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<title>Haaze.com / Sarah01 / Voted News</title>
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<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Barnes & Noble accuses Microsoft of patent law misuse]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=barnes--noble-accuses-microsoft-of-patent-law-misuse</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=barnes--noble-accuses-microsoft-of-patent-law-misuse</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sufingparn72s</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=barnes--noble-accuses-microsoft-of-patent-law-misuse</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Barnes &amp; Noble has accused Microsoft of misusing patent law to thwart rivals to itsWindows Phone 7 business by requiring them to pay &quot;pay exorbitant licensing fees or face protracted and expensive patent infringement litigation.&quot;The charges come in a response filed in a case Microsoft brought against Barnes &amp; Noble last month before International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington. Microsoft alleged that Barnes &amp; Noble's Nook e-reader violates its patents covering the way users tab through various screens to find the information they're after, as well as the way they interact with documents and e-books.The Nook Color, a target of Microsoft&amp;39's lawsuit.(Credit:Barnes &amp; Noble)The suit is part of Microsoft's broader campaign against Google's Android operating system, which the Nook runs. Microsoft also named Foxconn International Holdings and Inventec Corporation as defendants in the case.In its filing, Barnes &amp; Noble accuses Microsoft of asserting patent claims over &quot;arbitrary, outmoded, or non-essential design features.&quot; The filing, first reported by All About Microsoft blogger Mary Jo Foley, accuses Microsoft of abusing the patent system to hinder competition.&quot;Microsoft is misusing these patents as part of a scheme to try to eliminate or marginalize the competition to its own Windows Phone 7 mobile device operating system posed by the open source Android operating system and other open-source operating systems,&quot; Barnes &amp; Noble alleges in its response. &quot;Microsoft's conduct directly harms both competition for and consumers of eReaders, smartphones,tablet computers and other mobile electronic devices, and renders Microsoft's patents unenforceable.&quot;For its part, Microsoft suggests that Barnes &amp; Noble is diverting attention from the allegations of patent infringement.&quot;Our lawsuits against Barnes &amp; Noble, Foxconn, and Inventec are founded upon their actions, and the issue is their infringement of our intellectual property rights,&quot; the company said in a statement. &quot;In seeking to protect our intellectual property, we are doing what any other company in our situation would do.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[ROVs fail to find Japanese missing in tsunami]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rovs-fail-to-find-japanese-missing-in-tsunami</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rovs-fail-to-find-japanese-missing-in-tsunami</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2011 07:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chrdoepner</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rovs-fail-to-find-japanese-missing-in-tsunami</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The underwater ROVs found sunken cars and lots of debris, but no bodies. (Credit:IRS)TOKYO--An international team of robotics and engineering specialists used remotely operated underwater vehicles to search for human remains in coastal areas of Japan flattened by last month's tsunami but failed to find any of the missing, the group said Sunday. The International Rescue System Institute, working with the Texas-based Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR), searched the waters off the annihilated communities of Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, and Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.Members used a Seamor ROV and a Seabotix SARbot. The diving machines turned up sunkencars, flotsam, and personal effects but no bodies. Robin Murphy of Texas A&amp;M University, director of CRASAR, was involved in the search, as were other U.S. colleagues. &quot;One lesson learned for future research is that we need simulation software that predicts where debris will go after a tsunami or hurricane (different versions since we believe the water behavior is different for those events),&quot; Murphy blogged.Working with the Japanese Coast Guard, the group used the ROVs to examine houses swept out to sea where dangerous conditions prohibit divers from searching for victims of the tsunami, which left thousands dead or missing in the towns. The researchers also used the machines to check whether submerged debris poses a threat to fishing boats, which are important to the local economy.  The video below, shot by the SARbot with image enhancement, shows a glove that Murphy and colleagues first took for a hand. They were told to expect bodies pinned under debris or partly buried in silt. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hands-on with the Samsung Replenish]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hands-on-with-the-samsung-replenish</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hands-on-with-the-samsung-replenish</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>inglalatae</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hands-on-with-the-samsung-replenish</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Samsung Replenish is Sprint&amp;39's first eco-friendly Android smartphone.(Credit:Bonnie Cha/CNET)NEW YORK--Earth Day is fast approaching (April 22), and though you might not think it, there are somegreen tech gadgets out there. Take, for example, the Samsung Replenish. It's Sprint's first eco-friendly Android smartphone, and the carrier just happened to be in town yesterday to show off the handset at an EcoFocus media event, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to check it out.First, what makes the Replenish environmentally friendly Well, 82 percent of the handset is made from recyclable materials and the casing is 34.6 percent post-consumer recycled plastic content. This really doesn't affect the quality of the build, as we found the phone to feel pretty solid in the hand and not too plasticky. At 4.8 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick and 4.1 ounces, it's a good size and easy to carry around. I don't think it's going to win any beauty contests, but, hey, being green can be sexy, right The Replenish is like the Motorola Droid Pro in that it combines a touch screen with a physical QWERTY keyboard. The display measures 2.8 inches diagonally and has a QVGA 240x320-pixel resolution. After testing some of the higher-end devices, it's a bit of a shock going to such a low-res screen, but the display is still clear and bright enough to get the job done. The touch screen felt responsive and though it's on the smaller side, at least you don't have to worry about pecking out messages on an onscreen keyboard.The keyboard is a little cramped compared with the ones on the Droid Pro and BlackBerry devices, so it may take a little time to adjust and find your rhythm. The buttons are raised well above the surface so they're easy to press, and they provide nice, tactile feedback--not too squishy. In addition to the keyboard, there are four physical buttons just below the display for the home, back, menu, and search shortcuts.One other interesting design feature is the optional solar battery cover. This $29 accessory, made by a company called Naturacell, lets you charge your phone using solar energy. A small sun icon will appear in the upper right corner of your screen to let you know that it's charging (see slide 4 in the photo gallery below for a closer look). The Samsung Replenish also offers support for the newest addition to Sprint ID, the Green ID pack. The custom skin provides access to environmental news sites, green tips, and other resources. Having an interest in the environment, I actually found the Green ID pack to be really cool. I particularly liked the apps that showed you the closest recycling centers and local farmers markets. I'd have to have the phone for longer than a few minutes to really see if I'd use the features of Green ID daily or if I'd get over the novelty and remove it, but I like the option. Aside from the eco-friendly goodness, the smartphone runs Android 2.2 and has a 2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G, and a 600MHz ARM processor. The Samsung Replenish will be available on May 8 for a very affordable $49.99 with a two-year contract, and Sprint is waiving the monthly $10 premium data add-on fee. The Replenish will come with an energy-efficient charger and its packaging will be fully recyclable. Though it may not be everybody's cup of tea, it's not a bad option, whether you're looking for a budget-friendly smartphone or looking to help the environment.See also:Best carriers for recycling your phoneMore eco-friendly phonesCNET's green tech guideSamsung Replenish hands-on (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[iPad 2 battery life results (or, where is my video loop feature!)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-battery-life-results-or-where-is-my-video-loop-feature</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-battery-life-results-or-where-is-my-video-loop-feature</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>hongchen</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-battery-life-results-or-where-is-my-video-loop-feature</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The real reason these battery results took so long to get.(Credit:Eric Franklin/CNET)Testingtablets can sometimes be a time-consuming endeavor, especially when a tablet like theiPad 2 can last for well over 10 hours on one charge while running video. To make matters worse, the iPad 2 has no loop option for video. This means that when running a movie like &quot;Toy Story 3&quot; to drain the battery, every 1 hour and 40 minutes, I am required to be standing in front of this thing to restart the movie.I have to basically plan my entire day around testing: when I take lunch, bathroom visits, meetings, Starcraft II matches, etc. It also means I have to be at work for more than 12 hours on the days the iPad is battery-tested. Being able to loop the video until the battery dies would be the obvious, desired solution, but unfortunately, there is no way (that I know of) to loop iTunes-downloaded video on the iPad. There are a few apps out there that claim to loop video, but I had little luck with them. Sure, one was able to loop video recorded by the iPad 2, but again, not with video downloaded from iTunes. Below you'll find new results for video battery life of the iPad 2 and gaming battery life on all three tablets featured here. Also, if you're privy to a workaround that allows iTunes downloaded video to loop on the iPad 2, do not hesitate to pass it along. You'll save me from some very long workdays.Tablet nameVideo battery life (in hours)Gaming battery life (in hours)Web site load time (in seconds' lower is better)Maximum brightness (in cd/m2)Default brightness (in cd/m2)Contrast ratioApple iPad 211.98.35432176939:1Apple iPad12.68.36388161881:1Motorola Xoom9.37.263121311,200:1How we test tabletsIn the CNET Labs, we currently run three different tests to evaluate the performance of non-Windows tablets. Battery lifeWe evaluated battery life in two ways. First, by continually running a movie file on the tablet until its battery died and also by running a game on the tablet until the battery died.We set each tablet to Airplane mode and adjusted its respective brightnesses to 150 candelas per square meter (cd/M2), or as close to that number as is possible. With movies, for the iPad, we run the iPad version of &quot;Toy Story 3.&quot; For Android tablets, a 720p version of &quot;Toy Story 3&quot; was run. The reason we chose 720p for Android was that not every tablet can run 1080p video just yet, and we wanted to make sure we tested Android tablets under the same methodology.On the iPad, we ran the movie through itsiPod app' for Android, we used the movie player mVideoPlayer, as it provides a much needed repeat video function that not all native Android movie players include. For gaming, we used Dungeon Defenders First Wave. We started the game, kept the default visual settings, walked our character over near the fireplace, and let it sit idle until the battery died.  We understand that this is different from actually playing and interacting with a game. While playing a game, the processor and memory would be accessed more frequently, likely increasing its power draw. However, the impetus for this test was our desire to determine what kind of difference gaming graphics would have on battery life versus watching a movie.  Site-loading speedWe used GiantBomb.com as our Web site of choice, as it doesn't use Flash or have many dynamic elements. Each tablet was connected to the same closed network with no other devices on it, with the router about 5 feet away. The test began the moment we pressed Enter, with the end of the test signified by the disappearance of the browser's blue progress bar. We measured speed in seconds, with a lower number indicating faster performance.  We used the latest version of iOS for the iPad, and the Xoom is, of course, using Honeycomb, with all other Android tablets using Android OS 2.2. Contrast ratio and brightnessWe also tested the maximum brightness, default brightness, and contrast ratio for each tablet. We conducted these tests using the Minolta CA-210 display color analyzer. With each screen at full luminosity, we placed the sensor in the middle of the screen. We used a completely white screen to test the brightness and a completely black screen to test the black level. We then divided the maximum brightness by the maximum black level to get the contrast ratio. ConclusionThe iPad 2 battery lasted only a little less than the iPad, but their duration was equal in the gaming battery test. Both iPads lasted longer than the Xoom in gaming, which is likely to translate to users being able to game on their iPads longer than on their Xooms, but not too much longer. Look for more tablet tests later this week.  The following products are available: On Sale Now: $599.00 - $919.96  View the latest prices for Apple iPad (64GB)  On Sale Now: $599.00 - $849.99  View the latest prices for Apple iPad 2 (32GB, WiFi, black)         Eric Franklin     Full Profile E-mail Eric Franklin   E-mail Eric Franklin If you have a question or comment for Eric Franklin, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Eric Franklin refused to update his bio, saying, &quot;No one actually reads these things anyway, do they Well, do they Why are you not answering me Oh, you've left the room. Curses!&quot; E-mail Eric.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Netflix scores David Fincher-Kevin Spacey series]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=netflix-scores-david-fincher-kevin-spacey-series</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=netflix-scores-david-fincher-kevin-spacey-series</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:11:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nadav-be</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=netflix-scores-david-fincher-kevin-spacey-series</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As Netflix faces increased competition from rivals like Amazon, and even Facebook, one of its chief differentiators as a leader of streaming TV shows and movies is its roster of content. And now, add Netflix to the Hollywood studios and others who provide that content.On Friday, Netflix announced that it has signed a deal with Oscar-nominated director David Fincher--who made &quot;The Social Network&quot; and &quot;Fight Club,&quot; among other films--for an original series called &quot;House of Cards&quot; that will be available exclusively to its subscribers. Rumors of the deal had been swirling for days.The series will star Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey' Netflix and Fincher will be executive producers. Netflix has committed to at least 26 episodes, said its Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos in a blog post today. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix outbid HBO and others for the rights to the series.Sarandos said in the post that &quot;House of Cards&quot; is based on an early-1990s BBC miniseries &quot;that's been a favorite of Netflix members.&quot; Fincher will direct the pilot.  &quot;Originally written as a novel by former UK Conservative Party Chief of Staff Michael Dobbs, 'House of Cards' explores the ruthless underside of British politics at the end of the [Prime Minister Margaret] Thatcher era. Reset against the backdrop of modern-day U.S. electoral politics, this new one-hour drama follows Spacey as an ambitious politician with his eye on the top job.&quot; &quot;House of Cards&quot; is the first original series that Netflix will offer its subscribers after years of making TV shows and movies produced by others available for DVD rental and, more recently, instant streaming. Clearly, as competition for viewers of streaming content heats up, Netflix is looking for ways to maintain more control over what it offers.According to The Wall Street Journal, Netflix may offer (subscription required) four or more episodes of &quot;House of Cards&quot; available to viewers &quot;at once so...subscribers can immerse themselves more deeply in the series at one time.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[What the RSA breach means for you (FAQ)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-the-rsa-breach-means-for-you-faq</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-the-rsa-breach-means-for-you-faq</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>trubogaz</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-the-rsa-breach-means-for-you-faq</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An RSA SecurID key fob.(Credit:Via Wikimedia Commons)RSA warned its customers yesterday that its network had been breached and data had been stolen that could affect customers using its popular SecurID token authentication technology. Although details are scarce, here's what we know so far.What happenedSomeone launched an &quot;extremely sophisticated cyberattack&quot; on RSA in the form of an Advanced Persistent Threat and data was stolen related to the SecurID technology, the company said in a statement on its Web site. APT attacks are often used for espionage, targeting source code and other information within a company or government agency. They typically involve knowledge of a target's network, key employees, and operations, and can use multiple techniques to get insider information such as social engineering and exploits of unpatched holes in software. APT attacks against Google and other companies that were revealed last year used an exploit for a vulnerability in Internet Explorer that could have been delivered to insiders via e-mail. RSA has declined to provide more details on the incident at this time.What is SecurIDSecurID is a two-factor authentication system that organizations use to provide more protection for sensitive data and networks than just a password. With two-factor systems, someone accessing a network needs to provide something they know, which is a password or PIN, and something they have, which can be a thumbdrive-size hardware token or keyfob, or software on a mobile device. The token provides a one-time eight-digit number a user types in along with the password so that the system can verify that the person is authorized to access the network. A different number is used every time the user logs in.How serious is thisRSA said it is confident that the information stolen does not enable a successful direct attack on any SecurID customers. However, the data could be used to &quot;reduce the effectiveness&quot; of an implementation as part of a broader attack, the company said. There is no evidence that other products are affected or that personally identifiable data on customers or employees was compromised, according to RSA.  However, given that SecurID is the most popular form of two-factor authentication and is heavily used in government agencies and financial institutions, a compromise with customer systems could ultimately impact a lot of people. There are about 40 million SecurID hardware deployments and 250 million deployments on mobile devices.Who is behind the attackRSA has provided no information publicly as to the origin of the attack. However, sources told CNET that China is a likely bet. Google said the attack against it originated from China, which sources say is using whatever means it can to narrow the technology gap with the U.S. &quot;If this is really APT, it means China,&quot; said Rich Mogull, chief executive of Securosis. Likely targets would be in the defense and industrial markets and high-tech manufacturing, he said. &quot;If this is China they're not going to be trying to break into bank accounts.&quot; The big question is what data was stolen. Experts wondered if the attackers were able to access a database storing so-called seed data--including unique numbers for each token that, combined with the time of day, are used to generate the one-time passcodes that flash on the devices every 60 seconds. Attackers armed with that information could potentially use it to create their own pseudo-random numbers and pretend to be someone authorized to access a sensitive network. What should companies with SecurID deployments doWithout more information about what data was stolen, it's difficult for companies to assess the risk. However, high-profile targets should be prepared for anything. &quot;The safe bet is to assume that the system is completely compromised, although that doesn't mean everyone is going to be a target of attack,&quot; Mogull said.  Any organization using SecurID should make sure they have enabled passwords for accessing sensitive information, use strong passwords, and rotate them frequently, he said. They should also force a password change for accounts with high-level privileges, consider disabling accounts that don't use a password, and set password attempt lockouts so that they are blocked after three tries, he suggests in a blog post.  Companies might also want to monitor for multiple accounts that are repeatedly failing authentication attempts and remind users that the serial number of the token should be kept secret. And IT administrators should make sure they are running proper access control and firewall software, as well as updated security software and patch operating systems and other programs being used.  RSA issued recommendations to customers that include: focusing on security for social-media applications and Web sites accessed by anyone with access to their critical networks' reminding employees to avoid opening suspicious e-mails and providing usernames or other credentials to people without verifying the person's identity, as well as avoid complying with e-mail or phone-based requests for such information' paying special attention to securing active directories' watching closely for changes in user privilege levels and access rights' and hardening, monitoring, and limiting remote and physical access to infrastructure that hosts critical security software.Are there alternatives for authenticationThere are competing authentication products on the market, but Mogull said he would not advise changing systems, which is an expensive move, just yet. &quot;If this drags out and RSA doesn't tell us for a while what happened, then people maybe will need to switch products. It's way too early to start ripping SecurID out now.&quot; One source speculated that the breach will prompt increased interest for the open-source Google-Authenticator one-time passcode generators for mobile devices.  While the breach raises many questions for SecurID customers, it's not necessarily a huge black eye for RSA at this point, sources said. No company--security or other--is immune to these types of attacks, according to Mogull. &quot;This is the name of the game moving forward,&quot; he said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Jays headphones bring Scandinavian 'lagom' design to your ears]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jays-headphones-bring-scandinavian-lagom-design-to-your-ears</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jays-headphones-bring-scandinavian-lagom-design-to-your-ears</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arravargy</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jays-headphones-bring-scandinavian-lagom-design-to-your-ears</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Jays C-Jays Headphones(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)If you're in the market for a new set of premium headphones, consider picking up one or both sets of earphones we reviewed this week from a Swedish company called Jays.  The C-Jays are a set of on-ear cans that give you three foam ear cup options, and the A-Jays Four earbuds include an in-line remote to control tracks on your smartphone music player.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[RockMelt tiptoes into public beta]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rockmelt-tiptoes-into-public-beta</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rockmelt-tiptoes-into-public-beta</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>helgamecha</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rockmelt-tiptoes-into-public-beta</guid>
<description><![CDATA[RockMelt boomed onto the alterna-browser landscape last November, grabbing some notable attention from social browsing competitor Flock but then fading from the limelight. After four months, RockMelt announced today that it's ready for the next step: entering into a public beta. That's right, this entire time the Marc Andreessen-backed, Chromium-based RockMelt beta (download for Windows | Mac) has been restricted to invitation-only.The main RockMelt interface. Minor interface tweaks since the browser&amp;39's launch include pushing the tabs up to the same level as the menu button.(Credit:Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)A TechCrunch story reported that RockMelt is claiming &quot;hundreds of thousands&quot; of active users and that about 20 percent to 30 percent of users who downloaded RockMelt have used it at least once every seven days, both of which sound like reasonable numbers because the major browsers measure their usage in hundreds of millions of users. By comparison, competitor Flock claimed 8.5 million users in November.RockMelt has continued to develop since then, issuing 15 updates that include a YouTube app, integrating Chromium 9, support for secure (HTTPS) RSS feeds, and tweaking the log-in process so that RockMelt completes the Facebook log-in information in the background so users can begin browsing more quickly. Your Facebook log-in is required to use RockMelt's social-networking features--otherwise, you might as well use Google Chrome, Comodo Dragon, or another Chromium-based browser.Besides RockMelt becoming a public beta, no other changes to RockMelt version 0.9.48.51 are known, since there was no changelog available at the time of writing.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Vevo in, Netflix out on iOS 4.3 AirPlay update]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vevo-in-netflix-out-on-ios-4-3-airplay-update</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vevo-in-netflix-out-on-ios-4-3-airplay-update</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Mar 2011 08:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>BannyWiliamila</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vevo-in-netflix-out-on-ios-4-3-airplay-update</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Apple)Starting March 11, when iOS 4.3 launches, users will be able to stream content from third-party apps on theiPhone,iPad, oriPod Touch to an Apple TV. But so far, the scope of support for the functionality is very much up in the air. Music-video site Vevo is one of the few companies to acknowledge that it's ready to take advantage of the new AirPlay functionality. The company added support for the feature on Wednesday to its iPad and iPhone apps. But unlike Vevo, Netflix doesn't see the benefit of adding support for Apple's new feature, and won't offer it in its iPhone or iPad apps, GigaOm reported yesterday. Netflix Vice President of Corporate Communications Steve Swasey pointed out to GigaOm that &quot;Netflix is already available on Apple TV.&quot; Rightfully so, Netflix believes that adding AirPlay support to its mobile apps is rather useless, since Apple TV owners can access its content from the set-top box without the need for other devices. However, Apple's upcoming AirPlay functionality could be a boon for other app developers that want to bring their content to the Apple TV. The only question now is whether those developers will follow Vevo's lead and see value in it. At this point, it seems many companies are still trying to decide if the functionality is right for them. One of those companies, according to GigaOm, is HBO. Citing an unnamed source, the publication said HBO is considering the possibility of using the new functionality, though the source didn't provide any details. HBO support for AirPlay would be quite a surprise. The cable network is notoriously protective of its content and so far has been reluctant to see it made available anywhere else, especially on Netflix's streaming service. Over the past several months, HBO has commented several times on its issues with Netflix, saying the streaming company charges customers too little. Back in January, Jeff Cusson, HBO's senior vice president of corporate affairs, went so far as to say that the company &quot;has no intention of making its content available for streaming&quot; on Netflix. However, if HBO opts to stream content to the Apple TV through AirPlay, it could circumvent Netflix, effectively bringing its content to the television without having to ink a deal with the company it has taken such issue with. But HBO is just one of many companies' in the coming weeks look for more to announce their plans to either support or ignore AirPlay. Further reading: New features in iOS 4.3 (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Bing's toolbar gets Facebook, face-lift]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bings-toolbar-gets-facebook-face-lift</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bings-toolbar-gets-facebook-face-lift</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>tusanenue</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bings-toolbar-gets-facebook-face-lift</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft has cooked up a new version of its Bing software toolbar that the company thinks can change the minds of toolbar haters. &quot;I know what you're saying to yourself--'really, a tool bar'&quot; Bing Director Stefan Weitz joked to me in an interview last week. Weitz mused that when he had first heard the pitch about it, his first response had been &quot;are we doing dial-up too&quot;But Weitz was pleasantly surprised with the results of the new version of the software, and so were the testers who tried it during the new version's development. &quot;People--when they saw what we built--even if they said they hated toolbars (myself being one of them) said 'hey this is actually remarkably useful.'&quot; That enjoyment, Weitz said, centered on taking some of the same ideas from Bing--things like bringing more tasks front and center--and making them take fewer steps to complete. One of the big targets for that goal ended up being Facebook, which users had wanted to keep an eye on while doing other things in the browser.&quot;Now, as you live more and more in the browser, actually pulling in all the disparate data sources that you have or want to use--your mail, or your Facebook status, and all these things across the Web--ends up actually making more sense,&quot; Weitz said.To that end, users are now able to grab information from a broader range of services without having to keep the extra tabs open, or save those pages to their favorites. That's been extended to e-mail as well, so instead of just offering up access to Hotmail, it works with Gmail and Yahoo Mail as well. Users are also able to add multiple accounts for each of these services, so they don't have to pick just one. Using Facebook from within the new version of the Bing toolbar.(Credit:CNET)One other change that's been brought over from the Bing side are deep links. These are things like the check-in page when searching for an airline, or the customer service page when doing a search for a retailer. &quot;Deep links are one of those things people love when they're looking at search results,&quot; Weitz said. &quot;Now we're pulling in deep links to any entity right here in the search bar.&quot; This is the seventh iteration of the Bing toolbar, which remains an add-on only for Internet Explorer users who are using version 7 or above. The newest version takes design cues from IE9, which had its first release candidate pushed out to users last week. Gone are the rounded corners and liquid-like exterior, replaced instead by an angular look that matches up with some of the company's other modular designs found on theXbox 360 andWindows Phone 7. There are also angled icons for each sub-tool like movies, stocks, and weather, which will be joined automatically by apps that Microsoft decides to push out in the future. The toolbar continues to be an important part of Microsoft's plan to increase Bing use, as well as improve its results with information like clickstream data, which captures information about what users are clicking on and sends it back to Microsoft anonymously. The feature requires that users first opt-in before it's sent.Earlier this month, that very habit became a point of concern by Google, which had pointed fingers at Microsoft for &quot;copying&quot; its results after it had a team of engineers seed the toolbar with synthetic queries. Microsoft sternly refuted the allegations, saying that clickstream data was just one of more than 1,000 signals the search engine was using at any given time to create and rank its results. Shortly thereafter, Weitz had told CNET that the whole incident had been &quot;insulting.&quot; During our interview his outlook seemed a bit rosier.&quot;Everyone always asks us, 'are you taking share from Google,' or 'are you taking share from Yahoo, or whoever else' And the answer is that you don't have to take share from anybody. You can actually grow the pie,&quot; Weitz said.The new version of the toolbar will arrive as an update within Windows Update to current Bing toolbar users. New users can grab it here.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Otterbox now has Kindle and Nook covered]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=otterbox-now-has-kindle-and-nook-covered</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=otterbox-now-has-kindle-and-nook-covered</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>wanjuaboh2534</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=otterbox-now-has-kindle-and-nook-covered</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Front and back side of the Commuter Series for Kindle (also available for Kindle DX, Nook, and Sony Reader Touch Edition).(Credit:Otterbox)From its humble beginnings as a small company that made tough, protective cases for youriPhone, Otterbox is branching out into all kinds of devices, including e-readers.The fast-growing Otterbox is now selling the new Commuter series for the Kindle 3, Kindle DX, Nook, and Sony Reader Touch Edition.Alas, no case yet for the Nook Color, but hopefully something is coming. Except for the Kindle DX version ($64.95), each cover costs $49.95. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google documents VP8 at standards group IETF]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-documents-vp8-at-standards-group-ietf</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-documents-vp8-at-standards-group-ietf</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gloriacooperth</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-documents-vp8-at-standards-group-ietf</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The VP8 encoding technology at the heart of Google's effort to spread royalty-free video across the computing industry now has a home at the Internet Engineering Task Force--but not so Google can standardize it.VP8 is a Google codec used to convert video into a more compact form for tasks such as streaming across the Internet, broadcast over the airwaves, or storage on a camera. VP8 and the Vorbis audio codec are the basis for WebM, an open-source and royalty-free technology that Google hopes will lower barriers for using video on the Net and elsewhere. Although WebM's open-source, royalty-free nature eases adoption, so far it isn't a standard--something that could ease adoption further. Standards can let multiple companies influence a technology and can provide assurances that its features are stable enough to rely on.Google representatives published the &quot;VP8 Data Format and Decoding Guide&quot; at the IETF earlier this month, but that doesn't signal standardization, the company said in a statement. The document details the VP8 bitstream--the actual sequence of bytes into which video is encoded.&quot;We submitted the VP8 bitstream reference as an IETF Independent RFC [request for comments] to create a canonical public reference for the document,&quot; Google said. &quot;This is independent from a standards track.&quot;The IETF document could help allay one concern VP8 critics have raised: that VP8 is defined not by documentation of the bitstream but rather by the source code of the software Google released to implement VP8. But the IETF document still plays a subordinate role to that source code.&quot;If there are any conflicts between this document and the reference source code, the reference source code should be considered correct. The bitstream is defined by the reference source code and not this document,&quot; the IETF document said.The document, though not a standard and not canonical, does indicate that Google is working to make VP8 and WebM something broader than an in-house Google project and something more approachable than thousands of lines of programming source code.Google didn't comment on whether it plans to standardize VP8. But it's not hard to imagine it doing so, at least after it's had more time to marshal allies that could contribute politically and technologically. Candidates for such an alliance that spring to mind include Adobe Systems, which has pledged to include VP8 in its Flash Player, and Mozilla, which has built WebM support into itsFirefox browser.VP8 was developed by On2 Technologies, which Google acquired for about $123 million in early 2010. VP8's chief rival, H.264, is much more widely used in the industry, including Blu-ray players, editing software, smartphone decoding chips, video cameras, Apple'sSafari browser, and Microsoft's upcoming IE9 browser. Using H.264 in a product requires licensing a pool of patents from a group called MPEG LA, (though free video streamed over the Internet with H.264 requires no royalty payments). Google wants a codec with no patent barriers.  MPEG LA cast a shadow over VP8 last year by publicly questioning VP8's patent pedigree and raising the prospect that those using VP8 might need to license patents from parties besides Google. &quot;We assume virtually all codecs are based on patented technology,&quot; MPEG LA Chief Executive Larry Horn said in a May 2010 interview.There are some signs VP8 sidesteps at least some patent concerns, said Barry Negrin, an intellectual property attorney at Pryor Cashman who previously worked on some On2 patent applications for two VP8 predecessors, VP6 and VP7. Specifically, some &quot;sub-optimal&quot; approaches used in VP8 &quot;may have been intentional work-arounds to avoid patent claims,&quot; Negrin said. In addition, he's not aware of any MPEG LA suits against On2 Technologies for VP6 and VP7, which could work in Google's favor if a suit emerged.But even though months have passed with no elaboration on MPEG LA's initial statements about VP8, there's no assurance yet that those implementing VP8 have nothing to worry about.&quot;It's definitely too soon to tell,&quot; he said, adding that the statute of limitations on patent infringement is six years in the United States. &quot;Given the complexity of the VP8 code and the sheer number of patent claims that need to be reviewed by MPEG LA, it could be a couple of years before they themselves have sufficient certainty to mount litigation.Controversially, Google announced it will remove H.264 support from its Chrome browser for playing HTML video, meaning that the browser will come only with built-in video support for VP8 and an earlier cousin called Theora. That announcement last week caused a backlash, in part because some feared it would hamper the arrival of HTML's nascent built-in video support.But in practice, with Firefox and Opera supporting WebM and Safari and IE9 supporting H.264, built-in video in HTML already was suffering from a significant codec problem. An unrepentant Google defended the move, suggesting it's unlikely to reverse course.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Software groups urge probe of Novell patent sale]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=software-groups-urge-probe-of-novell-patent-sale</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=software-groups-urge-probe-of-novell-patent-sale</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jan 2011 08:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Julie01</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=software-groups-urge-probe-of-novell-patent-sale</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Open Software Initiative and the Free Software Foundation yesterday released a joint statement, urging the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the German Federal Cartel Office, to investigate the sale of Novell's more than 800 patents as part of its multibillion dollar sale to Attachmate in November. In December, the OSI sent a position paper to the German Federal Cartel Office. That paper has been updated to name both software groups as the concerned parties and filed with the U.S. Department of Justice. &quot;Since making that filing, we have been joined by the Free Software Foundation and have updated that statement to represent that both our communities--the open source community and the free software community--are concerned that CPTN represents a potential broadside not against any particular product in the market today, but against one of the only viable sources of competition for these companies in software today: the free, libre, and open source software (FLOSS) communities.&quot; The OSI now says the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department has acknowledged receiving the groups' contention.At the heart of OSI and FSF's complaint are the patents that will be handed over to CPTN Holdings, which made up of Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, and EMC. The two software groups point to Microsoft and Oracle in particular being major competitors to the FLOSS movement, as each company cited it as a &quot;competitive threat&quot; in their 10-K SEC filings. Furthermore, the group goes on to say that there is an inherent danger in having all those companies under the guise of a consortium. &quot;That is, they have no incentive to support FLOSS as a competitive alternative to proprietary software,&quot; the letter said. &quot;CPTN creates a cover to launch patent attacks against companies delivering solutions based on FLOSS while creating for each principal a measure of plausible deniability that the patent attack was not their idea.&quot;Earlier this week the sale of the patents to CPTN Holdings got the go-ahead from the European Commission vice president and competition commissioner, Joaquin Almunia. Almunia said that it would be &quot;unlikely&quot; for the transaction to raise any eyebrows from the EU's merger regulation commission, or be infringing of the EU's competition rules.(via PC World)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[iOS 4.3 to bring back iPad rotation lock to side switch]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ios-4-3-to-bring-back-ipad-rotation-lock-to-side-switch</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ios-4-3-to-bring-back-ipad-rotation-lock-to-side-switch</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>fnENCAMPkf</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ios-4-3-to-bring-back-ipad-rotation-lock-to-side-switch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[iOS 4.3 might bring back the screen rotation lock to the iPad&amp;39's side switch. (Credit:Apple)When iOS 4.2 changed the functionality of the iPad side switch from a rotation lock to a mute toggle, manyiPad owners were displeased. Instead of flicking a simple switch, they had to swipe the screen to the right and then select the screen orientation lock on the screen. This is the same method as used on current iPhones andiPod Touches, so perhaps the idea was to have that same experience on all of Apple's mobile devices. However, I think the need for a mute switch is not as necessary on the iPad, and that a rotation lock was far more useful. It seems Apple may have listened to its users, for it is rumored that iOS 4.3 will finally bring back the option for a hardware rotation lock with the iPad via a new preference in the Settings menu. Simply choose whether you want the switch to act as a rotation lock or a mute switch, and you're good to go. We don't know too much about what else iOS 4.3 might bring, but this change alone might be worth it for most people to update. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Meyer axed as AMD's chip strategy founders]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=meyer-axed-as-amds-chip-strategy-founders</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=meyer-axed-as-amds-chip-strategy-founders</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:10:44 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nundalkadia</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=meyer-axed-as-amds-chip-strategy-founders</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Advanced Micro Devices' chip strategy over the past several years had some flaws that if not fatal, at least cast some doubt on how the chipmaker would fare in a quickly changing competitive landscape. AMD&amp;39's smartphone-centric Imageon chip technology was sold to Qualcomm.(Credit:AMD)Though no one outside of AMD's board may ever fully know why CEO Dirk Meyer was fired today, there were important markets the chipmaker had essentially abdicated. The most salient beingtablets and high-end smartphones. In 2008, AMD appeared well situated to make a foray into smartphones and later tablets (and seemed ahead of Intel and Nvidia in this market segment). But AMD sold that Imageon technology--which it got with the purchase of graphic chips supplier ATI--to cell phone chip giant Qualcomm in January 2009. And Meyer made some high-profile comments in October of last year, stating in no uncertain terms that the tablet market was not a priority. &quot;Frankly, we're still so small in the notebook market that it doesn't make sense for us to turn R&amp;D dollar spending toward the tablet market yet. We'll start doing that when the market is big enough,&quot; he said during an earnings call.His point was ostensibly a rational one: the tablet market isn't big enough today to justify AMD's focus. But this thinking could have dire consequences going forward if there's a rush to tablets, hybrid devices (e.g., tablets with slider keyboards), and large, high-end smartphones. In short, AMD's strategy has been too centered on PCs, a mature market where Intel controls the most lucrative segments. Its biggest rival, Nvidia, on the other hand, has set it sights squarely on tablets and high-end smartphones for the last couple of years and had a strong presence atCES. Some of Motorola's highest-profile smartphone and tablet products this year, for example, will use Nvidia's ARM processors. Though AMD's Fusion, aka &quot;Brazos,&quot; chips could be used in larger tablets, they're not optimized for that segment like Nvidia's ARM chips are. Even Intel, which is facing its own challenges in smartphones and tablets, has two Atom chip variants (Oak Trail and Moorestown) that can be used in tablets today. At CES, AMD did gain some traction in the market segment just above Netbooks--mostly small laptops with 11-inch and 12-inch screens. Sony stated at CES that it was quitting the Intel-Atom-based Netbook market in favor of small laptops based on AMD's Fusion processors, and Hewlett-Packard announced Fusion-based designs. Again, there may be other reasons that Meyer was fired, but it's nevertheless worth noting that AMD was not a force in two promising chip markets. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: GreatCall adds new 5Star security service]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-greatcall-adds-new-5star-security-service</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-greatcall-adds-new-5star-security-service</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tiresandco</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-greatcall-adds-new-5star-security-service</guid>
<description><![CDATA[GreatCall, the maker of the Jitterbug phone for seniors, introduced a new personal security service for its customers last week atCES 2011. Called 5Star, the service is designed to address security and health concerns that don't necessarily merit calling 911. For example, if you're walking alone in a park at night, you might feel unsafe, but there's no immediate need to call the police. If you have the 5Star service on your Jitterbug phone, you can call them to at least have someone there on the line. And if something does happen, 5Star will be able to triangulate your location via the phone's GPS and contact the appropriate authorities.The 5Star service can also be used for answering your health or medical concerns. If you so choose, you can set up a health profile on the GreatCall Web site with your doctor's contact as well as any medical plan or medication information. You can then call up the 5Star service any time you have a health question, and the answer will be personalized to your particular situation. If the 5Star call does escalate to a 911 emergency, the service will automatically reach 911 dispatch, and provide emergency responders with your health profile. It will also contact your relatives if you have that information set up on your account.The service is not cheap at $14.99 a month on top of regular monthly payments, but it's designed as a premium service for those who want the additional security. It will be available for all Jitterbug customers in February. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: AOC announces new 3D display]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-aoc-announces-new-3d-display</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-aoc-announces-new-3d-display</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 09 Jan 2011 08:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>germkaammg</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-aoc-announces-new-3d-display</guid>
<description><![CDATA[AOC's 2436wz' a 23.6-inch monitor with 120Hz 3D support.(Credit:AOC)LAS VEGAS--While 3D monitors have been around for a few years now, atCES 2011 we saw an even bigger 3D push than last year.This week, both Samsung and LG introduced new 3D monitors, each using their own proprietary 3D technology, and now AOC has unveiled its 2436wz' a 23.6-inch monitor with 120Hz 3D support. The monitor also includes VGA, DVI, and USB 2.0 ports.No pricing or release date info has been confirmed yet by AOC.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[HTC phone battery stops bullet, saves life]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=htc-phone-battery-stops-bullet-saves-life</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=htc-phone-battery-stops-bullet-saves-life</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>siripongq286</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=htc-phone-battery-stops-bullet-saves-life</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Earlier this week, an Illinois man managed to leave his cell phone in his back pocket, a choice that ended up, thanks to his rolling bottom, with his wife calling the police, who sent a SWAT team to the man's place of work.John Garber, a valet from an Atlanta nightclub might now be dead if he'd kept his cell phone in the same place.According to the Associated Press, Garber was working at Club Halo when two men were thrown out of the club. Police say that the men allegedly ventured over to acar, grabbed some weapons and began to shoot indiscriminately in the direction of the club.One of the bullets went through Garber's coat and was about to do him severe damage. Suddenly, it was intercepted by his HTC phone, which he had put into the chest pocket of his jacket. Garber's coat is now adorned with a bullet hole. The top left corner of his red cell phone battery now enjoys a dent that signifies it wouldn't let the bullet through.No one was injured in this shooting and police happened to be near the club and managed to chase down the alleged shooters, from whose car they reportedly recovered two handguns.Garber told the AP: &quot;It's just one of those crazy things in life.&quot;And did he reportedly make one of those post-traumatic statements about never buying another brand of phone againWhy, yes. Strange that you should ask, he reportedly did.I wonder whether the Illinois man who caused the butt-dial now keeps his cell phone permanently on guard over his chest every night before going home.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Hands-on with the Vizio VIA Tablet]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-hands-on-with-the-vizio-via-tablet</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-hands-on-with-the-vizio-via-tablet</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rixbralia</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-hands-on-with-the-vizio-via-tablet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nissan's Leaf featuring automatic gaming system]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissans-leaf-featuring-automatic-gaming-system</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissans-leaf-featuring-automatic-gaming-system</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Dec 2010 08:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>stephen001</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissans-leaf-featuring-automatic-gaming-system</guid>
<description><![CDATA[200 more points and I get promoted from Captain Planet to Major Planet!(Credit:MyNissanLeaf.com, forum poster 'gudy')A few weeks ago we wrote about Phylo, a Flash-based puzzle game that uses addictive gameplay to help scientists map human genetic code. It's part of the trend of making otherwise mundane things fun by adding gaming elements, especiallyXbox-like achievements. Another good example is Foursquare, which awards users &quot;badges&quot; for checking in a certain venues. The idea is to give users reasons to use a service by providing bragging rights to those who achieve the most. And now Nissan is adding the concept to its new electriccar, the Leaf.It's been known for awhile that the Leaf has a seven-inch display that gives real-time information, such as how much CO2 the driver is keeping out of the atmosphere, as well as daily, weekly, and monthly reports to drivers. It's called CARWING, which would be a great name for a Decepticon.And it unexpectedly also includes achievements, averaging a driver's usage with others, assigning rankings, both regionally and globally. There's a notion that electric car drivers tend to be smug, and this allows them to measure that smugness. It's a fun idea, and contributes to the gamification trend, something that we expect to see show up everywhere in the next year.What's unknown is if there will be an official prize system. Will the greenest drivers get discounts on insurance Blinged-out rim upgrades for free A Fiji water cup holder<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Soyuz spacecraft delivers trio to space station]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=soyuz-spacecraft-delivers-trio-to-space-station</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=soyuz-spacecraft-delivers-trio-to-space-station</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:56 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nathaliebui</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=soyuz-spacecraft-delivers-trio-to-space-station</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After a two-day orbital chase, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked with the International Space Station Friday, bringing three fresh crew members to the lab complex and boosting its full-time crew back to six.With rookie commander Dimitry &quot;Dima&quot; Kondratyev at the controls, flanked by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli to his left and NASA astronaut Catherine &quot;Cady&quot; Coleman to his right, the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft glided to a smooth docking with the station's Rassvet mini-research module at 3:11 p.m. EST as the two vehicles sailed 224 miles above Western Africa.The Expedition 26 crew fields questions from dignitaries and family members in Moscow. Three fresh crew members, dressed in blue flight suits, arrived aboard a Soyuz spacecraft Friday (left to right): Catherine Coleman, Dmitry Kondratyev, and Paolo Nespoli. Back row (left to right): Alexander Kaleri, commander Scott Kelly, and Oleg Skripochka.(Credit:NASA TV)A few moments later, after residual motion damped out, hooks and latches engaged to pull the Soyuz firmly into place for extensive leak checks. Thee hours later, at 6:02 p.m., hatches were opened and Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly, Alexander Kaleri, and Oleg Skripochka, launched October 7, welcomed their new crewmates aboard.Gathering in the Zvezda command module, the Expedition 26 crew took a few moments to chat with dignitaries and family members at the Russian mission control center near Moscow.&quot;Hi, Mom, it's Jamey,&quot; Coleman's 10-year-old son radioed. &quot;I miss you a lot, and I'll take care of Dad.&quot;&quot;I know you will, I miss you too,&quot; Coleman replied from orbit. &quot;I wish you could have come up in the Soyuz with us. It was really pretty amazing to look down and see the Earth. And now we're in the space station and I almost got lost on my way to this place from the Soyuz. It's so big here!&quot;&quot;We are so glad you're on the space station,&quot; Coleman's husband, Josh Simpson, called. &quot;For the last three years, we have been trying to figure out where you are, whether it's in Germany, or Moscow, or Star City, or Japan, or Canada, or Texas. And now, we know exactly where you are! We can find out at any moment precisely where you are. And you're only, I don't know, 200 miles away. So you seem close to us now. Our hearts are with you.&quot;&quot;I love you guys,&quot; Coleman replied. &quot;And we won't have to even figure out time zones. It'll be the same time zone for six months.&quot;Veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who now runs the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City near Moscow, urged the crew to &quot;enjoy your flight. I envy you. Congratulations on the successful docking and I wish you every success. Good luck to you.&quot;The crew faced a light weekend schedule, giving the new arrivals a chance to get familiar with the station's layout and operation.&quot;As soon as they get on board, my primary goal is to get them acclimated to the environment and get them comfortable enough to where they can work up here efficiently,&quot; Kelly said in a recent media interview.&quot;One of the first things we do is a safety briefing, make sure they're aware and reminded of all the safety training they've had, but see it from the perspective of being on board here. Really, just to get them comfortable and ready to work starting the following Monday.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Secretary Chu: Global energy race is 'Sputnik' moment]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=secretary-chu-global-energy-race-is-sputnik-moment</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=secretary-chu-global-energy-race-is-sputnik-moment</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:10:44 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Celina01</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=secretary-chu-global-energy-race-is-sputnik-moment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Energy Secretary Steven Chu today warned that &quot;time is running out&quot; for the U.S. to be the global leader in clean-energy technologies because China and other countries are racing ahead.Chu gave a speech at the National Press Club where he suggested that the U.S. is reaching a &quot;Sputnik moment&quot; where political leaders and the general population will realize how the U.S. has fallen behind other countries in science and technology. (Credit:DOE)In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite to orbit the Earth, one of the seminal moments in launching the government-led space program in the U.S. The space program captured the imagination of engineers and scientists at the time and yielded advances in many fields.Chu said that the U.S. needs to fund research in clean-energy technologies in order to stay apace and take advantage of the economic opportunity that cleaner energy technologies represent globally.&quot;America still has the opportunity to lead in a world that will need a new industrial revolution to give us energy we want inexpensively and carbon free,&quot; he said during his presentation, which was Webcast. (Click for PDF of slides.) &quot;I think time is running out.&quot;The stimulus package provided a one-time investment bulge in a range of fields, including research to invent new technologies and loan guarantees to scale up existing products. Before the stimulus, though, the percentage of money dedicated to energy research and development has trended down since 1979, Chu said.He said there are risks in the status quo which were detailed in a report called Business Plan for America's Future which was authored by business leaders including Bill Gates, venture capital investor John Doerr, GE CEO Jeff Immelt, and former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine. The report said there are many benefits to moving to a cleaner energy system in the U.S., including public health, protection from climate change, and cleaner air, but none of these are recognized by the free market. Also, the scale of investment required in new energy technologies in beyond the scope of commercial companies, which is why the government should fund research and development.Cutting research and development during the a slow economic period is &quot;like removing an engine from an overloaded aircraft,&quot; Chu said, quoting former Lockheed Martin CEO Augustine.Chu said the Energy Department has established two new research channels: ARPA-E, which is focused on breakthrough technology research within three to five years, and Energy Innovation Hubs, where larger groups of people at universities focus on specific areas, such as bio energy and building efficiency, for several years.One lesson that the U.S. can learn from China is the importance of long-term planning and investment, Chu said. The ARPA-E program, which is taking on challenges such as cheap electric-car batteries capable of a 500-mile range, could suffer from short-term policies. Although it was created as an agency a few years ago, it was first funded through the stimulus package and it is now in danger of not being renewed. He added that the U.S. can collaborate with China and India in development and testing out new energy technologies. Continuing energy-related policies pursued by the Obama administration faces a tougher time after the November elections where Republicans gained control of the House. But even politicians who are skeptical of climate change should recognize that investing in green-technology research and development is an economic decision, he said. &quot;I am hoping that the United States can recognize the economic opportunity that virtually all the western European companies have recognized, that countries in Asia have recognized, and that developing countries have recognized,&quot; he said. &quot;I am an optimist we will wake up and seize the opportunity...The U.S. still has the greatest innovation engine in the world.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Gawker yanks Palin excerpt after court order]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gawker-yanks-palin-excerpt-after-court-order</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gawker-yanks-palin-excerpt-after-court-order</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Nov 2010 08:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dwienulkirul</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gawker-yanks-palin-excerpt-after-court-order</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Hope you've sated your curiosity about Sarah Palin's upcoming book: Gawker Media, which published unauthorized excerpts of the book on Thursday, has pulled them off the Web following a federal court order.The ruling comes following a lawsuit filed Friday by Palin's publisher HarperCollins. AP:A federal judge on Saturday ordered Gawker Media to pull leaked pages of Sarah Palin's forthcoming book &quot;America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag&quot; from its blog.The injunction prohibits Gawker from &quot;continuing to distribute, publish or otherwise transmit pages from the book&quot; pending a hearing on Nov. 30.The link to Gawker's original post now generates a 404 error message. Palin's book is due out on Tuesday, a full week before the scheduled hearing.I've asked HarperCollins if they have any additional comment beyond the statement they sent me this morning (the publisher is owned by News Corp., as is The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, home to All Things Digital). I have yet to receive any comment from Gawker Media.Via Politico, here's the court order. Note the handwritten note at the bottom, indicating that a hearing was held at 3pm Saturday afternoon.Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.              h4 a{            text-decoration: underline !important'        }        addStories{            margin-bottom: 15px'        }        addStories li{            line-height: 1.8em'        }                            Additional stories from AllThingsD                                                        Gawker Yanks Palin&amp;039's Book Excerpt After Court Order                                                                        Sarah Palin&amp;039's Publisher Sues Gawker Over Book Excerpt You Haven&amp;039't Read                                                                        LOLCatz: Safra on The Stand Again in Oracle-SAP Trial                                                                        The Landscape Around Google&amp;039's Hiring Binge                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA['Virtual strip search' backlash goes viral (week in review)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=virtual-strip-search-backlash-goes-viral-week-in-review</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=virtual-strip-search-backlash-goes-viral-week-in-review</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>debqowoga</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=virtual-strip-search-backlash-goes-viral-week-in-review</guid>
<description><![CDATA[TSA administrator John Pistole tells U.S. Senate he wants &amp;34'partnership&amp;34' with flying public irked about full-body scans.(Credit:U.S. Senate)The Internet is helping to fuel anger over air traveler screening, but changes to what some have termed a &quot;virtual strip search&quot; are unlikely to materialize before the busy Thanksgiving travel period draws near. John Tyner, a software engineer from Oceanside, Calif., became an Internet sensation after telling a TSA screener: &quot;If you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested.&quot; Tyner had the foresight to record the exchange on his mobile phone (videos are here) and is now facing a possible lawsuit for entering a security line and then not allowing a government employee access to his crotch during a pat-down search.Foes who had hoped a Senate hearing would lead to a privacy outcry on Capitol Hill were disappointed when Democratic senators applauded the Obama administration and Republicans offering only modest criticism. Indeed, Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate committee overseeing air travel, told the TSA chief: &quot;I think you're doing a terrific job.&quot; An administrator with the Transportation Security Agency said the agency would be &quot;announcing some new policies&quot; in the &quot;near future&quot; that will change the screening process for pilots, who have protested being forced to choose between an X-ray machine's &quot;virtual strip search&quot; or a pat-down from a TSA agent.&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Senator: TSA's whole-body scans are 'right thing'&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Transcript: Senate hearing on TSA, full-body scannersMore headlinesFacebook unveils e-mail, the sequel &quot;Seamless messaging&quot; will take into account e-mail, IMs, SMS, Facebook messages, and more, and offer a &quot;social in-box&quot; to set priorities, says CEO Mark Zuckerberg.&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Would e-mail transform Facebook, or vice versa&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Facebook's new in-box brings MS Office support&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Facebook acquired start-up assets for mail overhaul&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' MySpace 'Mashup' adds Facebook ConnectThe Beatles come to iTunes at lastFans of the Fab Four can now get the entire Beatles catalog via the iTunes store. The news marks a long-time-coming, personal victory for Apple's Steve Jobs.&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Report: Google, Amazon pursued Beatles too&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Forget the Beatles--Garth Brooks still AWOL on iTunes &amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Where are the Beatles-branded iPhone, iPod, and iPad&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Sirius tries to upstage iTunes with McCartney news U.S.: Beijing backs hacking on 'massive scale'Commission report to Congress says hacking by Chinese government, individuals, and organizations into networks in the U.S. and elsewhere has &quot;extensive intelligence and reconnaissance components.&quot;Google's Schmidt teases new Android phone No specific details were released, but CEO Eric Schmidt held up an unannounced Android phone during his Web 2.0 Summit talk that uses a new wireless chip.Google Voice finally in Apple's App Store One of the more convoluted App Store approval processes has come to an end now that a native Google Voice app is available for theiPhone.&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Google Voice, other services soon in Google Apps &amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Google's own office blurred out on Street View Competitive unease hovers over Web 2.0The Web 2.0 Summit conference in San Francisco made plenty of attendees and speakers nervous about the level of ill will in the Valley these days. But here's a thought: Isn't that just business &amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Zuckerberg: We don't have the answers yet&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Bartz: Google is great, Facebook is competition&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Twitter co-founder riffs on Facebook, developers&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Netflix CEO: iPad affects us 'very little'&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' FCC chair: U.S. faces 'innovators' dilemma'Why film studios are betting on Web againHollywood could have snubbed Netflix, ditched Hulu and stuck with traditional distribution. Instead, they're licensing content for Web TV and taking on former partners, including theaters owners.&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Studio didn't report 'Potter' leak to feds&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' New Amazon movie studio seeks submissionsAlso of note&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Webroot's safety tips for holiday online shopping&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Intel Sandy Bridge chip coming January 5&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Kinect officially a hit with 1 million units sold .postBody h3, .postBody h4{font-size: 1.2em'margin: 10px 0 0 0 'padding: 0px'font-weight: bold'border-bottom: none'}<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple releases new iOS 4.2 gold code]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-releases-new-ios-4-2-gold-code</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-releases-new-ios-4-2-gold-code</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>glaucomanbqdeh</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-releases-new-ios-4-2-gold-code</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Wi-Fi bug is fixed (supposedly)! Just a little bit more waiting and iOS 4.2 should be available to all.(Credit:Apple)Wondering whatever happened to iOS 4.2 Although iTunes 10.1 dropped last week, Apple's firmware update never materialized--most likely due to a Wi-Fi bug that was discovered earlier in the week.Now, as reported by Engadget and other sources, a new iOS 4.2 gold master (build 8C134b) was just pushed out to developers. Apparently the update fixes the Wi-Fi problem, which prevented at least someiPad users from establishing or maintaining a connection.Update: I goofed. Apparently build 8C134b first appeared last Friday, not today. My apologies for positioning this as new information!When will Apple release iOS 4.2 to the general public Your guess is as good as mine, but I'm guessing it'll be next week--unless the company decides to wait until after the Thanksgiving holiday.It's been a painful wait--I need multitasking and folders on my iPad!--but I'm glad Apple caught the bug (and elected to fix it) before releasing the update. Your thoughts<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Building a green empire, one Tiny House at a time]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=building-a-green-empire-one-tiny-house-at-a-time</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=building-a-green-empire-one-tiny-house-at-a-time</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Luisa01</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=building-a-green-empire-one-tiny-house-at-a-time</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This is a Tumbleweed Tiny House, part of a collection of more than 20 designs of houses that are small, energy- and materials-efficient, and which emphasize a smart use of space.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET) GRATON, Calif.--As most people know, a major reason for the current housing meltdown was millions of people buying homes far bigger than they needed, let alone could afford. To Jay Shafer, the answer is tiny. Shafer is the creator of Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, a company based in this, yes, tiny town about an hour north of San Francisco, that designs and sells very, very small homes. How small Tiny Houses' most petite model, the XS-House, is just 65 square feet. Yet, while you might expect to find little more than a rabbit warren inside, what you actually experience when you walk in the rustic wood front door--after crossing the charming porch in front--is a functional house complete with a living room, a furnace, a kitchen, a bathroom, storage, and even a loft bedroom.To be sure, this isn't spacious living. It's tight, compact, and forces those who live here to be dedicated to organization and regular cleaning. &quot;A lot of people are like, 'How can you live like this'&quot; Shafer says. &quot;But anybody who's lived on a boat or in a van would probably find this luxurious.&quot;Living large in Tiny Houses (photos) The question is, who exactly would want to live in a house where you can nearly reach your arms from one side to the otherFor Shafer, it's pretty clear: it's people who are interested in a simple, green lifestyle. These days, the term &quot;green&quot; is thrown about left and right and often means little, but in the case of Tiny Houses, green living is a direct reflection of a choice to live very efficiently, with the minimum amount of unused space, materials, and energy. &quot;I think that's the greenest green thing you can do,&quot; Shafer says, &quot;buy less.&quot;And that's an attractive proposition for the hundreds of people who have chosen to adopt Shafer's way of living: mainly, he says, single and creative types. It's &quot;folks who want to be doing something else besides paying a mortgage,&quot; he says.And that's clearly a huge part of it. Tiny Houses may be small, but they also come with a matching price tag. The company, which started in 2005, sells its homes at prices that seem like they're from another era: The XS-House, its smallest, comes ready made for just $39,000. And the estimated all-in price for plans, materials, and labor if you wanted to build it yourself is around $16,000--not counting the small patch of land it would need to sit on. Indeed, in this do-it-yourself era, the vast majority of his customers buy the plans and build the houses themselves. He says he actually builds and sells just one or two Tiny Houses a year. Of course, Shafer does recognize that not everyone is ready to live in a home &quot;smaller than some people's closets.&quot; So while his flagships are his under-100-square-feet models, he also gives a nod to couples, or even small families, that need a bit more space. As such, he currently offers around 20 different models, with another 20 or so in the works, and sizes that go as high as five bedrooms, yet which still take up just 837 square feet. Storage is 'key' As part of my Road Trip at Home series, I recently visited Shafer at company headquarters--aka his personal 89-square-foot Tiny House--in Graton and got a chance to see first hand what I'd been hearing about for years.It turns out that while Shafer began living in very small homes as a single man in Iowa, he's now married, and his wife, though supportive of his business, isn't so interested in living la vida tiny. So the couple shares a &quot;palatial,&quot; 500-plus-square-foot home he didn't build adjacent to headquarters. But Shafer explained that he still spends most of his time in his Tiny House, using it both as a model for those who want to come and see what the hoopla is all about and also as his primary work and design space.A big part of what Shafer sells is his philosophy--that too much space is a waste, and that, for some people, at least, it's not only possible but actually preferable, to live in a home that emphasizes efficiency and thoughtfulness.Since that philosophy doesn't call for abandoning the essentials of daily life, Tiny Houses are designed with plenty of what Shafer says is the &quot;key element&quot; of living small: storage. Throughout the homes, from the living room to the kitchen, are little closets, cabinets, and shelves, places where extraneous things can be tucked away and put out of view so that the living space can remain clean and uncluttered. In his 89-square-foot house, he has about 100 cubic feet of storage.And that's also a nod to another design principle Shafer regularly employs: keeping open spaces clear and pushing most &quot;stuff&quot; to the periphery of the intimate rooms. At the same time, he tries to make it so one room--the living room--gets as much of the square footage as possible, while limiting the size of the &quot;activity&quot; rooms like the kitchen to the minimum necessary to be functional.As well, he says he always makes sure to take maximum advantage of vertical space by, among other things, including storage that starts right at the floor. This way, he wastes as little space as possible. On wheels Technically, the smallest of the Tiny Houses are classified as mobile homes, explains Shafer. That accounts for the fact that they are built on top of frames with wheels. Yet, while the buildings can be moved around, that's not something Shafer expects many of his customers to do.  In fact, the wheels are a nod to a nearly ubiquitous zoning ordinance that sets minimum square footage requirements for free-standing buildings. But since most Tiny Houses are smaller than the minimum, the way Shafer figured out to get around the rules was to include a mobile frame with wheels, an accommodation that allows owners to place them wherever they want without worrying about breaking their local regulations.Though the Tiny Houses are small, that doesn't mean they skimp on appliances. Here, we see the propane furnace that helps heat the highly-insulated homes. It can cost as little as $70 a year to heat them.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)Appliances You might think that a less-than-100-square-foot house would skimp on niceties like appliances, but Shafer rejects that notion. It's not likely that anyone living in a Tiny House is going to have a state-of-the-art Viking range or ambient heating, but that doesn't mean going without the basics.As such, Shafer's designs call for standard recreational vehicle plumbing and electrical systems and sometimes composting toilets or direct current power systems that support solar panels. In Shafer's own house, he's installed a gray water system that cycles all his waste water into the nearby garden. At the same time, since his house has access to services, he's plugged into his local grid. But those who want to place a Tiny House away from municipal systems can get by with propane hook-ups. Yet power consumption in a Tiny House matches its name. Shafer estimates someone could easily get by on about $70 a year for propane, which would both heat the house via an elegant little marine heater, and power its stove. Even in the chilliest climates--recall that Shafer came from Iowa and its frigid winters--he allows that the bill would top out around $160 a year.One thing Shafer's Tiny House doesn't have is a normal size refrigerator. Instead, he's installed a &quot;dorm fridge,&quot; one of those little square models that holds just a few drinks, some milk, and a little food, under the kitchen sink. Clearly, Shafer doesn't see the need for a single person living in an 89-square-foot house to fill up a standard fridge.Similarly, there's really not room for a normal sized entertainment center. Someone wanting to spend time listening to music or watching TV shows or movies would likely have to do what Shafer does: use a laptop computer.  While Shafer may well be the best-known maker and designer of small homes like this, he's by no means the only one. Yet, he argues that two of his biggest competitors, Tortoise Shell Homes and Little House on the Trailer, both put more of their energies into manufacturing their homes for customers, while Shafer says he puts most of his time into design. Still, since both of those companies are in nearby towns, he says that for reasons he doesn't quite understand, Sonoma County, where all three are located, has &quot;somehow become the mecca for tiny houses.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Leaked memo notes MacBook Air display problems]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=leaked-memo-notes-macbook-air-display-problems</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=leaked-memo-notes-macbook-air-display-problems</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Dakota02</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=leaked-memo-notes-macbook-air-display-problems</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Purportedly an internal memo to Apple&amp;39's customer support staff, it appears to confirm that the Air&amp;39's reported display issues are for real.(Credit:Boy Genius Report)The redesigned MacBook Air is only two weeks old, and reports of display issues have begun to crop up.Cult of Mac reported earlier this week that it noticed flickering horizontal lines sometimes appearing on the display of its 13-inch model. A quick check of Apple support forums reveals a couple dozen reports of similar issues.Though Apple has yet to publicly acknowledge the problem, a leaked internal memo shows that the company's support staff is indeed aware of it. Boy Genius Report received the memo from an unnamed source, and published it today.Sources tell BGR:(T)hat the manufacturer is investigating several of them internally. Included among the issues is a bug where the display flickers or shows horizontal lines of varying colors when a computer wakes from sleep or after hot-plugging a display. Another bug causes the screen to fade from light to dark repeatedly after waking from sleep. Apple's internal support system includes suggestions for interim fixes in each of these cases, but no permanent fixes are available at this time. We've reached out to Apple for comment on the memo and the issue with displays to see if it will confirm either. We haven't heard back but will update the story if we do.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Solar-panel maker Solyndra to lay off workers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=solar-panel-maker-solyndra-to-lay-off-workers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=solar-panel-maker-solyndra-to-lay-off-workers</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Simi</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=solar-panel-maker-solyndra-to-lay-off-workers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In May, President Obama visited Solyndra&amp;39's Fab 2 plant in Fremont, Calif. The plant was originally intended to run concurrently with its Fab 1 plant and expand production capability, but now the older Fab 1 plant is closing.(Credit:Solyndra)Thin-film solar-panel maker Solyndra will announce today it plans to close its Fab 1 plant in Fremont, Calif., The New York Times has reported.The closing will result in 40 Solyndra employees being laid off. Another 150 subcontractors will not have their current work contracts renewed, according to the report.But the news follows the opening of Solyndra's state-of-the-art Fab 2 plant near its original Fremont plant just weeks ago, which was built in part with a $535 million federal loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.The Fab 2 plant, when fully operational, is capable of producing 500-megawatts worth of thin-film solar panels per year and employing about 1,000 people.Solyndra makes thin-film flexible solar cells from CIGS (copper, indium, gallium, and selenide), not traditional photovoltaic cells made with silicon. Thin-film solar cells are typically less efficient than silicon solar cells, but because they have also been traditionally cheaper to install they maintained a competitive edge in the solar marketplace.But a changing thin-film solar market, as well as a significant drop in the cost of traditional silicon solar cells, has changed that dynamic.Solyndra has raised a total of $970 million in financing, and received another $573 million in the form of a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, money that was appropriated in the Energy Act of 2005. The Department of Energy and the White House has held Solyndra up as a prime example of U.S. green-tech manufacturing innovation, investment, and job creation. President Obama made his &quot;We've got to go back to making things&quot; speech in May from the Fab 2 plant during a visit. Concurrent with Solyndra's funding and ramp-up to production, several thin-film solar manufacturers in China have also been ramping up manufacturing in large part because of the Chinese government's well-documented push to invest in green tech.Chinese thin-film solar manufacturer Suntech, for example, has announced several tech partnerships it says have improved the efficiency of its thin-film solar cells, as well as increased production volume resulting in significantly lower costs for its products.In April PricewaterhouseCoopers, Solyndra's auditor, said the company was in debt at a rate that was unsustainable and needed to make significant adjustments if it was to be profitable long-term. In July the company canceled its planned IPO and announced that Solyndra founding CEO Chris Gronet would be stepping down to be replaced by Brian Harrison.The decrease in cost to install conventional PVs, combined with this recent introduction of cheaper thin-film solar products from China, has been closing the competitive gap. Solyndra's high-tech Fab 2 plant will reduce production costs compared to its old facility, Harrison told The New York Times.&quot;Fab 2 is much more efficient and cost-effective than our existing facility,&quot; he said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Dell to acquire cloud integration company Boomi]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dell-to-acquire-cloud-integration-company-boomi</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dell-to-acquire-cloud-integration-company-boomi</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 02 Nov 2010 07:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Elina</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dell-to-acquire-cloud-integration-company-boomi</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dell is beefing up its cloud strategy by acquiring Boomi.Boomi is a Pennsylvania-based company whose platform connects cloud-based applications with those that are &quot;on-premise&quot;--or not in the cloud. Its technology is described as &quot;integrating applications by allowing easy transfer of data between cloud-based and on-premise applications with no appliances, no software, and no coding required.&quot;CEO Michael Dell telegraphed the move this morning when he told an audience in Hong Kong that his company would be making a cloud-based acquisition. So far it doesn't appear he'll have to fight off other suitors for this company. Dell tried to buy storage company 3Par in August, but was repeatedly outbid by rival Hewlett-Packard before finally admitting defeat.Financial details of the Boomi transaction were not made public.Boomi President and CEO Bob Moul said his company is &quot;thrilled&quot; by the acquisition. &quot;This was a fantastic outcome for the team, our customers, and partners. Dell gives us the global platform to continue to scale Boomi AtomSphere as the leading integration solution in the SaaS and cloud computing industry,&quot; he said in a prepared statement.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[With Internet TV, cable wins even if it loses]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-internet-tv-cable-wins-even-if-it-loses</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-internet-tv-cable-wins-even-if-it-loses</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kiran01</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-internet-tv-cable-wins-even-if-it-loses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Americans, little by little, are cutting the proverbial cord on cable television. But that doesn't mean they're breaking up with their cable companies.In addition to controlling most of the paid TV market in the U.S., cable companies are also poised to dominate the broadband market. This means that even when people drop their pricey cable TV packages, they're still likely to pay the cable company for access to the Internet, which is used to deliver the video streams to their TVs. For cable operators, it's a &quot;heads we win' tails we win&quot; situation.Neil Smit, president of Comcast's cable division, admitted as much during the company's third quarter conference call earlier this week.&quot;If over-the-top comes into being, there is more consumption of online video,&quot; Smit said. &quot;We feel very good about our capacity. That is one of the reasons we have invested so heavily in DOCSIS 3 (the cable technology that allows operators to provide download broadband speeds up to 160Mbps). We feel that that big pipe into the house is important and we will continue to invest in speed increases like that, like DOCSIS 3. We think it's an important component and the consumers continue to consume more bandwidth.&quot;So what does that mean for average consumers For those of us left behind with traditional cable services, it could well mean that the cable companies increase fees in order to pay for the contracts they have with content producers like the TV networks. For those who do leave cable TV, there's a very good chance they're paying the same provider for a different service--broadband access.&quot;People should not think of cable companies as media companies,&quot; said Craig Moffett, a senior analyst at Wall Street equities research firm Sanford C. Bernstein. &quot;They are infrastructure companies. And they are in business to make a return on their physical infrastructure.&quot; But instead of simply raising prices on cable broadband, Moffett said it's more likely that cable operators would move toward usage-based pricing. That way consumers who use more bandwidth to stream movies and TV shows end up paying more per month for service than people who may be getting their video from the traditional cable TV network. Time Warner has tested usage-based billing, but the company faced a huge backlash from consumers. Still, Moffett said that broadband service providers may have no choice as bandwidth-intensive video streaming services like Netflix become more popular. Sandvine recently issued a report showing that Netflix traffic already accounts for more than 20 percent of downstream traffic during peak times on U.S. broadband networks. Of course, the number of people today who are cutting their cable cord and watching TV from the Internet is still small. But people are cutting the cable cord. Just ask Comcast, which went on the defensive earlier this week explaining why it lost a net of about 56,000 TV subscribers during the third quarter of 2010. (Comcast announced it had lost 275,000 basic cable subscriptions during the third quarter. Meanwhile it added 219,000 digital TV subscribers. This means that it lost a net of about 56,000 video subscribers during the quarter.)&quot;All our exit surveys have seen almost no impact (from people switching to Internet TV),&quot; Smits said during the conference call. &quot;We have seen customers who are disconnecting and not going to a competitor. That small number of customers appear to be going over-the-air (using antennas to get free TV) much more than any over-the-top impact (TV from the Net).&quot; Even though Comcast denies these people are flocking to sites such as Netflix, they have admitted that the weak economy is driving them toward less expensive forms of entertainment. As more content deals are struck with companies such as Netflix, people looking to save a buck on TV, and who also have a broadband connection, will likely gravitate toward the Web for TV and movie viewing. Netflix, which is just one of many over-the-top video options available to consumers, is quickly expanding its customer base. During the third quarter the company saw its subscriber base jump 52 percent compared to a year ago.Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings said on the company's earnings call earlier this month that the streaming offer was definitely fueling subscriber growth. Netflix said 66 percent of its subscribers used its streaming content during the third quarter, up from 61 percent in the second quarter and 41 percent during the same quarter a year ago.Broadband benefitsBut regardless of whether this trend continues, Comcast and other cable companies are likely to benefit since they also control the broadband connection into the home. The phone companies' biggest weapon in the broadband fight has been their new fiber-based networks: U-verse for AT&amp;T and Fios for Verizon. These services have competed head-to-head with cable in markets where they're available. But neither AT&amp;T nor Verizon is covering its entire territory with these expensive network upgrades, which means that many customers without access to U-verse or Fios services have the choice of slower DSL or cable. As the numbers show, many are choosing cable. During the second quarter of 2010, cable captured a record 90 percent of all new broadband additions, according to a report Moffett wrote.&quot;Cable's broadband dominance opens the door for renewed share gains in the adjacent video market.&quot;--Craig Moffett, senior analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein. &quot;Cable's broadband dominance opens the door for renewed share gains in the adjacent video market,&quot; Moffett said in his report. &quot;Cable companies could simply increase their a la carte broadband prices (since in most markets, households have no other choice for sufficiently fast broadband) and simultaneously drop their video pricing, leaving the price of the bundle unchanged, to recapture video share.&quot;He pointed to an example of this in Albany, N.Y., where Time Warner Cable raised its broadband price by 10 percent for its Internet-only customers to a rate just $2 below its promotional bundled rate for both services. The Internet-only price increased to $54.95 from $49.95. The 12-month promotional rate for video and data was $56.95.Even without changing its pricing, cable companies are starting to see consumers choose more expensive services with faster speeds. Smits said during the company conference call that more than 20 percent of Comcast's customers subscribe to higher speed tiers of services. He considers the &quot;blast level&quot; services to be 8 Mbps and above. As a result the company saw an increase in the average revenue per user of its broadband services. And with faster 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps speeds on the way, the company has a lot of leg room to up-sell broadband consumers.Of course, Comcast and the rest of the cable industry are not giving up on their TV business. This week Comcast relaunched Xfinity TV, the company's TV-everywhere on-demand video service. It provides access to 150,000 movies, TV shows, and other premium HD content online and can be viewed on various different devices such as laptops and tablets. The service is available to digital video customers who will get an ID and access to the service at no extra charge. By the end of this year, the company expects to have the service available on Apple iPhones and iPads as well as Android tablets. The company is also improving its user guide and constantly adding new titles to its video-on-demand service. For the time being, it does not see Netflix or any other Internet-based TV service as a threat. &quot;I think even Netflix on their own call felt that they were more complementary than anything else to the existing marketplace,&quot; Brian Roberts, Comcast CEO said during the conference call. &quot;I think you are also seeing an expansion of usage as you can use more devices. We are very excited about devices like theiPad. It gives us a chance to now start from scratch with a user interface that is using Web technology, not cable box technology.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[eBay looks to social shopping with $200M Brands4friends buy]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebay-looks-to-social-shopping-with-200m-brands4friends-buy</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebay-looks-to-social-shopping-with-200m-brands4friends-buy</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>drpepper782</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebay-looks-to-social-shopping-with-200m-brands4friends-buy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[eBay announced that it has acquired Berlin-based Brands4friends, a European online retailer that sells significantly discounted merchandise to its members, for $200 million.It&amp;'s another move away from eBay&amp;'s once-iconic auction service a4&quot; but eBay has been distancing itself from auctions for some time now. For the first time in more than a year, eBay has not seen anysignificant revenue growth from its core marketplace business.That has left PayPal, which continues to grow at a healthy rate, as the flagship revenue stream for the once-leading online auction site, according to its most recent earnings reports released in October.eBay already allows European shoppers to buy directly from retail outlets through its outlet store. Rather than using auctions, the outlet store focuses on a &amp;''daily deal&amp;'' philosophy that sites like Groupon have taken advantage of with some pretty significant success. eBay is likely picking up Brands4friends to divert its 3.5 million members to eBay&amp;'s own retail outlets, since Brands4friends offers a similar service.Daily deals in fashion also account for around 20 percent of all fashion sales in Europe, eBay said in its announcement today.eBaya4a4s auction activities have slowed to a crawl. Revenue from its auction site a4&quot; which charges a fee to let users post things theya4a4d like to sell a4&quot; was up a paltry 3 percent when compared to the same quarter last year, from $1.182 billion to $1.186 billion. The company has tried exploring a number of other revenue sources a4&quot; such as picking up voice-over-Internet provider Skype and subsequently dumping the service.So far, most of the success has come from the company&amp;'s online payment system PayPal and a stronger focus on retail.The turnaround in eBaya4a4s strategy began when John Donahoe took the reigns in 2008. eBay decided to shift its focus to PayPal and to model Amazona4a4s online marketplace model with eBaya4a4s a4Abuy it nowa4 option for most of its auctions. The Brands4friends acquisition seems to be just another nudge in the same direction.Next Story: AT&amp;038'T snags more bandwidth for 4G: Buys Qualcomm&amp;'s FLO TV wireless spectrum for $1.9B Previous Story: Tesla plans aggressive timeline for production of 2012 all-electric Model SPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: auctions, daily deals, retailCompanies: Amazon, brands4friends, eBay          Tags: auctions, daily deals, retailCompanies: Amazon, brands4friends, eBayMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[By suing popular chat app Kik, is RIM poisoning its own ecosystem]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=by-suing-popular-chat-app-kik-is-rim-poisoning-its-own-ecosystem</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=by-suing-popular-chat-app-kik-is-rim-poisoning-its-own-ecosystem</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>RobertsAccs</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=by-suing-popular-chat-app-kik-is-rim-poisoning-its-own-ecosystem</guid>
<description><![CDATA[RIM has filed suit against Kik Messenger, a small company that has built a tremendously popular chat application, claiming patent infringement.We&amp;'re still trying to get more details about the case, which was filed in Canada&amp;'s Federal Court in Toronto. But our best guess is that it stems from Kika4a4s imitation of RIM&amp;'s own chat service for its Blackberry phones, called Blackberry Messenger (BBM). Kik uses the same &amp;''sent,&amp;'' &amp;''delivered,&amp;'' and &amp;''read&amp;'' flags when a message is sent. RIM may be concerned because Kik does BBM one better by allowing chat across multiple smartphone platforms, including Android phones and iPhones. Kik is also blazing fast, and its adoption by 2 million users in just a few weeks threatens to outshine RIM&amp;'s own service.This all puts a nail in the coffin of Kik&amp;'s chances to serve RIM&amp;'s Blackberry phones, and it seriously endanger&amp;'s the company&amp;'s chances of survival overall.However, it&amp;'s still not clear why the service hurt Blackberry per se. According to our understanding, RIM isn&amp;'t suffering any loss of revenue if users adopt Kik instead of BBM. On the contrary, a fast, enjoyable chat application like Kik was one of the first apps built that worked really well on Blackberry, showcasing a great experience on the RIM platform at a time when most developers are focused more on the iPhone and Android platforms.Evidently, RIM must feel its BBM service still has some sort of quality edge on its main rivals and that it must fight to protect its patent to protect that lead. But by moving to protect an app within its walled garden, RIM is fighting a questionable battle, now that we&amp;'re in an age where cross-platform apps are more relevant.Here&amp;'s the bigger worry for RIM: With this move, is it inadvertently poisoning its own ecosystem If people know they can work at RIM and then start a successful startup that rides on top of the BlackBerry platform, RIM becomes a more attractive place to work and BlackBerry becomes a more attractive platform to develop on. By making an example of Kik and its chief executive, Ted Livingston, a 23-year-old former strategist at BBM who set up shop across the street from its headquarters, RIM could be shooting itself in the foot for extremely questionable gain. Yes, RIM&amp;'s always been protective of its intellectual property, but as Apple&amp;'s iPhone and now more recently Google with its Android platform have shown, you have to leave something on the table for innovators to seize.We&amp;'ve requested comment from both sides and will update if we hear back. [Update: Kik's Livingston has blogged about the suit.]Next Story: Study says training with video games can help you do your job better Previous Story: FindTheBest hints at social plans with Kleiner Perkins fundingPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Blackberry, BlackBerry Messenger, patent infringementCompanies: Kik, RIMPeople: Ted Livingston          Tags: Blackberry, BlackBerry Messenger, patent infringementCompanies: Kik, RIMPeople: Ted LivingstonMatt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Verizon temporarily offering $30 unlimited iPhone data plan]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-temporarily-offering-30-unlimited-iphone-data-plan</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-temporarily-offering-30-unlimited-iphone-data-plan</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Bonessemn</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-temporarily-offering-30-unlimited-iphone-data-plan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Verizon will officially offer buyers of its iPhone a $30 unlimited data plan when it goes on sale next month, Verizon COO Lowell McAdam told the Wall Street Journal.But  during Verizona4a4s investor call today, McAdam also clarified that the  offer would only be temporary. The carrier plans to move to a tiered  pricing model later this year, similar to AT&amp;amp'Ta4a4s shift last year.a4AIa4a4m  not going to shoot myself in the foot,a4 he said. Millions of current  iPhone users on AT&amp;amp'T were grandfathered into unlimited data plans,  so McAdam wanted to offer the same flexibility if they moved to Verizon.  Customers who first moved to AT&amp;amp'T for the iPhone 4 werena4a4t offered  unlimited plans, and ita4a4s likely that come the iPhone 5, Verizon will  also drop the unlimited option.Ita4a4s  a wise offer, because iPhone users moving to Verizon will also be  losing the ability to use voice and data functionality simultaneously due to limitations of its CDMA 3G network. Verizon needs as few barriers  to entry as possible for new iPhone customers, as the carrier has a lot  of ground to make up for when it comes to smartphone users. Verizon  announced today that only 26 percent of its mobile subscribers have  smartphones, up from around 15 percent last year.Next Story: Google snags Twitter movie recommender Fflick for $10M Previous Story: Solar Universe nabs $7M to install your panels, poaches SolarCity execPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: data plans, iOS, iPhone, iPhone 4Companies: Apple, VerizonPeople: Lowell McAdam          Tags: data plans, iOS, iPhone, iPhone 4Companies: Apple, VerizonPeople: Lowell McAdamDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google Maps 5.0 for Android now available with 3D buildings, offline support]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-maps-5-0-for-android-now-available-with-3d-buildings-offline-support</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-maps-5-0-for-android-now-available-with-3d-buildings-offline-support</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Vanessa01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-maps-5-0-for-android-now-available-with-3d-buildings-offline-support</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The latest version of Google Maps for Android is now available, and as we&amp;'ve reported previously, it brings some amazing features with it like 3D building support, dynamic map drawing and access to maps offline.Google Maps 5.0 relies on vector graphics, instead of flat 2D maps, to load its map data. Vector files are smaller and more flexible than typical graphics files, both of which make a huge difference on mobile devices. Thanks to vector graphics, the app will now load your maps more quickly than ever before and draw them dynamically. It also supports 3D building models in over 100 cities. A new compass mode automatically orients the map to help you maintain direction.As we&amp;'ve previously mentioned, the app will also be able to cache map data that you use most often to let you view maps offline. It will download map locations overnight when youa4a4re connected with WiFi. Google says this feature will make up for over 90 percent of the times the Maps app fails when therea4a4s a bad connection. The appa4a4s Navigation feature will be able to take advantage of the offline maps and re-route you even if youa4a4re without service.Google says the new features are just the first step to improving the overall performance of its Maps app. The company figures that viewing maps with the new app now takes 70 percent less mobile data. It remains to be seen if we&amp;'ll see similar new features on other platforms. Apple, which is in charge of the Google Maps app on the iPhone, hasn&amp;'t been very good about supporting Google&amp;'s updates in the past.Google Maps 5.0 is available on all Android devices running version 1.6 and above, but 3D and offline support is only available to those running Android 2.0 or higher.Check out a video of the app in action below:Previous Story: Ticket upstart Ticketfly accelerates with the Baltimore Grand PrixPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android, google maps, maps, smartphonesCompanies: Google          Tags: Android, google maps, maps, smartphonesCompanies: GoogleDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google Editions: Divide And&nbsp'Conquer]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-editions-divide-andnbspconquer</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-editions-divide-andnbspconquer</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dermedikus</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-editions-divide-andnbspconquer</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The e-reading battle is raging hot, and while statistics ostensibly showing an insurgent iPad should be taken with a grain of salt, the volatility of the market is plain to see. The Kindle has made the most of an early lead, and promises to be a highly popular gift item. The Nook Color is receiving encouraging reviews and has just been rooted, rendering it a thrifty choice for tablet shoppers. Color e-ink is on the horizon. It&amp;'s a glorious time to be an e-book seller.So it&amp;'s no surprise that Google is jumping into the fray with the long-awaited Google Editions service, set to launch by the end of the year in the U.S. and first quarter of 2011 internationally. But between Kindle, Barnes &amp;amp' Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and independent publishing services like Amazon&amp;'s DTP and the unfortunately-named Pubit, is there room for another player Not that that&amp;'s ever stopped anyone from trying &amp;mdash' but I think in this case it may be that Google brings something new to the table: decentralization.Google knows, I am sure, that to compete directly with Kindle-like services would be suicide for Google Editions. Amazon and the others have found success in the creation of a brick-and-mortar simulacrum. You go to the virtual Barnes &amp;amp' Noble the way you&amp;'d go to a real Barnes &amp;amp' Noble, you browse the site the way you&amp;'d browse the store, you see the book, you look inside the cover, you read a few pages. The success of the virtual store is undeniable, and it will continue to be a success. To try to shoehorn in another one, as Apple is doing with mixed success, is a project Google is just not suited for. Truth be told, they&amp;'re terrible at that kind of thing.But they are good at creating something that people will use without even knowing it, and they&amp;'re good at collecting and organizing information. Google Editions isn&amp;'t going to be the Kindle Store with a more spartan web aesthetic: it&amp;'s going to be a network of individuals, indexed, managed, and regularly milked by Google. While the terms encourage sellers to sell via Google&amp;'s existing services (Checkout, direct referrals from search, etc, I would guess), the revenue split is only slightly decreased for resellers. The meaning is clear: Google wants to create an army of booksellers making direct sales to users visiting their site, blog, or what have you.The advantages of not having to go through, for instance, Amazon, when selling your book, are hard to quantify. But the notion that an author will be able to place a widget on their own page, and have the book-buying transaction be self-contained rather than being transferred to Amazon, is significant. The attraction of being an independent node will be an attractive one for many to whom other e-book stores&amp;' terms may not be permissive or customizable enough. As Dominique Raccah of Sourcebooks Inc., an Illinois publisher, puts it, &amp;''Google is going to turn every Internet space that talks about a book into a place where you can buy that book.&amp;''As there has been a significant shift towards self-publishing, and an understandable drive for the monetization thereof, Google Editions might be getting in at the beginning of an expanding market. Centralized stores will of course remain popular, but the web is becoming quite the discovery engine, partially because of Google itself, which puts them in an undeniably advantageous starting position for this kind of thing. They don&amp;'t intend to take Amazon down, but they plan to be there if the virtual bookstore model takes itself down.The actual e-reading platform Google describes is less well-formed. Amazon has, as noted above, a huge advantage in being the market leader in e-book devices as well as sales, and hasn&amp;'t even (as Apple might have done) used that position to strong-arm consumers into buying their hardware. As commenters pointed out yesterday on the iPad/Kindle story, it is possible and even likely that many of the iPads identified as e-readers in that survey were running Kindle software. Amazon knows that either service would survive on its own, as the Kindle is probably the best e-reader device on the market, and the Kindle store is the most familiar and well-integrated e-book marketplace. They want people to buy iPads! The more people reading e-books, the more people buying e-books, and Amazon is surely hard at work getting exclusive content and sweetheart deals with publishers.The upward march of Android version numbers and the release of Chrome OS devices may give us some insight to the reading platform over time, but for the moment, it appears to be a web-bound service, perhaps best explained to wary consumers as a Gmail for your e-books. I can&amp;'t say I&amp;'m particularly attracted to such a thing, though it&amp;'s too early to trouble ourselves much about it, since not only is it unlaunched, but will likely still be raw when it goes live. We&amp;'ll assess it separately once a product is actually available. And if you&amp;'re wondering whether this affects which e-reader you should get the spouse, the answer is no, not really. No need to find a replacement gift.There is also the question of cross-compatibility with other services. You may as well ask about the availability of personal unicorns for your cloud chariot. These services are fighting tooth and nail to keep books within their ecosystems, and it&amp;'ll be a while before official drag-and-drop support between the majors will be permitted. Technical issues also abound: while I read Google Books PDFs on my iPad all the time, the images are encoded with JPEG 2000, which isn&amp;'t supported by iOS, and so huge portions of my collection of The Gentleman&amp;'s Magazine turn up blank (pro tip: resaving the PDF in Preview fixes this). Shame on Apple for not supporting this image format &amp;mdash' but I digress. The point is that technical standards will need to be addressed as well as digital rights and such.The Google Editions news comes on the heels of a major announcement by Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers, to the effect that they&amp;'ve worked out their long-running issues and will be cooperating on the service. The details of the announcement can be found here and here' the gist seems to be that the key players have agreed to whatever revenue sharing, donations, legal rights, and so on were desirable in exchange for Google access to their content. Now that the hurly-burly is done, Google can launch with confidence.It&amp;'s too late for Google to take advantage of the holidays, I&amp;'m afraid, though we can probably expect a soft launch later this month. Indeed, it would be fair to say it has already launched, since many of the terms, details, and policies have already been published. We&amp;'ll certainly be hearing more over the next few months, though, as Google makes its device and platform strategies more clear.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Playdom co-founder starts Wild Needle to focus on social mobile games (exclusive)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=playdom-co-founder-starts-wild-needle-to-focus-on-social-mobile-games-exclusive</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=playdom-co-founder-starts-wild-needle-to-focus-on-social-mobile-games-exclusive</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nundalkadia</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=playdom-co-founder-starts-wild-needle-to-focus-on-social-mobile-games-exclusive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Rick Thompson is hoping that lightning strikes another time. Thompson was the chairman and co-founder of Playdom, the social game company that Disney bought last year for as much as $763 million. Now he has started a new game company, Wild Needle, focused on social games with a location twist.&amp;''Wild Needle represents a shift in the way smart money is thinking of social games,&amp;'' Thompson said in an interview.It used to be smart to invest in a game company making social games for Facebook. But Thompson is putting money on the idea that mobile is becoming a larger opportunity. His six-person company will focus on making games for the iPhone and then expand to other mobile platforms. Japan&amp;'s DeNA validated this &amp;''mobile first&amp;'' strategy when it bought iPhone game publisher Ngmoco earlier this year for $403 million.Thompson said he isn&amp;'t looking for a similar transaction anytime soon. But because of Zynga&amp;'s dominance and Facebook&amp;'s crackdown on viral distribution, he doubts that small startups can make an impact on Facebook.Mountain View, Calif.-based Wild Needle has raised $2.5 million in funding from Thompson and Shasta Ventures. Thompson said that he didn&amp;'t need the money to start the company, but he did want access to Shasta&amp;'s managing director, Robert Coneybeer, who is joining Wild Needle&amp;'s board. Wild Needle&amp;'s other top executives include Heidi Carson (vice president of product), Chris Kirmse (vice president of engineering), and Minglei Xu (software architect). Thompson also was founding chairman of online ad networks Flycast and Adify. Kirmse is a veteran game developer who worked at Xfire and was the co-creator of Meridian 59, the world&amp;'s first 3D massively multiplayer online game.Thompson said that there is enormous untapped potential in mobile games that use a device&amp;'s location awareness and its always-on connectivity to a social network. Mobile games have lower distribution costs and potentially new kinds of game play around location awareness. Smartphones are also likely to be ubiquitous.&amp;''Things go in cycles,&amp;'' Thompson said. &amp;''Facebook is very challenging for startups now because of high-distribution costs and lack of virality. He said he has investments in a couple of Facebook game companies, one of which is Funzio.Thompson said Wild Needle is aggressively hiring now. Dan Yue, co-founder of Playdom, and John Pleasants, who was CEO of Playdom, remain at Disney. Thompson said the company&amp;'s first game will be targeted at women and feature cool game play. He said he doesn&amp;'t think he has direct rivals, but other location-based game companies include Foursquare, Gowalla and Booyah.Next Story: Media frenzy about Verizon iPhone fails to move the needle on stocks Previous Story: Live at Verizon&amp;'s iPhone event: iPhone 4 will be available early next monthPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: mobile games, social gamesCompanies: Booyah, Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Playdom, Wild NeedlePeople: Chris Kirmse, Dan Yue, Heidi Carson, John Pleasants, Minglei Xu, Rick Thompson          Tags: mobile games, social gamesCompanies: Booyah, Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Playdom, Wild NeedlePeople: Chris Kirmse, Dan Yue, Heidi Carson, John Pleasants, Minglei Xu, Rick ThompsonDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Intel&'s netbook app store finally gets a blockbuster with Angry Birds]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intelrsquos-netbook-app-store-finally-gets-a-blockbuster-with-angry-birds</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intelrsquos-netbook-app-store-finally-gets-a-blockbuster-with-angry-birds</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Geumdius</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=intelrsquos-netbook-app-store-finally-gets-a-blockbuster-with-angry-birds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After charming mobile gamers with its crazy concept and sharp physics engine, Angry Birds is flying over to Intel&amp;'s AppUp app store, which offers software downloadsfor devices running on Intel&amp;'s chips.The AppUp storelaunched in at the Intel Developer&amp;'s Forum in September. It took off pretty quickly and had around 450,000 users and 23,000 program members when it launched. But it has, for the most part, sat in the shadows of Apple&amp;'s App Store for iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads, and the Android Market for devices running Google&amp;'s mobile operating system.Now it has one of the most popular mobile games of 2010. In Angry Birds, players take control of a batch of birds and fling them with a slingshot across the screen to blow up pigs and their fortresses. The gameplay is pretty simple and quite addictive. So much so that the gamebroke all of the records on the Apple App Store in its first 10 months after release, selling more than 6.5 million copies.Angry Birds made its way over to other smartphones and the iPad, where it also saw a rather absurd amount of success a4&quot; forcing independent app marketplace GetJar toshut down temporarily due to demand for the Android version.More than 77 percent of Angry Birds players update the game as new levels become available. New updates with new levels come out every three or four weeks.The game is supposed to run on any computer using an Intel chip a4&quot; including netbooks and typical notebook computers. It expands to support the resolution of each device, and can be streamed out to an HD television at 1080p, according to Intel.Either way, this should give Intel&amp;'s app store a little bit of a boost. The AppUp store has a good number of developers, and Intel also offers some incentives for developing top-of-the-line apps. But porting insanely popular applications over to a new app distribution channel isn&amp;'t necessarily the secret to success. Winning the App Store game isn&amp;'t necessarily a numbers game a4&quot; it&amp;'s about having access to good applications and some great exclusives.Next Story: Hearst, Google, and Oprah check-in to social TV app Miso Previous Story: Going private in 2011PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android Marketplace, Angry Birds, App Store, AppUp, iPhoneCompanies: Apple, Google, Intel          Tags: Android Marketplace, Angry Birds, App Store, AppUp, iPhoneCompanies: Apple, Google, IntelMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[By the numbers: Apple&'s fourth quarter results]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=by-the-numbers-applersquos-fourth-quarter-results</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=by-the-numbers-applersquos-fourth-quarter-results</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>instantempo2axociabbittah</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=by-the-numbers-applersquos-fourth-quarter-results</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple delivered a stellar fourth quarter by bringing in almost $27 billion in revenue during the holiday season a4&quot; another record for the iPhone and Mac manufacturer.But the numbers really do speak for themselves.Here are some highlights from the company&amp;'s announcement today of its fourth quarter performance ending in December:Those are some pretty staggering results. Apple, the largest consumer technology company in the world, has reached a market cap of $312.5 billion and is now the second largest company in the world a4&quot; and is fast approaching ExxonMobil, the largest company in the world with a market cap of nearly $400 billion.All eyes are on Apple&amp;'s next quarter, in which the company will be under the guidance of Tim Cook now that Steve Jobs has decided to take some personal time off.The company is releasing its iPhone on Verizon&amp;'s network next month, Applea4a4s iPad 2 is expected to ship around April, and the company is expected to field a new iPhone by the summer. Even without Steve Jobs and with the company on cruise control, Apple looks like it&amp;'s in good shape.Next Story: Analysts neglect to ask about Steve Jobs&amp;' health Previous Story: Two cleantech behemoths team up to tackle clean coal: GE and ChinaPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: App Store, iOS, iPad, iPhone, ipod, macCompanies: ApplePeople: Steve Jobs, Tim Cook          Tags: App Store, iOS, iPad, iPhone, ipod, macCompanies: ApplePeople: Steve Jobs, Tim CookMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[News Corp has spent $30M on The Daily iPad newspaper]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=news-corp-has-spent-30m-on-the-daily-ipad-newspaper</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=news-corp-has-spent-30m-on-the-daily-ipad-newspaper</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sophia01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=news-corp-has-spent-30m-on-the-daily-ipad-newspaper</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Rupert Murdoch is finally launching The Daily today, but there&amp;'s already been plenty of talk about the long-rumored iPad newspaper. One of the big topics of speculation has been the amount of money Murdoch is pouring into this effort.Now News Corp has confirmed that it has already spent $30 million on The Daily and that it will cost about $500,000 a week to keep it going. Back when the $30 million number was reported last fall, other publishers were scratching their heads &amp;8212' Sarah Chubb, president of Conde Nast Digital, said it &amp;''doesn&amp;'t make any sense.&amp;'' (News Corp&amp;'s digital media chairman and CEO Jon Miller said in December that the $30 million estimate was too high, but, uh, I guess he didn&amp;'t get the memo)That means The Daily it going to have to be a huge hit. At 99 cents a week (split with Apple), it will need hundreds of thousands of subscribers to break even on subscription revenue alone. (Murdoch said he eventually hopes to make half the revenue from advertising.) In comparison, Conde Nast&amp;'s Wired iPad app averaged 31,000 in monthly sales between July and September.Next Story: Apple brings news subscriptions to the iPad, starting with The Daily Previous Story: Social media tracker Tynt debuts tools to follow sharing activityPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: iPad, The DailyCompanies: News Corp, The DailyPeople: Rupert Murdoch          Tags: iPad, The DailyCompanies: News Corp, The DailyPeople: Rupert MurdochAnthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Pearltrees Dives Into Social Curating With Pearltrees&nbsp'Team]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=pearltrees-dives-into-social-curating-with-pearltreesnbspteam</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=pearltrees-dives-into-social-curating-with-pearltreesnbspteam</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kimberlysexy</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=pearltrees-dives-into-social-curating-with-pearltreesnbspteam</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Content curation and mapping service Pearltrees has decided to focus on the fact that people want to do things in groups and has as of today upgraded its core product with a groups functionality, called Pearltrees Team. Now accesible just by logging in, Pearltrees Team allows you to hook up with other people in order to create a Pearltree collaboratively in realtime.Ideally this goes down as such: You really care about fashion so you search for fashion in the Pearltrees search box and are confronted with really elaborate visual cluster displays of fashion blogs, each blog its own a4Apearl.a4 You decide that anyone who likes The Sartorialist is probably a good egg and click on the puzzle piece in the Pearltrees detail window in order to ask if you can join the team.If the team leader accepts, you then can see all the Pearltree curation happening as it happens as well as as comment on individual Pearltree decisions. You can also share your team curation easily via Facebook and Twitter.In the same space as Storify and Pinterest, Pearltrees currently has 102,000 unique visits, 60,000 active users and 6 million pageviews monthly. Over 4 million pearls have been created thus far on topics as diverse as Windsurfing to Wikileaks.And while the Pearltrees flash interface is somewhat tough to navigate, CEO Patrice Lamothe says that improving user interaction is a top priority, a4AOne of the things we need to do better is be faster.a4 I&amp;'ve used PearlTrees to display information here,a4shere, here and in the Crunchbase example above and my best advice is to get in there and play around, for often surprising results.Paris-based Pearltrees currently has a4s3.8 million in funding and plans on launching PearlTrees Touch, a full touch interface that enables you to curate pearltrees in real time using your fingers, this week at Le Web.Check out more on how to use Pearltrees to organize the web in the video below. TipTweet<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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