
<?phpxml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
>
<channel>
<title>Haaze.com / Mary01 / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[How to clean up your Facebook feed]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-clean-up-your-facebook-feed</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-clean-up-your-facebook-feed</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Peplyclere</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-clean-up-your-facebook-feed</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[On the hunt for green-tech game changers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-hunt-for-green-tech-game-changers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-hunt-for-green-tech-game-changers</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Apr 2011 07:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>haywoodros</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-hunt-for-green-tech-game-changers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[To borrow a line from science fiction writer William Gibson, the future ofgreen tech is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed.Today is Earth Day, a good time to consider how the technology meant to preserve our environment and natural resources is progressing. If you consider individual green products, whether it's plug-in cars or home solar panel leasing, the impact on the giant scale of the energy industry is quite small. Hybrids, never mind plug-in hybrids, are less than 2 percent of total sales, and renewable energy is about 10 percent of electricity generation, with most of that from hydropower. But viewed in aggregate, there's clearly momentum. What's still up for grabs is where the innovations will come from and how quickly they will be deployed at scale, a question with big economic, environmental, and national security implications. Cool ways tech is helping the Earth (images) The debate over the pace and scale of green technology played out in front of me a few weeks ago at the Yale Climate and Energy Institute's annual conference. I walked away thinking that, even though there are big hurdles to making the economy cleaner, we'll look back five years from now and be impressed with the amount of change.In a keynote speech, David Lawrence, the executive vice president of Exploration and Commercial at Shell, gave a big-picture view of world energy, where he said fossil fuels will remain dominant for the next 40 to 50 years. Biofuels and wind are poised to play a more significant role, but the big winner in the future will be natural gas because it's abundant in the U.S. and burns cleaner than coal. The next day, I moderated a panel on advanced biofuels to discuss the potential of genetically manipulating microorganisms to make fuels directly or improve existing processes. One of the panelists, Flagship Ventures CEO Noubar Afeyan, challenged the notion of a slow, multidecade transition espoused by Lawrence.A veteran biotech venture capitalist and entrepreneur, Afeyan had seen the pharmaceutical companies 20 years ago say that they would lead the industry in pursuit of novel drugs because they had the means--both the R&amp;D and the sales networks. The reality turned out to be very different, as a number of biotech start-ups entered the market and grew to become public companies.There's no reason that the same kind of dynamic won't play out in energy, he argued. One example is Joule Unlimited, which projects it can make diesel fuel in bioreactors at competitive prices within a few years. Rather than count on the incumbents to lead on alternative energy, challengers with low-cost products will set the pace, he said. This will take a whileIs it realistic to expect that a lab full of scientists and eager start-up entrepreneurs will upend the hulking energy industry that's developed over decades Well, overnight success is unlikely, but with the right business models and technology, new technologies can make a dent in a slow and steady kind of way.Certainly, many clean-tech companies have run into a wall trying to scale up their products, for purely business reasons, such as the high costs of building factories or the difficulty of selling to conservative utilities. But by picking their niches, some promising green-tech companies have made real progress, even if the field of venture investors may be narrowing.Related links&amp;149' Chasing home efficiency, nudged by the sun&amp;149' Can green tech save the Earth It won't be easy&amp;149' Electronics recycling: Dealing with skeletons in the closetA few examples: BrightSource Energy has started construction of a huge solar power plant in Southern California, making it one of the few solar companies started in the past decade to cross over into large-scale operations.EnerNoc built a demand-response service by applying IT to the power grid, and has helped make efficiency a resource that grid operators increasingly rely on during peak times. Another company to go public is Gevo, which expects to be making by the end of next year specialty chemicals (an easier market to crack into than fuels) from sugar at the same cost as petroleum.ARPA-E researchers dig deep for energy innovation (photos) In the realm of scientific discoveries, dozens of companies and academics funded by the ARPA-E program are researching a dizzying array of approaches around cheap storage, biofuels, and repurposing carbon dioxide emissions. A high-profile one is Sun Catalytix, which is designing an &quot;artificial leaf&quot; to make hydrogen fuel from a solar cell soaked in a solution with its special catalyst. Its first market may be community energy systems in India.In many cases, the successful green-tech companies appear to be going after a relatively narrow market niche. But that's how many technologies will likely first take hold, showing where they work best before more people are willing to try them and banks are willing to invest in them.Reality check It's not just the energy business, either. Increasingly, corporations in all fields have &quot;green business&quot; efforts, which range from purchasing fleets of electric vehicles to making more eco-friendly packaging. Big companies are not only important customers but they also investing in, and sometimes acquiring, smaller green-tech outfits, bringing capital and distribution. Consumers, obviously, can live a more eco-friendly lifestyle and create demand for eco-friendly products as well.Even with all the advances on green technology, one has to recognize that it's a long-term transition off of fossil fuels. Energy moves slowly, unlike the IT industry, which has been ruled by Moore's Law.Battery technology, for example, can be improved, but energy storage and many other fields simply don't benefit from the exponential pace of change that the semiconductor industry has seen over the past 40 years. (Academic Vaclav Smil refers to this overly optimistic thinking as &quot;Moore's Curse.&quot;)Photos: Getting your green on for Earth Day Still, one can feel optimistic about green technologies, because so many people have been captured by this idea of making a cleaner economy. It's what's leading university students to start energy clubs and scientists and some businesses to take environmental sustainability seriously.The other reason we've seen more activity in green technology is government policies. U.S. clean energy industries got a boost from the stimulus, and countries with aggressive clean-energy policies, such as China, Germany, and South Korea, are galloping ahead. In the U.S., some people seem like they're automatically turned off by anything labeled &quot;green,&quot; &quot;clean,&quot; or &quot;sustainable,&quot; including many politicians. But even while there's a debate over clean-energy policies, you'd think that a commitment to innovating around energy and preserving natural resources would be something many could agree on. That matters on Earth Day, because clean air and water are not something anyone can take for granted.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Microsoft works to woo advertisers with technology]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-works-to-woo-advertisers-with-technology</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-works-to-woo-advertisers-with-technology</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jasonmichael004</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-works-to-woo-advertisers-with-technology</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer made a pitch to a collection of the world's top advertisers that his company is in the best position to bring together the different marketing opportunities offered by the Web, mobile phones, video gaming, and television.&quot;All of our marketing customers kind of wish there was one thing you could promote on called the Internet,&quot; Ballmer told about 200 agency and brand advertising executives today at Microsoft's Imagine2011 conference on the company's campus. The way it works now, advertisers have to gin up different approaches for different mediums, buying ad spots in a disjointed set of ways. &quot;We have to make the Internet better in order to have it grow to be the standard platform for marketing,&quot; Ballmer said.Microsoft, which generates $3 billion in ad revenue annually, is working on &quot;the commercial glue&quot; to buy advertising for campaigns easily across multiple devices, Ballmer said. To that end, Microsoft rolled out the latest version of Microsoft Advertising Exchange, that's now been integrated with the real-time bidding system of AppNexus.Though Microsoft remains far behind Google in online advertising sales, the business generates $3 billion in annual revenue for the software giant. &quot;It's the most rapidly growing part of our business. It's superimportant to us,&quot; Ballmer said.That's why Microsoft holds the annual advertising gathering and trots out Ballmer to pitch the company's advertising business. It will show off not just its advertising tools, but technology such asWindows Phone 7,Xbox, and Bing, where advertisers can sell their message. And it's brought to Redmond big thinkers, such as Rhode Island School of Design President John Maeda and Academy Award-winning filmmakers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, to lure ad executives to the meeting and get them to think broadly about new opportunities.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Facebook detour through China: Accident or not]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-detour-through-china-accident-or-not</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-detour-through-china-accident-or-not</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>floaraagell</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-detour-through-china-accident-or-not</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Barrett Lyon&amp;39's blog revealed that traffic destined for Facebook was mysteriously re-routed through China. (Credit:Blyon.com) A funny thing happened to some traffic heading to Facebook earlier this week. It ended up going out of the way through China. Barrett Lyon, an entrepreneur and network security expert who blogged about the incident on Tuesday, suggested it was merely an accident. But Rodney Joffe, senior technologist at DNS (Domain Name System) registry Neustar, disagrees and described it as &quot;route hijacking.&quot;  &quot;It's real. It is happening. It can't be described as an 'accident' anymore,&quot; Joffe, who observed similar traffic snafus involving China last year, said in an e-mail to CNET today.  China is notorious for its efforts at censoring the Internet, and free speech activists worry about the government being able to snoop on citizens' Internet communications, although what officials there would want with U.S. citizens' traffic is anyone's guess. Here's what happened, according to Lyon's post: &quot;Quietly this morning customers of AT&amp;T browsing Facebook did so by way of China then Korea. Typically, AT&amp;T customers' data would have routed over the AT&amp;T network directly to Facebook's network provider, but due to a routing mistake their private data went first to Chinanet then via Chinanet to SK Broadband in South Korea, then to Facebook. This means that anything you looked at via Facebook without encryption was exposed to anyone operating Chinanet, which has a very suspect modus operandi.&quot; In his analysis, Lyon speculates that most likely nothing happened to the data. &quot;Yet China is well known for its harmful networking practices by limiting network functionality and spying on its users, and when your data is flowing over their network, your data could be treated as any Chinese citizens.' Does that include capturing your session ID information, personal information, emails, photos, chat conversations, mappings to your friends and family, etc One could only speculate, however it's possible.&quot; Lyon also questions whether Facebook or AT&amp;T should have notified customers of the problem, whether Facebook should enable SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption by default (that became an option in early February), and whether high-profile sites should be allowed to route to non-authenticated networks.  &quot;This happens all the time--the Internet is just not a trusted network,&quot; he wrote. &quot;Yet I prefer to know that when I am on AT&amp;T's network, going to U.S.-located sites, my packets are not accidentally leaving the country and being subject to another nation's policies.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Groupon COO Rob Solomon steps down]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=groupon-coo-rob-solomon-steps-down</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=groupon-coo-rob-solomon-steps-down</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:10:59 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>whiskyslijter</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=groupon-coo-rob-solomon-steps-down</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sources close to Groupon, the social-buying site, said its president and COO, former Yahoo exec Rob Solomon, is stepping down from his job.It's not clear what the reasons for Solomon's departure are, but the move seems to be sudden. It is also unusual given the fast-track trajectory of Groupon, which is currently considering at IPO at gigantic badillion-dollar valuations.Nonetheless, CEO Andrew Mason just sent out a short email to staff about the move. BoomTown had sent him a query earlier today about the inquiring about the possibility of Solomon's leaving.In the e-mail, sources said, Mason said Solomon was moving back to &quot;'God's Country' in Woodside, CA&quot; from Chicago, where Groupon is headquartered.Mason praised Solomon for his work in the lightning growth of the start-up and noted &quot;he will remain a friend and advisor to the company into perpetuity.&quot;Apparently, though, from faraway seat in God's Country in Silicon Valley.Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[iPad 2 availability easing at some stores]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-availability-easing-at-some-stores</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-availability-easing-at-some-stores</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>raslaria</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-availability-easing-at-some-stores</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Availability of theiPad 2 at Apple Stores appears to be easing a bit, as some stores in Southern California are not selling out of stock before the doors open. At Apple stores on a typical day, lines form as early as 3 a.m.--or earlier. In response, stores open early and pass out claim tickets to those in line. But there are typically more people in line than there are available claim tickets. So, stores sell out before the doors open for regular business. An Apple store in Simi Valley, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, last week. The line extends to the vanishing point in the photo.(Credit:Brooke Crothers)For the first time on Tuesday morning, however, some stores in Los Angeles had enough inventory to sell an iPad to everyone in line then open their doors and still have stock to sell to walk-in customers. Two stores, one at The Grove in the Beverly Hills area of Los Angeles and another in Simi Valley, briefly had stock during regular business hours, according to salespeople at those two stores. Alas, that doesn't mean that circumstances have changed for the chronically sold out iPad 2 everywhere in California. An Apple Store in San Francisco says it still sells out before doors open for regular business and that people were already in getting in line at around 2:30 p.m. PST on Tuesday for Wednesday sales, according to a store salesperson.After international sales begin this Friday, we should have a better idea next week if this is a fluke or if supply is actually stabilizing. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<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>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Chrome still shines, 10 versions later]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-still-shines-10-versions-later</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-still-shines-10-versions-later</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2011 07:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Fiectcerreoge</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-still-shines-10-versions-later</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Quake, tsunami test Japan's warning systems]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=quake-tsunami-test-japans-warning-systems</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=quake-tsunami-test-japans-warning-systems</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:11:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>lanulim2</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=quake-tsunami-test-japans-warning-systems</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This map issued Saturday shows the entire coast of Japan under tsunami alert, with red lines indicating waves more than 3 meters (about 10 feet). (Credit:Japan Meteorological Agency)As Japan staggers in the aftermath of the devastating quake that pummeled the northern half of the archipelago Friday, killing at least 200 and causing a nuclear emergency, the tech powerhouse's quake and tsunami warning systems predicted that the devastation would continue. The stunning tsunami warning map above, issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency Saturday, shows the country's entire coastline under threat, with many areas on the Pacific side facing possible waves more than 3 meters (10 feet) tall. The tsunami warning system worked Friday, with the agency alerting people to imminent tsunamis within three minutes of the quake, and the first waves struck 10 to 15 minutes later. The alert may have saved hundreds of lives, as some residents were able to flee to higher ground. Japanese broadcasters issued automatic earthquake alerts by the agency predicting more aftershocks for Tokyo, and new, unrelated temblors for the Niigata and Nagano on the other side of the country by the Sea of Japan. Japan straddles several tectonic plates and is one of the world's most quake-prone countries, with hundreds of tremors every year. The agency has had an Earthquake Early Warning service in place since 2007, issuing alerts to media outlets.  The system is triggered when the agency's myriad seismometers detect primary waves generated by earthquakes. If the tremors are expected to be strong enough, a public alert will be issued and relayed on broadcasters like NHK TV as well as by cell phone carriers.  But since seismic waves travel so quickly, viewers will have seconds at most to prepare. Meanwhile, public address systems in many Japanese communities can relay urgent info, or urge residents to conserve electricity, as they were doing in Tokyo on Saturday. The quake warning system has had mixed results, failing to predict the massive tremor on Friday. It also failed to issue warnings for relatively strong quakes in 2007 and 2008 (in Kanagawa and Ishikawa prefectures, respectively) by underestimating the intensity. In 2009, the system warned of a strong quake that threatened Tokyo, causing the subway to shut down. However, only a minor shaking was felt. There's still little information on how the system dealt with the Friday earthquake, but the tsunami warning may have saved many lives. So far the death toll is relatively low for a quake of such intensity, but officials fear it may climb far higher. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[New sports channels signal shift in Apple TV]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-sports-channels-signal-shift-in-apple-tv</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-sports-channels-signal-shift-in-apple-tv</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>marabmin7y87</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-sports-channels-signal-shift-in-apple-tv</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple is beefing up its Apple TV offering with live streaming sports.(Credit:Donald Bell/CNET)It's becoming obvious that Apple TV is not a hobby anymore.The company had famously referred to its set-top device that way when it premiered four years ago as a way of keeping expectations low. But with today's software update, Apple is being more aggressive about making Apple TV competitive with its set-top rivals. As part of the iOS 4.3 update released today, Apple TV owners will now have access to MLB.TV and NBA League Pass. Both are subscription services for streaming live games over the Web, and like Netflix, which is already on Apple TV, customers have to enter their existing account to gain access via Apple TV. It's the first time Apple has featured live sports on Apple TV, and with the addition of these channels, Apple is also signaling that something else may be in the works: a more app-like approach to the device.Until now, Apple's set-top basically did three things: allow you to rent or buy iTunes content (that stayed on Apple TV only), stream Netflix (if you're a subscriber), and stream iTunes content from other devices. Those are great, but it still placed Apple TV behind the offerings of set-top devices like Roku,Xbox, andPlayStation 3. Besides Netflix, Roku, PS3, and Xbox have integrated Amazon Video on Demand, Hulu Plus, and scores of other sources of Hollywood content. Apple wants customers to buy iTunes content, so it's not likely we'll see it add many more ways to watch non-iTunes content beyond big name players like Netflix. But the sports angle is a big deal for cord-cutters--those of us who are trying to consume all of our entertainment content on TV without a cable TV subscription. Up until today Apple TV had no sports offering. In terms of major sports, Roku has long had MLB.TV and NHL GameCenter Live, Xbox 360 has ESPN live streaming and MLB, and the PlayStation 3 has MLB.TV and NHL.Today's update makes Apple TV a lot more competitive in comparison to what those other set-top devices offer. So while Apple TV might be late getting into the sports streaming game, this is a solid start, and probably (hopefully) means we'll see more.App-le TVIt's something we've wondered about since the new-and-improved $99 device arrived last fall: would Apple TV eventually be able to run iOS apps, thus expanding the platform's reach and giving new opportunities to game developers and app makers Games on Apple TV would make a lot of sense, as would many other apps.But when Steve Jobs introduced the reimagined Apple TV last fall--a smaller, sleeker device with a lower price tag and Netflix access--he specifically noted that it was running a version of iOS, but not the full-fledged system that appears on iPhones, iPads, and theiPod Touch. While Netflix, MLB.TV, and NBA League Pass are being positioned as channels on Apple TV--you can't download them from any sort of app store, they're only available via this software update--they're really not any different in how they work than the Netflix app on the iPhone or iPad, or the MLB Game Day app on the same devices. MLB's Game Day app has always been very popular in the App Store, so if these sports channels do well on Apple TV, it's hard to see why Apple wouldn't someday want to give customers more variety of channels or apps to choose to add to their Apple TV. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[With Marginize, the conversation comes to Web pages]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-marginize-the-conversation-comes-to-web-pages</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-marginize-the-conversation-comes-to-web-pages</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:11:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>pnoressufujhh</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-marginize-the-conversation-comes-to-web-pages</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Web site Feld.com, which has the Marginize widget installed. This means anyone can join the discussion on pages like this one and others with the widget.(Credit:Marginize)PALM DESERT, Calif.--Since the beginning of time, or at least since the beginning of the Web, we've all used Web sites in solitude, regardless of how many social tools were available.But thanks to an application called Marginize, that dynamic may soon change. At the Demo Spring conference here today, Marginize talked about how, for what may well be the first time, social and collaborative Web browsing is finally here.The idea is actually quite simple. Using either a browser add-on--forFirefox, Chrome, orSafari--or a native application on sites whose publishers have opted-in, Web surfers can now see what other people are saying in real-time--on services like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Buzz--about the pages and the topics they're exploring.Until now, said Marginize founder and CEO Ziad Sultan, people have been able to talk all they want about what they're seeing on the Web, but have been limited to doing so in &quot;social silos.&quot; Marginize, by comparison, aims to bring the conversation about a page right on to that page. A simple window that pops up when you click on the little Marginize tab that sits on the side of the page shows the real time discussion around the topic, and gives users the ability to easily jump into that conversation by tweeting or posting to Facebook or by responding to what others have already said.For several months, a group of users has already been applying Marginize to more than half a million sites, Sultan said. Those beta users have each downloaded the browser plug-in and employed it to bring the service's social aspects to sites in which they are interested. But that didn't do anything for people who haven't downloaded the add-on, let alone those who haven't even heard of the service in the first place.At Demo today, the company announced the launch of its publisher widget, which makes it possible for owners of sites of all kinds and sizes, from personal blogs to large news sites, to proactively place Marginize functionality on their pages. Now, for example, Brad Feld, who writes about entrepreneurship for Boston.com, has the Marginize widget embedded in his page, allowing anyone to see and participate in the ongoing conversation taking place on his page.There's no doubt that in order for Marginize to be truly useful, it needs a large critical mass of users. After all, there's not much point to looking for a conversation that isn't there because there aren't enough people discussing a page or its topics. But if the company can lure in enough users, and enough sites embed the tool, there's a real chance that it could permanently change the way we interact with Web sites. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Did Google pull app for in-app purchase violation]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=did-google-pull-app-for-in-app-purchase-violation</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=did-google-pull-app-for-in-app-purchase-violation</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>oversoftijs</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=did-google-pull-app-for-in-app-purchase-violation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It seems that in-app purchase problems are starting to affect Google too. Reports surfaced Thursday that the company removed an app over a violation of &quot;payment rules.&quot;(Credit:Google)Earlier this week, Google notified one of its developers that the developers' free app, Visual VoiceMail, was being pulled from the Android Market. The reason given was that the app violated a section of Google's developer agreement that covers pricing and payments, according to a report on GigaOM.While Google hasn't been clear about the exact violation, Jonathan Hollander of PhoneFusion, makers of Visual VoiceMail, believes the problem is that the app doesn't use Google Checkout for in-app purchases. Instead, PhoneFusion runs in-app purchases through its Web site.Google's developer agreement states that &quot;all fees received by Developers for Products distributed via the Market must be processed by the Market's Payment Processor.&quot; In other words, developers must use Google Checkout.&quot;It looks like they're pulling an Apple but just for us,&quot; GigaOM quoted Hollander as saying. &quot;There was no warning that they're going to enforce this, which makes it worse than Apple. Even if you disagree with Apple, they gave until June to remove their apps. Here, there's no choice.&quot;Google responded to GigaOM but would say only that it removes apps that violate its terms of service.Apple's new subscription service drew the ire of magazine and newspaper publishers when it was announced on February 15. Publishers don't like the fact that Apple is taking a 30 percent cut of revenue on customers it brings to publishers and that the company is not sharing customer information with them. Apple is giving consumers the option to share information with publishers, instead of forcing the issue.Just days after Apple's service was announced, rumors of an FTC investigation into the service began popping up, but a probe may have to be expanded if Google is found to be doing something similar.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Another coupe for Aston Martin]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=another-coupe-for-aston-martin</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=another-coupe-for-aston-martin</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>isjumfo</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=another-coupe-for-aston-martin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Aston Martin adds the Virage to its GT car lineup at the 2011 Geneva auto show.(Credit:Aston Martin)Aston Martin Virage (photos) With its DB9, DBS, and Vantage, you would think Aston Martin had its GT lineup well covered. But the company, obviously feeling there was room to squeeze in anothercar, announced the all-new Virage, to be unveiled at the 2011 International Motor Show in Geneva.The Virage is another sport touring coupe, and Aston Martin says it fits between the DB9 and DBS. The car is powered by a 6-liter V-12, similar to that used in the DBS, but is supposed to offer more of the comfort and style of the DB9.Unlike its sibling GT cars, the Virage gets an active suspension, relatively new technology for Aston Martin. It also comes standard with ceramic brakes.Aston Martin says the Virage will come with a new navigation system and a 700-watt audio system. But photos of the car show a Bang &amp; Olufsen audio system, which should be a premium option. If the audio system is anything like those found in the DB9 and DBS, then it will have 13 speakers and 1,000 watts of amplification.Aston Martin will announce pricing at the Geneva auto show, and offer the car for sale soon after. It will be available in hard-top and convertible forms.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Next wave of recycling Check your dinner plate]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=next-wave-of-recycling-check-your-dinner-plate</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=next-wave-of-recycling-check-your-dinner-plate</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>hildehatea</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=next-wave-of-recycling-check-your-dinner-plate</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Where most people see a pile of leftovers or yard waste, Paul Sewell sees a revenue stream, delivering energy and valuable nutrients.Sewell is the CEO of 3-year-old Harvest Power, a company formed to take recycling to the next level. Paper, metals, and plastics account for about 60 percent of municipal solid waste. The next hill to climb is waste that originally came from the ground: wood, yard trimmings, and now food scraps, which altogether are more than 30 percent of that waste stream. &quot;We look at it as next-generation solar,&quot; said Sewell. &quot;We're capturing sunlight in the form of biomass in a stable form. And we have the ability to use biological systems to get the maximum benefit out of it.&quot;Garbage to gold: Ways to get value from waste (Images)  There are a growing number of experimental technologies being developed for turning organic waste back into something valuable, driven both by environmental and financial reasons. One method Harvest Power is pursuing, called anaerobic digestion, has been around for decades and is already used at wastewater treatment plants and farms, more so in Europe. Anaerobic digesters use microorganisms in an oxygen-starved tank to convert organic material into compost fertilizer and biogas. That gas, made mostly of methane, can be burned to make heat or electricity. Fuel cells can also use biogas instead of natural gas to generate electricity, something already being done at wastewater plants in California. At the consumer level, organic collection is largely limited to yard waste, which is converted into compost soil fertilizer. Now, a handful of municipalities, including San Francisco, are starting to expand into collecting food waste, diverting more waste from landfills or incinerators. &quot;Recycling has kind of peaked. The only way we can reach our recycling goals is by adding more organics, so we're promoting it and working with industry,&quot; said Sumner Martinson, the composting program director at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The ability to generate a second product--renewable energy--from waste in addition to a soil fertilizer is another reason there's more interest. &quot;If you can generate some energy and have some energy to sell to the grid, then it's economically more cost effective,&quot; Martinson said, adding that municipal composters can be big energy consumers.Tipping fees and sustainabilityIt's not hard to understand why energy entrepreneurs and municipalities are looking to turn more garbage into gold. In the U.S., there's a lot of it and it's expensive to remove, with many locations, particularly in dense population centers, trucking trash to other states. And decomposing material in landfills gives off methane, a potent greenhouse gas.In 2009, there were 243 million tons of municipal solid waste in the U.S., translating into an average of more than four pounds of waste per person per day, which is just a fraction of the waste from commercial and industrial sources, according to the EPA. Recyclers will pay for plastics, metals, and paper because they can sell that material, once separated, to mills which use it as raw material. The diversion of 82 million tons from landfills for recycling in 2009 is the equivalent of taking 33 millioncars off the road for a year, according to the EPA.But after growing rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s, recycling rates have tapered off, standing now at about 33 percent. Services such as single-stream recycling can help boost those rates. But there is still a sizeable portion of household garbage, about 35 percent of the total pile, which comes in the form of wood, yard trimmings, and food scraps. Digging through a high-tech recycling center (photos) View the full galleryThe region around Vancouver, British Columbia, was looking at adding more incinerators or landfills, but met public opposition on both plans. In response, the 18 municipalities in the area formed an aggressive plan to reduce their waste disposal by 70 percent in 2015 and 80 percent by 2020 to avoid siting problems.They expanded to collecting food scraps, which includes pretty much everything from the kitchen--soiled paper, napkins, bones, meat, fruit, vegetables. Food scraps can be included with yard waste, which has been collected since the 1990s, in garbage bags with a special decal or paper yard waste bags. Now, they plan to go beyond composting, too.In a $12 million project, Harvest Power will start construction of an anaerobic digester that will produce both compost and capture usable energy. The gas from the decomposing material will be captured and used to make electricity to power the plant or piped into the natural gas pipeline, said Suzanne Bycraft, the manager of fleet and environmental programs from the City of Richmond in British Columbia which will host the facility. The digester speeds up natural decomposition, taking weeks rather than months.Reducing greenhouse gases from landfills for incinerators was a big reason for the investment in the anaerobic digester, but there's a financial incentive as well. Right now, the tipping fee rates are almost $100 per ton of municipal solid waste. Although cities need to pay a contractor to collect more material, Richmond saved about $350 million on disposal fees last year, said Bycraft.&quot;As the tipping fees increase, it becomes more and more economical to divert that material into a composting facility at a lower rate than a landfill,&quot; she said. &quot;It's certainly a more sustainable approach and sustainability is becoming a priority in our region.&quot;Digging deeper stillFor decades, landfills have captured methane from decomposing organic material or operated incinerators, which Bycraft said are less polluting than they used to be. But a handful of waste-to-energy companies are eyeing municipal solid waste, and other forms of biomass, as cheap feedstock. For an idea of the possibilities, consider the activities of hauling giant Waste Management. The company has been operating dozens of waste-to-energy facilities for years. In Southern California, captured landfill gas is being converted into natural gas fuel for 300 of its collection vehicles. Over the past few years, it has invested in technology companies which promise better energy extraction and a more benign environmental footprint. Montreal-based Enerkem, for example, is in the process of building two commercial-scale facilities that use gasification to convert municipal solid waste or wood residue into a synthetic gas, which can then be turned into ethanol or other chemicals.Waste Management, along with oil refiner Valero Energy, last year invested in Terrabon, a company which also uses gasification but its end product is a gasoline replacement. Another waste company with another thermo-conversion technology planning a pilot project is S4 Solutions, a joint venture of Waste Management and InEnTec, which has a gasification process for making different gaseous fuels and chemicals.Whether these alternative waste-to-energy processes take hold remains to be seen. One of the big challenge is making them economically compelling and scaling them up, said Waste Management company representative Wes Muir.Harvest Power's Sewell says just getting energy through landfill gas capture and incineration is selling the value of the organic waste stream short. In addition to the embedded energy, people should also consider how the carbon and nutrients are being repurposed to improve soil quality.&quot;Call it my farming background, but we need soil. We forget that it supports our agricultural and food production system,&quot; he said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[FCC chairman proposes changes to subsidy program]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fcc-chairman-proposes-changes-to-subsidy-program</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fcc-chairman-proposes-changes-to-subsidy-program</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dosolungal</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fcc-chairman-proposes-changes-to-subsidy-program</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Federal Communications Commission is planning to overhaul the $8 billion phone subsidy program to include funding for broadband in underserved communities. The FCC is expected to vote on an order tomorrow that will open comments for revising the Universal Service Fund, or USF. In a speech today at the Information Technology &amp; Innovation Foundation in Washington, D.C., FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined his proposal for revising the fund. And he talked about the importance of taking action to reform USF now.&quot;While the world has changed around it, USF--in too many ways--has stood still, and even moved backwards,&quot; Genachowski said. &quot;The program is still designed to support traditional telephone service. It's a 20th century program poorly suited for the challenges of a 21st century world. Where USF has changed over the years, it's too often changed for the worse.&quot;He continued that well-intentioned policies have been put in place over the years that have weighed down the program. And he suggests revamping the USF to make it more efficient in providing services to rural communities. He also suggested revising inter-carrier compensation, a system by which carriers charge each other for accessing portions of each other's networks. &quot;In its current state, the program is not getting the job done,&quot; he said. &quot;It's leaving millions on the outside looking in, and wasting taxpayer dollars every year. That's unacceptable. We need to be responsible fiscal stewards, to get the most bang for our USF buck. Particularly in light of its inefficiencies, we need to control the costs of USF.&quot;The USF, which has been used to help pay for traditional phone service in rural communities and Internet access to schools and libraries, has grown from a $2.3 billion fund in 1998 to nearly $8 billion in 2010. The program is funded by fees that long-distance telephone providers charge to consumers. Genachowski's plan calls for phasing out the support of regular phone lines over the next several years and instead have it fund broadband deployments in rural areas and underserved communities. Congressional leaders, telephone companies, and consumer groups have long supported the idea of revising the program. But getting wide support for specific proposals has been difficult as companies that might lose funding when the program is revised have fought it.The FCC discussed broad proposals for overhauling the USF program in the National Broadband Plan, which was released last year. The FCC's action tomorrow will open a formal proceeding to get public comment on ways to reform the program, including suggestions for changing the formula for how the program is funded. The agency is not expected to take specific action to change the USF until later this year.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Amazon set to give Prime members unlimited, Netflix-style video streaming]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-set-to-give-prime-members-unlimited-netflix-style-video-streaming</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-set-to-give-prime-members-unlimited-netflix-style-video-streaming</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 30 Jan 2011 08:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nisha</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-set-to-give-prime-members-unlimited-netflix-style-video-streaming</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An alleged screenshot of the new service on an Amazon product page.(Credit:Engadget)Rumors have been heating up over the last few weeks that Amazon was on the verge of offering &quot;free,&quot; unlimited video streaming to its Prime members, who pay $79.99 a year for free two-day shipping on many items sold on Amazon. Now a tipster has sent a few screenshots to Engadget allegedly showing an unlimited video streaming section to complement Amazon's VOD (video-on-demand) offerings.Whether someone at Amazon accidentally jumped the gun on the launch is unclear, but the section has now disappeared along with the &quot;Watch now,&quot; free unlimited streaming button (I have an Amazon Prime subscription and nothing like this showed up for me).Back in November one of our non-Amazon contacts mentioned the possibility of such a service in an off-the-record conversation and on December 6, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon.com was developing a Netflix-like subscription service that would offer TV shows and movies. According to people &quot;familiar with the matter,&quot; that service &quot;would be included as a bundle with its Amazon Prime shipping service.&quot;From the screenshot it appears the selection would be pretty similar to Netflix's Watch Instantly service and would feature &quot;unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows at no additional cost.&quot; According to Engadget's tipster, the resolution is limited to &quot;pretty solid&quot; 480p (standard-definition). To be clear, none of this information is confirmed, but we'll have a full review of the service if and when Amazon decides to launch it. It's worth pointing out that Netflix's Watch Instantly service costs $95.88 a year, which comes out to a little more than $15 over an Amazon Prime subscription. However, Netflix's streaming service is currently available on more set-top boxes and mobile devices, so Amazon would have some catch-up to do in that department.One small bit of info a lot of people don't know about is that Amazon allows Amazon Prime subscribers to share their subscriptions with up to three &quot;family members.&quot; (See full article here). Whether Amazon would extend the &quot;free&quot; streaming service to those you share your membership with is unknown, but it would certainly be a nice perk. More:Amazon's free shipping secretSome of the TV programming that may be available for &amp;34'free&amp;34' streaming to Prime members. (Credit:Engadget)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[The 404 745: Where Ozone shows off the PSP2: Electric Boogaloo (podcast)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-745-where-ozone-shows-off-the-psp2-electric-boogaloo-podcast</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-745-where-ozone-shows-off-the-psp2-electric-boogaloo-podcast</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:10:45 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>adamroach1980</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-745-where-ozone-shows-off-the-psp2-electric-boogaloo-podcast</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Sony Computer Entertainment)Excuse the stormy portmanteau, but last night's snowbotomy has left Jeff stranded in New Jersey, so Joseph Kaminski from CNET's Digital City Podcast takes his spot and lugs in a 21-inch Apple iMac to show his dedication to desktop computers, and Wilson ain't complaining.Oh, and in case you're wondering about today's show title, it's a reference to Joey's nickname &quot;Turbo Thundersnow,&quot; which stems from his undisputed breakdancing skills and the winter phenomenon in which precipitation takes the form of snow instead of rain.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[AMD more upbeat about chances in tablet market]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amd-more-upbeat-about-chances-in-tablet-market</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amd-more-upbeat-about-chances-in-tablet-market</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jan 2011 08:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Gugen</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amd-more-upbeat-about-chances-in-tablet-market</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Advanced Micro Devices executives made relatively upbeat statements abouttablets and seemed to go beyond previous comments by former CEO Dirk Meyer, who was ousted earlier this month. AMD posted fourth-quarter earnings today of 14 cents a share (non-GAAP basis), higher than the 11 cents per share that analysts had expected. Net income fell to $375 million, or 50 cents a share, from a year earlier when it reported net income of $1.18 billion, or $1.52 a share. Revenue was $1.65 billion, flat compared with the previous year. During the company's earnings conference call this afternoon, executives were asked by analysts about the tablet market. Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager at AMD, said the chip supplier sees opportunities for its new &quot;Brazos&quot; processor design, which is being used today in small laptops and Netbooks from companies like Hewlett-Packard and Sony. That's a departure from the vision of Meyer, who had downplayed the market. &quot;I've been in the PC industry 20 plus years and we've really struggled to get into the living room, and it's clear that tablets are finding their way into the living room,&quot; Bergman said. He continued. &quot;As consumers start to utilize these tablets, they start to demand a better end-user experience, which invariably means processing power, incredible graphics, incredible video,&quot; he said, referring to AMD's strengths. &quot;And already we're seeing a number of design win opportunities for us with Brazos today, and certainly as we develop new products in that category, we'll account for those new trends and market opportunities.&quot; Interim CEO Thomas Seifert chimed in, too. &quot;Look at the product roadmap and what we have been delivering with Brazos shows us that if we continue to develop products with ever lower power consumption and at the same time delivering superior graphics and processing performance, then we can address applications that are outside of [current] market segments.&quot; When asked about cannibalization from tablets, Bergman said: &quot;As we talk with our OEM partners, we don't see a deterioration of the market in a major way in the notebook area. And any cannibalization is built into estimates.&quot; Bergman also took a shot at Intel's Sandy Bridge processor, which integrates new Intel graphics technology. &quot;Prior toCES [Consumer Electronics Show] there were claims of discrete [high] level graphics performance...as real benchmarks were run on real applications, it [Sandy Bridge] fell well short of what we would offer in discrete graphics capabilities,&quot; he said. And Seifert commented on AMD's server market struggles. &quot;We were disappointed with our performance in that segment in the fourth quarter. This is one of the areas where we see significant room for improvement,&quot; he said. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Apple savvy in focus: The iPhone 4 camera]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-savvy-in-focus-the-iphone-4-camera</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-savvy-in-focus-the-iphone-4-camera</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 16 Jan 2011 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>vietdragons</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-savvy-in-focus-the-iphone-4-camera</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple'siPhone 4 camera packs a technology that a lot of buyers of the phone may have missed: a new image sensor tech that is coming into focus--pardon the pun--as camera makers like Kodak adopt the technology in higher-end cameras. Steve Jobs discusses the iPhone 4&amp;39's backside illumination (or illuminated) sensor technology at the phone&amp;39's rollout event.(Credit:CNET/James Martin)The technology, called backside illumination, or BSI, was highlighted by Steve Jobs when he took the stage to roll out the new iPhone, as Joshua Goldman of CNET Reviews wrote here. Apple's savviness shines through here. The company had to do its homework to get out in front of this trend, particularly in smartphones, which are not necessarily known for having the latest and greatest camera technology. BSI sensors improve the image sensor's sensitivity--by boosting the amount of light captured--and, as a result, improve low-light performance while reducing noise. Sony was one of the first to announce the technology back in 2008. Another company, OmniVision, has made this available for smartphones. OmniVision's BSI design takes the traditional CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) image sensor and turns the image sensor upside down, which is actually the most unobstructed way for light to strike the pixel. Why Because conventional front-side illumination image sensors are left with relatively little photo-sensitive area after all of the transistors, dielectric layers, and metal circuitry are added on top. Kodak&amp;39's upcoming EasyShare Max uses a Sony backside illumination CMOS sensor. (Credit:Kodak)I stumbled across one of the most recent applications of the technology during my trek across the vast north, central, and south halls atCES earlier this month. There, I bumped into the Kodak booth, where the U.S. camera company was showing off its new high-end EasyShare Max--(which is also mentioned here). To contrast the difference with conventional sensors, Kodak has posted an example of a BSI sensor-generated image on its EasyShare Max page. In ad copy, Kodak describes BSI as follows: &quot;CMOS sensors deliver higher quality pixels--better pixels are better than more pixels. Kodak's first BSI CMOS sensor delivers stunning low-light picture quality with less noise and less blur--no flash needed.&quot; The copy about better pixels is important--a point Apple has made too. Kodak, to date, has been mostly an advocate of more pixels, not necessarily better pixels. And Kodak is late to the BSI sensor party. It is not only following Apple but a host of other camera manufacturers like Sony--most recently in its Cyber-shot--and Samsung, as CNET Reviews has pointed out in the past. But the fact that Apple, a smartphone maker, was one of the first to get this into a phone demonstrates Apple's tech smarts and heightens the anticipation for future iPhone 5 andiPad 2 products.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[NASA reveals strange, bomberlike planes of 2025]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nasa-reveals-strange-bomberlike-planes-of-2025</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nasa-reveals-strange-bomberlike-planes-of-2025</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ramirolesi</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nasa-reveals-strange-bomberlike-planes-of-2025</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Given that we are unlikely to get past 2012, perhaps it's churlish to even think of what 2025 might look like.However, the indelible optimists at NASA have revealed images of commercial aircraft designs that might well take to the air, should 2025 actually materialize.It seems that in the darker parts of 2010, NASA gave Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Brumman money to ponder what improvements might be made to our current aerial cattle carriers.The initial designs, published on NASA's own site, will make some drool and a few, perhaps, shiver.For at least two of them make me think of, well, war--specifically, military aircraft--while the third seems plain peculiar.Just a little like a Stealth Bomber(Credit:NASA/Boeing)Engine at the back Um, never liked that.(Credit:NASA/Lockheed Martin)Er, double B-52, anyone(Credit:NASA/Northrop Grumman)Life might, indeed, be very peculiar by the time 2025 comes along.And perhaps I am suffering the after-effects of mind-altering 2005 Amista syrah. But perhaps someone else might see in, for example, the Boeing design, a rather touching homage to the Stealth Bomber Then there's the design from Northrop Grumman. Please forgive me in advance (a phrase that does, actually, sometimes work for me), but doesn't it look just a little as if someone took two B-52 bombers and slapped them togetherFinally, the Lockheed design. This, perhaps, seems the most conventional of the three, at least from the angle in which it is presented. Yet again, as someone who merely looks at planes at airports as they arrive late, I'm reminded just a little, by that engine at the back, of the Lockheed Tri-Star--which, oh, never moved me to paroxysms of joy.I would naturally love to hear from those with a more intimate knowledge of both aircraft design and future times.Do these designs move Or are they mere flights of fancy<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Report: Future iPad, iPhone to have Qualcomm chips]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-future-ipad-iphone-to-have-qualcomm-chips</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-future-ipad-iphone-to-have-qualcomm-chips</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ideaveHen93</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-future-ipad-iphone-to-have-qualcomm-chips</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple is reportedly switching up the wireless chipset used in future versions of both the iPad and iPhone.(Credit:iFixit)Is Apple moving to a new wireless chipset supplier for the nextiPad andiPhone An unnamed but &quot;reliable&quot; source is quoted by Engadget today saying that Apple is going to ditch the current Infineon chipsets used in both devices and move to Qualcomm instead. The report seems entirely plausible.Verizon already let it slip that it's going to have an iPad that runs on its network. It's very likely that will be for its CDMA network, and not LTE. The current iPad model only works on GSM networks. Apple probably doesn't want to have to make two different iPads the way it's currently making two different models of iPhone (one with GSM chips for AT&amp;T et al., and one with CDMA for Verizon and perhaps other future carrier partners), so switching to a chipset that allows the device to connect to both networks would be smart. Qualcomm has that, or is going to, very soon. It's long been rumored Apple would eventually start shipping a dual-mode iPhone--a report that the iPhone 5 would work on GSM and CDMA networks hit back in October--so going that way with both of its flagship mobile products makes a lot of sense.Engadget also notes that while the next iPad won't have a USB port, it will have an SD card slot, and has some images of what it would look like.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Crunch Gym app lets you avoid check-in lines]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crunch-gym-app-lets-you-avoid-check-in-lines</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crunch-gym-app-lets-you-avoid-check-in-lines</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gyutrever</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crunch-gym-app-lets-you-avoid-check-in-lines</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Fitness chain Crunch today unveils its first app, which is free, foriPhone and Android users to more easily find locations, see class schedules, and avoid the lines by checking in remotely.Not that Crunch gyms, of which there are roughly two dozen throughout New York, California, Florida, and Oregon, are boasting terribly long lines these days. Founded in 1989 by former stockbroker Doug Levine, the chain was bought by Bally in 2001 and filed for bankruptcy in May 2009, at which point it was acquired by New Evolution Fitness Company, which in turn was co-founded by one of the co-founders of 24 Hour Fitness. (Perhaps it's time for an app enabling the exploration of the inbreeding of gyms.)As for the new Crunch app, features include searching for nearby locations and classes via GPS (with a gym amenity and program filter), checking in remotely via its mobile bar coding system (you can shout out on Twitter and Facebook that you were there even if you weren't), and connecting to Google maps, Yelp, and the chain's very own social media, blog, and event pages (just in case you need another social media domain and log-in to memorize).The Crunch mobile app can be downloaded at http://www.crunch.com/Home/Crunch/Mobile.aspx. According to its news release, Crunch is already working on version 2.0 with added capabilities and functionality in addition to expanding its base to new locations across the US and the world.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Verizon iPhone a blessing for AT&T customers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-iphone-a-blessing-for-att-customers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-iphone-a-blessing-for-att-customers</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dermedikus</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-iphone-a-blessing-for-att-customers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[More than a year ago, when talk of perceived problems with AT&amp;T's wireless network hit a fever pitch online, I was among those who asserted that the performance problems some were having were due to the iPhone, as AT&amp;T had become the first network to have to deal with millions of people using smartphones all the time. As an AT&amp;amp'T iPhone user, I say, welcome!(Credit:Geeky Gadgets)Sure, smartphones had been around, but not in the numbers they hit when theiPhone 3G came out, and people didn't devour data as much as they did once the App Store opened. I blamed the problems mostly on iPhone users, like myself. (And I wasn't the only one.)That said, if Verizon, as expected, announces an iPhone for its network tomorrow, and, as expected, some AT&amp;T users jump ship for the new carrier, it might actually be a good thing for AT&amp;T--and its remaining users.Analysts from the Yankee Group estimate that 2.5 million iPhone users on AT&amp;T might migrate to Verizon in the first year due to AT&amp;T's overtaxed network, and that represents about 3 percent of AT&amp;T's 93 million customers (though estimates range from 1 million to 6 million). But those are iPhone users, which use the lion's share of AT&amp;T's wireless data. (Some estimates put it at as much as 65 percent.)A migration on that scale means AT&amp;T might take a small revenue hit, but it also means that much of the data that those 2.5 million iPhone users eat will be freed up for the other several million iPhone users.Some analysts suggest that Verizon will sell 13.2 million iPhones in 2011, including subscriber turnover from AT&amp;T, which is expected to sell 8.8 million itself, even with competition from Verizon.This is all academic, though, as the expected Verizon iPhone is not yet available. There's no telling how many users will switch, though it's almost certain that some will.One more variable to consider: AT&amp;T's 3G is based on GSM's HSPA, which tends to be faster than Verizon's CDMA-based 1xEV-DO rA. It's possible AT&amp;T iPhone users who switch to Verizon will actually get slower 3G speeds than they had before, which might cause some backlash that could keep some users from switching.AT&amp;T Executive Vice President Larry Solomon noted the possible difference in speeds, saying, &quot;The iPhone is built for speed, but that's not what you get with a CDMA phone. I'm not sure iPhone users are ready for life in the slow lane.&quot;This was, of course, a way to try to talk up his own network while throwing a slight diss to the competition. But Solomon can't keep that small percentage who are frustrated with AT&amp;T's coverage issues from leaving for what they think might be greener pastures, and that might be OK. Freeing up 3G bandwidth on its network while losing little in revenue is a good thing for AT&amp;T--and its users.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Market share dilemma: iPads and PCs belong together]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=market-share-dilemma-ipads-and-pcs-belong-together</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=market-share-dilemma-ipads-and-pcs-belong-together</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>pensrities</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=market-share-dilemma-ipads-and-pcs-belong-together</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple iPad, Galaxy Tab, Dell Streak, and iPod Touch. Should any of these be considered a PC(Credit:Donald Bell/CNET)Is aniPad a PC Depends on who you ask.It's true the way we use personal technology now is changing, making what we refer to as a &quot;PC&quot; a moving target. Recently, some market share studies have grouped tablets with traditional PCs to show how power in the laptop and desktop market is shifting in favor of, well, Apple, a longtime underdog in the PC world. That's sales numbers we're talking about, of course: at more than 10 percent, Apple's Mac sales put it at its highest market share in the U.S. in ages but still nowhere near HP's worldwide market share of more than 17 percent. Cupertino's influence, however, is much more broad' you need only glance at the design and marketing of most computers sold today for proof. But is it fair to group PCs and touch-screen tablets together if only to illustrate Apple's ascendancy in the industry Not yet. The touch-screen tablet and a PC are still different devices in terms of what they enable us to do. Certainly, there are overlaps: both allow you to watch movies on a decent-size screen, you can connect a tablet to a full-size keyboard and get a lot of typing done--e-mail, documents, you can even create presentations, read e-books, and of course, browse Web sites on a display without having to squint. But it will be a rare iPad or Android tablet user who will tell you they've been able to completely replicate what they were doing on a MacBook or an Acer laptop, or Dell desktop on a 7-inch or 9-inch screen--a display at least 12 or 13 inches is what most PC users would regard as &quot;normal.&quot; These media tablets don't have full desktop operating systems, storage is limited, a virtual keyboard does not replace a physical one, there are limited ports, there's no file system, and the most-used productivity apps we use for work don't necessarily translate easily to these devices. While you can do many PC-type tasks, it's easy to argue that for most users the touch-screen tablet experience is just not the same because of some basic limitations. At times, it's &quot;a question of degree,&quot; noted Bob O'Donnell, PC analyst for IDC, a firm that does not include tablets in the same bucket as traditional PCs. &quot;I just got back from two weeks in Asia, so I'm two weeks behind on e-mail,&quot; O'Donnell offered as an example. &quot;I can do some, but there's no way I'm doing 300 e-mails on an iPad.&quot; The difference in how people are actually using media tablets is all about context--the task you're doing and where you are, he argues. But that's not to say tablets won't replace PCs for many people some day, even soon. Smaller, more powerful devices still to come are inevitable, and those will enable us to do more traditional PC functions on different and smaller form factors. And of course, over time habits and usage scenarios change. Michael Gartenberg, analyst at Gartner, argues that a tablet may already replace a PC for some people, even if it's not their primary PC, which we can define as the computer that they use to store most of their data and sync their phone or music player. Someone might buy a Galaxy Tab instead of a Netbook, which is typically recognized by the industry as a mini notebook, or a college student might be limited by funds and choose an iPad instead of a laptop, he pointed out. Not everyone uses PCs the same way, so a tablet might function as a PC for some people, even if experts and analysts insist the two are separate, Gartenberg added. &quot;Someone's primary PC is someone else's casual PC,&quot; Gartenberg said. How the average soccer mom, Silicon Valley engineer, or high school student are using devices and how those devices are being marketed to them gets at the heart of the very murky and continually shifting definition of how we define a computer. The Logitech Revue with Google TV isn&amp;39't all that different on the inside from an Atom-based Nettop computer.(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)The extremely mobile, app-friendly mode of computing many of us recognize from using aniPhone or an Android phone is being replicated in form factors that we're used to seeing on more traditional PCs, including Google's Chrome OS coming soon to Acer and Samsung mini notebooks. With those small laptops, there will be no traditional OS, it's a small notebook that only runs a browser and has its own app marketplace, the Chrome Web Store. Apple's next major update to its desktop operating system is also going to be geared more toward downloadable third-party apps, with theMac App Store. The confusion over how to categorize gadgets isn't likely to be limited to analysts and marketers though. When you're considering buying one of these devices, it's not at all clear sometimes if you need a smartphone and a tablet, or a smartphone and a laptop, or all three. The lack of clarity over what is a tablet or what is a PC and in what situations you use them extends beyond those devices too since so many gadgets are taking on computer-like characteristics. Take the Nook Color from Barnes &amp; Noble. It's marketed as a competitor to the Amazon Kindle, which is to say, as an e-book reader. But the Nook also runs Android, looks an awful lot like a tablet, and can browse the Web. And what about Google TV One of the first devices on the platform, the Logitech Revue, is a set-top box that has an Atom chip inside--traditionally used in mini notebooks, runs a smartphone-oriented OS in Android, Gartenberg points out. In other words, it's not going to get easier to define these categories of what is and isn't a PC anytime soon. &quot;The problem is, we want clarity,&quot; he said. &quot;It's important to understand what these (market share) numbers look like, but as we face more convergence and have devices that do more things, counting them is going to be trickier.&quot;  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[More arrests in tech insider-trading scheme]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-arrests-in-tech-insider-trading-scheme</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-arrests-in-tech-insider-trading-scheme</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamonria</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=more-arrests-in-tech-insider-trading-scheme</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Quite a lot more details just came out about the insider-information probe that hit the tech world last month, and they're juicy. The Wall Street Journal has a full report on the whole scheme. Turns out one of the men indicted today, Walter Shimoon, worked for Flextronics, a supplier to Apple. In the papers unsealed today, the FBI caught Shimoon on tape allegedly relaying super-secret details about the yet-to-be-releasediPhone last year as well as the internal code name for the project that turned into theiPad. Fortune found the details in the 39-page indictment, and called them out today.Last month an FBI investigation resulted in the arrest of an executive of an &quot;expert network&quot; called Primary Global Research who was accused of selling or providing important, non-public information about high-profile tech companies to investors. More indictments were revealed today, resulting in more arrests. Those indicted were consultants of Primary Global Research that helped clients like hedge funds and mutual funds get information about their investment companies. It's not wholly unsurprising that the most-secretive company in the technology world was one of the alleged victims of this scheme. Analysts, investors--not to mention bloggers--are desperate to get any nugget of information about what Apple is up to, whether it's timing of a new product or sometimes a single spec change on a gadget.The indictment notes that the Flextronics employee was recorded by the FBI in October 2009 allegedly telling someone about third-quarter iPhone sales figures over the phone, and that Apple's next iPhone would have two cameras, &quot;a five-megapixel auto-focus camera and it will have a VGA forward-facing videoconferencing camera.&quot; That was eight months before the iPhone 4, with cameras of those exact specifications, was introduced.Shimoon also allegedly told his contact (who is not named) about a new product in the works for Apple. He is accused of saying, &quot;It's totally ... It's a new category altogether... It doesn't have a camera, what I figured out. So I speculated that it's probably a reader...Something like that. Um, let me tell you, it's a very secretive program...It's called K, K48. That's the internal name. So, you can get, at Apple you can get fired for saying K48.&quot; A little over three months later, Steve Jobs introduced the iPad.The information peddling was not limited to Apple. Inside information was provided about AMD, Dell, and Flextronics, according to the court documents.Arrested in the scheme and charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud today were: James Fleishman, Primary Global vice president and sales manager' Shimoon, senior director of business development at Flextronics' Mark Anthony Longoria, AMD supply chain manager' and Manosha Karunatilaka, account manager at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Paul Allen's lawsuit against Apple, Google dismissed]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=paul-allens-lawsuit-against-apple-google-dismissed</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=paul-allens-lawsuit-against-apple-google-dismissed</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cupuniahoy</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=paul-allens-lawsuit-against-apple-google-dismissed</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A patent lawsuit brought against Apple, Google, and other prominent high-tech companies by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen earlier this year has been dismissed for being too vague.Microsoft co-founder Paul AllenCalling the allegations in the lawsuit &quot;spartan,&quot; U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said in dismissing the case that Allen had until December 28 to refile the case, according to a report on the Web site of The Wall Street Journal. Allen's team said it would meet the deadline and called the judge's ruling a &quot;procedural issue.&quot;The lawsuit, filed by Allen's firm Interval Licensing, named Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, eBay, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Staples as violating patents that Allen received while leading Interval Research, a company that is now out of business.Microsoft isn't among the defendants, even though it developed the Bing search technology.In a press release issued by Allen when the lawsuit was first filed, the patents were described as covering &quot;fundamental web technologies first developed at Interval Research in the 1990s, which the company believes are being infringed by major e-commerce and web search companies.&quot;The patents being disputed in the lawsuit are:No. 6,263,507, &quot;Browser for Use in Navigating a Body of Information, With Particular Application to Browsing Information Represented By Audiovisual Data.&quot;No. 6,034,652, &quot;Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device.&quot;No. 6,788,314, &quot;Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device.&quot;No. 6,757,682, &quot;Alerting Users to Items of Current Interest.&quot;The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, in Seattle.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Amazon: Outage due to hardware not hackers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-outage-due-to-hardware-not-hackers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-outage-due-to-hardware-not-hackers</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riauckli1</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-outage-due-to-hardware-not-hackers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An outage that took down some of Amazon's European Web sites yesterday was caused by hardware error and not hackers, according to the company.The online retailer's shopping sites in the U.K, France, Spain, and Germany were down for about half an hour starting around 9:15 p.m. GMT, leading to initial speculation that Amazon had been hit by hackers associated with the pro-WikiLeaks group Anonymous.But in a statement released to Reuters, Amazon attributed the cause to hardware problems.&quot;The brief interruption to our European retail sites earlier today was due to hardware failure in our European data center network and not the result of a DDOS (distributed denial of service) attempt,&quot; an Amazon representative told Reuters. Specifically, the hardware-related issue occurred at an Amazon hosting center in Dublin, which hosts the various European sites that were affected, according to the Register.Amazon ran afoul of pro-WikiLeaks activists earlier this month after it decided to kick the controversial Web site off its EC2 Web hosting service. In retaliation, some members of the Anonymous group reportedly called for action against the retailer, but so far Amazon apparently has been left alone.&quot;Simply put, attacking a major online retailer when people are buying presents for their loved ones would be in bad taste,&quot; Anonymous explained late last week in an apparent press release. The decision to spare Amazon is in sharp contrast to the DDoS attacks that Anonymous has launched against such companies as PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard for their roles in cutting off payments to WikiLeaks.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Youku video site makes strong NYSE debut]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=youku-video-site-makes-strong-nyse-debut</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=youku-video-site-makes-strong-nyse-debut</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:10:34 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>factorychocolate</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=youku-video-site-makes-strong-nyse-debut</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Wall Street might have another China-based winner on its hands.Chinese video site Youku made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, and after all the trading was said and done, the stock price was up 161 percent over its initial per-share price of $12.80. It closed the day at $33.44. That momentum is helping to carry the stock to even greater heights today. As of this writing, Youku shares are up nearly $5 to $38.36. The company's market cap is now at over $2.6 billion.Youku's IPO success is following in the footsteps of China's largest search engine, Baidu. According to CBS Marketwatch, which reported on Baidu's IPO in August 2005, the company's shares rose 354 percent that month, sending the price to $66 from their opening price of $27. Currently, Baidu shares are trading at $107.68.Youku expects to generate approximately $186.6 million from its IPO. The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to use the proceeds to invest in &quot;technology, infrastructure, and product development efforts.&quot; It will also acquire more video content and expand its &quot;sales and marketing efforts.&quot;All that cash might do Youku some good. The company generated approximately $35 million over the nine-month period ended September 30, but posted a net loss during that time of nearly $25 million.That said, Youku, which launched in 2006, is wildly popular in China. The service, which is basically the Hulu of China, currently attracts about 203 million unique visitors each month &quot;from homes and offices.&quot; It has an additional 61 million unique visitors who access its service from Internet cafes. The company claims to have &quot;a 40 percent share of total user time spent viewing online videos among Chinese Internet users.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Mamma mia: It's the ABBA iPhone game]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mamma-mia-its-the-abba-iphone-game</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mamma-mia-its-the-abba-iphone-game</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>paulsmith385</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mamma-mia-its-the-abba-iphone-game</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you ever dreamed of doing ABBA sing-offsiPhone-style, your day has come. The new ABBA Singbox app just hit the App Store for $2.99, and it gives new meaning to mobile karaoke.Will every major band with a string of hits from yesteryear have an app like this someday Wouldn't shock us. Who's next, The Who Journey Huey Lewis Feel free to cast your vote in the comments section.(Via Gizmodo)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Visa, Mastercard fail Web shoppers again]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=visa-mastercard-fail-web-shoppers-again</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=visa-mastercard-fail-web-shoppers-again</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariacosmm</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=visa-mastercard-fail-web-shoppers-again</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Beware: The New York Times reported that the man who operates DecorMyEyes.com racked up scores of complaints but that Visa and Mastercard did little to stop him.(Credit:Screen shot by Greg Sandoval/CNET)commentary Internet shoppers once again have reason to question whether Visa and Mastercard are the best means for buying online. People have taken to Twitter and online forums to express shock about a compelling expose published in The New York Times on Friday. The story focused on an online retailer with a dubious history of customer service that included responding to complaints from unhappy patrons by allegedly threatening their lives. The newspaper reported that Vitaly Borker, a resident of New York, had generated so many complaints from selling eyewear on his site, DecorMyEyes.com, that all the negative comments had served to raise his site higher in Google's search results. Besides finding potential problems with Google's search algorithms, David Segal, the story's author, unearthed all kinds of e-commerce collateral damage. Among the companies that should be embarrassed by the report for either failing to protect customers or an inability to track down rogue retailers were eBay, Citibank, and the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The reputations to suffer most were those of Visa and Mastercard, two of the nation's largest transaction companies. Among the many complaints about Borker was that he refused to issue refunds and one of the ways he got away with it was due to an apparent flaw in Visa's and Mastercard's security systems. Red flags go up at Visa and Mastercard if a merchant generates too many &quot;charge-backs,&quot; the term used to describe when a customer successfully disputes a transaction and obtains a refund. This is what the Times wrote: &quot;Precisely how many of these charge-backs is too many is one of the few business subjects that Mr. Borker deems off the record, but suffice it to say he tracks that figure carefully and dials down the animus if he's nearing his limit.&quot;Deja vu. A year ago, I heard about how some merchants with ill intent game Visa and Mastercard's systems. I was speaking to a source who once worked at some of the so-called post-transaction marketing companies that were investigated by the U.S. Senate last year as part of one of the worst online retail scandals in history. Shame shame: Decade's 10 biggest tech scandals (images) Companies such as Vertrue, Webloyalty, and Affinion paid a large number of top e-tailers, including Orbitz, Buy.com, and Priceline to allow them to charge the credit cards of their customers even though the customers never supplied the card number. A shopper would be nearly done completing a transaction and would be presented with an ad that typically offered some free service. Often the ad appeared to be coming from the merchant. Plenty of people didn't see the tricky small print buried in the mass of ad copy. A Senate subcommittee found that maybe as many as a million people were duped by this &quot;scam&quot; and were unknowingly paid these companies every month. The retailers and marketers walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars. The source, who continues to be employed in online marketing, said that one of the reasons managers at Webloyalty and competitors were able to operate under the noses of Visa and Mastercard was that it was so easy to game the system. They knew exactly the number of charge-backs they could acquire before having to scale back operations, the source said. To be fair to the credit card companies, this isn't an easy problem to solve, as people like Borker are well aware. The Internet offers a perfect way for unsavory characters to mask their identity. Borker told the Times: &quot;If Visa and MasterCard ever shut me down, I'd use the name of a friend of mine. Give him 1 percent.&quot;To Mastercard's credit, the company did shut down Borker, at least for a little while. Noah Hanft, a Mastercard lawyer told the Times that it booted Borker for going over his charge-back number. Nonetheless, the company has no idea how Borker was allowed to continue accepting Mastercard transactions. &quot;No system is perfect...keep in mind, millions of transactions are conducted on our system every day, with 30 million merchants,&quot; Hanft told the Times. That is almost exactly what Visa and Mastercard representatives told me during the post-transaction marketing scandal. In the wake of the Senate investigation into that mess, Visa and Mastercard promised to do more to protect shoppers. It doesn't appear they've done enough. For now, all consumers can do to protect themselves is look for safer ways to buy online. Earlier today, Peter Pham, a venture capitalist and former Photobucket exec, posted a note to Twitter that included a link to the Times story. Pham wrote: &quot;Why I only use Amex.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA['Fit-to-Flow' fluid connector: Medicine's USB]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fit-to-flow-fluid-connector-medicines-usb</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fit-to-flow-fluid-connector-medicines-usb</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Smith</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fit-to-flow-fluid-connector-medicines-usb</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Cell phones with sophisticated cameras are already being fitted with microscopes for mobile, in-the-field testing. Connecting microfluids to these cell phones, however, has proved to be its own challenge.The Fit-to-Flow connector next to a USB flash drive for scale.(Credit:Tingrui Pan/UC Davis)So biomedical engineers at UC Davis have developed what they call a Fit-to-Flow fluid connector (F2F for short) they compare to the USB interface, through which microfluids can be connected to electronic devices for biological and chemical testing.They filed a provisional patent on November 1 and published a paper describing the chip on November 25 in the journal Lab on a Chip.&quot;We think there is a huge need for an interface to bridge microfluidics to electronic devices,&quot; says Tingrui Pan, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at UC Davis who, with graduate student Arnold Chen, invented the chip and co-authored the paper.Pan says their connector, which uses tiny channels a few micrometers across cut into a plastic membrane, should be able to be integrated with a standard peripheral component interconnect (PCI) device, with an embedded micropump providing the on-demand self-propelled power.By using a standard connection, chips for different tests could be plugged into the same device, such as a laptop or cell phone, to test, display, store, and transmit the data. The potential uses for this kind of microfluidic connector could span several fields and include medical diagnoses, food safety testing, and environmental monitoring.The work was funded through a UC Davis fellowship to Chen and a National Science Foundation Career Award to Pan.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[ITC to probe Apple patent claims against Motorola]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=itc-to-probe-apple-patent-claims-against-motorola</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=itc-to-probe-apple-patent-claims-against-motorola</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>erythitle</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=itc-to-probe-apple-patent-claims-against-motorola</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The U.S. International Trade Commission is officially stepping in to investigate Apple's claim of patent infringement against Motorola.The ITC announced yesterday that its probe will examine a complaint that Apple filed with it on October 29 against Motorola. The charges are detailed in two lawsuits by Apple against Motorola in which Apple alleges that the sale of Motorola's Droid,Droid 2, Droid X, and other smartphones and related software violate several Apple patents.In one of the suits against Motorola, Apple cites patent No. 7,479,949, which covers methods by which touch screens detect contact with fingers. The two other patents included in this suit are Nos. 6,493,002 and 5,838,315, both of which refer to elements of the graphical user interface. The other suit refers to patent Nos. 7,812,828, 7,663,607, and 5,379,430, which also focus on technologies for the touch screen and GUI.In its complaint with the ITC, Apple is specifically charging that Motorola has violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which covers patent violations of products imported into the U.S. Apple is asking the ITC to issue an exclusion order and a cease and desist order, which would stop the import of the devices in question.Motorola initially sued Apple in early October, claiming infringement over 18 different patents related to wireless communications.The patent courts have been busy this year with a slew of lawsuits flying back and forth between some of the major tech players. Earlier this year, HTC and Apple launched patent suits against each other. In September, Apple filed a suit against Nokia in the U.K. after Nokia launched its own suit against Apple in 2009. And Microsoft recently filed two patent-related suits against Motorola, while Motorola just opened its own complaint with the ITC against Microsoft.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Mitsubishi shows its i electric car in Los Angeles]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mitsubishi-shows-its-i-electric-car-in-los-angeles</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mitsubishi-shows-its-i-electric-car-in-los-angeles</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>conde</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mitsubishi-shows-its-i-electric-car-in-los-angeles</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[AMD joins MeeGo alliance]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amd-joins-meego-alliance</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amd-joins-meego-alliance</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>julaabnice</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amd-joins-meego-alliance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices has joined the MeeGo open-source Linux project where it will contribute its expertise to drive the adoption of MeeGo in tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices.Unveiled earlier this year, MeeGo is an open-source operating system created through a merger of Intel's Moblin OS and Nokia's Maemo software. The MeeGo OS is designed to run on mobile gadgets, including Netbooks, tablets and phones, and on embedded devices, such as connected TVs and in-car systems.The MeeGo project is run by the Linux Foundation, a nonprofit group whose goal is to push the growth and adoption of Linux. AMD was already a &quot;gold&quot;-level member of the Linux Foundation and on its board of directors.AMD announced its new role in the project today at this week's MeeGo conference in Ireland, where both Nokia and the Linux Foundation are trying to drum up interest in MeeGo among developers.&quot;MeeGo represents an exciting, open-source mobile operating system we expect to be adopted by mobile and embedded device makers over time,&quot; Ben Bar-Haim, corporate vice president of software development for AMD, said in a statement. &quot;We are glad to provide engineering resources to joint industry efforts like MeeGo and expect that this operating system will help drive our embedded plans and create expanded market opportunities for our forthcoming Accelerated Processing Units.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Microsoft's tech site contributors to get rewarded]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsofts-tech-site-contributors-to-get-rewarded</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsofts-tech-site-contributors-to-get-rewarded</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Fernada</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsofts-tech-site-contributors-to-get-rewarded</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Microsoft)As a way of saying thank you, Microsoft has launched a new awards program for standout users of its forums and technical sites. The new program, dubbed the &quot;Community Contributor Award,&quot; aims to distinguish users who have put extra effort into the company's online communities at MSDN, TechNet, and Microsoft Answers--three sites that are frequented by some 4 million active users.According to the program's frequently asked questions section, the award can be given to just about anyone, including to those who have created new content for these sites, all the way to moderators who keep an eye out for junk posts and trolls.There is no public voting or nominations to get someone considered for a Community Contributor award. Instead, they are being given to people who have been selected by Microsoft.The program is separate from Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award, which works with nominations and focuses on knowledge and contributions, but is aimed at tech experts. Also unlike the MVP program, Community Contributors are based on the past six months of activity on these sites, unlike MVP's 12. Microsoft famously made plans to cancel its MVP program in 1999 before reversing that decision just a few days later. It now includes some 4,000 members around the world.Those who get the award hold the title for a year, as well as receive a 12-month subscription to Microsoft Press' E-Reference Library, which gives them access to 400 books from Microsoft Press. Microsoft is also offering up a printable certificate they can hang up in their office (or cube), along with an awards logo that they'll be able to stick in their user profile. Microsoft says the first group of award winners will be announced next week, with additional winners each month from here on out. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Backup service MiMedia leverages U.S. mail]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=backup-service-mimedia-leverages-u-s--mail</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=backup-service-mimedia-leverages-u-s--mail</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:10:42 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nathdwinkz</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=backup-service-mimedia-leverages-u-s--mail</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Why would anyone want to be in the consumer data backup business Even if you have a great, useful, cheap product, most people simply won't bother to use it. You might as well be selling dental floss. It's got to be depressing.Erik Zamkoff runs a relative newcomer in this space, MiMedia. He likes selling dental floss. And he has two clever tricks to get more people to use his cloud backup service. First, he takes the data and media his service's users upload and gives it back to them online in a nice, organized Web viewer they can share with friends. His service segregates music, photo, and video files and gives everything a streaming player--a slideshow for photos, a shuffle-able streamer for music, and a streaming Flash video player for videos. The service transcodes all files for Web playback. There's a solidiPhone app, too. Zamkoff wants people to actually interact with their backups regularly. And by letting users easily share specific media files or directories with friends and families, he thinks they might do just that.The MiMedia Shuffle Drive, via the U.S. Postal Service, has great throughput. Latency, however, is measured in days. Second, Zamkoff says that many people don't upload all their data to online backup services. He says the average online storage account is under 10GB, yet the average media collection is over 60GB. It just takes too long to make the initial backup, Zamkoff says. Consumers like to shut down their computers at night, when the upload might otherwise be running. And they have, mostly, limited upstream bandwidth anyway. So when you sign up for MiMedia, the service calculates how long it's going to take you to do your first upload. If it's going to be a while, MiMedia can send you a preconfigured USB hard drive that you can dump your files onto and then send that back to the service in a preaddressed mailer. MiMedia uses the files on the drive to seed your backup set. (Update: Peer-to-peer backup service Crashplan also supports using a mailed-in hard disk as a backup set seed.) The &quot;shuttle drive&quot; service is no extra charge (although you do have to provide a security deposit via credit card), and the drive you get in the mail can't be used for anything other than backup. The drive arrives prekeyed to your specific MiMedia account and the data is stored under AES encryption.  I calculate (check my work) that if you have 250GB of data to back up (not unreasonable if you take a lot of photos and have healthy music and video libraries), and if the U.S. Postal Service takes three days to deliver the drive to MiMedia, that's bandwidth of about 8 megabits a second, which is, in fact, a lot better upstream performance than most people get at home. This service is a good way to get consumers to make a real backup, instead of a documents-only set that ignores their precious home videos--as competitor Carbonite does by default. MiMedia doesn't offer one-price unlimited backup, though. Plans start at $50 a year, but my 250GB example backup will run $245 annually. (Sugarsync, the sync tool I use for backup, has similar price points.) The service makes a very usable streaming media portal from your backup sets. You can add as many computers to your backup account as you want. The service does not offer synchronization features, though, and it lumps all your media files together in the Web player. That actually might be a benefit for some users and for families. The service isn't yet available forMac OS X. The Android mobile app is also forthcoming. The MiMedia Shuttle Drive gimmick is a good way to get users to actually back up what matters, and the service's strong portal for backed-up data adds daily utility to the service. Compared with most other cloud storage and backup services (I'm thinking of Mozy, Carbonite, Dropbox, Sugarsync, and Crashplan), MiMedia has more sensitivity to the way real consumers behave. It makes a compelling business out of selling something nobody really wants to pay for.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[An end to bad, cranky drivers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=an-end-to-bad-cranky-drivers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=an-end-to-bad-cranky-drivers</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Cheery</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=an-end-to-bad-cranky-drivers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Ford Motor&amp;39's Active Park Assist determines angles, then at driver&amp;39's prompt steers a car into its space while driver controls the gas pedal, braking, and shifting.(Credit:Ford Motor)While city drivers may see parallel parking as just another urban sport, for many people it's a &quot;highly avoided and stress-inducing&quot; situation that raises the heart rate.That's according to a nine-month study of driver habits recently completed by Ford Motor, the New England University Transportation Center (NEUTC), and the Center for Transportation and Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Not surprisingly, results released Thursday found that parallel parking while using a park-assist system (instead of having to guess your bumper distance based on your limited view) greatly reduces the stress of parallel parking in drivers.Experiments on drivers were conducted using a 2010 Lincoln MKS specially outfitted with tools to monitor what researchers call driver state.Driver state is a combination of both behavior in using acar and the involuntary physical responses exhibited by a driver. It can include things like monitoring an individual's driving style with regard to lane-changing frequency, speed, braking, acceleration, and distance maintained from the next car, as well as their heart rate, blood pressure, brain wave activity, where the driver looks, pupil dilation, and skin conductance.The experiment specifically used Ford's Active Park Assist, a system that uses sensors on the car to determine its position in relation to a space and then, at the driver's prompt, steers the car into a parallel parking space while the driver maintains control over the shifting, gas, and brake.When parallel parking with Ford's Active Park Assist, drivers on average had heart rates with 12 fewer beats per minute compared to their heart rate when parking without using the technology.Ford&amp;39's Cross-Traffic Alert system warns drivers in reverse of oncoming traffic.(Credit:Ford Motor)The experiment also found that even just thinking about having to parallel park makes drivers stressed.The NEUTC study found drivers had a mean heart rate of 75.9 beats per minute when they anticipated parallel parking manually compared to about 72.5 beats per minute when they anticipated parking with park-assisting technology.When it comes to backing up, drivers were also less likely to accidentally back out in front of an oncoming car in a parking lot when using a warning system.Only 71 percent of drivers managed to yield to oncoming traffic when backing out of a space with obstructed views, but 100 percent of the drivers in the experiment were able to do it when using Ford's Cross-Traffic Alert, a radar-based blind spot monitoring system. In addition to warning when a car is close to approaching one's blind spot while in drive, Cross-Traffic Alert also detects distant oncoming traffic while in reverse in order to help drivers avoid backing out and being hit by an oncoming car.This particular set of experiments consisted of 42 men and women ranging in age from their 20s to 60s who were instructed on how to use the assistant devices prior to testing.The study its part of an ongoing project in conjunction with MIT's AgeLab to &quot;understand the correlation between stressors and driving performance,&quot; with the end goal of developing automotive technology that improves driver skills while reducing stress.While the study was sponsored by Ford and tested its products exclusively, the U.S. automaker is certainly not the only brand applying sensors and automated parking aids to its vehicles. It seems arguable that the results of the study might be similar using other brands of automated parking and blind spot technology. Automated parking technology can be found on models from Audi, Lexus, Toyota, and Volkswagen, and several more automakers offer camera systems for monitoring one's car and surroundings while parallel parking or backing up.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Tablets eating Netbooks A Microsoft GM says yes]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tablets-eating-netbooks-a-microsoft-gm-says-yes</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tablets-eating-netbooks-a-microsoft-gm-says-yes</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:10:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>pornohasusasuha</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tablets-eating-netbooks-a-microsoft-gm-says-yes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Is the spread of tablet computers eating into the Netbook business In an interview this week with Seattlepi.com, Microsoft general manager for Windows product management Gavriella Schuster said that, yes, that is &quot;definitely&quot; the case. How much that has cut into Microsoft's Windows licensing may be the bigger question.Hewlett-Packard&amp;39's Slate 500 will be in the first crop of Windows 7 tablets, a form factor that is reportedly eating into Netbook sales.(Credit:HP)The topic had come up during the interview where Schuster had a Netbook in front of her. When asked whether such a device was being threatened by tablets--many of which are being launched in the course of the next year, Schuster said &quot;these are definitely getting cannibalized.&quot; Schuster then added that she considers Netbooks and tablets to be a secondary device on top of a regular computer--an area where Microsoft dominates in OS market share.The cannibalization of more traditional laptops by smaller form factor devices has been a hot-button topic since Netbooks became a common offering by hardware makers.In an interview with Best Buy's CEO Brian Dunn in September, The Wall Street Journal had Dunn making--and later clarifying--a statement about theiPad making deep cuts into the sales of laptop PCs in Best Buy's retail stores. Though even in the updated statement, the company had not declared the basic premise of cannibalization to be untrue. This issue is of special interest to Microsoft's place as a software provider for new PCs, as the company has worked hard to get XP, and later Windows 7 onto Netbooks. WhileWindows 7 tablets, such as the upcoming HP Slate 500 begin arriving later this month, others will be shipping with operating systems from Google and HP-owned Palm. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[PapayaMobile releases tools to help developers create Android mobile games]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=papayamobile-releases-tools-to-help-developers-create-android-mobile-games</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=papayamobile-releases-tools-to-help-developers-create-android-mobile-games</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Pearmolortirl</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=papayamobile-releases-tools-to-help-developers-create-android-mobile-games</guid>
<description><![CDATA[PapayaMobile is launching a set of tools today that will make it easier for developers to make Android games.The Beijing-based company already makes a social game platform that developers can use to make their Android titles more social with features such as friend lists, leaderboards and multiplayer challenges. Now it is releasing the Papaya Game Engine for Android, a tool that lets developers create games with cool 3D graphics, said Si Shen, chief executive of PapayaMobile, in an interview. In doing so, the company is becoming a one-stop shopping solution for Android game developers.PapayaMobile has created its own first 3D game with the engine, PapayaFish 3D, which serves as an example of what the engine can do. The company will also create 3D versions of its other games, which the company says have 4 million users, using the same engine. Shen says the engine eliminates the need for developers to learn the complexities of the Android applications programming interface or figure out the differences across various versions of Android.She also says the games are written in the C programming language and run significantly faster than games based on Java programming engines. The company&amp;'s game platform also allows for the regular release and update of apps so that gamers don&amp;'t actually have to go through the trouble of downloading revised apps. PapayaMobile also recently announced its monetization platform so developers can use virtual currency and virtual goods to earn new revenue. And it also announced a location-based gaming platform.PapayaMobile started as an app maker and now competes with  such  rivals as Aurora Feint and Scoreloop.Shen recently announced PapayaMobilea4a4s Android App of the Day, which promotes quality Android games to the companya4a4s audience of Android users.Shen, a former mobile product manager for Google in China, started   PapayaMobile in 2008 with Wenjie Qian. The company has 30 employees and  raised $4 million in funding from DCM. More than 100 apps use PapayaMobile&amp;'s technology, Shen said. Rivals include Scoreloop, Ngmoco and Aurora Feint. A video of PapayaFish is below.Next Story: Pay with your phone: AT&amp;038'T, Verizon, T-Mobile announce Isis mobile commerce network Previous Story: Beatles songs to sell on iTunes for $1.29 eachPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android, PapayaFishCompanies: Aurora Feint, DCM, Ngmoco, PapayaMobile, ScoreloopPeople: Si Shen          Tags: Android, PapayaFishCompanies: Aurora Feint, DCM, Ngmoco, PapayaMobile, ScoreloopPeople: Si ShenDean 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>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[With OS X Lion, It&'s No Longer Point &amp' Click, It&'s Flick &amp'&nbsp'Swipe]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-os-x-lion-itrsquos-no-longer-point-amp-click-itrsquos-flick-ampnbspswipe</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-os-x-lion-itrsquos-no-longer-point-amp-click-itrsquos-flick-ampnbspswipe</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jasonmichael004</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-os-x-lion-itrsquos-no-longer-point-amp-click-itrsquos-flick-ampnbspswipe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It feels like we&amp;'re on the verge of something a4&quot; &amp;''feel&amp;'' being the keyword. Personal computing has more or less been the same for a few decades now. It&amp;'s the mouse, the keyboard, the monitor, and the machine. With things like notebook computers, this has been altered a bit, but it&amp;'s the same basic idea. But with the rise of smartphones and now tablets, the whole concept is finally starting evolve. And it looks like OS X Lion will be a key to this transition.On stage last week during their Back to the Mac event, Apple gave a sneak peak at some of what they have in store for the next version of OS X. Of note, CEO Steve Jobs made it very clear that it has been born out of the concept of &amp;''OS X meets iPad&amp;''. In other words, OS X meets iOS, Apple&amp;'s touch-based operating system.Jobs also made it clear that Apple wouldn&amp;'t be creating touchscreen Macs anytime soon. Noting that these concepts &amp;''give great demo&amp;'', he also said that extensive testing over the years have proven that touching a vertical screen just isn&amp;'t ergonomically sound. Instead, Apple has committed itself to developing products that will allow them to use touch elements on the screen, without actually touching it. In their MacBooks, the multi-touch trackpads are built-in. For their desktops, the Magic Mouse and the Magic Trackpad were created to bring multi-touch to all Mac users.Obviously, neither of those products was an accident. As we&amp;'ve noted before, Apple is ushering in an era of touch, and each of these things are key for such a transition. Now, with the features in OS X Lion, we&amp;'re going to see touch concepts fully baked into the traditional operating system for the first time.Sure, Apple has included certain multi-touch options in OS X for some time now' first for MacBook users with multi-touch trackpads, then for Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad users. But all of these are basically tacked-on shortcuts of sorts for stuff you normally do with mouse clicks. Some of these newer OS X Lion features appear to be fully thought-out with multi-touch in mind.As Apple VP of OS X, Craig Federighi, demoed on stage last week, to navigate new features such as full-screen apps and Mission Control, it&amp;'s no longer point &amp;amp' click, it&amp;'s flick and swipe. It&amp;'s a two finger flick to the left or right to travel between full-screen apps a4&quot; and back to your desktop. Interestingly, it&amp;'s also now a two finger flick to the left from your desktop to get access to your desktop widgets (it would appear that they&amp;'re no longer overlaid on your actual desktop). To enter Mission Control, it&amp;'s a three finger swipe down. To get a preview of many open windows in Mission Control, it&amp;'s a two finger swipe up.Yes, pointing and clicking can still be involved for some of this, but it seems that it&amp;'s more of the fallback now. Undoubtedly, there will be keyboard shortcuts as well, but again, as a fallback/power user option. And I can&amp;'t help but wonder if the trackpad &amp;''Tap to Click&amp;'' option will become the norm one day in the not too distant future.And as you may have noticed during his demo, Federighi had trouble a few times launching into Mission Control on the Magic Mouse. Part of that was because he was nervous, but part of that is also because while multi-touch is a nice feature on that device, the surface isn&amp;'t big enough for more advanced gestures. But the Magic Trackpad (and MacBook trackpad) is perfect for those. Remember that there are now more Mac laptop users than Mac desktop users. This trackpad multi-touch manipulation is the future.Given the little we know about OS X Lion so far, I&amp;'m already much more excited about it than I was for OS X Snow Leopard. To me, it seems clear that Apple is going to use this new OS to begin the transition to the golden age of touch computing. I can&amp;'t wait.CrunchBase InformationOS XAppleInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>
