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<title>Haaze.com / Susanjohn / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[How to use Chrome's speech-to-text]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-use-chromes-speech-to-text</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-use-chromes-speech-to-text</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 07:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>vankkkakak</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-use-chromes-speech-to-text</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google has introduced a way that you can talk to your browser, as long as that browser is Chrome. It won't talk back, but it will do your bidding. These instructions cover the basics of the new speech-to-text feature, which is functional but has yet to be implemented widely.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[T-Mobile launches voice chat for Facebook]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-launches-voice-chat-for-facebook</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-launches-voice-chat-for-facebook</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:10:45 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cash21</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-launches-voice-chat-for-facebook</guid>
<description><![CDATA[T-Mobile USA wants to offer more than cell phone service. The company is getting into the voice over IP market with a new application that will allow people to make voice calls from Facebook.T-Mobile&amp;39's new VoIP app allows people to make phone calls from inside Facebook Chat.(Credit:T-Mobile USA)T-Mobile USA today announced the Bobsled by T-Mobile service, which will offer voice calls via Facebook. This new application will provide Facebook's more than 500 million users worldwide with free, one-touch calling to their Facebook friends from a personal computer and through the social platform's chat window.It's available now for download here.T-Mobile's move to expand its service offering is yet another indication that the company is not idly waiting for regulators to approve AT&amp;T's bid to buy the company. Last month, AT&amp;T said it would spend $39 billion to acquire T-Mobile USA, which is owned by German telecommunications provider Deutsche Telekom. The acquisition will pair No. 2 carrier AT&amp;T with No. 4 carrier T-Mobile to create the largest wireless operator in the nation. Regulators have vowed to examine the deal closely. Competitor Sprint Nextel and some consumer advocates want the deal blocked. The regulatory review process will likely take at least a year and could take up to 18 months to complete. In the meantime, it looks as though T-Mobile is moving forward with new offerings.In addition to making live voice calls, the new Bobsled app will allow Facebook users to send voice messages to their friends either privately or via their &quot;walls.&quot; T-Mobile said the Bobsled application for Facebook is available starting today as a free download for all Facebook users, regardless of whether they are also a T-Mobile cell phone subscriber or not. Once the app is downloaded, customers can place voice calls to their friends through the Facebook Chat window with a single click. The service is very similar to Skype, which also allows free calling over the Internet. Skype users also initiate Skype calls to other Skype users by clicking on a screen name. T-Mobile believes having the feature integrated into Facebook is helpful since people can simply initiate a call by clicking on someone's name rather than having to remember their Skype handle. But the Facebook chat feature is just beginning, T-Mobile execs say. The company has broader ambitions for its Bobsled service. The Bobsled platform will also power T-Mobile's Group Text and Cloud Text applications on the new T-Mobile Sidekick 4G, the company says. The Group Text feature lets subscribers create, name, manage and participate in reply-all group text conversations. The Cloud Text service allows customers to text from other platforms, such as a PC ortablet.T-Mobile also plans to add other features, such as video chat, the ability to place calls to a mobile phone of landline, and it will also offer apps on smartphones and tablets across mobile platforms regardless of the carrier.It's unclear if the new services that T-Mobile is introducing now as part of Bobsled will become a part of the AT&amp;T service if the merger is approved by regulators. But what is certain is that T-Mobile is still trying to innovate and offer new services to keep its business afloat and attract new users. T-Mobile has always been a price leader in the U.S. mobile market, undercutting its competition in an attempt to attract new subscribers. Last week, the company announced a new &quot;unlimited&quot; voice, data and texting that undercuts its competition by at least $20 a month.  &quot;We are competing and innovating everyday to build the best asset we can no matter who the shareholders are,&quot; said T-Mobile senior Vice President Brad Duea. &quot;And whoever owns us will have to evaluate whether to proceed with certain products and services. But for our customers, the new service is risk free. It's a free app that can be downloaded.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[AVG launches cloud-based storage service]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=avg-launches-cloud-based-storage-service</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=avg-launches-cloud-based-storage-service</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rockyraj631</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=avg-launches-cloud-based-storage-service</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Security firm AVG is doubling down on cloud storage.The company today announced LiveKive, a service that allows people to upload data to the cloud that can then be downloaded to other computers or Android- and iOS-based devices with the LiveKive mobile app. It works on both Windows andMac.AVG is currently offering two packages: a $49.99 per year option that gives customers 25GB of online storage and a $79.99 a year plan with unlimited data. In either case, people can upload files, folder, and multimedia content. The service also supports automatic syncing for those who don't want to manually choose what should and should not be saved in the cloud.At first glance, AVG's LiveKive closely resembles Dropbox and Box.net. Both of those services allow people to sync content with the cloud and share files on other products, including mobile devices.Dropbox offers 2GB of backup for free and charges $10 per month and $20 per month for 50GB and 100GB, respectively. Box.net offers up to 5GB of storage at no cost to its &quot;personal&quot; users, but charges $15 per user per month for 500GB of Web storage.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The wait for a Mac with 3G/4G continues]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-wait-for-a-mac-with-3g4g-continues</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-wait-for-a-mac-with-3g4g-continues</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>qaziopper</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-wait-for-a-mac-with-3g4g-continues</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Apple)With Apple's most recent MacBook update in the rear-view mirror, now's as good a time as any to think about what could be headed to the next generation of the company's notebook lineup. Of particular interest is embedded mobile broadband, a notable omission to theMac laptop range that's now stretched into a waiting game of its own. This is the technology that lets your computer tap into cellular networks and use broadband data while on the go, sans a dopey USB adapter or wireless puck. While seemingly a luxury feature aimed at business travellers a decade ago, embedded 3G, and now 4G, have become increasingly prevalent in PC laptops aimed at consumers. Apple has also embraced the wireless technology in itsiPad, having jumped it from theiPhone to the original iPad on AT&amp;T's GSM network, then later, on Verizon's CDMA network with the iPad 2. So what's the holdup in bringing that same technology to Macs Is Apple waiting for somethingTo the company's credit, it has provided a product that gives its own laptops wireless 3G service, though it's nowhere as seamless as a built-in modem. Since iOS 3.0, users with iPhones and a carrier data plan that supports tethering, can share their phone's connection with their computer over a USB connection or Bluetooth. In the Verizon version of the iPhone 4, Apple introduced a slightly more elegant feature that would let users turn the phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot, something that was later brought to GSM iPhone users in iOS 4.3. The easiest explanation to throw in at the moment is that the timing has been off on the network side of the equation: 3G as we know it is on the road to being replaced by 4G, which offers a big speed improvement. Speed becomes especially important on computers versus phones because of the things people tend to do on them, like stream videos' download files and e-mail attachments' and run multiple applications that can slurp up data at a faster clip than smartphone apps. But the carriers and service providers have not made it so easy to get to that promised land of fast, wireless data. 4G as it's been marketed in the States is not truly 4G by the strict definition. There are different flavors of that &quot;4G,&quot; like WiMax, HSPA+, and Long Term Evolution (LTE). Providers have placed bets on the competing parts of the spectrum, creating a situation where there's no easy way to buy hardware that will work with them all--though tech is on the way that can do that. 4G-chip maker Beceem, which was acquired by Broadcom back in October, has a chip in development that does both WiMax and LTE. Apple uses Broadcom's wireless chips in the iPad as well as the iPhone, and for Wi-Fi on its Macs. A similar dual-mode chip initiative was put forth by Sequans at Mobile World Congress last month. Intel, which supplies chips for Apple's notebooks and desktops is also said to be working on a similar solution of its own. In the interim that leaves device makers like Apple, as well as consumers, having to pick a standard and stick to it.   The 4G laptop scene On the PC-side of things, the vast majority of machines with embedded WWAN chipsets have already made the move to WiMax. A quick search on retailer Best Buy's site shows that 47 of its 151 PC laptops for sale have WiMax, with just one opting for the older 3G. According to one broadband-chip expert CNET spoke with, the simplest explanation for that is that Clearwire, which serves up WiMax, beat others to the punch by setting up its network fast and wide, leaving device makers to respond in kind. But that could change going forward. &quot;We expect LTE to be the most successful 4G standard, but right now it's Clearwire that got out there early,&quot; Linley Gwennap, principal analyst at chip consulting firm The Linley Group, said in a phone interview last week.Gwennap downplayed the importance of built-in WWAN chipsets, saying carriers made both joining and changing platforms an easy affair with USB modems that are cross platform and can be used on multiple machines. This approach has also lent itself to better 4G battery life than what's been seen on some early 4G phones, since laptops had a higher capacity battery.&quot;Typically the way this works with the laptops is you get a USB stick and you plug it in, so it draws power from the laptop. In that case, the power draw isn't significant,&quot; Gwennap said. &quot;What people are complaining about is trying to put 4G into a smartphone, where you draw it down from a cell phone battery. Then the power draw is going to be a problem.&quot;Gwennap did say that like any other piece of technology, embedded broadband chipsets will get cheaper, draw less power, and take up less space inside of computers. However that would be over &quot;the next couple of years.&quot;  The long rumor Signs that Apple is mulling a broadband modem in its notebook computers have swirled for years, from pure conjecture to patent filings to company job postings that sought out wireless experts. None have offered a clear picture' several have hinted that it's tantalizingly close.  The patented notebook with the antenna.(Credit:Google) Last August, Apple filed for a rather interesting patent of a notebook computer with an antenna that could be installed and removed from the top lid. Similar to the Smart Cover that's available for the iPad 2, or the company's remote control on the side of the iMac, this would simply latch on or break away using magnets, making the accessory a temporary fixture. In a new patent that was filed just last week, the company offered up a slightly different design, building a space for the removable antenna module right into the lid, so the antenna wouldn't stick out, and so there'd presumably be a way to store the antenna when on the go. Three years ago, following the MacBook Air's introduction, a USA Today interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs made note that the company had explored putting 3G into the first generation MacBook Air, but eventually decided against it based on how much extra room it took up, and that computer buyers would be restricted to a carrier. Both of those hurdles seem to have been overcome with the iPad 2, given that Apple sells versions for both CDMA and GSM phone networks in a device that's slimmer than the iPhone, and manages to get 9 hours of rated battery life while surfing the Web.Following the introduction of the first generation MacBook Air, it was widely expected that Apple would then bring the feature to the next iteration of the laptop, though with its release back in October, that proved not to be the case. Interestingly enough, a survey put out by Apple last month, which was nabbed by AppleInsider, suggested that the company still had a model of the Air with WWAN in mind. The survey offered up several wireless data related questions, including a detailed section on situations where participants would use 3G versus Wi-Fi while computing on the go. Apple has also increased its WWAN footprint, posting, back in 2009, Mac Hardware Group job listings for a quality assurance engineer with expertise in 3G wireless WAN. This was followed months later by the release of Mac OS X 10.6 (dubbed &quot;Snow Leopard&quot;), which dramatically increased the number of supported WWAN products. These were the aforementioned USB modems that have been one of the only ways to get 3G and 4G service piped right into a Mac. So where does that leave us now If those patents for a neat, removable antenna turn out to bear fruit, such technology is likely to come as part of an all new MacBook design. Since the last big one was in late 2008 with the move to the unibody enclosure, it's likely another major laptop generation will come sooner rather than later. Until then, consumers don't seem to mind too much though. Mac sales continue to grow, and even outpace those in the PC market.Something that could certainly change things is the recently announced planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&amp;T, which promises to speed up the deployment of its 4G LTE network to what the company says will be 95 percent of the U.S. population when finished. AT&amp;T has been Apple's business partner since the rollout of the first iPhone, and had been the phone's exclusive carrier in the U.S. up until the device was brought to Verizon earlier this year. Even so, the AT&amp;T and T-Mobile merger deal still needs to clear regulatory hurdles, and the combining of those networks will likely take even longer. Not to mention the fact that that still doesn't solve the original problem of keeping computer buyers from being stuck with a provider, or the issue of making a product that can work around the globe. Until all that's cleared up, the situation will continue to be a game of wait and see--though that's one Apple has gotten pretty good at. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Can any tablet challenge the iPad]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-any-tablet-challenge-the-ipad</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-any-tablet-challenge-the-ipad</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>hundigranna</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-any-tablet-challenge-the-ipad</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:James Martin/CNET)As theiPad juggernaut continues with today's launch of the iPad 2, can any othertablet maker truly compete with AppleThe odds seem to be against it, at least according to the results of a survey released yesterday by ChangeWave Research. Questioning more than 3,000 consumers last month, ChangeWave found that 27 percent of them plan to buy a tablet, 2 percentage points more than a similar poll found last November.Among those eyeing a tablet, 82 percent said they'll opt for an iPad. That number compares with 4 percent looking into a Motorola Xoom, 3 percent considering Research In Motion's upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook, 3 percent for Samsung's Galaxy Tab, and 8 percent for an assorted array of other tablets.It's important to note that the survey was conducted before the Xoom was released and before Apple announced the iPad 2, so we don't know if or how the responses would be different now. But another point in Apple's favor is the wave of already happy iPad users.Among current iPad owners polled by ChangeWave, 70 percent said they're very satisfied with the tablet and another 25 percent said they're somewhat satisfied. Only 2 percent admitted to being somewhat unsatisfied, while apparently no one said they were very unsatisfied with the device.Curious to see if the iPad was cannibalizing sales away from other devices, ChangeWave asked if there were other gadgets consumers initially planned to buy or that they canceled in favor of an iPad.A total of 11 percent of those polled pointed to laptops, while 10 percent named Netbooks as devices they rejected in favor of an iPad. E-book readers also were hit, with 17 percent of the consumers saying they opted for an iPad instead of an Amazon Kindle. Another 9 percent collectively decided against other e-readers, including the Sony Reader and Barnes &amp; Noble's Nook.The impact of the iPad on e-readers has been debated since Apple's tablet launched almost a year ago. One survey conducted in July found that the iPad was putting pressure on sales of e-readers as well as portable game consoles.But among the range of device makers struggling to compete with the iPad, Amazon is one company that could give Apple a run for its money, according to research firm Forrester. Under this scenario, however, Amazon would compete not with the Kindle but rather with its own branded tablet.In a blog posted yesterday, Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps pointed to some reasons why rival tablets have struggled against the iPad.Calling the Xoom, PlayBook, HP TouchPad, and other tablets &quot;solid products with fatally flawed product strategies,&quot; Epps said that these devices are too expensive compared with the iPad and don't offer potential customers the user-friendly experience of popping into an Apple store. Those are two reasons why Forrester predicts Apple will grab 80 percent of the U.S. tablet market this year.Instead, Epps believes Amazon could design and sell a low-cost tablet running Android or Linux with access to its own online store as well as its upcoming Android app store. In doing so, Amazon would be able to skirt past Apple's guidelines on publishers and other app developers who sell content both through the Apple App Store and through their own stores.Further, Forrester's research shows that consumers want not only cheaper tablets but also ones not tied to expensive data plans from mobile carriers. Amazon could sell such a tablet at or below cost, says Epps, and make its profit by selling content, same as it does with the Kindle.Finally, Amazon has the brand, content, and channel to tie together a tablet, according to Epps. The analyst cited a survey that found consumers would be more comfortable buying a tablet from a familiar online retailer such as Amazon as opposed to a mobile carrier. And Amazon already sells e-books, videos, games, and other content ripe for digital consumption.Amazon itself has been looking into launching devices beyond just the Kindle, though no word yet on just what those devices might be.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google confirms it pulled malicious Android apps]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-confirms-it-pulled-malicious-android-apps</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-confirms-it-pulled-malicious-android-apps</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Mar 2011 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-confirms-it-pulled-malicious-android-apps</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After several days of silence on the issue, Google has confirmed that it removed several malicious apps from its Android Market earlier this week and said that it would remove the apps from users' devices as well.Only devices running an Android version earlier than version 2.2.2 were susceptible to the rogue apps, which took advantage of known vulnerabilities, the Internet giant reported late last night in the Google Mobile blog. The company believes the only information accessed by the apps were the unique codes used to identify the the specific device and the version of Android that it was running.Fifty-eight malicious apps were identified and removed Tuesday but not before they were downloaded to about 260,000 devices. Google said it would use a kill switch to remotely remove the apps from users' devices and push an Android security update to affected users to repair the damage done by the apps. Affected users can expect to receive an e-mail from Android Market support explaining the action, Google said.The developer accounts associated with the apps were suspended and law enforcement officials were contacted, Google said.Earlier this week, a Reddit user discovered that pirated versions of legitimate apps on the Android Market were infected by a Trojan called DroidDream, which uses a root exploit dubbed &quot;rageagainstthecage&quot; to compromise a device, according to a report on enthusiast site Android Police.The malware was described as especially virulent because it apparently not only can capture user and product information from a device but also has the ability to download more code capable of further damage.Google representatives did not immediately respond to a request for further information or comment.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Gartner prophesies Apple's Post-PC era]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gartner-prophesies-apples-post-pc-era</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gartner-prophesies-apples-post-pc-era</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>libeju8</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gartner-prophesies-apples-post-pc-era</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Steve Jobs would have you believe that the post-PC era is here. Market researcher Gartner seems to agree. Apple iPad 2(Credit:Apple)At the rollout of the iPad 2 yesterday, the Apple CEO's carefully calculated musings about the post-PC world were meant to sow just enough doubt in consumers' minds that they think twice when buying that second PC. (And he was also careful to couch this as the post-PC era, not the post-Mac era. You can have your cake and eat it too if your Apple apparently.) Maybe Gartner sees this as a self-fulfilling prophesy. Whatever the case, the market research firm made some dark prognostications today about the future of PCs. It seems thattablets will not be &quot;additive&quot;--a word that Intel likes to use--but subtractive. In short, instead of opting for that second PC and then maybe a tablet on top of that, consumers will opt for just the tablet. &quot;We expect growing consumer enthusiasm for mobile PC alternatives, such as theiPad and other media tablets, to dramatically slow home mobile PC sales, especially in mature markets,&quot; George Shiffler, research director at Gartner, said in a research note today. &quot;We once thought that mobile PC growth would continue to be sustained by consumers buying second and third mobile PCs as personal devices. However, we now believe that consumers are not only likely to forgo additional mobile PC buys but are also likely to extend the lifetimes of the mobile PCs they retain as they adopt media tablets and other mobile PC alternatives as their primary mobile device.&quot; That last sentence is powerful. A consumer will hold off on buying a new PC and allocate that money instead to a tablet or other mobile device--like a high-end smartphone. And the verdict &quot;Overall, we now expect home mobile PCs to average less than 10 percent annual growth in mature markets from 2011 through 2015.&quot; Overall, Gartner is lowering its PC unit forecast for 2011 and 2012. Worldwide PC shipments are forecast to reach 387.8 million units in 2011, a 10.5 percent increase from 2010, according to Gartner's preliminary forecast. But this is down from Gartner's previous projection of 15.9 percent growth this year. And Gartner expects worldwide PC shipments to total 440.6 million units in 2012, a 13.6 percent increase from 2011. This is also down from Gartner's previous outlook of 14.8 percent growth for 2012. There were other factors too, like China. &quot;These results reflect marked reductions in expected near-term unit growth based on expectations of weaker consumer mobile PC demand, in no small part because of the near-term weakness expected in China's mobile PC market, but also because of a general loss in consumer enthusiasm for mobile PCs,&quot; said Ranjit Atwal, another Gartner analyst. But Gartner devoted most of the note to tablets. In a section titled &quot;PCs' Limitations Are Exposed,&quot; Gartner said that &quot;not too long ago, PCs were a 'fashion accessory' in mature markets with vendors linking themselves to fashion designers and even creating PCs specifically for women. The current 'cool' device is the smartphone, and now PCs will soon have to do battle with media tablets when they are launched in large numbers in the second quarter of 2011.&quot; Mobile PCs are not keeping up with the times, according to Gartner. &quot;Mainstream mobile PCs have not shed sufficient weight, and do not offer the all-day battery life, to substantiate their promise of real mobility. These limitations have become all the more apparent with the rapid spread of social networking, which thrives on constant and immediate connections. In short, all-day untethered computing has yet to materialize, and that has exposed the 'mobile' PC as merely a transportable PC at best,&quot; according to the note. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Motorola Xoom's speedy parts top iPad in cost]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=motorola-xooms-speedy-parts-top-ipad-in-cost</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=motorola-xooms-speedy-parts-top-ipad-in-cost</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>franktoledo</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=motorola-xooms-speedy-parts-top-ipad-in-cost</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Questions about the Xoom's higher price vis-a-vis theiPad have been dogging Motorola as the world waits on the imminent iPad 2. IHS iSuppli has provided at least one answer: the underlying cost of the Xoom is higher due, in some cases, to higher-performance parts. The current iPad 3G 32GB model--the closest approximation to the Motorola Xoom--is priced at $729, while the Xoom is priced at $799. That has elicited complaints from some quarters. But IHS iSuppli shows there is a valid price differential because of the higher-cost--and typically higher performance--parts used in the Xoom. Of course, if Apple comes out with a comparable feature set in the iPad 2 but maintains its current pricing, then Motorola has a real pricing challenge on its hands. The upshot: the bill of materials (BOM) for the The Motorola Xoom is $359.92, based on current pricing, compared with $320 for the iPad 3G with 32GB of flash memory, based on pricing from April 2010, IHS iSuppli said today in a research note. &quot;Motorola has closely lined up the Xoom's component costs with that of the iPad's, especially where it counts: in the touch screen, the display, and the cellular radio. Of all the &quot;iPad killers&quot; analyzed by the IHS iSuppli teardown team, the Xoom best approximates the cost/performance standard set by Apple,&quot; wrote Wayne Lam, an IHS analyst. Lam continues. &quot;The Xoom...equals many of the iPad's best features--while also making up for some of the iPad's shortcomings, such as the lack of a camera--at least until Apple begins shipping its second-generation product line.&quot; Display: The display and touch screen assembly represents the most expensive subsystem within the Xoom--just like the iPad. The Xoom's display and touch screen costs $140, or 38.9 percent of the total BOM cost. This exceeds the iPad's 9.7-inch display/touch screen assembly, which carries a cost of $125, based on pricing from IHI iSuppli's analysis last year. Overall, the Xoom's display seems to have an edge on features. The Xoom's thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display has a denser pixel format than the iPad at a resolution of 1,280x800 versus 1,024x768 for the iPad, IHS iSuppli said. But the iPad's screen has a leg up on the Xoom with its in-plane switching (IPS) technology. That allows for a wider viewing angle and better picture quality in terms of color presentation than a conventional LCD. The Xoom's touch screen module features the Atmel mXT1386 touch screen controller, a new 32-bit device capable of registering up to 16 discrete touch points. &quot;This multichip solution for touch screen controls represents an arguably more expensive design than the custom Texas Instruments Inc./Broadcom Corp. touch screen solution employed in the original iPad,&quot; iSuppli said. Memory: Memory is the next costliest Xoom component--again mirroring the iPad, tallied at $80.40, or 22.3 percent of the total BOM, compared with $67.80 for the equivalent 32GB model in the iPad. Both the Xoom and iPad have 32GB of NAND flash, which accounts for the bulk of the memory cost. That said, the Xoom sets itself apart with 1GB of system memory. The iPad's system memory capacity pales by comparison, at 256MB. Processor: &quot;One of the most dramatic cost differentials between the Xoom and iPad is in the apps processor,&quot; according to IHS iSuppli. The Xoom's dual-core Nvidia processor and associated components costs an estimated $20.78, or 5.8 percent of the BOM. &quot;This is almost twice the cost of the iPad 3G's A4 [single-core] processor at slightly less than $11,&quot; the market researcher said. Camera: The Xoom's two cameras are one of the most obvious cost disparities. The iPad--in its current state--has no cameras. The Xoom's 5-megapixel camera on the back and the 2-megapixel device on the front carry a total cost of $14, or 3.9 percent of the BOM. But all of this is in a serious state of flux if Apple's iPad 2 is introduced tomorrow, as expected. Apple is expected to add a faster processor, camera(s), and a variety of 3G options, among other new features. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Stanford tweaks recipe for quantum dot solar cells]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=stanford-tweaks-recipe-for-quantum-dot-solar-cells</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=stanford-tweaks-recipe-for-quantum-dot-solar-cells</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:10:59 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>smithadam</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=stanford-tweaks-recipe-for-quantum-dot-solar-cells</guid>
<description><![CDATA[To improve solar cell efficiency, Stanford researchers added a self-assembling monolayer (SAM) of an organic molecule to a titanium oxide semiconductor and cadmium sulfide quantum dots.(Credit:Stanford University)In the search for cheap and efficient solar cells, Stanford University researchers are mixing in new ingredients.Chemical engineering professor Stacey Bent on Sunday presented the results of a paper at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that showed how a new combination of materials boosted the performance of solar cells made with quantum dots. The research is in very early stages, but it could provide clues on how to make solar cells with relatively inexpensive materials that have higher efficiency than is currently possible. Many researchers are trying to use materials with quantum dots as a replacement for traditional semiconductors, such as silicon, in a solar cell. Quantum dots are tiny crystals only a few nanometers in size and can be far cheaper to produce than a silicon wafer or thin-film solar cell. Quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells can also be tuned for different wavelengths of light.But the efficiency of quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells is very low, making them impractical for commercial use. Bent and her research team added an organic molecule to a solar cell using titanium oxide semiconductor and cadmium sulfide quantum dots in an effort to improve the conversion of light to electricityAlthough the efficiency is still very low, researchers found that inserting the additional material improved the efficiency threefold. Surprisingly, the size of the organic molecule mattered, but not the type of material, according to Stanford. When sunlight hits a solar cell, an electron gets excited and &quot;jumps&quot; to another layer of material and carries an electric charge. Bent's theory is that the added layer to quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells helps keep that free electron separated, rather than recombining and losing its energy.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Report: iPad 2 already in production]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-ipad-2-already-in-production</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-ipad-2-already-in-production</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>willnotlii</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-ipad-2-already-in-production</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A mock iPad 2 seen at this year&amp;39's CES. (Credit:Engadget)Apple has the next generation of itsiPad in production, according to a Wall Street Journal report that appears to confirm many of the rumors that have been circulating for the past couple of months.The newtablet will feature a faster processor and a built-in camera for videoconferencing, but it will have the same display resolution as the first model, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter. The new model will reportedly be sold through current partners AT&amp;T and Verizon Wireless--suggesting it might be dual mode for both GSM and CDMA networks. However, the report did not indicate when the new iPad might be hitting store shelves or what the pricing might be.An Apple representative declined to comment.Apple has sold 14 million iPads since its release last April, 7.33 million units alone during the holiday quarter, and Piper Jaffray expects Apple to sell 27 million iPads in 2011. All of that fervor has helped fuel rumors of specs, sightings, and even a claimed component acquisition. Tech site 9to5Mac claimed earlier this month that it had acquired what it believed to be an iPad 2 LCD, &quot;fresh out of China.&quot; The news site found the display to be lighter, thinner, and of higher quality than the current iPad's display, but it could see no evidence that it offered higher resolution than the existing model.Though a number of sites have reported finding higher resolution graphics in recent builds of Apple's iOS, an analyst cited by Apple Insider in January said the iPad 2 would not have a high-resolution Retina display, corroborating an earlier CNET report.Earlier this month, a Reuters &quot;eyewitness&quot; claimed to have seen an iPad 2 prototype at the press unveiling of News Corp.'s The Daily. However, that alleged sighting did nothing to confirm or dispel rumors that the new device will sport a USB port.Component makers in Taiwan said in December that Foxconn--a key maker of iPhones and iPads--had been notified that it should be ready to ship 400,000 to 600,000 units of the new device by the end of February. That aligns nicely with another rumor that has pegged February 14 as the release date for Apple's iOS 4.3, the newest update for iPhones, iPads, andiPod Touches. Might an iPad 2 announcement be included in a press event announcing iOS 4.3 Stay tuned. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[TiVo offers free insight into TV ad effectiveness]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tivo-offers-free-insight-into-tv-ad-effectiveness</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tivo-offers-free-insight-into-tv-ad-effectiveness</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>foreigo</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tivo-offers-free-insight-into-tv-ad-effectiveness</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you ever wanted to know how well a particular company's commercial campaigns are performing in the increasingly DVR'd world, TiVo has the solution for you.The company announced the launch of a free tool today, called Ad Scorecard, that provides insight into how well companies are advertising their brands on television. The platform is designed to provide brand managers and marketing executives with information on whether or not TiVo users are actually watching their commercials and how effective those ads are at capturing user attention.&quot;TiVo wants to make it easy for all marketers to begin incorporating better metrics into their decision-making processes--and we've decided this easy-to-use Web tool is a great way to help people understand more broadly the value of our data,&quot; TiVo vice president for advertising and research sale said in a statement.TiVo's data could be a boon for marketers. The company currently offers a service to marketers called, StopWatch, which collects anonymous data from customers to see which commercials users are quickly fast-forwarding and which they're actually watching. TiVo says that it collects that data down to the second, making it one of the more accurate representations of user activity for marketers, since the company claims, &quot;40 percent of TV homes have a DVR today.&quot;Apple is more effectively advertising its brand on TV than Microsoft or Verizon.(Credit:Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)Ad Scorecard allows users to input up to three advertisers into the comparison pane to see how well they've all fared. Users can also choose between four weeks, eight weeks, or twelve weeks of data analysis. All the brands are compared based on their &quot;commercial retention index&quot; to see which ads were most successful at staying with viewers. The tool also lets users see how well brands fared on both broadcast and cable networks or on one or the other.I quickly took the tool for a spin and compared ad effectiveness between Apple, Microsoft, and Verizon over the past twelve weeks. According to TiVo, Apple performed most effectively at appealing to viewers over that period.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple enforcing rules on e-book publishers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-enforcing-rules-on-e-book-publishers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-enforcing-rules-on-e-book-publishers</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cash21</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-enforcing-rules-on-e-book-publishers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple is now trying to enforce an ignored but apparently existing rule that specifically targets publishers of e-book apps offered in its App Store. In a nutshell, if the publisher gives customers the ability to buy books outside of the app, such as through its Web site, then it must also offer the ability to buy books within the app itself using Apple's in-app purchase system. Otherwise, that app would be rejected.Of course, if the books are purchased within the app, Apple gets its standard 30 percent cut.&quot;We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines. We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app,&quot; Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, said in a statement on Tuesday sent to The New York Times and other news sources.The move to strictly apply these guidelines follows Apple's rejection of the Sony Reader app on Monday on the grounds that it would have let customers buy e-books sold at the Sony Reader Store, thereby circumventing the App Store. If tightly enforced, these rules would clearly affect a variety of e-book app publishers, notably Amazon, which sells aniPhone Kindle app that directs its users to buy books at its Kindle Store.Allowing Amazon's app to sell books through its Kindle Store, yet rejecting Sony's app for similar reasons could certainly be seen as a double standard in adherence to the guidelines. The move also ultimately leaves e-book sellers in a quandary. Do they give in to Apple's guidelines and its 30 percent cut as the cost of doing business in the App StoreIt's &quot;highly unlikely,&quot; says the Times, that Amazon, Sony, and other companies would share their e-book sales and customer information with Apple. That's especially true since Apple is not just a marketplace but also a competitor, selling books through its own iBookstore.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[HP, Dell laptops still advertised with faulty Intel chip]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hp-dell-laptops-still-advertised-with-faulty-intel-chip</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hp-dell-laptops-still-advertised-with-faulty-intel-chip</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:10:56 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>lasirman4</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hp-dell-laptops-still-advertised-with-faulty-intel-chip</guid>
<description><![CDATA[HP&amp;39's Sandy Bridge-based laptop is for sale, but the delivery date is quoted as March 1--possibly allowing time to get a fixed chipset from Intel. Note that price has been pasted as an inset to conserve space in the graphic.(Credit:Hewlett-Packard)Hewlett-Packard and Dell as this afternoon were still advertising laptops with Sandy Bridge--despite the fact that Intel has halted shipment of the processor due to a flaw in a companion chip. Intel announced yesterday that it had stopped shipment of the Second-Generation Intel Core (Sandy Bridge) processor due to a flaw in the &quot;Cougar Point&quot; chipset that can potentially affect access to a hard-disk drive, optical drive, or other device that connects to a computer using SATA technology. Today, it was possible to order a Dell XPS 17 online, for example, with a Second-Generation Intel Core i7-2630QM processor and a delivery date of February 22 (the link to that Dell product page was not accessible from the Dell XPS 17 sales page front door, but was generated from a product search on Google Shopping). This system configuration was generated despite a statement from Intel yesterday that it had &quot;discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix...[Intel] expects to begin delivering the updated version of the chipset to customers in late February and expects full volume recovery in April.&quot; A Dell saleswoman said she was not aware of the Sandy Bridge flaw and gave a quote with a build time of &quot;a couple of weeks.&quot; Today, Dell issued this statement. &quot;Dell and Intel are in communication regarding the design issue in the recently released Intel 6 Series (Sandy Bridge) support chip, code-name Cougar Point. This affects four currently available Dell products, the XPS 8300, the Vostro 460, the Alienware M17x R.3 and the Alienware Aurora R.3, as well as several other planned products including XPS 17 with 3D. We're committed to addressing this with customers who have already purchased one of the four products and will provide further details on this as it becomes available,&quot; Dell said. HP, as of Pacific time this afternoon, is selling an &quot;HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition&quot; that also uses the Intel Core i7-2630QM processor (see graphic above). The salesperson contacted via HP's online sales site quoted a delivery date of March 1. An HP spokeswoman said Tuesday that HP has pushed out the build date to March 1 to allow for the time it will take to get fixed processors from Intel. The Delivery date on the Dell XPS 17 is quoted as about two weeks. Note that price has been pasted as an inset to conserve space in graphic.(Credit:Dell)CNET Review's Rich Brown contributed to this story.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Regulators approve Comcast-NBC Universal deal]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=regulators-approve-comcast-nbc-universal-deal</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=regulators-approve-comcast-nbc-universal-deal</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:10:48 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>searchengine</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=regulators-approve-comcast-nbc-universal-deal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice today approved a deal to create a joint venture between cable giant Comcast and NBC Universal. In a 4-1 vote, the FCC determined that the deal is in the nation's public interest. The Justice Department also issued a statement that it has approved the union, which will be the first time a cable company has merged with a major TV network. The new joint venture, which will be majority-owned by Comcast, will become a media powerhouse joining the nation's largest cable operator with one of the leading movie studios and TV networks in the U.S..The FCC and Justice Department put several conditions on the deal. Most of them focus on making sure that the deal does not hamper development of the online video market. Both the Justice Department and the FCC wanted to ensure that Comcast through its control over NBC Universal's content was not able to shut out online video competitors from accessing content. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement that the conditions imposed by the FCC &quot;include carefully considered steps to ensure that competition drives innovation in the emerging online video marketplace.&quot; But the rules that have been adopted are somewhat complicated. David Cohen, an executive vice president at Comcast, said during a press conference, that the stipulations in place do not mirror the same program access rules that are in place for Comcast's other paid TV competitors, such as satellite and phone companies. Instead, the rules are more narrowly defined only requiring Comcast and NBC to provide video content to online video providers, such as Apple TV, Netflix, YouTube or others, under certain circumstances. Cohen also explains Comcast's understanding of the conditions in a blog post.Specifically, Comcast/NBC is required to offer content to an online provider if that provider has already gotten one of NBC's peers to offer similar content. And even then, NBC is only required to offer such content under similar terms and business models as are already being offered by an NBC competitor. For example, if Viacom is offering a reality series, NBC would only be required to offer reality programming under the same business terms as Viacom offers its content.One major sticking point over the past year as the merger was being considered is whether Comcast/NBC would be allowed to keep its stake in Hulu, the online video site started by NBC and its partners News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. Several lawmakers had asked for Comcast to divest itself of its stake in Hulu.Neither the Justice Department nor the FCC is requiring Comcast to sell its investment in Hulu. But the company will be required to give up NBC Universal's management stake in Hulu, which includes a board seat on Hulu. NBC Universal and its Hulu partners each have minority stakes in Hulu.&quot;Without such a remedy, Comcast could, through its seats on Hulu's board of directors, interfere with the management of Hulu, and, in particular, the development of products that compete with Comcast's video service,&quot; the Justice Department said in its press release. Comcast said it would retain an economic stake in Hulu. It also said it plans to continue to provide TV shows and movies to the Hulu service as its partners are also doing.Some of the other conditions put in place by the FCC are designed to help promote universal broadband access. For example, the FCC is requiring Comcast to offer standalone Internet broadband access at a &quot;reasonable price&quot; and with &quot;sufficient bandwidth.&quot; Specifically, this means Comcast will be required to offer a nationwide standalone broadband service for $49.95 a month for the next three years.Democratic Commissioner Michael J. Copps was the only member of the FCC to vote against the deal. He said in his dissenting statement that he was concerned about the concentration of media that the deal would bring into the market. He believes that Comcast will have too much power over entertainment and news as a result of the deal. Copps, the longest serving commissioner on the FCC, has long opposed big media mergers. &quot;The Comcast-NBCU joint venture opens the door to the cable-ization of the open Internet,&quot; he said in a statement. &quot;The potential for walled gardens, toll booths, content prioritization, access fees to reach end users, and a stake in the heart of independent content production is now very real.&quot;He went on to say, &quot;In sum, this is simply too much, too big, too powerful, too lacking in benefits for American consumers and citizens... I would be true to neither the statute nor to everything I have fought for here at the Commission over the past decade if I did not dissent from what I consider to be a damaging and potentially dangerous deal.The deal is expected to officially close by the end of the month.Updated 3:45 p.m. PT:This story has been updated with comments and more information from a conference call with Comcast.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Start-up hopes to profit from Kindle lending]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=start-up-hopes-to-profit-from-kindle-lending</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=start-up-hopes-to-profit-from-kindle-lending</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 11 Jan 2011 08:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sevenForuxxtyvi</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=start-up-hopes-to-profit-from-kindle-lending</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Kindle Lending Club)A small company called Kindle Lending Club plans to launch a beta site today or tomorrow that will let it profit from Amazon's e-book ecosystem.The five-person start-up has a simple business model. First, connect people who are willing to lend the electronic books to those who want to borrow them. Second, when the borrowers discover that they didn't finish with Amazon's 14-day lending window, offer a link to buy the e-book and share a portion of the resulting revenue through Amazon's affiliate program.It might not be enough to acquire Facebook, but site founder Catherine MacDonald--a 40-year-old Canadian mother of three who lives in Malta and Tunisia--believes it'll pay the bills. &quot;I'm anticipating that Martin (my husband) and I will be able to work on this full-time, so a full-time living for the family seems realistic,&quot; she told CNET News.And it could be enough to raise Amazon's eyebrows. It's no Napster, but the Kindle Lending Club probably has facilitated the lending of more than 1,000 books among strangers. At scale, it holds the potential to automate free book lending on a global scale when Amazon would prefer to see an actual sale.It's an interesting concept, one that's spun up rapidly since Amazon launched Kindle lending on December 30. MacDonald started with a Facebook group, quickly concluded that wouldn't accommodate the interest, raised an angel investment commitment of $12,500, signed up two Web developers, and is launching a site--all within two weeks.&quot;Last Thursday, December 30, I heard about the introduction of lending (I missed the October announcement) and I was thrilled,&quot; said MacDonald, who's worked in Web development and search marketing since 1998. &quot;While my husband and I were going to sleep that night, an idea suddenly occurred to me, and I told him, 'Martin, you have to remind me to start a Facebook page in the morning to get people together to lend each other books!' So, that's what I did, and it just took on a life of its own.&quot;A look at the Kindle Lending Club beta site (click to enlarge)(Credit:Kindle Lending Club)Time was of the essence, too, since others had the same idea, she said. &quot;It became apparent really fast that we had to move decisively and do social media and software development in tandem,&quot; she said. Another social media angle: The site will broadcast lending possibilities and desires through the KLCfeed on Twitter.She estimates that the Facebook site has facilitated more than a thousand loans. &quot;It seems that most of the book loans on offer are snapped within a day of being posted,&quot; she said.Amazon didn't respond to a request for comment. It can't have been a complete surprise, though, to a global-scale Internet-company. If nothing else, Barnes &amp; Noble beat Amazon to market with a sharing option on its rival Nook e-reader system, and that option has spawned Nook book-sharingsites.The existence of the Kindle Lending site sheds a revealing light on Amazon's move to add a lending option.E-book limitsFrom a customer point of view, one of the big drawbacks of e-books compared to physical books is that digital rights management (DRM) technology, including encryption, typically restricts a person's ability to lend or resell a book. If you buy a Kindle or Nook book, it doesn't become the sort of communal family property a physical book might. And of course systems such as Google Books, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes &amp; Noble Nook aren't compatible.Even though a physical book can be physically copied, it's a pain, and the results aren't likely to match the original. But digital content is famously easy to copy. That makes it tough for a company such as Amazon to strike the right balance between a totally locked down Kindle ecosystem and one that's got some measure of the freedoms of physical books.Amazon's 14-day lending constraint, along with a limit of one lending per book and the fact that publishers don't make all books available for lending in the first place, puts a pretty significant brake on those freedoms while still permitting a person trying to infect a friend with enthusiasm for the latest good read. But the Kindle Lending Club shows that there's a big appetite for free books and a corresponding urge that people have to share.&quot;I have seen people who have said that they will save their loans for friends and family, but the number of lenders who are just entirely altruistic has really impressed me,&quot; MacDonald said. &quot;We have seen it in action over hundreds of loans already, so I think it's reasonable to imagine that people will continue to be altruistic.&quot;MacDonald wants to keep money out of the core lending activity, too.&quot;I do not want to associate money or even credits with book lending on our platform,&quot; she said. &quot;I like the idea that someone who does not have access to a credit card, for whatever reason, can still borrow a book from someone--I could imagine someone in a developing country borrowing a book on business start-ups from someone in America. We enable people to do something simple: just lending a book like we've all been doing for years' but the scale and reach now makes this action potentially transformational on a global level. That gives me a great feeling when I lend an e-book, and I trust that the majority of our community members will feel the same.&quot;Publishers might not get a warm feeling of happiness pondering the possibility of free exchanges of their books. But one factor that doubtless weighed into Amazon's calculations is how often lending actually hurts sales directly. It's not clear how often book borrowing supplants book purchasing, but it's not hard to imagine people might read a free book that they wouldn't pay for.Bear in mind also that the ease of copying isn't just a threat to publishers. It also drastically lowers their production costs, giving them an incentive to embrace the e-book revolution as long as it's not Napsterized.And even if 100 percent of the lending replaced actual Kindle e-book book sales, the idea still might be good for Amazon in the big picture. Here's why.Expanding ecosystemKindle is an ecosystem. Amazon sells Kindle e-readers as well as books, and some number of freely available Kindle books makes a Kindle more valuable. And of course, once somebody has bought a Kindle, they're more likely to buy future e-books through Amazon.Even if a person doesn't buy a Kindle reader, using Amazon's free Kindle apps fortablets, phones, and computers instead, that's another customer in the ecosystem. The more books in a person's Kindle library, the less likely that person is to jump ship for a Nook--and probably the more likely that person is to purchase or upgrade a Kindle reader.&quot;In our view, as the Kindle ecosystem expands, Kindle device users will not only continue buying more e-books but also subscriptions, accessories, hardware warranties, and eventually use Kindle's wireless and computing capabilities for other data and content consumption (e.g. pictures, music, videos, e-mail, etc.),&quot; said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst with Caris &amp; Company, in a Kindle report today.Last, don't forget that the site is funded by sales of Amazon products, and a lot of Kindle customers will be using her site.&quot;I borrowed [Jonathan] Franzen's 'Freedom' on December 30,&quot; she said. &quot;I know I'm not going to get it finished, so I'll have to purchase a copy.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[What could the Verizon iPhone bring us]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-could-the-verizon-iphone-bring-us</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-could-the-verizon-iphone-bring-us</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dubasedtonio</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=what-could-the-verizon-iphone-bring-us</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In less than 24 hours, and just over four years after the originaliPhone was born, Verizon Wireless is poised to announce its own version of Apple's device. Needless to say, it will be a very big deal for the iPhone in the United States. Not only will it end AT&amp;T's monopoly on the popular handset, but also Verizon Wireless stands to gain millions of new subscribers who've been waiting eagerly for years.Indeed, it will ensure a very good year for Big Red. Even as it was enjoying a hugely successful CES 2011 with a gallery of 4G handsets and the award-winning Motorola Xoomtablet, the carrier told reporters last Friday it would be sharing &quot;the latest news&quot; January 11, tomorrow, at 11 a.m. ET at New York's Lincoln Center. The invite didn't mention an iPhone specifically, but given the avalanche of leaks in recent days, all signs on the wireless Magic 8-Ball are pointing to yes. (Credit:Kent German/CNET)Yet, even with the big news almost confirmed, there is still plenty we don't know. Just what will the Verizon iPhone offer, for example, and how will it differ from its AT&amp;T counterpart At its core, it won't vary much. It should have the same design and it shouldn't offer any new features. Remember that Apple is all about consistency and a uniform experience. That said, however, there are a few factors to keep in mind.NetworkThis, of course, is the biggest &quot;what if.&quot; Given AT&amp;T's iPhone troubles, many consumers are looking to the Verizon iPhone to cure their wireless woes. This is understandable, but I'd caution against thinking that Verizon's iPhone experience will be without any problems. Sure, Verizon runs a very tight network ship. You can get it almost anywhere, you can keep a call once you have it, and the carrier continually wins awards from third-party sources. That success has earned Verizon a lot of respect for its voice network and it will hold on to that image zealously. What's more, Verizon has undoubtedly learned from AT&amp;T's misfortunes and it will not follow its rival in underestimating the infrastructure it needs.Still, you can't forget that you're using a cellular network that's subject to the same factors that affect service on AT&amp;T. Your location, urban density, geography, and how many users are on the network at one time will continue to affect service. Though I hear fewer complaints from iPhone users outside of urban areas, iPhone users in other countries have grumbled. A phone's reception depends on more than just the carrier, as the phone itself also plays a part. We've used plenty of other AT&amp;T smartphones and don't get quite the experience that we do on the iPhone. Data brings its own concerns. Though AT&amp;T's data network is faster than Verizon's in theory, in practice it hasn't kept up with the massive data demands of so many iPhone users. Verizon's 3G network has better coverage, but we'll have to see if it can handle an equally huge boost in demand. On the upside, Verizon has boosted capacity and it has used Android users as a test group for demand. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the average Verizon Android customer uses more data than the average AT&amp;T iPhone customer, but its real test is yet to come. When you're dealing with such high expectations, the only way to go is down.So what's the final answer Well, as CNET's Erica Ogg and I said in October, we just can't guarantee at this point how a Verizon iPhone will perform. Customers should see better service, but just how much better remains unknown. Verizon likely will gain customers in waves, which means the buildup in data demand will be gradual. On the other hand, Verizon iPhone customers won't use any less data than AT&amp;T users, so we could know very quickly. Until then, though, proceed with caution and don't expect miracles. If you live in a location where you currently have great Verizon coverage, you may have a great experience. But then again, you may not.Will it be 4GDespite Verizon's intense focus on its new 4G network, and persistent rumors that the Verizon iPhone will support LTE, I think this is unlikely. Apple loves to control the user experience, so I can't imagine that it would be eager to jump on a network that doesn't cover the whole country and it still untested by smartphone users. Until Verizon ramps up its 4G network fully, Apple will wait to ensure that it works and works well. Also, an LTE-only phone would leave out all those Verizon users not in a 4G market, and Apple is never one to pass up market share. There is a possibility that Apple could put an LTE chip in the phone for future use--you can't upgrade a 3G handset to 4G with just a software fix--but I doubt that as well. Apple would much rather have you shell out money for an upgraded model in a few months.About CDMAA CDMA iPhone will not be able to transmit voice and data simultaneously. So all those Apple commercials that show a user looking up a restaurant while on the phone won't apply here. The CDMA Development Group (CDG) will make simultaneous voice and data commercially available in the first half of this year, but we don't know exactly how and when. When I asked a CDG spokesman for more details last month, he didn't have more to say.If the Verizon iPhone runs only CDMA, you won't be able to use it in many countries outside of the United States. That's a big deal for world travelers, particularly in Europe where GSM rules. The carrier could, however, release a dual-mode handset that uses both CDMA and GSM. Finally, CDMA phones in general have shorter battery life than GSM devices. That may not turn out to be the case with a Verizon iPhone, but it's possible.Design and softwareAs I mentioned, the Verizon iPhone should look no different than the iPhone 4. That is, with one small exception. I would not be surprised if the infamous gap on the iPhone 4's left side disappears. Despite Apple's claims that &quot;antennagate&quot; was a media-created phenomenon, CNET encountered a significant drop in performance when we touched the gap while on a call. On a related note, a popular, and not totally crazy, conspiracy theory suggests that Apple is saving the elusive white iPhone as a Verizon exclusive. The handset should be the same inside as well. Again, Apple wouldn't remove a feature, and its desire for consistency means it wouldn't add functionality not available currently. And don't expect to find any Verizon content like V Cast. Verizon may have passed on the original iPhone because it didn't want to cede control to Apple, but I'd guess that the carrier warmed up to the idea.Pricing and availabilityCDMA components can make a phone more expensive, but Apple will dissuade Verizon from pricing the iPhone differently from AT&amp;T (there's the consistency again). Yet, plans are a different story. The Wall Street Journal reported today that Verizon will adopted unlimited data plans for the iPhone, a practice that AT&amp;T abandoned last year in favor of tiered plans. The exact release date is still a mystery as well, but rumors persist that Thursday, February 3, will be the magic day.CNET will bring you live coverage of Verizon's event tomorrow, January 11, at 11 a.m. ET, so be sure to check back for the full story. In the meantime, tell us what you're expecting from the Verizon iPhone.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Verizon at CES: No iPhone yet, but 10 first-wave 4G LTE devices]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-verizon-at-ces-no-iphone-yet-but-10-first-wave-4g-lte-devices</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-verizon-at-ces-no-iphone-yet-but-10-first-wave-4g-lte-devices</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>brittabiti</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-verizon-at-ces-no-iphone-yet-but-10-first-wave-4g-lte-devices</guid>
<description><![CDATA[HTC&amp;39's Thunderbolt: One of the devices in the first round of 4G LTE products for Verizon.(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)As expected, Verizon unveiled its first 4G devices today--and it used grand language to do so. &quot;The speed of thought is now the speed of action,&quot; a voice boomed over the speakers at the beginning of Verizon's CES press conference. &quot;For the first time, mobile is in real time.&quot;  Earlier in the day, Verizon used its keynote to hail its new 4G LTE broadband infrastructure. At the press conference a few hours later, partners including Alcatel-Lucent, HTC, and LG Electronics talked up the endless possibilities of LTE. Then Verizon trotted out new devices that are ready for the network.  But first, let's get this out of the way: Verizon did not announce that it would be carrying Apple'siPhone!  With rock music blaring in the background, Verizon execs stood before a table displaying the first suite of 4G LTE consumer devices: four smartphones, twotablets, two mobile hot spots, and two notebooks, all coming in the first half of the year, and some as early as March. &quot;It's not just about doing things faster, it's about doing things you couldn't do before,&quot; said Marni Walden, chief marketing officer. The devices that got stage time (details on pricing and rate plans were not announced today) include: The LG Revolution, LG's first 4G smartphone (see CNET's hands-on photos here). The Revolution has HD support for streaming, playing, and recording video' a 4.3-inch touch screen' Android 2.2' video telephony support with front-facing camera and mobile hot-spot capability to share a 4G connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices. HTC's first 4G LTE smartphone, the HTC Thunderbolt. &quot;Let me tell you, it's blazing fast,&quot; said HTC CEO Peter Chou, who noted that he has been using the phone as his &quot;personal device&quot; and specifically touted Skype video chat and video streaming over LTE. The Thunderbolt features HTC Sense 2.0, Skype mobile with video, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 4.3-inch WVGA display, Dolby surround sound, an 8-megapixel camera and HD video recording, and wireless DLNA capability.Samsung's Galaxy Tab, 4G LTE Smartphone (previously called the Inspiration), and 4G LTE mobile hot spot, which is small enough to fit into a pocket or purse. The Motorola Droid Bionic, which has Android with Adobe Flash and HTML5, a front-facing VGA camera, a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera, 4.3-inch HD quality screen, HDMI connectivity, dual-core 1GHz processor, and 512 DDR2 RAM.The Motorola Xoom. The 10.1-inch tablet runs on Android Honeycomb, plays 1080p HD video, has an Adobe Flash Player, a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chats, and a 5-megapixel camera to capture video in 720P HD. Mobile hot-spot capability provides connection for up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices. The HP Pavilion and HP Compaq notebooks in their 4G incarnations.  And then, questions from reporters in the audience.  Will devices support simultaneous voice and data &quot;Some of them, but not all.&quot; Pricing data caps Not sure yet. Will the network experience degradation once people start using the new devices  Verizon CTO Tony Malone said original claims of 5Mbps to 12Mbps down were &quot;based on a loaded network,&quot; suggesting there shouldn't be drops once the masses get in on 4G LTE.  And, of course, many have also expressed concerns about battery life on the 4G devices.  &quot;We've spent a lot of time working with our suppliers making sure we optimize the devices and the network to give the battery life that our customers expect,&quot; Malone said. &quot;We feel very confident that the battery performance will meet expectations.&quot;  He also said global roaming won't be an issue. Our CNET Reviews team, of course, will be putting the 4G devices to the test, so keep an eye out for those results.Verizon says some customers report that 4G speeds are 10 to 20 times faster than what they got on 3G.(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)CNET's Marguerite Reardon contributed to this report. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Skype from your living room two ways]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-skype-from-your-living-room-two-ways</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-skype-from-your-living-room-two-ways</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Jan 2011 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>makeafamam</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-skype-from-your-living-room-two-ways</guid>
<description><![CDATA[LAS VEGAS--If you've never engaged in a VoIP to your friend or loved one in real time on a 50-inch display, your luck could change two ways. First, Skype is extending its lineup of Skype-enabled TVs to include the Sony Bravia and Vizio Via. Those will show up later in 2011.If buying an HDTV isn't your style, Skype has also announced deals with Panasonic and Sony to include Skype on select Blu-ray players. You'll still need a Webcam for this approach, but as we briefly saw in a Samsung press conference earlier today, Skype has a TV topper camera to sell you,too.Skype's rapid expansion from its traditional desktop perch to the mobile phone, TV, and now Blu-ray player is a smart way to acquire new users, and the company certainly has the name and the partnerships to back up branching out.Skype's living room telepresence also takes a swipe at Cisco's Umi system, which costs $599 for the specialized hardware, plus a $24.99 monthly service fee. Skype users will have to contend with the price of new hardware, but the software itself costs nothing.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[CES: Slim, stylish Kodak PlayFull 1080p minicamcorder announced]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-slim-stylish-kodak-playfull-1080p-minicamcorder-announced</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-slim-stylish-kodak-playfull-1080p-minicamcorder-announced</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rockyraj631</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-slim-stylish-kodak-playfull-1080p-minicamcorder-announced</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Kodak)The Kodak PlayFull is pretty much a basic minicamcorder, albeit a tiny, attractive one. It captures full HD 1080p movies and 5-megapixel stills and is loaded with Kodak's share software for quickly editing videos and sharing on sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as international sites like Yandex and KAIXIN001. There is a Share button, too, for tagging your photos and videos to upload to those sites as soon as it's connected to a computer. The PlayFull also gets black and white, sepia, high saturation, and 70's film look capture effects' face tracking' electronic image stabilization' and on-camera editing. And despite its petite build, Kodak squeezed a flip-out USB connector in for that important direct connection to a computer. The PlayFull will be available in silver, blue-silver, purple-silver, and blue-black for $149.95 in spring 2011.Editors' take: With the PlayFull in the lineup, Kodak has a model for just about every type of minicamcorder user. Compared to its linemates, the PlaySport and PlayTouch, it is stripped down. It's not lacking in features for the price, though, and if the video is decent, which I expect it would be, this could be a nice option for those looking for more than what their smartphone offers in performance and battery life. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sudan under anti-war satellite surveillance]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sudan-under-anti-war-satellite-surveillance</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sudan-under-anti-war-satellite-surveillance</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rixbralia</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sudan-under-anti-war-satellite-surveillance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Actor George Clooney, who is a spokesman for the Satellite Sentinel Project, on a recent trip to the volatile southern region of Sudan.(Credit:Tim Freccia/Enough Project)The Satellite Sentinel Project, launched today, will be monitoring Sudan from above and sharing information with the world in near real-time in an effort to deter violence.The oil-rich southern region of Sudan is poised to hold a referendum on January 9 that could decide whether Sudan remains one country, or becomes politically divided into north and south entities. Many expect that there will be violence leading up to the vote, as well as after it, and that the Sudan could once again descend into chaos as it did during its 20-year war in which an estimated 2 million people were killed as of 2005.The Satellite Sentinel Project aims to deter that violence--or at the very least act as a recorder of war crimes should they occur--by pointing cameras aboard commercial satellites at the region starting today. Through satellite imagery analysis and crowd-sourced mapping, which can be viewed via programs using Google Maps and Google Earth, the eyes of anyone with an Internet connection will be able to watch what is happening in the border region of northern and southern Sudan in the coming weeks.The project is being conducted through a partnership with the Operational Satellite Applications Program (Unosat) from the the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (Unitar), Harvard University's Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Google, Internet software company Trellon, and the Enough Project anti-genocide organization.It's being funded by the aptly named Not On Our Watch, a humanitarian advocacy organization whose founding members include actors George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt' film producer Jerry Weintraub' and human rights lawyer and former State Department aide David Pressman.Clooney and John Prendergast, a journalist, human rights activist and Enough Project co-founder, have been acting as spokesmen for the Satellite Sentinel Project. Through interviews with national publications, opens letters to newspapers, and press statements, the two launched a media campaign today to draw attention to the satellite mission.&quot;Previously, when mass atrocities occurred in Darfur, the Government of Sudan denied its involvement. Since photographers could not get access, it took years to amass evidence of genocide. But now we can witness in near real-time and put all parties on notice that if they commit war crimes, we will all be watching, and pressuring policymakers to take action,&quot; Clooney and Prendergast said in a joint statement today.&quot;We want to cast a spotlight - literally - on the hot spots along the border to record any actions that might escalate the chances of conflict. We hope that if many eyes are on the potential spoilers, we can all help detect, deter and interdict actions that could lead to a return to deadly violence. At the very least, if war crimes do occur, we'll have plenty of evidence of the actions of the perpetrators to share with the International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council,&quot; Clooney and Prendergast said in their statement.Commercial satellites have been tapped to collect visual data of the region and have the ability to capture incidents like village burnings or razings, large movements of people, and bombings. Each organization involved has a specific role in how that data is used in the coming months, according to the Satellite Sentinel Project.A team of Unosat employees expert in satellite analysis will examine the images from offices in Geneva, Switzerland, in conjunction with Google and Trellon employees, according to Unitar.&quot;This unique monitoring and alert system is based on commercial and publicly available satellite imagery and has the potential to contribute to the prevention of a possible war in Sudan. In case conflict ignites, the humanitarian consequences can be monitored from space, a service that Unosat has been providing to the international community since 2003,&quot; Unitar said in a statement.Google and Trellon have collaborated on analysis and Internet tools to make the collected satellite information also available to the public. Meanwhile, workers from the Enough Project and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative will contribute field reports from the ground in the Sudan.&quot;Google technology is increasingly being used by individuals and organizations to support disaster response and humanitarian causes. The Satellite Sentinel Project is an important undertaking and we're proud that Google Map Maker, a tool that enables users to contribute and edit map data for over 190 countries and regions around the world, is being used as its mapping platform,&quot; a Google representative said today in an e-mail to CNET.Not On Our Watch, for its part, has provided enough funding to run the program for at least six months and is acting as a media conduit to shed light on the issue and encourage political action to deter the violence.In addition to the images and mapping, the Satellite Sentinel also has a blog about the situation in the Sudan and is posting the field reports from workers in organizations like the Enough Project.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google eyes 'cloaking' as next antispam target]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-eyes-cloaking-as-next-antispam-target</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-eyes-cloaking-as-next-antispam-target</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bobmarley</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-eyes-cloaking-as-next-antispam-target</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Those obsessed with where Google ranks their Web site have a new topic to mull over: cloaking. Google's Matt Cutts, in charge of much of the search giant's antispam efforts, tweeted over the past week that Google plans to take a closer look at the practice of &quot;cloaking,&quot; or presenting one look to a Googlebot crawling one's site while presenting another look to users. This can include &quot;serving a page of HTML text to search engines, while showing a page of images or Flash to users,&quot; according to Google's Webmaster Central help pages, but Cutts implied that Google was looking beyond page content in its renewed emphasis on cloaking by suggesting that Webmasters &quot;avoid different headers/redirects to Googlebot instead of users.&quot; As with just about any change that Google announces to its secret and powerful Web ranking recipe, Webmasters immediately started to freak out (to a certain extent) over what exactly Cutts meant in his tweet. Search Engine Land summed up some of the reaction, which initially appears to center on whether or not legitimate sites that are serving up rich media files will get caught up in a Google purge, or sites that present mobile-optimized content to those withmobile browsers will get punished. Still, it's rare for Cutts and Google to announce this type of algorithmic shift so publicly, which implies they're giving Webmasters a warning shot in order to reexamine their sites before the ranking changes go into effect, and that rankings may be a little fluid as it rolls out.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Lookout raises $19.5 million for smartphone security]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lookout-raises-19-5-million-for-smartphone-security</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lookout-raises-19-5-million-for-smartphone-security</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:10:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>gumueges</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lookout-raises-19-5-million-for-smartphone-security</guid>
<description><![CDATA[John Hering, co-founder and chief executive of Lookout(Credit:James Martin/CNET)Lookout Mobile Security, which specializes in armoring smartphones from hackers, said today that it's raised an additional $19.5 million in funding.The San Francisco-based startup says it now has nearly 50 employees and about four million registered users of its software, which includes a spyware scanner, remote backups, and a stolen phone locator. That's up from a reported two million users in September and three million in November.Lookout's security apps currently are available for Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile. In an interview with CNET, Lookout CEO John Hering said aniPhone version will be &quot;coming very shortly&quot; and customers should expect to &quot;see something in 2011.&quot;New features in Apple's iOS 4 operating system, announced in April and made available a few months later, aid development, Hering said. Those changes &quot;enable us to do quite a bit more,&quot; he said.Some of Lookout's features, like remote wipe and and a more comprehensive remote backup, are available only to customers who purchase the premium version for $3 a month. (Here's our review of the Lookout Premium service from last month.)Today's funding round came from Index Ventures and existing investors Accel Partners and Khosla Ventures.CNET's Elinor Mills contributed to this report.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Computer hardware online sales heat up holidays]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=computer-hardware-online-sales-heat-up-holidays</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=computer-hardware-online-sales-heat-up-holidays</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Cristoph-i</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=computer-hardware-online-sales-heat-up-holidays</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Computer hardware is hot among holiday buyers this season, according to data out yesterday from ComScore.As online buyers scoop up iPads, e-readers, laptops, and other portable devices, computer hardware is ringing in the holidays as the product category showing the most growth for the season so far, a 25 percent increase compared with last year.Lower prices on flat-panel TVs is spurring growth in consumer electronics, helping that category grow 22 percent among online buyers over the same period last year, says ComScore. Books and magazines are also proving to be a popular gift item, up 21 percent from last year.Capping off the online product categories that showed the most growth over last year are computer software (not counting games), which grew 16 percent, and toys, which are up 15 percent.ComScore's data compares online sales for the first 47 days of the November-December holiday shopping season, which this year covers November 1 to December 17.(Credit:ComScore)Overall, online sales this year have been quite a bit merrier than in 2009. For the season to date, cybershoppers have spent a total of $27.46 billion, according to ComScore, a 12 percent increase over last year. For the week ending December 17, sales hit $5.15 billion, up 14 percent from 2009.In November, Cyber Monday alone saw $1 billion in sales, said ComScore, a 16 percent gain in sales over the same day last year and the heaviest online spending day in history.Retail promotions, notably free shipping, have also helped. More than 1,500 online vendors participated in a Free Shipping Day on December 17, leading to sales of $942 million, a 61 percent jump over the corresponding day last year when there was no such promotion.&quot;Free shipping has certainly become one of the prevalent themes of the 2010 holiday season,&quot; ComScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement. &quot;Since the week before Thanksgiving, we've seen the majority of online retail transactions use free shipping, which confirms the appeal of the offer for consumers. Free Shipping Day also appears to have driven a sustained late-season response, with free shipping transactions accelerating in importance in 2010 whereas they actually began to decline during the same period in 2009.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Official PlayStation app coming to iPhone, Android]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=official-playstation-app-coming-to-iphone-android</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=official-playstation-app-coming-to-iphone-android</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>monwanwanjis</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=official-playstation-app-coming-to-iphone-android</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sony&amp;39's Official PlayStation App running on the iPhone 4.(Credit:Sony)Sony has unveiled aPlayStation app for theiPhone,iPod Touch, and Android-based devices. The product, appropriately dubbed the Official PlayStation App, will enable people to access the PlayStation Network to see their trophies and check on their friends' status, as well as see news related to Sony's gaming ecosystem. The app will also include a social feature for users to share information on Facebook, Twitter, or through e-mail. There was no mention of gameplay in the announcement, which surfaced on PlayStation's European blog. The free app will be available to those running iOS 4 or Android 1.6 and higher. Sony didn't offer a release date on the app but did say it will be initially available in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. A U.S. launch was not mentioned, and a company representative did not immediately respond to request for comment. Sony isn't alone in trying to capitalize on the mobile space. Xbox Live functionality is available on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform. The app allows people to communicate with their Xbox Live friends, as well as play titles on their devices. Along the way, gamers can earn achievements and improve their Gamerscore from their smartphones. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hotmail update lets you surf inside of e-mails]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hotmail-update-lets-you-surf-inside-of-e-mails</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hotmail-update-lets-you-surf-inside-of-e-mails</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>enochkeonc</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hotmail-update-lets-you-surf-inside-of-e-mails</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Hotmail is rolling out a new platform this morning called Active Views that lets users surf through certain Web sites from inside of e-mail messages.But it's not just any message where this functionality is enabled. Instead, Microsoft has partnered with specific companies as part of the launch to give users a way to do common tasks like searching and account management. Some of the first ones on that list are Orbitz and Monster.com, with Netflix and LinkedIn soon to follow.When a Hotmail user gets an e-mail from one of these companies, they'll be able to use parts of that site from right inside the message. For something like Orbitz, the change means users who get something like a travel sale alert, could then do a search for a trip, and have the results page load up within the message frame. Previously this would have jettisoned users out of Hotmail and into another tab or window. In a post on Microsoft's Windows Team Blog announcing the feature, Hotmail Group Program Manager Dick Craddock said this functionality is aimed at making HTML-based e-mails less static, and had not been added in the past due to security concerns. &quot;There has simply been no way to run JavaScript code within e-mail messages in such a way that it's isolated and not allowed to do malicious things on your computer,&quot; Craddock said. The way the company has gotten around the security issue has been to create a white list of senders that can run code inside of messages, as well as partnering with e-mail service providers like Responsys to make sure Active Views-enabled messages move past spam filters. Yahoo and Google have offered similar special treatment to senders in their Web mail services. Google less so, simply by flagging e-mails from senders like PayPal and eBay to help users determine real e-mails from phishing schemes. Yahoo, however, has had a program running for the past year and a half that puts some application functionality inside of Yahoo Mail, so that users don't need to leave the in-box experience to take care of some everyday tasks. Microsoft says Active Views is being introduced as part of a pilot with just a handful of companies, but it will eventually open it up to anyone. Below is a demo video of how it works:<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[U.S. Cellular rolls outs unlimited prepaid plans for texters]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--cellular-rolls-outs-unlimited-prepaid-plans-for-texters</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--cellular-rolls-outs-unlimited-prepaid-plans-for-texters</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Dec 2010 08:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>BestyMerryBMW</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=u-s--cellular-rolls-outs-unlimited-prepaid-plans-for-texters</guid>
<description><![CDATA[U.S. Cellular rings in the holiday season with three affordable prepaid plans that will make messaging fans happy. They are $29, $39, and $49 respectively, and all include unlimited messaging.  The $29 per month plan has 200 minutes, the $39 option has 400 minutes plus 5GB of mobile surfing, and the $49 plan has 1,000 minutes. Interestingly, the $29 and $49 plans don't include the mobile surfing plan. If you want an all-in-one option, U.S. Cellular does offer a $69.99 Primary Plus plan that includes unlimited voice, text, and 5GB of data. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[EC launches antitrust probe against Google]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ec-launches-antitrust-probe-against-google</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ec-launches-antitrust-probe-against-google</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Pooja01</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ec-launches-antitrust-probe-against-google</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The European Commission announced today that it's opening an investigation of Google over alleged antitrust practices in the European Union.The probe was triggered by complaints from three search providers, which claim that Google has stifled them by unfairly manipulating certain factors related to both unpaid and paid search results.The search providers leveling the charges are Foundem, a U.K. price comparison site' ejustice.fr, a French legal search engine' and Ciao, a U.K. search engine owned by Microsoft. These three Web sites offer vertical search services, which means they provide users with specific online information, such as price comparisons.As part of its probe, the EC said it will examine whether Google lowered the rankings of the services provided by the three Web sites while giving its own vertical services preferential treatment in unpaid search results.Further, the Commission will check into allegations that Google lowered the &quot;Quality Score&quot; for paid, sponsored links of the three competing vertical search providers, a complaint made by Foundem, according to Google. The Quality Score is one factor that determines the price advertisers pay to Google. If two advertisers use the same keywords, the one with the lower Quality Score has to pay more to rank evenly with the one that has the higher score.Finally, the EC will examine whether Google imposed exclusivity obligations on advertisers, a complaint that Google said was raised by Ciao. Such obligations would prevent advertisers from using the same ads they use on Google on their own Web sites or on competing search engines such as Bing and Yahoo.With Google presumed innocent unless proven guilty, the EC said that the probe doesn't imply that it has any proof of antitrust violations. &quot;It only signifies that the commission will conduct an in-depth investigation of the case as a matter of priority,&quot; the Commission said in a statement.The EC first looked into the complaints from the three search providers back in February. At that time, a Google blog defended the company's position saying that its search results are based on algorithms that try to take into account what people may find the most useful. Google also said that it has nothing against vertical search providers and that certain ones rank high in its results.In a response to a request for comment, a Google spokesman e-mailed CNET its statement on the probe:&quot;Since we started Google we have worked hard to do the right thing by our users and our industry, ensuring that ads are always clearly marked, making it easy for users to take their data with them when they switch services and investing heavily in open source projects. But there's always going to be room for improvement, and so we'll be working with the Commission to address any concerns.&quot;Google also defended its ranking system to CNET, explaining that its algorithms rank higher-quality and more relevant sites above lower-quality and less relevant sites. Some sites unhappy with their rankings have sued Google over the years, but those were suits the company said it has won.Looking at the sites that triggered the EU's probe, Google said that both it and independent sources have found them to generally be of lower quality. The company cited Foundem's content as being duplicated from other Web sites, a factor that has led to its low ranking in search results. Ejustice.fr uses Google's own search service to provide its results, another factor that has resulted in a low ranking.In addressing the complaints made by Ciao over exclusivity obligations, Google said its advertisers are not restricted from advertising on other search engines and that they're free to use platforms other than AdSense, Google's online ad network, on other sites.Google added that it previously had a good relationship with Ciao, which was a long-time partner of AdSense. But when Ciao was bought by Microsoft in 2008, the relationship apparently turned sour as Google began hearing complaints about the terms and conditions of its contract from Ciao.Updated at 8:56 a.m. PT with additional background and comment from Google.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Webroot's safety tips for holiday online shopping]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=webroots-safety-tips-for-holiday-online-shopping</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=webroots-safety-tips-for-holiday-online-shopping</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>carecraige889</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=webroots-safety-tips-for-holiday-online-shopping</guid>
<description><![CDATA[With a new survey finding that half of the people polled plan to shop online for the holidays, security company Webroot offers some tips and tricks for staying safe in cyberspace.Among the more than 2,660 consumers surveyed in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia by Webroot, 55 percent said they do plan to buy at least half of their holiday gifts online, a rise from 38 percent last year. But some of those people also plan to use search engines and public Wi-Fi to purchase those presents, activities that Webroot says could put buyers at risk.Specifically, 48 percent of those polled plan to use search engines for online shopping rather than going directly to a vendor's Web site. Among those folks, 59 percent said they trust the first few pages of results from a search, even though Webroot points out that search results have become more of a target for malicious links.Of all the consumers questioned, 18 percent said they're likely to use a public Wi-Fi network to pay for presents online, a slight rise from 12 percent last year. And 23 percent of all those polled said they feel completely safe shopping over a free, public Wi-Fi connection.Many don't look for the right signs when shopping online. Webroot found that 52 percent don't check for a secure https connection before spending money, while 50 percent don't watch for the padlock in the browser's status bar before shelling out their money.On the plus side, 72 percent of the respondents said they use complex passwords. But only 37 percent use different passwords for each site where they shop.&quot;This holiday season, we want to make it easy for people to buy gifts online safely,&quot; Jeff Horne, threat research director at Webroot, said in a statement. &quot;Through our survey, we learned that one in seven respondents has already become a victim of credit, debit, or PayPal account fraud this year. In addition, 57 percent received phishing emails from bogus sources claiming to be a legitimate company--something we see rise around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To end the year on a safe note, we urge all online shoppers to adopt some best practices before breaking out their holiday gift lists.&quot;Toward that end, Webroot has compiled a list of five tips for safe shopping online:1. &quot;Go straight to the site.&quot; Rather than browse to online retailers through a search engine where you may encounter malicious links, type the store's URL directly in your browser.2. &quot;Be strict about passwords.&quot; Use a different password for each site, don't let the browser store passwords for you, and consider using a password manager instead of writing down all your passwords manually.3. &quot;Look for the 'signs of security.'&quot; Always look for the https prefix in the URL and the padlock icon in the browser's status bar. If you shop at an online retailer that uses SSL encryption, make sure the address bar turns green as a signal that the page is secure.4. &quot;Keep PayPal your pal.&quot; Check your PayPal accounts frequently to look out for any fraud. Use a credit card rather than a debit card online so you can stop payments quickly in the event of a problem.5. &quot;Watch for seasonal scams.&quot; Be cautious with e-mails claiming to be shipping confirmation or package alerts that force you to open a file attachment. Delete any message that claims to provide tracking information but doesn't include a tracking number. Your best bet is to track a package through the retailer's or shipper's Web site.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Wolfram gives Mathematica 8 a human touch]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wolfram-gives-mathematica-8-a-human-touch</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wolfram-gives-mathematica-8-a-human-touch</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>resminmin23</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wolfram-gives-mathematica-8-a-human-touch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Mathematica 8 can solve mazes.(Credit:Wolfram Research)Wolfram Research has released Mathematica 8, bringing some rudimentary human-language skills to the mathematics and scientific software by building in some abilities of the Wolfram Alpha search engine.It's an unusual combination. Mathematica can produce stunning graphical displays and dig into the murkiest data sets, but only for those who learn its control language.&quot;Free-form linguistics understands human language and translates it into syntax--a breakthrough in usability,&quot; said Chief Executive Stephen Wolfram in a statement.Well, the Alpha language can't exactly give Mathematica the ability to chat at cocktail parties. But it can understand the command &quot;pi 20 0digits&quot; and translate it into the more rigorous Mathematica command of &quot;N[Pi, 200].&quot;If you know how to estimate multivariate nonparametric probabilities and expectations, Mathematica 8 can help you along.(Credit:Wolfram Research)When the commands work, they're translated into Mathematica form for those learning its intricacies, the company said. And they improve as the Wolfram Alpha service improves, independent of the software. Wolfram Alpha also connects Mathematica to the service's curated data sets.On a more nuts-and-bolts level, Mathematica pushes forward into ever more arcane areas of math, engineering, and science--probability and statistics, group theory, waveform analysis, image processing, financial derivatives calculations, and constructing a Kalman filter for a stochastic system.Under the covers, Mathematica gets new hardware abilities. It now can tap into the power of graphics chips, either using Nvidia's CUDA architecture or the more general OpenCL interface developed by Apple and the Khronos Group.Mathematica is expensive. There are discounts for nonprofits, hobbyists, academics, and group uses, but the basic software for a single user is more than $3,000.Mathematica 8 can plot the structure of a corporate Web site.(Credit:Wolfram Research)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google's Search app comes to Windows Phone 7]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googles-search-app-comes-to-windows-phone-7</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googles-search-app-comes-to-windows-phone-7</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Aragon</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googles-search-app-comes-to-windows-phone-7</guid>
<description><![CDATA[While Microsoft and Google continue to be fierce tech rivals, Web search is just one of those areas where it pays (literally) to be on as many platforms as possible--even if it's the other guy's. That much can be seen with this morning's introduction of a Google Search application for Windows Phone 7. The app, which can be found in theWindows Phone 7 Marketplace by searching for &quot;Google Search,&quot; lets WP7 users use Google's mobile search. Like Microsoft's apps on iOS and Android, it taps into things like your phone's location to add geo-awareness to your Web searches, along with suggestions as you type.Missing from this version, although sure to be offered in a future update, is Google Instant, which made it to iOS and Android phones just last week. When that gets added, it will bring up result pages as users type. Windows Phone 7 hits stores in North America today, after a three week head start in Europe and Australia. Google&amp;39's search on Windows Phone 7. (Credit:Google)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Kids want iPhones, iPads over toys for holidays]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kids-want-iphones-ipads-over-toys-for-holidays</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kids-want-iphones-ipads-over-toys-for-holidays</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:22:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Cheery</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=kids-want-iphones-ipads-over-toys-for-holidays</guid>
<description><![CDATA[&amp;quot'Santa heard my call for an iPod!&amp;quot'(Credit:somegeekintn/flickr)Santa might as well make his elves redundant: kids would rather Steve Jobs fill their stockings with expensive Apple gear. TheiPhone 4,iPod Touch andiPad were the three most wanted gifts among children aged 5 to 16, according to the Duracell Toy Report, the Telegraph reports. Nearly 4 in 10 children questioned wanted something from the Apple cave of wonders this year. Read more of &quot;Kids want iPhones and iPads rather than toys for Christmas&quot; at Crave UK.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Verizon Wireless subscription growth slows]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-wireless-subscription-growth-slows</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-wireless-subscription-growth-slows</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:23:46 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kareena</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-wireless-subscription-growth-slows</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Verizon Communications saw revenue slip in the third quarter of 2010 as it experienced a decline in wireless subscribers.For the third quarter of 2010, Verizon today reported a profit of $881 million, or 31 cents a share. This was down from $1.18 billion, or 41 cents a share, during the same quarter a year earlier. Excluding certain items, such as merger and restructuring costs, earnings dropped to 56 cents per share from 60 cents and revenue declined 2.9 percent to $26.5 billion. Analysts had expected Verizon to report earnings of 54 cents on $26.3 billion in revenue.Verizon's wireless business struggled to keep up with rival AT&amp;T during the quarter. Verizon added 997,000 new wireless customers in the third quarter, compared with 1.2 million customers a year before. The company added 584,000 &quot;postpaid&quot; subscribers, or those who have contracts.Meanwhile, AT&amp;T, which announced third-quarter earnings yesterday, said it added 2.6 million new subscribers during the quarter. AT&amp;T added 745,000 postpaid subscribers, of which about 80 percent of whom were using smartphones.AT&amp;T's smartphone growth was fueled by sales of theApple iPhone. AT&amp;T has had an exclusive deal to sell the iPhone in the U.S. since the device's launch 2007. There are rumors that Verizon will get a version of the phone starting in January.Verizon has invested heavily in theGoogle Android platform, selling smartphones called Droids to compete against the iPhone. These devices, made mostly by Motorola and HTC, have done well for Verizon. But the third quarter demonstrates, these devices are still no iPhone. A Verizon iPhone could have a big effect on sales and subscription levels.Verizon also reported that its wireline business added 204,000 subscribers to its Fios Internet and TV, for a total of 3.3 million, up 26 percent from last year.During the quarterly conference call, Verizon executives confirmed that it will begin offering a tiered pricing plan as part of a promotion around the holidays. CFO John Killian said the company believes it will have a unique approach to pricing data services. He confirmed that the company will offer a $15 plan that will offer 150 Megabytes of data per month along with the company's $30 unlimited plan. The new $15 a month plan is designed to entice customers to upgrade to smartphones.He wouldn't comment on what the new pricing plans will look like long term. But he said that changes are likely to occur as Verizon rolls out its 4G LTE network in 38 markets later this year. &quot;We like the concept of tiered pricing,&quot; said Killian, &quot;but we will continue to look at this. We will probably have some pricing changes when we roll out 4G and 4G pricing, so there will be more to come then.&quot;  Updated at 11:10 a.m. PDTwith information from the conference call.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Future Will Be&nbsp'Personalized]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-future-will-benbsppersonalized</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-future-will-benbsppersonalized</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>edhardyclothes0</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-future-will-benbsppersonalized</guid>
<description><![CDATA[When my partners and I joined MySpace, we were lucky enough to be at the leading edge of the social revolution that changed how we use the Internet. A new groundswell is coming, transforming the web once again: the personal revolution. Information OverloadToday, we live in a world where wea4a4re constantly overwhelmed by information. There are over 90M tweets per day, 34 hours of YouTube video uploaded every minute, and every Facebook user has an average of 130 friends who are becoming more and more active all the time. We also experience this with content farms flooding search results and with the thousands of articles available everyday on traditional websites like the New York Times and ESPN: of which only a handful appeal to each of our individual interests.The rampant proliferation of information isna4a4t a new phenomenon. The signal-to-noise ratio on the web has fluctuated substantially as new technology to organize information has battled with new technology to create and distribute information.  Their Web: The Early Days of The InternetIn the early days, content was created and organized by professionals. At first, it was contained in networks like AOL, one of the pioneers of the Internet. As the Internet opened up, Yahoo! brilliantly organized the open web with Yahoo! Directory. But eventually the volume of the information overloaded even the directory, and search companies like Google introduced a better way to find content we were interested in. By understanding how sites linked to each other, Google applied new science to find a solution within the problem itself. It worked so well, every website is search engine optimized for this framework.Our Web: Present DayIn 2003, user-generated content hit the mainstream via sites like MySpace and YouTube, and the volume of information being created increased dramatically.a4AEvery two days, we create as much information as we did up to 2003.a4 a4&quot;Eric Schmidt, CEO of GoogleSearch engines werena4a4t designed to effectively organize this social and real-time data. So innovative companies like Facebook and Twitter created a social filter by empowering our friends and people we trust to organize information for us. This new filter has given us access to more and better information than we ever thought possible. Like search, ita4a4s so effective, every website is socially optimized for this framework.Many of you reading this are avid users of social technology. Like me, youa4a4re probably beginning to experience information overload in your social streams. Therea4a4s great content there, but ita4a4s getting increasingly difficult to find it. In engineering terms, the signal-to-noise ratio is dropping (or, as a corollary, the work-to-reward ratio is increasing). And, as more people become more active in the social and real-time web, the problem will only get worse.Your Web: The FutureImagine opening up any web page or application and being presented with an experience thata4a4s entirely personalized to you. Go to ESPN.com and see stories about the sports you love and teams you follow featured on the top. Check your daily Groupon for deals that map to your interests. Receive updates from Foursquare about restaurants youa4a4ll want to visit. This is where things are headed. Ita4a4s about shifting from you trying to find the right information to the right information finding you.In the past, we lacked the data and the technology to make this type of personal experience a reality. But thata4a4s changing quickly. The abundant social data thata4a4s overwhelming our social streams not only presents a problem but the solution. Using natural language processing and semantic analysis to evaluate your tweets, status updates, like, shares, and check-ins, ita4a4s possible to build a holistic understanding of who you are and what youa4a4re interested in.Once the web knows your interests, it can start to changea4 Any website or app can use knowledge of your interests in order to give you a personal experience.Music followed a similar evolutionary path. Music discovery has grown from being curated by professionals (DJa4a4s, MTV) to being introduced socially (mixed tapes, playlists) to being organized around your personal interests (Pandora).All of this doesna4a4t mean that editors go away or your friendsa4a4 referrals dona4a4t matter. Rather, ita4a4s a new lens focused entirely on you. Building the Personal Web: Enter Gravitya4a4s Interest GraphIncredible academic and commercial research in the fields of natural language processing and semantic technology has built the groundwork for where we are today. Still we have a long way to go before the personal web is a reality. Gravity will be one of many companies working on the personal web in the coming years. Our platform will allow partners to personalize their experiences when a user connects to the service. The basis for our platform is what we call the Interest Graph, an online representation of your interests, including your strength of attachment and its trajectory over time.To view your Interest Graph right now and help us tune our algorithms, wea4a4d love for you to play Twinterest (gravity.com/labs) and send us feedback.Editor&amp;'s Note: This is a guest post by Amit Kapur, the cofounder and CEO of Gravity.CrunchBase InformationAmit KapurInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sequoia-Instagram Deal Appears to Be Pure Rumor' That Said, Let the Bidding&nbsp'Begin]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sequoia-instagram-deal-appears-to-be-pure-rumor-that-said-let-the-biddingnbspbegin</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sequoia-instagram-deal-appears-to-be-pure-rumor-that-said-let-the-biddingnbspbegin</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kaushalbuddy4u</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sequoia-instagram-deal-appears-to-be-pure-rumor-that-said-let-the-biddingnbspbegin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It&amp;'s a chaotic week for Instagram. First it becomes the darling of the app world, then its investors Andreessen-Horowitz decide to double-down on competitor Picplz instead, effectively making the company an orphan. Of course it&amp;'s one sexy little orphan half of Sand Hill Road would just love to adopt. (Insert Amazon joke here.)a4sCue swirling rumors that Instagram is in the process of putting together a series A and even weirder rumors that the company is selling to Facebook. We&amp;'ve called Instagram, people close to Instagram and the top five likely suspects that would be doing the deal or have knowledge of that deal and every single one has told us both rumors seem made up out of whole cloth, and that while the company has had the normal &amp;''Ok, we&amp;'ll call you when we&amp;'re ready&amp;'' conversations around the Valley, no deal is imminent.&amp;''We&amp;'re not selling to Facebook, we are not selling to anyone and we are announcing that to our users because they have been worried,&amp;'' Instagram CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom says. &amp;''Of course at some point we&amp;'re going to be raising a round, but I haven&amp;'t even created a pitch deck. I haven&amp;'t signed a term sheet. We&amp;'re sitting in the office programming all day. We&amp;'re just not at the stage where we need to raise a series A.&amp;''Indeed, the rumors seem to have caused more problems in the short term for the hot, young company. Several investors I spoke with who&amp;'d been promised a hearing when Instagram was ready to raise money woke up today to stories saying the deal was already underway. According to a few sources, Instagram has had to do some damage control telling investors as late as this afternoon that indeed, there is no deal on the table and they still promise to give the irked VCs a hearing when they&amp;'re ready.So where did the rumors come from It&amp;'s possible they came from a misunderstanding, a VC hoping to get the company moving or from someone connected to Instagram, hoping to spin the orphan-story in a new positive direction. The first seems the most likely. I don&amp;'t think it&amp;'s the last one. This isn&amp;'t a company that needs to bait the press with false rumors to get a good deal. At the end of the day it&amp;'s all a moot point. In today&amp;'s venture world, any startup this hot can raise money by snapping their fingers. Not that they needed it, but the story probably served to get more bidders in the deal, which will no doubt push the valuation higher than companies are already getting in these inflated times.a4sThe story may not be true, but it may well turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Stories like these are a hard call to even write, because at some point, we all know the company will raise money. That&amp;'s how startups work. But given that we haven&amp;'t found a single source to confirm it on or off the record it feels worth noting.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Why Verizon&'s iPhone spells the end of the golden age for carriers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=why-verizonrsquos-iphone-spells-the-end-of-the-golden-age-for-carriers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=why-verizonrsquos-iphone-spells-the-end-of-the-golden-age-for-carriers</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>onlinemarket9</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=why-verizonrsquos-iphone-spells-the-end-of-the-golden-age-for-carriers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[At Tuesday&amp;'s launch event for the Verizon iPhone, Verizon Wireless displayed an inadvertently ironic slogan: &amp;''Rule the air.&amp;''What the actual news revealed was that Verizon &amp;8212' and other wireless carriers &amp;8212' can no longer make that claim. The Verizon iPhone is exactly the same as the AT&amp;amp'T iPhone, just on a different network &amp;8212' and not even on Verizon&amp;'s fastest, latest network, which could have showcased Verizon&amp;'s strengths.In the U.S., carriers historically had enormous power over handset makers. Because they heavily subsidized the phones consumers bought, they negotiated wholesale pricing and then decided what to charge consumers. It&amp;'s a game that the old Palm, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, Motorola, and others learned to play.Then along came Apple with the iPhone. It signed up AT&amp;amp'T, then badly trailing Verizon, as its exclusive carrier, but kept both carriers mostly in the dark as to the iPhone&amp;'s workings. AT&amp;amp'T struggled to keep up with the load iPhone users placed on its data network, taking most of the PR hit for failings that may have had as much to do with the iPhone&amp;'s immature hardware and software as with AT&amp;amp'T&amp;'s network.The most attractive thing about the iPhone, of course, is its apps. But those run the same on the Verizon iPhone as on AT&amp;amp'T, all things (like local coverage) being equal. If you&amp;'re on a Wi-Fi network, how would you even know what carrier you&amp;'re onGoogle hoped to shift the industry in this carrier-free direction, but it overreached with its unlocked Nexus One, discovering belatedly that wireless carriers&amp;' subpar customer service was better than none at all and that consumers, not surprisingly, preferred the lower prices provided by subsidies.Apple has found a smarter way to hack the carriers&amp;' business models: with cold, hard, cash. While carriers pay top dollar for iPhones wholesale &amp;8212' $350 to $400, analysts estimate &amp;8212' they more than make it up with data charges, as the results for AT&amp;amp'T and other iPhone partners have shown. Those data profits, not to mention blockbuster sales numbers, have made it worth the compromises Apple has demanded &amp;8212' like a complete lack of input into the design of iPhone&amp;'s hardware and software.So the Verizon iPhone points the way to the carriers&amp;' sad if profitable future: They&amp;'ll be no more than dumb pipes for smartphones &amp;8212' phones that other people, who are far cleverer at the job of building hardware and software, design and build.Next Story: Toyota Prius Plug-In: Can it measure up to Chevrolet, Ford and Nissan&amp;'s offerings Previous Story: New Verizon model could boost iPhone shipments by 12M in 2011PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: iPhone, iPhone 4, smartphonesCompanies: Apple, AT&amp;amp'T, Google, Verizon, Verizon Wireless          Tags: iPhone, iPhone 4, smartphonesCompanies: Apple, AT&amp;amp'T, Google, Verizon, Verizon WirelessOwen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[WITN: Ita4a4s Tuesday so it must be&nbsp'Jakarta]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=witn-itrsquos-tuesday-so-it-must-benbspjakarta</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=witn-itrsquos-tuesday-so-it-must-benbspjakarta</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dieterwinkel</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=witn-itrsquos-tuesday-so-it-must-benbspjakarta</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Saraha4a4s  latest whistle-stop tour of emerging markets has reached Indonesia,  where shea4a4ll be covering &amp;8211' and helping with &amp;8211' a start-up competition. But  before all the excitement kicks off, she called in from Skype to explain  the differences between Singapore (her previous stop) and Jakarta.Video below.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[China is blocking coverage of Egypt protests on Twitter-like services]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=china-is-blocking-coverage-of-egypt-protests-on-twitter-like-services</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=china-is-blocking-coverage-of-egypt-protests-on-twitter-like-services</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>IchMachsDirHeute</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=china-is-blocking-coverage-of-egypt-protests-on-twitter-like-services</guid>
<description><![CDATA[China appears to be trying to limit public knowledge of the unrest in Egypt. Over the weekend, Chinese Twitter-like services run by Sina, Tencent and Sohu blocked the word &amp;''Egypt&amp;'' from being used in microblogging messages passed around by users.A search for a4AEgypta4 on Sina brings up a message saying, a4AAccording to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not shown.a4The country&amp;'s censors also deleted comments from the limited online news coverage of the protests in Egypt in an effort to block independent commentary on the events, according to the Wall Street Journal.Sina, Tecent and Sohu have hundreds of millions of users, and clearly, the Chinese government doesn&amp;'t want those services to become forums for discussing popular revolts. It&amp;'s been more than 20 years since China had its own brush with rebellion in the Tiananmen Square protests, but images out of Egypt showing protesters standing up to water cannon trucks just as a solitary Chinese man stood up to a column of tanks just off of Tiananmen Square has got to bring back the memories. And those memories will produce a lot of fear among Chinese authorities. If microblogging had been around in those days, as well as text messages, maybe things might have turned out differently for the protesters in China.The Egyptian government has been trying to stop protests from being organized by shutting down the internet. So far, it hasn&amp;'t worked. China, with its infrastructure of censorship already in place, has a much easier job of filtering what gets through to its citizens.Next Story: Applea4a4s Wozniak confirms white iPhone 4 camera issues, showers more love on Android Previous Story: Mark Zuckerberg meets The Social Network&amp;'s Jesse Eisenberg on Saturday Night LivePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: China, Egypt, Tiananmen Square, TunisiaCompanies: Sina, Sohu, Tencent, Twitter          Tags: China, Egypt, Tiananmen Square, TunisiaCompanies: Sina, Sohu, Tencent, TwitterDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Zynga to launch its first Android social game]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-to-launch-its-first-android-social-game</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-to-launch-its-first-android-social-game</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>poojaagarwal91</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=zynga-to-launch-its-first-android-social-game</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Social game maker Zynga said it&amp;'s launching games on Android-based mobile phones, beginning with Live Poker. The company, which has become famous for its games on Facebook, recently launched games on Apple&amp;'s iPhone. Its support for Android is a vote of confidence for the mobile operating system from Google, which is trying to challenge Apple.Zynga made the announcement at Facebook&amp;'s mobile event today.Zynga launched FarmVille for the iPhone earlier this summer and is developing games for mobile phones in Japan as well. Each time it adds a new platform, it has to figure out if the cost of adapting its games is worth the effort.Android has been a relatively weak platform for games, largely because of problems with Google&amp;'s Android Market. That makes it hard to do well with games that are sold as downloads on Android. But companies such as Rovio have had big hits launching free ad-supported games on Android phones, such as Angry Birds.San Francisco-based Zynga said it has no other details to announce about the game yet. Zynga&amp;'s game will take advantage of single-sign-on, a new feature from Facebook that allows users to avoid typing in numerous user names and passwords to access multiple apps on a mobile phone' instead, users can simply log into their Facebook account, and Facebook will automatically sign them in to other apps.Next Story: StumbleUpon brings its discovery tools to Android apps Previous Story: Sempra Energy: Consumers are slowly embracing Google PowerMeterPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Live PokerCompanies: Facebook, Zynga          Tags: Live PokerCompanies: Facebook, ZyngaDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Deals &038' More: Earth Aid gets $4M to manage household energy use]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=deals-038-more-earth-aid-gets-4m-to-manage-household-energy-use</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=deals-038-more-earth-aid-gets-4m-to-manage-household-energy-use</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tiresandco</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=deals-038-more-earth-aid-gets-4m-to-manage-household-energy-use</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Today&amp;'s funding announcements include web sites that aggregate energy use, social media news and pop music stories:Earth Aid brings in $4M to lower energy bills: The Washington, D.C.-based company has raised a first round of funding led by Point Judith Capital for its home energy management service, the company announced today. The web-based platform lets users monitor utility usage and spend without the need for new hardware or software, and the company rewards users when they save energy.Storify gets $2M for social media-based news stories: The aggregation site has raised a first round of funding from Khosla Ventures. Co-founded by a former journalist, the site lets users pull content from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other sites together into a single story. Launched in September, the San Francisco-based startup&amp;'s stories have already been viewed more than 4.5M times.Popdust grabs $1M for pop music news coverage: The publisher of original music content has raised afirst round of funding led by Lerer Media Ventures to accelerate growth of the site. Based in New York,Popdust produces news with a focus on mainstream artists.Mobestream raises $1.75M to consolidate your loyalty cards: The developer of Key Ring, a free smart phone app, has raised a first round of funding from Austin Ventures to store all of a customer&amp;'s loyalty cards in a single place. The Dallas-based company plans to hire ten new employees with the funding.Next Story: Be your startupa4a4s only board member Previous Story: Nokia recruits Silicon Valley developers, says good things are comingPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: Austin Ventures, Earth Aid, Key Ring, Khosla Ventures, Lerer Media Ventures, Mobestream, Point Judith Capital, Popdust, Storify          Companies: Austin Ventures, Earth Aid, Key Ring, Khosla Ventures, Lerer Media Ventures, Mobestream, Point Judith Capital, Popdust, Storify Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook&'s new login for the Web could ruffle feathers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebookrsquos-new-login-for-the-web-could-ruffle-feathers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebookrsquos-new-login-for-the-web-could-ruffle-feathers</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Niki</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebookrsquos-new-login-for-the-web-could-ruffle-feathers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Facebook has launched a new registration tool that lets website developers provide a quick and easy way for users to sign up using their data from Facebook.The tool, a counterpart to Facebook Login, involves customizing and inserting a small amount of code into a website&amp;'s pages, which then operates as a signup form.Website developers can ask for specific fields required for an account (for example: name, birthday, gender, location, email), or add custom fields and dropdowns of their own. All the information contained by Facebook is automatically filled into these fields, which users hand over to the website when they click &amp;''Register.&amp;'' If the website doesn&amp;'t require a Facebook account to signup, the form can also operate as a standalone signup form.At a time when every website seems to work with its own signup process, the move comes as an attempt by Facebook to simplify matters for consumers. But at the same time, Facebook has everything to gain by acting as the middleman for signups and having more Web developers work with Facebook&amp;'s code.Is this good for users Facebook is essentially asking its users to allow it to hand over their data to third-party sites.It serves a longstanding goal of Facebook, which is to get users to use one consistent and real identity &amp;8212' their Facebook identity &amp;8212' across the Web.But users may rebel. Most trust Facebook with their birthdays, for example, because it allows their friends to shower them with birthday greetings, but may hesitate at entering their real birthday to an unknown website. And Facebook, not that site, will face the backlash.In a year when every other Facebook announcement seems to have instigated a privacy backlash, one wonders about the kind of response this announcement will generate as websites begin incorporating it. There&amp;'s surely mischief that can be accomplished with it. As Facebook spreads its wings even further, which new feathers will it rufflePrevious Story: Oracle sets eyes on HP after posting strong second quarterPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Facebook Login, privacy, securityCompanies: Facebook          Tags: Facebook Login, privacy, securityCompanies: FacebookSid Yadav is a contributor to VentureBeat. He currently studies computer science and psychology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He is also the creator of Memiary, a micro-diary utility. You can reach him at sidyadav@gmail.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @sidyadav.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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