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<title>Haaze.com / Simontufell / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft posts strong quarterly results, sales]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-posts-strong-quarterly-results-sales</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-posts-strong-quarterly-results-sales</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>missampek</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-posts-strong-quarterly-results-sales</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft reported strong third-quarter sales and earnings, as the software giant weathered slowing PC sales with strong performances from its Office andXbox businesses.Net income in the company's fiscal third quarter climbed 31 percent from the year-ago period to $5.23 billion on sales of $16.43 billion, a 13 percent gain. Earnings per share climbed 36 percent to 61 cents, a figure that includes a 5 cent a share benefit from a settlement with Internal Revenue Service over tax audits from 2004 to 2006.&quot;I'm pleased with our healthy financial results for the quarter,&quot; Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said on a conference call with analysts, investors, and journalists regarding the results.Investors were less pleased, though. Microsoft released its results after the stock market closed, but in after-hours trading, its shares fell 1.4 percent to $26.34. And that comes even as Microsoft bested average analyst projections of revenue of $16.2 billion and profits of 56 cents a share.One reason: the dip in sales of Windows, one of the cornerstones of Microsoft's business. That revenue line took on greater significance after industry analyst IDC reported two weeks ago that global PC shipments declined 3.2 percent from January to March, compared with the year-ago period. Despite chipmaker Intel posting a blowout quarter last week, Microsoft's Windows business suffered.Though Microsoft says Windows is the fastest-selling operating system in history with 350 million licenses sold, revenue for the flagship business fell 4 percent in the quarter to $4.45 billion. Operating income in the division slid 10 percent to $2.76 billion.Microsoft believes that global PC sales slide between 1 percent and 3 percent in the quarter. Consumer PC sales fell 8 percent, including a 40 percent drop in Netbook sales. But business PC sales climbed 9 percent.Klein cited the &quot;breadth and depth&quot; of Microsoft's product portfolio that allowed the company to overcome the slumping PC market. The biggest boost came from the Microsoft Business Division, comprised largely of the Office suite of productivity applications. That business, which generates more revenue than the Windows division, saw revenue grow 21 percent to $5.25 billion, fueled by sales of Office 2010, released a year ago. Operating income jumped 25 percent in the division to $3.17 billion.Microsoft also got a big bounce from the Entertainment &amp; Devices Division, where sales grew 60 percent to $1.94 billion, and operating income climbed 50 percent to $225 million. Microsoft's motion-sensing game controller, Kinect for Xbox 360, drove much of those sales. Launched before Christmas, the device became the fastest-selling consumer electronics device in history. The company also said it sold 2.7 million Xbox 360 consoles in the quarter, a 79 percent increase from the year-ago period.The company's Server &amp; Tools Division also continues to be a potent financial engine. Revenue in that unit grew 11 percent to $4.1 billion while operating income grew 12 percent to $1.42 billion. That division was buoyed by business adoption of Windows Server, SQL Server and System Center.Microsoft's Online Services Division, the home for its Bing search engine and other Web properties, continues to hemorrhage money, as losses grew 2 percent to $726 million. Last week, Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz blamed Microsoft's adCenter technology--the system for buying and delivering online ads--for failing to generate revenue the company expected from its alliance with Microsoft.Klein acknowledged the problem, saying that revenue per search from adCenter is lower than Microsoft expected too. The companies are delaying the roll out of the service in international markets until they sort through the problem.&quot;When we feel like it's straightened out, we'll move onto other markets,&quot; Klein said.Sales in the online division grew 15 percent to $648 million.The company noted that its operating expenses for the fiscal year that begins in July will climb to between $28.08 billion and $28.6 billion. That's a 3 percent to 5 percent jump from previous guidance, presumably reflecting the recently announced compensation plan for employees, which pays more cash and less stock.Microsoft bought back $827 million in stock and declared $1.3 billion in dividends during the quarter. And even with that payout, the company is sitting on $50.15 billion in cash.Looking toward the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, Klein expects the Windows unit to grow inline with expectations for the PC market, which IDC forecasts to be in the single digits. The Business division, which saw such strong growth in the quarter, should post mid- to high-single digit growth in the current quarter, Klein said. The Server &amp; Tools Division should record low double-digit growth in the fiscal fourth quarter, Klein said.As for the smaller business units, Klein noted that advertising for Microsoft's Online business sales should be inline with the overall market, but gave nothing more specific for the division. The Entertainment &amp; Devices division should continue its rapid growth with sales jumping 25 percent in the current quarter.Microsoft also noted that it will shift from the tradition of holding its annual financial analysts meeting in Redmond, Wash., shortly after releasing fourth-quarter results. Instead, Microsoft will hold the meeting, when top executives meet with analysts and investors, on September 14 in Anaheim, Calif., during its Professional Developers Conference. Klein didn't explain the rationale for the move, but PDC's are benchmark moments for Microsoft, where the company lays out its vision for developers. Microsoft will likely unveil details of Windows 8 at the conference.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Rumor: Samsung prepping smartphone with 2GHz dual-core processor]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rumor-samsung-prepping-smartphone-with-2ghz-dual-core-processor</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rumor-samsung-prepping-smartphone-with-2ghz-dual-core-processor</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 18 Apr 2011 07:10:49 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>tozoreleg</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rumor-samsung-prepping-smartphone-with-2ghz-dual-core-processor</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Samsung expecting desktop-like performance out of their mobile devices with dual-core 2GHz processors.(Credit:Samsung)If you thought this year's  dual-core smartphones were fast and powerful, wait until you hear what Samsung has cooking. According to an unnamed official, Samsung is planning to go a step further and release a 2GHz dual-core smartphone by next year. Yes, that means that your Android handset could rival your Netbook or laptop in terms of processing prowess. It is very likely that these new chipsets will fall under the new Exynos brand that was announced earlier this year. Samsung is also rumored to be considering selling these new CPU units to other smartphone makers.After having spent considerable time with a fewdual-core devices, it's easy to spot the difference in performance over last year's Snapdragon chipsets. Looking ahead, however, it's difficult for me to wrap my head around something as fast as 2GHz dual-core for my mobile needs. Not that I would complain were that one of my options, of course. If I had my druthers, I'd prefer a bigger step forward in battery life first. How about you<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Match.com to screen for sex offenders]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=match-com-to-screen-for-sex-offenders</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=match-com-to-screen-for-sex-offenders</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 18 Apr 2011 07:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mannuuckasdf</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=match-com-to-screen-for-sex-offenders</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)Match.com will start checking its members against a national sex offenders registry.The company expects to start the new policy in 60 to 90 days, Match.com told CNET this morning, and confirmed that the policy will both affect both new and existing members.Match.com has been considering the option for a while, but yesterday's decision was hastened as a result of the attention brought on by a lawsuit filed last week, spokesman Matthew Traub told the Associated Press yesterday.A woman in California has sued Match.com, claiming she was sexually assaulted by a man that she met through the online dating service. Arguing that the woman had no idea her date had been convicted of sexual battery, the suit is seeking an injunction to stop anyone from joining Match.com until the company sets up a process to screen for convicted sex offenders.Match.com president Mandy Ginsberg told the AP that the company had been hesitant to implement such screenings due to their &quot;historical unreliability.&quot; But discussions with advisers over the past few days convinced Match.com that certain improvements have made sex offender registries more accurate, prompting the dating service to reverse its stance.To conduct its screening, the company will tap into a national registry of sex offenders set up by the federal government. This registry pulls together information from the 50 states and other U.S. territories and lets users search for sex offenders by name as well as location.Since the registry relies on coordinating data from a variety of different local sources, Match.com is cautioning that these types of checks can still be highly flawed.&quot;It is critical that this effort does not provide a false sense of security to our members,&quot; Match.com said in a statement sent to CNET. &quot;With millions of members, and thousands of first dates a week, Match.com, like any other large community, cannot guarantee the actions of all its members. Match.com is a fantastic service, having changed the lives of millions of people through the relationships and marriages it has given rise to, but people have to exercise common sense and prudence with people they have just met, whether through an online dating service or any other means.&quot; Match.com advises its members to read and follow the safety tips that it posts on its Web site to better protect themselves both online and offline.Update at 11:10 a.m. PT:Added statement and information from Match.com.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Doodles come to Google Search for iPhone]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=doodles-come-to-google-search-for-iphone</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=doodles-come-to-google-search-for-iphone</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>oxypogralry</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=doodles-come-to-google-search-for-iphone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A Google doodle honors Robert Bunsen.(Credit:Google)At long last, Google's &quot;doodles&quot; are making their way to the Google Search for iPhone app. The topical, witty, and often whimsical takes on Google's logo appear globally and in selected countries to honor holidays and other historically important dates.There isn't much official news from Google yet. CNET requested more information from Google after we noticed an update to the iTunes app store and updated the app on aniPhone 4.In the meantime, you can peruse Google's doodles in reverse chronological order here. (Credit:Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Bing's iPad app takes aim at Safari]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bings-ipad-app-takes-aim-at-safari</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bings-ipad-app-takes-aim-at-safari</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cibqod</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bings-ipad-app-takes-aim-at-safari</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft today is releasing its firstiPad application, a version of its Bing mobile application that's been specifically designed fortablet users. And make no mistake about it, Microsoft is trying its hardest to encourage people to use it over the built-inSafari browser when searching and exploring the Web. It's a bold claim, so let's take a look at some of the things that the Bing iPad app does to back up that claim. As you'd imagine, the app revolves around searching on Bing. No matter what you're doing in the app there's a search bar in the top--just like in Safari. The Bing app makes that bar considerably larger, as well as adding voice search powered by TellMe, and a jump list on the side with suggestions, related searches, search history, and a category filter to pick between Web searches, and news, video and image search. Bing&amp;39's iPad app home screen.(Credit:Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET) Each time you search, a tile swoops in from the right side of the screen, acting as a tab of its own. You can zoom, pan and navigate through these just like you would a tab in your browser, with the addition of a highlighting tool to hunt for words or phrases on Web pages that's easier to find and to toggle on and off than its Safari counterpart. These Bing results pages stack, so if you want to go back to a previous search, you can just slide your finger across the screen to jump to a different page. This type of UI is similar to Twitter's iPad app, but lets you stack together a bigger group of preview pages. As an unfortunate side effect, pages that have loaded get purged from the iPad's memory pretty quickly (at least on the first-generation iPad), so it's not nearly as seamless as having multiple open tabs on your desktop browser, or using a third-party iPad browser with tab support that does a better job saving page states to memory. Nonetheless, the system has been designed for you to tear through searches, then hop back and forth between the results and destination pages. These stay persistent from session to session, using your Bing history as a frame of reference, so that you can come back and go through past searches just by continuing to swipe backwards in time. Those in a hurry can also hop to a dedicated history section that lists all your past searches. Results pages and destination pages stack on top of one another, so you can head back and forth between them with a finger swipe.(Credit:Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET) Where the line begins to blur, though, is that the app doubles as a content aggregator. Just like with the iPhone version, you can view weather, movie listings, and news, but the iPad app places these items as tiles at the bottom of the app's home screen. Clicking on any of them will fire up a specially formatted page for the iPad. You can also customize certain ones like finance and weather to use your favorite stock symbols, or location so they'll give you that info from their thumbnail. Considering the iPad doesn't ship with first-party apps for weather or stocks, this is a nice two-for-one. Adding to this is a dedicated news reader, which breaks down the top stories by category and gives you a thumbnail, headline, who published it and when it was published. You can tweak what sections are included in this reader, as well as where they appear. Once again, the swiping UI comes into play, so once you're done reading any of the articles you've clicked on, you can simply swipe it off the screen to find another story to read, or swipe in the other direction to bring it back. The news story view is a bit different from on the Web, and on the iPhone. The iPad app offers a grid you can parse through with thumbnails, headlines and timestamps. (Credit:Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET) To break out specific points of interest, there's the trends tab, which breaks down the day's trending search topics as a jumping off point for searches. This is exclusive to the iPad application, though Bing.com keeps a shortlist of trending topics on its front page that changes throughout the day.Each day in the trends section gets a grid of 10 thumbnails, and the app lets you go back for the past seven days to see what was trending. Depending on what kind of content it is, it will open up in a different type of Bing search results page. So if you click on something like a celebrity who's been in the news, you'll get taken to a page that tells you who they are, shows you what they look like, and serve up any related news stories about them. Whereas if you click on something like a music video, it will deliver you to a video player page (which it's worth noting was not working through the in-app browser when I gave the app a spin).  The trends page is an exclusive to iPad users. It grabs trending searches and puts them in a 10-tile grid that users can tap to search.(Credit:Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET) The whole time this is going on, you're never jettisoned from the application or even given the option to open up some pages in Safari, as other apps have done. You can copy and e-mail Bing links, but if you want to bookmark them, or send them to a printer--as you can do in the iPad's browser--you're out of luck with the current version. By comparison, Google's search app on the iPad includes a link out to Safari, as well as letting you jump straight to URLs from its search bar without first having to venture to the search results page. All in all, Bing has made a graceful jump from the iPhone and iPod Touch to the iPad. What the Bing folks have managed to do with the additional screen real estate goes a long way toward making information gathering and entertaining oneself a seamless experience in a way that's familiar, but uniquely different from the desktop version of Bing. Is it a different enough one to make people choose it over the browser for ingesting content With the lack of a way to peck in URLs, bookmark sites, or quickly jump to specific open pages, not entirely. But considering how close the much more capable search bar is at all times, and all the stories, photos and videos at your fingertips, these omissions are not a major problem. Bing's iPad app hits the App Store today and is being offered as a separate entity from its iPhone and iPod Touch sibling. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Expedia to split into two companies]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=expedia-to-split-into-two-companies</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=expedia-to-split-into-two-companies</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>svetalago</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=expedia-to-split-into-two-companies</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Expedia is splitting into two companies, Expedia and TripAdvisor, the travel firm announced today.Under its Expedia brand, the company will conduct both domestic and international operations through Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire, and others. The second company, TripAdvisor, will be made up of TripAdvisor.com, as well as &quot;18 other travel media and advertising brands.&quot; Both entities will be publicly traded.TripAdvisor was acquired by InterActive Corporation (IAC) in 2004. It spun off under the Expedia name in 2005. Since then, Expedia has been performing relatively well. In 2009, the company generated a profit of more than $299 million on $2.9 billion in revenue. Last year, it posted a $421.5 million profit on more than $3.3 billion in revenue.Though both TripAdvisor and Expedia are part of the ever-growing online travel sector, the former is designed to provide travelers with information and advice. Expedia is a place to find deals on travel. And it's that core difference that Expedia seems to want to highlight with this move.When Expedia spins off TripAdvisor, the agreement will be tendered in &quot;the form of a distribution of stock of TripAdvisor to Expedia stockholders,&quot; the company said. The deal requires approval from Expedia's Board of Directors and is expected to close in the third quarter.Expedia did not immediately respond to request for comment.As of this writing, Expedia's stock is up $2.95 per share to $25.47 in after-hours trading.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[On World Water Day, a look at water-energy tech]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-world-water-day-a-look-at-water-energy-tech</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-world-water-day-a-look-at-water-energy-tech</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>libeju8</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=on-world-water-day-a-look-at-water-energy-tech</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A competition held by nonprofit ImagineH2O highlights the close connection between water and energy. ImagineH2O, a not-for-profit company formed to foster innovation around water, last week announced that the three winners to its Water-Energy Nexus Prize, a competition for the best business ideas to reduce the energy needed to move and treat fresh water and wastewater. Winners out of the more than 50 participants were awarded $100,000 in cash and in-kind services. Hydrovolts CEO Burt Hammer shows off the company&amp;39's turbine designed specifically for manmade canals. The company plans to build these turbines in three sizes, with the largest able to fit into a shipping container.(Credit:Martin LaMonica/CNET)The top prize went to Hydrovolts, a Seattle-based company that makes a hydrokinetic turbine designed specifically for manmade canals. Flowing water turns adjustable wings to generate electricity. The company's plan is to sell the turbine to landowners and facility operators that have a steady-flowing canal. One advantage of this approach is that there shouldn't be a need for environmental reviews because it's an artificial environment, according to the company.The runners-up were Philadelphia-based Blackgold Biofuels, which has a process for converting fat, oil, and grease from wastewater treatment facilities into biodiesel fuel' and Oakland, Calif.-based Fogbuster, which is also separating fat, oil, and grease (FOG) from wastewater without using chemical plants. Other companies in the competition focused on different areas, such as membranes that improve the efficiency of desalination plants or drawing usable energy from water distribution systems.ImagineH2O, which was started by people from Harvard Business School, organized the competition to bring attention to energy in water distribution and treatment. California, which has to pump much of its water long distances, uses 19 percent of the state's energy on water. Different forms of power generation have wildly different water requirements as well. Nuclear power uses 720 gallons of water per megawatt-hour of energy produced, compared to 140 gallons for natural gas, 30 for solar photovoltaics, and 1,060 for concentrating solar power plants, according to Dow Water and Process Solutions. Supplying fresh water to people around the world, the focus of today's World Water Day, is obviously vital. But water technologies tend not to attract entrepreneurs and investment in part because in industrialized countries water is relatively inexpensive as a resource and facilities are run by cash-strapped municipalities.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New site tells you what your Facebook friends really think of you]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-site-tells-you-what-your-facebook-friends-really-think-of-you</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-site-tells-you-what-your-facebook-friends-really-think-of-you</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 20 Mar 2011 07:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>TattooBoo77</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-site-tells-you-what-your-facebook-friends-really-think-of-you</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Of course you love Facebook. You love the way it makes you feel to have so many friends. Yes, thousands of them. You love the fact that you can have open, personal interactions with all of those who mean something to you.And then there's what you really think about them. Which, should you be human, can be something a little more critical, a little more personal.A new site called AboutEveryone.com understands your feelings. It purports to offer you the opportunity to vent your real feelings about your Facebook friends, with a security that Facebook cannot possibly offer. Yes, you can do it anonymously.The site's method is blissfully simple. It asks you to &quot;select a user by visiting the user's Facebook profile and pasting the URL below.&quot;Once you do that, you can release your thoughts about the way your Facebook friend smells and about how he's the most untrustworthy, conniving pifflehead since Genghis Khan's law tutor.(Credit:Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)Here is a sample of the deep-seated improvisation that is offered on AboutEveryone: &quot;f*** you. You think you have the perfect little life (and you do) but that's why I hate you.. and ppl like you. You think you can just walk all over us poor, not-as-smart-as-you ppl and get away with it so, thanks for not being there when I needed you cuz you decided you were better than me. f*** youuuu.&quot;This was not written in reference to any tech company CEO. Still, you have to wonder about some of the awful--and awfully human--possibilities this site extends.Here's another: &quot;I am such an easy-going person. I have never LOATHED anyone before this chick. She was my bff and then I caught her in a lie, accidentally. When confronted she said she'd make my life a living hell. And that she did, she ICED me out of all my friendships. I hate her. I want to beat the shit out of her, but I won't. I've got responsibilities and I can't afford to be in jail.&quot;You wouldn't see posts like that on Facebook so often, would you Anyone who has anything against you--for whatever unjustified and perverse reason--can post something to this site. You just know this could have consequences. Within days, some enthusiastically modernized human resources person will waft there, just before you are extended a job offer or a promotion. Suddenly, the words of one critic might drown out the adoring fawning of your Facebook friends.But perhaps even worse than that is the idea that people will start posting positive things about themselves in order to balance out (or even pre-empt) any criticism. &quot;John is the most wonderful, caring, thoughtful, wealthy, great-in-bed boyfriend I've ever had,&quot; a poster might offer (about himself). &quot;I can't believe I ever let him go.&quot;I fear this site will become the repository of much trouble. I fear the odor of retaliations and lawsuits. I fear it is another site that can only, in the end, offer pain and anguish to the innocent just as much as to the guilty.Yes, I fear many people are going to love it.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple to delay iPad 2 sales in Japan]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-to-delay-ipad-2-sales-in-japan</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-to-delay-ipad-2-sales-in-japan</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2011 07:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>alfredrlaa</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-to-delay-ipad-2-sales-in-japan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple will postpone the start ofiPad 2 sales in Japan owing to the earthquake and the human tragedy that has followed in its wake. &quot;We are delaying the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan while the country and our teams focus on recovering from the recent disaster,&quot; Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said in an e-mail. &quot;Our hearts go out to the people of Japan, including our employees and their families, who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy.&quot; The front door of Apple Japan&amp;39's Web site expresses the company&amp;39's deepest sympathies for the victims of the earthquake. (Credit:Apple)Sales of the iPad 2 were slated to begin there on March 25, along with 25 other countries around the globe. In the U.S., the second-generation Appletablet appears to be a certified hit, with analyst estimates of sales ranging from half a million to as much as 1 million. The iPad 2 is also getting its share of positive reviews, with many citing increased performance and new features like dual cameras and iMovie software. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Amazon considering free Kindles for Prime members]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-considering-free-kindles-for-prime-members</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-considering-free-kindles-for-prime-members</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>josie21</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-considering-free-kindles-for-prime-members</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Amazon.com)There are more rumors fluttering around Seattle that at some point, likely the holiday season of 2011, Amazon will start giving away its Kindle e-book reader for free, likely to select (as in Prime) members. And as the e-book market expands, the possibility is looking more and more likely.Amazon doesn't make much money on the Kindle e-book reading device. And it's not supposed to' the hardware is a loss-leader that allows mobile access to--and binds customers to--Amazon's e-books store. It's a way for Amazon to say that, yes, its e-books really can replace dead tree editions. If Amazon was betting on its hardware, it wouldn't have Kindle apps for theiPad,iPhone, and other devices. The money, as far as Amazon is concerned, is in selling books. The Kindle hardware is simply a conduit for this. It's the metaphorical chip to the e-book dip.GeekWire, a new Seattle-based tech gossip and business site, talked to venture capitalist Scott Jacobson, who gave a list of reasons why Kindle would likely make this move. They include the aforementioned lock-them-in-with-free argument, as well as the relatively low cost nature of the e-ink devices, the need to develop the rather new market, Amazon's history of embracing &quot;free,&quot; and the simple fact that Amazon can afford it.Another key element is that Kindle owners, according to Amazon's own metrics, buy more books than non-Kindle owners. Those are the customers that Amazon not only wants to keep happy--they're the customers that Amazon wants to create and encourage. In addition, those who tend to be early adopters and the tech-savvy have already done a fair job of adopting to the new digital book format. But to really make the e-book expand past these readers, Amazon needs to reach out to those who won't pay $140 for a new (to them) technology. Giving away the Kindle hardware, which we first heard about a year ago, is a way to do this that makes sense.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Man uses GPS on Droid to refute speeding ticket]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=man-uses-gps-on-droid-to-refute-speeding-ticket</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=man-uses-gps-on-droid-to-refute-speeding-ticket</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 Feb 2011 08:11:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sophia001</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=man-uses-gps-on-droid-to-refute-speeding-ticket</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sometimes, all of Google's wonderfully intrusive inventions can come in useful.I am moved, you see, more than usual by a story in SkatterTech of a man who got a speeding ticket.The police accused Sahas Katta of going more than 40 mph in a 25 mph limit, according to the story, which was authored by Katta himself. Katta was a little taken aback. He said he felt sure he wasn't going quite that fast. Fortunately, his Motorola Droid cell phone enjoyed Google MyTracks, according to his account.This charming software records your GPS tracks and even lets you watch live stats--which might not be such a good idea when you're driving.Still, even though Katta had been meek with the traffic policeman in question, when he looked at his MyTracks afterward, he said he discovered something that was more akin to his own inner senses. The maximum speed recorded had only been 26 mph, according to the story.Getting a ticket is never an easy experience.(Credit:CC WoodleyWonderworks/Flickr)He decided to fight his case in traffic court in Yolo County, Calif., and was nervous giving evidence, he said. Who wouldn't be Traffic officers are always firm with their facts. But he presented his GPS data. He also, rather cleverly, took the advice of a lawyer and asked the traffic cop whether he had experienced radar gun training recently and when the gun was last calibrated.Katta said the judge didn't seem too au fait with GPS technology, but he didn't seem too impressed with the traffic cop's evidence either.So, in a victory for common technology, he decided the ticket should not be paid.Katta told SkatterTech: &quot;The officer in question was doing his job and did not do anything wrong.&quot;However, this is not the only case of its kind that seems to be entering the courts. A man in Ohio also attempted to show that his GPS records proved he had not exceeded the 65 mph speed limit, when he was accused of driving at 84 mph.In this case, however, an Ohio appeals court ruled that it didn't have enough evidence about how Verizon Wireless' GPS alerts worked in order to throw out the ticket.Could it be that California is more welcoming to technology than is Ohio<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Lady Gaga is now the queen of iTunes]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lady-gaga-is-now-the-queen-of-itunes</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lady-gaga-is-now-the-queen-of-itunes</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Feb 2011 08:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>goukeseo</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lady-gaga-is-now-the-queen-of-itunes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Lady Gaga rules iTunes.(Credit:Greg Sandoval/CNET)She might be carried around in an egg and wear meat, but Lady Gaga has been able to strike a chord with music lovers.The pop star's latest single, &quot;Born This Way,&quot; has become the fastest-selling track ever released on iTunes, selling 1 million units in just five days of availability, Interscope Records announced today. Apple confirmed the claim in a phone conversation with CNET. The song is currently No. 1 in Apple's U.S. iTunes store, as well as in the iTunes stores of several countries across Europe.Lady Gaga has proved to be one of the biggest draws across several different music platforms. In addition to her latest iTunes conquest, a video site owned by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, Vevo, said last year that the pop star accounted for 25 percent of its traffic. The official Vevo release of one of Gaga's more recent hits, &quot;Bad Romance,&quot; has tallied more than 346 million views. A couple of her other videos have been viewed more than 100 million times as well.So, what's the takeaway Aside from the fact that being toted around in an egg might actually be a good marketing ploy, these various numbers mean Lady Gaga pretty much owns the digital-music world. And not even the recent release of the Beatles library on iTunes is going to change that.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[HTML5 spec set for 2014 completion]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=html5-spec-set-for-2014-completion</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=html5-spec-set-for-2014-completion</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>deshawnste21</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=html5-spec-set-for-2014-completion</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The W3C&amp;39's new HTML5 logo(Credit:W3C)It's been a work in progress for years, but there are a few more years to go yet before the next version of Hypertext Markup Language is finalized.Specifically, the World Wide Web Consortium's HTML Working Group is set to announce today that it expects to anoint HTML5 as an officially recommended standard in the second quarter of 2014. That drawn-out schedule contrasts with another effort to make HTML a more fluidly updated &quot;living standard.&quot;&quot;We started working [on HTML5] in 2007,&quot; Philippe Le Hegaret, the HTML activity leader for the W3C, told CNET. &quot;We're targeting seven years for completing HTML5.&quot;HTML5 will become the first new revision since HTML 4.01 was released in 1999. Among the features in the next-generation Web page description language: built-in video and audio, a &quot;canvas&quot; element for two-dimensional graphics, new structural labels such as &quot;article&quot; to smooth programming, and a codified process to consistently interpret the hodgepodge styles of real-world Web pages, even when improperly coded.That doesn't mean interested parties won't be able to employ the new technology until 2014, though. On the contrary, key phases of the coming years' development involve getting feedback from real-world use that's already well under way and ironing out wrinkles that may arise implementing the standard in Web browsers.At the same time, work continues on a broad range of HTML standards--geolocation, offline data storage, background processing, a direct browser-server communication conduit, and more--that aren't strictly speaking part of HTML5. And after the W3C releases the first &quot;last call&quot; draft of the standard in May--the point at which the W3C thinks the standard's features are set--the W3C plans to begin tackling the early stages of what it's calling HTML.next for now.Clearly, then, the W3C isn't idling while browser makers and Web developers aggressively push ahead. But the W3C's schedule contrasts sharply with the speed at which the Web is developing today, growing beyond its role as a medium for static documents into a foundation for sophisticated applications. But the schedule also is not a great surprise given the complexity of HTML, the technological and political wrangling among the 55 organizations in the group, and an interest in HTML that's broadening beyond browser makers and Web programmers.&quot;When you want interoperability at a global scale across a broader industry, it takes time [and] more investment than single-platform stability,&quot; said Ian Jacobs, head of W3C marketing. For example, although the Web began as a phenomenon on personal computers, it's becoming a reality on mobile devices and another domain, TV, is coming, as exemplified by a recent W3C workshop dedicated to the subject.&quot;The key thing here is that there are lots of stakeholders, some of whom may not move at the same speed. One of the pieces of feedback from the TV and Web workshop is that TV manufacturers expect a shelf life of 7 years,&quot; Jacobs said. &quot;Because the W3C has as its mission to make the Web available to everybody, we always have to take into account the multiple needs of multiple audiences.&quot;The WHATWG's living documentEven as the W3C proceeds methodically, though, another group involved in developing HTML is changing its philosophy to an even more fluid arrangement. The WHATWG--Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group--began work on what became HTML5 in 2004 when the W3C declared that the 1999 update to HTML4 was the final version and that the future lay with an incompatible standard called XHTML 2.0. That proved to be largely a dead end, however, and the W3C resumed HTML work in 2007 and now has phased out work on XHTML 2.0.The WHATWG got its start as an open mailing list, but its founders and decision-makers all came from browser makers--Opera and Mozilla to start, with Apple joining later. HTML governance now essentially involves both the W3C and the WHATWG. One key figure is Ian Hickson, a former Opera and now Google employee who serves as an editor of the somewhat divergent versions of HTML maintained at both the W3C and the WHATWG.In January, Hickson declared that at the WHATWG, HTML has now become a &quot;living document,&quot; a specification that is constantly updated according to need. Abandoning version numbers that no longer are needed, Hickson ditched the term &quot;HTML5&quot; in favor of just &quot;HTML.&quot; And he said he'd like to see the W3C follow suit.Don't expect the standards group to do so, though.The W3C has always revised its standards, Jacobs said. &quot;That doesn't mean everybody wants the nightly build of a specification,&quot; he said, referring to the software development practice of building a new test version of software every night to include programmers' latest patches. &quot;We also have stable versions of standards, because there are some communities who need those for the level of interoperability they require...We think both innovation and stability are valuable, and they are not mutually exclusive.&quot;Another factor is intellectual-property rights--specifically, patents. Those who participate in creating the W3C's specifications agree not to sue those implementing the specification for infringement of any patents those participants own. It's a bit of legal reassurance in a technology world that has plenty of patent risks, but technically that assurance only comes with the final version of a specification.The final scheduleWhat exactly will happen between now and mid-2014 with HTML5 Several steps, according to Le Hegaret and Jacobs:In May 2011 comes the first &quot;last call&quot; draft of HTML5. This version is feature-complete, meaning no new features will be added, but that existing features will be refined. The W3C expects to deal with thousands of comments through this phase, some of them likely to lead to &quot;substantial&quot; changes.Likely by the end of 2011, the W3C will issue a second last-call version and begin a second round of refinements.In the second quarter of 2012, a new phase begins, in which &quot;implementors&quot; of the specification--browser makers, essentially--provide feedback. During this phase, the W3C concentrates on a suite of thousands of tests to see if implementations of HTML5 really do get the same results when interpreting a Web page's code.The culmination of this phase is a &quot;candidate recommendation&quot; of the HTML5 spec and at least two &quot;interoperable implementations&quot;--in other words, two different browsers that produce the same results on the test cases. The implementors' feedback is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2014.Last comes a final review period of about six weeks, then some time to get the promotional gears engaged.Then, in the second quarter of 2014, HTML5 should be done.&quot;We're excited to be able to say we now have a time frame,&quot; Jacobs said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New PicPlz interface opens up app possibilities]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-picplz-interface-opens-up-app-possibilities</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-picplz-interface-opens-up-app-possibilities</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Emma01</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-picplz-interface-opens-up-app-possibilities</guid>
<description><![CDATA[PicPlz, a photo-sharing start-up, has released a programming interface that lets applications tap into its tools for uploading and applying artistic filters to images.&quot;We think that allowing developers access to our upload and filter pipeline brings something different to the table than &quot;just another photo-sharing API,'&quot; the company said in a blog post yesterday. &quot;We're pleased to announce that in the past 2 weeks we've had well over 100 developers apply to be part of our API (far exceeding our expectations).&quot;Opening an API lets programmers tap into the abilities of a Web site or operating system, turning it into a foundation for a broader ecosystem. PicPlz released sample code, for example, for building a slideshow that displays PicPlz images.APIs are important for growth, too. By exposing an interface, as Twitter did years ago, a successful service can become plumbing for others' services. That can complicate Web business plans, though: it's hard to show ads if nobody is coming to your Web site. But if your service becomes a utility others depend on, you can charge for high-reliability, premium access to its interface.For years, photo sharing has been dominated by Yahoo's Flickr and some other relatively slow-moving sites such as Shutterfly and Google's Picasa Web Albums. But the old order is being overturned with people sharing photos with Facebook, Instagram, and other tools that make the process relatively easy and very social.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple fan's faith put to the test (Q&A)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-fans-faith-put-to-the-test-qa</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-fans-faith-put-to-the-test-qa</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AspisaMypsupt</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-fans-faith-put-to-the-test-qa</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Mike Daisey traveled to Shenzhen, China, last year to find out for himself about the working conditions at Foxconn.(Credit:Ursa Waz) It'd be easy to label monologist Mike Daisey a theater geek, but he's a tech geek through and through. His hobby is technology. He's obsessed with reading Apple rumors sites. Sometimes just to relax, Daisey will field-strip his MacBook Pro. He even once played the role of &quot;fat geek&quot; in a Microsoft industrial video. And he worked at Amazon.com in the late '90s, which he detailed in his show and subsequent book &quot;21 Dog Years.&quot;  In his new show, &quot;The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,&quot; Daisey chronicles his longtime love affair with Apple and, in parallel, recounts the rise of the company. It is, at times, hilarious. But it's also sobering--sobering when he turns his focus on the harsh working conditions at Foxconn factories in Shenzhen, China, where some Apple devices are assembled. And Apple isn't alone among tech companies in manufacturing products in China, nor in using Foxconn. Apple did not respond to two requests for comment. Foxconn also did not respond to a request for comment. A report earlier this month by Chinese environmental groups criticized Apple for its response to a spate of employee suicides at Foxconn last year. In response to that story, a Hong Kong-based Apple representative told Bloomberg: &quot;Apple has had an extensive supplier auditing program since 2006 and we have lots of information available through our Web site.&quot; Daisey has performed the monologue in such places as Portland, Ore.--where I saw the show--and Hyderabad, India. The show has settled in for a run at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California, in repertory with Daisey's &quot;The Last Cargo Cult,&quot; through February 27.  In a phone interview last week, Daisey talked about what led him to travel to Shenzhen, where he heard devastating stories from Foxconn factory workers, and why he thinks change is possible. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.Q: You did a four-part monologue called &quot;Great Men of Genius.&quot; Where would Steve Jobs fit in among Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla, and L. Ron Hubbard  Mike Daisey: He's clearly a genius. And he does fit the mold of a number of people who I've been engaged by and fascinated by in my career--which is people who are, to a degree, megalomaniacal, who have a strong, intense vision for the shape of the world, and then they use their considerable gifts to implement that vision in the world. In your new show, &quot;The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,&quot; you say that your chosen OS is a window into how you see the world. You compare it to a religion, that you have faith, and sometimes that faith is tested. How would you describe your faith in Apple lately Daisey: It's complex. My faith in Apple design and their belief in cleanness and simplicity is not doing too poorly, although their desire to tie all their products into an ecosystem that locks people into their sort of way of life is troubling. Something that starts out enabling your users to have a lot of freedom and a lot of ease of use by making really clean, wonderful aesthetic suggestions, like anything, as it becomes more and more complete and overarching, you start to feel strait-jacketed. So there's that side of it.  The deeper side for me is the circumstances under which the devices are made and that is more troubling and complicated, and stretches across far more than Apple and implicates the entire electronics industry. I find myself very conflicted these days. I find it very painful. The idea for &quot;The Agony and the Ecstasy&quot; came to you a few years ago after seeing some pictures of a Foxconn factory worker that hadn't been wiped from an iPhone before it was sold. You couldn't stop looking at them. Why did they have such an impact on you Daisey: I think they had an impact on me for the same reason that they should have an impact on any conscious person. Because if you're truthful with yourself I think most people in our culture, especially people associated with technology, would recognize that they never think about where their technology comes from--ever. Daisey is performing &amp;39'The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs&amp;39' at Berkeley Rep through February 27. (Credit:Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com) And it's a remarkable thing given that those of us who are involved and fascinated by technology spend a huge amount of time thinking about the capabilities of the technology, exactly what the specifications are, getting very granular with every detail of the technology except the circumstances under which it was made. I actually think that's a tremendous piece of cognitive dissonance. An entire culture actually has to grow up and work very hard so that we don't think about those circumstances. Though I know a great deal about Apple equipment and it's been my only hobby for many years, at that moment I realized that I had never thought in a systematic way about how these devices were made. That really struck me in a real blinding instant. At what point did you decide to go to China Daisey: I think it was a year and a half later. Things had to grow and develop. As the idea grew, like all the monologues grow, it caused me to do more research and more investigations. I don't remember the exact timeline, but it became clear after some time that I was going to have to actually go to Shenzhen if I wanted to get at the heart of things. In Shenzhen you visited factories and talked to Foxconn employees. With the help of a translator you interviewed workers, some as young as 11, during shift changes over the course of many days. Given the heavy security there and the suicides, were you surprised by how many workers were eager to talk to you Daisey: Yes and no. I was surprised because all the journalists I'd talked to before going, both in America and Hong Kong, had assured me that no one would ever want to talk to me, that they were going to be incredibly closed off and silent. I think that there's a disconnect between what we think people are going to do and then what they actually do. The only way to find out how people actually feel and what they're actually going to do is to go and ask the questions. So when I thought about it afterwards it didn't seem that surprising that people might want to talk about the circumstances of their lives, just as people like to talk about the circumstances of their lives everywhere.  Perhaps--I don't want to be too speculative--but it has crossed my mind that it's very convenient for journalists if we convince ourselves that no one will talk to them, then that saves us the difficulty of having to actually do our jobs. We just convince ourselves that no one's there and no one's going to talk. Then you don't even have to go. This show is not just storytelling. It's a call to action too. After the show, audience members are given information on what they can do to try to get Apple and other electronics makers to change working conditions in Shenzhen. What made you decide to take that extra step Daisey: How could it be otherwise Frankly, it's the least I can do. It doesn't even seem like it'd be ethically responsible to perform a show illuminating these things and proposing that there is a chance for us to turn things around, to begin the process of waking up, and then not provide some ideas toward what that might entail. It would actually just be irresponsible as a citizen. What are you hearing from people who have taken some of the steps you suggest  Daisey: Just today some people have been calling Apple's customer relations and using the information I gave them to get to an actual person. The [customer relations] people seem discomfited and made nervous by the fact that people are calling. Before his leave of absence, people were e-mailing Steve Jobs. Sadly he's not in charge of day-to-day operations now so I'm not telling people to do that right now. But back in the fall when people wrote to him, a large number of them received responses which they then forwarded to me. Steve Jobs certainly knows about the situation. I have no doubt that everyone involved is well aware of the situation. What they need to become aware of is the growing consciousness of the public and how they feel about how these devices are made. In the past, have you contacted Steve Jobs yourself Daisey: I don't need to contact Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs knows where to find me. The show is running near his house, so if Steve Jobs wants to see it he can. In an e-mail, he responded to someone who wrote to him and said I think that Mike doesn't appreciate the complexity of the situation.  I appreciate that because, first, it acknowledges that there's a situation. So then we're just bickering about response to the situation. I would be interested in that dialogue. I'd be interested in anyone from Apple coming to talk to me and we can talk about how I met 12-, 13-, and 14-year-olds working at the plant on their devices and interviewed them, and they can explain to me what complexity it is that I'm not understanding. I'd be very interested in that conversation. We've gotten so used to ever-cheaper tech gadgets. Is it also going to take a change in our culture as consumers to produce better working conditions Do we need to be willing to pay more Daisey: This is one of the saddest parts of this entire story that people don't fully appreciate, and is actually focused on more in the version of the show that's happening now versus the one in Portland. It's actually almost totally pathetic because the news coverage always talks about this like we cannot speak of any of this without endlessly talking about the cost that we'll be paying for the devices.  The vast majority of the people I spoke with who had serious problems in Shenzhen, their problems are because there are no labor standards, because we let our corporations be loose there and do whatever they want to the people. Labor laws don't actually equal incredibly increased expenses. For example, while I was in the country there, someone worked a 32-hour shift at Foxconn and then died from overwork. It does not require a lot more money to keep people from working to death.  So I think it's the height of disingenuousness when people raise their hands to say, well, [the devices] will be so much more expensive now. They don't know anything. The problem is that people making these devices are not valued as human beings. They're valued as machines. They're machines that are used until they break down and then they're thrown away. The heart of it has much less to do with how much people are making per hour and a lot more to do with the circumstances under which the devices are made. &quot;I love Apple more than any other company that has ever existed. I love the design. I love the devices, and I think it's a rare opportunity for someone to see someone who speaks their language in a context where they might learn about something, they might be shaken awake to something that impacts every part of their lives.&quot;  When I was in the country, Foxconn eventually responded to the rash of suicides. Their big response was that they raised wages across the board by 30 percent. And it was amazing to watch all the press, all the tech press' they said, well, they're dealing with it. Not one person thought for a moment about how if you can raise your labor costs 30 percent overnight without blinking then something is wrong. No one thought that. The lack of critical thinking on these issues from the journalists who ostensibly cover them, it is appalling. We have not done our job to cover this story in any way. As a consequence, people do not understand what's at stake or what's happening. You don't think boycotts are the answer, but have your buying habits changed since your trip to China Daisey: They have. It's all a work in progress, like I suspect it is for everyone. I take a lot less joy in technology than I did, so I find myself making less impulsive purchases. I find myself really weighing the cost, not just the cost in money for me, but the cost of the device being made. And that changes the equation about whether or not I need it. Last summer you took the show to India, including in Hyderabad where the audience included Microsoft employees and business students. What kind of feedback did you get Daisey: A lot of it was very illuminating for me. I didn't realize how the show is a product of my own culture, so I didn't realize how much of a problem Americans have with China. I hadn't fully understood that we are so terrified of China. We are terrified of what it signifies. We are terrified about the future. We're terrified about losing power. We're terrified about our ethical implications, but we don't want to talk about any of these things. So we're very, very conflicted about China.  But in India they're not conflicted about China. It's fascinating for them, but they know these stories already. I had these educational events while I was there and talked to 40 to 50 people at a time. We'd all sit in circles and talk about storytelling and the nature of this kind of performance. I would tell these students, teachers, academics, and people in technology that the average American has never heard the word Shenzhen, that they have no idea what city that is. No one could believe me. They thought that was the most ludicrous thing they had ever heard, the idea that we could be so dislocated that we don't know the name of the city where all our [stuff] comes from. I think they're right about that.You work from an outline, not a script. How much has the show changed since you first performed it last summer In light of the news that Steve Jobs is taking another medical leave, have you made any notable changes in the show Daisey: It changes constantly. It's been evolving since we started working on it. And there have been changes since he left day-to-day operations at Apple, but it's actually hard to tell if those changes are directly connected to that news. That news is huge but at the same time, [the show] sort of traces the arc of an era at Apple with Steve that is ending. And it posits this transformation from the hobbyist to the consumer, and it sort of posits that that transformation is pretty much complete now.  I feel like Steve leaving day-to-day operations at Apple is really just the period at the end of that sentence. It just intensifies the circumstances under which the show is already making its arguments, that an era of titans in technology who have verve and personality is passing into history and in its place is corporatism and all of its machinery. And sadly, those titans didn't succeed in having a vision to make a humanist future. That thing that Steve Jobs dreamed of as a young man, he sold that dream out. He didn't achieve that at all. I'd say that's his greatest failing. He may not recognize it as such but I'm confident that in time the world will. That a company that espouses such humanist values to have done business as usual, to have failed so entirely to &quot;think different,&quot; I don't think they'll be judged well historically for that. Unless, of course, they'd like to change.  And I think change is eminently possible and that's the whole reason that I want to put pressure on them and the rest of the electronics industry. We are the sum of the choices we make. This isn't even about dollars and cents in many cases. If the companies put people on the ground, were dedicated to these ends, actually believed that it was important that workers be treated humanely, if they actually did those things, change would occur. I just need to raise the consciousness of people until we as consumers are asking these questions full-throatedly back to the companies. And then I suspect they will begin to fully wake up. The beginning of the show's run at Berkeley Rep coincided with Macworld. Was there a conscious decision to do it then Daisey: It's mostly coincidental. We were already talking to Berkeley Rep about when they were thinking of doing the show. But I definitely took into account Macworld when looking at where the opening of the show would be so that the people going to Macworld who are very devoted to Apple would have an opportunity, if they're feeling adventurous, to hear the story. Because I love Apple. I love Apple more than any other company that has ever existed. I love the design. I love the devices, and I think it's a rare opportunity for someone to see someone who speaks their language in a context where they might learn about something, they might be shaken awake to something that impacts every part of their lives. My hope is some of the people, even if they're wary, even if they're feeling a little suspicious, might take a chance in coming onboard. I think they would really gain a lot if they were willing to do that. That was the hope, to extend an olive branch and open a door. How do you get people to the theater in the Digital Age Daisey: I'll tell you the secret: it's easier. It's easier for me anyway. I don't know what everyone else in the theater is going to do. I don't know what people are going to do who do traditional plays. I like a lot of traditional plays, but I like even more my theater to be live and living and relevant. The truth is, many people in technology don't appreciate this, when we speak to one another on our phones, even this conversation, the bandwidth of this connection is so thin compared to the bandwidth in a room in a living performance that is actually being spoken in front of you, that is not scripted, that is composed in the air between the audience and I. The bandwidth is so much more in those spaces than it is through any of the technology we know. I love technology. [But] it's entirely insufficient for what I need it to do at this time. It can't even remotely approach the live experience. I need that live experience because I believe even if I reach less people it opens the chance that I might reach them more deeply. I believe very strongly in the live experience because if I did not, I would make YouTube clips of the show and I would post them. And I'd be like, I'm all done. Instead I really believe in the refining fire of going through the show night after night. I learn about my ideas and my passions. I learn about my arguments by doing them again and again and in different ways, shifting and changing them. It's a remarkable way to live. It's a pleasure and it's an honor to get to do it with live audiences. And that's why I make the work I do. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[EPA to approve E15 for cars built in 2001 and later]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=epa-to-approve-e15-for-cars-built-in-2001-and-later</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=epa-to-approve-e15-for-cars-built-in-2001-and-later</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:10:49 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>resbimmarlk</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=epa-to-approve-e15-for-cars-built-in-2001-and-later</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Pro-ethanol group Growth Energy says the current 10 percent ethanol cap in gasoline is slowing the growth and development of the renewable fuels industry.(Credit:Growth Energy)The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to approve the use of E15 for vehicles built in 2001 or later, according to a Bloomberg article. E15 is a blend of 85 percent gasoline and 15 percent ethanol, and is opposed by automotive manufacturers that say the increased ethanol amount could harm vehicle engines and fueling systems.The EPA's anticipated decision, which could be announced today, builds upon the temporary waiver the agency granted last year to Growth Energy, a pro-ethanol group comprised of alternative fuel manufacturers and suppliers. At present, gasoline can be blended up to 10 percent with ethanol for all vehicles, but the waiver allows the use of E15 in vehicles built in 2007 or later. Manufacturers are appealing the decision, arguing that more testing is needed to prove the blend is safe for vehicles. The EPA was waiting for additional testing on vehicles built from 2001 to 2007 until it granted the use of E15 for those vehicle model years. The testing was completed in November, but the findings have not yet been released. Increasing the number of vehicles on the road that can use the higher ethanol blend will help the U.S. comply with its mandate to consume 13.95 billion gallons of ethanol in 2011. It's also going to help bolster the weak ethanol market, which sent a lot of alternative fuel producers and suppliers to bankruptcy court over the last 18 months, according to Bloomberg.But what about the consumer Approving the use of E15 in morecars probably means that the EPA's testing didn't find damage in engines or fueling systems. But ethanol has lower energy density than gasoline, and drivers could experience a small decrease in fuel economy from the increased amounts of ethanol.A potential upside is that it could help stabilize fuel prices for consumers as oil prices rise. Refiners receive a 45-cent tax credit for each gallon of ethanol they use. By using more ethanol to increase the number of gallons of gasoline produced from a barrel of oil, refiners could theoretically offset the rising oil prices. The average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. has risen slowly but steadily since last fall with an average price of $3.10 for a gallon of regular gas last week. Source: Bloomberg<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google Voice ports your own number for $20]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-voice-ports-your-own-number-for-20</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-voice-ports-your-own-number-for-20</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>feadseteoma</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-voice-ports-your-own-number-for-20</guid>
<description><![CDATA[For $20, you may be able to take your phone number with you to Google Voice.(Credit:Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)One of Google Voice's stickiest conditions is beginning to unstick, thanks to a new, very quietly rolled-out feature that lets you port your own phone number to Google Voice.If you see this in your Google Voice account settings, you may be eligible for porting.(Credit:Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Previously, signing on to Google Voice meant searching for a new Google Voice number to pass along to (and confuse) family and friends. A call forwarding feature let you give Google Voice the blessing to handle the voice mail attached to your mobile number, but porting was frustratingly not an option, to the chagrin of all of us CNET users as well.Now, you may see the words &quot;Change/Port&quot; in the Settings of your Google Voice account. Click it to begin the process of entering your beloved number, and Google will assess if it's eligible for porting to Google Voice. Unlike the rest of Google's telephony service, porting isn't free, and you can only make payment on the $20 fee through Google Checkout.Just keep in mind that jumping ship on any current mobile contract will incur your carrier's wrath in the form of early termination fees. Therefore, port wisely, young Googlers. [Via Engadget] <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Will HP's webOS tablet arrive too late]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-hps-webos-tablet-arrive-too-late</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-hps-webos-tablet-arrive-too-late</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mandidmdda</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-hps-webos-tablet-arrive-too-late</guid>
<description><![CDATA[HP's 2010 acquisition of Palm has yet to yield a webOS-based tablet.(Credit:CBS/AP)There's little doubt that atablet will take center stage at HP's February 9 webOS press event. Nearly a year after acquiring Palm, HP may finally show off a webOS-based tablet and hopefully spill the beans on the product's features, pricing, and carrier agreements. But announcing a product and delivering it are two different things. Recent rumors have the actual release date of HP's new tablet pegged at September of 2011, putting it several months behind the competition.Apple, RIM, Dell, and Motorola all have high-profile tablets set to be released in the first quarter of the year, along with LG's G-Slate, which is due out in summer. Considering how RIM has already caught some flack for not having the BlackBerry PlayBook out by 2010, the possible autumn arrival of a webOS tablet will undoubtedly be a tough sell for HP.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Study: Windows 98 traffic bests Windows Phone 7]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=study-windows-98-traffic-bests-windows-phone-7</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=study-windows-98-traffic-bests-windows-phone-7</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>123mbt</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=study-windows-98-traffic-bests-windows-phone-7</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Microsoft)Windows 98 may have been retired long ago by the vast majority of users, but the operating system is still driving more traffic than the nascentWindows Phone 7, according to Web advertising company Chitika.The ancient Windows operating system--which has about 0.04 percent worldwide OS market share, according to Net Market Share--secured about 0.019 percent of all traffic on Chitika's ad network at the beginning of January. By contrast, Windows Phone 7 captured a little less than 0.010 percent market share.It gets worse. Chitika found that Windows Phone 7 has 0.44 percent &quot;as much traffic asiPhone and Android combined.&quot; Chitika has grown to become a sizable advertising network. Founded in 2003, the company said it works with over 100,000 Web sites and serves about 3 billion monthly ad impressions. The data it referenced in its report was taken from those 100,000 sites.As alarming as Chitika's latest numbers might be for Microsoft, it's important to note that Windows Phone 7 has spent very little time on store shelves. The mobile operating system launched in Europe and Asia in October and was made available to U.S. customers in November.Microsoft announced in December that 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 devices had been sold to retailers, though the company didn't say how many products had actually made their way into consumer hands.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google Chrome gets new developer hierarchy]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-chrome-gets-new-developer-hierarchy</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-chrome-gets-new-developer-hierarchy</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>DefevantHat</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-chrome-gets-new-developer-hierarchy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Google)In its first two years, Chrome development took a more collaborative approach than most Google projects, but now its leaders have decided on more sharply defined leadership roles to better manage the browser's growth.Instead of notifying a &quot;watchlist&quot; of programmers who are affected by a particular change to the code, a programmer on an &quot;owners&quot; list must now approve the change, high-ranking Chrome engineer Ben Goodger announced yesterday on the developers' mailing list for the open-source Chromium project that underlies Chrome. Goodger wrote:Much of Chromium's practices are modeled on Google's own internal engineering practices. OWNERS files were one area where we explicitly diverged. Why In the past I had been concerned about the social effects of OWNERS files--I had been concerned about territoriality which can sometimes creep in any collaborative project. We had encouraged the development of &quot;alternative&quot; means of change notification, and so we have WATCHLISTS. WATCHLISTS proved insufficient for many of us, however. Darin [Fisher, another high-ranking Chrome leader] and I discussed the issue, and talking with other senior engineers decided that OWNERS files seemed like a more comprehensive answer.The basic problem, he said, is quality control. &quot;Owners files provide a means for people to find engineers experienced in developing specific areas for code reviews. They are designed to help ensure changes don't fall through the cracks and get appropriate scrutiny,&quot; he said.Chrome has open-source foundations, including contributions from programmers outside Google. But as with Linux, Android, MySQL, and many other open-source projects, the approach doesn't mean it's a hobby run by volunteers. The move to the owners system, though, reflects another step toward professional management of the software.Goodger laid out his case this way:In the more than two years since the Chromium project started, the number of people contributing has grown immensely. With this expansion has come many challenges, the most important of which is ensuring the continuity of our product and development principles. As our project has grown in size and scope, the code-base has begun to show signs of fatigue...I speak for a number of leads on the team when I say that we've had a hard time keeping up with the pace of change. As we expand the scope of Chrome in many different directions, it's critical that we consider even more carefully the design of the core code. As we do this it is important to rely on the most experienced engineers in each area. He laid out the full details of the new code governance in a document describing Chromium's new owners system. Among its strictures:Only the people who are actively investing energy in the improvement of a directory should be listed as OWNERS. OWNERS are expected to have demonstrated excellent judgment, teamwork and ability to uphold Chrome development principles. They must understand the development process. Additionally, for someone to be listed as an OWNER of a directory they must be approved by the other OWNERS of the affected directory.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[iOS 4.3 to bring back iPad rotation lock to side switch]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ios-4-3-to-bring-back-ipad-rotation-lock-to-side-switch</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ios-4-3-to-bring-back-ipad-rotation-lock-to-side-switch</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>fnENCAMPkf</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ios-4-3-to-bring-back-ipad-rotation-lock-to-side-switch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[iOS 4.3 might bring back the screen rotation lock to the iPad&amp;39's side switch. (Credit:Apple)When iOS 4.2 changed the functionality of the iPad side switch from a rotation lock to a mute toggle, manyiPad owners were displeased. Instead of flicking a simple switch, they had to swipe the screen to the right and then select the screen orientation lock on the screen. This is the same method as used on current iPhones andiPod Touches, so perhaps the idea was to have that same experience on all of Apple's mobile devices. However, I think the need for a mute switch is not as necessary on the iPad, and that a rotation lock was far more useful. It seems Apple may have listened to its users, for it is rumored that iOS 4.3 will finally bring back the option for a hardware rotation lock with the iPad via a new preference in the Settings menu. Simply choose whether you want the switch to act as a rotation lock or a mute switch, and you're good to go. We don't know too much about what else iOS 4.3 might bring, but this change alone might be worth it for most people to update. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Demand forces Goldman to end Facebook solicitation]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demand-forces-goldman-to-end-facebook-solicitation</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demand-forces-goldman-to-end-facebook-solicitation</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Jan 2011 08:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Amihan</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demand-forces-goldman-to-end-facebook-solicitation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Well, that didn't last very long.In case you still had lingering doubts about the investing class's appetite to buy a piece of Facebook, follow the money to find out the answer: the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that Goldman Sachs was so flooded with demand for its recent investment solicitation to investors seeking to buy into the social-networking site, that it has decided to stop taking new orders, according to sources familiar with the situation.Earlier this week, word leaked that Goldman had ponied up $450 million--Digital Sky Technologies of Russia, a partner in the deal, accounted for another $50 million--to acquire a position in Facebook. That paved the way for Goldman to invite clients willing to invest at least $2 million to buy equity in Facebook, which is still private.Goldman is likely to reap a fortune from fees resulting from any Facebook stock sales. Investors must pay 4 percent upfront frees to the investment firm as well as 5% on any future gains, according to the Journal.The creation of an investment vehicle has reportedly spurred an Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry of disclosure rules governing deals where investors are able to buy shares of private companies. Were it a public company, Facebook would be valued at around $50 billion, according to estimates.Current regulations require companies with 500 or more shareholders to publicly report financial information. Facebook's deal with Goldman Sachs creates a special fund that allows the social network site to stay under that threshold even though some investors will be able to buy up to $1.5 billion in Facebook shares. The SEC declined to comment.Goldman's investment underscored Wall Street's endorsement of Facebook's potential to make money in online social networking. Facebook is considered to be twice the value of Yahoo and about equal to what well-established names such as Boeing and Kraft Foods are worth on the open market. What's more, the cash infusion buys time for Facebook to keep its books private and not have to worry about the vagaries of the market. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Verizon to debut 4G Android smartphones]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-verizon-to-debut-4g-android-smartphones</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-verizon-to-debut-4g-android-smartphones</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bernbeebeb</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-verizon-to-debut-4g-android-smartphones</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Verizon Wireless will use this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as the coming out party for its 4G wireless network.While many people have been crossing their fingers for news of a VerizoniPhone at CES, the big news from Verizon will likely be the company's announcement of several new 4G wireless products, including at least four handsets and a tablet PC, all using Google's Android operating system. LG's dual-core Optimus 2XThe carrier, which is the largest wireless operator in the U.S. in terms of subscribers, launched its highly anticipated 4G wireless network in December. But for the past month, the company has only sold laptop cards for the super fast network, which uses a next-generation networking technology known as Long Term Evolution, or LTE.All that will soon change on Thursday when Verizon's CEO Ivan Seidenberg takes the stage to deliver a keynote address at the CES show. Later that afternoon, the company has scheduled a press conference, where news of the new devices is expected to be unveiled.Specific details of devices to be announced have started trickling out. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the company will announce 4G smartphones from Samsung Electronics, Motorola, HTC, and LG Electronics.CNET's Android Atlas reported last month that the company is expected to announce the dual-core LG smartphone and the HTC Thunderbolt at CES. Both these smartphones are LTE-ready. Motorola is also expected to announce the Honeycomb tablet PC, which is also expected to run on Verizon's 4G network.All of these new devices will use theGoogle Android operating system. Verizon Wireless has forged a strong alliance with Google, selling its Android-powered phones for more than a year now. In fact, its Droid smartphones from Motorola, Samsung, and HTC are its main line of attack against AT&amp;T and its exclusive deal with the iPhone.Despite rumors of a Verizon iPhone, it looks like Verizon plans to maintain its close ties to Google. Rumors have circulated for months, that Verizon will get a version of the iPhone once the exclusivity with AT&amp;T ends early this year. Some have speculated that Verizon may announce the new Verizon iPhone at CES, but most experts suspect Apple will hold its own event early this year to make the announcement. Verizon's 4G push powered by Android devices, clearly solidifies the carrier's strategy to continue selling Google Android devices along with an Apple product.It's unclear when Verizon will begin selling the Android 4G smartphones and tablets or the iPhone, for that matter. The Wall Street Journal cited sources that said the new Android 4G phones won't be available until midyear. But in an interview with CNET in October, Verizon Chief Operating Officer Lowell McAdam indicated that 4G handsets would be on store shelves by the end of the first quarter of 2011.Getting 4G smartphones on the market quickly is critical for Verizon as it competes with rivals also touting a faster 4G network. Verizon is already facing competition from Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA, which each claim to offer 4G service.In terms of speed, Verizon's LTE service is ahead of the pack. It offers average download speeds between 5 megabits per second and 12Mbps. Sprint's WiMax network built by Clearwire claims to get between 3Mbps and 6Mbps average download speeds. And T-Mobile USA, which is using HSPA+ technology, says it is getting between 3Mbps and 7Mbps average download speeds.Sprint and T-Mobile already offer smartphones that take advantage of the speedier network. While the market for 4G is still rather small, the potential is huge. Consumers are already clamoring for faster networks to surf the mobile Web, download more apps, and stream rich media such as video and music. And they want to do it on their smartphones. Sprint has seen success with the HTC Evo, its first 4G device introduced in mid-2010. It offered consumers their first taste of a 4G experience on a mobile handset. It introduced its second 4G smartphone later in the year. T-Mobile also has two &quot;4G&quot; phones on the market: the G2 and the myTouch. While these carriers are much smaller than Verizon, they still present a threat. More importantly, Verizon needs 4G handsets in the market to combat AT&amp;T, which will launch its 4G LTE network midyear. Even though AT&amp;T is somewhat late to the 4G party, the company still claims to have the fastest wireless network in the market with the widest footprint. Indeed, about 80 percent of its network supports HSPA+, the same &quot;4G&quot; technology that T-Mobile has used to build its network. Currently, Verizon's 4G network is in 38 markets and offers service to about 110 million potential subscribers. AT&amp;T claims it offers HSPA+ service to 250 million potential users today. Its LTE service will initially offer service to between 70 million and 75 million customers. Sprint and T-Mobile also are expected to make 4G product announcements at CES. But it's clear that Verizon and its slew of 4G smartphones and tablets will be the biggest news in mobile for CES.CNET will be live-blogging both the Verizon keynote speech on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. PT and the press conference later that day at 1 p.m. PT. So stay tuned this week for more details.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: HTC Evo Shift 4G could get Jan. 9 release]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-htc-evo-shift-4g-could-get-jan--9-release</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-htc-evo-shift-4g-could-get-jan--9-release</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>HetPriree</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-htc-evo-shift-4g-could-get-jan--9-release</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Android Central)Seeing that it's already received the FCC's blessing, the HTC Evo Shift 4G is hardly a secret, but in the days leading up to the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show more details are leaking out about the Andorid smartphone.Android Central yesterday intercepted an upcoming Radio Shack newspaper ad that points to a Sunday, January 9, release date for the Evo Shift 4G. You don't need a calendar to know that such a date makes sense. It's the last day of CES, after all, which would give HTC and Sprint the time to formally announce the handset in Las Vegas. According to the ad, the listed price will be $149.99, which is about what we'd expect.From the outside, the Evo Shift 4G looks not unlike Sprint's original Evo 4G, though it should add a sliding physical keyboard. We're still in the dark regarding the device's specs, but we expect it to include at least an 800MHz processor, 512MB RAM, and a 5-megapixel camera.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Data crunchers offer the word on Facebook]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=data-crunchers-offer-the-word-on-facebook</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=data-crunchers-offer-the-word-on-facebook</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Dec 2010 08:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>shwindamss</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=data-crunchers-offer-the-word-on-facebook</guid>
<description><![CDATA[editor's notebook If you took the countless number of Facebook &quot;status updates,&quot; or out-loud thoughts, that are plastered on the site every day and put them under a microscope, what patterns would emerge from these many billions of words What glimpse might we get into the hearts and minds of the social network's millions of usersFacebook's data-crunching team decided to take a look this week, and it gleaned some insight into the different ways in which older and younger, many-friended and more-intimate members express themselves.The team collected about 1 million status updates generated by U.S. English speakers, anonymized them, and picked them apart word-by-word with the help of a text-analysis application called Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. LIWC was originally developed, with the help of the National Institutes of Health, to aid the study of how written and verbal language reflects mental and physical well-being.The Facebook team used the LIWC dictionary and its many word groupings to dissect the status posts. The dictionary, for example, has a &quot;psychological processes&quot; category, with an &quot;affective processes&quot; subcategory and a &quot;positive emotion&quot; subsub--which includes words such as love, nice, and sweet. There's also a &quot;swear words&quot; subcategory--under the larger &quot;linguistic processes&quot; heading--that includes words I won't repeat here.The resulting data-dumps provide ample opportunity for musing about the Facebook phenomenon. The data group looked, for instance, at status updates that had triggered comments from readers or inspired them to hit the &quot;Like&quot; button, and it noted the word types most often used in such updates. People seem to &quot;like&quot; updates that include sexual words. Words related to death--not so much. No real surprise there. The team, however, also found that members with a lot of friends tend to use different types of words than members with fewer friends. My cohorts in the media have made much of this, with headlines like &quot;Facebook Unveils Secrets to Being Popular Via One's Updates.&quot; No real harm in that' still, I couldn't help but look at it the other way. For example, according to the data team's results, the Facebookers with many friends tend to use fewer &quot;emotional words&quot; than do members with less friends. I'm not sure this means that people flock to those who are unemotional' it could just as easily mean that people who tend to form deeper, more-emotional relationships use Facebook in a different way (or not at all)--i.e., that &quot;popular&quot; Facebookers, with more &quot;friends,&quot; form shallow connections, or indeed, that the Facebook platform itself, as Zadie Smith recently suggested in The New York Review of Books, encourages shallowness.At any rate, whether Smith is right or wrong--or whether my own little musing makes any sense--the Facebook Data Team's results are fun to look at and use as fuel for your own ideas about Zuckerberg's monster (and people in general). I'm appending them here, and inviting you to offer up your own heady theories--serious or not--in the comments section.(A list of LIWC word groupings can be found here. The Facebook Data Team noted other interesting tidbits as well--negative emotional updates receive more comments than do positive emotional updates, for instance. The team's full post can be found here.)Older: Blue | Younger: Red || More Friends: Blue | Fewer: Red(Credit:Facebook Data Team)More Likes/Comments: Blue | Fewer: Red(Credit:Facebook Data Team)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[360 Panorama: iPhone 4 surfs the Web with gyroscopic support in Mobile Safari]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=360-panorama-iphone-4-surfs-the-web-with-gyroscopic-support-in-mobile-safari</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=360-panorama-iphone-4-surfs-the-web-with-gyroscopic-support-in-mobile-safari</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tiresandco</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=360-panorama-iphone-4-surfs-the-web-with-gyroscopic-support-in-mobile-safari</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Screenshot by Joe Aimonetti)App maker Occipital has provided a working demo of Apple's newly integrated gyroscope support in MobileSafari using images created by 360 Panorama, Occipital's great panoramic photography App for iOS 4.2.The site, when visited by an iOS device with a gyroscope and running iOS 4.2.1, allows users to view photographs taken with the 360 Panorama App by simply moving their device. Based on youriPhone's orientation the photograph will follow. I had to keep my iPhone fairly vertical in order for the gyroscope to read properly, but the experience was pretty fun considering I had to spin around in my chair to see the entire photograph.With Occipital's software, users can create an entire 360-degree image and share it with friends via Twitter, email, or to their Camera Roll for viewing later.According TNW Apps interviewing Occipital co-founder Vikas Reddy, 360 Panorama has been the number one photography App in Apple's App Store in the U.S. and 20 other countries, has had over 20,000 panoramas uploaded to Twitter, and is expected to reach over 800,000 panorama views by the end of December.This video shows off 360 Panorama's amazing effect: Certainly the ability to access the gyroscope in Mobile Safari will give Web developers greater depth when deciding how to utilize iPhone's unique properties as an application and game device. The 360 Panorama test is just the beginning of what is sure to be a popular trend in mobile Web development.Even in low light, 360 Panorama takes a fun photograph.(Credit:Image by Joe Aimonetti)What other applications should use the gyroscope functionality in Mobile Safari Let me know your thoughts in the comments!<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[LG to slash CO2 emissions with eco-magnesium]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lg-to-slash-co2-emissions-with-eco-magnesium</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lg-to-slash-co2-emissions-with-eco-magnesium</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Dec 2010 08:10:42 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ttwotimeso</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lg-to-slash-co2-emissions-with-eco-magnesium</guid>
<description><![CDATA[LG Electronics has committed to replacing conventional magnesium used in its mobile phones to a more environmentally friendly magnesium alloy dubbed eco-magnesium. To be rolled out by 2012, this would effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4kg for every handset manufactured.&quot;Eco-magnesium is one of LG's key strategies in our ongoing effort to transform LG into a leader in more environmentally responsible manufacturing,&quot; President and Chief Technology Officer Skott Ahn said in a statement.LG claims that almost no sulphur hexafluoride, which is used in the casting of magnesium and which LG cites as one of the most potent greenhouse gases, is created during production.LG, which research company IDC says is the world's third-largest phone maker in terms of unit sales after Nokia and Samsung, has already removed lead, cadmium, nickel, halogen substances, and other EU RoHS materials from its production of mobile phones. Standby power has also been reduced in portable chargers, and a reminder feature lets users know when the handset is fully charged.The eco-magnesium alloy was developed by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology with funding from the Korean government. Korean-based firms HK High-Tech, Keumgang Coen, and Hallacast have signed a memorandum of understanding with LG to produce the eco-magnesium alloy. As part of the agreement, the chaebol will provide these companies with technological support and training in carbon credit trading.LG shipped 27.5 million handsets globally and had a market share of 6.6 percent in the third quarter of 2010, according to a recent report from information technology research and advisory company Gartner. (Source: Crave Asia)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft eyes shape-shifting touch screen]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-eyes-shape-shifting-touch-screen</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-eyes-shape-shifting-touch-screen</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>zuezqoel</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-eyes-shape-shifting-touch-screen</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft could be looking to give touch screens more of a tactile feel.A patent filed by the software giant in 2009 and published last week details a light-induced shape-memory polymer display screen. In a nutshell, that means a touch screen that has a real texture and tactile feedback to it, making people feel as if they're touching an actual object.Invented by Erez Kikin-Gil, the screen would be coated with polymers that could change or hold their shape when different wavelengths of ultraviolet light hit the pixels from underneath, according to an article in New Scientist.  The screen could be set up to not only display images but also specific interfaces, such as a virtual keyboard, with users receiving tactile feedback from each key pressed.The technology will initially find its way onto large screens such as Microsoft's Surface, rather than in phones or tablets, according to the patent.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Pirate Bay appeal falls on deaf ears]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=pirate-bay-appeal-falls-on-deaf-ears</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=pirate-bay-appeal-falls-on-deaf-ears</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 26 Nov 2010 08:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ramesh01</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=pirate-bay-appeal-falls-on-deaf-ears</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In another blow to online file-sharing, a Swedish appeals court upheld on Friday the copyright convictions of three of the four founders of The Pirate Bay--perhaps the world's most well-known and notorious file-sharing Web site.The court agreed with last year's ruling, which found Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundstrom guilty of helping Pirate Bay users break Sweden's copyright law. However, it revised the ruling to decrease the defendants' jail sentences and increase the amount they must pay in damages.The lower court had sentenced the men to a year in prison and set damages at about 30 million Swedish kronor ($4.2 million). The new ruling raises the damages another 16 million kronor and cuts Neij's sentence to 10 months, Sunde's to 8 months, and Lundstrom's to 4 months, based on each man's individual activities with The Pirate Bay.A fourth Pirate Bay founder convicted by the lower court, Gottfrid Swartholm Warg, will get a separate ruling later, owing to the fact that illness prevented him from participating in the appeals trial.Still up and running, The Pirate Bay is a BitTorrent search engine that helps online file sharers locate pirated copies of films, music, games, software, and other digital content. It's been celebrated by some as a heroic kick in the eye to corporate copyright owners who, these people believe, have priced content unfairly and whose policies have hampered the creative commons.Founders of The Pirate Bay (from left) are Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg. Not pictured is Carl Lundstrom. A ruling on Warg is still to come.(Credit:Pontus Alexander/Fabian Landgren)The copyright owners see it differently and view such sites as nothing more than aids to outright theft. In the U.S., they claim illegal file-sharing has cost jobs and hurt the economy, an argument that may influence debate over a bill now before Congress that would let the government shut down sites accused of aiding piracy.That bill, and this latest ruling, are not the only threats to file-sharing. Last month, a U.S. judge ordered the company that operates the long popular file-sharing software LimeWire to disable the software's file-sharing and searching capabilities. The software, however, has reappeared much as it was before.On Friday, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry issued a statement about the Pirate Bay ruling.&quot;Today's judgment confirms the illegality of The Pirate Bay and the seriousness of the crimes of those involved,&quot; said Chief Executive Frances Moore. &quot;We now look to governments and [Internet service providers] to take note of this judgment, do the responsible thing, and take the necessary steps to get The Pirate Bay shut down.&quot;Some say The Pirate Bay's troubles signal the coming of the end of file-sharing piracy. &quot;In two years, this type of piracy will be over. After a ruling like this and all the pioneers start to get older and have children and families, piracy won't occur to this extent,&quot;Monique Wadsted, an attorney representing American record companies, told the Swedish news agency TT.Others, however, scoff at that notion.&quot;The judgment has no meaning for file sharing. It has continued to increase from year to year and the technical capabilities continue to develop,&quot; Christian Engstrom, a European Parliament member who represents the Pirate Party, told the TT agency. The Pirate Party is devoted to reforming laws regarding copyright and patents.As of this writing, lawyers for the Pirate Bay founders have not yet said whether they will appeal this latest ruling to the Swedish Supreme Court. The defendants' argument has been that The Pirate Bay doesn't engage in illegal activity' it's merely a search tool that can be used for legal or illegal actions, with that choice being left up to the users themselves.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA['Avatar': Behind the scenes at Weta Digital]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=avatar-behind-the-scenes-at-weta-digital</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=avatar-behind-the-scenes-at-weta-digital</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mamapapa2010</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=avatar-behind-the-scenes-at-weta-digital</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Instead of computer-animating the Na&amp;39'vi, &amp;34'Avatar&amp;34' creators used a technique known as &amp;34'motion capture,&amp;34' which helps to create more natural-looking characters. Click on the image for more pictures from the behind-the-scenes tour.(Credit:Ty Pendlebury/CNET Australia)New Zealand may be known as the home of &quot;Lord of the Rings,&quot; but you may not know that it's also the unofficial birthplace of &quot;Avatar.&quot; You see, Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop in Wellington is behind the special effects of films such as &quot;Heavenly Creatures&quot; and &quot;Prince Caspian.&quot; But more famously, it has produced the effects in both the &quot;Lord of the Rings&quot; trilogy and &quot;Avatar.&quot; In fact, the company was working up until July to finish work on the Extended Edition of the &quot;Avatar&quot; Blu-ray version. To celebrate the release of the Avatar Extended Collector's Edition, CNET Australia got to go behind the scenes at Weta studios to witness how the movie was made. As this extensive photo gallery shows, we were taken through each step of the process--from motion capture through to the finished product.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The 404 716: Where we're thankful for enhanced pat-down searches (podcast)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-716-where-were-thankful-for-enhanced-pat-down-searches-podcast</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-716-where-were-thankful-for-enhanced-pat-down-searches-podcast</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>maralyn45</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-404-716-where-were-thankful-for-enhanced-pat-down-searches-podcast</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It's the last day of the week for us! Mark Licea joins us today to fill in for the day before Thanksgiving. We hope all of your enjoy your new TSA-approved enhanced pat-downs when you're flying to see your loved ones. Justin isn't even leaving the city, but he's making daily trips to the airport to meet his special security officer.First Black Friday Deal!(Credit:CBS Interactive)Speaking of the TSA screenings that have become all the rage on the news these days, Jeff thinks that it's the dearth of news in American media that is letting the issue blow up on cable news and across the Web. In part, Wilson agrees given that the new regulations, backscatter (cool name for a band) X-ray scanning machines and pat-down searches have been planned for months. While the general populace might be a bit surprised by the new TSA regulations, Wilson doesn't believe it makes it right to be photographed through our clothes just because we want to fly.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Report: FCC to examine Google's Wi-Fi data mess]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-fcc-to-examine-googles-wi-fi-data-mess</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-fcc-to-examine-googles-wi-fi-data-mess</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Abiabeo</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-fcc-to-examine-googles-wi-fi-data-mess</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Add the Federal Communications Commission to the list of legal headaches for Google caused by its Wi-Fi spying debacle.The Wall Street Journal reported today that the FCC opened an investigation into the Google Street View scandal earlier this year, but hadn't disclosed it until recently. As is common knowledge by now, Google disclosed in May that Wi-Fi sniffing equipment on its Google Street Viewcars--which the company says were intended to capture only benign data--also captured so-called &quot;payload data,&quot; including e-mails and passwords. It's not clear exactly what the FCC could be looking at, but if Google were determined to have intentionally captured the data it could be in violation of wiretapping laws. The company has insisted the collection was inadvertent, and the FTC recently ended a separate inquiry into the matter without any penalties. Google is still facing a class-action lawsuit over the practice that might ultimately uncover the most information about its Wi-Fi Street View program.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple's iAd traveling to Japan]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apples-iad-traveling-to-japan</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apples-iad-traveling-to-japan</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Dhoni</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apples-iad-traveling-to-japan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A Nike ad created with iAd was demoed during Apple&amp;39's iPhone 4.0 event.(Credit:James Martin/CNET)Apple's iAd is setting up shop in Japan.Released in the U.S. over the summer, the mobile ad platform will reachiPhone andiPod Touch users in Japan in early 2011, Apple said yesterday.Apple will host, target, and deliver the ads, while Tokyo-based ad agency Dentsu Group will sell and develop them. Dentsu's subsidiary Cyber Communications will handle the specific planning and production of the ads.&quot;After an incredibly successful launch in the U.S. where we've already doubled the number of brands on the network, we're excited to bring iAd to Japan,&quot; Andy Miller, Apple's vice president of iAd, said in a statement. &quot;Dentsu is one of the world's most prestigious advertising agencies, making them an ideal partner for iAds in Japan.&quot;Apple sees iAd as a way for developers of free apps to make some money, giving them 60 percent of the ad revenue. Since its debut, iAd has been limited to the iPhone and iPod Touch. But the upcoming release of iOS 4.2 will bring iAd's mobile ads to theiPad as well. Ads created through iAd appear within an actual app and open up full blown in a window when clicked on, rather than redirecting users to a separate Web page. The first ads via iAd hit the iPhone in the U.S. in early July. One report at the time said that some advertisers paid as much as $1 million for mobile ad space, with early adopters including Walt Disney, AT&amp;T, General Electric, Geico, J.C. Penney, Target, and Best Buy. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[This week in Crave: The on-the-move edition]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=this-week-in-crave-the-on-the-move-edition</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=this-week-in-crave-the-on-the-move-edition</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 06 Nov 2010 07:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>fizblhome</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=this-week-in-crave-the-on-the-move-edition</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Too busy trying to figure out how to make Microsoft's Kinect work in your small apartment to keep up with Crave all week Here's what you missed while you were moving furniture around so you could play Dan and Scott's top Kinect picks at home.  &amp;149' And how does the Kinect stack up to the Move andWii, anyway &amp;149' Next time you're late to work, blame your iPhone, which looks like this on steroids.Behold the biggest iPhone eva.(Credit:iphonetable.blogspot.com)&amp;149' Logitech solar keyboard charges indoors. &amp;149' A cool computer that might not get you Megan Fox, but might make your nerdy pals jealous. &amp;149' Be the man with the golden Wii gun. &amp;149' See where you're going while texting. &amp;149' Jawbone Jambox brings boom to Bluetooth (and appreciates alliteration). &amp;149' It will still get lost in the couch--plus other reasons smartphones are dumb remotes. &amp;149' Our British cousins asked: What's the greatest gadget of the 21st century  And we asked: Got a great story we should know about Write to us at crave at cnet dot com. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Will the real 4G please stand up]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-the-real-4g-please-stand-up</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-the-real-4g-please-stand-up</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:11:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>carecraige889</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=will-the-real-4g-please-stand-up</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Earlier this week, T-Mobile USA, the fourth largest cell phone operator in the U.S., launched a marketing campaign calling its newly upgraded network &quot;America's Largest 4G Network.&quot;The claim has ruffled more than a few feathers at T-Mobile competitors, namely Sprint Nextel, which has been helping its partner Clearwire build a nationwide network using a technology called WiMax that it claims is 4G. Verizon Wireless is also building a &quot;4G&quot; network using a different technology called LTE or Long Term Evolution. It plans to launch this network in 38 markets by the end of the year.So is T-Mobile's network upgrade actually 4G Technically, the answer is no. But it's important to point out that neither is Sprint's nor Verizon's networks. While current versions of WiMax and LTE are typically referred to in the industry as &quot;4G,&quot; they do not actually meet the International Telecommunications Union's strict definition. The ITU, which is an agency within the United Nations, is the international standards body that officially designates wireless technologies as 1G, 2G, 3G and now 4G. Last month, the group certified future implementations of LTE and WiMax as 4G. But it did not certify current implementations of these technologies as 4G.To be legitimately considered a 4G technology by the ITU, the agency requires the network technology be IP-based and use orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). The other main requirement is that the technology needs to support peak download speeds of 100Mbps. The current flavors of LTE and WiMax are not that fast. And neither does the technology T-Mobile is using, which is called HSPA+.That said, the network upgrades that all four major wireless carriers have done have made their networks faster. Average 3G services offer between 700Kbps and 1.5Mbps. Sprint's WiMax service, built by Clearwire, offers average download speeds around 6Mbps, the company has said. And Verizon claims that tests indicate it is getting download speeds between 6Mbps and 12Mbps on its pre-commercial LTE network. T-Mobile's HSPA+ network also gives a significant boost with speeds between 3Mbps and 7Mbps.It should be noted that AT&amp;amp'T, which plans to test LTE next year, has also upgraded its network to HSPA+. AT&amp;amp'T is not claiming that its upgrade is 4G. But it is the same technology T-Mobile is using, and it offers the same speedy downloads. So what does this mean for consumers Well, there is no doubt the marketing terms being thrown around are confusing. First and foremost, consumers should recognize that all four major wireless carriers are in the midst of upgrading their networks, and that all these next generation networks should provide comparable speeds. But there are a few caveats that consumers should be aware of. Current 3G phones on any operators network will not take full advantage of the new network upgrades. You will need a new phone that is WiMax compatible for Sprint, LTE compatible for Verizon, and HSPA+ compatible for either T-Mobile or AT&amp;amp'T. Sprint already sells two 3G/4G smartphones, the HTC Evo and the Samsung Epic. T-Mobile has just introduced two HSPA+ handsets, the HTC G2 and the HTC MyTouch. Neither AT&amp;amp'T nor Verizon have announced handsets that use their latest network technologies. Verizon has said it expects to have LTE handsets on the market by the end of the first quarter of 2010. AT&amp;amp'T has introduced a wireless laptop card, but hasn't indicated when its HSPA+ handsets will hit store shelves.Network performance is also affected by multiple factors, in addition to network technology. The upgrades boasted by carriers will no doubt boost performance for new devices. But how much of that is felt by consumers depends on lots of factors, including how loaded the networks are. Wireless is a shared medium, so the more users sharing the resource, the less bandwidth is available for individual users. Network coverage is also a major factor that consumers need to consider. If you have a &quot;4G&quot; phone, it will only get the full benefit of that fast network if you are using it in area where there is 4G coverage. Otherwise, the phone falls back to the older generation technology. Sprint (via Clearwire) and Verizon Wireless are building new networks using new technologies. So it will take them a little while to build the networks to meet their current 3G footprint. Clearwire, which is building the WiMax network Sprint is using, is in over 55 markets today and is adding more each week. Its goal is to reach 120 million potential customers by the end of 2010. Verizon plans to be in 38 markets across the country and offer service to 110 million potential customers by the end of 2010. And within three years it will be everywhere its 3G service is available today, covering 285 million potential customers. T-Mobile's HSPA+ network is in 65 metro areas today and is available to 120 million potential customers. And by the end of 2010, the company has said it will be available in 100 markets to more than 200 million potential customers. AT&amp;amp'T's HSPA+ network will reach 250 million customers by the end of the year and will be available everywhere its current 3G service is available. So in terms of coverage, AT&amp;amp'T will have the largest, fastest wireless network in the U.S. this year, regardless of whether you call it 4G or 3G.T-Mobile's claims of the &quot;Fastest 4G network in America&quot; come as wireless operators try to one-up each other to win new subscribers. In an era, where U.S. mobile phone penetration is nearly 100 percent, claims of faster networks and hot new devices are what carrier marketing teams use to set themselves apart from the competition. Previously, operators may have competed on price or network reliability, but today they are competing on speed and cool devices. This trend is largely driven by consumers' appetite for smartphones, which are data hungry devices. There is no question that wireless operators are playing fast and loose with their marketing claims. And it's likely that the advertising wars will only get noisier, which will make it even more confusing for consumers to decide which device and which carrier is best for them.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ground coffee + party balloon = robot gripper]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ground-coffee--party-balloon---robot-gripper</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ground-coffee--party-balloon---robot-gripper</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 30 Oct 2010 07:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>lawan</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ground-coffee--party-balloon---robot-gripper</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The robot gripper wields a brush. But can it paint(Credit:Cornell University)If you've got ground coffee and a few party balloons lying around, you have the ingredients for a universal robot gripper, according to researchers at Cornell University, the University of Chicago, and iRobot.  In a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers including Hod Lipson, associate professor of mechanical engineering and computer science at Cornell, describe how they used granular material instead of multijointed fingers to create a robot gripper. The researchers put ground coffee into a latex balloon and attached it to a robot arm. When the coffee balloon is pressed around an object like a brush, above, it deforms and envelops the target. When the air is removed from the balloon, the ground coffee solidifies around the brush, forming a firm grip. Apparently, the gripper can also pick up eggs and coins, which are challenging for robot manipulators with fingers.  The gripper makes use of &quot;jamming transition,&quot; in which a fluidlike material becomes virtually solid when its particles cannot move past each other in a vacuum. The researchers also tried using materials like couscous, rice, sand, and ground-up tires. Coffee's lightness proved to be a winning quality.  Funded by DARPA, the research could lead to applications such as robot arms that could be used to dismantle explosives or robot feet that could walk up walls, Lipson speculated in a Cornell release. Spider robots that run on coffee. Sounds like one of those great ideas that can go horribly awry.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 finally gets Android 2.1]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ericsson-xperia-x10-finally-gets-android-2-1</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ericsson-xperia-x10-finally-gets-android-2-1</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Pamela01</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ericsson-xperia-x10-finally-gets-android-2-1</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Starting this Sunday, October 31, Sony Ericsson will make good on a promise made earlier this year. The Xperia X10 will finally get its long-awaited Android 2.1 update.Sony Ericsson Xperia X10(Credit:Sony Ericsson)The official Sony Ericsson product blog posted an article today advising that X10,  X10 Mini, and X10 Mini Pro handsets will begin receiving the Eclair update on Sunday evening. Initially, only phones in the Nordic countries will see the update, with other European countries getting 2.1 starting Monday, November 1. All other X10 phones, including those used in North America, will get their update by the end of November.I've long said that the X10 could contend with any other super phone were it running a current version of Android. The hardware is gorgeous with its 4-inch screen, a 1GHz processor, and 8-megapixel camera.  It will be interesting to see if sales of the device increase once the update rolls around. The addition of 720p HD video recording with continuous autofocus, five home screens, and a backup-and-restore application make the X10 highly appealing.The X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro feature completely different hardware, so their respective updates won't be quite the same. Both devices can look forward to better performance with Bluetooth, an optimized way to handle pictures, text, and numbers, and automatic sync between the contact pictures and Facebook. The backup-and restore-application found with the X10 will also be included.If you have an X10 series handset, your phone should automatically notify you of the update once it's available. Users will be reminded to back up their data and directed to download PC Companion software.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CloudMade accelerates its location platform by buying OneStepAhead]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cloudmade-accelerates-its-location-platform-by-buying-onestepahead</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cloudmade-accelerates-its-location-platform-by-buying-onestepahead</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jubimsirJerk</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cloudmade-accelerates-its-location-platform-by-buying-onestepahead</guid>
<description><![CDATA[CloudMade, a company that provides mapping data to 16,200 application developers, just announced that it has acquired German startup OneStepAhead.I last spoke to CloudMade chief executive Juha Christensen when the company raised its second round of funding in July. At the time, he acknowledged that there are competitors (such as SimpleGeo) offering tools to create location apps, but he said CloudMade offers more than detailed data to power a4Ahundreds of thousands of apps in different verticals.a4Yesterday, Christensen told me OneStepAheada4a4s technology advances that goal by managing the way mapping data is downloaded onto phones. That means CloudMade developers will be able to build apps where more of the data is stored on phones, so users can access maps when theya4a4re offline. They&amp;'ll also use less mobile data since theya4a4re not downloading maps again and again. OneStepAhead (which was self-funded) is based in Stuttgart, Germany, so that gives CloudMade an office near the German auto industry, which Christensen said has created a big market for location apps in that country.Menlo Park, Calif.-based CloudMade has raised $15.7 million from Greylock Partners and Sunstone Capital. Its cofounder Steve Coast also cofounded the community mapping project OpenStreetMap, and CloudMade draws its data from its project.  You can see some of the apps built on its platform at this website.Next Story: The next solar hotspot is &amp;8230' India Previous Story: The most intimate relationship youa4a4ll ever have a4PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: location based apps, location data, mapping data, OpenStreetMapCompanies: CloudMade, OneStepAheadPeople: Juha Christensen          Tags: location based apps, location data, mapping data, OpenStreetMapCompanies: CloudMade, OneStepAheadPeople: Juha ChristensenAnthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.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[Government Agency Ignored Obama Directive When It Handed Microsoft A No-Bid&nbsp'Contract]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=government-agency-ignored-obama-directive-when-it-handed-microsoft-a-no-bidnbspcontract</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=government-agency-ignored-obama-directive-when-it-handed-microsoft-a-no-bidnbspcontract</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sophia002</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=government-agency-ignored-obama-directive-when-it-handed-microsoft-a-no-bidnbspcontract</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Last week, Google filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior over not considering Google Apps as an option for a productivity suite for its 88,000 employees when the government agency issued a call (otherwise known as an RFQ) for applications. Specifically, the DOI stated upfront in the RFQ that the email solution had to be part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite. Google is alleging that this is anti-competitive and that if Google were to submit a proposal, not only would it come in at a much lower price point than a Microsoft contract, but it would meet all of the DOI&amp;'s security requirements.The twist in all of this: President Obama issued a statement shortly after he took office that essentially reaffirms Google&amp;'s point. In this memo from March 2009, the White House states that &amp;''Excessive reliance by executive agencies on sole-source contracts (or contracts with a limited number of sources) and cost-reimbursement contracts creates a risk that taxpayer funds will be spent on contracts that are wasteful, inefficient, subject to misuse, or otherwise not well designed to serve the needs of the Federal Government or the interests of the American taxpayer. Reports by agency Inspectors General, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and other independent reviewing bodies have shown that noncompetitive and cost-reimbursement contracts have been misused, resulting in wasted taxpayer resources, poor contractor performance, and inadequate accountability for results.&amp;''Essentially, Obama is suggesting that contracts that limit sources are not only non-competitive but they encourage wasteful spending at the hands of the American taxpayers. Directing that an email solution has to be part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite could very well run afoul of this structure.The memo does concede that &amp;''in certain exigent circumstances, agencies may need to consider whether a competitive process will not accomplish the agency&amp;'s mission. In such cases, the agency must ensure that the risks associated with noncompetitive contracts are minimized.&amp;'' According to the complaint, the DOI said that Google Apps didn&amp;'t meet the security needs of the agency. Google contends that it does have a federal government compliant security infrastructure in place, and the decision was based on limiting the scope to Microsoft products. In this case, it looks like the risks associated with this non-competitive contract were not minimized, otherwise Google would not have found the grounds to file an arbitrary lawsuit. New York City also issued a non-competitive search for a productivity suite when it signed city&amp;'s employees up for Microsoft&amp;'s suite a few weeks ago. We&amp;'ve contacted Google for comment and will update when we hear back. UPDATE: Here is a statement Google released to TechCrunch:a4AGoogle is a proponent of open competition on the Internet and in the technology sector in general.  Here, a fair and open process could save US taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and result in better services.  Wea4a4re asking the Department of Interior to allow for a true competition when selecting its technology providers.a4CrunchBase InformationGoogleInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Media Comes To The Defense Of WikiLeaks At LeWeb: &''The Leakers Will&nbsp'Win&'']]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-media-comes-to-the-defense-of-wikileaks-at-leweb-8220the-leakers-willnbspwin8221</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-media-comes-to-the-defense-of-wikileaks-at-leweb-8220the-leakers-willnbspwin8221</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bigescau</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-media-comes-to-the-defense-of-wikileaks-at-leweb-8220the-leakers-willnbspwin8221</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Today during the Media Panel at LeWeb &amp;'10 in Paris, France, there was one thing on everyones&amp;' mind: WikiLeaks.&amp;''This is a turning point for the Internet a4&quot; it&amp;'s not just about WikiLeaks anymore,&amp;''a4sWeblogs SL&amp;'s Julio Alonso said.a4s&amp;''What happens to WikiLeaks will get applied to others later on,&amp;'' he warned.&amp;''This is the first attempt at censorship of the Internet by all the governments of the planet,&amp;'' Wikio&amp;'s Pierre Chappaz added. &amp;''Despite all the attacks, I&amp;'m optimistic that the information will survive,&amp;'' he added.When moderator Adrian Monck asked if this would cast a shadow on the United States in particular, Techmeme&amp;'s Gabe Rivera said he thought it already has in some ways. Rivera noted that just the tone of the crowd at LeWeb proves that to some extent. He also singled out U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman suggesting that The New York Times could be a target because of their publication of some of the cables. &amp;''It underscores that there&amp;'s really no essential difference between what WikiLeaks is doing and what The New York Times does,&amp;'' he said. Rivera said that is something to be concerned about.&amp;''We&amp;'ve pushed the theory of Internet censorship to the very edge,&amp;'' The Wall Street Journal Europe&amp;'s Ben Rooney added.&amp;''We have to speak about what&amp;'s happening,&amp;'' Chappaz said.a4s&amp;''I&amp;'m amazed by the silence of the traditional media. This is a systematic attack. We have to explain to the traditional media. The stakes are about the free press,&amp;'' he continued.Alonso agreed. &amp;''The first line of defense is speaking about it,&amp;'' he said.Rivera added that the leakers aren&amp;'t going to lose this war. He cited mirror sites, Twitter accounts, Facebook messages, and all kinds of things that keep popping up to continue the data spread. &amp;''The leakers will win,&amp;'' he said.The panel seemed fairly convinced that even if P2P networks had to replace DNS, the information would indeed end up winning.&amp;''The Internet is too strong. They&amp;'ll have a hard time getting it under control,&amp;'' Chappaz wrapped up the panel with.CrunchBase InformationWikiLeaksInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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