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<title>Haaze.com / Shilpa / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Apr 2011 07:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Yahoo tops all U.S. sites in March' Google follows]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-tops-all-u-s--sites-in-march-google-follows</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-tops-all-u-s--sites-in-march-google-follows</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Apr 2011 07:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>wanparjujbh</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-tops-all-u-s--sites-in-march-google-follows</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The top U.S. Web properties, according to ComScore.(Credit:ComScore Media Metrix)It was business as usual on the Web in March, ComScore found in its latest Media Metrix survey.According to the research firm, more than 212 million Americans surfed the Web last month, and once again, Yahoo was their top destination, scoring nearly 180 million unique visitors. Google trailed Yahoo with more than 176.8 million unique visitors. Microsoft, Facebook, and AOL followed the search giant with 176.4 million, 153 million, and 118 million unique visitors, respectively.Perhaps the biggest surprise of the month was the growth of Zynga.com. According to ComScore, the FarmVille creator's site saw traffic rise 164 percent from over 2.7 million unique visitors in February to 7.3 million visitors in March. ComScore didn't say why Zynga's traffic rose so sharply.Neither the research firm nor Zynga immediately responded to request for comment.Aside from Web traffic, ComScore also examined the state of advertising in March. Once again, Google's Ad network reigned supreme, with its ads reaching 91.7 percent of the entire U.S. Web audience. Yahoo Sites had 84.4 percent reach.One other interesting tidbit: Americans were thinking seriously about repairing their homes in March. According to ComScore, home improvement sites saw traffic rise by 10 percent compared to February.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[HTC profit triples on huge smartphone demand]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=htc-profit-triples-on-huge-smartphone-demand</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=htc-profit-triples-on-huge-smartphone-demand</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>aalina387</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=htc-profit-triples-on-huge-smartphone-demand</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Smartphone maker HTC took home record profits and revenue in the first quarter thanks to surging consumption of its smartphone lineup.HTC&amp;39's Evo 4G(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)For the quarter ended March 31, the Taiwanese company earned $14.8 billion in Taiwan dollars (US$513 million), almost triple the NT$5 billion profit from the year-ago quarter. Net income easily surpassed the average analyst estimate of NT$12.8 billion as compiled by Bloomberg.Revenue soared to NT$104.2 billion, a gain of almost 175 percent from the prior year and a leap over the NT$95 billion forecast by the average analyst, said Bloomberg.Related links &amp;149' Best Buy to sell Wi-Fi HTC Flyer &amp;149' Gartner: Android market share to near 50 percent &amp;149' Ask Maggie: HTC Thunderbolt vs. Droid BionicHTC has been a major beneficiary of the rising demand for Android phones, especially those offering higher 4G speeds. Sold through Sprint, the HTC Evo 4G was the first 4G phone to hit the market. Adding to its high-speed lineup, the company recently unveiled the Thunderbolt through Verizon Wireless and the Inspire through AT&amp;amp'T.Though HTC didn't reveal the number of smartphones shipped during the first quarter, it had announced in January that it expected to ship 8.5 million handsets, up 157 percent from a year ago. Looking ahead, HTC is branching out into thetablet market with its upcoming 7-inch Flyer, aka Evo View, slated to launch this spring.HTC's market value recently surpassed that of global leader and rival Nokia, reported All Things D and other sources. The company is now worth around $33.8 billion, inching past Nokia's market capitalization of $32.84 billion.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Wrap Firefox in a Cocoon of privacy]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wrap-firefox-in-a-cocoon-of-privacy</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wrap-firefox-in-a-cocoon-of-privacy</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rodgerveeg</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wrap-firefox-in-a-cocoon-of-privacy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Web browsers are ground zero for Internet security threats, and the debate over responsibility for preventing those threats has resulted in a Gordian knot. The people behind the new add-on forFirefox called Cocoon (download) want to cut through debate by serving the entire Web to you via proxy. (Cocoon is also available at GetCocoon.com.)Cocoon&amp;39's Web site, with the Cocoon add-on installed. It adds a toolbar to the top of the Firefox interface, and adds buttons to the Add-On Bar at the bottom of the interface.(Credit:Cocoon)Made by Santa Barbara, Calif., start-up Virtual World Computing, Cocoon's goal is to put the Internet on a server to prevent individual users from having to touch it, Cocoon Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Jeff Bermant said in an interview today at CNET's San Francisco offices. The add-on, which has about 4,000 users since it entered into private beta 18 months ago, creates a safe state in which the user can browse the Internet by forcing all interactions between the computer in front of you and the Internet to occur over protected SSL connections to Cocoon's servers. Those servers, in turn, are guarded by Security-Enhanced Linux, which was developed by the United States' National Security Agency.Cocoon opened its beta to the public in January of this year.Cocoon installs as a toolbar just below the location bar in Firefox 4, although the add-on supports the browser back to Firefox 3.6. You can turn it on or off using the universal power button icon on the left of the toolbar, or &quot;pause&quot; Cocoon lock/unlock button that's next to it. Settings are available from a hard-to-see drop-down arrow just next to the lock button.On the right are buttons for your Cocoon history, mailslots, and help. Next to those are real-time site-function buttons, so you can bookmark sites on the fly with the thumbtack--similar to the bookmark star in other browsers--or jot down a note attached to the site that only you can see using the notepad icon.When running Cocoon, the browser will open into Private Browsing mode, although you can switch back to normal mode while still using Cocoon. It will also redirect your Home button to the cocoon:home site, and it installs a Cocoon toolbar as well as Cocoon-specific buttons on the Firefox add-on bar. Note that Cocoon doesn't work with the Google toolbar because of the competing interests of Google search and Cocoon's emphasis on privacy.Cocoon's features are laudable, the most important being the subtlest: whatever you're looking at in Firefox with Cocoon is being shown to you remotely. You can test this after installing Cocoon by checking your IP address with Cocoon on, and then again with it off: you will see two different addresses, which means that your Internet connection is being routed through Cocoon's servers.One of the side benefits of this, said Bermant, is that Netflix users will be able to watch streaming content from outside the United States since Cocoon's servers are in the U.S., and Netflix blocks streaming content to IP addresses that indicate a non-U.S. server.All your personal browsing data is stored in the cloud and encrypted, so only the user can access it, and you can view it only over a secure connection. This is similar to how LastPass functions. All your interactions with the Web are opt-in, not opt-out, so that your privacy gets elevated above all other concerns.Another excellent feature in Cocoon is that it comes with an unlimited number of on-demand e-mail &quot;mailslots&quot; are provided to help you keep your primary e-mail address private. If you've installed Cocoon, you can see how it works by navigating to any site that requires an e-mail address to log in, such as Twitter, Facebook, or Gmail. If Cocoon has been activated, the mailslots feature will ask you if you want to create a new e-mail address to register a new account for that site.Cocoon Chief Technical Officer and co-founder Brian Fox added that the mailslots function like traditional brick-and-mortar mail drops. &quot;You can not send e-mail from a Cocoon e-mail, but you can forward it to a Gmail account, for example,&quot; he said.Cocoon offers a visual history, not unlike Opera&amp;39's Speed Dial, of sites you&amp;39've visited when logged in to the service. It stores the data remotely, so you can access it from any browser.(Credit:Cocoon)There's anti-cookie tracking that prevents advertisers from stalking you as you jump from one Web site to the next, much like Internet Explorer's tracking protection. Cocoon also incorporates support for Mozilla's new &quot;Do Not Track&quot;, although Bermant remains skeptical of its effectiveness because, he said, &quot;It requires advertisers to play nice, and they've never done that.&quot; Fox said that Cocoon uses ClamAV for its core antivirus engine, which it uses as part of its protection mechanisms.Since you're browsing remotely, threats like cross-site scripting attacks and drive-by downloads are blocked. You are still vulnerable to social engineering, however, and short of full-frontal lobotomies, there's little to be done about that besides education and awareness.Cocoon also comes with a note-taking feature that allows you to type up notes on Web sites as you visit them.Bermant and Fox have big plans for Cocoon. They want to include features such as browser history and settings importation' implement granular controls for better whitelisting and blacklisting' and provide some level of parental controls. A version of Cocoon for Internet Explorer 9 is in the works. They're also looking at small businesses, anticipating interest from companies that want to strike a better balance between privacy and Web access. Fox noted that mobility is likely to play a major role in Cocoon's future, too. &quot;Security and privacy are two important aspects of mobile browising,&quot; he said, &quot;And they are sorely lacking.&quot;Cocoon looks like a serious contender for one of the best add-ons of the year. It's a smart and effective tool, easy to toggle on or off, and plugs nearly all of the security holes the average user will encounter. The big hang-up, however, is price, and that many users simply do not pay for add-ons.Right now, Cocoon is available as a free trial for the first 30 days of use. After that, it costs $6.95 per month, or $55.00 for a one-year subscription, a 35 percent discount. Bermant and Fox say that &quot;a freemium option is not off the table&quot;. As important as security is, and as affordable as $55 per year sounds, it's hard to imagine widespread adoption of Cocoon's safety wrapping until it's made more accessible.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[EMC acquires NetWitness, combines with RSA]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=emc-acquires-netwitness-combines-with-rsa</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=emc-acquires-netwitness-combines-with-rsa</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>TakiraJanaka</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=emc-acquires-netwitness-combines-with-rsa</guid>
<description><![CDATA[EMC said today that it has acquired NetWitness, which provides network security software.The purchase, which won't impact EMC's revenue or earnings in 2011, was closed on April 1. NetWitness will be included in EMC's RSA unit.Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.With the acquisition, EMC will delve deeper into network security monitoring and analysis. NetWitness aims to spot everything from insider threats to target malware to data leakage.On the product front, NetWitness will become part of RSA's advanced security management lineup, which includes EnVision, RSA's Data Loss Prevention Suite and CyberCrime Intelligence service.The story &quot;EMC acquires NetWitness, combines with RSA&quot; was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google updates finance search for Android, iPhone]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-updates-finance-search-for-android-iphone</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-updates-finance-search-for-android-iphone</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>trubogaz</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-updates-finance-search-for-android-iphone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Google)Google made a few tweaks today to the way it presents financial information in its mobile search results.Now, typing a stock symbol into the Google.com search bar in on youriPhone or Android smartphone (2.1 or above) returns useful data in a glance, including the stock's share price and an interactive graph you can click on to see fluctuations over a day up to a five-year span.What's more, the results appear on four &quot;cards,&quot; or screens, that you can swipe through to see additional news, and a market overview. Those of you signed on to your Google account can also swipe to see a summarized view of your Google Finance stock portfolio.The new usability features are launching in English for now, with more language support to follow.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player (review)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-cloud-drive-and-cloud-player-review</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-cloud-drive-and-cloud-player-review</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>elecgigar</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-cloud-drive-and-cloud-player-review</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[iPad 2 arrives at 500 RadioShacks tomorrow]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-arrives-at-500-radioshacks-tomorrow</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-arrives-at-500-radioshacks-tomorrow</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:10:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>leonflllel</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipad-2-arrives-at-500-radioshacks-tomorrow</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Gadget retailer RadioShack will begin sellingApple's iPad 2 at 500 of its stores beginning tomorrow.This marks one of the first retailers outside of the original U.S. launch group to begin selling the hot newtablet, as well as the first time any iPad will be available at RadioShack.Blog MacRumors was the first to break the news earlier today, posting an internal notice that had been sent to RadioShack employees. It depicted an iPad 2 unit being unveiled from behind a red curtain. CNET confirmed the news with a representative for RadioShack who said &quot;we are thrilled that iPad 2 will be available at 500 RadioShack locations across the country starting tomorrow, March 29.&quot; Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. RadioShack has not yet said which locations will be getting iPad 2 units, though the same company representative told CNET such information will go live on RadioShack's site tomorrow morning. In the meantime, the company is advising customers to call their local store to see if it will be carried. The 500 stores are a little more than 20 percent of the retailers' footprint. This marks the first time RadioShack will sell the iPad. The company has been one of Apple's retail partners since late 2009 when it began selling theiPhone 3G and 3GS in its retail stores. The retailer had also sold Apple's latest iPhone at a $50 discount, as well as offered a trade-in program for buyers to get a deeper discount on a handset upgrade by turning in their previous-generation iPhone.  The iPad 2 continues to be a hot commodity, with units selling out in the U.S. where it launched earlier this month, and in the 25 countries where it went on sale Friday. Apple has still not disclosed how many units it's sold. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[U.S. warns of more SCADA software holes]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--warns-of-more-scada-software-holes</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--warns-of-more-scada-software-holes</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xkufiv</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--warns-of-more-scada-software-holes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:ICS-CERT)Flaws in SCADA software, used to monitor and control sensors and operations at utilities and other critical infrastructure facilities, seem to keep coming out of the woodwork:  &amp;149' Last week, the U.S. ICS-CERT (Industrial Control System Computer Emergency Response Team) issued several advisories about vulnerabilities exposed in SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software. One was in an ActiveXcontrol in WellinTech KingView V6.53 human machine interface (HMI) software used in power, water, and aerospace industries, mostly in China. The researcher publicly released exploit code for the hole and the vendor released an update that resolves the problem. The second vulnerability was reported in Progea's Movicon 11 HMI product, used primarily in Italy. It too has been patched.  &amp;149' Also last week, a Russian firm released exploits targeting 11 unpatched, or zero-day, holes in SCADA software, which The Register was first to report.  &amp;149' Three days ago, an Italian researcher publicly released information on dozens of unpatched holes in four different products and released exploits for targeting them. The move prompted an ICS-CERT warning. &amp;149' On Tuesday, Spanish researcher Ruben Santamarta told the BugTraq e-mail list that he had found flaws in BroadWin WebAccess, a Web browser-based HMI product from Advantech that ICS-CERT says is used in energy and other industries in North America, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. Santamarta released details of the vulnerability and exploit code and ICS-CERT issued an alert.  &amp;149' And yesterday, ICS-CERT released yet another advisory, this one warning about a SQL (Structured Query Language) vulnerability in the Ecava IntegraX or HMI product that could allow data leakage or manipulation as well as remote code execution on the backend host running the database service. Ecava has developed a patch for the hole.  Security problems with software used to monitor and control systems in the electric grid, refineries, gas pipelines, and other critical operations are moving to the forefront as the industries adopt Web-based technologies and connect previously isolated networks to the Internet.  &quot;What is the acceptable tolerable level for security with industrial control systems We don't know,&quot; Mike Ahmadi, co-founder of consultancy GraniteKey told CNET. &quot;Systems have been isolated from the outside world...It's a very significant change we're going through right now.&quot; While the SCADA bug reports appear to be accelerating, it's unclear if any of the vulnerabilities have been used in attacks on working plants or systems. However, last year the threat became reality with Stuxnet, sophisticated and multipronged attack targeting specific Siemens software used in industrial control operations that experts said appeared to be directed at nuclear facilities in Iran. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Bimmer fans rejoice, a new 6 emerges]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bimmer-fans-rejoice-a-new-6-emerges</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bimmer-fans-rejoice-a-new-6-emerges</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Aragon</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bimmer-fans-rejoice-a-new-6-emerges</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The new 6 series comes closer to the look of the original 6. (Credit:BMW)2012 BMW 650i preview (photos) Ever since the relaunch of BMW's big coupe, the 2003 6 series, fans of the brand had to cover their eyes when walking around the rear of thecar. It lacked the sharklike style of the original 6 series, produced from the late '70s all the way through the '80s. But the 2012 650i, just revealed in new photos from BMW, shows a car with a deemphasized trunk lip, not an exact return to the original style, but a much less offensive design. With its gracefully sloping rear roofline, you can actually say that this car looks good.Given BMW's high-tech engineering, it should certainly be an impressive driver. Under the hood is a twin-turbo direct-injection 4.4-liter V-8, an engine that pumps out a frightening amount of torque, 450 pound-feet at a mere 1,750rpm. Horsepower is rated at 400. And although the car's eight-speed automatic transmission should help it turn in acceptable fuel economy, the available six-speed manual will make driving fans salivate. BMW's high-tech suspension includes automatic damping control, adjustable between Comfort, Normal, Sport, and Sport+ settings. And optional technology includes active roll control and BMW's active steering, which actually steers the rear axle, along with the front. The cabin gets an optional Bang &amp; Olufsen audio system, the first time BMW has worked with the Danish audio brand. This system features 16 speakers and Bang &amp; Olufsen's acoustic lens technology.Click here for photos of the new 650i.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Warner Bros. to deliver movies on Facebook]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=warner-bros--to-deliver-movies-on-facebook</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=warner-bros--to-deliver-movies-on-facebook</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Mar 2011 08:11:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bioujungnya</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=warner-bros--to-deliver-movies-on-facebook</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Warner Bros. plans to let fans rent movies such as &amp;39'The Dark Knight&amp;39' via their Facebook accounts.(Credit:Warner Bros.)Warner Bros. is apparently hoping to attract new fans by offering movies for viewing on Facebook.The movie studio announced this evening it would begin testing a program that would offer movies for sale or rental for a brief period through its fan pages on the social-networking giant.Beginning tomorrow, Facebook users can use Facebook Credits to rent &quot;The Dark Knight&quot; through the movie's official fan page on the social-networking site, Warner said in statement. The movie can be rented for 30 Facebook credits or $3, and Facebook users will have access to the movie for 48 hours through their accounts on the social network.Facebook Credits is an alternative payment option for more than 150 games and applications on the social network. It's supported by games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, as well as Bejeweled Blitz and Madden NFL Superstars. Most titles still allow gamers to pay with credit cards, but it's Facebook's hope that eventually, users will buy all virtual goods with Credits.The studio sees the social network as fertile ground for video on demand--considered a key revenue source for Hollywood studios grappling with falling box office receipts.&quot;Facebook has become a daily destination for hundreds of millions of people,&quot; Thomas Gewecke, president of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, said in a statement. &quot;Making our films available through Facebook is a natural extension of our digital distribution efforts. It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world's largest social network.&quot;Facebook representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In addition to being able to pause the movie and resume it at their leisure when they log back in to Facebook, Warner Bros. said users will still be able to post comments on the movie and interact with friends on the network while watching their selection.The program is currently available only in the U.S., and additional titles will be added on a regular basis over the coming months, Warner Bros. said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple discounts original iPad to as low as $350]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-discounts-original-ipad-to-as-low-as-350</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-discounts-original-ipad-to-as-low-as-350</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shantay9vl</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-discounts-original-ipad-to-as-low-as-350</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Man, I just bought mine for $500 less than a year ago!(Credit:Apple/Matt Hickey)TheiPad 2 is official, and it's impressive, but it's not as much of an upgrade to the original as some had thought. No Thunderbolt, no SD slot, and no mini-DisplayPort. That might make those of us who have the original take pause before lining up for the new one.But for those in the market for their first iPad, the lack of a completely overwhelming difference between the older and the newer device might be a good thing. During today's event, Apple's online store, as it typically does, went down. When it came back up, it had ordering information about the new iPad. And it had some new clearance pricing on the original as well.You can now buy the original 16GB Wi-Fi iPad for just $400, $100 off the normal price. You won't get the cameras, faster processor, or the neat magnetic flap, but you will get the same storage and screen as the iPad 2.There are other discounted original series iPads, too, including the 16GB with 3G for $500 ($130 off the original price) all the way up to the 64GB 3G version for $730 ($100 off the original price).But if you want to go even cheaper, you can. The refurb store has the original 16GB version for just $350, all the way up to the 64GB 3G version for just $660. Apple treats its refurbished devices just like any others. They're in brand-new condition, include all the accessories, and have the same warranty. I'm typing this on a refurb MacBook I picked up a couple years ago and it works just fine.They're not for everyone--many of you are going to want the latest and greatest, that's why you read Crave--but they're a great alternative for everyone else. For $350, anyone can take part in what Steve Jobs today called the &quot;post-PC revolution.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Wheelmap.org: Rate wheelchair accessibility]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wheelmap-org-rate-wheelchair-accessibility</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wheelmap-org-rate-wheelchair-accessibility</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>abressufkjdls</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wheelmap-org-rate-wheelchair-accessibility</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Atlanta International Airport and surrounding establishments remain gray (unrated) in spite of a recent wheelchair-related mix-up.(Credit:Screenshot by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore/CNET)A Web site and app out of Germany applies the wiki approach to maps, enabling users around the world to use the OpenStreetMap platform to rate and comment on the wheelchair accessibility of a wide range of establishments, from bars and shops to underground metro stops.Called Wheelmap, the free app for iOS devices is in English, German, and Japanese, and while still in beta (version 1.1 adds Japanese), it already includes details on some 30,000 locations, with roughly 300 new user ratings every day.Wheelmap is the brainchild of Raul Krauthausen, who wanted to create a service that puts power into the hands of the mobility-impaired. (Krauthausen suffers from a genetic disorder that makes his bones brittle.) &quot;Sometimes I feel I'm treated like a child who isn't allowed to decide specific things by myself,&quot; he tells the Associated Press. &quot;I want to remain flexible and not be dependent on when a driving service has time to pick me up.&quot;The set-up is simple. Ratings are shown as color-coded flags--green for go (i.e. totally accessible), yellow for proceed with caution (partially accessible), and red for avoid at all costs (not at all accessible). If a location is unrated, its flag waves a nondescript gray.Of course, with anyone being able to add ratings (one must be signed in to add comments and edit place details), there are bound to be inaccuracies and even flat-out lies. But Krauthausen is banking on enough people having, well, lives, that trolls messing with wheelchair ratings won't be a major issue.Having funded the project through a public stipend and private donations, Krauthausen says he hopes Wheelmap proves to be useful for those with wheelchairs, canes, walkers, etc., and that the rating system will pressure business owners to rid their establishments of as many barriers as possible.Of course the app is merely a guide, and would likely not have helped 80-year-old wheelchair-bound Nefissa Yesuf, a non-English-speaking Ethiopian who was given the wrong boarding pass and thus flown to the wrong city last weekend. A barrier of a different order, perhaps, but then, anyone could ding the Atlanta International Airport page accordingly.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Report: Google 'not happy' with Android purchasing]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-google-not-happy-with-android-purchasing</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-google-not-happy-with-android-purchasing</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>keadfy</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-google-not-happy-with-android-purchasing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google apparently isn't too pleased with Android Market purchasing, and it plans on addressing that problem this year.At the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco yesterday, Google's Group Manager for the Android platform, Eric Chu, told those in attendance that Google is &quot;not happy&quot; with the number of paid apps purchased in the marketplace, but he stopped short of offering figures to elaborate on the company's concerns, according to a blog post by Oliver Chang on Forbes.In order to address lackluster purchasing, Chu laid out a handful of strategies that the company will be following this year.According to Forbes, one of the central tenets of Google's plan is to remove applications that violate the company's terms of service. In addition, Google is improving the algorithm that handles ranking of popular applications to ensure users can more effectively find popular apps.Google also reportedly plans to introduce a new in-app payment system in the first quarter to capitalize on the virtual goods market, which just might be the company's best idea yet.In a study released in November, market research firm In-Stat said that virtual goods revenue grew 245 percent between 2007 and 2010 and that it expected virtual goods revenue to reach $7.3 billion in 2010 and potentially hit $14 billion by 2014.That study was echoed later that month by Juniper Research, which said that 2009 revenue in mobile gaming was $6 billion. By 2015, Juniper said the figure could grow to more than $11 billion.Chu also said yesterday that Google plans to expand its carrier-billing service internationally, according to Forbes. Last month, the company announced a carrier-billing arrangement with AT&amp;T that allows customers to purchase apps from the Android Market and pay for them in their monthly phone bill.That initiative and Google's desire to launch an in-app payment system could combine to thwart plans by Angry Birds maker Rovio.Last month, Rovio unveiled a new payment system for Android developers called Bad Piggy Bank. The service allows developers to offer customers a &quot;one-touch payment&quot; system to buy virtual goods in-game. Rather than require registration and credit card information, Bad Piggy Bank bills the user on their monthly phone bill.At that time, Rovio made it clear that its desire to offer the service to Android developers stemmed from its issues with payment systems available to Android developers. The company continues to offer its wildly popular Angry Birds title for free in the Android Market for that very reason. It supports the title with ads.However, even with those concerns, developers aren't shying away from creating apps for Android.In a study released yesterday by IDC, 87 percent of more than 2,200 developers around the world said they are &quot;very interested&quot; in building apps for Android smartphones. Only Apple's iOS beat out the platform, garnering 92 percent developer interest.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google plans biggest hiring year in its history]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-plans-biggest-hiring-year-in-its-history</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-plans-biggest-hiring-year-in-its-history</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kiran01</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-plans-biggest-hiring-year-in-its-history</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google's going to do its part to reduce the unemployment rate in 2011, declaring plans to hire more people this year than it ever has before.Google&amp;39's Alan Eustace(Credit:Google) Worrying about the economy is so 2008, said Alan Eustace, senior vice president of engineering and research, in a blog post today outlining plans for &quot;our biggest hiring year in company history.&quot; Like most companies, Google scaled back its hiring after hitting a high-water mark in 2007 with slightly more than 6,000 new employees, but after adding 4,500 people in 2010 it vowed to get back to those pre-bust levels this year. Hiring will be &quot;across the board and around the globe,&quot; Eustace said. Google's career Web pages list openings in seemingly every discipline' focused heavily on engineering and its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, as one might expect, but with plenty of openings in other careers and geographies. It was impossible to miss the undercurrent to Eustace's post: Google now faces much more competition for employees in both its home region and around the world as other Internet companies--places like Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and Groupon--build mega-businesses of their own. While working at Google certainly has its perks, those companies offer something Google simply can't: the prospect of a major stock payday through an IPO or private sale. Eustace was careful to emphasize that Google employees work in small project teams &quot;effectively working as start-ups,&quot; probably hoping to dent recent criticism of Google as an increasingly bureaucratic place where it's harder to get good ideas in front of decision makers. That was one reason cited by Google's outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt for passing the torch to co-founder Larry Page, writing in a blog post last week that a change was needed to &quot;simplify our management structure and speed up decision making.&quot; &quot;Google is still the same entrepreneurial company it was when I started, encouraging Googlers to take on big ideas and high-risk, high-reward opportunities,&quot; Eustace wrote. Last week Google said that as of the end of 2010, 24,400 people worked for the company.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple COO: We're 'very confident' in Apple's future]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-coo-were-very-confident-in-apples-future</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-coo-were-very-confident-in-apples-future</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:10:16 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>liwanbugamie</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-coo-were-very-confident-in-apples-future</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Tim Cook(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)The two questions on the mind of anyone who follows Apple are &quot;When is Steve coming back&quot; and &quot;What happens if he doesn't&quot;Yet on the earnings call with financial analysts today, no one asked any direct question about Jobs' medical leave announced yesterday or a possible future without him. However, Apple COO Tim Cook--the company's de facto leader in Jobs' absence--anticipated both questions.He turned his response to an analyst's question about Apple's timeline for planning future products into an subtle assurance that Apple is a well-run company at the top of its game. &quot;I will tell you, in my view, Apple is doing its best work ever. We're very heavy with product pipeline. The team here has an unparalleled depth and breadth with talent and a culture of innovation that Steve has driven in the company,&quot; said Cook. &quot;Excellence has become a habit. We feel very confident in the future of the company.&quot; Not that anyone needed to be reassured today that Apple is a well-run company. The numbers speak for themselves: Apple has been turning in record quarters in a string running back almost two years. Today Apple reported its highest revenue and profits ever, as well as its mostiPhone sales ever (16.2 million), iPads (7.3 million), andMac computers (4.1 million). The company has $60 billion in cash reserves, its retail stores posted their highest total of visitors ever (75 million people), and sales via iTunes are through the roof.But Jobs is viewed as the heart and soul of Apple and absolutely critical to its success by many investors. The company performed very well in his last absence between January and June 2009, but this time around there is no set date for Jobs' return, if at all. That helps explain Apple going out of its way to drive home the point that Jobs remains involved in all major decisions and company strategy. As usual, the earnings press release today contained a quote from Jobs praising the work Apple did during the quarter and pointing to the &quot;exciting&quot; future products Apple has planned for 2011. And in the filing with the SEC notifying them of Jobs' medical leave, Apple highlighted Jobs' plan to stay involved in big-picture concerns.  Cook spent some time talking about the future of their specific business units too, emphasizing the room Apple has to grow and take business from its competitors in the years ahead.&quot;We've done outstanding in our Mac business, but we still have a relatively low share of a very large PC market,&quot; he said, adding, &quot;There's enormous opportunity (to grow) there.&quot;The same, he said, is true of the smartphone market, where &quot;We have relatively low show share in the handset market.&quot; Symbian OS-based phones are the most popular worldwide, with a 37 percent share as of the third quarter of 2010, according to Gartner. Android phones account for 25 percent, and Apple's iOS 17 percent.When it comes to the iPad, Cook sounds most hopeful, likely because there is so little current competition in the space and because Apple has such a sizable head-start over the deluge ofAndroid tablets set to arrive this year.Cook dismissed the current crop of Android tablets for sale as &quot;bizarre,&quot; &quot;scaled-up smartphones&quot; and models announced recently at CES as mostly &quot;vapor.&quot; He emphasized that Apple is &quot;not sitting still,&quot; which is obviously a reference to the anticipated iPad 2, rumored to be introduced in the next two or three months.&quot;We're in some great markets, some fast-moving markets. We have the best products we've ever done. And incredible product pipeline, we feel very, very confident.&quot;Wall Street's confidence in Apple today returned too. Following a $20 share price drop this morning, news of the impressive earnings report sent shares back up. In after-hours trading Apple's stock was up 1.25 percent to $344.90.Still, it's not the ability to update and improve current products and execute plans that have been in place for the last few years that many Apple observers worry about. Rather, when considering a Jobs-less Apple it's the industry-altering products Apple has a knack for two, five, and ten years down the road that make them wonder if they can continue to produce those without him should he decide not to return to Apple full time.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Will Windows Phone 7 apps smile for the camera]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-windows-phone-7-apps-smile-for-the-camera</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-windows-phone-7-apps-smile-for-the-camera</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riauckli1</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-windows-phone-7-apps-smile-for-the-camera</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)One of my favorite features in Apple's iOS is the quietly-hidden capability to take screenshots. Back when I was doing deep dives oniPhone apps for stories, the feature was just there, and it worked. Outside of CNET, it let me do things like grab pictures from sites (before that feature was officially added), and put together quick step-by-step how-to guides for friends and family, turning the device into less of a consumptive tool, and into something that would help me get work done without a computer.But in the past few months of me putting Microsoft'sWindows Phone 7 through its paces as a primary device, I've been missing the feature dearly. So naturally, I asked Microsoft if it was on the short list of features to be added later on down the line.The short answer No.&quot;I have never sat in a user group--and I sit in a lot of user groups, a lot of retail groups--I've never heard an end user go 'why can't I take a screenshot of that'&quot; Aaron Woodman, director of Microsoft's mobile communications business, told CNET in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show last week.Well ahead of a screenshot tool is a laundry list of features Microsoft plans to add, including the ones competitors have already put out, which Woodman referred to as &quot;gaps.&quot; &quot;One of the reasons that personally pulled me over to the Windows Phone space was that there's a lot of choices to make,&quot; Woodman said. &quot;It's not like we didn't know copy and paste was a feature that people could potentially want, it's a question of how important it is to the user experience. When can you get to it&quot;According to Woodman, it's also not always the users who help Microsoft determine which features need to be fast-tracked. &quot;We do a lot of things for reporters,&quot; Woodman said. &quot;I would argue things like theMac connector software--the software that lets you take your Windows Phone and connect it to an Apple PC of some form, and basically pull over music from iTunes and photos and that kind of stuff--it wasn't built because we thought there was a significant market opportunity for Mac loyalists out there who were dying to buy a Windows Phone. It was built because reporters would show up with Macs,&quot; Woodman said. The other half of the equation, Woodman explained, is that developers who wanted to take screenshots of their applications have had the means since the introduction of the Windows Phone 7 SDK. &quot;There's a ton of ways to do it in within the emulator, so application developers have no problem with that,&quot; Woodman said. If you're thinking to yourself, &quot;this is a niche feature,&quot; look no further than Damn You, Auto Correct, a site that popped up back in October of last year and is now up to more than 1,300 posts containing unintentionally humorous instances of the iPhone's autocorrect feature gone wrong, snapped and sent in by users. However, something that would let you snap photos of text conversations is one thing. Where Woodman said some problems could arise is with capturing certain types of content if there's copy-protection involved. &quot;The reality is, we have a DRM requirement for our marketplace, which makes things like HDMI and those types of things out, more difficult,&quot; Woodman said. &quot;We've made a choice to have a more protected set of content on the phone and available to consumers, so we do have restrictions within that,&quot; he said. What that would mean for such a feature is that you wouldn't be able to snap a shot of what you were doing if there was a copy protection layer in place. This is similar to what Apple does with the built-in screen grab software in Mac OS X when movies are playing inside the DVD player application.Woodman said the feature could end up in a future build of the OS software though. &quot;Not that we couldn't technically do it. I mean, at the end of the day it's software,&quot; he said. &quot;We could definitely choose to do screenshot capabilities if you're not in these three experiences.&quot; Windows Phone 7's first software update since its launch late last year is just around the corner. Besides the addition of copy and paste, you can find out more about what kind of benefits it will bring to things like application load times and the Marketplace search tool in our other chat with Woodman from last week. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Report: First Windows 7 service pack sent to OEMs]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-first-windows-7-service-pack-sent-to-oems</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-first-windows-7-service-pack-sent-to-oems</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>winmansufes</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-first-windows-7-service-pack-sent-to-oems</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The first service pack forWindows 7 has been sent to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), according to a post on TechNet by Microsoft's Russian Windows Visualization team.Microsoft launched the first release candidate for Windows 7 SP1, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 in late October of last year, saying that it would be the only RC prior to the software being finalized and made available to manufacturers. The company also promised that SP1 would arrive in the hands of users in the &quot;first half&quot; of 2011.Blog Winrumors, which reported the news earlier today, weighs in, saying that while SP1 is indeed going out to OEMs, it may be a while longer before consumers get their hands on it.A Microsoft spokesperson told CNET, &quot;we have nothing to share at this time but will keep you posted.&quot;SP1 packs together a round of hotfixes, as well as an updated remote desktop client that makes use of RemoteFX. Besides bringing a boost to 3D applications, RemoteFX helps IT admins deploy Windows 7 through virtual machines using the technology, which it picked up with its acquisition of Calista Technologies back in 2008. Other SP1 adds include dynamic memory support for Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2, and all previous Windows security fixes.Earlier this week, Microsoft released KB 976902 through its Windows Update software before having the knowledge base article to explain what the update was for. Security expert Brian Krebs dug a little deeper and found out it was an update to the Windows stack to get the OS ready for future updates, something the company did ahead of the SP1 beta back in July. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft's Webmatrix site builder tool exits beta]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsofts-webmatrix-site-builder-tool-exits-beta</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsofts-webmatrix-site-builder-tool-exits-beta</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rewinbugtalk</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsofts-webmatrix-site-builder-tool-exits-beta</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After three rounds of betas, Microsoft tomorrow is releasing a finalized version of its Webmatrix Web development software. The software, which was first introduced in July, gives users tools to create and manage Web sites while staying compatible with Microsoft's Visual Studio and SQL Server products. The company expects a fully-baked version of the software to make it more attractive to first-time users. &quot;The majority of the users are going to be new to this. That's one of the explicit goals here,&quot; Brian Goldfarb, the director of developer platform marketing at Microsoft, told CNET in an interview earlier this week. &quot;We're trying to make Web development, and the Microsoft technology stack more approachable by a wider audience than we have in the past.&quot; Goldfarb said most of the changes that have taken place between Beta 3 and this new version were based on user feedback. &quot;One of the most important things you can do in a product like this is the small things--the fit and finish, the usability. It's not the features, it's the polish,&quot; he said. &quot;It really makes the product approachable, enjoyable, and that was a big investment from the previous beta to now.&quot;As far as Webmatrix's place among Microsoft's more high-end Web development and publishing tools, Goldfarb explained that the free software has been designed as a stepping stone of sorts. &quot;We have an incredibly powerful professional tooling offering with Visual Studio that ranges from a free set of tools with Express all the way to team development solutions with our Team Systems product,&quot; he said. &quot;The beauty of what we've done with Webmatrix is, when--and if--you're ready, all of the great features and technology inside of Visual Studio will work to customize the same site you were working on before. You just point it at it and keep going.&quot;But there is a larger goal to make Webmatrix a part of Microsoft's business--not by taking kickbacks or cuts from some of the service providers that get their own plug-ins, or links from within the software, Goldfarb explained, but by bringing more people onto Microsoft's Web platform.&quot;Our explicit goal is to attract new customers to Microsoft technology and make them successful using it. And from there, as we increase usage of frameworks, as we increase usage databases, Windows Server and or Azure, we have the engines of which to make this a successful business strategy,&quot; Goldfarb said. &quot;But from a Webmatrix perspective, this is all about enabling more and more people to build great Web sites with simple tools to create, customize, and publish to the Web.&quot;Along with the Webmatrix release, Microsoft is putting out an update to its ASP.NET MVC framework, which adds support for its Razor code syntax as well as things like independency injection and output caching--both things Goldfarb said users had been &quot;begging&quot; for. &quot;We'll also provide support for the nice built in Web server and database solution that come with Webmatrix to lower the installation cost of Visual Studio too,&quot; Goldfarb said.Those who already have the latest beta of the software installed will get a notification to grab the update when it's released. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Remember: At Verizon, it's not just iPhone]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=remember-at-verizon-its-not-just-iphone</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=remember-at-verizon-its-not-just-iphone</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 11 Jan 2011 08:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ingmanbug2</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=remember-at-verizon-its-not-just-iphone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Judging by the elated reactions to today's announcement of the iPhone 4, a significant contingent is poised to switch to Verizon, or switch to theiPhone, anyway, if they're already a Big Red subscriber.The Verizon iPhone has plenty to offer, but keep in mind that it won't do it all. There are still plenty of other phones on Verizon's deep bench poised to deliver on superb hardware specs and software capabilities--including brilliant displays, high-resolution cameras, support for Flash video, HD video capture and playback, and HDMI support. At CES last week, we saw four new 4G LTE Android handsets all bound for Verizon--these are sure to compete with the iPhone in a spec-to-spec showdown. With that in mind, here's a gallery of excellent Verizon contenders, both present and future. It could turn out that the smartphone you're waiting for isn't an iPhone at all.iPhone's Verizon rivals (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Start-up hopes to profit from Kindle lending]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=start-up-hopes-to-profit-from-kindle-lending</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=start-up-hopes-to-profit-from-kindle-lending</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 11 Jan 2011 08:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sevenForuxxtyvi</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=start-up-hopes-to-profit-from-kindle-lending</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Kindle Lending Club)A small company called Kindle Lending Club plans to launch a beta site today or tomorrow that will let it profit from Amazon's e-book ecosystem.The five-person start-up has a simple business model. First, connect people who are willing to lend the electronic books to those who want to borrow them. Second, when the borrowers discover that they didn't finish with Amazon's 14-day lending window, offer a link to buy the e-book and share a portion of the resulting revenue through Amazon's affiliate program.It might not be enough to acquire Facebook, but site founder Catherine MacDonald--a 40-year-old Canadian mother of three who lives in Malta and Tunisia--believes it'll pay the bills. &quot;I'm anticipating that Martin (my husband) and I will be able to work on this full-time, so a full-time living for the family seems realistic,&quot; she told CNET News.And it could be enough to raise Amazon's eyebrows. It's no Napster, but the Kindle Lending Club probably has facilitated the lending of more than 1,000 books among strangers. At scale, it holds the potential to automate free book lending on a global scale when Amazon would prefer to see an actual sale.It's an interesting concept, one that's spun up rapidly since Amazon launched Kindle lending on December 30. MacDonald started with a Facebook group, quickly concluded that wouldn't accommodate the interest, raised an angel investment commitment of $12,500, signed up two Web developers, and is launching a site--all within two weeks.&quot;Last Thursday, December 30, I heard about the introduction of lending (I missed the October announcement) and I was thrilled,&quot; said MacDonald, who's worked in Web development and search marketing since 1998. &quot;While my husband and I were going to sleep that night, an idea suddenly occurred to me, and I told him, 'Martin, you have to remind me to start a Facebook page in the morning to get people together to lend each other books!' So, that's what I did, and it just took on a life of its own.&quot;A look at the Kindle Lending Club beta site (click to enlarge)(Credit:Kindle Lending Club)Time was of the essence, too, since others had the same idea, she said. &quot;It became apparent really fast that we had to move decisively and do social media and software development in tandem,&quot; she said. Another social media angle: The site will broadcast lending possibilities and desires through the KLCfeed on Twitter.She estimates that the Facebook site has facilitated more than a thousand loans. &quot;It seems that most of the book loans on offer are snapped within a day of being posted,&quot; she said.Amazon didn't respond to a request for comment. It can't have been a complete surprise, though, to a global-scale Internet-company. If nothing else, Barnes &amp; Noble beat Amazon to market with a sharing option on its rival Nook e-reader system, and that option has spawned Nook book-sharingsites.The existence of the Kindle Lending site sheds a revealing light on Amazon's move to add a lending option.E-book limitsFrom a customer point of view, one of the big drawbacks of e-books compared to physical books is that digital rights management (DRM) technology, including encryption, typically restricts a person's ability to lend or resell a book. If you buy a Kindle or Nook book, it doesn't become the sort of communal family property a physical book might. And of course systems such as Google Books, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes &amp; Noble Nook aren't compatible.Even though a physical book can be physically copied, it's a pain, and the results aren't likely to match the original. But digital content is famously easy to copy. That makes it tough for a company such as Amazon to strike the right balance between a totally locked down Kindle ecosystem and one that's got some measure of the freedoms of physical books.Amazon's 14-day lending constraint, along with a limit of one lending per book and the fact that publishers don't make all books available for lending in the first place, puts a pretty significant brake on those freedoms while still permitting a person trying to infect a friend with enthusiasm for the latest good read. But the Kindle Lending Club shows that there's a big appetite for free books and a corresponding urge that people have to share.&quot;I have seen people who have said that they will save their loans for friends and family, but the number of lenders who are just entirely altruistic has really impressed me,&quot; MacDonald said. &quot;We have seen it in action over hundreds of loans already, so I think it's reasonable to imagine that people will continue to be altruistic.&quot;MacDonald wants to keep money out of the core lending activity, too.&quot;I do not want to associate money or even credits with book lending on our platform,&quot; she said. &quot;I like the idea that someone who does not have access to a credit card, for whatever reason, can still borrow a book from someone--I could imagine someone in a developing country borrowing a book on business start-ups from someone in America. We enable people to do something simple: just lending a book like we've all been doing for years' but the scale and reach now makes this action potentially transformational on a global level. That gives me a great feeling when I lend an e-book, and I trust that the majority of our community members will feel the same.&quot;Publishers might not get a warm feeling of happiness pondering the possibility of free exchanges of their books. But one factor that doubtless weighed into Amazon's calculations is how often lending actually hurts sales directly. It's not clear how often book borrowing supplants book purchasing, but it's not hard to imagine people might read a free book that they wouldn't pay for.Bear in mind also that the ease of copying isn't just a threat to publishers. It also drastically lowers their production costs, giving them an incentive to embrace the e-book revolution as long as it's not Napsterized.And even if 100 percent of the lending replaced actual Kindle e-book book sales, the idea still might be good for Amazon in the big picture. Here's why.Expanding ecosystemKindle is an ecosystem. Amazon sells Kindle e-readers as well as books, and some number of freely available Kindle books makes a Kindle more valuable. And of course, once somebody has bought a Kindle, they're more likely to buy future e-books through Amazon.Even if a person doesn't buy a Kindle reader, using Amazon's free Kindle apps fortablets, phones, and computers instead, that's another customer in the ecosystem. The more books in a person's Kindle library, the less likely that person is to jump ship for a Nook--and probably the more likely that person is to purchase or upgrade a Kindle reader.&quot;In our view, as the Kindle ecosystem expands, Kindle device users will not only continue buying more e-books but also subscriptions, accessories, hardware warranties, and eventually use Kindle's wireless and computing capabilities for other data and content consumption (e.g. pictures, music, videos, e-mail, etc.),&quot; said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst with Caris &amp; Company, in a Kindle report today.Last, don't forget that the site is funded by sales of Amazon products, and a lot of Kindle customers will be using her site.&quot;I borrowed [Jonathan] Franzen's 'Freedom' on December 30,&quot; she said. &quot;I know I'm not going to get it finished, so I'll have to purchase a copy.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[NASA working on waking Mars Spirit rover]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nasa-working-on-waking-mars-spirit-rover</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nasa-working-on-waking-mars-spirit-rover</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:10:49 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>clonApop</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nasa-working-on-waking-mars-spirit-rover</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Can Spirit be revived(Credit:NASA)The Spirit rover, currently out of commission on the surface of Mars, could be awakened in the coming weeks.Speaking to Space.com, John Callas, NASA's head of the Mars rover program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that the &quot;increasing&quot; sunlight on the Mars surface is giving him and his team some hope that it can put the solar-powered Spirit rover back on the job.&quot;As long as [sunlight is increasing], we will do all we can to increase the chances of hearing from the rover again,&quot; Callas told the publication.However, Callas acknowledged that his team is losing some hope with each passing day. He said the fact that it is now spring on Mars and the team hasn't heard anything back from Spirit is &quot;concerning.&quot; He told Space.com that &quot;each day that goes by, it's one more tick downward in our optimism for the rover.&quot;That's certainly sobering news for those that have been following Spirit all these years.The rover first landed on Mars in 2004, and was expected to search for evidence of water for a period of three months. Still going strong after three months, NASA continued operating Spirit for about six years until communication was lost last March. Since then, NASA has been trying to revive the rover, which became immobile last January due to damage to two of its wheels.But even if Spirit doesn't come back, its legacy is impressive. As Callas pointed out to Space.com, Spirit found &quot;physical conditions on Mars&quot; that were similar to &quot;geysers in Yellowstone, or deep ocean vents, which are thriving systems here on Earth.&quot; It found that there was &quot;liquid water on Mars, but there were [also] energy sources coincident with that liquid water.&quot;Callas' talk on Spirit comes just a couple days after NASA announced that another rover, Opportunity, will be spending the next two months exploring the Santa Maria crater on the Martian landscape. Opportunity landed on Mars on January 25, 2004.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[To fight spam, Google Apps adds e-mail signing]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=to-fight-spam-google-apps-adds-e-mail-signing</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=to-fight-spam-google-apps-adds-e-mail-signing</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>edhardyclothes0</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=to-fight-spam-google-apps-adds-e-mail-signing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google has made it possible for Google Apps customers to sign their outgoing e-mail using a technology called DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) that makes it easier to ensure a sender is who he or she says he is.Google has been using DKIM since 2008 to show Gmail users when incoming mail really is from PayPal and eBay--two major brand names often caught up in spoofed e-mails used in phishing attacks. Now the technology is available more broadly and for the e-mail Google Apps users send.An e-mail signed by its sender with DKIM gets a &amp;34'signed by&amp;34' line in Gmail as an assurance it&amp;39's authentic.(Credit:Google)&quot;Today...we're making it possible for all Google Apps customers to sign their outgoing messages with DKIM, so their sent mail is less likely to get caught up in recipients' spam filters. Google Apps is the first major e-mail platform--including on-premises providers--to offer simple DKIM signing at no extra cost,&quot; said Adam Dawes, a Google Enterprise product manager, in a blog post.&quot;As more e-mail providers around the world support DKIM signing, spam fighters will have an even more reliable signal to separate unwanted mail from good mail,&quot; he added. &quot;E-mail authentication is an important mechanism to verify senders' identities, giving users a tool to recognize potential spam messages. In addition, many mail systems can display whether a received message is DKIM-verified, which helps spam filters verify and assess the overall reputation of the sender's domain: messages from untrusted senders are treated more skeptically than those from good senders.&quot;In addition, Google yesterday added an option to Google Apps that lets administrators restrict who may send e-mail and to whom. &quot;For example, school faculty and staff can have unrestricted e-mail access while students have the freedom to send and receive e-mails within the school community but are protected from unwanted e-mail interactions with outsiders,&quot; Dawes said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hollywood's 'UltraViolet' aims to replace the DVD]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hollywoods-ultraviolet-aims-to-replace-the-dvd</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hollywoods-ultraviolet-aims-to-replace-the-dvd</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Jan 2011 08:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>pnosufterjik</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hollywoods-ultraviolet-aims-to-replace-the-dvd</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A group of stakeholders in the entertainment industry are poised to make a important sales pitch to consumers concerning the way they buy and watch movies and TV shows. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Netflix, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Best Buy are among the members of a consortium called the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, or DECE, which has come up with a set of standards and specifications designed to make approved digital content playable on certified devices. DECE calls the technology UltraViolet. &quot;The DVD was the most successful consumer product launch ever in history...it was an open platform, meaning their was one standard, every manufacturer made it, all the content on the planet was available for it. We don't see that model currently.--Barry McCarthy, former Netflix CFODECE announced this evening at the 2011 CES in Las Vegas that it expects companies that have licensed UltraViolet to begin rolling out products and services beginning this summer. DECE said it expects UltraViolet will appear in the United Kingdom and Canada later in the year. If you believe that the DVD and physical media are in their twilight years, then UltraViolet's backers appear to be laying the groundwork for the next home-video format. The pitch from UltraViolet's supporters goes something like this: users could acquire what are essentially lifetime rights to movies and shows. The rights to certain content could be easily transferred from one service provider to another if the owner chooses to switch or if one the services closes down. Owners wouldn't fear to lose or break their video fare because all the material would live in the cloud and be accessible via Web-connected TVs, handhelds, computers, and set-top boxes. DECE said families who use UltraViolet &quot;will be able to create an account for up to six members who can access the household's UltraViolet movies, TV and other entertainment...consumers will also be able to register up to 12 devices&quot; so UltraViolet content can be easily downloaded to those devices or shared between them.&quot; But here's the rub: the content will be swaddled in digital rights management software, designed to prevent unauthorized copying. While DECE played up the number of accounts and devices UltraViolet users will have access to, critics will likely scoff. Expect many from the tech sector to accuse UltraViolet's makers of trying to lock up consumers' content--again. Naysayers have argued that the Internet helped consumers seize away control of media by enabling them to share digital films, music, books, and other media as many times as they want and play it on whatever devices they want. Michael Robertson, the longtime technology entrepreneur who founded pioneering music service MP3.com and has worked with digital lockers for nearly a decade, is among UltraViolet's doubters. &quot;I think the era of trying to cram formats and standards down the throats of consumers is over,&quot; Robertson said. &quot;When we live in a world where users are one click way from BitTorrent and from obtaining a high-quality film copy that can be played on any device, I don't see UltraViolet, with its restrictions and limitations, winning consumers back. Consumers just have too much power.&quot; Mitch Singer, Sony Pictures&amp;39' chief technology officer(Credit:Sony Pictures Entertainment)Mitch Singer, chief technology officer at Sony Pictures, a DECE member, says there is no conspiracy to snatch away control from consumers. He said UltraViolet is a way to make digital movies and TV shows more appealing by making them as simple to view, store, and transfer as the DVD. He notes that history has shown the lack of open standards only hurts consumers.  &quot;If every brick-and-mortar retailer would have had their own [DVD] format that wouldn't have made any sense at all,&quot; Singer said. &quot;But digital rolled out exactly that way. It rolled out in a series of fragmented silos.&quot; That was far from being unprecedented. Singer said plenty of innovative products debuted this way, but that quickly changed. &quot;Xerox fax machines in the early days could only fax documents if the machine on the other side was Xerox,&quot; Singer said. &quot;ATM machines would only give money to cardholders who belonged to the same network...but over time if you want to see any substantial growth you have to open it up.&quot; Barry McCarthy, Netflix's CFO the past decade until leaving the company last month, predicted two years ago there would be a need to create standards for the Web distribution of movies and he suggested the plan would be modeled after the DVD. &quot;The DVD was the most successful consumer product launch ever in history measured in terms of growth in the number of units in U.S. homes,&quot; McCarthy told the Unofficial Stanford Blog in 2008. &quot;It was five years to 50 percent household penetration and it was an open platform, meaning their was one standard, every manufacturer made it...all the content on the planet was available for it. We don't see that model currently [in Web distribution of movies]. Apple has a device...but it only talks to the Apple Web site. It doesn't talk to Amazon. It doesn't talk to the Netflix site...And if there's a Netflix device that we make or someone makes for us that runs the Netflix application that gets you to a Netflix Web site, it's only going to talk to our Website. In a perfect world, there would be open platforms.&quot; Robertson said UltraViolet looks very much like PlaysForSure, the DRM certification program that Microsoft tried to establish for devices and content services in 2004. It failed to take off. Josh Martin was one of those who were critical of PlaysForSure but the mobile and video analyst for research group Strategy Analytics argues UltraViolet is a superior strategy.&quot;I think the era of trying to cram formats and standards down the throats of consumers is over.&quot; --Michael Robertson, entrepreneurMartin said UltraViolet could work because the key players appear to have learned from past mistakes.Martin wrote in October that under UltraViolet's plan, content &quot;is not locked to a specific device but to a user (or a family of users).&quot; He said that this means users can transfer content to a wide array of devices and that makes UltraViolet content more flexible than the DVD. The most important difference between Ultraviolet and PlaysForSure, according to Martin, is that UltraViolet supports various DRM schemes and either &quot;changes the DRM 'wrapper' when a file is transferred between devices,&quot; Martin wrote, &quot;or allows a user to download a new file that is suitable for that specific device (i.e. you wouldn't want to transfer a 1080p file to your phone). This increases utility while reducing end user complexity.&quot;The other big knock on UltraViolet is that Apple and Disney haven't signed on. How can a standards agreement be any good if consumers aren't able to watch movies from one of the most important film studios or play content obtained from iTunesSinger, said UltraViolet movies and TV shows will be available on theiPad andiPhone because those devices are compatible with an app created by Netflix, an UltraViolet partner. But Singer concedes video purchased from iTunes currently won't play on UltraViolet devices. About the absence of Disney, Martin said &quot;In order for consumers to believe in this technology, all major content owners must be on board and as of today they are not.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[With Verizon iPhone, how many will flee AT&T]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-verizon-iphone-how-many-will-flee-att</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-verizon-iphone-how-many-will-flee-att</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Jan 2011 08:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mawembof</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=with-verizon-iphone-how-many-will-flee-att</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Analysts weigh in on the potential sales impact of a Verizon iPhone.(Credit:Geeky Gadgets)For those waiting for a VerizoniPhone, the wait may not be much longer. Citing a person familiar with Apple's plans &quot;who isn't authorized to discuss them publicly,&quot; Bloomberg has been reporting that Apple will &quot;probably&quot; introduce a Verizon iPhone after next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. But what's interesting about the latest articles is that analysts are already predicting the number of AT&amp;T customers who will defect to Verizon for its new iPhone.The estimates range from 1 million to 6 million moving from AT&amp;T to Verizon, though the bulk of sales of a potential Verizon iPhone would still come from current Verizon customers updating their existing phones.The Bloomberg article quotes John Hodulik, an analyst at UBS AG in New York, who comes in &quot;somewhere in the middle&quot; with his projections, saying 2.3 million would switch from AT&amp;T to pick up a Verizon iPhone. Hodulik expects AT&amp;T would sell 8.8 million iPhones in 2011 (down from 15.6 million in 2010) and that Verizon would sell 13.3 million. Of those 13.3 million, 10 million would go to Verizon subscribers and the rest would come from other carriers. If indeed Verizon introduces an iPhone later this month, there are still some unknowns that could affect sales. For instance, how much will service plans for a Verizon iPhone cost (typically, Verizon's plans cost more than those of rival carriers), and will the phone offer any new enhancements Also, despite a lot of AT&amp;T customers being unhappy with that carrier's service, many will be weighing whether to hold out for an improved fifth-generation iPhone that will arrive in June and may support 4G data transmissions. Additionally, AT&amp;T could offer incentives for customers to stick with the company. And finally, perhaps its service will improve as more folks defect to Verizon.More:iPhone 5's 20 most-wanted features<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Analyst: Hey Apple, go buy Netflix]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=analyst-hey-apple-go-buy-netflix</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=analyst-hey-apple-go-buy-netflix</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Dec 2010 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>xtracoolit</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=analyst-hey-apple-go-buy-netflix</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Netflix)Apple and Netflix are competitors in the online movie rental business, but one analyst is suggesting that instead of competing, Apple should buy its rival.Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher &amp; Co., suggested in a note to clients yesterday that Apple's iTunes movie and TV rental business is only about one-tenth the size of Netflix. He estimated that Apple rents approximately 475,000 TV shows and movies every day, while Netflix rents about 5.1 million DVDs and pieces of streaming media per day, according to Computerworld.Looking at the cash side of the business, Marshall estimated that Apple is pulling in about $60 million in rentals and another $50 million in purchases per quarter. Netflix, by comparison, generates about $550 million a quarter.&quot;If Apple can grow its rental business similarly to Netflix's historical profile, it's feasible iTunes' annual rental revenue could exceed $1 billion by 2015,&quot; said Marshall.Trying to grow as quickly as Netflix has over the years is one approach, but Marshall sees another way for Apple to boost its rental business--buy Netflix.&quot;What I'd like to see is Apple buying Netflix,&quot; said Marshall. &quot;Netflix has approximately 150,000 titles, while Apple has just 15,000. Apple has a tremendous opportunity.&quot;Apple revamped its Apple TV offering earlier this year, giving users the ability to rent movies and TV shows from iTunes and watch on their televisions. It also added support for Netflix to let people rent from Apple or log in to their Netflix account and watch movies or television shows using that service.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sudan under anti-war satellite surveillance]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sudan-under-anti-war-satellite-surveillance</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sudan-under-anti-war-satellite-surveillance</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rixbralia</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sudan-under-anti-war-satellite-surveillance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Actor George Clooney, who is a spokesman for the Satellite Sentinel Project, on a recent trip to the volatile southern region of Sudan.(Credit:Tim Freccia/Enough Project)The Satellite Sentinel Project, launched today, will be monitoring Sudan from above and sharing information with the world in near real-time in an effort to deter violence.The oil-rich southern region of Sudan is poised to hold a referendum on January 9 that could decide whether Sudan remains one country, or becomes politically divided into north and south entities. Many expect that there will be violence leading up to the vote, as well as after it, and that the Sudan could once again descend into chaos as it did during its 20-year war in which an estimated 2 million people were killed as of 2005.The Satellite Sentinel Project aims to deter that violence--or at the very least act as a recorder of war crimes should they occur--by pointing cameras aboard commercial satellites at the region starting today. Through satellite imagery analysis and crowd-sourced mapping, which can be viewed via programs using Google Maps and Google Earth, the eyes of anyone with an Internet connection will be able to watch what is happening in the border region of northern and southern Sudan in the coming weeks.The project is being conducted through a partnership with the Operational Satellite Applications Program (Unosat) from the the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (Unitar), Harvard University's Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Google, Internet software company Trellon, and the Enough Project anti-genocide organization.It's being funded by the aptly named Not On Our Watch, a humanitarian advocacy organization whose founding members include actors George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt' film producer Jerry Weintraub' and human rights lawyer and former State Department aide David Pressman.Clooney and John Prendergast, a journalist, human rights activist and Enough Project co-founder, have been acting as spokesmen for the Satellite Sentinel Project. Through interviews with national publications, opens letters to newspapers, and press statements, the two launched a media campaign today to draw attention to the satellite mission.&quot;Previously, when mass atrocities occurred in Darfur, the Government of Sudan denied its involvement. Since photographers could not get access, it took years to amass evidence of genocide. But now we can witness in near real-time and put all parties on notice that if they commit war crimes, we will all be watching, and pressuring policymakers to take action,&quot; Clooney and Prendergast said in a joint statement today.&quot;We want to cast a spotlight - literally - on the hot spots along the border to record any actions that might escalate the chances of conflict. We hope that if many eyes are on the potential spoilers, we can all help detect, deter and interdict actions that could lead to a return to deadly violence. At the very least, if war crimes do occur, we'll have plenty of evidence of the actions of the perpetrators to share with the International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council,&quot; Clooney and Prendergast said in their statement.Commercial satellites have been tapped to collect visual data of the region and have the ability to capture incidents like village burnings or razings, large movements of people, and bombings. Each organization involved has a specific role in how that data is used in the coming months, according to the Satellite Sentinel Project.A team of Unosat employees expert in satellite analysis will examine the images from offices in Geneva, Switzerland, in conjunction with Google and Trellon employees, according to Unitar.&quot;This unique monitoring and alert system is based on commercial and publicly available satellite imagery and has the potential to contribute to the prevention of a possible war in Sudan. In case conflict ignites, the humanitarian consequences can be monitored from space, a service that Unosat has been providing to the international community since 2003,&quot; Unitar said in a statement.Google and Trellon have collaborated on analysis and Internet tools to make the collected satellite information also available to the public. Meanwhile, workers from the Enough Project and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative will contribute field reports from the ground in the Sudan.&quot;Google technology is increasingly being used by individuals and organizations to support disaster response and humanitarian causes. The Satellite Sentinel Project is an important undertaking and we're proud that Google Map Maker, a tool that enables users to contribute and edit map data for over 190 countries and regions around the world, is being used as its mapping platform,&quot; a Google representative said today in an e-mail to CNET.Not On Our Watch, for its part, has provided enough funding to run the program for at least six months and is acting as a media conduit to shed light on the issue and encourage political action to deter the violence.In addition to the images and mapping, the Satellite Sentinel also has a blog about the situation in the Sudan and is posting the field reports from workers in organizations like the Enough Project.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Seventh person arrested in insider trading probe]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=seventh-person-arrested-in-insider-trading-probe</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=seventh-person-arrested-in-insider-trading-probe</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bintterazmwes</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=seventh-person-arrested-in-insider-trading-probe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The FBI has arrested another person in the ongoing investigation into the sharing of insider information with investors by consultants working for so-called expert firms. The latest to be arrested is Winifred Jiau, 43, of Fremont, Calif. Like others charged or arrested on December 16, she has ties to Primary Global Research. She's accused of providing inside information to Primary Global clients who were portfolio managers at hedge funds of Nvidia and Marvell Technology during a period from 2006 to 2008. Prosecutors say she collected $200,000 during that time. She's facing charges of conspiracy and securities fraud. In August of 2008, the complaint says, she provided managers of two hedge funds with detailed numbers for quarterly revenues, per-share earnings, and gross margins for the quarter ending that month. The complaint says that in the conversations she made it clear she had obtained the information directly from an employee of Marvell. The funds in question--they were not named in the complaint--allegedly made $820,000 on trades from the information. On August 8, 2008, the complaint says, Jiau provided the hedge fund managers with an early look at Nvidia's quarterly revenue and told them it planned to announce a stock buyback, which it did four days later. I've embedded the complaint below.Jiau, Winifred ComplaintStory 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                                                        Sony Decides It Doesn&amp;039't Want to Be Left Out of Cellphone Patent Fight                                                                        Web Commerce Isn&amp;039't Really SocialYet                                                                        Fun With Mobile Stats: Holiday Edition                                                                        Accel Partners&amp;039' Rich Wong Predicts an Android New Year (Video)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac gets update]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=windows-phone-7-connector-for-mac-gets-update</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=windows-phone-7-connector-for-mac-gets-update</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>limarriaeye</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=windows-phone-7-connector-for-mac-gets-update</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)Today, Microsoft released an update to its Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac beta software that brings some performance enhancements and new features. The software, which allowsMac users to sync music, video, podcasts, and photos from iTunes and iPhoto with theirWindows Phone 7 device, now offers a new setup experience, as well as the ability to sync purchased music from your smartphone. The browsing function also now supports manual import from device, delete from device, and preview.Current users of the Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac will automatically receive the update as it's rolled out. Meanwhile, new users can download the software from the Microsoft Download Center.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Cash is dead, says Dwolla]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cash-is-dead-says-dwolla</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cash-is-dead-says-dwolla</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mandidmdda</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cash-is-dead-says-dwolla</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dwolla is a relatively new online payment system that's designed to hit PayPal where it hurts: the transaction fees.PayPal transactions, as well as credit-card payments, incur fees based on a percentage of the transaction amount in addition to a transaction fee. Dwolla transactions cost 25 cents each. The whole idea is to move cash cheaply--for businesses and for consumers. Dwolla founder Ben Milne says his retail payment kiosk is cheap, too. It's virtual, relying on Web-connected point-of-sale systems on one side and consumers with smartphones on the other. A consumer selects the store he or she wants to pay and enters the amount on the smartphone app' the register clerk can see a payment come in and close the transaction. In the future, Dwolla's mobile app, which is currently very bare-bones, will get location awareness so it will know what store you're in when you go to use the system to send a payment. But Dwolla is about more than saving consumers and retailers money on fees, Milne says. It's also closely tied in to social networks, today's de facto address books. From the Dwolla site, you can pay anyone in your Facebook or Twitter circle. All you have to do is start typing in their online name to find them. With Paypal, you can pay people if you know their e-mail address. Back in 1999, the company that eventually became PayPal had a strong person-to-person angle, except instead of relying on smartphones and the Web, the original PayPal made it possible for Palm Pilot users to &quot;beam&quot; money to each other over their devices' infrared links. Assuming I fund my Dwolla account, I&amp;39'll be able to easily send money to Facebook friends.(Credit:Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)Can Dwolla become the next PayPal--the scrappy payment company that's more convenient, more personal, and cheaper to use than the big guys (debit cards, credit cards, and PayPal itself) And, more importantly, when you're dealing with a service that connects to your bank account, is scrappy what you want The companies funding Dwolla have well-established relationships with the banking industry, at least in Iowa, where the company is based. The Veridian Credit Union gives the company a footprint in banking, and The Members Group does financial transaction processing and serves as Dwolla's backbone for executing money transfers. In Dwolla's hometown of Des Moines, a small number of businesses (like the Mars Cafe and Crown Cleaners) are currently taking payments with the system. Milne seems proud to tell me that the service has over 2,000 active users. In other words, it's barely off the ground. But Milne believes that lowering transaction costs and making it easier and cheaper for people to pay one other and small businesses is the right pitch for today. He says that people of his generation--he's 28--don't carry much cash around for incidental day-to-day expenses. He adds that the popularity of services like Mint, which tracks everything you spend electronic money on, highlight a problem of paying with cash: you can't track what you've spent. (On the flip side, when you don't want to leave any sort of record, that's cash's big bonus.) Dwolla does have a scary element: it can reach into your bank account. But then again, so can Mint, and it's doing pretty well. Other than that, it's a low-risk service to try. There are no fees unless you use it, and when you do, the 25 cents per transaction is close enough to free to not dissuade people from trying it out. For day-to-day cash transactions, Dwolla has the potential to become a major service. It will be interesting to see if the organizations behind existing electronic payment systems lower their rates or launch competing flat-fee services to keep this new and smart start-up at bay.See also: Oodle's social classifieds<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Online activists fighting to keep WikiLeaks alive]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-activists-fighting-to-keep-wikileaks-alive</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-activists-fighting-to-keep-wikileaks-alive</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Dec 2010 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>limzibugjenyial</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-activists-fighting-to-keep-wikileaks-alive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Though it's in hot water with the U.S. government, WikiLeaks is being supported by online activists fighting to keep the site alive.WikiLeaks is being propped up by a barrage of mirror sites created by activists following moves by Amazon to stop hosting its site and Domain Name System provider EveryDNS.net to cut off its DNS services, according to The New York Times. Such mirrors can replicate an entire Web site, ensuring that all content and documents remain online and accessible even if WikiLeaks' own site is taken down.But some of WikiLeaks supporters are adopting a more hostile tone. On Saturday PayPal restricted access to WikiLeaks' account to prevent fund raisers from donating money to help the site. In return, the PayPal blog page that announced the decision to shut off WikiLeaks' account was taken offline for around eight hours last night by a distributed denial- of-service (DDoS) attack.Experts at Panda Labs pointed to a statement from the &quot;hacktivist&quot; group Anonymous, which said that the PayPal blog would be the target of its first DDoS counterattack on behalf of WikiLeaks. Panda also cited comments from a Twitter account named AnonyWatcher, which released several statements related to the attack.The offensive against PayPal could be a sign of bigger things yet to come. A poster on a file upload site has issued a rallying cry for further action on Anonymous' DDoS campaigns.Twitter has also come under criticism from some who believe the microblogging site may be censoring trends devoted to WikiLeaks. Twitter trends reveal the most popular topics being tweeted. But Web site blogs such as OSNews, OSDir, Safety First, and StudentActivism.net have reported findings that terms such as wikileaks and Assange have not been trending nearly as heavily as they should given the amount of news and discussions surrounding WikiLeaks. In response to such criticism, someone identifying himself as Twitter engineer Josh Elman e-mailed Angus Johnston of the StudentActivism.net site to defend his company saying that &quot;Twitter hasn't modified trends in any way to help or prevent WikiLeaks from trending.&quot;Trying to explain the absence of WikiLeaks in the top trends, Elman said that topics related to WikiLeaks are showing up in the company's trends dashboard, but aren't hitting the top ten. &quot;While I personally feel this is a very important topic, that doesn't mean it's as widespread across the Twitter user base,&quot; Elman told Johnston by e-mail.WikiLeaks, which has been in trouble with the U.S. government before, has come under intense fire lately over its release of classified and in some cases embarrassing U.S. State Department documents. While activists have been spurred to fight for the site, government officials have been up in arms, with several calling for WikiLeaks to be classified as a terrorist group.And what of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange The U.S. government is demanding his head on a platter over the leaks of sensitive information, while Sweden still wants him on charges of sex crimes. But he may yet find refuge in his own country of Australia. The country's attorney general Robert McClelland said today that Assange would be allowed back in Australia and would be accorded the same protections given to any other citizen, according to CNN.In making the offer public, McClelland was responding to comments from Assange last week that Australia would not only prevent him from returning home, but that the nation was working with the U.S. government to attack WikiLeaks.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Cyber Monday spending up, surpasses $1 billion]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cyber-monday-spending-up-surpasses-1-billion</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cyber-monday-spending-up-surpasses-1-billion</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>medicabc</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cyber-monday-spending-up-surpasses-1-billion</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Online retailers rang up more than $1 billion in sales this past Cyber Monday, according to data released yesterday by ComScore.Adding up to a 16 percent gain in sales over the same day last year, Monday's cybershopping spree was the heaviest online spending day in history, said ComScore, and the first to cross the billion-dollar mark. Overall, the start of the holiday season has brought good cheer to online retailers. More than $13.5 billion was spent online from November 1 to 29, a gain of 13 percent from last year.(Credit:ComScore)The growth in Cyber Monday sales was driven more by higher spending per person than by an increase in shoppers. On average, consumers spent 12 percent more than they did last year, while the number of shoppers rose just 4 percent to 9 million. But promotions and discounts on the part of retailers have also helped cook up holiday sales so far.&quot;The online holiday shopping season has clearly gotten off to a very strong start, which is welcome news,&quot; ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement.&quot; At the same time, it's important to note that some of the early strength in consumer spending is almost certainly the result of retailers' heavier-than-normal promotional and discounting activity at this early point in the season. So, while we anticipate that there will be more billion-dollar spending days ahead as we get deeper into the season, only time will tell if overall consumer online spending remains at the elevated levels we've seen thus far.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google gives employees 10 percent raise, cash]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-gives-employees-10-percent-raise-cash</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-gives-employees-10-percent-raise-cash</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 09 Nov 2010 08:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>wilmaniarn</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-gives-employees-10-percent-raise-cash</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google CEO Eric Schmidt told all Google employees they can expect a 10 percent raise in the new year.(Credit:Google)In an apparent move to stave off defections to competitors, Google announced it is giving all its employees a $1,000 cash bonus and a raise of 10 percent, according to a source familiar with the matter.The raises, which take affect January 1, 2011, apply to all 25,000 employees at the Internet giant, according to an e-mail to employees penned by Google CEO Eric Schmidt and first revealed by Business Insider. &quot;We want to make sure that you feel rewarded for your hard work,&quot; Schmidt wrote. &quot;We want to continue to attract the best people to Google.&quot; In addition to the raise and bonus, Google will move a portion of employees' bonuses into their base salaries, ensuring that they received the entire amount, Schmidt said in his e-mail:CONFIDENTIAL: INTERNAL ONLY GOOGLERS ONLY (FULL TIME AND PART TIME EMPLOYEES)I'm pleased to share some very, very good news with Googlers worldwide. But first let me say, on behalf of everyone on the management team, that we believe we have the best employees in the world. Period. The brightest, most capable group of this size ever assembled. It's why I'm excited to come to work every day--and I'm sure you feel the same way. We want to make sure that you feel rewarded for your hard work, and we want to continue to attract the best people to Google.So that is why we've decided...to give all of you a 10% raise, effective January 1st. This salary increase is global and across the board--everyone gets a raise, no matter their level, to recognize the contribution that each and every one of you makes to Google.There's more. We've heard from your feedback on Googlegeist and other surveys that salary is more important to you than any other component of pay (i.e., bonus and equity). To address that, we're moving a portion of your bonus into your base salary, so now it's income you can count on, every time you get your paycheck. That's also effective January 1st. You'll be receiving an email shortly with further details about these changes to your compensation. And one last thing...today we're announcing that everyone will get a holiday cash bonus, too.Googlers, you are what makes this company great, and our goal here is to recognize you for your contribution, in a way that's meaningful to you. Thank you for all that you do, and for making Google a place where magic happens.EricA Google spokesperson said retaining employees was key to the company but did not elaborate. &quot;While we don't typically comment on internal matters, we do believe that competitive compensation plans are important to the future of the company,&quot; the spokesperson said.The move comes as Google grapples with a wave of high-profile defections to Facebook. Last month, Lars Rasmussen, one of the lead engineers behind Google Maps and Google Wave, announced he had left the Internet search giant for Facebook. Rasmussen told the Sydney Morning Herald that Facebook's offer was &quot;much more compelling both financially and in terms of the work there.&quot;At his new employer, Rasmussen joins former Googlers Bret Taylor, Facebook's chief technology officer, who was part of the Google Maps team, and Carl Sjogreen, now a product manager at Facebook, who was also involved with Google Maps.        Steven Musil    Full Profile E-mail Steven Musil   E-mail Steven Musil If you have a question or comment for Steven Musil, 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       Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[App to convert Flash on iPhone hits App Store]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=app-to-convert-flash-on-iphone-hits-app-store</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=app-to-convert-flash-on-iphone-hits-app-store</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mharpsterr</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=app-to-convert-flash-on-iphone-hits-app-store</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Skyfire)Flash is still banished from Apple'siPhone, but amobile browser is opening the door--at least partially--to the technology.After its recent approval by Apple, Skyfire, a mobile Web browser that converts Flash videos to HTML5, hit the App Store today at 2 p.m. PT.Selling for $2.99, the app has been awaiting Apple's thumbs-up since it was submitted for approval more than two months ago.Skyfire uses a trick to coax Flash videos to run on the iPhone andiPod Touch. Those devices don't support Flash due to Apple's ban of the Adobe Systems' plug-in. In the same vein, Apple earlier this year blocked technology that let developers translate their Flash apps into native iPhone apps, though Apple recently relented on that stance. Here is Skyfire's solution: when you browse a Web page with Flash video, Skyfire's own servers fire up and convert the content into HTML5 on the fly. Clicking on a thumbnail of the HTML5 video then streams it directly from Skyfire's servers to the Apple device. Though designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the app will run on the iPad, but only in iPhone-compatibility mode. That doubles the pixels, though, creating a grainy-looking video. Skyfire confirmed that it will release an iPad-specific version of the app at a later date. The app won't convert games or any other nonvideo content. And certain sites, notably Hulu, block Skyfire. That's hardly surprising since Hulu has been trying to drum up interest in its $10-per-month Hulu Plus service, which is available as its own mobile app. Skyfire 2.0 for iPhone follows in the footsteps of Skyfire for Android, which launched earlier this year. Though native Flash support is available in Android 2.2 and higher, people running older versions of Google's mobile OS still need a workaround to view Flash content. Like its Android counterpart, Skyfire for the iPhone runs on top of mobile Safari rather than as a separate browser. But it also includes several unique features of its own. Skyfire's video icon fixes any missing Flash video content that you'd normally see in Safari, which means no more Flash error messages. You can share a video through e-mail and via Facebook or Twitter. The company's servers also adjust the resolution of the streamed video depending on the screen size of the phone and the speed of the network connection. The app will offer relevant videos and other content based on the page you're currently viewing. A desktop mode can display full Web sites, rather than just their mobile versions. And finally, up to eight different browser windows can be opened to display a variety of sites at the same time. &quot;Users don't think about what video technology a site uses. They just want the video to play,&quot; Skyfire CEO Jeff Glueck said in a statement. &quot;With this workaround, Skyfire makes playback possible, while also optimizing the video for mobile screens and networks. That makes it easier to fit video through congested cell towers, saves battery life, and helps users conserve megabytes in their data plan.&quot; Updated at 2 p.m. PT: A Skyfire representative confirmed the app's launch date for today at 2 p.m. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Mitsubishi to unveil 2011 i-Miev at LA auto show]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mitsubishi-to-unveil-2011-i-miev-at-la-auto-show</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mitsubishi-to-unveil-2011-i-miev-at-la-auto-show</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shiree</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=mitsubishi-to-unveil-2011-i-miev-at-la-auto-show</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sketches from Mitsubishi&amp;39's global corporate site show a wider bodied i-MiEV that could be what the carmaker will unveil at the 2010 LA Auto Show.(Credit:Mitsubishi Motors via Autoblog)Mitsubishi announced on Twitter the U.S. version of its 2011 Mitsubishi i-MiEV will be unveiled at the 2010 Los Angeles auto show next month. Could a wider version of the i-MiEV mean the four-seater will become a 5-seater(Credit:Mitsubishi Motors via Autoblog)Earlier today Autoblog posted online sketches  it snagged from Mitsubishi's global corporate site of a wider bodied i-MiEV. They're guessing that these drawings could be the beefed up version of the compact EV that will enter the North American market next year. The all-electric compactcar that we've been seeing up to this point is the Japanese model that seats four and has a 100-mile range. The i-MiEV is expected to be upgraded for the North American market, though details on its new features have not been released. The wider body allows for better side impact protection, such as stronger cross-beams, letting it meet U.S. crash protection regulations. The car is expected to sell for under $30,000--less than the $32,780 MSRP for the Nissan Leaf--before the $7,500 federal tax credit.Source: Autoblog<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nokia focusing on Qt, HTML5 for app development]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nokia-focusing-on-qt-html5-for-app-development</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nokia-focusing-on-qt-html5-for-app-development</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:23:57 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Adam01</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nokia-focusing-on-qt-html5-for-app-development</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Nokia is making Qt its sole application development framework and is supporting HTML5--both of which the company says are designed to benefit mobile app developers and customers.(Credit:Nokia)The mobile phone maker said today its Qt decision means that mobile apps will be compatible with future versions of Symbian and MeeGo. Previously, developers could write directly for Symbian or MeeGo, each with its own specific development tools and environment. With Qt, developers can create apps that runs on both smartphone platforms.Though Nokia will be switching to the MeeGo platform for its N series of smartphones, the company has said it will continue to work with Symbian on other phones.Nokia considers the decision a positive for Symbian customers too. As updates are created for the OS via Qt, people using Symbian 3 phones and future Symbian products will be able to take advantage of them. In line with this, Nokia said it will no longer refer to the mobile operating system as Symbian 3 or Symbian 4 but will simply continue to evolve the OS.Nokia itself will use Qt exclusively to develop its own future mobile apps. The company is also introducing Qt Quick into the Qt framework. Demoed at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, Qt Quick lets scripting-language-savvy developers create touch-enabled user interfaces and mobile apps for Nokia phones.Nokia also announced today its plan to support HTML5 for mobile apps and Web content for both Symbian and MeeGo platforms. Qt's built-in support for the new and upcoming version of HTML matches Nokia's plans to support HTML5 in Web browsers.&quot;We're making strategic technology decisions that will accelerate our ability to offer the strongest possible opportunity for developers and the richest possible experience for consumers,&quot; Rich Green, Nokia's chief technology officer, said in a statement. &quot;For developers, it will open up a huge installed customer base for their applications. For consumers, it means a more compelling engagement with their Nokia product in terms of access to the best applications in the marketplace and a constantly improving product experience.&quot;More information is available on Nokia's Qt, Qt Quick, and HTML5 pages.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Silicon Valley&'s shopping spree: One Kings Lane, Abe&'s Market and more]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=silicon-valleyrsquos-shopping-spree-one-kings-lane-abersquos-market-and-more</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=silicon-valleyrsquos-shopping-spree-one-kings-lane-abersquos-market-and-more</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Onepealawek</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=silicon-valleyrsquos-shopping-spree-one-kings-lane-abersquos-market-and-more</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A new wave of e-commerce is coming, backed by tends of millions of dollars from Silicon Valley&amp;'s savviest investors, that&amp;'s reinventing more than just how consumers shop online.From One Kings Lane to Plum District and Abe&amp;'s Market, from Stella &amp;038' Dot to Bonobos, we&amp;'re seeing a generation of companies that are rethinking relationships with vendors and acting as middlemen and marketplaces as much as they are merchants.Today, One Kings Lane, an online home-dcor seller, announced a new $23 million round of funding from Kleiner Perkins, its earliest backer, and Greylock Partners, a firm masterminding the social Web from Facebook on down.That follows right after Thursday&amp;'s announcement of $3.4 million raised for Abe&amp;'s Market, a marketplace for natural goods, in a round led by Accel Partners, an investor in Groupon. And just last month, we saw a purchase of a $37 million stake in Stella &amp;038' Dot, a startup which sells jewelry through a network of independent sellers, by Sequoia Capital, and an $8.5 million investment by Kleiner Perkins in Plum District, a mom-focused, Amway-like Groupon competitor in the daily deals market. December saw Bonobos, an online menswear retailer, raise $18.5 million from Accel Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.It&amp;'s clear that Accel and Kleiner are taking the lead in investing in the next wave of e-commerce, one that emphasizes social links and an engaging &amp;8212' even fun &amp;8212' user experience that matches the thrill of shopping offline.But a common thread between these businesses is the extent to which they&amp;'re shedding the old image of e-commerce as a capital-intensive business laden with expensive warehouses and inventory and embracing a matchmaking role between suppliers and consumers.Abe&amp;'s Market may be the purest example of this. Many manufacturers of natural goods are microbusinesses &amp;8212' lone entrepreneurs or mom-and-pop shops. They struggle to get their wares into stores, and when they sell through megasites like Amazon.com or eBay, they find themselves so low down in the search results that they fail to do much volume.Cofounder Jon Polin told me that he views Abe&amp;'s Market as an online analog to the farmer&amp;'s markets where many of these vendors sell their products today. Abe&amp;'s is the merchant of record on purchases, meaning it shows up on customers&amp;' credit-card bills, but it doesn&amp;'t stock any merchandise. Instead, it passes orders on to its 300 or so vendors. Its secret may lie in making the experience easy for vendors, who are usually stuck with awkward Web interfaces, arcane rules, and demanding fulfillment processes. In exchange for taking 30 percent of a transaction&amp;'s retail price, Abe&amp;'s handles shipping costs &amp;8212' and even provides a printable three-part order slip that a vendor can use to pick an order, pack it, and send it (on Abe&amp;'s dime).Plum District, too, takes a different approach in dealing with the small businesses it solicits for deals. Unlike Groupon and LivingSocial, the two biggest players in the deep-discount daily deals market, Plum District doesn&amp;'t have its own sales force. Instead, it solicits independent salespeople, mostly moms, to both cajole local businesses into offering discounts and then signing up customers to take the deal. Since the moms get a cut of the action, they&amp;'re motivated to make the discount offer work for the local business. That&amp;'s an innovative take on a key part of the daily-deals model, which requires aggressive, one-on-one solicitation of offers from businesses.Stella &amp;038' Dot, like Plum District, uses a network of independent sellers. CEO and cofounder Jessica Herrin recently took some time out to demo her new mobile Web app. There are a ton of new shopping apps, from players like Amazon.com and eBay on down. But they&amp;'re all designed around making it easier for consumers to check prices and purchase goods on the go. Here&amp;'s the genius of Stella &amp;038' Dot&amp;'s app: It&amp;'s designed for the independent style consultants who sell Stella &amp;038' Dot jewelry from their homes at &amp;''trunk show&amp;'' parties, letting them play videos and share ideas off a smartphone or tablet. Imagine handing your iPhone over to a friend to show them a gorgeous new bracelet: That&amp;'s far friendlier &amp;8212' and likelier to lead to a sale &amp;8212' than awkwardly turning a laptop around. By investing in technology for its sellers, Stella &amp;038' Dot is making a smart bet on its business model.One Kings Lane, the home-dcor startup backed by Kleiner and Greylock today, may look much like Rue La La or Gilt Groupe, a flash-sales merchant which offers event-driven, short-term sales of limited quantities of merchandies at attractive prices. But unlike many flash-sales operators, One Kings Lane isn&amp;'t taking on much inventory, CEO Doug Mack told me.Because of the startup&amp;'s low inventory levels, One Kings Lane&amp;'s inventory turns &amp;8212' an industry measure for how swiftly merchandise moves off the shelves &amp;8212' are &amp;''an order of magnitude above the industry average,&amp;'' said Mack. The metric isn&amp;'t even that meaningful, he adds, because about half of its orders are drop-shipped, or shipped directly from the manufacturer to the consumer' a third are bulk-shipped after a flash-sales event, which means they stay in a third-party fulfillment warehouse only as long as it takes to break them down and ship them out' and the remainder are kept in stock by One Kings Lane so that it can offer certain items, mostly ones suitable as gifts, year-round.As a result, little of One Kings Lane&amp;'s latest round is going to working capital, Mack told me. Instead, he&amp;'s investing in technology, merchandising, marketing, and customer service &amp;8212' areas where there&amp;'s far more potential for long-term payoff than stocking more inventory.Then there&amp;'s Bonobos. Like Mack, Bonobos CEO Andy Dunn is proud of his inventory turns. You might not be able to find a given size on Bonobos, but the site takes your email and notifies you when it&amp;'s back in stock &amp;8212' a way to quietly gauge demand before placing orders from manufacturers. Bonobos also &amp;''curates&amp;'' some categories of menswear, like accessories, rather than designing its own, passing on orders to other menswear companies compatible with its brand. Both practices serve to keep inventory low.These fundings total about $90 million &amp;8212' not a huge bet compared to, say, Groupon and LivingSocial&amp;'s megafinancings. But they show that e-commerce is heating up as a sector, and that venture capitalists are focused on businesses which are rethinking every aspect of selling.In the 1990s, e-commerce took the catalog and the superstore online, but didn&amp;'t change anything on the back end: Amazon.com was just the reinvention of mail order, the Sear&amp;'s Catalog 2.0. eBay popularized the idea of inventory-free marketplaces matching supply and demand. And Groupon showed that everyone loves a deal &amp;8212' both consumers and businesses. Taking inspiration from the early players, these new e-commerce businesses are mixing and matching elements of all these models and creating something genuinely new. That&amp;'s why I suspect some of these investments may prove to be the real bargain.[Photo via TA Lucas]Previous Story: Nokia workers walk out to protest Microsoft dealPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: daily deals, e commerce, flash sales, social commerceCompanies: Abe&amp;'s Market, Accel Partners, Amazon.com, Bonobos, Greylock Partners, Groupon, Kleiner Perkins, One Kings Lane, Plum District, Sequoia Capital, Stella &amp;amp' DotPeople: Andy Dunn, Doug Mack, Jessica Herrin, Jon Polin          Tags: daily deals, e commerce, flash sales, social commerceCompanies: Abe&amp;'s Market, Accel Partners, Amazon.com, Bonobos, Greylock Partners, Groupon, Kleiner Perkins, One Kings Lane, Plum District, Sequoia Capital, Stella &amp;amp' DotPeople: Andy Dunn, Doug Mack, Jessica Herrin, Jon PolinOwen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[On the GreenBeat: PlugShare app finds car chargers, Suntech beats First Solar in panel production]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-greenbeat-plugshare-app-finds-car-chargers-suntech-beats-first-solar-in-panel-production</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-greenbeat-plugshare-app-finds-car-chargers-suntech-beats-first-solar-in-panel-production</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>varsanyala</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-the-greenbeat-plugshare-app-finds-car-chargers-suntech-beats-first-solar-in-panel-production</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Here&amp;'s the latest action we&amp;'re following today on the GreenBeat:Transphorm unveils first product &amp;8212' The company unstealthed last month with $38 million backing from investors like Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, showing off technology that can save energy losses that happen when power is converted from one form to another (which happens in almost everything that uses electricity). It announced its first product today, power diodes based on its gallium nitride technology, which promises to cut energy waste by 20 percent. Transphorm is targeting markets in motor drives and solar inverters and hopes to one day make a solution that will create more efficient electric and hybrid cars.App locates electric car chargers &amp;8212' Xatori has released the PlugShare iPhone app, which allows electric car owners to search for electric car charging stations. While electric carmakers like Nissan also offer charge-finding apps, this app is unique in that it allows people to share their own outlets with other electric car drivers.First Solar no longer top panel maker &amp;8212' First Solar is king no more in solar panel production, at least for now. Chinese solar panel maker Suntech likely beat its 2010 production with 1.5 gigawatts of modules shipped, compared to First Solar&amp;'s 1.4 gigawatt (which still represented a nearly 30 percent increase from sales the year prior), according to Forbes. Suntech could pose a threat to First Solar in the future as it continues to cut costs and increase efficiency.Here Enterprises may buy Texas solar firm &amp;8212' Renewable energy developer Here Enterprises is in talks to acquire an unnamed Texas solar firm, according to the San Antonio Business Journal. It is currently developing the Cycle Ranch wind energy project near San Antonio.Next Story: Another Symbian blow: Nokia sells off Qt development framework Previous Story: Flash-sales site Privalia in $280 million global shopping spreePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: electric cars, power conversion, SolarCompanies: First Solar, Here Enterprises, Suntech, Transphorm, Xatori          Tags: electric cars, power conversion, SolarCompanies: First Solar, Here Enterprises, Suntech, Transphorm, XatoriIris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you  pronounce her last name). 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[AdMob Brings Interactive Video Ads To&nbsp'Android]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=admob-brings-interactive-video-ads-tonbspandroid</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=admob-brings-interactive-video-ads-tonbspandroid</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jasonmichael004</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=admob-brings-interactive-video-ads-tonbspandroid</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google&amp;'s recently purchased mobile ad network AdMob is announcing today that it is bringing interactive video ads to Android phones. AdMob already offers the video ad format for iPhones. Similar to the iPhone formats, the new SDK for Android devices includes interactive video and interactive interstitial ad units. The ad network will dynamically identify screen resolution, size, and network connection speed to serve users the best ad for each device. And Android developers have more  interactive options when including ads in their applications. The new ad units themselves can be placed when an app opens or within an app. AdMob says that it has run over 120 video and interactive interstitial campaigns for clients such as Universal Pictures, Best Buy and Seattlea4a4s Best Coffee. Google&amp;'s big push for AdMob has been the ability to serve interactive mobile ads across many mobile platforms, whereas single-platform options like iAd have been focused on only serving iOS devices, limiting reach for advertisers. Interestingly, Apple is also eying the video ad space and is rumored to be developing iAds for video.  CrunchBase InformationAdMobInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Developers: Get ready for your closeup in VentureBeat&'s Mobile App Spotlight]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=developers-get-ready-for-your-closeup-in-venturebeatrsquos-mobile-app-spotlight</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=developers-get-ready-for-your-closeup-in-venturebeatrsquos-mobile-app-spotlight</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>smopzefeNeuse</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=developers-get-ready-for-your-closeup-in-venturebeatrsquos-mobile-app-spotlight</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Are you an app developer with a creation that&amp;'s ready for the klieg lights VentureBeat has partnered with Intel to provide a new showcase for your mobile app: VentureBeat&amp;'s Mobile App Spotlight.Why did we create this program Fundamentally, we want to help connect our readers with the latest innovations in the mobile and app worlds, and boost the efforts of entrepreneurs and inventors who are coming up with great new ideas. There&amp;'s been an explosion of creativity in mobile apps in the past few years &amp;8212' but that very fecundity has posed new challenges to developers.Here&amp;'s how it works: If you have a new app, submit it for consideration to the Mobile App Spotlight. VentureBeat&amp;'s editors will pick three apps to profile over the coming months, and they&amp;'ll be highlighted on VentureBeat&amp;'s homepage. (Note: To qualify as new &amp;8212' at least to our audience &amp;8212' the app must not have previously been written about in VentureBeat. If this program isn&amp;'t a fit, you can still keep us in the loop with your news &amp;8212' we&amp;'re glad to hear from you.) Apps written for any major smartphone platform are welcome.Why did we team up with Intel to create this program At VentureBeat, we&amp;'ve long tracked innovation in the mobile industry, before there was an App Store, iPads, or Android tablets. When we noticed that coaxing users to download an app was a growing challenge, we started covering app discovery and created the DiscoveryBeat series of events to discuss the technical and marketing challenges and the business opportunities in getting your hot app noticed. And Intel, our sponsor for the Spotlight, is increasingly interested in helping mobile-app developers solve the challenge of discovery, too.There are all kinds of tips and tricks that help you get your app out there. But one thing we consistently heard from developers is that it sure doesn&amp;'t hurt to get recognition from a publication like VentureBeat to get influential users&amp;' attention. Flattery aside, we get the message!And we hope you do, too: Submit your app today!The Intel AppUp Developer Program is sponsoring VentureBeat&amp;'s Mobile App Spotlight. However, VentureBeat&amp;'s editorial staff selects apps for the program according to its customary editorial standards, without input from Intel.Next Story: AT&amp;038'T finally gets a MiFi wireless hotspot of its own for $50 Previous Story: Rumors swirl over Twitter funding &amp;8212' but who&amp;'s getting a piece of the piePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: app discovery, app stores, Mobile App Spotlight, mobile apps          Tags: app discovery, app stores, Mobile App Spotlight, mobile appsOwen Thomas is the executive editor of 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[RIM&'s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet demo shows off multitasking with games (video)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rimrsquos-blackberry-playbook-tablet-demo-shows-off-multitasking-with-games-video</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rimrsquos-blackberry-playbook-tablet-demo-shows-off-multitasking-with-games-video</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>22DahlenJenn</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rimrsquos-blackberry-playbook-tablet-demo-shows-off-multitasking-with-games-video</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Apple iPad 2 is getting a lot of kudos as a next-generation tablet computer. But it&amp;'s not the only show in town. Research in Motion is launching its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet soon and our close-up demo of the device shows that it&amp;'s a pretty good game, video, and multimedia machine.The question facing RIM&amp;'s tablet is whether there is room in the market for smaller players to grab some market share that neither Apple nor Google Android tablets can snare. RIM&amp;''s device is perfectly functional, but its acceptance depends on the timing of its launch and the pricing. RIM hasn&amp;'t announced that yet.Tyler Lassard, head of BlackBerry developer relations for RIM, was at the Game Developers Conference last week showing off the multitasking and game capabilities of the new RIM tablet computer, which is set to debut in March or April. The demo shows that the user interface is appealing and fast. You can swipe your finger across the screen to cruise through a menu of choices. You can easily look at sharp photos on the 7-inch LCD screen and tap on the tablet&amp;'s touch-sensitive bezel.The user interface is simple and pretty. It&amp;'s easy to minimize apps or close them. Lassard showed that you can swipe up on an app screen to get back to your home screen. If you do that in the middle of a video, you can see a minimized window of the video while it still continues to play. Then you can start a game or another video. The PlayBook is quite capable of handling multiple tasks at the same time.The device is enterprise ready, able to handle your corporate email. But in case you need a break, you can play games such as Machinarium or Need for Speed Shift on it. Lassard said the open source version of Quake was ported over to the PlayBook in about a week. Electronic Arts in the meantime has created a native version of Need for Speed for the device and makes use of its built-in accelerometer, which lets you control the game by tilting it back and forth. The Flash-based Machinarium game was ported in a matter of days to the PlayBook.There&amp;'s a growing list of apps on the tablet, such as an Elmo kids game (it&amp;'s funny to hear Elmo talking over the Quake game in the video). The screen resolution is 1024 x 600 and the device can play 1080p high-definition video. It will be able to run the full Adobe Flash 10.1 software when that is ready and it has support for HTML5. It runs the QNX operating system with true multitasking.It has a Texas Instruments dual-core 1-gigahertz OMAP 4 processor with a gigabyte of main memory. For an earlier look at the PlayBook, check out what VentureBeat&amp;'s Devindra Hardawar wrote about the PlayBook in January. The big selling point for the PlayBook will be 4G high-speed internet connectivity. But it isn&amp;'t exactly clear just how soon that will be available. The device also has a 3-megapixel forward-facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, which will allow you to do video conferencing. Apple&amp;'s iPad 2 is more impressive, but RIM just might be able to carve out a reason for being if it targets this at enterprise users and comes out with a good price.Check out our video of the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook below.Next Story: Sprint planning to announce Nexus S 4G, EVO 3D, EVO View tablet Previous Story: Western Digital buys Hitachi&amp;'s storage business for $4.3BPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: RIM PlayBookCompanies: Research In Motion, RIMPeople: Tyler Lassard          Tags: RIM PlayBookCompanies: Research In Motion, RIMPeople: Tyler LassardDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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