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<title>Haaze.com / Sophia001 / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple tops Microsoft's quarterly sales, profits]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-tops-microsofts-quarterly-sales-profits</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-tops-microsofts-quarterly-sales-profits</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>avoslaiz</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-tops-microsofts-quarterly-sales-profits</guid>
<description><![CDATA[With Microsoft's third fiscal quarter results out, it's time to compare the company to its longtime technology rival: Apple managed to come out on top of Microsoft in terms of sales and profits. Apple, which reported its second fiscal quarter earnings last week, posted revenues of $24.67 billion with a net income of $5.99 billion. By comparison, Microsoft's just announced results put it at $16.43 billion with a net income of $5.23 billion.Apple's most recently completed fiscal quarter ended March 26, 2011. Microsoft's ended March 31, 2011.Apple made waves back in May, passing Microsoft in market capitalization. In October, Apple went on to pass Microsoft in revenues as well. Some of Apple's biggest sales over the quarter were iPhones, with the company selling 18.65 million units. That number amounted to half of the company's revenues. Apple also saw considerable growth inMac sales. Comparatively, Microsoft's quarterly earnings had big gains from the Office andXbox businesses.And some remember back in 1997 when Microsoft famously bailed out Apple as part of a $150 million investment and business deal that had Apple dropping its lawsuit against the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant, and adopting Internet Explorer as the default browser. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sony PS3 data breach highlights what a loser I am]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ps3-data-breach-highlights-what-a-loser-i-am</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ps3-data-breach-highlights-what-a-loser-i-am</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:10:49 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gazrlz</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ps3-data-breach-highlights-what-a-loser-i-am</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sorry. No PixelJunk Monsters for now. (Credit:Screenshot by GameSpot)Every night it's the same forlorn ritual. I watch my TV, read my books, chase the cat into the bathroom and back--all in a vain effort to fill the gaping emptiness inside. Invariably at some point my hands reach for the beloved black controller, where I try--even though I know it won't work, but still you never know--to log on to the online network of mySony PS3 game console. It's been 7 days now (or is it 7,000) since the Sony PlayStation Network went down. We've since learned the company is taking the extreme step of rebuilding its network after a massive hacking attack. E-mail addresses, passwords, purchase history--and almost certainly credit card numbers--all sucked up by persons unknown. I wish I could get riled up over this latest security breach, but honestly it's the third time in three years I've received notification that my credit information may have been compromised. At this point in the Digital Age, I've become reconciled to the fact that lots of strangers are rummaging through the underwear drawer of my credit history. What's truly disheartening about Sony's security fumble is how much I miss posting my best scores on the Sony network. And more insidiously, the addictive nature of video games. My name is SunnyD11 and I am a PixelJunk Monsters addict. For those of you who don't know, PixelJunk Monsters is probably the best game ever created in the history of the universe. It incorporates all the great themes of mankind's history--players build fortresses with their gold and kill monsters before they kill our babies. Of course, like everything else in life, the devil is in the details. You only start out with a limited amount of gold. And there are different kinds of monsters that require different kinds of fortresses. A typical game goes like this: Buy two archer towers @100 gold each to kill the first wave of spiders' collect the gold that appears when the spiders die and buy one more cannon tower @120 gold to kill the giants' collect the gold (and blue gems to upgrade your fortresses) to buy beehive tower @450 gold to ward off mosquitoes, birds and bees' buy an electrical tower to electrocute the shielded monsters' etc.Related links&amp;149' Five questions for Sony about PSN breach&amp;149' Sony: We're 'rebuilding' PlayStation Network&amp;149' Sony: Personal info compromised on PSN&amp;149' Sony sued for PlayStation Network data breach If through error on your part, you fail to block the advancing waves of monsters, then one or more slip past your final defenses and start stomping around on the heads of your babies (or maybe they're villagers, but I think of them as my babies) until all 20 are dead. You lose. Or you win but with casualties.Like most video games, if you're truly invested, then your heart is pounding, your neck muscles and shoulders are clenched, and the flow of blood is constricted to your hand. You come out of your trance when the pins and needles start pricking in your hand, or your muscles cramp or bladder swells.It has occurred to me that my physical/mental experience on PixelJunk Monsters is quite similar to my job as home page editor at CBSNews.com. When breaking news happens, I tweet this, ticker that, send a breaking news e-mail, rank a story on the front door, receive instant messages from producers and graphic artists, etc. nlrText { float: right' width: 170px' padding: 5px' margin: 10px 10px 10px 0' font-family: verdana' font-size: 10px' border: 1px solid 999' background: FFFFEF' } nlrText h4{display: block' font-size: 1.4em' padding: 0' margin: 0' color: 900' }    Broader impact Additional services users can't access from a PS3 due to Sony taking PSN offline: Netflix Hulu Plus MLB.TV  PSN Plus  True confession: I think years of working in the news business have hardwired my brain to require this energy rush/adrenaline surge of multitasking. And when I get home my poor junkie brain turns to video games for another adrenaline fix. It's not good.After you've beaten all the levels, the next phase for those who are truly addicted is to start comparing your numbers to the gaming world at large. Which is where the Sony PlayStation Network comes in. We who are truly consumed eke out new satisfaction after we've beaten all the levels. We compare ourselves to Jonahbar, Blueskysarah, Fatima100, mandingo, and the others who labor alone.You're probably wondering why I can't continue playing the game, even if I can't log on to the network.SunnyD11 refuses to play PixelJunk Monsters while the network is down because he knows that he will achieve a stellar, once-in-a-lifetime result and there will be no way to record it for posterity.Helpful tipsOne of my co-workers notes that if you're wondering which credit card you might have registered on the Sony network, you can look through your old purchase e-mails from this sender: DoNotReply@ac.playstation.net, which will reference the credit card you used with Sony network. If like me, you're suffering a double whammy because you stream Netflix through your PS3, it's possible to connect a laptop to the TV and stream from your computer. I recently bought a laptop that had an HDMI port, and I simply disconnected the accursed PS3 and connected my laptop and streamed with quite good results to my TV.This story originally appeared on CBSNews.com. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Jobs says Apple will testify on location issue]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jobs-says-apple-will-testify-on-location-issue</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jobs-says-apple-will-testify-on-location-issue</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>naddelkof</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=jobs-says-apple-will-testify-on-location-issue</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Following the location question-and-answer document Apple published earlier today, CEO Steve Jobs has gone on the record about the company's plans to answer inquiries made by government officials, including the House Energy and Commerce Committee.&quot;I think Apple will be testifying,&quot; Jobs said in an interview with All Things Digital. &quot;They have asked us to come and we will honor their request of course.&quot;Immediately following the discovery last week of the iOS database file containing time-stamped nearby cell tower, Wi-Fi, and GPS information, Apple was peppered with questions by prominent lawmakers over the company's intentions. Apple responded to the matter publicly for the first time in its Q&amp;A document this morning, saying that the company was in no way tracking users, and that the location file was just a small part of a secured, crowd-sourced database Apple maintains to speed up location-finding on iOS devices. In the interview, Jobs said such technology required education on the part of consumers, something that could be improved. &quot;As new technology comes into the society, there is a period of adjustment and education,&quot; Jobs told All Things Digital. &quot;We haven't--as an industry--done a very good job educating people, I think, as to some of the more subtle things going on here. As such, (people) jumped to a lot of wrong conclusions in the last week.&quot;Among those who have queried Apple on the purpose of the location database file are Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), as well as Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Letters were also sent to Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Google, Research in Motion, and Hewlett-Packard by House lawmakers earlier this week, who wanted to know what kind of information is being collected, for what purposes, and if there is a way to disable the practice. Many of those questions have been answered by Apple, though several remain.In the interview, Jobs declined to comment on the activities of what competitors were up to, saying only that &quot;some of them don't do what we do.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple sued over location tracking in iOS]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-sued-over-location-tracking-in-ios</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-sued-over-location-tracking-in-ios</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>andplot56</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-sued-over-location-tracking-in-ios</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A lawsuit filed against Apple in Florida last week accuses the company of violating privacy laws, as well as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, by keeping a log of user locations without offering a way to disable the feature. The suit, which was first reported by Bloomberg, was filed by Vikram Ajjampur and William Devito, both of whom own Apple products. In the suit, the pair, who seek punitive damages and injunctive relief, cite research from Alasdair Allen and Pete Warden about the tracking files found within iOS as the source for Apple's collection techniques. &quot;Users of Apple's iPhones and iPads, including Plaintiffs, were unaware of Apple's tracking their locations and did not consent to such tracking,&quot; the suit claims. &quot;Apple collects the location information covertly, surreptitiously and in violations of law.&quot; The suit faults Apple specifically for not disclosing that the iOS software records &quot;comprehensive&quot; location data in its iTunes Terms of Service, nor offering end users informed consent of the practice.&quot;If Apple wanted to track the whereabouts of each of its products' users, it should have obtained specific, particularized informed consent such that Apple consumers across America would not have been shocked and alarmed to learn of Apple's practices in recent days,&quot; the suit says. The suit, which is seeking class action status, aims to have Apple completely disable the feature in the &quot;next-released&quot; version of the operating system. Until that happens, the suit claims Apple is in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, state laws comparable to the Federal Trade Commission Act, and &quot;common law rights in uniform ways&quot; of the plaintiffs and class members. Apple, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit, has not officially commented on the location tracking file since it came to light last week. An alleged e-mail exchange between Apple CEO Steve Jobs and a reader of MacRumors surfaced this morning. In it, Jobs purportedly says, &quot;we don't track anyone,&quot; and &quot;the info circulating around is false.&quot; Apple has not confirmed or commented on the legitimacy of that correspondence. In addition, Apple and Google were targeted today by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan over location tracking. Madigan seeks a meeting with executives from both companies, as well as answers to her questions about disclosure and purpose of the tracking, and a way to turn the feature off. Madigan's efforts join those of other politicians and government groups who seek to know more about what the companies are doing with the information.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[LHC's record intensity speeds Higgs search]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lhcs-record-intensity-speeds-higgs-search</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lhcs-record-intensity-speeds-higgs-search</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Apr 2011 07:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riarasnuristo</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lhcs-record-intensity-speeds-higgs-search</guid>
<description><![CDATA[LHS experiments are assembled underground. Here, a silicon tracking detector--a cousin to an ordinary digital camera sensor--is inserted into one of the LHC&amp;39's two general-purpose experiments, the CMS.(Credit:Michael Hoch/CERN)The Large Hadron Collider has surpassed a record set by Fermilab's rival particle accelerator for what's called luminosity, a milestone that improves the odds that the gargantuan scientific experiment will produce new physics discoveries.The LHC operators yesterday packed more bunches of protons into the beam, increasing the likelihood of collisions and therefore of the detection of very rare outcomes from those collisions.&quot;Beam intensity is key to the success of the LHC, so this is a very important step,&quot; said General Rolf Heuer, director of the CERN facility that operates the LHC, in a statement. &quot;Higher intensity means more data, and more data means greater discovery potential.&quot;It also means a better chance that the LHC will be the center of excitement in scientific circles, not the older, less powerful, but still significant Tevatron accelerator at Fermilab in Illinois. Last month, Fermilab reported enough progress in tracking down physicists' favorite unknown fundamental particle, the Higgs boson, to declare the Tevatron the &quot;frontrunner&quot; in the search. The Higgs boson is thought to be instrumental in endowing particles with mass.The LHC particle accelerator, an underground ring with a 27-kilometer circumference beneath Switzerland and France near Geneva, actually has two beams of protons traveling in opposite directions. The collective energy in each direction is 3.5 tera-electron-volts, or TeV, but because the beams travel in opposite directions, the energy adds up to 7 TeV. That's only half of the LHC's ultimate planned energy level of 14TeV, but it's enough that researchers think they'll be able to find new physical phenomena.Inside the Large Hadron Collider (photos) And finding new physics is important for the facility. It postponed a shutdown to upgrade the facility to the higher energy level, betting that there were good odds that the lower level would produce fruitful results. The Higgs boson--or rather a possible collection of them--is just one focus of the facility' the thousands of physicists at the LHC also hope to investigate subjects including the quark-gluon plasma, supersymmetry in among fundamental particles, and dark matter. To perform the research, the LHC accelerates protons (and sometimes lead ions) so they're tremendously energetic, then smashes them into each other to reproduce, for a fleeting moment, a little bit of what the universe was like in its earliest fractions of a second after the Big Bang.A proton must travel very close to the speed of light to attain energy of 3.5TeV. But even then, it's only got the energy of a flying mosquito. The LHC makes up for this apparent feebleness with numbers, though: It's designed to have enough protons that the total energy in the collider will be that of a 20,000-ton aircraft carrier traveling at 12 knots, according to James Gillies and Mike Lamont, writing on a CERN blog today.Reaching 3.5TeV is only one challenge. Squeezing more protons into each beam is also crucial, and LHC operators have been gradually increasing that number. Each beam consists not of a continuous stream of protons, but rather a series of bunches with about 100 billion protons each. Yesterday, the LHC got the number of bunches up to 480, which is what led to the record. Ultimately, the LHC is designed to accommodate 2,808 bunches.Each bunch is only a few centimeters long and--to maximize the odds that protons will actually collide--is compressed to the width of a human hair at the zones in the ring where collisions take place. With 100 billion protons in that volume, it may sound pretty crowded, but it's not. If protons were the size of marbles, a bunch would be as long as the distance from Earth to Uranus and the width as long a the distance from Earth to the Moon. Each marble would be more than 500 miles apart.Thus, LHC operators want to squeeze more bunches into each beam. They also want to run the beam for as long as possible to collect data from as many collisions as possible. Much of the existing LHC work has alternated between operational priorities to get the machine working properly and research priorities to actually investigate physics, but the LHC is about to embark on months-long run solely devoted to physics.&quot;There's a great deal of excitement at CERN today and a tangible feeling that we're on the threshold of new discovery,&quot; said Sergio Bertolucci, CERN's director for research and scientific computing.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[How to restore Android factory settings]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-restore-android-factory-settings</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-restore-android-factory-settings</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>beingriacici12</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-restore-android-factory-settings</guid>
<description><![CDATA[You've rooted your Android device, flashed a custom ROM, and reaped the benefits of better power management, extra features, and the radiant glow that comes from treating that phone like you own it. Because you do own it, right Now it's time to get a new phone. How can you make your old Android-powered hardware resalablerescue guides at DroidForums.net. The procedure requires caution, because just like when you rooted your phone and installed a custom ROM, there's a chance you can brick it by downgrading, too.Note that for these instructions, the phone being used is a first-generation Motorola Droid and that the steps are extremely device-specific. While the general idea of how to do it applies to all devices, you must research the exact instructions for your phone on your own.The first step is to grab three downloads you must have to restore a Droid. One is the Motorola desktop tool for updating phones, called RSD Lite (download). Next, you want the appropriate drivers for your phone. In this case, I want the &quot;Motorola Droid drivers&quot; for a 32-bit computer (download). (Also available for download: x64 drivers.) The third download you have to have is the SBF file. In this case, I want to downgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo, so I search for FRG22D.sbf Droid (Google search results).Next, install RSD Lite and the drivers, and connect your phone to your computer. Turn it off, then turn it on holding Up on the D-Pad. After a minute or so of holding it down, the Bootloader screen, a black screen with white text and no interface, will appear. Then run RSD Lite, and you ought to see your phone listed. If not, go to the menu bar, choose Config, then DeviceID, then choose either of the two options, and restart RSD Lite. Be sure to put the phone in bootloader mode before running RSD Lite.Last, browse to the SBF file. Hit Start and grab a tasty beverage as Froyo installs. The phone should automatically reboot. If you connect it to a network, either with 3G or Wi-Fi, it will soon ask to upgrade to Android 2.2.1 or whatever the most recent manufacturer-supported Android version is.That's one way you can restore your phone to its original, stock version of Android. There are several other methods out there, and remember that this procedure is nuanced and likely will change depending on your device.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Crackle: Free movies, TV shows on iOS devices!]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crackle-free-movies-tv-shows-on-ios-devices</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crackle-free-movies-tv-shows-on-ios-devices</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>managally</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crackle-free-movies-tv-shows-on-ios-devices</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Crackle brings full-length movies and TV shows to the iPhone and, even better, the iPad.(Credit:Screenshot by Rick Broida)Sure, you can watch movies and TV shows on youriPhone oriPad, but there's always a catch--usually a monetary one. Hulu and Netflix cost money. PlayOn costs money and requires you to leave your PC on. The ABC Player is iPad-only and, well, ABC-only.Enter Crackle, a new app that lets you watch dozens of TV shows and a couple hundred movies, all free of charge (but with ads, natch).Available for iPhone,iPod, and iPad (the app is universal), Crackle delivers much of (but not all) the same content as its eponymous Web service. On the TV side, you'll find shows like &quot;10 Items or Less,&quot; &quot;Barney Miller,&quot; &quot;Charlie's Angels,&quot; and AMC's new &quot;The Killing.&quot; Unfortunately, a lot of the available series are merely &quot;minisodes,&quot; not full eps. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I don't want 5 minutes and 30 seconds' worth of &quot;Fat Albert&quot;--I want the whole show. Hey, hey, hey! On the plus side, Crackle recently added a batch of classic &quot;Seinfeld&quot; episodes, and plans to swap them for 10 different ones every month. I'm literally pausing my writing every few minutes so I can get back to watching &quot;The Chinese Restaurant.&quot; As for movies, they're mostly older titles, and mostly a mix of B-, C-, and D-grade stuff. I don't watch &quot;Big Daddy&quot; or &quot;Joe Dirt&quot; on cable, so I'm certainly not going to watch them here. What's more, a lot of the listed movies aren't full-length, but rather batches of clips. (Thankfully, you can filter the list to show only full-length titles.) That said, there are a few gems to choose from: &quot;Ghostbusters,&quot; &quot;Easy Rider,&quot; &quot;Starman,&quot; &quot;Dr. Strangelove,&quot; and &quot;A Few Good Men&quot; are among those worth your time. (Underrated gem: &quot;Go.&quot;) The app is easy to use, smart enough to resume playback if you have to leave in the middle, and able to stream over 3G and Wi-Fi alike. And did I mention it's free Sure, the selection could be better, but if you're looking for something to watch and don't want to pay Apple, Hulu, or anybody else, Crackle can definitely keep you entertained. While we're on the subject of streaming video, check out these related posts: Watch recorded TV shows on your iPhone PBS for iPhone streams public-TV shows for free PlayOn Mobile hits the App Store Hands-on look: Hulu Plus for iPhone, iPad <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Is there a bidding war over TweetDeck]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-there-a-bidding-war-over-tweetdeck</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-there-a-bidding-war-over-tweetdeck</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 18 Apr 2011 07:11:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>darrylkikr</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-there-a-bidding-war-over-tweetdeck</guid>
<description><![CDATA[TweetDeck&amp;39's logo.A report Monday in The Wall Street Journal claimed that Twitter is in &quot;advanced talks&quot; to acquire TweetDeck, a Twitter desktop client preferred by many of the social-media service's most active users, for about $50 million. &quot;TweetDeck has emerged as a favorite of heavy users of Twitter, letting people track tweets about multiple topics at the same time,&quot; the story explained. &quot;The program, which many people download and use on their desktop computers, also lets people write tweets longer than 140 characters, among other features.&quot;But wait: Two months ago, TweetDeck was reported to have sold to UberMedia, a company that owns a portfolio of Twitter clients and related applications. Shortly thereafter, Twitter blocked UberMedia's applications, citing a variety of concerns including trademark violations and privacy issues, and then reinstated them several days later. And then earlier this month, a CNN report surfaced that claimed UberMedia was going so far as to construct a service designed to rival Twitter, suggesting that the bad blood between the two companies was even thicker than expected.So if Twitter is attempting to acquire TweetDeck, it could be a reactionary counter-bid to UberMedia's offer. Or it might not.Twitter has declined comment on the rumors, updating its official public relations Twitter account with: &quot;We don't comment on rumors. We don't provide off-the-record background on rumors. We don't wink twice or release puffs of smoke (about) rumors.&quot;It's true that Twitter has aggressively pursued an acquisition strategy in building up a suite of applications--buying Tweetie and turning it into Twitter foriPhone, or buying Summize and turning it into Twitter Search--and that it does not yet own or operate a desktop-based Twitter client. (UPDATE: Actually, it does, sort of. When Twitter acquired Tweetie, it also acquired Tweetie forMac, which has been turned into Twitter for Mac. But it's a desktop app for casual users who do more reading than tweeting, not the &quot;power users&quot; drawn to TweetDeck.) So it would, one could surmise, want to buy TweetDeck independently of any competition from UberMedia. It's a sensible fit for Twitter to own the client of choice among its most dedicated (dare we say obsessed) users, and these &quot;advanced talks&quot; may have been going on for far longer than we think.To make matters even more complicated, UberMedia has never confirmed that it was about to buy TweetDeck in the first place (the company was not immediately available for comment).This post was updated at 6:45 p.m. PT to clarify that Twitter for Mac is, technically, a desktop Twitter client.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Samsung Gem review: Edgy personality in a basic Froyo phone]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsung-gem-review-edgy-personality-in-a-basic-froyo-phone</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsung-gem-review-edgy-personality-in-a-basic-froyo-phone</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Empantypooppy</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsung-gem-review-edgy-personality-in-a-basic-froyo-phone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)Does it have Samsung's signature high-polish glossy body Of course! But the Samsung Gem, an Android 2.2 Froyo smartphone for U.S. Cellular, also has some style all its own. With its swooping lines and repeated pentagonal, superhero-esque accent, it doesn't look like just any other Android phone.Related links&amp;149' Read our T-Mobile G2 review&amp;149' Alltel also has the Samsung Gem&amp;149' See other Samsung phonesWe're pleased that Samsung left its custom TouchWiz interface off this model, giving us the default (some would call it &quot;pure&quot;) Android experience.The specs are typical for a budget Android handset, which amounts to good value at only $30 for the smartphone. Since many messaging phones cost more than that and bring you less, the Gem joins the LG Optimus U as a killer deal for U.S. Cellular subscribers (compare the phones).Watch the hands-on video review, see photos, and read details about call quality and more in our full Samsung Gem review!<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hulu tops all Web sites for video ads viewed]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-tops-all-web-sites-for-video-ads-viewed</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-tops-all-web-sites-for-video-ads-viewed</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2011 07:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>emosooooo</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-tops-all-web-sites-for-video-ads-viewed</guid>
<description><![CDATA[More people viewed video ads at Hulu than at any other Web site last month, according to stats released yesterday by ComScore.Out of the 4.3 billion video ads that U.S. Internet users watched in March, 1.2 billion of those were at Hulu, making it the top site for video ad impressions for the month. Video network Tremor Media was next on the list with 804.3 million ad views, followed by video marketplace Adap.tv with 553 million video ad impressions, and BrightRoll Video Network with 398 million.(Credit:ComScore)Internet users spent a total of 1.9 billion minutes watching video ads last month, ComScore said. Out of those, Hulu was the top property, delivering 520 million minutes of video ad viewing. Overall, video ads accounted for 12.7 percent of all ads viewed online in March, while the average video ad ran for 24 seconds.ComScore's data for video ads includes only streaming advertising and not other types of video ads, such as banner ads or homepage ads.Among sites offering online videos, Google again took the top spot, due mostly to video viewing on YouTube. Overall, Google sites saw 143.2 million unique video viewers in March, according to ComScore. Google also captured the largest amount of time that each person on average spent watching online videos at 276 minutes, or 4.6 hours.Google's top ranking was followed by AOL in second place with 57 million video viewers, Yahoo with 56.4 million, and Microsoft sites with 53.1 million. Hulu just managed to make the top 10 list with 27.5 million video viewers. Overall, Web sites offering videos grabbed 174.3 million unique viewers in March, who each spent an average of 889 minutes, or almost 15 hours, watching online videos.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hercules diamond speakers: A girl's best friend]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hercules-diamond-speakers-a-girls-best-friend</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hercules-diamond-speakers-a-girls-best-friend</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>coottorgamp</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hercules-diamond-speakers-a-girls-best-friend</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Diamond speakers put some awe in your audio.(Credit:Hercules)I get it. Chicks are supposed to like diamonds. Diamonds make us fall in love and turn into cooing mushes of appreciation. If only they weren't so darn expensive and politically incorrect. Cheer up, gals! There is hope. Hercules is attempting to solve all of our problems with its new $40  XPS Diamond 2.0 USB Speakers. These black beauties are &quot;designed with female users in mind,&quot; but they could also become a big hit with the cross-dressing crowd. Each speaker is a slim 3.5 inches wide. That's way bigger than the rock on the ring that snooty lady in the next cubicle is sporting. She'll be full of envy when she sees your matching diamond speakers glinting in the fluorescent light.The XPS Diamond speakers are powered through USB, have magnetic shielding to prevent interference, and come with a wired mini-remote control for changing the volume. But who cares about the specs Did you notice that they look like big diamonds!Hercules has already given Webcams a facelift and designed a DJ console that could survive the apocalypse. It was really just a matter of time before the company created speakers that could double as Lady Gaga earrings.This does of course, open up tantalizing opportunities for broke geeks to propose to girlfriends they met through World of Warcraft. &quot;Will you spend the rest of your druid life with me Please accept these diamond speakers as a token of my forever regenerating love. Use them to hear my mighty battle cry of marriage.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Spectrum debate likely hot topic for CTIA]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spectrum-debate-likely-hot-topic-for-ctia</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spectrum-debate-likely-hot-topic-for-ctia</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Cristoph-i</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spectrum-debate-likely-hot-topic-for-ctia</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ORLANDO, Fla.--While many gadget fans will be looking for the latest smartphones and cool services coming out at this week'sCTIA 2011 trade show here, policy wonks will be looking for news in the heated battle between the wireless industry and TV broadcasters over spectrum reallocation.In recent weeks, the National Association of Broadcasters has called into question the Federal Communications Commission's plan to reallocate spectrum, much of which will come from unused broadcast licenses that have been voluntarily given up. The NAB has called many current spectrum holders, which have participated in previous spectrum auctions, hoarders. The group claims these companies are not efficiently using the spectrum they have already bought.For example, satellite TV provider DirecTV, as well as cable operators Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Brighthouse have all bought spectrum in recent FCC auctions and have not yet used that spectrum nor have they disclosed how they plan to use it. Even large carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&amp;T have not used all the spectrum licenses they have purchased in recent auctions.&quot;Maybe you should develop that spectrum before you come to broadcasters asking for 40 percent more of their spectrum,&quot; Dennis Wharton, NAB's executive vice president for media relations, told the IDG News Service in a recent interview. &quot;Why is it taking so long, if there really is a national spectrum crisis&quot;The CTIA, which represents the wireless industry, and the Federal Communications Commission say spectrum reallocation is necessary because there's a looming spectrum crisis. Without additional spectrum allocated, wireless operators will not have enough airwaves available to meet the rapidly growing demand for wireless data services, these groups say.While it's clear which side the CTIA is on in this debate, the topic will likely be a hot one at the group's biannual trade show this week where the industry is gathered not only to announce and view cool new products, but also to discuss important policies essential to the industry. (For more detail on what to expect in terms of products at CTIA, check out my colleague Kent German's preview piece from Friday.)On Monday, I will be helping Chris Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for the CTIA, host a panel discussion that will include several officials from the FCC, as well as representatives from AT&amp;T and Verizon, who will be talking about wireless spectrum issues and policy.The spectrum debate The FCC's National Broadband Report, released last year, recommended that the FCC make 500MHz of new wireless spectrum available within 10 years for licensed and unlicensed use. The plan recommends that 300MHz of that spectrum should become available within the next five years.One of the most controversial issues to come out of that plan is the reallocation of wireless spectrum. While the report recommends that the FCC reallocate about 20MHz of underutilized government spectrum, it also recommends that the agency get about 120MHz of spectrum from TV broadcasters.The FCC is currently studying a plan for reallocating spectrum. The commission has said it doesn't plan to force broadcasters to give it up. Instead, it said it would create incentive auctions that would let broadcasters who aren't using some spectrum to voluntarily give it up in exchange for some kind of compensation.While the NAB is open to a voluntarily approach, the lobby group has been questioning the FCC's premise for even asking for this spectrum, given that spectrum sold in recent auctions hasn't been used yet.The NAB also says it may be difficult for broadcasters to give up spectrum, since the areas where spectrum is most needed is in cities, where many broadcasters are already using spectrum to provide free TV programming, as well as mobile digital TV.Broadcasters also believe that as an industry, they've given up plenty of spectrum already. For example, the government forced the TV broadcast industry to move to broadcasting signals in digital rather than analog form, which freed up spectrum in the 700MHz band. That spectrum was auctioned in 2008. Verizon Wireless is using its 700MHz wireless licenses to build its &quot;4G&quot; LTE network.But the wireless industry and the FCC believe that TV broadcasters, which were given their spectrum licenses for free during the dawn of TV, need to give more of it back for reallocation. In a column published Friday on CNET, CTIA CEO Steve Largent said that TV broadcasters have 294MHz of spectrum in each market, much of which is currently unused.He claims that the CTIA estimates that revenue &quot;from auctions of broadcast spectrum reclaimed through a voluntary mechanism would gross at least $36 billion for the federal government. This process would [retain] free over-the-air broadcast service while the industry would pay billions to the U.S. Treasury and billions more to the U.S. economy to deploy new technologies. Ultimately, consumers continue to get the world's best products and services. Everyone wins.&quot;AT&amp;T's senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs said in a blog post Friday that the NAB itself is guilty of under using its spectrum resources and should not be pointing fingers at the wireless industry, which has paid millions for its spectrum licenses.&quot;NAB (insuates that) the problem isn't their own massive warehousing and underuse of precious spectrum resources,&quot; Cicconi wrote in a blog post Friday. &quot;Instead, the problem is everyone else. It's not their 1950s transmission method that's inefficient' the fault is with modern devices that receive their signals. And somehow those companies making the largest capital investments in the U.S., and perhaps the largest private capital investments in American history, aren't investing fast enough to suit the broadcasters.&quot;The CTIA and the Consumer Electronics Association say that the NAB is simply trying to deflect attention from the spectrum crisis. In a letter to Congressional leaders this week, the two groups said that the &quot;NAB has once again endeavored to search for any hint of outlier instances where spectrum allegedly is not being put to productive use--a point that has been consistently refuted.&quot;FCC Chairman Genachowski has also downplayed the NAB's claims. In a speech this week at the Mobile Future Forum, he said that the FCC's recently completed &quot;baseline&quot; spectrum inventory provides enough data to conclude that incentive auctions are needed.&quot;The spectrum crunch will not be solved by the build-out of already allocated spectrum,&quot; Genachowski said. &quot;That spectrum was already built into the FCC's analysis of the spectrum shortage and does not detract from the desirability and necessity of adding the incentive auction tool to the FCC's arsenal.&quot;He said there were &quot;no hidden vacant lots of commercial airwaves.&quot; But he said that there are a few &quot;areas well-suited to mobile broadband, such as the TV and [mobile satellite services] bands.&quot;Meanwhile, the NAB says it wants the government to do a full inventory of spectrum to see how efficiently all spectrum holders are using their licenses. Such a broad inventory of spectrum that includes usage by wireless companies and other auction license holders has not been done.It will be interesting to see how the debate plays out and what the wireless industry will say at this week's conference to flame the political fires. Stay tuned.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google digitizing lists of Japan shelter dwellers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-digitizing-lists-of-japan-shelter-dwellers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-digitizing-lists-of-japan-shelter-dwellers</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 Mar 2011 07:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riauckter3d22</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-digitizing-lists-of-japan-shelter-dwellers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google Maps is showing rolling-blackout information for Japan after the devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunamis. This view shows the area around Tokyo.(Credit:screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Expanding its efforts to help restore contact among people separated by the Japanese disasters, Google said today it's creating computerized versions of lists of people at emergency shelters.&quot;To help the many people in shelters get word of their whereabouts to loved ones, we're...asking people in shelters to take photos of the handwritten lists of names of current residents and e-mail them to us,&quot; Google said in a blog post. Google scans the data to add to its Japan person-finder site, &quot;but it's a big job that can't be done automatically by computers alone, so we welcome volunteers with Japanese language skills who want to help out.The images of shelter lists are posted to a Picasa album. Those with images can e-mail them to tohoku.anpi.google@picasaweb.com.The country is grappling with death and housing dislocation on a massive scale. Japanese state broadcaster National police said 5,693 have been confirmed dead, and 9,506 people remain unaccounted for, NHK reported Thursday.In another change, Google's crisis response page for the Japanese earthquake and tsunaminow works better when used with mobile phones, in particular lower-end phones that are very common. Google also has made it possible to search by telephone number at its person-finder site.It's provided Google Maps showing rolling blackout locations. And it's continuing to publish updated satellite photos of Japan on Google Maps.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google excises Gears from Chrome]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-excises-gears-from-chrome</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-excises-gears-from-chrome</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2011 07:10:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Han007</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-excises-gears-from-chrome</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Today&amp;39's Chrome logoStandards groups are unwieldy and slow-moving. But when it comes to expanding what browsers can do, they turned out to be a faster way for Google to bring a handful of features to the Web than its Gears plug-in.So it comes as no surprise that Google, after letting the Gears project spin down over the last year and a half, is removing the software altogether from its Chrome browser.&quot;It's finally time to say goodbye to Gears,&quot; said Gears team member Aaron Boodman in a blog post. &quot;There will be no new Gears releases, and newer browsers such asFirefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9 will not be supported. We will also be removing Gears from Chrome in Chrome 12.&quot;Google launched Gears with much fanfare as an open-source project in 2007. The headline feature was the ability to get Web applications to work offline--in other words, when the network connection was down--and the star examples were Google Docs and Gmail.But only a few other Web developers, such as Zoho, WordPress, and iStockphoto, dabbled with Gears, and Google decided instead to focus on bringing Gears features to Web browsers through standards rather than its own plug-in.One thing is very different about the browser landscape now compared to 2007: Google has a browser. When Gears was introduced, a plug-in for others' browsers was about the best Google could do to advance the Web programming state of the art. Now, with Chrome, it's got its own vehicle to bring new Web features to market. Chrome accounts for about 10 percent of browser usage worldwide today, making it a much more effective vehicle for advancing the Web than Gears ever was--in particular because browser rivals also are adding many features found in Gears.When it comes to offline support, the key idea is a mechanism to let the browser store data. Several of these are available or nearly so, including HTML5's Application Cache. Another important one that's catching on is IndexedDB. Mozilla and Microsoft, the top two browser makers, endorsed IndexedDB, and the technology prevailed over a rival called Web SQL Database.Technologies such as these will likely be the way Google restores offline access to Google Docs, a feature it promised would arrive &quot;early in 2011.&quot;The writing has been on the wall for Gears since Google announced its preference for HTML5 standards over Gears in December 2009. But its influence lives on in more ways than just offline data storage.Boodman pointed to a handful of features demonstrated with Gears that have made their way into Web standards:&amp;149' Web Workers, which lets a browser run multiple JavaScript tasks at once, including background tasks, letting developers keep a Web application user interface responsive and taking advantage of multicore processors.&amp;149' The File interface, which adds better file-handling features to browsers, for example letting people upload a video in separate pieces called blobs so a 500-megabyte file transfer won't be derailed by a flaky network.&amp;149' Geolocation lets the browser--once given a user's permission--tell a Web application the physical location of that user. That can help locate the person on a map, for example.&amp;149' Notifications let Web applications produce the sorts of pop-ups so widely used by e-mail, instant messaging, and other communication software.These standards are in varying stages of implementation in Web browsers right now, but all of them look to have solid support among browser makers. In the end, Gears was probably more of a success than a failure.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Tweets on Japanese quake from 50 Cent, others touch nerve]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tweets-on-japanese-quake-from-50-cent-others-touch-nerve</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tweets-on-japanese-quake-from-50-cent-others-touch-nerve</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:10:58 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>waningmaconstruct</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tweets-on-japanese-quake-from-50-cent-others-touch-nerve</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There seems currently to be a debate about whether we should all have one identity online (as Mark Zuckerberg would prefer) or whether we should be able to protect ourselves with a certain anonymity.Perhaps rapper and headphone creator and salesman 50 Cent might be in the former camp. For he seems to have concealed nothing of himself on his Twitter feed when he heard about the Japanese earthquake.First, he offered: &quot;Wave will hit 8am them crazy white boys gonna try to go surfing.&quot;Not content with that amusement he followed up with: &quot;Look this is very serious people I had to evacuate all my hoe's from LA, Hawaii and Japan. I had to do it. Lol.&quot;While you continue to lol, might I tell you that he then thought about this humor and tweeted: &quot;Nah this is nuts but what can anyone do about it. Let's pray for anyone who has lost someone.&quot;(Credit:Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)So that's alright then. Or perhaps not. For then he felt compelled to tweet a further explanation of his state of mind: &quot;Some of my tweets are ignorant I do it for shock value. Hate it or love it. I'm cool either way 50cent.&quot;Are you cool either way Or is it a little too Kenneth Cool for you I mean, Kenneth Cole. The famed shoe store owner, on hearing about the uprising in Egypt, tweeted that Egypt must be in uproar about his new collection. Cole later apologized and removed the tweet. 50 Cent, not so much. It's just lil' ole' Fitty having a little fun, he wants you to believe. And perhaps he knows his audience well. Perhaps he understands just how much his followers enjoy a little shock value.But 50 Cent is not the only person who believes the Japanese earthquake is funny. ESPN reports that Cappie Pondexter, a WNBA player for the New York Liberty. has already apologized for offering this tweeted observation about the Japanese disaster: &quot;What if God was tired of the way they treated their own people in there own country! Idk guys he makes no mistakes.&quot;Before her more than 9,000 followers could respond with their own philosophy of life, Pondexter reportedly posted another tweet: &quot;u just never knw! They did pearl harbor so u can't expect anything less.&quot;Personally, I expect nothing at all. However, Pondexter removed the tweets. In explanation, she reportedly offered: &quot;I didn't realize that my words could be interpreted in the manner which they were.&quot;Realization is often a difficult thing. In Pondexter's case, her tweets might cost her some money (her team reportedly has had a conversation with her on the subject of her posts.) 50 Cent's tweets still stand proud, unremoved. He seems to feel this is water off a rapper's back.Some will, no doubt, find nothing wrong with these tweets. Some will condemn what they see as the manifest ignorance these posts demonstrate. Others, though, might at least feel that, thanks to the very public spontaneity of Twitter, they have come a little closer to the essence of their beloved celebrities.(Oh, and this just in, comedian Gilbert Gottfriend has been fired as the voice of the AFLAC duck for, yes, tweeting jokes about the Japanese quake.)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Quakes, tsunamis strike Japan]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=quakes-tsunamis-strike-japan</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=quakes-tsunamis-strike-japan</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:11:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>octavio4ga</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=quakes-tsunamis-strike-japan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:USGS)An 8.9-magnitude earthquake and series of major tsunamis struck Japan on Friday, generating an upswell of news and concern from users of social networks around the world.&quot;Our hearts go out to everyone Japan&quot; was a frequent message on both Twitter and Facebook, joined by hundreds of similar tweets in the space of a few minutes after quake struck Friday afternoon local time about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo.Japanese media reported that office workers were trying in vain to make calls over jammed cell phone networks. People were reportedly turning to Twitter to communicate with friends and family. Television images on CNN showed waves exceeding 12 flowing inland and receding with massive debris.A tsunami warning was in effect for the islands of Hawaii, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). However, the western coast of North America was in no immediate danger of a tsunami, saying that no warning, watch, or advisory was in effect for these areas. However, &quot;Earthquakes of this size are known to generate tsunamis potentially dangerous to coasts outside the source region,&quot; NOAA said in a statement. &quot;The West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center is investigating the event to determine the level of danger. More information will be issued as it becomes available.&quot;CNET's Ed Moyer contributed to this report.  More to come        Steven Musil    Full Profile E-mail Steven Musil   E-mail Steven Musil If you have a question or comment for Steven Musil, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Family trades temper tantrums for iPad]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=family-trades-temper-tantrums-for-ipad</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=family-trades-temper-tantrums-for-ipad</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:10:53 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>marpnowana72</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=family-trades-temper-tantrums-for-ipad</guid>
<description><![CDATA[When a school therapist suggested that a family buy their autistic 3-year-old son Hudson aniPad, the Holmquists were willing to give it a try, and turned to ChipIn to raise money for atablet for their child. Now the family is telling news media the device is a miracle.The new iPad 2.(Credit:Apple)Hudson, who was diagnosed with autism in 2010, went from several violent meltdowns a day (including one screaming session that lasted from morning until late evening) to, well, fewer violent meltdowns.&quot;The iPad has given us our family back,&quot; Laura Hudson told FoxNews.com. &quot;It's unlocked a new part of our son that we hadn't seen before, and given us insight into the way he connects with his world.&quot;Perhaps more surprising is that autism experts aren't surprised. Hudson is able to use the tablet not just for gaming and making puzzles but even for communicating ideas to a family that is really just now getting to know the kid behind the tantrums.  This trend has been developing since the iPad first came out in 2010.A few dozen apps are already reportedly helping children with autism in some way, including First Words, Shape Builder, and apps for speech therapy, but the iPad setup itself is considered part of the allure. Without a mouse and keyboard, there is less distraction from the task at hand.One mother told SF Weekly last August that her son Leo was able to use the iPad immediately, without any instruction, and that he would spend 30 minutes at a time on apps that teach skills such as spelling, counting, and remembering pictures--far longer than he was able to focus on the same tasks without the iPad.Sometimes the best inventions come about by accident. And sometimes the way those inventions are used can take even the inventor by surprise. When the iPad was first unveiled, it was hailed by some as pointless. Then, in a matter of months, it launched an entire industry, with tablets being all the talk atCES 2011. And now it has garnered some serious fans in a population Apple may have never even considered. As for little Hudson Holmquist, only time will tell how the iPad figures into his long-term future, and whether it changes his daily life for better or for worse. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Is first iPad 2 camper out there (really out there)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-first-ipad-2-camper-out-there-really-out-there</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-first-ipad-2-camper-out-there-really-out-there</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:10:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>iamjosie33</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-first-ipad-2-camper-out-there-really-out-there</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Every time Apple launches a new product, someone has to be the first in line to buy it. The trouble is that it always seems to be the same people who attempt to amuse local news crews with their alleged Apple fandom.As CNET's Greg Sandoval reported last year, some of these people might be more fans of fame than of Apple.So the news that an Apple store in Dallas already has a tent perched outside its doors suggests only one thing: that alleged Apple obsessive Justin Wagoner is staking yet another claim for worldwide fame.I am sure that you remember Wagoner from last year's launch of iPhone 4. Then, he offered quotes that, some might feel, showed his true and undying love for Apple. For example: &quot;If you follow the news, you'll know who I am.&quot;Wagoner&amp;39's website.(Credit:Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)Now, with MacCast offering the first pictures of a Dallas-based tent, you'll be wondering if there is other evidence of Wagoner's latest vigil.Well, there's a Web site called iJustinOfficial.com. No, really. This site describes Wagoner as a &quot;new rising Internet Celebrity.&quot; It includes pictures of Dallas Apple stores, as well as some public art. And, um, fireworks.It also declares that Wagoner will be camping out for five days before the March 11 launch, outside the Knox Street store, which happens to be the very same from which MacCast reportedly got its tent picture.There's also Wagoner's Twitter feed, on which he insists he really is out there and that, if he needs to leave at all, &quot;the employees and/or my personal security guard watches out for me until I get back.&quot;But even that isn't enough. Perhaps influenced by Charlie Sheen's plummet to notoriety, Wagoner also promises a Ustream of his activities. The Ustream page exists, but, as yet, there is no action on it.I know that you will all now be transfixed by Wagoner's activities. You will be wondering what it might feel like to be the first human being in the world to clutch aniPad 2, switch it on, and see what they're writing about you.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Spotify hits 1 million subscribers' U.S. still out]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spotify-hits-1-million-subscribers-u-s--still-out</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spotify-hits-1-million-subscribers-u-s--still-out</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>buenause</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spotify-hits-1-million-subscribers-u-s--still-out</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Spotify has reached an important milestone, but Americans are still waiting for their chance to try it out.The music service announced today that it has hit 1 million subscribers. The company reached the figure nearly two years after it tallied its 1 millionth registered user. Spotify's Web site says it now has 10 million such users.The discrepancy in users compared with subscribers is due to Spotify's business model. The company offers a free, ad-supported version of its service, allowing people to stream music for a limited amount of time. It also has a premium service that allows for unlimited access to music on mobile phones and offline, as well a cheaper paid offering that's ad-free. On its Web page, it claims to have 10 million tracks available.As excited as Spotify's management may be to reach 1 million subscribers, the key issue with the platform--availability--has yet to be resolved.For years now, Spotify has made it known that it wants to come to the United States. However, it's currently available only in the U.K., Sweden, Spain, France, and a few other European countries. Its trouble in coming to the United States has nothing to do with its service and everything to do with its negotiations with the top record labels.So far, the company has been able to strike a deal with EMI and Sony to offer their songs in the U.S. But that's not enough, especially considering it would face off with entrenched competitors, like Rhapsody, that have a much wider catalog of titles.As CNET's Greg Sandoval pointed out earlier this year, the key to Spotify's U.S. launch is Universal Music Group, the world's largest record label. If Spotify can get that label to sign on, the service can launch in the U.S. and potentially coax Warner Music into a similar deal. But as history has shown, the music industry can be difficult to navigate for companies that don't necessarily follow the iTunes model of &quot;pay per song.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nikon Coolpix S6100, S4100, S3100, L24 announced]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nikon-coolpix-s6100-s4100-s3100-l24-announced</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nikon-coolpix-s6100-s4100-s3100-l24-announced</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>limaparx232</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nikon-coolpix-s6100-s4100-s3100-l24-announced</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Coolpix S6100(Credit:Nikon)Nikon didn't do too much to change the sub-$200 end of its S-series cameras from 2010, but just enough to keep them interesting. For example, the S6100 gets more marketing-pixels megapixels, but gets a 3-inch touch-screen LCD, too. Add in the 7x optical zoom, wide-angle lens, and Nikon's Expeed C2 image processing engine, and you've got a pretty decent-sounding pocket camera for the money.The S4100 and S3100 also get megapixel bumps and slightly wider, longer lenses, but are otherwise seemingly on par with their predecessors. Lastly, Nikon refreshed its entry-level, AA-battery-powered L22 series compact by, of course, adding more megapixels. Here's hoping they improved quality control, too. Here's how the models breakdown:(Credit:Nikon)Nikon Coolpix S6100Replaces S600016 megapixels7x 28mm-equivalent wide-angle lens3-inch high-resolution (460K dot) touch screen720p HD video captureAvailable in March for $199.95Silver, black, red, and violet versions(Credit:Nikon)Nikon Coolpix S4100Replaces S400014 megapixels5x 26mm-equivalent wide-angle lens3-inch high-resolution (460K dot) touch screen720p HD video captureAvailable in late February for $179.95Plum, silver, red, and black versions(Credit:Nikon)Nikon Coolpix S3100Replaces S300014 megapixels5x 26mm-equivalent wide-angle lens2.7-inch LCDAvailable in late February for $139.95Silver, red, blue, purple, pink, yellow, and black versions(Credit:Nikon)Nikon Coolpix L24Replaces L2214 megapixels3.6x optical zoom3-inch LCDAvailable in late February for $119.95Red, silver, and black versions<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google calls Microsoft a copycat (week in review)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-calls-microsoft-a-copycat-week-in-review</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-calls-microsoft-a-copycat-week-in-review</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dadjhu</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-calls-microsoft-a-copycat-week-in-review</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google has a harsh word to describe Microsoft: plagiarist.After noticing curious search results at Bing, then running a sting operation to investigate further, Google has concluded that Microsoft was copying Google search results into its own search engine. The story began with Google's team for correcting typographical errors in search terms, which monitors its own and rivals' performance closely.Next came the sting, which featured a one-time code that manually ranked a page for a specific term. Google then had employees type in those terms from home using Internet Explorer with both Suggested Sites and the Bing Toolbar enabled, clicking the top results as they went. Two weeks later, Bing showed the Google results that had been hand-coded.A Bing executive acknowledged monitoring what links users clicked but essentially described it as letting humans help gather data through crowdsourcing.However, another executive was adamant that Microsoft was not using Google's search results.&quot;We do not copy results from any of our competitors. Period. Full stop,&quot; Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's senior VP of its Online Services Division, wrote in a post on Bing's community blog. &quot;We have some of the best minds in the world at work on search quality and relevance, and for a competitor to accuse any one of these people of such activity is just insulting.&quot;&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Google, Microsoft trade barbs over Bing 'copying'&amp;149'&amp;nbsp' Microsoft: Google's Bing test was 'good subterfuge'More headlines<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Vint Cerf takes rap for running out of IP addresses]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vint-cerf-takes-rap-for-running-out-of-ip-addresses</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vint-cerf-takes-rap-for-running-out-of-ip-addresses</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>LisaMaiden</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=vint-cerf-takes-rap-for-running-out-of-ip-addresses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Who knew that 4.3 billion Internet addresses wouldn't be enoughVint Cerf(Credit:Google)Internet pioneer Vint Cerf has sounded the alarm bell once again by warning that the world is about to run out of IP addresses. Cerf, who also serves as Google's chief internet evangelist, pinned the blame on himself for the lack of sufficient addresses in a recent interview published in the Sydney Morning Herald.Initially seeing the Internet as just an experiment that would eventually end, Cerf said he never anticipated the world would need more than the 4.3 billion addresses currently capable of being allocated.&quot;Who the hell knew how much address space we needed&quot; Cerf said in an interview with journalists in Sydney, Australia.Of course, Cerf is certainly being hard on himself. No one could have foreseen the huge number of mobile devices, consumer appliances, and array of Internet-connected gadgets that would require their own unique addresses.Cerf, known as a father of the Internet, also cautioned that the current crop of 4.3 billion addresses is due to run out within a few weeks. But when Cerf points to those addresses, he's specifically talking about ones that use the current IPv4, a protocol that limits an IP address to four 8-bit numbers, or 32 bits in total, thus allowing for around 4.3 billion possible combinations.The world has known for years that we would eventually run out of IPv4 addresses, so industry has been busy striving to make the transition to IPv6. The new protocol, which uses four 32-bit numbers, or 128 bits in total, would allow for 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 unique addresses, hopefully enough to last the world for quite awhile.Among those working on the jump to IPv6 is Google itself. A recent blog post from the search giant discussed the coming of World IPv6 Day. Set as the first real test flight for IPv6, that day will see Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and a host of Web sites and Internet providers offer their content and services through the new protocol. The goal will be to see what works and what doesn't and determine what kinks need to be ironed out.Though Google says the vast majority of Internet users should be unaffected by IPv6 day, some may run into connection problems depending on how their devices are configured. The World IPv6 Day Web site offers a test that people can run to see if their own PCs and their Internet providers are set up to handle the new protocol.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[IDC: Apple iPad secures 87 percent market share]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=idc-apple-ipad-secures-87-percent-market-share</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=idc-apple-ipad-secures-87-percent-market-share</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>karadim3z</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=idc-apple-ipad-secures-87-percent-market-share</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Tablets are gaining popularity worldwide, andApple's iPad continues to capitalize, a new report from market research firm IDC has found.During the third quarter of 2010, the worldwidetablet market grew by 45.1 percent, IDC reported. All told, vendors shipped 4.8 million units during the quarter, up from the 3.3 million they shipped in the second quarter of 2010. IDC said that Apple's iPad enjoyed 87.4 percent market share during the period, tallying 4.2 million units shipped worldwide.Apple&amp;39's iPad continues to dominate the tablet space.(Credit:Apple)IDC estimates that 17 million tablets were shipped worldwide in 2010. That figure is expected to grow exponentially in 2011 with an estimated 44.6 million tablets shipped. In 2012, IDC said that it expects 70.8 million tablets to hit store shelves.IDC's tablet findings follow a recent report from research firm Forrester, which claims about 10.3 million tablets were sold in the U.S. during 2010. Like IDC, Forrester sees significant growth in the tablet space going forward, with an expected 24.1 million tablet purchases in the U.S. in 2011. Forrester said it believes U.S. tablet sales will reach 35.1 million next year.IDC also examined the e-reader market. The research firm said that 2.7 million e-readers shipped in the third quarter, representing 40 percent growth compared to the previous period. The research firm said that Amazon's Kindle led the e-reader market during the third quarter with 41.5 percent market share and a total of 1.1 million units shipped. Pandigital took the second spot in the e-reader space with 440,000 units shipped. It was followed by Barnes &amp; Noble and Sony with 420,000 units and 230,000 units sent out, respectively.Amazon's control over the e-reader market isn't much of a surprise. The retailer announced last month that its third-generation Kindle is its best-selling product of all time.Going forward, IDC sees significant growth in the e-reader market. The company said that it estimates 10.8 million e-readers shipped worldwide in 2010, and that figure should grow to 14.7 million in 2011. Next year, it expects e-reader shipments to hit 16.6 million.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Yahoo search share down, while Bing gains again]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-search-share-down-while-bing-gains-again</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-search-share-down-while-bing-gains-again</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Marry</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-search-share-down-while-bing-gains-again</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After Yahoo and Microsoft finally integrated their massive search technology and advertising partnership, ComScore is reporting that Yahoo's explicit core search share in the U.S. had declined in December.Yahoo's 16 percent share was down from 16.4 percent in November, which was actually down from 16.5 percent from October.Meanwhile, Microsoft's aggressive Bing search service rose from 11.5 percent in October to 11.8 percent in November to 12 percent in December.And big guns Google more than regained a small loss from October (66.3 percent) to November (66.2 percent) in December, with a 66.6 percent share. (Yes, all you conspiracy theorists: 6, 6, 6.)Yahoo's decline in explicit core search--which ComScore noted &quot;excludes contextually driven searches that do not reflect specific user intent to interact with the search results&quot;--is, of course, a key metric to watch at the company, which needs to improve its revenue growth.Here are some lovely tables to peruse:Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[T-Mobile to refresh Samsung Vibrant for 4G network]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-to-refresh-samsung-vibrant-for-4g-network</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-to-refresh-samsung-vibrant-for-4g-network</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AlanAlanine</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-to-refresh-samsung-vibrant-for-4g-network</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A faster, more capable Vibrant is on the way.(Credit:TmoNews)T-Mobile and Samsung appear to be prepping the release of a follow-up to last fall's Vibrant. Dubbed the Vibrant 4G, the Galaxy S device  should feature a handful of improvements on its predecessor, most notably support for 21Mbps on T-Mobile's HSPA+ 4G network.Other new details include a front-facing camera, Android 2.2 (Froyo), and the inclusion of Qik (video chat) and doubleTwist Air Sync (music, media). And this time around, T-Mobile will preload the movie &quot;Inception&quot; rather than &quot;Avatar.&quot; It's also worth pointing out that the carrier appears to be getting into branded media distribution based on the mention of &quot;Mobile HD TV Powered by T-Mobile.&quot;Though a HSPA+ handset is good news, not all users of the original Vibrant are greeting it with anticpation. In fact, a T-Mobile employee suggested to AndroidSpin today that Samsung is deliberately holding back a promised Froyo update to make way for the Vibrant 4G. I can't help but remember T-Mobile's Samsung Behold II and the software debacle that came with it. Obviously, the Galaxy S phones are more capable than those early Android phones, and Samsung continues to promise Froyo for the some point. But having said that, this new handset will still likely anger a sizable amount of those Vibrant users. Considering how much T-Mobile is touting its nationwide 4G coverage, these folks will want to take advantage of its speeds.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New King of Kong crowned, but battle not over]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-king-of-kong-crowned-but-battle-not-over</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-king-of-kong-crowned-but-battle-not-over</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>termonria74y</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-king-of-kong-crowned-but-battle-not-over</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Hank Chien: This man is projecting serious swagger.(Credit:Twin Galaxies)A full 30 years after Donkey Kong's release, gamers are still holding tight to ancient arcade joysticks in a quest for the next high score.  The latest King of Kong  Hank Chien, according to video game score certification organization Twin Galaxies. The 35-year-old doctor from Queens, N.Y., has set a new Donkey Kong arcade world record by tallying up a mesmerizing score of 1,068,000 points on the classic 1981 game in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Chien beat out the previous record held by competitor Steve Wiebe (1,064,500 points).  Now the heat is on for Wiebe, a teacher, to strike back (Wiebe, true Donkey Kong afficionados may recall, was filmed in his pursuit of the DK high score in the 2007 documentary &quot;The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters&quot;).  The DK arcade scene is actually pretty fierce, with Chien competing not only against Wiebe, but others such as his predecessor, hot-sauce magnate Billy Mitchell. The fate of the barrel-tossing high score will be decided in the upcoming &quot;Kong-Off&quot; competition on March 19-20, where another player could beat Chien's latest score. In an epic battle with the top 10 DK players, the arma-kong-eddon will determine the real King of Kong. The event will be hosted at Richie Knucklez' Arcade Games in Flemington, N.J. Richie Knucklez I feel like I should go watch &quot;Out for Justice&quot; now. Hey, Richie!<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hot gear for a (very) cold winter]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hot-gear-for-a-very-cold-winter</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hot-gear-for-a-very-cold-winter</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>BestyMerryBMW</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hot-gear-for-a-very-cold-winter</guid>
<description><![CDATA[With snowmageddon hitting the Northeast and cold fronts lowering temperatures in many other places (including Northern California, where it's gotten down to the, gasp, 40s recently--brrrr), it might be tempting to hibernate under the electric blanket and cancel all commitments that require leaving the cocoon of your house.  But don't despair. Inspired by a feature story from our friends at CBS' &quot;The Early Show,&quot; we've rounded up some gear that will help keep you warm in the blustery cold. Yes, it turns out, even your kidneys deserve thermal attention.Gear to keep you toasty (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google yanking H.264 video out of Chrome]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-yanking-h-264-video-out-of-chrome</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-yanking-h-264-video-out-of-chrome</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 11 Jan 2011 08:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Amihan</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-yanking-h-264-video-out-of-chrome</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google just fired a broadside in the Web's codec wars.With its alternative WebM video-encoding technology now entering the marketplace, Google announced plans today to remove built-in Chrome support for a widely used rival codec called H.264 favored by Apple and Microsoft. The move places Google instead firmly in the camp of browser makers Mozilla and Opera, who ardently desire basic Web technologies to be unencumbered by patent restrictions.&quot;Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies,&quot; said Mike Jazayeri, a Google product manager, in a blog post.A codec's job is to encode and decode video and audio, a technologically complicated balancing act. Codecs must reduce file sizes and enable streaming media that doesn't overtax networks, but they also must preserve as much quality as possible--for example by trying to discard data that the human senses won't miss much and cleverly interpolate to fill in the gaps.One big change coming with the new HTML5 version of the Web page description language is built-in support for video' most Web video today employs Adobe Systems' Flash Player plug-in, which uses H.264 and other codecs under the covers. Although HTML5 video has promise, disagreements in the W3C standards group have meant the draft standard omits specifying a particular codec. Chrome was the only browser among the top five to support both WebM and H.264, but now Google has swung its vote.Google's move triggered flabbergasted glee among advocates of the &quot;open Web&quot;--one that employs open standards and shuns patent barriers. &quot;Ok this is HUGE, Chrome drops support for H264,&quot; said Mozilla developer Paul Rouget in a tweet.But not everybody is so happy. Don MacAskill, chief executive of photo- and video-sharing site SmugMug, bemoaned the move. &quot;Bottom line: Much more expensive to build video on the Web, and much worse user experience. And only Adobe wins,&quot; he tweeted. &quot;I want WebM. Badly. But I need time for hardware penetration to happen...This means the cheapest way to develop video on the Web is to use Flash primarily. Before, we could do HTML5 with Flash fallback.&quot;H.264, also called AVC, is widely supported in video cameras, Blu-ray players, and many other devices, but it comes with significant royalty licensing fees from a group called MPEG LA that licenses a pool of hundreds of video-related patents.WebM, though, has been an open-source, royalty-free specification since Google announced it last May. It comprises the VP8 video codec Google got through its acquisition of On2 Technology and the Theora audio codec associated with an earlier and otherwise largely unsuccessful royalty-free codec effort.It's catching on--for example with smartphone chip support from Rockchip announced last week. Hardware decoding means computing devices can decode WebM faster and without quickly sucking batteries dry. And Adobe has pledged to build VP8 support into a future version of Flash Player. The move spotlights the role Google has earned in the Web development world by building its own browser. Chrome, which now accounts for 10 percent of browser usage worldwide, according to analytics firm Net Applications, is a vehicle Google is using to try to promote its own agenda on the Web.One big part of that is speed--fast page loads, fast graphics, fast encryption, fast JavaScript, and more that helps expand activity on the Web. But there are plenty of cases where Google uses Chrome to advance favored standards such as WebGL for 3D graphics, Web SQL and Indexed DB for offline data storage, and WebM for HTML5 video.Some Web developers including YouTube have begun embracing HTML5 video. But because the standard is mute on the issue of a particular codec, and because browser support can't be counted on, Web developers typically rely on Flash, which is installed on the vast majority of computers in use today.Apple, with its own technology agenda to push, is keeping Flash off theiPhone andiPad despite Adobe's attempts to reengineer it for the low-memory, anemic-processor, battery-constrained world of smartphones. For video, those devices rely on video encoded directly with H.264.Adobe has become a major Google ally since Apple began taking a very hard-line stance against Flash in 2010. Google has heavily promoted Adobe's mobile Flash agenda and built its Flash Player directly into Chrome. Adobe gave WebM a big boost by building it into Flash.The partnership illustrates the pragmatic, political limits to Google's open-Web advocacy. Flash Player is proprietary software, and building it into Chrome certainly helps preserve its relevance. &quot;If Google is dropping H.264 because their 'goal is to enable open innovation,' why not also drop support for closed plugins like Flash&quot; tweeted Daring Fireball Apple-watcher John Gruber.One big uncertainty for WebM is the intellectual property purity of WebM. Google proclaimed a royalty-free codec, but that didn't stop MPEG LA from saying it's considering offering a VP8 patent pool license. &quot;We assume virtually all codecs are based on patented technology...MPEG LA doesn't favor one codec technology over another' we are like a convenience store that offers patent licenses for any number of codecs as a service to the market,&quot; said MPEG LA Chief Executive Larry Horn last May.More than half a year after Google released the software, though, no new pools or patent litigation has emerged, and WebM has attracted new allies. That doesn't mean litigation might not be waiting in the wings: &quot;A codec is like a mechanical device with hundreds of parts. Any one or more could be the subject of a patent,&quot; said Steven J. Henry, an intellectual property attorney at Wolf, Greenfield &amp; Sacks, and patent holders may wait for years before &quot;springing the trap.&quot;So far, that's a theoretical concern, though, and Mozilla's then-Chief Executive John Lilly said last year, &quot;Right now we think that it's totally fine to ship, or we wouldn't ship it...We're really confident in our ability to ship this free of encumbrances.&quot;It's possible Apple and others could embrace WebM. Microsoft has refrained from glowering too harshly on WebM even as it's issued an H.264 plug-in for Firefox users on Windows. But even if a change of heart occurs today, it will take a long time for tech giants like Apple and Microsoft to regear.Updated 2:10 p.m. PTwith further detail and commentary.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Robots dazzle CES-goers with stunts, upgrades]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=robots-dazzle-ces-goers-with-stunts-upgrades</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=robots-dazzle-ces-goers-with-stunts-upgrades</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>uckingpnoDoe</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=robots-dazzle-ces-goers-with-stunts-upgrades</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Pedal power: Bicycling robot Murata Boy shows off its balance beam chops. Murata Girl can do it on a unicycle. (Credit:Tim Hornyak/CNET)LAS VEGAS--From robo-dinosaurs to mecha-masseurs, robots atCES 2011 ran the gamut of wacky novelty products like the SpheroiPhone-controlled ball and the WheeMe back massage robot to practical but funked-out floor cleaners like dancing Mint sweepers. There wasn't a whole lot that was new, but there were enough debuts and upgrades to keep it interesting.Robots at CES 2011 (photos)  Japan's Murata Manufacturing, which makes capacitors found in many mobile phones, showed off its robotics skills with Murata Boy (above) and Murata Girl, which cycle along balance beams without toppling over. Making their CES debut, the acrobat bots can stand upright even when stationary thanks to gyro sensors that control a rotating disk, which in turn corrects their slant. Massachusetts-based iRobot, meanwhile, took the wraps off a more compact Scooba floor scrubber that can clean around toilets, as well as an improved line of Roomba vacuum robots. The top end of the new Roomba 700 series is the 780, which replaces all buttons with a touchpad and has 20% better cleaning ability, according to the company. A wireless RF remote control tells the 780, which ships in spring 2011 for $549.99, which rooms to clean. Check out more of the robots that appeared at CES in our photo gallery above. The Roomba 780 has a touchpad, handheld RF remote control, and longer battery life.(Credit:Tim Hornyak/CNET)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[iPhone 4 charging case rematch: Mophie vs. Dexim]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=iphone-4-charging-case-rematch-mophie-vs--dexim</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=iphone-4-charging-case-rematch-mophie-vs--dexim</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Naina</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=iphone-4-charging-case-rematch-mophie-vs--dexim</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Dexim)Back in November, I pitted iPhone 4 charging cases from Dexim and Mophie against one another. They both held one extra phone charge, but because it was lighter and much better designed, Mophie's Juice Pack Air for iPhone 4 was the clear winner.A new entrant from each blurs the lines. In this rematch, the Dexim DCA224 Super-Juiced Power Case for iPhone 4 challenges the Mophie Juice Pack Plus for iPhone 4.Dexim DCA224 Super-Juiced Power CaseSpecs: Capacity:2000mA' Input power: 5V DC, 1000mA'Output power: 5V DC, 500mAPrice: $69.90 Weight: 3.2 ouncesColor: WhiteWith poor construction for a premium price, the awkwardly designed Dexim Supercharged Leather Power Case I tested in November wasn't up to snuff. In stark contrast, the Super-Juiced Power Case offers a much sleeker design of thick and glossy white plastic that decks out youriPhone 4 like a Storm Trooper.The fit is snug, and the plastic sheath has a cutout for easy access to the iPhone's volume controls and silent-mode switch. About an inch down the back is a hinge that unfolds the top from the backing. It snaps into place to lock the iPhone after you've slid it into the case. This is a neat design that serves the Dexim case as a single unit. However, the high backing does make it trickier to release the iPhone when you're done using the case.Dexim has also added a thin kickstand that handily turns the charging case into a stand. There's a Micro-USB charging port, a charging light, and indicator lights that communicate the level of the case's charge. Dexim's case is a vast improvement over the shoddy leather case we saw before. The indicator lights and &quot;juicy&quot; name are suspiciously similar to Mophie's Juice Pack line.Mophie Juice Pack Plus for iPhone 4(Credit:Mophie)Mophie Juice Pack Plus for iPhone 4Specs: Capacity:2000mAh batteryPrice: $99.95 Weight: 2.9 ouncesColor: Black' Magenta, Yellow, Cyan to comeIn terms of design, Mophie's latest Juice Pack is little changed from its predecessor. However, it feels slimmer and thinner in the hand than does its Dexim rival. It's made of rubberized sidings and a soft-touch material on the back cover. Its two pieces--one that covers the back and sides, one that slides down on top--still fit the phone tightly. Instead of leaving the volume control unit open as Dexim does in its Super-Juiced case, Mophie opts to place raised volume and power buttons on top of the case body. Pushing those buttons depresses the iPhone's buttons underneath. Mophie's design continues to offer a Micro-USB charging port, power indicator lights, and the charge button. Winner: DeximThough Mophie's product claims to add greater power than Dexim's does, the recharging differences seemed negligible on our iPhone 4. Mophie's Juice Pack Plus may be slightly lighter and visibly sleeker than Dexim's DCA224 Super-Juiced Power Case, but it also costs about $30 more. We did find it a bit tougher to retrieve the iPhone from the Dexim, but the case earns points for its one-piece, hinged snap design and convenient kickstand.Mophie loyalists still won't go wrong with the tried-and-true Juice Pack Plus, but new charging case owners should do just fine with Dexim's offering. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The 411: Quick tips for cell phone gifting]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-411-quick-tips-for-cell-phone-gifting</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-411-quick-tips-for-cell-phone-gifting</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>buildmix5</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-411-quick-tips-for-cell-phone-gifting</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Welcome to The 411, my column answering all your questions about cell phones and cell phone accessories. I receive plenty of questions about these subjects via e-mail, so I figured many of you might have similar queries, too. Occasionally I solicit answers from readers if I'm stumped. Send your questions and comments to me at nicole.lee@cnet.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know in the e-mail.In lieu of the usual Q&amp;A format this week, we're offering a few quick tips on cell phone gifting. I realize it's probably too late for some of you to go out there and buy holiday gifts, but for the last-minute shopper who plans to give a mobile-related gift, here are a few quick tips.Don't forget the carrier -- It's easy to get enticed by shiny phones and forget that not all phones are supported by all carriers. If coverage is important to you, make sure the carrier of your choice has good signal in the recipient's home or office. Also realize that if you're getting a new phone, there are often two-year contracts that need to be signed, and if you're getting a smartphone, data plans are often required as well.  Of course, you can get past these issues if you're willing to fork out extra for a non-contract device. Sometimes this means getting an unlocked phone if you're on a GSM carrier, or you can also choose to get a prepaid plan if you want something a little cheaper. Definitely check out our cell phone buying tips for more detailed information on how to choose a carrier.Do a little research -- Aside from the carrier decision above, do a little fact-finding on what your gift recipient wants in a phone. Is he a texting fanatic Does she want e-mail everywhere Does he hate touch-screen keys Is she addicted to iTunes These facts will help a lot in narrowing down the kind of phone he or she needs.Add a personal touch -- This tip is especially for those of you who are gifting smartphones: Consider prepackaging the device with apps or media the person might like. For example, if the person is a big Beatles fan, why not pack the phone with all of his or her favorite Beatles songs The same goes for the person who's a fan of video games or likes a particular movie or TV show. Cooking-related apps would be great for the culinary enthusiast' you get my drift.  I know this isn't always possible since most smartphones require you to sign into your own account to get at these apps or media. If that's the case, maybe throw a gift certificate in with the phone along with a few app recommendations in a nicely presented card.Keep your receipt -- Most companies have a grace period of at least a month for you to test out a phone. Definitely keep your receipt in case he or she isn't satisfied with the purchase.Accessories for the friend who has everything -- If your friend or family member already has the phone of his or her choice, consider getting a thoughtful accessory instead. A pretty case, an extended battery, acar dock, or a Bluetooth headset would make great gifts.To help you make your choice, CNET has compiled a best cell phones list in a variety of categories, as well as a holiday gift guide for cell phones and smartphones. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft to boost security of Office 2003, 2007]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-to-boost-security-of-office-2003-2007</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-to-boost-security-of-office-2003-2007</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:10:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>SgratfZaro</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-to-boost-security-of-office-2003-2007</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft plugged 40 holes with 17 patches today and said it will improve the security of Office 2003 and Office 2007 by adding a feature to the older versions of its productivity software that opens files in Protected View. Customers should focus on the two critical bulletins that are part of Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday security update, says Jerry Bryant, group manager for response communications in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group. The first is MS10-090, a cumulative update for Internet Explorer. It fixes seven vulnerabilities in the browser and affects IE 6, 7 and 8. There have been attacks targeting IE 6 on Windows XP, Bryant said.  The other critical bulletin is MS10-091, which fixes several vulnerabilities in the Windows Open Type Font driver. It affects all versions of Windows, primarily on third-party browsers that natively render the Open Type Font, which IE does not, according to Bryant. The other bulletins are not critical and &quot;could potentially be put off until after Christmas,&quot; he said in an interview with CNET. Windows (all supported versions), Office IE, SharePoint, and Exchange are affected by the bulletins. Details are in the security advisory here and in the Microsoft Security Response Center blog post.  Meanwhile, the company will be porting Office File Validation, which is currently in Office 2010, to Office 2003 and Office 2007 by the first quarter of next year, Bryant said. It will be an optional update.  The move will help protect customers from attacks that target about 80 percent of the Office vulnerabilities, Bryant said. Attackers typically create a document that uses an exploit and e-mail the maliciously crafted document to potential victims or host it on a Web site and prompt people to open it.  Office File Validation checks the file-format binary schema, such as .doc or .xls, and opens the file in a protected view if it detects a problem. &quot;If the user wants to edit or continue to open the document then there are severe warnings about what that might mean&quot; and that it could be dangerous, Bryant said. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Amazon: Outage due to hardware not hackers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-outage-due-to-hardware-not-hackers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-outage-due-to-hardware-not-hackers</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riauckli1</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-outage-due-to-hardware-not-hackers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An outage that took down some of Amazon's European Web sites yesterday was caused by hardware error and not hackers, according to the company.The online retailer's shopping sites in the U.K, France, Spain, and Germany were down for about half an hour starting around 9:15 p.m. GMT, leading to initial speculation that Amazon had been hit by hackers associated with the pro-WikiLeaks group Anonymous.But in a statement released to Reuters, Amazon attributed the cause to hardware problems.&quot;The brief interruption to our European retail sites earlier today was due to hardware failure in our European data center network and not the result of a DDOS (distributed denial of service) attempt,&quot; an Amazon representative told Reuters. Specifically, the hardware-related issue occurred at an Amazon hosting center in Dublin, which hosts the various European sites that were affected, according to the Register.Amazon ran afoul of pro-WikiLeaks activists earlier this month after it decided to kick the controversial Web site off its EC2 Web hosting service. In retaliation, some members of the Anonymous group reportedly called for action against the retailer, but so far Amazon apparently has been left alone.&quot;Simply put, attacking a major online retailer when people are buying presents for their loved ones would be in bad taste,&quot; Anonymous explained late last week in an apparent press release. The decision to spare Amazon is in sharp contrast to the DDoS attacks that Anonymous has launched against such companies as PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard for their roles in cutting off payments to WikiLeaks.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Six things not to love about the Nexus S]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=six-things-not-to-love-about-the-nexus-s</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=six-things-not-to-love-about-the-nexus-s</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Suzana</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=six-things-not-to-love-about-the-nexus-s</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Samsung Galaxy S(Credit:Samsung)As promising as the new Samsung Nexus S sounds, there are a few notable issues that might give some potential buyers pause for concern. Yes, the Nexus S could rank as a premier smartphone when it arrives given its new NFC chip, contour display, and Gingerbread, but the advantages over its Nexus One predecessor aren't many. I think it's only fair to point out some of the items that aren't quite what I expected out of Google. I've spent considerable time playing with various iterations of the Galaxy S line of phones and have found them to be some of the best devices Android has to offer. If you ask me, any one of them would be worth your money, and I hoped that the Nexus S will be on par with its Samsung siblings. But after I compiled the below list, I'm not so sure.Here six reasons why I'm disappointed with the unveiling of the Nexus S. While none of these are deal breakers for me personally, they might be for someone else.No microSD expansionLet's face it, 16GB should be more than enough storage for the average smartphone user. Unless you're loading tons of music and full-length films, you're not going to come close to reaching capacity. Even so, the Nexus S doesn't allow for additional customer choice. And there may be people who just need more than 16GB.  Indeed, the capability to add storage is one of the features we've seen consistently since on every Android phone since the G1. As memory card speeds and capacities increased, I was getting comfortable with the idea that storage would never be an issue. Now, however, I'm not so sure. Hopefully, Sammy isn't copying Apple's move of not adding external memory to theiPhone.No LED notificationsMany Android users, myself included, rely on the LED indicator of our handsets to notify us of missed calls, new e-mails, and texts. As silly as it sounds, it feels almost tedious to power on the phone every once in awhile to see if I have a new message. What's more, theNexus One has a cooler option that allows users to trick out their handset with different trackball indicator colors for various notifications. Being that the Nexus S doesn't have that either, one must resort to manually checking for messages. That's just so 2008.5-megapixel cameraYes, today's Galaxy S series of phones offer 5-megapixel cameras that take excellent photos and record terrific video. However, I would have liked to have seen an 8-megapixel camera in the Nexus S. HTC and Motorola have dropped higher-resolution shooters in their high-end phones throughout the year. Even last year's Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 has an 8.1-megapixel camera. But to Samsung's credit, at least this wasn't a 3.2-megapixel camera like Motorola's new Citrus. No HDMI outout/DLNAAnother hardware feature that has become popular over the course of 2010 is the ability to run HD videos out to a television or supported device. Two of the most common ways to do so are HDMI-output and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA). HTC has been integrating HDMI output into its phones such as the Evo 4G and upcoming Merge, while Motorola uses DLNA for the Droid 2 and the recent Bravo. What happens when you want to share those HD videos with a room full of friendsSingle-core processorAsk any Android enthusiast what the buzzword for 2011 will be and you'll hear dual-core processor. As the 1GHz Snapdragon chipset defined 2010's super phone, next year will be all about the dual-core Tegra 2 from Nvidia. Samsung unveiled its Orion processor earlier in the summer, promising it for select devices by the end of this year. Of all handsets to debut this chipset with, the Nexus S should have been the one. On the other hand, that Hummingbird processor is a screamer and still runs circles around the competition.No 4G/HSPA+ supportT-Mobile and its competitors are in a tight race to build out their next-generation data networks, but the Nexus S can't join that party. As we've learned by the slew of press releases and the ad campaign, T-Mobile's recent G2 and myTouch 4G are capable of working on the HSPA+ network, so we don't understand why such a highly anticipated device doesn't have that ability as well. And like the Nexus One, the Nexus S is optimized only for T-Mobile's 3G network even though it's sold unlocked. That means that if you want to use it on AT&amp;T, you'll have to be satisfied with 2G connection speeds. When taken as a whole, and especially when you compare it with the Android handsets expected in early 2011, the Nexus S lacks a few important hardware features. But as I mention above, I don't think they're deal breakers and I still might recommend the Nexus S to new Android customers if it performs well. But in a sector that changes as rapidly as Android, this one could potentially leave you with buyer's remorse.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Firefox's Jetpack add-ons taking off soon]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefoxs-jetpack-add-ons-taking-off-soon</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefoxs-jetpack-add-ons-taking-off-soon</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:10:16 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Puja</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefoxs-jetpack-add-ons-taking-off-soon</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Mozilla)Jetpack, the revamped foundation for add-ons that customizeFirefox, could arrive in its first beta form Monday.Myk Melez, a leader of the project, issued a release candidate yesterday for the software and hopes to release the beta Monday, he said in a mailing list announcement.&quot;To have the most successful possible release, it's imperative that we test the hell out of this release candidate to shake out any last remaining release blockers,&quot; he said, referring to bugs that are bad enough to hold up the software.Jetpack, taking a page from the Google Chrome extensions playbook, is a mechanism to let developers write add-ons using Web programming technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Apple followed suit with its own similar extensions mechanism in Safari 5, and Opera is doing the same with Opera 11, currently in beta testing. The approaches are similar enough that Opera Chief Technology Officer Hakon Wium Lie believes that the browser extension framework eventually could be standardized.Extending browsers lets people significantly expand what the software can do without burdening the vast majority of users with undesired features. What Mozilla calls add-ons its rivals generally call extensions. They're separate from plug-ins such as Adobe Systems' Flash Player or Unity 3D's gaming engine, which integrate through a different interface.Firefox has had add-ons for years, but using a more complicated technology called XUL. It's sophisticated to permit very elaborate modifications to the browser, but Mozilla believes Jetpack will make add-on programming easier and more accessible. It also hopes the add-ons will be less prone to a major problem with today's add-ons, incompatibilities that break them when new versions of the browser arrive.The Jetpack 1.0 beta won't have all possible interfaces Mozilla hopes to open up to developers. However, Mozilla expects to keep those interfaces it does have stable in future versions, Melez said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Chrome lures significant new browser usage]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-lures-significant-new-browser-usage</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-lures-significant-new-browser-usage</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ledesmartQ</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-lures-significant-new-browser-usage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Chrome gained 0.75 percentage points of global browser usage share in November.(Credit:Net Applications)November was a good month for Google's browser ambitions as Chrome won over a sizable new fraction of Web usage.Chrome usage rose from 8.5 percent of worldwide Web usage in October to 9.3 percent in November, according to statistics released today by Net Applications, whose analytics software monitors Web traffic extensively.Chrome claimed most of that share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which dropped in overall usage from 59.2 percent to 58.3 percent. Chrome's gains means Google has an easier time pursuing its agenda--adding new features for Web programmers, modifying Net communication protocols to make them faster, and generally trying to make the Internet a place where people spend more of their lives.Third-placeFirefox was essentially flat yet again at 22.8 percent, whileSafari crept upward from 5.4 percent to 5.6 percent and Opera slipped from 2.3 percent to 2.2 percent.Microsoft, though has plenty of silver lining: its ancient Internet Explorer 6 is gradually fading from use, and the newerIE8 grew in usage from October to November nearly as much as Chrome overall did. (IE9, a more radical upgrade, remains in beta testing.)&quot;One of our main missions here on the IE team at Microsoft is to get people off of IE6 and onto a later version of IE as fast as humanly possible,&quot; Roger Capriotti, director of Internet Explorer product marketing, said in the blog post. &quot;In the last six months, IE6 usage is now declining faster among enterprises than it is among worldwide consumers. We believe this reflects how organizations are recognizing the need to migrate to a modern browser.&quot;Corporations' software changes can be gated by conservative administrators, upgrade expenses, and dependence on a particular browser. Thus their lingering usage of IE6 has been a particular challenge for Microsoft and developers eager not to spend long hours trying to craft modern Web sites for the old browser.Net Applications said China remains a major holdout for IE6, where 45.2 percent of people use it. That compares with 14.6 percent worldwide. Microsoft is happy to point to signs of IE6&amp;39's fading usage.(Credit:Microsoft) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Taking an electric drive in the Volvo C30]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=taking-an-electric-drive-in-the-volvo-c30</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=taking-an-electric-drive-in-the-volvo-c30</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Geumdius</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=taking-an-electric-drive-in-the-volvo-c30</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Volvo C30 Drive Electric, plugged in between drives.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)Volvo C30 Drive Electric (photos) The Los Angeles Auto Show maintains a green focus, with alternative drivetrains and electriccars dominating. So it is here that Volvo let us drive the electric version of its C30 model, known as the C30 Drive Electric.The car was waiting for us in a parking garage of the Los Angeles Convention Center, plugged in to an AC outlet through an extension cord. Volvo chose the C30 model for an electric drivetrain because it is the smallest and lightest car in the lineup, although by European standards this car is on the large side. It is an attractive design and offers the practicality of a hatchback. The cabin of the C30 Drive Electric showed the same premium quality we've come to expect from Volvo, with some rough bits hacked on for this electric version.CNET editor Wayne Cunningham drives the streets of LA in the electric Volvo C30.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)Turning the key, we saw the instrument cluster light up and go through the same kind of boot process we've experienced in both the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt. The charge level read nearly full, not bad for a car that had been taken out all day on drives around downtown Los Angeles.Our Volvo minder told us to push the drive mode lever, a curving piece of metal that fit easily into our palm, back one time, putting the car into Drive. Unlike a standard shift lever, this drive selector had no gate, always popping back to its center position. With the car in Drive we pushed the accelerator, and in typical electric car fashion it moved smoothly and quietly forward, the feeling of instantaneous torque obvious. Letting off the accelerator caused the car to slow a little more than accounted for by friction, as the car's generator used the car's motion to regenerate electricity for the batteries. Pressing the brakes did not increase regeneration, but merely engaged the friction brakes. We would expect that Volvo could cause the brake pedal to initially activate strong regeneration, to maximize battery recharge, before engaging the friction brakes.The drive selector returns to its center position after each push or pull.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)While in Drive mode, we pushed the lever back once more, which put the car into what Volvo calls sailing mode. Intended for freeway and highway driving, this mode decouples regeneration, so lifting off the accelerator lets the car coast freely.As we drove, we found opportunity to push the accelerator to the floor, but on city streets only getting up to about 45 mph. The acceleration held up well to that point, but felt like it would drop off as speed increased.Taking it around corners, the low and centrally located weight of the battery packs became evident, making for good stability. Volvo says that the C30 Drive Electric has a 57/43 percent weight split between front and back. Although no perfectly balanced sports car, this C30 felt fine in the turns.With its 24kWh Enerdel battery pack, the C30 Drive Electric has a range of 94 miles. As with most electric cars today, recharge time is measured in hours, with the car intended for urban commuting rather than long hauls.Volvo is currently building versions of the car for fleet use by utilities and government agencies in Europe, and it looking to bring a small test fleet to California. No date has been determined for mass production at this time.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Microsoft's Lync arrives, gets a Gates cameo]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsofts-lync-arrives-gets-a-gates-cameo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsofts-lync-arrives-gets-a-gates-cameo</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Fely</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsofts-lync-arrives-gets-a-gates-cameo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft this morning unveiled the latest version of its Office Communicator product, which now goes by the name Lync.The rebranding actually happened earlier this year, but the product was not finalized and released to manufacturers until late October. This morning's event centered around the news that Lync will be available for sale in 150 countries beginning December 1.Lync is made up of three different products: an instant messaging system with presence' an audio and video conferencing tool' and a voice call service. The product has been in development for the past five to six years, according to Chris Capossela, senior vice president of Microsoft's Office division.To demonstrate the video-conferencing element, Capossela was joined on screen by Bill Gates from his office in Seattle. Gates said that Lync was &quot;probably the most important thing to happen to the office worker since the PC came along.&quot; He also reminisced that when the idea for Lync was first hatched, things like high-resolution displays, cameras, and employees with mobile phones were far from the norm, but that now there's a huge push to have teams be as mobile as possible.Microsoft chairman Bill Gates hops onto a video chat on Microsoft&amp;39's Lync product.(Credit:Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Gates also went into detail about what he thought would be coming to the platform in the future, mentioning features like voice and facial recognition, as well as touch interfaces. The hard part in developing Lync, Gates said, was less about getting that hardware to market and more about writing the right software for it.But that future may not be so far off. Also making a cameo was Microsoft's Kinect, which already includes features like voice and facial recognition. Capossela demoed it with Lync's corporate vice president, Gurdeep Singh Pall, as a way to bridge the gap between &quot;the boardroom and the living room&quot; for video chat. Kinect already offers video chat with Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger system, but not any other clients. Singh Pall noted that while theXbox 360 won't work with Lync right now, the capability will be coming shortly with a software update. Microsoft&amp;39's Gurdeep Singh Pall (left) talks with Office senior VP Chris Capossela through Lync working on the Xbox 360&amp;39's Kinect video chat. (Credit:Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Microsoft also pitched Lync as a new platform for developers and hardware makers. Singh Pall said one of the primary things that sets Lync apart from competing products is that developers can create applications that run on Lync, which they can sell to companies. On the hardware side, that translated to what Singh Pall jokingly referred to as the &quot;wall of fame,&quot; which was an entire wall of Lync-ready products like phones, computers, and Webcams.Microsoft is offering its own stamp of approval on hardware that will work with Lync, and calling it &quot;Optimized for Lync.&quot; Singh Pall stressed that the certification wasn't just handed out to hardware vendors that gave Microsoft some units. &quot;It means they adhere to the standards we set out, and pass every test we throw at your device,&quot; he said. It also means that when you plug one of these devices into a system, it gets recognized instantly. At launch, Lync will not be available for mobile phones, but Microsoft says that functionality will arrive in 2011. In the interim, Microsoft will offer the Lync Server product to users to install in on-premises deployments. An online version of the service will arrive as part of Microsoft's Office 365 service when it's launched next year.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Privacy concerns dog location-based services]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=privacy-concerns-dog-location-based-services</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=privacy-concerns-dog-location-based-services</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 13 Nov 2010 08:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>paultupppu</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=privacy-concerns-dog-location-based-services</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It sounds like a sweet deal: report your location to a social network and get a coupon for discounts and prizes. The price The possibility that advertisers and other third parties will know where you are and where you've been. A recent survey by the Pew Center's Internet &amp; American Life Project found that only 4 percent of Internet users have adopted location-based services, as Cecilia Kang reports on The Washington Post's Post Tech blog. That survey was conducted in August and September, before Facebook and Yelp joined Foursquare and Gowalla in offering coupons to users who check in when they visit participating establishments, which may include Starbucks, McDonald's, and other popular chains. (Lisa Barone describes the companies' plans on the Small Business Trends blog.) The crux of the matter for privacy advocates is that when people check in to businesses participating in social networks' coupon programs, they're trading a little of their privacy for the chance to save money. As the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) reports, third parties may have access to users' location history without the users' explicit consent. For example, Facebook application developers are able to store their own check-in data in the Facebook Places database and retrieve information from the database. But Facebook is far from the only source of &quot;leakage&quot; for this location data. EPIC cites an AT&amp;T research paper (PDF) that found some kind of private data leaked to third parties in all 20 of the mobile online social networks studied. The services examined include Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, Yelp, and Loopt. While these services may have robust privacy policies, the advertisers and developers they deal with may be less secure. As Frederic Lardinois reported last February on the ReadWriteWeb, a site named PleaseRobMe aggregated information from several location-based services to indicate houses whose residents were away, making them easy pickings for thieves.Keep the mobile-device trackers at bay Services such as Foursquare, Gowalla, and Facebook Places depend on location information volunteered by their users. But the trails left by mobile phones and other location-reporting devices can also be tracked by third parties without users' consent or knowledge. A white paper released by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in August 2009 listed transit swipe-cards, electronic tolling devices such as FastTrak and EZPass, free wireless access points, and even smart parking meters as potential tracking systems. The EFF points out that location-based services can be deployed anonymously, although doing so would make the services more expensive to develop and deploy. But the researchers point out that anonymizing technologies wouldn't entirely prevent leakage of identifiable location information. For example, it's relatively easy to deduce the identity of users in areas with low population densities from little more than their GPS coordinates and a time of day.Prevent Facebook friends from checking you in Opting out of Facebook Places requires changes to several of the service's default settings. Click Account &gt; Privacy Settings &gt; Customize settings. Next, choose Custom in the drop-down menu next to &quot;Places I check in to&quot; and select your preferred setting in the &quot;Make this visible to&quot; drop-down menu. Disable &quot;Include me in 'People Here Now' after I check in.&quot; In the &quot;Things I share&quot; section, click Edit Settings next to &quot;People can check me in to Places&quot; and choose Disable from the drop-down menu in the top-right corner.Disable the Facebook Places option that lets others check you in to locations, to prevent unknown third parties from tracking your whereabouts.(Credit:Screenshot by Dennis O&amp;39'Reilly/CNET) Location-based services promise to make it easier to connect with family, friends, and associates and to be rewarded for being a loyal customer. But in their current form, the services make it too easy for people and organizations to access your private information without your explicit consent. While many--perhaps most--of these third parties won't misuse this information, others won't be so trustworthy. The reality of today's Web is that the personal information we volunteer to online services will be shared for profit with unknown third parties, and the services' promises of anonymity simply cannot be guaranteed. Beware what you share!<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Web developers tackle advanced font controls]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=web-developers-tackle-advanced-font-controls</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=web-developers-tackle-advanced-font-controls</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Putz-seotons</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=web-developers-tackle-advanced-font-controls</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Ligatures can link letters together aid in reading ease or text styling. Support for them is being developed within the World Wide Web Consortium&amp;39's CSS standard.(Credit:W3C)The Web, ever more sophisticated, is feeble as a publication medium when it's compared to what can be done with layout software such as Adobe Systems' InDesign. But that's beginning to change.The change is significant: digital publishing is moving to the Web, but the array of new devices such as iPads and Kindles pose a challenge. Should those overseeing the designs create native applications for those devices or Web pages that will work on just about any device For the latter to be a competitive option, the Web has to match up better.A foundation for change was built with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), a standard for Web page formatting that's now growing in significance and power. One big element here is support for the @font-face technology and the related Web Open Font Format, which together are letting Web developers specify downloadable fonts and use online font repositories such as TypeKit for a more polished, customized look.A new phase is under way now, though.Firefox browser developer Mozilla has begun work on CSS features to permit higher-end font controls, Mozilla developer John Daggett said yesterday in a blog post.Among the controls are the following:&amp;149' Ligatures, which can replace combinations of letters with fancier or more readable replacements, a classic example being a specific glyph for &quot;fi&quot; to keep the top of the f from bumping into the dot of the i.&amp;149' A way to specify use of small caps, which higher-end typefaces create independently so that the stroke weight of the characters matches that of lowercase letters.CSS developments would let Web developers specify when the browser should display alternate characters such as those with swashes, a distinctive look in combination, or historical styling.(Credit:W3C)&amp;149' A way to specify use of typeset fraction characters rather than spelled-out versions such as &quot;3/4.&quot;&amp;149' Kerning, which governs how closely placed letters are to each other.&amp;149' Support for monospaced numbers, which have the same width for easier reading in tables where vertical alignment of columns of numbers is required.Also under development is better support for bidirectional and vertical text, which accommodates languages with characters written top to bottom or right to left. Anne van Kesteren, who works on standards for browser maker Opera, offers a brief introduction to the new bidirectional text controls in HTML5Adobe, naturally, is an expert in design, and is getting more public about its interest in bringing better publishing to the Web. Despite its big business selling tools for Flash technology, the company insists it's a toolmaker, not a Flash toolmaker, and it's been branching out more into Web standards.Adobe&amp;39's adaptive text layout tools can let text reflow when objects are repositioned on a page or the display device changes from horizontal to vertical orientation.(Credit:screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)A good example is work Adobe showed off at its Max conference for &quot;adaptive layout,&quot; in which text flows around objects such as photos or pull-out quotations. The adaptive part comes in when a Web page using the technology automatically adjusts to different screen sizes or orientations, an important factor given the diversity of reading devices that digital publishers must target.Notably, Adobe is working on both browser code and Web standards to advance the effort. For the browser work, it's relying on a partnership with ally Google. Here's how this particular set of stars align: Adobe's AIR programming foundation includes both the Flash Player and Adobe's version of the WebKit browser engine' WebKit is the foundation of Google's Chrome' and Google is supporting Flash Player on Android and building it directly into Chrome. Adobe's adaptive layout is a new example of the two companies' partnership of convenience.&quot;We're working with our friends at Google to help bring this back to WebKit,&quot; said Paul Gubbay, Adobe's vice president of product development for design, Web, and interative. In addition, Adobe is working with the W3C, which oversees CSS development, to bake the technology into the Web standard.CSS controls under development would let Web developers specify when ordinary fractions written out as separate characters would be replaced by specialized fraction characters, as shown in the bottom example.(Credit:Mozilla, John Daggett)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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