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=congress-zeroes-in-on-fccs-net-neutrality-rules</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The new Republican members of both the House and Senate wasted no time following up on promises to undo the Federal Communications Commission's December vote to apply new &quot;Net neutrality&quot; rules to some broadband Internet access providers.The new &quot;Open Internet&quot; rules (PDF) would prohibit blocking of lawful content, Web sites, applications, and devices and ban &quot;unreasonable discrimination&quot; in the handling of specific data packets. (&quot;Open Internet&quot; is the FCC's preferred term for Net neutrality.) A new transparency requirement would mandate detailed disclosures of network management practices. Last week, the House held two hearings on the new rules. Based in part on my analysis of the new rules for CNET, I was called to testify at the February 15 hearing before the Judiciary Committee. (My written testimony can be found here (PDF)). The following day, the Energy and Commerce Committee grilled all five FCC Commissioners for over four hours.It was clear from the hearings that Republicans are determined to undo the new rules, which they believe are both unnecessary and outside the statutory authority of the FCC. Democrats, many of whom were also skeptical of Net neutrality regulations in the last Congress, now appear united in defending the agency. As one of the first issues to be taken up by the new Congress, the starkly partisan tone of the hearings suggests there will be considerable gridlock between now and the 2012 elections, and not only on tech-related issues. The Net neutrality proceedings have set the tone for future proceedings on health care, debt, financial reform, climate change, and other hot-button issues.Action follows hearingsThe hearings weren't simply for show. Hours after the testimony on February 16, the House and Senate introduced a joint &quot;Resolution of Disapproval,&quot; a streamlined mechanism for Congress to nullify agency rulemakings. Resolutions must be voted on within 60 days of publication of new rules. They require a simple majority to pass and are not subject to filibuster.Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) introduced the resolution in the House. Upton issued a statement, saying in part, &quot;We held a hearing today in which we gave the commissioners of the FCC one more opportunity to provide sufficient evidence of a crisis that warrants government intervention. They failed. The controversial Internet regulations stifle innovation, investment and jobs. A federal bureaucracy should not be picking winners and losers.&quot;Passage in the House seems certain, and Republicans would have to find only a few Democrats in the Senate to secure a majority. President Obama, given his oft-stated support of the FCC's Open Internet proceedings, would likely veto the resolution, but it is also possible he would not do so in horse-trading for other legislation, in particular the federal budget. Even if the resolutions don't pass, Republicans have other avenues for neutering the new rules. On Thursday, the House passed an amendment to the pending budget bill that would prohibit the FCC from spending any money to implement or enforce the new rules. Ten Democrats joined the Republicans in approving the amendment. Obama may be forced to accept the funding amendment as part of ongoing budget talks, or face giving in on other priorities.There's also targeted legislation introduced in the opening days of the new session by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), which would make clearer that Congress has never given the FCC authority to regulate the Internet, full stop. Blackburn's bill has at least some Democratic support in the House.Meanwhile, Verizon and MetroPCS have each filed lawsuits in the Federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging the FCC's legal authority to adopt the new rules. Other legal challenges are likely, and could take a year or more to work their way through the court.Hearings focused on competition, market analysis At the Judiciary Committee hearing February 15, Subcommittee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who is also co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus, pressed me and two other witnesses--Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn and Brett Glass, who runs fixed wireless broadband provider Lariat--on the failure of the FCC to provide evidence of significant market failures that would justify new regulations. The hearing also explored why new regulations were needed given existing antitrust laws enforceable by the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, or by private lawsuits.My testimony underscored my deep concern on this point with the FCC's Open Internet Report and Order, approved by a bare majority of three Commissioners, all Democrats. In explaining the new antidiscrimination rule, the majority explicitly rejected the idea that enforcement should be based on traditional antitrust principles, which require a showing of anticompetitive behavior and demonstrable harm to consumers. The majority did not offer an alternative standard, however, saying only that they would enforce the rule to ensure &quot;the general proposition that broadband providers should not pick winners and losers on the Internet--even for reasons that may be independent of providers' competitive interests or that may not immediately or demonstrably cause substantial consumer harm.&quot;Yet the majority also noted 16 major exceptions to the discrimination rule, including carve-outs for caching, peering, content delivery networks, mobile broadband, virtual private networks, IP-based voice and video services, and other specialized applications, including telemedicine, that run on the ISPs broadband infrastructure. It was not clear why these particular non-neutral practices, which the majority acknowledged are &quot;inconsistent&quot; with the new rules, had been excluded, and why the majority expressed skepticism that any future innovations would be tolerated.That hearing also questioned the FCC's rationale for the new rules, which the majority characterized repeatedly as &quot;prophylactic.&quot; The report's principle concerns seem to rest on the lack of robust broadband Internet access competition in much of the U.S. (On Friday, the Department of Commerce issued a long-awaited first draft of its national broadband map, showing where high-speed access is available.)All three witnesses agreed that the best protection for consumers against abusive ISP practices would come from increased choices for broadband providers. To that end, I argued that the FCC would have better spent its time working to streamline the process of siting new cellular towers and working to free up underutilized radio spectrum, priorities the agency made little progress on during the withering Net neutrality debate.I also noted the agency's heel-dragging over promising new broadband technologies, such as Broadband over Power Lines, which have yet to gain commercial footholds. BPL could prove an effective way of delivering broadband to rural consumers, many of whom have no service offerings today.At the hearing February 16, Republicans hammered the commissioners on the lack of any market analysis in the nearly 200-page report that accompanied the new rules. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski argued that the agency had performed the needed analysis, but could not confirm whether they had done so in conformance with White House rules published by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.Proceedings suggest gridlocked new Congress While it's far from clear if any of the legislative or legal challenges to the Net neutrality rules will prove their undoing, there's little doubt that Republicans now see it as a test case for their new power following last fall's midterm elections. And that they see Net neutrality as a leading example of the kind of regulatory overreach and economic interference on which they campaigned.Net neutrality didn't start out as partisan issue. Last year, a bipartisan majority of Congress urged the FCC not to pass new rules, at least not until Congress gave the agency authorization to do so. It's also important to remember that as part of last month's 300-page Comcast-NBC Universal merger agreement (PDF), Comcast agreed to abide by the new rules for seven years, even if the regulations are overturned in court. It's possible that Comcast will challenge that part of the agreement if the rules are undone by Congress or the litigation.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[How online tools spoil reality show secrets]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-online-tools-spoil-reality-show-secrets</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-online-tools-spoil-reality-show-secrets</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:10:45 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rasrasbimuir</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-online-tools-spoil-reality-show-secrets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[For the producers of a reality show like &quot;The Amazing Race,&quot; the headaches probably don't get much bigger than those caused by the TAR Detectives.A global, loosely formed group of sleuths dedicated to uncovering and publicly revealing spoilers about TAR, or &quot;The Amazing Race,&quot; the detectives have proven what the producers of any number of reality shows have learned: It's nearly impossible to keep what happens during filming a secret from those determined to find out.And thanks to the growing number of online and social-media tools available, and the vast numbers of people who use them, ferreting out ahead of time what happens on reality shows appears to be getting easier and easier to do.'The Bachelor' is just one of many reality show whose fans can easily find accurate spoilers online any time they want.(Credit:ABC)For years, spoiler sites have been great at offering up informed guesses of what might happen--like who will be voted out, or who will perform, on the next episode of shows like &quot;Survivor,&quot; &quot;American Idol,&quot; &quot;The Bachelor,&quot; and the like. But bloodhounds who frequent popular fan sites and forums have shown how easy it is to exploit the fact that these days, widespread use of Twitter and Facebook can lead those who know where to look to all kinds of accurate conclusions about what will happen throughout a season of some of these shows.&quot;We can actually draw up our own map&quot; of where &quot;The Amazing Race&quot; contestants will go during a forthcoming season, said Boingo, a longtime member of the TAR Detectives. &quot;In fact, we actually have the entire course pretty well laid out.&quot;Boingo, a technology industry professional from Northern California who asked that his real name not be used, is a longtime member of the TAR Detectives and a habitue of the Reality Fan Forum, a site where spoilers about &quot;The Amazing Race&quot; and other reality shows are given prominent play.He explained that in the early days of &quot;The Amazing Race,&quot; those interested in figuring out and disseminating spoilers were limited to keeping an eagle eye on previews for upcoming episodes and using services like Flickr and Photobucket to try to make assumptions based on what little the producers of the show offered up. But over the years, Boingo explained, a succession of new online tools have made it possible to uncover more and more about what will happen on the show. First services like Google Earth and Google Street View allowed the detectives to figure out where certain buildings shown in previews might be--and therefore, where the show would be heading next. &quot;The way it worked was that, in previews, you'd [be able] to identify a building behind the contestants,&quot; Boingo said, and using Google Earth or Street View, &quot;that would give you a location, and then you could narrow it down to a city, or even a street, and you could glean a lot of information about where the contestants were&quot; going.More recently, however, it's become harder and harder for producers to keep information about even entire seasons under wraps. For one thing, given the fact that &quot;The Amazing Race&quot; is filmed in public places around the world, it's hard to keep people from tweeting or posting to Facebook that they just saw the show come through their town. &quot;People post, 'Oh, I happened to see a camera crew going by my house,'&quot; Boingo said, &quot;so we knew approximately where racers were...after [filming] but before airing.&quot;And because of Twitter, it's become easy, Boingo said, for TAR Detectives in the Los Angeles area--where the show's producers are based and where it usually starts from--to find tweets from random people about the show's producers and crews getting ready to depart from the airport there and quickly rush out to see where they're headed. &quot;With Twitter, you could just sit there and search for the phrase 'The Amazing Race,'&quot; Boingo said, &quot;and someone would invariably tweet, 'Oh, I just saw [a film] crew, and someone in LA would run to the airport to take pictures of the crew and cast, and track them in real time.&quot;The upshot, Boingo continued, is that by keeping a close eye on social media mentions about the show and about where its crews and cast are spotted, it has become a simple matter for those intent on doing so to track the show's developments almost in real time and piece together a complete map and outline of an upcoming season as much as five or six months before it airs.'American Idol'To be sure, &quot;The Amazing Race&quot; is hardly the only reality show whose producers must grapple with a steady flow of spoilers being posted online. Shows like &quot;Survivor,&quot; &quot;The Bachelor,&quot; and &quot;American Idol&quot; are also popular among spoiler sites, and in the case of each, it's easy for those who are interested to go online and find out what will happen on the show in the future. Thankfully, most spoiler sites place such information in sub-sections of forums that warn off unwary visitors with language like &quot;Spoiler Alert&quot; and red text, or all-capital letters. This usually makes it possible for people to visit fan sites to read about current episodes without discovering unwanted information about what will happen on as-yet unaired episodes.&quot;Survivor&quot; and &quot;The Amazing Race&quot; are broadcast by CNET parent company CBS. An &quot;Amazing Race&quot; publicist at CBS did not return a call and e-mail from CNET. For those particularly adept at collecting spoiler information, the news often comes from a mix of sources, and being savvy at both social media and other online tools and old-fashioned good source development may be crucial to being king of the spoilers hill.According to M.J. Santilli, who runs the &quot;American Idol&quot; fan site MJ's Big Blog, a key to uncovering the identities of contestants on an upcoming season is mixing some well-informed tips about who has tried out for the show with clever detective work on Twitter and Facebook.Santilli explained that by following known would-be &quot;Idol&quot; contestants on Twitter or friending them on Facebook, it's often possible to find out which have made it on to the show through those people's less than stealthy posts, or by putting two and two together from things they might say on one social media site or another, or by following their friends and seeing what they have to say.According to Michael Slezak, a senior editor at TVLine.com, it can be nearly impossible to keep a lid on what will happen on reality shows, in large part given how many people are involved. &quot;I think when you're putting together a show the size of any of these franchises,&quot; Slezak said, &quot;it requires a lot of staffing of people, and some freelance types. I think it's just hard to contain that much information when you're dealing with that&quot; many people.Of course, while most reality show fans want to maintain the mystery of what will happen on their favorite programs, there are clearly enough who savor spoilers to make sites that cater to that desire profitable. &quot;Spoiler sites are dealing with a hard core group of fans [who go] on the Internet and seek out information about the shows,&quot; Slezak said. &quot;Some people just like to know what's going to happen.&quot;That's a notion to which Reality Steve, one of the leading purveyors of spoiler information about ABC's &quot;The Bachelor,&quot; clearly subscribes. And even though Reality Steve, whose real name is Steve Carbone, said he gets most of his &quot;Bachelor&quot; spoiler information from inside sources who are right 98 percent of the time, he doesn't really know why the people who give him his information do so.SurvivorSucks.com is just one of many sites devoted to revealing advance information about the hit CBS show.(Credit:SurvivorSucks.com)Indeed, Carbone said that he doesn't enjoy spoilers, particularly for shows that like &quot;Survivor,&quot; depend more on drama than does &quot;The Bachelor.&quot; But he knows that his readers often want to hear what's coming. &quot;I've had so many people email me and tell me, 'I love reading the end of a book first,'&quot; Carbone said. &quot;'I like to see it play out leading up to that...It would seem confusing, you don't know who any of these people are. I guess they just want to be out in front of it. They just want to tell their friends, 'I know something you don't know.'&quot;To Slezak, one of the most impressive examples of spoilers was the advance spilling of the list, in the proper order, of &quot;Survivor: Nicaragua&quot; contestants being voted off. That feat of spoiler accuracy came courtesy of a famous &quot;Survivor&quot; spoiler perpetrator known as MissyAE. Sued by &quot;Survivor&quot; production company Mark Burnett Productions for his efforts, MissyAE, whose real name is Jim Early, revealed that he had gotten his information directly from one of the show's most notorious contestants, Russell Hantz. In a widelypublished statement, CBS addressed the Hantz scandal, and &quot;Survivor&quot; spoilers by saying that, From the beginning, &quot;Survivor&quot; has been blessed with a rabid fan base, including a fanatical group online which, from the show's early days, initiated one of television's first organized campaigns to predict and speculate results in advance of a reality show broadcast. As the show has progressed in years and the Internet has grown in scope, the number of these sites has increased with periodic claims of unauthorized leaks from people connected to the show.We've investigated some of these claims. Each time, we've peeled back the curtain to find a subculture of the show with fans/bloggers simultaneously networking and competing with each other for spoiler information while hurling accusations of unfair practices against each other.The fervent activity of these sites often generates a confusing web of backstabbing, claims of misinformation and Internet alliances. It's almost like an underground game-within-a-game of &quot;Survivor&quot; that plays out with the melodrama of a daytime soap and the complexity of Dungeons and Dragons.Outwit, outplay, outlast. It happens more than just on the air.Oddly, given how much online tools help with developing good spoiler information, Early told CNET that he used to compile his spoilers by dutifully tracking Google Alerts for anyone associated with the show--since many contestants or people who know them inadvertently give away information in interviews, often in their hometown newspapers--he now relies on a much more old-school method for getting his information: the phone.It used to be &quot;fun because it was like detective [work],&quot; Early said, &quot;but the new...way is 100 percent accurate.&quot;And how does it work Early said that he gets phone calls all the time from &quot;Survivor&quot; insiders who want to fill him in on what will happen on the show. Indeed, he said that Hantz--who was a contestant on the season of the show currently being aired--was his most reliable source. And other players reach out to him as well, often because they want to set the record straight about how something was presented to the viewing public.&quot;It sounds like a joke, but it's not,&quot; Early said of how he gets his information these days. &quot;I just pick up the phone and say hello. Sources call me up and tell me everything.&quot;        Daniel Terdiman     Full Profile E-mail Daniel Terdiman   E-mail Daniel Terdiman If you have a question or comment for Daniel Terdiman, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Formatting glitch affects MS Word 2007 and 2010]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=formatting-glitch-affects-ms-word-2007-and-2010</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=formatting-glitch-affects-ms-word-2007-and-2010</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>tiffanffff</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=formatting-glitch-affects-ms-word-2007-and-2010</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Some readers took exception when I stated in a post from last month on future-proofing your data archive that Microsoft's proprietary Office file formats may not stand the test of time. Well, compatibility problems have already surfaced between the two most recent releases of MS Word. Several people report spaces being dropped randomly from documents created in Word 2010 when the files are opened in Word 2007 on another machine. (A post on the Microsoft Answers forum explains the problem in more detail.) The quick fix is to set both systems to use Adobe PDF as the default printer driver. Of course, this is a system-wide setting you change inWindows 7's Devices and Printers (Printers and Faxes in Vista and XP). Microsoft provides a short video explaining how to change your default printer in Windows 7' the steps are similar in earlier Windows versions. If you're willing to do without the new features of Microsoft's XML-based Office file formats, you can set Word to use the older .doc format by default instead of the newer .docx. To do so in Word 2010, click File &gt; Options &gt; Advanced and scroll to &quot;Compatibility options&quot; at the bottom of the window on the right. Choose All New Documents in the first drop-down menu andMicrosoft Office Word 2003 in the second menu.To prevent formatting errors when moving Word documents between the 2007 and 2010 versions of the program, change the default file format to the older non-XML .doc format.(Credit:screenshot by Dennis O&amp;39'Reilly/CNET) Microsoft's TechNet site describes the Compatibility Mode settings in Office 2010 and Office 2007, respectively. Wikipedia's Office 2010 page lists the features removed from the most recent version of the suite.A 'standard' file format acts in a very non-standard way Both of the solutions to the Word file-formatting problem--resetting the default printer on both PCs and reverting to the .doc default file format--seem like overkill to address what appears to be a minor glitch. The bigger question for me is what benefit the Office XML file formats offer to PC users. In corporate settings, they clearly make file management easier and more efficient for IT departments (once all the compatibility problems are worked out). But this is not how you would expect a de facto standard file format to operate. It seems Microsoft wants all the benefits of ruling one of the preeminent file standards in the computer industry without the costs of ensuring new versions of the format retain compatibility with previous releases. The Office file formats--new and old--will continue to dominate the industry for years to come. No doubt organizations benefit from the predictability that these &quot;standards&quot; provide. Likewise, millions of dollars have been spent training people to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and other Office apps. But in terms of productivity and ease of use, are these programs really the best choice from a user's perspective In other words, are we PC users along for the ride, or are we being taken for one<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[HP walks on the bile side at the Grammys]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hp-walks-on-the-bile-side-at-the-grammys</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hp-walks-on-the-bile-side-at-the-grammys</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 13 Feb 2011 08:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>reyesgutss</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hp-walks-on-the-bile-side-at-the-grammys</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It seems but a year ago that famed right-wing singer Stephen Colbert launched the iPad at the Grammys. Principally because it was.So at tonight's Grammys, it was HP's turn to touch the nation's hearts, with its TouchPad.And some may decide that HP's musical contribution was created by someone very touched indeed.For someone enjoying a spark of dubious luminosity appears to have thought it a fine idea to take Lou Reed's great anthem to grime and excitement, &quot;Walk on the Wild Side,&quot; and rewrite the words.Yes, Grammy TV audiences were treated to such lines as &quot;Everybody touch, everybody tap, everybody move, everybody app.&quot; Yes, and this came just slightly before--all together now: &quot;Everybody digg, everybody host, everybody skype, everybody post.&quot;It was as if Kanye West had swallowed a large bottle of whiskey, taken Taylor Swift's &quot;Teardrops on my Guitar,&quot; and changed the words to &quot;Beer Stains on my New Bra.&quot;I'm sure the HP TouchPad is a fine machine that will make everybody sigh, everybody buy.But really, at the party where this idea was generated, wouldn't Valium have helped that bash<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Dialed In 160: We're a Triple Crown contender!]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dialed-in-160-were-a-triple-crown-contender</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dialed-in-160-were-a-triple-crown-contender</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:10:54 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>lasirman4</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dialed-in-160-were-a-triple-crown-contender</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It's yet another busy week in the mobile world, with the Google launch of the Android Market Web store, a preview of a 3D smartphone from LG, and a couple of 4G phones from T-Mobile and AT&amp;T. Oh, and apparently we're a Triple Crown contender in the Kentucky Derby! Sort of.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google, Twitter build Speak to Tweet for Egyptians]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-twitter-build-speak-to-tweet-for-egyptians</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-twitter-build-speak-to-tweet-for-egyptians</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sheree</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-twitter-build-speak-to-tweet-for-egyptians</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Even if the Internet is down, people in Egypt can still use Twitter through a new service from Google and Twitter.(Credit:Screenshot by Tom Krazit/CNET)Google, in combination with Twitter and its recently acquired SayNow engineers, has released a service for tweeting without an Internet connection. Designed specifically for those on the ground in Egypt unable to communicate via the Internet with the outside world, Speak to Tweet allows anyone with a voice connection to dial three international numbers and have their voice messages sent out as tweets with the egypt hash tag added to those links. &quot;We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time,&quot; wrote Ujjwal Singh, co-founder of SayNow and AbdelKarim Mardini, product manager, Middle East &amp; North Africa at Google, in a blog post. The numbers are +16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855 and no Internet connection is required. There are already dozens of messages on the Twitter profile. The only remaining Internet service provider in Egypt, The Noor Group, was taken offline Monday, according to reports.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Has the App Store killed the point-and-shoot]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=has-the-app-store-killed-the-point-and-shoot</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=has-the-app-store-killed-the-point-and-shoot</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>barbarastone</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=has-the-app-store-killed-the-point-and-shoot</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Casio Tryx might be the first step to having a camera that runs apps. (Credit:Casio)My first thought when I saw the Casio Tryx camera announced at CES 2011 was that Casio took a smartphone and turned into a single-function device. The Tryx is 0.6 inch high by 2.3 inches wide by 4.8 inches deep, has a 3-inch touch screen, and a fixed focal length f2.8 21mm-equivalent ultrawide-angle lens (that means no optical zoom). Take away the swiveling and rotating screen and lens design and you essentially have the body of a smartphone. On top of that, one of the Tryx's key shooting features is high dynamic range (HDR) photos. HDR photography isn't new, but the use of it in the iPhone 4 certainly broadened awareness (for better or worse). If you're unfamiliar with it, basically, the camera takes several photos at different exposures and then combines them to bring out details that would otherwise be lost in the highlights and shadows of a scene. The Tryx can also do this for artistic effect by adjusting the strength of contrast throughout a photo. In other words, this camera does what apps like TrueHDR and Pro HDR do foriPhone users.So what you have in the Tryx is a high-powered smartphone-like camera with an app. One app. It does do other things, of course, and I'm sure Casio's argument would be that it performs better than any multipurpose mobile device can, and that's probably true. However, I keep hearing from readers, friends, and co-workers that they've pretty much abandoned their point-and-shoot cameras for their smartphones. Not because the photo quality is fantastic, but because it's always with them, because they can share photos instantly, and because of all of the apps. A good app can turn a bad or boring photo into something worth sharing. (Ask anyone who's ever used Hipstamatic.) While smartphones are not going to kill point-and-shoots anytime soon, camera manufacturers can't compete with apps. At least, not right now. Current camera systems are ridiculously closed off (Canon hacking aside), so people can't just start developing apps for them. And camera manufacturers can't be left to develop their own software because, well, the software would suck. Right now the manufacturers' solution is to add in special scene modes or give users creative art filters. However, neither option matches the fun or the flexibility of most photography apps. Add in instructional and editing and other utility apps and you can start to see why people are giving up on their simple pocket cameras. The Tryx seems like an if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em attempt at going after smartphones. Unfortunately, it doesn't go far enough. I don't know if Apple will ever make a new QuickTake camera and have it run on the iOS. However, there is some hope that an Android-based smartcamera isn't too far off. System-on-a-chip manufacturer Ambarella has developed the iOne, a chip designed for digital still and video capture that has full support for the Android OS. Match it with a good lens, a large touch-screen display, Wi-Fi and/or 3G mobile broadband, and the ability to load it full of fun and useful photography apps, and that might be worth sticking in the pocket your phone's not in.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Study: Americans sitting on $30 billion in unused gift cards]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=study-americans-sitting-on-30-billion-in-unused-gift-cards</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=study-americans-sitting-on-30-billion-in-unused-gift-cards</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:11:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xihayizu</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=study-americans-sitting-on-30-billion-in-unused-gift-cards</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Americans are sitting on more than $30 billion worth of gift cards, according to a new study.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)If you're a vegetarian, and someone gives you a gift card for Ruth's Chris Steak House, you might find it difficult to use. The same might be true if your dog just died and someone gifted you a $50 PetCo card. Mismatches such as those and millions more like them have added up to $30 billion worth of unredeemed gift cards that Americans are sitting on collectively, according to a leading player in the burgeoning secondary market for the ubiquitous cards.In a just-completed study, Plastic Jungle, which buys and sells gift cards, reported that all-told, the U.S. market for them is about $90 billion annually. And of that, about 5 percent to 7 percent go unredeemed and unclaimed each year, said Bruce Bower, the CEO of Plastic Jungle.Percentage-wise, that may not sound like much, but Bower said that on average, American households have about $300 worth of unredeemed cards. And that has led to the market that has pulled companies like Plastic Jungle, Cardpool, GiftCardRescue, and others into the fray, each hoping to scrape off profits by acting as exchanges between those who want cash for their unused cards and those who are interested in picking up cards at a discount. Some of these seem to be flourishing, with sales in the eight figures. And others, such as Leverage, have found it impossible to make a go of it.You would think that retailers would be all too happy to see consumers let the cards waste away on cork boards and fridges nationwide. But Bower said that increasingly, states are claiming the unused balances under escheatment laws--those that allow states to collect monies in abandoned bank accounts. At the same time, retailers know that consumers are likely to spend more than the value of their gift cards if they actually go shopping with them and often will buy higher-end goods than those without the cards, Bower said.To be sure, gift card exchanges are nothing new--they have been around for some time, with many outfits paying as much as 92 cents on the dollar for unused cards and selling them at 3 percent to 5 percent--or higher--discounts. Popular national retailers like Home Depot, Best Buy, Target, and others can fetch the full 92 cents, while local and regional retailers may only get around 80 cents. But with its study, Plastic Jungle has put dollar figures on the market and identified eye-popping value for the amount of money being spent on gifts that are never converted into anything tangible.All of which could easily lead one to the conclusion that many people would be better off simply giving gifts of cash rather than gift cards for retailers that may or may not be used. But of course, while giving cash as gifts is standard in some cultures, in others it is seen as the height of impersonal. To Bower, gift cards, which themselves might seem to some to reek of the buyer having put little or no time into the present, actually represent the opposite. He says they show that someone is at least trying to think of the type of establishment a gift recipient might shop at and giving them a choice of what they want to buy there.Still, with so many billions of dollars at stake, it seems obvious that retailers--who are teaming up with outfits like Plastic Jungle--may look for ways to streamline the process. That could mean gift cards that are good at multiple retailers, or which can buy a consolidated experience, such as dinner and a movie, Bower said, or an entire Valentine's Day suite, such as dinner, a spa treatment, flowers, and a night at a romantic hotel.Either way, it's obvious that millions of Americans are going to keep on buying and giving gift cards, and Bower said that the total value of unredeemed cards is only likely to grow. But a tip for those who give the cards Make sure the recipient's dog is still around before handing over that PetCo card. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Prius gets a minivan, a hot hatchback, and a plug-in]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=prius-gets-a-minivan-a-hot-hatchback-and-a-plug-in</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=prius-gets-a-minivan-a-hot-hatchback-and-a-plug-in</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:10:57 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>erdikcopd</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=prius-gets-a-minivan-a-hot-hatchback-and-a-plug-in</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Toyota Prius V has a higher roofline than the current Prius, meaning more cargo space.(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)Toyota Prius family (photos) DETROIT--Toyota fulfilled its promise to expand the Prius lineup at the 2011 Detroit auto show, turning the once single model name into a whole set of hybridcars. Joining the Prius lineup is the mini-minivan-sized Prius V, a plug-in version running a lithium ion battery pack, and a new compact concept.Prius C conceptWe saw a version of this concept previously at the 2010 Detroit auto show, dubbed the FT-CH. This sporty-looking little hybrid hatchback is Toyota's effort to design a Prius for young, urban buyers. Its size should make parking easy in cities and its looks will appeal to image-conscious buyers.Prius VWithout increasing length much, Toyota raised the roof with the Prius V to create a larger cargo area. The result is a Prius hybrid that offers more flexibility for families. This car uses the same power train as the current Prius, but loses some fuel economy due to its larger size. Toyota plans to release the Prius V late this summer.Prius Plug-inEgged on by an enthusiastic user base and even a modification community, Toyota has finally announced firm details on a plug-in Prius. This car swaps out the standard nickel metal hydride battery pack for a lithium ion version, which can handle plug-in charging better. The Prius Plug-in can drive 13 miles under electric power alone, and charges to full in 1.7 hours from a 220-volt outlet. The 13-mile electric range is not much compared with the Chevy Volt's 40 miles. Toyota plans to release the Prius Plug-in in mid-2012.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Freescale chip chops vampire draw to zero]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-freescale-chip-chops-vampire-draw-to-zero</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-freescale-chip-chops-vampire-draw-to-zero</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>PerchidloZX</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-freescale-chip-chops-vampire-draw-to-zero</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Chipmaker Freescale has designed a USB charger that knows when to stop working.At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Freescale will announce availability of Watt Saver, a system that eliminates the &quot;vampire&quot; power draw of wall chargers for mobile phones and other small electronics. The first generation of Freescale&amp;39's zero-draw technology is used in AT&amp;amp'T phone chargers.(Credit:Freescale)Even when wall chargers are no longer plugged into phones, the chargers still draw a small trickle of electricity, ranging from less than a watt for efficient chargers to over 5 watts. The Freescale system can detect when a phone's battery is full or when it's been unplugged and cut the power draw to zero.Last year AT&amp;T introduced its Zero Charger, available for $29.99 in stores, using Freescale's technology. Having tested the system with AT&amp;T, Freescale is now talking to other phone and gadget companies about using Watt Saver, said Glen Burchers, director of consumer segment marketing at Freescale.Watt Saver adds three components to a traditional wall charger, which are typically made by third-party companies rather than electronics manufacturers themselves. There is a micro-controller which detects when a phone has been unplugged, a capacitor to power the microcontroller, and a relay to shut off power, Burchers explained. The additional components add about $1 more to the charger's cost at retail.It's designed for wall chargers that have a USB output, but the technology can be used to eliminate vampire power in different power packs, according to Freescale.On an individual level, the dollar savings from cutting the vampire draw to zero is not very significant--perhaps less than one dollar over the course of a year, Burchers said. But in aggregate, the energy reductions make a big difference, given that there are 4 billion mobile phones already being used and another 1.4 billion sold a year. Freescale estimates that vampire power from cell phones is about 1,200 megawatts, which is the output of a large power plant. It plans on giving 1 percent of the proceeds from sales of the Watt Saver to a nonprofit dedicated to preserving natural resources.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: T-Mobile primed to announce Motorola Cliq 2]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-t-mobile-primed-to-announce-motorola-cliq-2</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-t-mobile-primed-to-announce-motorola-cliq-2</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Dec 2010 08:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Peplyclere</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-t-mobile-primed-to-announce-motorola-cliq-2</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This could be the Motorola Cliq 2(Credit:Cell Phone Signal)Next week at CES T-Mobile and Motorola may unveil the successor to their 2009 handset, the Cliq.A handful of images of the Cliq 2 made their way onto Cell Phone Signal's site yesterday. The photos show a device that looks nearly identical to its predecessor outside of a redesigned keyboard and a shinier bezel around the screen. As you can see from the pictures, the phone will run Motorola's custom MotoBlur user interface, although the version of Android isn't certain. I would certainly hope for at least 2.2 Froyo, but wouldn't be surprised if it were to end up 2.1 Eclair. Feature details for Cliq 2 remain pretty sketchy at this point. The pictures show a 5-megapixel camera on the back, while rumors peg the phone as supporting Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Assisted-GPS, and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n). Although the previous original Cliq was the first on the market with MotoBlur, it was a mid-range phone at best so expect more of the same from this model.T-Mobile has been working hard to promote its burgeoning HSPA+ network, so one might assume the Cliq 2 to support this 4G technology. Indeed, Wi-Fi calling is one feature that would help differentiate the handset from its carrier siblings. T-Mobile indicated back in the fall that some of its upcoming smart phones will feature the ability to make calls and send texts over Wi-Fi using the Kineto application.Recent rumors have tapped the Cliq 2 with a January 19 launch date, so it would make sense to see T-Mobile and Moto showcase the phone at CES. Be sure to check back with CNET next week as we'll be on the ground, covering the announcements as they happen.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Skype blames recent outage on buggy software]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-blames-recent-outage-on-buggy-software</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-blames-recent-outage-on-buggy-software</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>NikkiDelta</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-blames-recent-outage-on-buggy-software</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Skype has pinned the blame for last week's outage in part on a buggy version of its software for Windows.In a blog posted today, Chief Information Officer Lars Rabbe explained the house of cards that took down the service the morning of Wednesday, December 22, and kept it offline for many until the following day.On December 22, a number of support servers that handle offline instant messaging became overloaded, according to Rabbe. Because of that, some Skype clients didn't receive responses as quickly as usual. A bug in one particular Skype client for Windows (version 5.0.0.152) prevented it from processing those delayed server responses, causing the client software to crash.Since Skype is a peer-to-peer network, any PC running the client software can act as a node to route and process traffic. But PCs can also be tapped to serve as supernodes, which help maintain connections for multiple users.Since about half of all Skype customers around the world were running the buggy client version, the resulting wave of crashes triggered failures in 25-30 percent of Skype's supernodes. That put extra strain on the rest of the supernodes, causing them to start failing. Despite the efforts of the tech folks at Skype to disable the overloaded servers and stop the client requests, the entire Skype network eventually shut down.&quot;Regrettably, as a result of the confluence of events--server overload, a bug in Skype for Windows clients (version 5.0.0.152), and the decline in available supernodes--Skype's functionality became unavailable to many of our users for approximately 24 hours,&quot; wrote Rabbe.To get the service up and running again, Skype engineers spent that Wednesday introducing more and more instances of the Skype client software (the non-buggy version) into the network to generate more and more supernodes. That helped the network gradually recover, allowing the majority of Skype users to get back online by Thursday.What is Skype doing to make sure an outage like this won't happen againFirst, Rabbe says the company had provided a fix (version 5.0.0.156) to the buggy software before the outage occurred, but many people hadn't yet installed it. As such, Skype will be reviewing its process for automatic updates. Second, the company will look into ways of detecting and recovering from such problems much faster. And third, it will evaluate its testing processes to better find and avoid bugs that could take down the entire system.Rabbe also acknowledged the company's failure to prevent the outage and its lack of communication when the service was down.&quot;Lessons will be learned and we will use this as an opportunity to identify and introduce areas of improvement to our software, further assess and invest in capacity and stability, and develop better processes for outage recovery and communications to our user base,&quot; Rabbe wrote in closing.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft gives Firefox an H.264 video boost]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-gives-firefox-an-h-264-video-boost</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-gives-firefox-an-h-264-video-boost</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Luisa01</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-gives-firefox-an-h-264-video-boost</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Mozilla is outspoken in its dislike of the patent-encumbered video technology called H.264, but Microsoft, an H.264 fan, is providing a plug-in that will letWindows 7 users use it anyway.H.264 is a codec--technology to encode and decode video--that's widely used in videocameras, Blu-ray players, online video streaming, and more. It's built into Adobe Systems' Flash Player browser plug-in, but most people don't know or need to know it's there.When it comes to the flagship feature of built-in video support coming to the new HTML5 specification for creating Web pages, though, codec details do matter. Not all browsers support H.264 or its open-source, royalty-free rival from Google, the VP8-based WebM. That means Web developers must make sure they support both formats or provide a fallback to something like Flash. Otherwise they risk leaving some viewers behind.To help bridge the divide, Microsoft has released a plug-in that letsFirefox tap into Windows 7's native H.264 support for HTML5 video. The move could help pave over some of the new Web's rough patches, but also irritate WebM fans who want to see the Web move to unencumbered technology.&quot;H.264 is a widely-used industry standard, with broad and strong hardware support. This standardization allows users to easily take what they've recorded on a typical consumer video camera, put it on the Web, and have it play in a web browser on any operating system or device with H.264 support, such as on a PC with Windows 7,&quot; Microsoft said. &quot;The HTML5 Extension for Windows Media Player Firefox Plug-in continues to offer our customers value and choice, since those who have Windows 7 and are using Firefox will now be able to watch H.264 content through the plug-in.&quot;According to the plug-in's release notes, &quot;The extension is based on a Firefox add-on that parses HTML5 pages and replaces video tags with a call to the Windows Media Player plug-in so that the content can be played in the browser. The add-on replaces video tags only if the video formats specified in the tag are among those supported by Windows Media Player. Tags that contain other video formats are not touched.&quot; Microsoft is working on ironing out user-interface differences between Windows Media Player controls and those that would show with video playing natively in the browser.Microsoft already had offered a related Firefox plug-in that let people watch Windows Media videos on the Web.Mozilla is working to try to establish WebM as a required codec for HTML5, a specification standardized by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).Updated 8:37 a.m. PTwith download link and release note information.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Intellectual Ventures files three new patent suits]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intellectual-ventures-files-three-new-patent-suits</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intellectual-ventures-files-three-new-patent-suits</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nuingrebossmancur</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intellectual-ventures-files-three-new-patent-suits</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Intellectual Ventures, founded by former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold, filed three patent infringement lawsuits today against nine companies in the security, memory, and chip markets. One lawsuit names as defendants Check Point Software Technologies, McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro and accuses them of infringing on four of its patents related to antivirus and Internet security, according to the lawsuit available for download here.  The second suit accuses Elpida Memory and Hynix Semiconductor, makers of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and Flash memory, of infringing between five and seven of its patents. And the final suit alleges that three makers of FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) logic chips--Altera, Lattice Semiconductor and Microsemi Corp., which recently bought Actel-- infringed upon between three and five patents. The lawsuits were filed in federal court in Delaware.  Representatives for the security companies said executives were reviewing or looking into the lawsuit filed against them and thus not able to comment yet. Calls or e-mails to the other defendants were not immediately returned.  Intellectual Ventures, a controversial company with plenty of muscle, has a business model based on developing or acquiring patents and then licensing the technology to others. The company says in the lawsuits that it approached the defendants offering to sell them licenses, but the firms declined. The company is based in Bellevue, Wash., and was founded in 2000 with a goal of investing in invention. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Palin's publisher sues Gawker over book excerpt]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=palins-publisher-sues-gawker-over-book-excerpt</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=palins-publisher-sues-gawker-over-book-excerpt</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Nov 2010 08:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>maralyn45</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=palins-publisher-sues-gawker-over-book-excerpt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Want to read parts of Sarah Palin's biography before it's officially released Head over to Gawker, which has been displaying excerpts from the book since Thursday.That's despite the fact that Palin's publisher, HarperCollins, filed a lawsuit yesterday against Gawker Media, citing copyright infringement. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA['Dancing with the Stars' voting hacked for Palin]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dancing-with-the-stars-voting-hacked-for-palin</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dancing-with-the-stars-voting-hacked-for-palin</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Nov 2010 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cailing</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dancing-with-the-stars-voting-hacked-for-palin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Will the overly computer literate stop at nothing until they have rent society's fabric asunder Will they spend their days and nights in constant digital subterfuge in order to paint society in their own imageThese vital questions need to be asked because there are serious accusations of voting irregularities that go far beyond any that have been leveled before.No, I'm not talking about some obscure election for governor or district attorney. I am talking of Bristol Palin's stunning ascendance into the final of ABC's &quot;Dancing with the Stars.&quot;According to MSNBC, there are aggressive, pasa doble-type suggestions that hackers in the thrall of the Tea Party and their fellow travelers have taken ABC's e-mail voting system and infiltrated it as if they were the knife and it was but a shabby wheel of brie.MSNBC quotes someone on the HillBuzz blog who claimed: &quot;Lord have mercy, I voted for 3 hours online! I got 300 in.&quot; You will note the curiously religious flavor of this post. It smacks of a possible crusade that seeks to waltz its way to power. And note that it says &quot;Lord, have mercy,&quot; rather than &quot;Lord, please forgive me.&quot; There seems to be no guilt here, only fatigue.Another poster offered in reply to the 3 hour voter: &quot;Wow. You put me to shame with my measly 32.&quot;Could these Tea Party supporters be hacking into the DWTS voting system(Credit:CC Fibonacci Blue/Flickr)You might believe there is nothing wrong with hackers offering instructions as to how to game an online voting system. If you can manage to register any number of e-mail addresses in order to vote multiple times, they argue, that is surely the essence of free party, Tea Party enterprise.The problem, for some objective viewers of this century's seminal show, is that Bristol Palin seems famous for, well, being the accidentally pregnant daughter of a politician and isn't so good at stepping quickly or making the sort of sultry moves that are consistent with a campaigner for sexual abstinence.Those who defend her progress offer that she is the least showbizzy contestant, has made the most progress, and symbolizes the future of an America in which the country will be taken back from, well, other people with whom these defenders disagree.Should you believe I am exaggerating, or even making some oblique political point, might I offer you two consecutive posts from the HillBuzz blog. The first reads: &quot;We're taking back America!&quot; The second adds: &quot;One dancer at a time.&quot;For its part, ABC claims that it protects against nefarious laptop behavior by using cookies to ensure that no single computer can offer more than one vote for freedom, justice, and the jittering bug. But readers of these pages know that such a system is filled with mere possibilities for anyone with a devious mind and a passionate heart. One wonders, too, just how well ABC's security systems work in rooting out those with forceful intentions.None other than Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak forcefully expressed his concerns about the voting when he graced &quot;Dancing with the Stars&quot; with moves such as his signature &quot;worm.&quot; Indeed, he called the show &quot;fake,&quot; although later retracted the accusation.NBC reports that ABC is considering changing the voting system in order to give viewers less of an opportunity to affect results, which have seen excellent dancers such as the singer Brandy and the all-around wonderment that is Sabrina Bryan exit far earlier than they might have.I know there will be some who will look at this confounding controversy and wonder whether, in some future time, it might have implications for political elections that might be held entirely online.You should be concerned. One day, in a nearer future than one might imagine, presidents will, indeed, be voted on for their dancing ability, rather than their talents in altering America's inexorable quickstep over quicksand.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Cricket TXTM8 3G is now available]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cricket-txtm8-3g-is-now-available</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cricket-txtm8-3g-is-now-available</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Fiectcerreoge</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cricket-txtm8-3g-is-now-available</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Cricket TXTM8 3GCricket announced the TXTM8 3G today, which is really a rebranded TXTM8 II. As the name suggests, the TXTM8 3G now has 3G support in the form of tri-band EVDO. It's a simple slate-style QWERTY messaging phone, with a 2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, a 3.5-mm headset jack, a music player, and support for up to 16GB microSD cards. The TXTM8 3G is available for $79.99 after a $20 discount, and no contract is required. The TXTM8 3G is available starting November 12. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Chalking up the Windows Phone 7 launch]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chalking-up-the-windows-phone-7-launch</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chalking-up-the-windows-phone-7-launch</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Fameka</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chalking-up-the-windows-phone-7-launch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--If Microsoft hopes to get back in the smartphone game, it had better hope thatWindows Phone 7 makes a bigger impact than it appeared to be having at one AT&amp;T store here.As of midday Monday, the store had sold less than half of its supply of 20 devices.That's not to say that folks weren't lining up. Unfortunately, nearly all of the 200 people who showed up on Market Street this morning were there to snag tickets for a launch concert featuring Maroon 5, as opposed to getting their hands on one of the new phones. Microsoft did manage to make the most of the queue, requiring that concert-goers at least get a demo of Windows Phone 7 before getting their passes to the show, which takes place at the Fillmore this evening.Customers at an AT&amp;amp'T retail store in San Francisco get a hands-on demo with two Windows Phone 7 launch devices.(Credit:Ina Fried/CNET)But only a small handful of those who lined up this morning ended up buying a phone.The first Windows Phone 7 devices also went on sale at T-Mobile, though one could hardly tell by visiting the downtown San Francisco store. There were a few cases for the HD7, but the only Windows Phone on display was an HD2, which runs Microsoft's older Windows Mobile 6.5 software.It turns out that particular T-Mobile store has seen such rampant theft of its working floor devices, that all the display units have been replaced with nonworking phones. But even there, there had been a problem with the display unit for the Windows Phone 7-based HD7, which had been broken by accident earlier that day. While the store was waiting to receive a replacement, it had a working HD7 available for demos. And despite not having any mention of the product in the store, it had sold roughly 7 devices by noon. A key question remains how much push that the Windows Phones will get from the in-store sales staff at carrier stores. The AT&amp;T store may have had several people there specifically to show off and sell the Windows phones, but the store's exterior touted only theiPhone, with no mention of the Windows Phone debut, or signage showing off the launch devices. It was the same over at T-Mobile, where there were giant banners promoting Android applications, with no indications of a Windows Phone section, or a dedicated set of accessories besides some generic screen protectors and USB chargers. The visibility of the platform is bound to change over time, but if you had walked by either of these stores, you'd have no idea the first Windows Phone 7 devices were in stock and available for a hands-on demo.Of course San Francisco is not the only place to get a Windows Phone 7, and reports of sales in other locations show a bit more promise for the device--especially in Europe, Australia, and Singapore where recent reports have them selling out. The same has been the case around parts of the U.S. as well, with Knoxville, Tenn.-based software developer Geoff Hudik tweeting this morning that all his local stores were sold out of Windows Phone 7 devices. The same thing was reportedly happening in Atlanta, according to Twitter user Rushabh Mehta, who said the local T-Mobile store there had sold out within 30 minutes of opening. Also worth a mention are online carrier sales of the devices, which have not yet been accounted for.One thing that may not have gone so well for Microsoft publicly, and what's been giving it some attention, is the sidewalk chalking the company did to promote the Maroon 5 launch concert. It had done the same in New York to promote a Katy Perry show. A Microsoft representative confirmed that the company, via one of its marketing agencies, did use chalk art in certain neighborhoods to promote the launch concerts. The chalk designs are temporary and are easily washed away with water, Microsoft said. Microsoft had done a similar ground campaign for the launch of its Gears of War game franchise in 2006, which had been a tad more pedestrian than the company's infamous sticky butterfly viral campaign in 2002, which plastered MSN butterfly decals around Manhattan. Though neither of those cases were as bad as IBM's &quot;Peace, Love &amp; Linux&quot; graffiti campaign in San Francisco, which used real spray paint and ended up costing IBM some $120,000 in city fines and clean-up costs.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Online yoga classes adapt to the student's available time - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-yoga-classes-adapt-to-the-students-available-time---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-yoga-classes-adapt-to-the-students-available-time---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mharpsterr</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-yoga-classes-adapt-to-the-students-available-time---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In what has become a vast sea of online yoga offerings, it takes something special to make a particular site stand out. For YogaVibes, that something is the inclusion of real fellow students, as we noted last year. For YogaTailor, on the other hand, it''s a feature that customizes the site''s online yoga classes to fit the viewer''s expertise and available time.Aiming to make its online yoga classes more widely accessible than most, YogaTailor begins by asking the student how much time they have available that day as well as their level of experience and whether they are pregnant or have back pain. Once that information has been gathered, the site creates a custom online yoga video that can be streamed immediately. Programs are different on different days so as to prevent boredom' they even adapt over time as the student progresses. Either way, they can be followed at the viewer''s pace and don''t take more time than he or she has. After a free trial, YogaTailor costs USD 7.99 per month.Customization is almost always a good thing, as legions of product and service providers have already realized. Where that trend is less often seen, however, is with respect to the consumer''s available time. YogaTailor is smart to appreciate that consumers don''t always have unlimited time for its offerings&amp;8212'other service providers would do well to emulate its example.Website: www.yogatailor.comContact: www.yogatailor.com/index.phppmode=contact_usSpotted by: Ramesh<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook investor Jim Breyer on LinkedIn IPO: Whata4a4s the hurry]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-investor-jim-breyer-on-linkedin-ipo-whatâÂ€Â™s-the-hurry</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-investor-jim-breyer-on-linkedin-ipo-whatâÂ€Â™s-the-hurry</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>erythitle</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-investor-jim-breyer-on-linkedin-ipo-whatâÂ€Â™s-the-hurry</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Jim Breyer, one of Facebooka4a4s earliest investors through venture firm Accel Partners, just talked to Bloomberg TV about LinkedIna4a4s recently announced initial public offering. He said that if he were in LinkedIna4a4s board of directors, he would have told the company to wait a little longer:I don&amp;'t think there&amp;'s any rush to go to the public markets. And certainly the advice we give to our CEOs is take time, remain private as long as you can, build the business, build the profitability, and most importantly keep the product passion that is the definition of all the great companies out there. The ones who don&amp;'t have the long-term, deeply intense 24/7 product passion hit the rails, and I would point to Yahoo and AOL as two that have certainly done that.Facebook is certainly a company that has taken its time before going public, although it looks like the IPO could finally happen in 2012. Breyer and other Facebook investors may have some incentive to root for a successful LinkedIn IPO, which is seen as testing the appetite for Facebook. If LinkedIna4a4s IPO goes badly, that could also lower the interest in Facebooka4a4s offering.Breyer touches on that issue in the interview, saying that LinkedIn a4Awill not be a flopa4 and that Accel isna4a4t really worried anyway: a4AWe really don&amp;'t spend a lot of time thinking about which company went public and which didn&amp;'t.a4Ita4a4s also interesting to see Breyer offering this perspective since he hasna4a4t always been so patient. In fact, as he admitted to journalist David Kirkpatrick in his book The Facebook Effect, in 2006 Breyer encouraged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to consider Yahooa4a4s $1 billion acquisition offer. Zuckerberga4a4s response was to point out that he controls a majority of Facebooka4a4s board: a4AHey Jim, we cana4a4t sell it if I dona4a4t want to sell it.a4Next Story: Marc Bodnick opens up about his move to Quora &amp;8212' on Quora Previous Story: RentPost aims to simplify rent for landlords and tenantsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: IPOs, social networkingCompanies: Accel Partners, Facebook, linkedinPeople: Jim Breyer          Tags: IPOs, social networkingCompanies: Accel Partners, Facebook, linkedinPeople: Jim BreyerAnthony 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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<title><![CDATA[Report: Open-source CRM provider SugarCRM worth around $350M (exclusive)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-open-source-crm-provider-sugarcrm-worth-around-350m-exclusive</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-open-source-crm-provider-sugarcrm-worth-around-350m-exclusive</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>janey6588</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-open-source-crm-provider-sugarcrm-worth-around-350m-exclusive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[SugarCRM, a developer and provider of open-source customer relationship management (CRM) software, is worth somewhere in the range of $350 &amp;8211' $360 million, according to a new report by research firm NeXt Up!The open source CRM provider is expected to bring in around $107.7 million in revenue in 2013 and $95.8 million in 2012, according to the report. That&amp;'s peanuts when compared to Oracle&amp;'s latest earnings report (which indicated thatthe company brought in $8.6 billion in a single quarter). But for a company that was founded only six years ago and one that charges half of what most CRM providers charge for open source software, it&amp;'s pretty good.The CRM space has exploded because it helps businesses of any size run more efficiently. It can provide a business with a number of tools that can help them handle customer service. Most come with analytics suites that help executives figure out which programs are working and which ones aren&amp;'t.SugarCRM has an advantage with smaller and mid-sized businesses because it is usually much cheaper than other CRM providers. The service can cost around half of what some of the major CRM software providers charge. It doesn&amp;'t have the full functionality that some of them, like Salesforce, have a4&quot; but it can do about 90 percent of what those services can, according to the report. Companies like Oracle and SAP likewise dominate the high end of the market that typically has a much larger budget for CRM-like software.SugarCRM users can deploy the software on in-house servers or on the public cloud, which involves shipping data through the Internet to remote servers that have a lot of computing firepower. The company partnered up with Amazon and Microsoft to let users deploy its software on Amazon&amp;'s EC2 and Microsoft&amp;'s Azure cloud computing services. 70 percent of SugarCRM&amp;'s revenue comes from licensing deals with partners that resell the software and help manage it, according to the report.But because it is so cheap and because the development is open source, it can be difficult and time-consuming to install the software, and the customer support can be lacking, according to the report. Around 70 percent of SugarCRM customers still choose to install the software on in-house hardware because it&amp;'s cheaper, rather than use hosted versions on public cloud servers.The company&amp;'s valuation is still not even close to some of the dominant forces in the CRM software market, but for a provider of open source software it&amp;'s a pretty decent number. Salesforce, for example, is worth around $18 billion based on its market cap, and Oracle is worth a massive $160 billion.Since it was founded, SugarCRM has collected around 600,000 users across 75 countries and is deployed on about 55,000 servers. The open source community that works on SugarCRM has around 150,000 active users and 22,000 developers. The community has made 800 applications that plug into the CRM suite to date.The Cupertino, Calif.-based company was founded in 2004 and has more than 150 employees. To date, SugarCRM has raised $46 million in venture capital funding from firms like New Enterprise Associates, Draper Fisher Jurvetson andWalden International. Its last round of funding came in 2008 when it raised $20 million.NeXt Up! is a research firm co-founded by Michael Moe, a former senior managing director and director of global growth research at Merrill Lynch.Next Story: If Google buys into coupons, it will still have to build Previous Story: A million people have pulled out their virtual wallets in Nexon&amp;'s MapleStory online gamePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Amazon EC2, cloud computing, CRM, customer relationship management, Microsoft Cloud AzureCompanies: Amazon, Microsoft, Sugarcrm          Tags: Amazon EC2, cloud computing, CRM, customer relationship management, Microsoft Cloud AzureCompanies: Amazon, Microsoft, SugarcrmMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.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[Ahhha wants to turn your great idea into money]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ahhha-wants-to-turn-your-great-idea-into-money</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ahhha-wants-to-turn-your-great-idea-into-money</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>escoriana</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ahhha-wants-to-turn-your-great-idea-into-money</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Therea4a4s a good chance that youa4a4ve had some random product ideas throughout your life. Like, a4ABoy, it would be great if there was a tortilla chip that didna4a4t get soggy when you put salsa on ita4 But unless youa4a4re a startup CEO (and hey, maybe even if you are), you probably haven&amp;'t done anything with those ideas.A new company called Ahhha wants to change that. The goal is to take all those random idea and crowdsource the process of turning them into designs and products that you can actually make money from. People enter their ideas into the website, then other users can weigh in, voting ideas up or down and also contributing their own thoughts. In the tortilla example, someone could say, a4AMan, I would totally buy that!a4 and endorse the idea, or a food chemist might offer some ideas about the possible ingredients.At a certain point, the most popular ideas will be refined to the the point that theya4a4re monetizable. Or they might need a final push, so Ahhha might hold a contest where users could join up in teams to create the final product. Then Ahhha will try to actually sell it, either by licensing it to another company (which seems more plausible, at least at first) or even starting a new business.The money made from the product or licensing deal is then split among Ahhha users based on a set terms. The idea originator gets 1 percent, then the remaining 99 percent is divided among Ahhha and the other contributors, depending on how much the users actually did.Of course, 1 percent of a licensing deal might seem like an awfully small payment for your idea, but founder and chief executive Matthew Crowe likes to repeat the common Silicon Valley wisdom that ideas are cheap, while execution is what counts. Or, as Thomas Edison put it, genius is a4A1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.a4 After all, 1 percent of a real product is better than 100 percent of a daydream that doesna4a4t go anywhere.After talking to Crowe, it also seems like the best way to use Ahhha is to have a stake in a number of ideas, some that you came up with and some that you contributed to, so that youa4a4re not too invested in any one product.a4AIf this is your one great idea that youa4a4re convinced you&amp;'re going to make your fortune from, then go do that, I dona4a4t want it,a4 Crowe said.Ahhha can make money in three ways, he added. First by licensing or selling the products developed through the site. Second by selling a customizable version to companies who want to crowdsource product development with their customers. (This sounds similar to products like Spigit, but Crowe said most of those idea voting products are focused on employees, not customers. Plus, Ahhha has developed a technology for weighting different votes and contributions, and also for determining when a product is ready to monetize.) Finally, Ahhha can also sell services to entrepreneurs who want to turn their ideas into products.For some readers, the concept may sound like a patent troll in disguise, as former Microsoft chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold&amp;'s Intellectual Ventures has been accused of. But Crowe was emphatic that he has no interest in pursuing that kind of litigious model, even though he does want Ahhha to develop and patent intellectual property.Crowe said that he has raised funding for the Palo Alto, Calif. company, but that ita4a4s too early to disclose how much or from whom.Personally, I think ita4a4s a compelling idea and with a lot of potential, but one with a lot of question marks. Its success will depend on the companya4a4s ability to convince users to share their ideas, and on its ability to separate the good ideas from the random ones (current ideas in the system include a4Awarp drivea4 and a4Atime machinea4).Ahhha is slowly letting users onto the site. VentureBeat readers can get in by visiting this page and entering the code a4Aedisona4.Next Story: In Man vs. Machine challenge, IBM&amp;'s Watson supercomputer ties for first on Jeopardy Previous Story: Google asks users to help fight content farmsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: AhhhaPeople: Matthew Crowe          Companies: AhhhaPeople: Matthew CroweAnthony 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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<title><![CDATA[Facebook&'s new login for the Web could ruffle feathers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebookrsquos-new-login-for-the-web-could-ruffle-feathers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebookrsquos-new-login-for-the-web-could-ruffle-feathers</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Niki</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebookrsquos-new-login-for-the-web-could-ruffle-feathers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Facebook has launched a new registration tool that lets website developers provide a quick and easy way for users to sign up using their data from Facebook.The tool, a counterpart to Facebook Login, involves customizing and inserting a small amount of code into a website&amp;'s pages, which then operates as a signup form.Website developers can ask for specific fields required for an account (for example: name, birthday, gender, location, email), or add custom fields and dropdowns of their own. All the information contained by Facebook is automatically filled into these fields, which users hand over to the website when they click &amp;''Register.&amp;'' If the website doesn&amp;'t require a Facebook account to signup, the form can also operate as a standalone signup form.At a time when every website seems to work with its own signup process, the move comes as an attempt by Facebook to simplify matters for consumers. But at the same time, Facebook has everything to gain by acting as the middleman for signups and having more Web developers work with Facebook&amp;'s code.Is this good for users Facebook is essentially asking its users to allow it to hand over their data to third-party sites.It serves a longstanding goal of Facebook, which is to get users to use one consistent and real identity &amp;8212' their Facebook identity &amp;8212' across the Web.But users may rebel. Most trust Facebook with their birthdays, for example, because it allows their friends to shower them with birthday greetings, but may hesitate at entering their real birthday to an unknown website. And Facebook, not that site, will face the backlash.In a year when every other Facebook announcement seems to have instigated a privacy backlash, one wonders about the kind of response this announcement will generate as websites begin incorporating it. There&amp;'s surely mischief that can be accomplished with it. As Facebook spreads its wings even further, which new feathers will it rufflePrevious Story: Oracle sets eyes on HP after posting strong second quarterPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Facebook Login, privacy, securityCompanies: Facebook          Tags: Facebook Login, privacy, securityCompanies: FacebookSid Yadav is a contributor to VentureBeat. He currently studies computer science and psychology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He is also the creator of Memiary, a micro-diary utility. You can reach him at sidyadav@gmail.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @sidyadav.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[GarageBand shows off a killer app for the iPad 2 (video)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=garageband-shows-off-a-killer-app-for-the-ipad-2-video</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=garageband-shows-off-a-killer-app-for-the-ipad-2-video</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Catherine</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=garageband-shows-off-a-killer-app-for-the-ipad-2-video</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As consumers buy their iPad 2 tablets this weekend, they&amp;'re going to try out a lot of new applications. And one of the coolest new apps they can play is an old stalwart on the Mac: GarageBand.GarageBand is one of the killer apps for the iPad 2 (and the original iPad) that could keep the demand for Apple&amp;'s tablet strong even in the face of new competition from Android devices.While making music on the Mac is fun, GarageBand for the iPad adds a new dimension with the touchscreen and accelerometer, which measures not only where you touch the screen but also how hard you tap it. As you tap the screen, you can tap harder for louder sounds or softer for quieter sounds.As you can see in the video below by Xander Soren, director of music marketing at Apple, you can play realistic &amp;''touch instruments&amp;'' or &amp;''smart instruments&amp;'' for beginners. When you open the app, you see the &amp;''instrument browser&amp;'' with pictures of the different instruments you can play. If you tap on one, it comes up and occupies the whole screen. You can touch the keys of the grand piano to make piano music. You can play organs, electric pianos, or electronic keyboards known as clavinets.You can even get the effect of holding down a key by tapping the equivalent of a &amp;''sustain pedal.&amp;'' The sound lasts much longer than if you just tap the screen once. You can change the octaves of the piano to get different sounds. The rock organ has draw bars that let you alter the tone of the music as you play it.The virtual drum kit lets you bash hard or soft, with the accelerometer sensing just how hard you tap the screen. You can run your finger in a circle around the screen, hitting cymbals or drums to make a lot of noise. The smart instruments such as the smart guitar, keyboard, base and drums, are set up so that beginners can learn how to play them. You can lay your hand across all of the strings to dampen the sound. An auto-play feature lets you repeat guitar strums and then use your hands to change the keys, allowing you to make great sounds with very little effort.&amp;''Our camp fires will never be the same,&amp;'' Soren said. &amp;''These smart instruments are like musical training wheels. You can&amp;'t play a bad note.&amp;''You can also compose and record your own songs as if your iPad 2 were a music recording studio. If you hit the tracks button, you can bring up a bunch of musical instruments playing sequences. Each instrument can be isolated into a separate track. You can change the intensity of the track, shorten it or otherwise manipulate it. Then you can add as many as eight different tracks to a song and let them all play at once. Soren pointed out that the Beatles could only record four different tracks when they made Sgt. Pepper&amp;'s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. You can alter the timing and move the tracks around with your fingers. You can change the volume of instruments and adjust the sound coming out of different speakers. Then you can put it all together as your own original song.GarageBand for the iPad costs $4.99 in the Apple App Store. Checkout our iMovie story here.Next Story: iMovie app destined to be a big hit on iPad 2 (video) Previous Story: Week in review: Epic Games shows off amazing graphicsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Garage Band, iPad 2Companies: ApplePeople: Xander Soren          Tags: Garage Band, iPad 2Companies: ApplePeople: Xander SorenDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. 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[Instapaper 3.0 for iPhone/iPad brings social features, biggest update yet]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=instapaper-3-0-for-iphoneipad-brings-social-features-biggest-update-yet</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=instapaper-3-0-for-iphoneipad-brings-social-features-biggest-update-yet</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sallyxf</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=instapaper-3-0-for-iphoneipad-brings-social-features-biggest-update-yet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It&amp;'s Christmas time for Instapaper fanatics: Developer Marco Arment has finally delivered Instapaper 3.0 for the iPhone and iPad, bringing with it new social features, sharing options, and more.For  those not familiar with the insanely useful service, Instapaper lets  you easily save articles on the web to read later. Saved articles appear  in a minimal format that strips out unnecessary distractions like ads.  You can read the saved pieces on Instapaper&amp;'s website, and Arment has  also crafted iPhone and iPad apps to gain access to the service on the  go.The  apps have turned Instapaper into something more than just a nifty  Delicious alternative. Now, Instapaper is without a doubt a critical  tool for anyone that loves to read content on the web (if youa4a4re reading  this post, that probably means you).With version 3.0, the single biggest update the service has ever seen,  Arment has made Instapaper a less antisocial affair. You can follow  friends and view stories theya4a4ve Liked (which replaces the previous  Stars feature used to mark interesting stories), as well as share  stories youa4a4ve Liked.The  service also has improved connections with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr,  Pinboard and Evernote to share articles. You can even share articles  when offline &amp;8212' which will get queued and eventually posted when you  have a network connection.Arment  also included some more ways to find interesting stories: a new Editors  section highlights some of the best articles on the web from sites like  Longreads,  and an improved built-in web browser lets you manually navigate to any  site and save it to your Instapaper account. He also removed a feature  from the app that let you automatically add RSS feeds to your Instapaper  account. The feature was never widely used, Arment said, and its  removal has sped up the app significantly.Other  new features include a faster storage engine for stories, a4Aperfect  image qualitya4, and the ability to search the content of articles  downloaded to your iPhone or iPad. Eventually, Arment says, hea4a4ll  consider adding the ability to search your online archive of Instapaper  stories.The update is the first wea4a4ve seen from Arment after he left his CTO post at Tumblr to work on Instapaper full time in September last year. Version 3.0 marks a turning point for Instapaper &amp;8212' now it feels like less of a hobby and more like a serious attempt to change the way we read online content. With Yahoo getting ready to kill Delicious, and competitor Read It Later lagging behind in features, the door is wide open for Arment to make Instapaper the only tool users need for saving stories.Instapaper 3.0 is currently available on the iTunes Store for $4.99 for new users. Ita4a4s a universal binary, which means youa4a4ll  only need to buy it once to use it on your iPhone and iPad. Current  owners of the app will be able to upgrade for free.Calling all developers: We want to write up your app for VentureBeata4a4s Mobile App Spotlight! If you have an innovative mobile app that hasna4a4t been featured on VentureBeat yet, submit it for consideration right away. The Mobile App Spotlight is sponsored by The Intel AppUp developer program.Previous Story: Do AOLa4a4s layoffs spell doom for quality journalismPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: apps, bookmarks, iOS, iPad, iPhoneCompanies: InstapaperPeople: Marco Arment          Tags: apps, bookmarks, iOS, iPad, iPhoneCompanies: InstapaperPeople: Marco ArmentDevindra 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[Anonymously Chat With Other College Students On&nbsp'HowRandom]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=anonymously-chat-with-other-college-students-onnbsphowrandom</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=anonymously-chat-with-other-college-students-onnbsphowrandom</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ballmurderer</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=anonymously-chat-with-other-college-students-onnbsphowrandom</guid>
<description><![CDATA[HowRandom, a site for college students, launches today with one core feature &amp;8212' the ability to anonymously chat with people from other schools. There&amp;'s no photo uploading, file sharing or video capabilities, just a text entry line and a chat widget.The student on student communication happens on two levels, a test function where you casually enter in your school (warning, you have to type the full word &amp;''University&amp;'') and a verified function which allows you to type in your .edu address in order to get &amp;''Verified&amp;'' as a bona fide college student.Explains founder Jon Cook, &amp;''Ita4a4s a way for guys at Harvard to meet girls at Yale, etc. And ita4a4s not intrusive. HowRandom has a very solid viral loop. It has the Facebook-like .edu exclusivity. And ita4a4s extremely simple to use.&amp;''Cook and co-founder Jason Humphries think of HowRandom as more of a social experiment than a business. They hope it will mirror the randomness of life and &amp;''foster real-world meetings and interactions between two people that might otherwise never meet. a4 Like a text-based Chatroulette with no penis problem, there&amp;'s also a next feature in case you don&amp;'t like who you&amp;'re chatting with.Cook says he wants to keep evolving the app through user feedback, and is considering including limited profile option along with the &amp;''Verified&amp;'' logo.Facebook initially restricted its users to college students with .edu addresses and that element was crucial to its success, this is also HowRandom&amp;'s hook. Colleges are hotbeds of virality in more ways than one, and starting off there is a good move for any social app.CrunchBase InformationHowRandom.comInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Honeycomb: Up close with Google&'s Android 3.0 for tablets (video)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=honeycomb-up-close-with-googlersquos-android-3-0-for-tablets-video</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=honeycomb-up-close-with-googlersquos-android-3-0-for-tablets-video</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>archibaldj</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=honeycomb-up-close-with-googlersquos-android-3-0-for-tablets-video</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google showed off more details of its Android 3.0 operating system for tablet computers today, code-named Honeycomb. We had a chance to get up close to see some of the new features such as a better way of presenting email, videos, music and home screen via rich graphics.Honeycomb is Google&amp;'s attempt to catch up with Apple&amp;'s iPad tablet and fuel a host of Android-based rivals. If it takes off, Apple will have some serious competition in the fast-growing tablet market, which Apple dominated in 2010. We took a bunch of video at today&amp;'s Android 3.0 event at Google&amp;'s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.As you can see from the picture of the user interface for YouTube, running on the Motorola Xoom tablet above, Honeycomb gives tablets a much more visually appealing, touchscreen-focused user interface. Honeycomb tablets can take advantage of 3D hardware acceleration and dual-core ARM-based microprocessors.Check out the video walk-through of some key features of Honeycomb below. You&amp;'ll see new features such as fragments, the action bar and the home screen.Next Story: CNN shows off an Android tablet app where users can post news (video) Previous Story: Disney Mobile throws its weight behind Android tablets (video)PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android 3.0, Honeycomb, iPad, Motorola Xoom, tabletCompanies: Apple, Google          Tags: Android 3.0, Honeycomb, iPad, Motorola Xoom, tabletCompanies: Apple, GoogleDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. 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[Verizon iPad 2 to join the Verizon iPhone in 2011]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-ipad-2-to-join-the-verizon-iphone-in-2011</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-ipad-2-to-join-the-verizon-iphone-in-2011</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>huntrore</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-ipad-2-to-join-the-verizon-iphone-in-2011</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple  still hasna4a4t confirmed that ita4a4s releasing a CDMA version of the iPhone  next year for Verizona4a4s wireless network (and other CDMA networks  globally), but at this point we can rest assured that ita4a4ll  happen.Now therea4a4s word that Apple is also working on a CDMA version of the iPad 2 to keep the Verizon iPhone company, according to the site Digitimes.The news makes sense given that Verizon&amp;'s current mobile internet solution for the iPad isn&amp;'t sustainable for the next year. Currently, Verizon offers a free MiFi device, which lets multiple wireless devices connect to Verizon&amp;'s network, with the purchase of an iPad.If  true, that would make three versions of the iPad 2 from Apple for 2011  &amp;8212' the WiFi only and UMTS versions (which supports 3G networks like  AT&amp;amp'Ta4a4s), together with the CDMA flavor. Digitimes reports that Apple  is slated to start mass iPad 2 production in the second half of January,  and it expects to ship 500,000 to 530,000 units to retail channels in  that month as well. The company will ship equal amounts of the WiFi and  CDMA iPad 2, and slightly more units of the UMTS version.Sources  say that about 60 to 65 percent of current iPad shipments are of the  UMTS 3G variety, so it makes sense for Apple to push out slightly more  units of that version. That tells us that consumers want iPads with  mobile internet built-in, even if it costs significantly more than the  WiFi only version.Apple  is reportedly also aiming to improve the iPad 2a4a4s anti-smudge and  anti-reflective screen features in a bid to compete with the Kindle and  similar devices. Both would be welcome updates given how much of a  fingerprint magnet the current iPad manages to be. Last week we also  reported that the iPad 2 may get a smaller bezel and improved rear speaker, and ita4a4s pretty much certain that it will also receive both front and rear cameras.  I also expect an overall thinner and lighter design, given Applea4a4s  tendency to slim down its products (and the iPad surely needs some  weight-loss).Digitimes&amp;'  sources estimate that Apple will ship around 40 million iPad 2s in  2011, making up around 65 to 75 percent of the tablet PC market. In  comparison, Apple is expected to ship 16 million iPads in 2010 (several  million of which will likely spill over into 2011 sales). In October, Apple announced that it shipped 7.5 million iPads since it launched in April.Front photo by Rego KorosiNext Story: Apple sued over spying mobile apps Previous Story: 2011 a4&quot; A look around the hiring cornerPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: CDMA, iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, tablets, UMTS, WiFiCompanies: Apple          Tags: CDMA, iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, tablets, UMTS, WiFiCompanies: AppleDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Daqri wants to be the augmented reality&'s YouTube]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=daqri-wants-to-be-the-augmented-realityrsquos-youtube</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=daqri-wants-to-be-the-augmented-realityrsquos-youtube</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sallimichegani</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=daqri-wants-to-be-the-augmented-realityrsquos-youtube</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Daqri, which lets any user create bar codes called QR codes that display images, movies and other pieces of content as soon as they are viewed through an iPhone camera, announced today it is launching a private beta test.The company made the announcement at the Launch Conference in San Francisco.Users upload a piece of content and associate it with a QR code. The augmented reality piece automatically displays when anyone opens up the Daqri application and hovers their camera over the QR code. That can be an image, a video or just about anything else as long as there is an existing application programming interface (API).The technology is called augmented reality. Augmented reality applications overlay content onto the real world through a phone camera. There are applications that focus on augmented reality, such as Layar, while popular general interest apps like Yelp can incorporate the technology too. When the camera is opened, Yelp displays relevant restaurant ratings and reviews depending on where it is pointed.But the service was pretty nebulous, and didn&amp;'t really have a specific application. That would end up hurting the service in the long run because it&amp;'s more efficient to focus on a niche, said Aarron Walter, user experience design leader of MailChimp. Most people just won&amp;'t know what to do with the application because there are too many options, he said.&amp;''Wordlens and these other augmented reality apps are amazing because they only do one thing,&amp;'' Walter said. &amp;''I know it&amp;'s going to do this one thing a4&quot; make sure you say that it does just one thing.&amp;''But it was still a pretty cool idea, said Yammer founder David Sacks. He said that even though the service was a bit open-ended, it would take off once one user figured out a killer use case for the service. Angel investor Dave McClure suggested an augmented-reality-based game that uses the accelerometer a4&quot; a use case that involves a spacial component.&amp;''The fascinating part to me was using QR codes, which I think is a more exciting space,&amp;'' Sacks said. &amp;''The augmented reality part is too far ahead and a bit of a red herring, but if theya4a4re flexible and they want to thrash around a bit with QR codes, theya4a4ll be okay.&amp;''The service is available for free for some basic services. Daqri charges $20 a month for a premium service that includes more features, and will probably sell the service to companies that want to re-brand it with their own identity and collect subscription fees.Next Story: Twitter investor: Hipmunk one of &amp;''the most innovativea4 in travel Previous Story: Judges bring out their knives for Appconomya4a4s group appPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: App Store, augmented reality, bar code, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, launch2011, QR codeCompanies: Daqri          Tags: App Store, augmented reality, bar code, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, launch2011, QR codeCompanies: DaqriMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron. 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[Googler Accuses Twitter Engineer Of Sexual Assault, Trial By Twitter&nbsp'Commences]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googler-accuses-twitter-engineer-of-sexual-assault-trial-by-twitternbspcommences</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googler-accuses-twitter-engineer-of-sexual-assault-trial-by-twitternbspcommences</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaterwinqw</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googler-accuses-twitter-engineer-of-sexual-assault-trial-by-twitternbspcommences</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google technical writer Noirin Shirley wrote a post on her personal bloga4searlier this evening entitled &amp;''A hell of a time,&amp;'' describing her experiences last night at ApacheCon in Atlanta. Shirley recounts a drunken post-conference party she organized in her hotel room and describes a rather disturbing (if true) a4sinteraction with Twitter engineer Florian Leibert:&amp;''He brought me in to the snug, and sat up on a stool. He grabbed me, pulled me in to him, and kissed me. I tried to push him off, and told him I wasna4a4t interested (I may have been less eloquent, but I dona4a4t think I was less clear). He responded by jamming his hand into my underwear and fumbling.&amp;'' With such incendiary subject matter it is no surprise that the post rose to the top of Hacker News in a matter of hours. What&amp;'s even more interesting is that the accusations have reverberated ona4sQuora and Twitter with people @ replying both Leibert and Shirley with Shirley&amp;'s post.&amp;''Ita4a4s not the first time something like this has happened to me, at all. Ita4a4s not the first time ita4a4s happened to me at a tech conference. But it is the first time Ia4a4ve spoken out about it in this way, because Ia4a4m tired of the sense that some idiot can ruin my day and never have to answer for it.&amp;''It is notable that the allegations of wrongdoing now have a realtime venue to play out, primarily because the players in the drama have tech community prominence and are both on Twitter.a4sNeither Leibert or Shirley have tweeted anything since Shirley sent out her blog post about the incident.I have contacted Leibert for his side of the story and will update this post when he responds.a4sShirley makes no indication she has filed any formal complaint.CrunchBase InformationTwitterGoogleInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Skype CEO offers update on outage that affected tens of millions]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-ceo-offers-update-on-outage-that-affected-tens-of-millions</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-ceo-offers-update-on-outage-that-affected-tens-of-millions</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>medicabc</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-ceo-offers-update-on-outage-that-affected-tens-of-millions</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Tony Bates, the chief executive of Skype, posted a YouTube video today explaining what the company is doing to fix the outage that brought down Skype communications for tens of millions of users.He said the company has been working hard to restore communication for all of its users who were hit with the outage in the past 24 hours. Skype offers free internet calling between users and a paid service for those calling regular phone networks.He said that usage has been restored to about 16.5 million people, which for this time of day is about 80 percent of normal. Users on the U.S. East Coast and Europe are fully restored.Also the instant messenger, video and audio services are back up. But offline instant messenger and group video calls are taking longer to bring back to normal. Skype said the problem was caused by the failure of &amp;''supernodes,&amp;'' or the directories of Skype users. Skype has had to replace those supernodes with its own dedicated servers. That means there are fewer servers to handle the group calls and other services that are still down.&amp;''Ita4a4s been a tough 24 hours for many of you a4&quot; and Ia4a4d like to thank you for your patience as we bring Skype back to normal,&amp;'' he said. &amp;''I realise that ita4a4s difficult to compensate you for not being able to talk to or see your friends, family or colleagues, but wea4a4re planning to offer Skype Credit vouchers to all of our loyal paying customers.&amp;''More updates are coming later today. [Update:] Bates has offered another update, saying that Skype has now successfully stabilized its service and is operating at 90 percent of normal user volumes. Offline IM and group video calling are still offline. It is also offering 30 minutes of free calling to landlines anywhere in the world.Next Story: Viacom won&amp;'t get fooled again, drops Rock Band developer as music game sales falter Previous Story: In danger of being an also-ran, Atari names a new CEOPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: SkypeCompanies: SkypePeople: Tony Bates          Tags: SkypeCompanies: SkypePeople: Tony BatesDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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