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<title>Haaze.com / Torrie / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:11:32 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[DirecTV working on Netflix-like streaming service]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=directv-working-on-netflix-like-streaming-service</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=directv-working-on-netflix-like-streaming-service</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:11:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nakedcelebrityi</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=directv-working-on-netflix-like-streaming-service</guid>
<description><![CDATA[DirecTV has sent a survey to some of its customers asking about their use of Netflix and whether they would like to see the satellite provider deliver a streaming service of its own, according to a digital-media enthusiast site that obtained the document.&quot;In this next section, we would like you to evaluate a new service that DirecTV is thinking about offering to their customers,&quot; the survey reads, according to ZatzNotFunny. &quot;DirecTV plans to offer a streaming-only Netflix-like service for a flat fee per month, which would appear as a line item on your monthly bill.&quot;The company said its service would deliver &quot;thousands of movies and television shows&quot; streaming over the Web to &quot;your television, computer, ortablet.&quot; The content would encompass series episodes through last season, as well as older films.If DirecTV gets into the streaming business, it would join an increasingly crowded market, led by Netflix. Amazon.com, Hulu, and Vudu are competing in that market, as well. DirecTV's chief satellite TV competitor, Dish Network, already has the Dish Online online streaming service and just completed its acquisition of Blockbuster, which in addition to its struggling brick-and-mortar stores also has an on-demand service. Last week, Dish also announced that it had brought HBO and Cinemax content to its online-streaming service. With that addition, Dish Online was able to score a win over Netflix, which has not been given the chance to offer HBO content on its own streaming service.Even so, it's Netflix that DirecTV seems most concerned about. Throughout the entire survey that ZatzNotFunny obtained, DirecTV asks about its subscribers' viewing habits, including how many shows or movies they watch each week on Netflix, how long they watch Netflix's content, and more. The company even asked which Netflix plan--a streaming-only option or one with both DVD rentals and streaming--the respondent was currently paying for.Of course, worrying about Netflix over any other streaming service might make sense. Last month, research firm NPD reported that Netflix's service was tapped for 61 percent of all movies downloaded or streamed between January and February. The second-place company, Comcast, earned 8 percent of that market. DirecTV tied for third place with both Time Warner Cable and Apple, with just 4 percent market share each.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Skullcandy Roc Nation Aviator headphones review: Jay-Z-approved]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skullcandy-roc-nation-aviator-headphones-review-jay-z-approved</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skullcandy-roc-nation-aviator-headphones-review-jay-z-approved</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>amandakark</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skullcandy-roc-nation-aviator-headphones-review-jay-z-approved</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nintendo: Wii successor coming in 2012]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nintendo-wii-successor-coming-in-2012</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nintendo-wii-successor-coming-in-2012</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bimraspnogtryn</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nintendo-wii-successor-coming-in-2012</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Nintendo Wii.(Credit:Nintendo)Nintendo today confirmed that it plans to release aWii successor in 2012.In a three-paragraph note (PDF) issued this morning, the game company said it &quot;has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii.&quot; Nintendo said it had sold 86.01 million Wiis since the console's launch in 2006.A playable version of the new system, as well as its specs, will be unveiled at the giant E3 video game show in Los Angeles in June, Nintendo said.The news should not come as a shock to industry observers. Rumors have been circulating for some time about a potential new Wii that could cost between $350 and $400. It was thought that the console could hit shelves as early as October. But Nintendo's announcement would seem to throw cold water on that potential date.On Thursday, the game-focused site IGN reported that its sources were telling it that the next Wii was being code-named Project Cafe:According to sources with knowledge of the project, Nintendo's next console could have a retail price of anywhere between $350 and $400 based on manufacturing costs, and will ship from Taiwanese manufacturer, Foxconn, this October, putting the earliest possible retail release anywhere between mid-October and early November.However, Nintendo could also opt to build up a sizable supply of the system and allocate more time for software and games development by launching in early 2012. Similarly, Nintendo could attempt to lower the retail price of the system with lower profit margins to make the price more alluring. Clearly, the company seems to have chosen the latter route, at least as far as the release date. If IGN's reasoning is correct, that decision could be because Nintendo doesn't want customers to repeat the experience of previous years, when a Wii was nearly impossible to find in stores during the holiday season. On the other hand, it would be interesting for Nintendo to launch the Wii's successor in early 2012. The original Wii was released in the fall (of 2006) as was Sony'sPlayStation 3. Microsoft'sXbox 360 also came out in the fall, albeit of 2005. All three of those releases were timed to the holidays, and led to significant sales of the respective consoles.In its announcement today, Nintendo did not address the specifications for the new system. But IGN seems to believe that the console will have a lot more horsepower than the existing Wii. &quot;The system will be based on a revamped version of AMD's R700 GPU architecture, not AMD's Fusion technology as previously believed,&quot; IGN wrote, &quot;which will, as previously reported, out perform the PlayStation 3's Nvidia 7800GTX-based processor. Like the Xbox 360, the system's CPU will be a custom-built triple-core IBM PowerPC chipset, but the clocking speeds will be faster. The system will support 1080p output with the potential for stereoscopic 3D as well, though it has not been determined whether that will be a staple feature.&quot;  Related links &amp;149' Major retailers cut price of Wii to $169.99 &amp;149' iOS, Android gobbling Nintendo DS market share &amp;149' Xbox birthday signals death of 5-year console cycle  Many people have been wondering when, or if, Nintendo would put out a system rivaling the performance of the PS3 or the Xbox 360. If IGN's sources are correct, 2012 would appear to be the answer. Of course, Microsoft and Sony are hardly going to stand still and let their consoles be overtaken by a rival that has sold 86 million systems in large part because of its ease of use, not its appeal to core gamers. But if either Sony or Microsoft is to step up their games, as it were, it's most likely going to be after Nintendo makes its next move. A report last week suggested that neither Sony nor Microsoft will come out with a new console until 2014. &quot;Both companies are hoping to wait out the current generation, and extending an already elongated console life-cycle despite clear signs that Nintendo will launch its next machine by the end of 2012,&quot; cited the report from the video game blog Kotaku. &quot;Both MS and Sony are telegraphing to each other that they're delaying, to milk the current [generation] and fill in previous craters better,&quot; one insider who has worked with the first-party companies like Sony and Microsoft told us.&quot;No matter what happens, of course, the idea of the five-year console generation--which was the industry standard for years--has gone out the window. If it hadn't, Microsoft would have put out the next Xbox in 2010, while both Sony and Nintendo would have followed suit this year. On the other hand, as Kotaku suggested, all three of the current-generation consoles are still selling well, and there's no immediate reason for any of the companies to supersede their existing hardware. That's particularly true for both Microsoft and Sony, which have breathed new life into the current-gen machines with the release of new motion control systems, Kinect for Xbox, and Move for PS3.          Daniel Terdiman     Full Profile E-mail Daniel Terdiman   E-mail Daniel Terdiman If you have a question or comment for Daniel Terdiman, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[AG wants answers on tracking from Apple, Google]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ag-wants-answers-on-tracking-from-apple-google</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ag-wants-answers-on-tracking-from-apple-google</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nanoensure</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ag-wants-answers-on-tracking-from-apple-google</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Citing a need to protect consumers' personal information online, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is calling for a meeting with executives from Apple and Google to get more details on what the companies are doing with location information collected from consumer devices.In a statement posted to Madigan's site and picked up by Reuters, letters from Madigan have been sent to both companies asking about what data is being kept and for how long. The attorney general also seeks to find out what that data is being used for. &quot;I want to know whether consumers have been informed of what is being tracked and stored by Apple and Google and whether those tracking and storage features can be disabled,&quot; Madigan said in a statement. &quot;It's important that these companies ensure that their users' private information is protected.&quot;Madigan's efforts join those of other politicians and government groups who want to know more about what companies are doing with location information. Shortly following the onset last week of the iOS location controversy, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Apple chiding the company for not encrypting location information that was stored locally on iPhones, as well as in iOS device backups. Congressman Ed Markey, who along with Rep. Joe Barton inquired about location privacy to Apple last year, followed suit, sending another letter (PDF) asking the company to explain what the data was being used for. There's also a lawsuit by two Apple customers, filed today in Tampa, Fla. that claims Apple's tracking is a privacy invasion and an act of computer fraud.Interest in location privacy has picked up last week in light of a database file of timestamped location information found to be stored on certain iOS devices from Apple. The tracking file was a well-known feature in the forensics and law enforcement community, but Apple has now come under fire for not answering questions about why it's there, and why there's not a way to turn the feature off.Google has also become a target of interest for what it does with user location data retrieved from its Android mobile operating system, which already makes use of user location to better its services, such as providing more accurate traffic data to its Maps product. It remains to be seen whether companies like Microsoft, Research in Motion, and Nokia do similar things with user location data.Within Madigan's letters, which can be read in full below, the AG asks whether third parties are given location information, as well as if users on both platforms can opt out of the storage of the location data. In Apple's case, the question is posed as &quot;why didn't Apple provide customers with an opportunity to opt-out of the storage of this data&quot; Madigan also asks Apple if there's a &quot;mechanism whereby Apple customers can delete the information that has been stored,&quot; which is of special interest given some of the only tools that allow that have been targeted at those with jailbroken iPhones and iPads. Madigan's office is giving both companies until May 6 to respond. Madigan's letter to Apple:Apple 042511 Geolocation Ltr(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;)' scribd.type = &quot;text/javascript&quot;' scribd.async = true' scribd.src = &quot;http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js&quot;' var s = document.getElementsByTagName(&quot;script&quot;)[0]' s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s)' })()'Madigan's letter to Google:Google 042511 Geolocation Ltr(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(&quot;script&quot;)' scribd.type = &quot;text/javascript&quot;' scribd.async = true' scribd.src = &quot;http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js&quot;' var s = document.getElementsByTagName(&quot;script&quot;)[0]' s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s)' })()'<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google accused of hypocrisy on Grooveshark ban]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-accused-of-hypocrisy-on-grooveshark-ban</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-accused-of-hypocrisy-on-grooveshark-ban</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riareszi1</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-accused-of-hypocrisy-on-grooveshark-ban</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A watchdog group that is also a longtime Google ally on copyright issues, has accused the company of being hypocritical when it recently removed a controversial music app from its app store.Kent Walker (left), Google&amp;39's general counsel, following his appearance earlier this month before a U.S. House subcommittee looking into online piracy. (Credit:Greg Sandoval/CNET)Two weeks ago, CNET reported that Grooveshark, a music service that provides free access to songs by enabling users to post their own music to the site, had seen its app banned from the Android Market. It later came out that Google acted after receiving a complaint about Grooveshark from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the trade group for the four largest record companies. The search giant banned the app without providing Grooveshark any warning or opportunity to defend itself. Google also didn't disclose how exactly the music company violated Google's policies, according to Grooveshark. EMI and Universal Music Group, two of the top record labels, have accused Grooveshark of copyright violations in separate lawsuits filed against the Gainesville, Fla.-based company. EMI settled its suit, but the legal battle with Universal Music Group continues. In a blog post yesterday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a group that advocates for Internet users and technology companies, noted the irony in Google's apparent loss of respect for the concept of transparency and for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Julie Samuels, an EFF staff attorney, pointed out that in the not-so-distant past Google criticized Apple for allegedly lacking transparency and adopting &quot;draconian&quot; business practices.&quot;But who's being draconian now&quot; Samuels wrote. Google did not respond to an interview request. Samuels then took aim at Google's relationship with the DMCA's safe harbor provision. In past dustups with copyright owners, Google has repeatedly argued that the DMCA protects services, such as YouTube, eBay, and Craigslist, from being held liable for acts of copyright infringement committed by users. That's the same legal argument Google used to defend YouTube against a copyright lawsuit filed by Viacom in 2007. That's the same argument Grooveshark managers say protects them. &quot;Did Google's takedown intentionally coincide with its appearance before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on (intellectual property) in an effort to make itself more sympathetic to Congress&quot;--EFF &quot;That Google would perform a copyright takedown without requiring a valid notice under the (DMCA) is surprising to say the least,&quot; Samuels wrote. &quot;Especially given that Google just last week filed its reply brief in the Viacom v. YouTube appeal, vigorously defending its policy of responding only to valid DMCA notices where copyright complaints are concerned.&quot;The Grooveshark case is the latest controversy to raise questions about where Google stands on copyright. For much of the company's history, Google has crossed swords with newspapers, film studios, and record companies on copyright issues. Free-content proponents loved Google for taking on big media. Is there any company that has done more to promote the free flow of information than Google But during the past year, Google has appeared to soften its stance.In December, the search engine announced it would start booting alleged copyright violators off AdSense, the company's advertising program. Google said it would try to block terms associated with piracy from appearing in the search engine's Autocomplete function. Google also supplied the RIAA with antipiracy software tools that it once planned to offer for a fee, according to a music industry source. If Google is fighting piracy more aggressively, it's likely due to two separate forces propelling the company in that direction: the first is economic. Google is looking to acquire top video entertainment content for Google TV and YouTube's movie rental service. In music, Google is trying to negotiate licenses from the top labels that would enable the company to store consumers' existing music libraries on its servers. Both the music labels and film studios have used this leverage to pressure Google to do more piracy-busting. In Washington, the government has become very serious about fighting piracy. President Barack Obama, both major political parties and both houses of Congress seem intent on thwarting infringement of intellectual property. There's so much momentum for antipiracy legislation now, that it's almost certain a bill closely resembling the one introduced into the Senate last year by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), called the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, will become law this year. This will give the government the ability to speed up the process of shutting down suspected pirate sites and ordering credit card companies, bandwidth providers and advertising firms, such as Google, to cease doing business with these sites. This is just one of the ways how the government plans to come down hard on companies that pirate or assist in piracy. To critics on Capital Hill, Google is solidly in the latter camp. During a hearing two weeks ago held by a U.S. House subcommittee investigating online piracy and counterfeiting, lawmakers questioned Kent Walker, Google's general counsel, about why the company didn't do more to block search results for pirated and counterfeit goods. One of the bright spots for Google during the hearing was the news that the company had banned Grooveshark's app, which broke earlier the same day. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) applauded Google for removing the app. But in her blog post, Samuels suggested that the intention of the ban was exactly that, to win favor from from lawmakers. Click on image to read Lawmakers tell Google to do more on antipiracy.(Credit:Greg Sandoval/CNET)&quot;Did Google's takedown intentionally coincide with its appearance before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on (intellectual property),&quot; Samuels wrote &quot;in an effort to make itself more sympathetic to Congress&quot; You can judge for yourself. Grooveshark said Google removed its app on April 1, five days before Walker was scheduled to testify before Congress but months after representatives from the music sector asked Google to pull the app, multiple music industry sources told CNET. To those requests, Google had politely refused, the sources said. That may come as good and bad news to the free-content crowd. Google's slow response could mean that Google continues to hold the line against content creators. But it also could illustrate a willingness by Google to throw accused copyright violators under the bus when pressured.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Software firm says e-mails stolen in server breach]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=software-firm-says-e-mails-stolen-in-server-breach</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=software-firm-says-e-mails-stolen-in-server-breach</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>limresufcom</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=software-firm-says-e-mails-stolen-in-server-breach</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Ashampoo, a German maker of Windows utilities and security software, warned this week that customer names and e-mail addresses were stolen and could be used in targeted malware attacks. &quot;Hackers gained access to one of our servers. We discovered the break-in and interrupted it instantly,&quot; Ashampoo Chief Executive Rolf Hilchner wrote in a message on the company Web site earlier this week. Billing information, including credit card and bank account numbers, was not affected, he said, adding that German law enforcement is investigating but &quot;unfortunately, the traces of the well-concealed hackers currently disperse abroad.&quot; Attackers often send e-mails with malware-laden attachments to e-mail addresses found in the databases they breach, pretending to be a confirmation of an order from the company, Hilchner said.  The company did not disclose how many customers were affected.  People should be cautious about opening unsolicited or unexpected e-mails, even from companies they know, and keep antivirus software up to date, he said. The news comes two weeks after dozens of big companies in the United States, including Citibank, Chase, Capital One, Walgreens, Target, Best Buy, and Verizon, warned customers about the potential for targeted phishing attacks in the wake of a data breach at e-mail marketing service provider Epsilon.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Your iPhone's watching you. Should you care (FAQ)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=your-iphones-watching-you--should-you-care-faq</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=your-iphones-watching-you--should-you-care-faq</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>karliellehenps</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=your-iphones-watching-you--should-you-care-faq</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A peek at location data stored on an iPhone.(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Researchers announced today that they found what look like secret files on theiPhone that track user location and store it on the device, without the permission of the device owner. It's unclear what the data is used for and why Apple has been collecting it in iOS products that carry a 3G antenna for nearly a year now. Alasdair Allan, senior research fellow in astronomy at the University of Exeter, and writer Pete Warden, who discovered the log file and created a tool that lets users see a visualization of that data, say there's no evidence of that information being sent to Apple or anybody else. Even so, the pair note that the data is unencrypted, giving anyone with access to your phone or computer where backups may be stored a way to grab the data and extrapolate a person's whereabouts and routines. To help users understand more about the data that's being collected, what the risks are, and what they can do about it, CNET has put together this FAQ.Who are the researchers and how did they find thisWarden, who used to work at Apple (though not on the iPhone), and Allan had been collaborating on some location data visualization projects, including a visualization of radiation levels over time in Japan after the earthquake, when Allan discovered the file on an iPhone. &quot;After we dug further and visualized the extracted data, it became clear that there was a scary amount of detail on our movements,&quot; they wrote in a blog post. When did this start and what devices are tracking this dataAccording to Allan and Warden, the tracking did not begin until iOS 4, which was released in late June 2010. This was the first version of iOS to drop support for devices like the original iPhone, with devices like the iPhone 3G and second-generationiPod Touch getting a more limited feature set. Along with iPhones, 3G-enabled iPads are also keeping track of the data, though it's unclear if this is true for people who have 3G devices without active cellular subscriptions.The tracking data itself was actually discovered last year. A tool by French programmer Paul Courbis, that's similar to the one released by Allan and Warden, is able to plot up to 10,000 of these data points from the database file to a Google Map. The issue was known in forensics circles but not widely, Allan and Warden said in a news conference this afternoon at the Where 2.0 conference in Santa Clara, Calif. An application they released that allows people to see what data is on individual devices makes the abstract tracking concept more real. Did they contact Apple on their findingsThe researchers said they had contacted Apple's Product Security team, but hadn't heard back.Where is this data being storedThe database of location information is stored primarily on your phone, though due to the iOS device backup system in iTunes, these files can also end up on your computer. When iTunes saves these backups, which are set by default to be stored every time you sync an iOS device, the data file goes along with it. (Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)What's curious is that this log can extend across multiple devices as long as those devices use the same restore point. Allan and Warden noted that the database used as part of the project spanned an iPhone 3GS and an iPhone 4, the latter of which had used a restore point.The researchers have more technical details and the downloadable application to see a visualization of the data collected from your phone over time here. The application does not work with iPhones on Verizon, the researchers said. What's inside this dataA database of cell tower coordinates and timestamps to indicate when your device was connecting with them. This includes what operator you're on and the country code. The research also found that Apple was tracking data about what Wi-Fi networks you were connecting to, which also included slightly less accurate location information, but continued to track that data by time. The researchers' visualization app shows large blue dots for frequent activity and smaller red or orange-colored dots for less frequent activity. However, it's unclear exactly what is triggering the logging, they said. Is there an easier way to see that information than a giant database formYes, Allan and Warden created an open-source software program that is able to go through the data from the database file and turn it into a visualization of what towers your device connected to based on the dates and times. The pair say the application intentionally cuts down on the accuracy of this data to keep the software from being used for bad things. You're also likely to see points in places you haven't been, since the tracking tools within the iPhone make use of nearby cell towers to triangulate location. &quot;As a data geek I was excited to have this data set, but I don't want anyone else to have this data,&quot; Allan said.What is the harm with this data being collected and stored on the device&quot;By passively logging your location without your permission, Apple [has] made it possible for anyone from a jealous spouse to a private investigator to get a detailed picture of your movements,&quot; the researchers wrote in their FAQ. While acknowledging that there is no need to panic, the researchers noted that if someone gets hold of the device, they can access the unencrypted data. &quot;Your cell operator has this information,&quot; they said in the news conference. Anyone who wants it has &quot;to get a court order to get that from a provider. But now, all you have to do is lose your phone in a bar.&quot;Apps on the device cannot access the data, because it is &quot;sandboxed,&quot; the researchers said. However, it could be accessed by software on the computer that holds the backup, they said. How do I protect this data from being seen by othersThe data file itself is completely unencrypted, meaning anyone who gets hold of it can access the data freely. On the iTunes side, there's an option to encrypt your backups, which will keep someone who gets access to a backup file while rummaging through your hard drive from being able to dig through it and pull out the database file.To enable that feature, click on the device icon when it's plugged into iTunes, then check the &quot;Encrypt iPhone Backup&quot; item in the &quot;Options&quot; area. As for your iPhone, oriPad with 3G, your best bet is to keep someone else from getting it in the first place, and then using Apple's free &quot;Find My iPhone&quot; app to do a remote wipe if it's lost or stolen.  Turning on the backup encryption feature within iTunes can keep those who get access to the file from digging through it to pull out location information.(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET) How do I turn this tracking offRight now there's no way to turn the tracking off, since it's a baked into the operating system. Turning off GPS will make the device less functional for location-based services such as mapping.  Can Apple do thisAccording to the iTunes terms and conditions, yes. The company pretty clearly spells out its right to &quot;collect, use, and share&quot; location data any time it pleases. From the document:Location-Based ServicesApple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services. Some location-based services offered by Apple, such as the MobileMe &quot;Find My iPhone&quot; feature, require your personal information for the feature to work. The location notifier in iOS, which lets users know if an application is using your location.(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET) That said, the company made a big kerfuffle about making third-party application providers--as well as the built-in Google Maps application--alert users when location was being used by including an arrow in the status bar that is required to appear whenever the phone is sending or receiving location data. This feature came as part of iOS 4, which is when the company began the tracking process. Apple CEO Steve Jobs also made it a point during an interview at the D8 conference last year that privacy was a topic of utmost importance to the company. &quot;Before any app can get location data, they can't just put up a panel asking if it can use location, they call our panel and it asks you if it's OK,&quot; Jobs said. &quot;That's one of the reasons we have the curated App Store. A lot of the people in the Valley think we're old-fashioned about this. But we take it seriously.&quot;Why is Apple doing thisApple has not responded to requests for comment. Allan and Warden suggest the company has been using this tracking technology as a precursor to extended location-based services it plans to add as a part of a future version of iOS. Backing that claim up is an Apple patent application that surfaced back in February, which showed that Apple was considering a service called &quot;Places.&quot; Based on the filing, the service would offer Apple device owners a way to locate one another using GPS. While there are third-party applications like Loopt, Foursquare, and Beluga that let people do this, such a feature would presumably be a built-in part of the phone, and rely on geodata logging for any past history features. &quot;There are legitimate use cases here, but the matter underscores the need for vendors to be clear about what data they collect and what they are doing with it,&quot; said Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer of mobile security provider Lookout in a call with CNET. Is Apple the only one doing thisAndroid does not appear to do this, sources familiar with the platform said. A Google spokeswoman said the company had no comment on the matter. A Microsoft representative told CNET that the company's Windows Phone platform does not store location history, and that the &quot;Find My Phone&quot; service only keeps the phone's most recent location.  CNET asked Research In Motion and Nokia whether their devices track behind-the-scenes location data, but has not yet heard back from them. These platforms let users track their own movements with GPS apps, though it's unclear whether there's tracking going on behind the scenes. Coming back to the greater issue about location grabbing, Apple is not the first company to collect data without users knowing. Google got in hot water last year after admitting that it was collecting data from non-password-protected Wi-Fi networks for three years as part of its Street View project. As the Street View car with the camera on top would drive around, collecting imagery, it was also sniffing out information about nearby open networks. Following the privacy probes that came as a result of the disclosure, Google stopped the practice back in October.  Any questions we didn't cover Feel free to leave them in the comments, or shoot us an e-mail and we'll try to get them answered. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[preGame 46: An app for the disorganized gamer]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=pregame-46-an-app-for-the-disorganized-gamer</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=pregame-46-an-app-for-the-disorganized-gamer</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:10:42 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>limsirterleik3</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=pregame-46-an-app-for-the-disorganized-gamer</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google readies 'better ads' system for Gmail]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-readies-better-ads-system-for-gmail</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-readies-better-ads-system-for-gmail</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>aviainocente</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-readies-better-ads-system-for-gmail</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google is getting ready to deliver &quot;better ads&quot; in messages delivered via its e-mail service.The Web giant announced today it intends to serve up fewer but more relevant and useful ads by better predicting which topics appear to be important to each user. One of the tools that Google plans to use to accomplish this is its Priority Inbox, a feature launched last August that is designed to help clear the clutter from users' inboxes by filtering out e-mail deemed less important, Google said in a support information page:Using some of the same signals that help predict which messages are likely to be important to you, Gmail will better predict which ads may be useful to you. For example, if you've recently received a lot of messages about photography or cameras, a deal from a local camera store might be interesting. On the other hand if you've reported these messages as spam, you probably don't want to see that deal.Google plans a gradual rollout of the change, with only a few users noticing the new system. Despite Google assurances that the system is automated and no personally identifiably information about users is ever shared with advertisers, the new process is likely to ignite privacy concerns. However, users can opt out of the new signals system on the Gmail settings page.        Steven Musil    Full Profile E-mail Steven Musil   E-mail Steven Musil If you have a question or comment for Steven Musil, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Firefox 4 doubles IE9's 24-hour download tally]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-4-doubles-ie9s-24-hour-download-tally</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-4-doubles-ie9s-24-hour-download-tally</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>adellagardunio</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-4-doubles-ie9s-24-hour-download-tally</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Firefox 4 managed to double IE9&amp;39's download total in less than 24 hours after its release.(Credit:Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)Firefox may be under fire from Microsoft's newly competitive browser, but with more than twice the downloads in its first day, Firefox 4 today soared over its rival by one measurement.Microsoft, not without reason, boasted that IE9 was downloaded 2.35 million times in the first 24 hours after its release last week. And that is indeed a big number, especially for a browser that tech enthusiasts had scoffed at for years.But less than 24 hours after its own launch, Firefox 4 cleared 4.7 million, according to the Mozilla Glow site that logs downloads.That's a lot less than the 8 million copies of Firefox 3 downloaded in that version's 24-hour debut in 2008, but that event was a heavily promoted &quot;Download Day,&quot; and it should be noted that Firefox 4's full day hasn't finished yet.And it does signal that at least a very sizable chunk of the Net-connected population is, in Firefox's apt phrase, choosing to &quot;upgrade the Web.&quot; New browsers bring new Web standards, new performance, and often a new auto-update ethos that likely will lead to browsers staying continuously updated. That could simplify lives for Web developers who constantly wrangle with the difficulties of supporting old browsers.Firefox 4 brings a raft of new features--new security and privacy options, faster loading and JavaScript, support for a variety of new standards including WebM video and WebGL 3D graphics, and 3D acceleration that extends even to Windows XP.Mozilla expects that its arrival will lead to an increase in usage. The browser maker said it has 400 million Firefox users and counting, but as a percentage of worldwide browser use it has lost share to Chrome, which now accounts for more than 10 percent of usage worldwide.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[AT&T-T-Mobile: By the numbers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-t-mobile-by-the-numbers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-t-mobile-by-the-numbers</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 20 Mar 2011 07:10:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>floaraagell</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-t-mobile-by-the-numbers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[AT&amp;amp'T makes a case for bringing its customers greater LTE coverage after it merges with T-Mobile USA.(Credit:AT&amp;amp'T)AT&amp;amp'T and T-Mobile rocked the United States this morning with merger plans that would make T-Mobile USA part of AT&amp;amp'T's empire. (That's assuming the buyout receives regulatory approval' until then, it's business as usual at T-Mobile for now.)Both T-Mobile and AT&amp;T have a claim to fame in recent smartphone history. AT&amp;amp'T was first to get theApple iPhone, in an exclusive two-year deal no less, but it was T-Mobile that first got the Android ball rolling with the T-Mobile G1.CNET will have much more news and analysis coming up. In the meantime, here's a look at the two companies by some key stats, including current coverage maps for voice and 3G data.&amp;nbsp'AT&amp;amp'T WirelessT-Mobile USANumber of wireless subscribers95.5 million33 million2010 revenue$58 billion*$21 billion**Employees (parent company-wide)266,50024,700International coverage (voice)More than 200 countriesMore than 200 countries3G technologyUMTSAWS4G technology***HSPA+' LTEHSPA+Flagship phonesApple iPhone 4, Motorola Atrix 4G, HTC Inspire 4GT-Mobile My Touch 4G, Samsung Galaxy S 4G, T-Mobile G2*AT&amp;amp'T 2010 Annual Report, pp. 27, 32 (PDF)**T-Mobile 2010 Annual Report pp. 9 (PDF)***Though HSPA+ is not an official 4G technology, both carriers bill it as such. AT&amp;T is moving to LTE, but T-Mobile has yet to announce plans for network development beyond HSPA+.T-Mobile USA&amp;39's voice and 3G data coverage map.(Credit:T-Mobile)AT&amp;amp'T coverage map for voice and 3G data.(Credit:ATT)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[First-gen iPad 3G gets $100 price cut by AT&T]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=first-gen-ipad-3g-gets-100-price-cut-by-att</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=first-gen-ipad-3g-gets-100-price-cut-by-att</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>michalbevan13</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=first-gen-ipad-3g-gets-100-price-cut-by-att</guid>
<description><![CDATA[AT&amp;amp'amp'T is selling original iPads with 3G at a deeper discount than Apple.(Credit:Screenshot by CNET)If you were on the fence between an originaliPad and its successor, AT&amp;amp'T may have just made your buying decision a little more difficult.As noted by CNET contributor Jim Dalrymple on his personal blog The Loop, AT&amp;amp'T today cut the price of the original iPad with 3G by $100, putting the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models on sale at $429, $529, and $629 respectively. By comparison, those units cost $629, $729, and $829 when they were first released.This is the second price cut to hit the first-generation iPad. In the first one, which occurred following the announcement of the iPad 2, Apple took $100 off the base price, while throwing buyers who may have bought an iPad in the two weeks leading up to the announcement a $100 refund.Apple continues to sell brand-new versions of the 3G version of the first iPad at $100 off its original price, and refurbished versions of the device at $150 to $170 off depending on the model, leaving buyers who go through AT&amp;amp'T getting a better deal in either case.In order to use the 3G service, users need to sign on to one of the two, prepaid data plans, which can be done from the unit itself. Additionally AT&amp;amp'T is currently running a promotion where new users of its DataConnect personal plans get the first month of 2GB of data free of charge.As of this post's publishing, AT&amp;amp'T's online store appears to be out of stock of the 32GB model, however the 16GB and 64GB models are still available. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[White House pushes for online privacy bill of rights]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=white-house-pushes-for-online-privacy-bill-of-rights</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=white-house-pushes-for-online-privacy-bill-of-rights</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 Mar 2011 07:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>danitarosd</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=white-house-pushes-for-online-privacy-bill-of-rights</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The White House is urging Congress to enact a new &quot;privacy bill of rights&quot; that would provide clearer guidelines to online users and businesses about the collecting of personal information over the Internet.Speaking in Washington yesterday at a special hearing devoted to online consumer privacy, Assistant Commerce Secretary Lawrence Strickling acknowledged that the ability to store information about customers helps make online companies more efficient. But he said that consumers are growing increasingly uneasy about how their personal information is being collected and used.With the lengthy privacy policies now offered by Web sites proving confusing and ineffective, Strickling said that a new &quot;consumer privacy bill of rights&quot; is needed. Based on responses from consumer groups and industry members to the Commerce Department's Green Paper, which offered a set of initial recommendations, such a bill would aim to protect the privacy of individual consumers without stifling innovation from online companies.The protections in the bill itself would be legally enforceable, according to Strickling, but still flexible enough to adapt to new technologies. He added that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should be given the authority to enforce that bill and that the White House would work with other countries and trading partners to ensure that the protections would be consistent across different borders.&quot;Working together with Congress, the FTC, the Executive Office of the President, and other stakeholders, I am confident in our ability to provide consumers with meaningful privacy protections in the Internet economy, backed by effective enforcement, that can adapt to changes in technology, market conditions, and consumer expectations,&quot; Strickling said.Strickling also called for a federal law to alert consumers in the event of a data breach that would expose their personal information. Such a law would be intended to set the same standards across the country, clear up inconsistent state laws, and give state authorities the ability to enforce it.Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D.-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which held the hearing, also urged Congress to act.&quot;Congress can no longer sit on the sidelines,&quot; Rockefeller said. &quot;There is an online privacy war going on, and without help, consumers will lose. We must act to give Americans the basic online privacy protections they deserve.&quot;Yesterday's hearing was the second in an ongoing series looking at how information is captured and stored by online businesses and advertisers and what Congress can and should do to better protect U.S. Internet users.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[How to ease into Google Voice: Freeze your cell phone service]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-ease-into-google-voice-freeze-your-cell-phone-service</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-ease-into-google-voice-freeze-your-cell-phone-service</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zoolepype</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-ease-into-google-voice-freeze-your-cell-phone-service</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)You can listen to Google Voice messages from your smartphone, can dial out using your Google number on an Android phone, and can finally port your own cell phone number to Google Voice. But if you're not quite ready to cut the cord with your carrier, you don't have to.Google Voice has a vast number of benefits, from managing voice mail in an inbox to placing free texts. However, there still are some flaws--barely legible voice transcription and mobile app SMS delays to name two (I know, I know, not everyone experiences the same issues)--and the way I use it for work, it frustrates my friends). I'm also hesitant to leave the reliability of my monthly cell phone service and my special rate. The middle path There is, however, a third way, one that lets you ease into Google Voice--or ease out of your monthly service--before completely ditching your carrier plan. I discovered it accidentally when calling T-Mobile to cancel a service I now rarely use. I was adamant about canceling service, until the tenacious customer service rep offered me this: temporarily suspending my plan for a nominal, $10-per-month holding fee while I decided what to do. (If you already knew about this, good for you.) As it turns out, T-Mobile will hold a phone number and rate plan for six months. In my case, the T-Mobile rep said, suspending my plan will also count toward my contractual obligation, a cheap way for me to pay out the remainder of my agreement without handing over a stiff early termination fee.This isn't always the case, I found out--your expiration date may or may not move depending on a number of factors that the T-Mobile rep did not disclose, so you'll need to check with your carrier to see if you can dodge a termination fee should you bail before time's up.T-Mobile isn't alone in this provision. Verizon, AT&amp;amp'T, and Sprint also offer temporary plan suspension.You're suspended!Verizon will suspend a phone line without billing for up to 180 days--as long as you're all paid up. That means you can pick up on your plan where you left off, including the contract termination date. It's ideal for long vacations. You can also suspend with billing, which will work toward the end-of-contract date.Sprint will extend a Seasonal Standby mode for customers who have been paying their plan for a minimum of three months. You pay $8.99 per month for up to six consecutive months. You can't string these back-to-back, you'll need to wait another three months before asking to get back on. This will not advance your contract termination date, meaning you'll still have to fulfill the remainder of your contract to avoid the early termination fee (ETF).AT&amp;amp'T charges $10 per month for subscribers to temporarily suspend their contract. You'll have had to be paid up for six months first. T-Mobile (See above.)Not just Google VoiceThere are other reasons to suspend your phone line' Google Voice just happened to be my spur. Regardless of your scenario or country of residence, if you find you need to give your cell phone a rest but want to avoid losing your number or plan, and skirt a reactivation fee should you change your mind, it's a good idea to check with your carrier's customer service reps to see what they can do for you. It may be more than you thought.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Play PS3's Gran Turismo 5 on an iPad]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=play-ps3s-gran-turismo-5-on-an-ipad</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=play-ps3s-gran-turismo-5-on-an-ipad</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:10:53 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>joelcole16</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=play-ps3s-gran-turismo-5-on-an-ipad</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Fancy playingPlayStation 3 exclusive game titles such as Gran Turismo 5 on any iOS device A company by the name of Pandaelf has recently cobbled together a system to deliver exactly this function.  The exact science behind the contraption is quite technical, but it basically utilizes a PC as the middleman between the Sony console and Apple product. Other major components include a keyboard, mouse, and capturing device connected to the console, as well as a custom-built version of the firm's everyAir software and an input interpreter running on the PC. Pandaelf plans to release a fully customizable copy of everyAir in the future. Until then, check out the aboveiPhone andiPad demonstrations with in-game touch controls. (Source: Crave Asia via Ubergizmo)   <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[An early look at Firefox 5]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=an-early-look-at-firefox-5</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=an-early-look-at-firefox-5</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 18 Feb 2011 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nanoensure</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=an-early-look-at-firefox-5</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Mozilla starts on Firefox 5 designs (screenshots) Firefox 4 hasn't even been fully baked and served up yet, but that's not stopping Mozilla from pushing ahead with plans for Firefox 5. In this slideshow, we get a sense of some of the ideas that Mozilla is toying with for the next version of the browser, including Mozilla's version of Internet Explorer 9's pinned sites feature, a redesigned add-on updater workflow, and heavy promotion ofFirefox Sync.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Some LED lights spark concern over toxins]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=some-led-lights-spark-concern-over-toxins</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=some-led-lights-spark-concern-over-toxins</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:10:57 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bestlaptopbatteryau</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=some-led-lights-spark-concern-over-toxins</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Because it's energy-efficient, LED lighting is spreading into new areas, but an academic study cautions that some types of LED lights use hazardous metals. The University of California at Irvine last week published results of a study into the materials used for LEDs in Christmas tree lights and car brake lights and headlights. After crushing these types of lights, researchers measured the contents and found they contained varying amounts of toxic materials, including lead and arsenic.&quot;What our study showed clearly was that some LED lights qualify as hazardous waste, depending on color and light intensity, according to federal (US EPA) regulations, and State (California) regulations. The red, low intensity fixtures that we tested exceeded lead (Pb) standards for California regulation by about 8 times, and exceed the federal regulations by about 35 times,&quot; said Oladele Ogunseitan, chair of UC Irvine's Department of Population Health &amp; Disease Prevention via e-mail.Right now, these products are not classified as hazardous waste, but Ogunseitan recommended that people dispatched to clean up vehicle collisions use protective gear. Homeowners should also wear gloves and masks in the case of clean-up. The copper used in some LEDs can pose health hazards to river and lake ecosystems as well if disposed of in a landfill.Ogunseitan said that the move to LED lighting is a case in which there should be mandatory product replacement testing. He claims that the potential environmental health impacts were not sufficiently tested before manufacturers put them in products as a replacement for incandescent bulbs.Recycling recommended for large LEDs Large LEDs bulbs with a screw-in bottom designed for home use are just coming onto the market as replacements for 40-watt or 60-watt incandescent bulbs. In addition to good efficiency and long life, these bulbs are marketed as an improvement over compact florescent bulbs because they don't contain mercury. CFLs can be returned to many retail stores or municipal hazardous waste handling services for recycling. When LED maker Cree introduced an LED bulb it expects to come out later this year, I asked about toxins and disposal. Cree vice president of marketing Greg Merritt said that there were no hazardous materials used in its bulb and that it is expected to comply with the ROHS European hazardous material directive.UC Irvine's Ogunseitan is testing large LED bulbs but has not yet published the results. &quot;However, I can say that precautionary principle supports not throwing this in the regular trash for landfills,&quot; he said.Last month, I asked the Department of Energy about hazardous materials and large LED bulbs designed for home use. A representative said that, in general, these LED bulbs do not contain toxic chemicals in any significant amount. She added that consumers will face disposal only a few times in their lives given the long projected life of LEDs, which could be over 20 years, but it's best for consumers to recycle them.&quot;That said, like most consumer electronics, at the end of their useful life, LEDs contain materials that are both valuable and recyclable. Where available, LEDs should be recycled using municipal recycling programs,&quot; she said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Galaxy Tab return rate at 13%' iPad 2%]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=galaxy-tab-return-rate-at-13-ipad-2</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=galaxy-tab-return-rate-at-13-ipad-2</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>acaiberriesfx</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=galaxy-tab-return-rate-at-13-ipad-2</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Apple)Samsung's revenue and profit may be up, but so is the return rate for its Galaxy Tab.According to ITG Investment Research, which tracked sale data from 6,000 wireless stores in the U.S., an estimated 13 percent of Galaxy Tab owners are returning the devices. The data was tracked from the device's release in November until the end of December, according to AllThingsD.com.The news doesn't get any better for Samsung as holiday returns continue to come in. According to the data, if you factor in cumulative data until January 15, the return rate jumps to 16 percent.In comparison,Apple's iPad had a 2 percent return rate for the same time period, according to the New York Post.Samsung posted increased revenue and profits when it reported fiscal fourth-quarter results last week, but the company declined to say exactly how many Galaxy Tabs it sold. Samsung said only that the device &quot;attracted strong year-end demand.&quot;In its first-quarter fiscal earnings, Apple reported revenue of $26.74 billion and profits of $6 billion. The company said it sold 7.33 million iPads during the holiday quarter.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A sneak peek at Legoland's 'Star Wars' models]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-sneak-peek-at-legolands-star-wars-models</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-sneak-peek-at-legolands-star-wars-models</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 30 Jan 2011 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>AnastasyC4</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=a-sneak-peek-at-legolands-star-wars-models</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Legoland personnel brought several models from the forthcoming 'Star Wars' Miniland attraction to CNET's San Francisco headquarters yesterday. All told, the attraction features 1.5 million bricks, weighing 1.3 tons. Scenes from all six 'Star Wars' live-action films and the Clone Wars series will be depicted.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--If you were walking down Second Street here yesterday morning, and thought you might be losing your mind, let me reassure you: Those really were life-size Lego Chewbacca and R2-D2 models and the world's-largest Lego Millennium Falcon.On March 31, Legoland California will pull back the wraps on its brand-new &quot;Star Wars&quot; Miniland, an all-new interactive area at the amusement park that will feature more than 2,000 individual models from the George Lucas-created universe.And yesterday, as part of a small tour to promote the new attraction, several Legoland personnel swung through CNET's headquarters here to show off some of the best of the models that will soon be entertaining kids and adults alike at Legoland in Carlsbad, Calif.As part of my Road Trip at Home series, I got the chance to take a look at the models--all of which were designed and built at Legoland Germany and then shipped mostly assembled to California. The Legoland people brought only a few models for me to inspect, but even that small collection was enough to stop almost every passerby in his or her tracks. After all, who can help doing a double take if you see a giant Lego Millennium Falcon resting on a cement pedestal on an average city street.Legoland 'Star Wars' models invading California According to Legoland California master model builder Gary McIntire, Lego's retail &quot;Star Wars&quot; line has been the most successful in the company's history, so it should come as no surprise that Lego and Lucasfilm got together to design and build a full-scale Miniland.&quot;Putting Lego and 'Star Wars' together is a natural,&quot; said McIntire. &quot;It's like peanut butter and jelly.&quot;Over the course of 13 months of development and construction, eight master model builders, as well as two animation electricians at Legoland Germany designed the 2,000-plus models that all told required more than 1.5 million bricks and weigh 1.3 tons. Legoland Germany, as well as the company's flagship park, Legoland Billund in Denmark, and Legoland California will each get a &quot;Star Wars&quot; Miniland. Most of the models were made three times at the German model shop, with full sets of the models being shipped off to Billund and Carlsbad.The models are based on all six of the live-action &quot;Star Wars&quot; films, as well as the animated &quot;Clone Wars&quot; series. The Miniland will feature models that depict one scene from each of the six live-action films and from &quot;Clone Wars.&quot; From the original three films, visitors will be able to see Lego renditions of Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine--Uncle Owen's farm' the cantina' and the starport, where the Millennium Falcon will be installed--the Rebel's Hoth refuge from &quot;Empire Strikes Back'&quot; and the Endor system from &quot;Return of the Jedi.&quot; As well, from the prequels, the Miniland will feature scenes from Naboo, Geonosis, and Kashyyk and Mustafar. Finally, &quot;Clone Wars&quot; fans will recognize a scene from Christophsis.Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and moreYesterday, I only got a chance to see life-size models of Chewbacca and R2-D2. But visitors to Legoland will be able to lock eyes, so to speak, with both of them, as well as a life-size Darth Vader. According to Lego, planning for the attraction began in March 2010, and involved in-depth consultation between Legoland and Lucasfilm. Among the reference materials used in designing construction blueprints for the models were pictures and drawings of figures, vehicles, spacecraft, landscapes, and more.&quot;The model designers used a special Lego drawing paper for this, on which one square is equivalent to one Lego knob,&quot; a &quot;Star Wars&quot; Miniland release reads. &quot;In the next step, they calculated how many bricks and which colors and forms would be needed for the models. For particularly difficult model parts, prototypes are first built, before the model is constructed brick by brick. To help the Lego models last longer, all of the bricks are glued together and then sprayed with a special UV coating.&quot;And how many bricks are used in the individual models It's hard to say in the case of many of them. But suffice it to say, it would be beyond most fans' budgets to build even one of the large-scale models I got to see yesterday. The Millennium Falcon model required 19,000 bricks, while R2-D2 came in at a healthy 15,000 or so, and topping the charts was Chewbacca, McIntire said, at about 32,000 bricks.But while a cursory look at the Millennium Falcon made me think that perhaps the model builders had created some custom bricks just for this project, McIntire assured me that wasn't at all the case. Each and every bit of the models is &quot;pure Lego,&quot; he said, save for some wiring for lights. &quot;That's something we really pride ourselves on,&quot; McIntire said, referring to the builders' refusal to use special bricks in any of their models. &quot;We don't cheat.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New array of telescopes could help search for E.T.]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-array-of-telescopes-could-help-search-for-e-t-</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-array-of-telescopes-could-help-search-for-e-t-</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:10:57 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sbvoor</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-array-of-telescopes-could-help-search-for-e-t-</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Multiple antennas of the LWA-1 station of the Long Wavelength Array in central New Mexico.(Credit:NASA)A new telescope array could bring us closer to better understanding the universe and perhaps even answer an age-old question: are we aloneTapping into the combined power of 13,000 individual antennas, the new Long Wavelength Array will be able to scan our corner of the galaxy using a wide and rarely explored range of frequencies, according to NASA. That power will give it the ability to find new worlds beyond our solar system by scanning for their radio waves.Led by the University of New Mexico and joined by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, which is supplying the digital electronic systems, the project will start off small this summer by powering up 256 antennas in central New Mexico. Once it's completed, though, the Long Wavelength Array will contain 53 stations with the 13,000 antennas taking up a space 248 miles in diameter.Beyond looking for distant worlds, the telescope array will be able to detect other events among the stars, those that occur naturally and possibly some that don't.&quot;We'll be looking for the occasional celestial flash,&quot; Joseph Lazio, a radio astronomer at JPL, said in a statement. &quot;These flashes can be anything from explosions on surfaces of nearby stars, deaths of distant stars, exploding black holes, or even perhaps transmissions by other civilizations.&quot;The Long Wavelength Array will use a radio frequency of 20 to 80 megahertz, says NASA, which corresponds to wavelengths of 49.2 feet to 12.5 feet. That's significant because these frequencies point to one of the last and least explored regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. On Earth, scientists will be able to examine high-resolution, detailed images of regions in space that are hundreds of times larger than the full moon.Radio astronomy and the project itself are the beneficiaries of lower costs and advances in technology, such as enhanced image processing, according to NASA. As a result, researchers are now able to grab a much better glimpse of the galaxy and learn more about the universe in which we live.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Boeing resets Dreamliner delivery to third quarter]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=boeing-resets-dreamliner-delivery-to-third-quarter</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=boeing-resets-dreamliner-delivery-to-third-quarter</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:10:56 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>StephTanner</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=boeing-resets-dreamliner-delivery-to-third-quarter</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In October 2010, this Boeing 787 Dreamliner, designated ZA006, became the sixth and final 787 to join the flight test program. (Credit:Boeing)Rebounding from its latest scheduling setback, Boeing now says that it expects to deliver its first 787 Dreamliner in the third quarter.In December, the company resumed flight testing of its marquee commercial aircraft, which had been halted in early November because of an onboard fire sparked by a faulty electrical power panel.Boeing said today that the rescheduled delivery date factors in the time that it needs to produce, install, and test updated software and new power distribution panels in both flight test and production versions of the Dreamliner. Of the six 787 aircraft being used for flight tests, four have received interim software and hardware improvements and have undergone extensive ground testing and review en route to returning to flight status. The other two aircraft will return to flight &quot;in the days ahead,&quot; Boeing said.If Boeing makes the third-quarter target for deliveries, the Dreamliner will be more than three years behind schedule. The Japanese carrier All Nippon Airlines originally was scheduled to receive the first 787 in May 2008.The Dreamliner made a splashy public debut in July 2007, but its transition from drawing board to commercial service has encountered repeated turbulence, from supply chain shortages to a machinists' strike. The aircraft completed its maiden flight in December 2009. The design of the aircraft, which Boeing says will be especially fuel-efficient, is notable for the flair of its curved wingtips and for its extensive use of carbon fiber composite materials.Behind the scenes of Boeing's Dreamliner project (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[LS9 raises funds for sugar-to-diesel tech]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ls9-raises-funds-for-sugar-to-diesel-tech</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ls9-raises-funds-for-sugar-to-diesel-tech</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>pestcontrolguildford</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ls9-raises-funds-for-sugar-to-diesel-tech</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Synthetic biology company LS9 has raised $30 million to help fund commercialization of its process of turning plants into diesel fuel.A diagram of LS9&amp;39's one-step process for converting biomass into diesel fuel.(Credit:LS9)The funding was led by giant global private equity company Black Rock. Money also came from investors Flagship Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and CTTV Investments, the venture capital arm of Chevron, according to LS9.LS9 has developed a fermentation-based process for converting sugar in plants into petroleum replacements using genetically engineered e. coli bacteria. The same process can be modified to manufacture different chemicals as well.Earlier this year, researchers at the San Francisco company published a paper describing the technology which LS9 says can create liquid fuels in one step, making it relatively cost-effective compared with other biofuels technology.With the money, LS9 plans to continue building a demonstration facility in Florida that uses sugar cane to make diesel fuel and to develop its operations in Brazil. To scale up their products, many green-technology companies are seeking money from private equity firms, which typically have more capital available for large plants or manufacturing facilities than do venture capitalists. In a statement, LS9 CEO Ed Dineen said that Black Rock's investment will allow it to speed up plans to deploy its technology.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Windows on ARM chips: Intel impact]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=windows-on-arm-chips-intel-impact</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=windows-on-arm-chips-intel-impact</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riauckli1</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=windows-on-arm-chips-intel-impact</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft&amp;39's Zune HD runs a version of Windows on an Nvidia ARM chip.(Credit:Microsoft)So, what happens to Intel in the age of a version of Windows running on top of ARM chips from companies like Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Apple, Freescale, and Nvidia A report today is fueling speculation that Microsoft will bring a more full featured version of Windows to ARM--arguably the most widely used chip architecture in the world. This comes after Microsoft announced in July that it has gotten an architectural license from ARM. The most obvious impact is that Windows runs on more devices, many of which do not necessarily use Intel processors. TheZune HD is probably the best contemporaneous example of a smaller, non-PC device. That media player runs a version of Windows CE on top of an Nvidia ARM processor. Then, of course, there isWindows Phone 7--most of those phones use an ARM-based processor from Qualcomm. An ARM-compatible, more full-featured version of Windows will almost certainly run on Intel, but the point is that Intel would be just another player among a bevy of ARM chip heavyweights, such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Apple, and Samsung Electronics. And remember the Compaq iPaq handheld That used an Intel ARM design. But iPaq handhelds also ran on other ARM chips, from suppliers such as Texas Instruments. In that market, Intel was just another chip supplier and didn't fare particularly well. In fact, Intel subsequently sold that chip business to Marvell. &quot;There's no reason you couldn't build a tablet around Atom, but what does that bring to the table&quot;--said Linley Gwennap of the Linley Group, a chip-consulting firm, referring to Intel's power-efficient Atom chip, used in virtually all Windows-based Netbooks. &quot;The whole PC paradigm is being turned around here,&quot; Gwennap said. &quot;With the [Windows-Intel] PC, you couldn't get any [other chip] architecture in there, because of the huge software base. All that software runs on Windows, runs on Intel. Now, with the tablet market, to the extent that there's a software base, it runs on ARM.&quot; Future trends are the most worrisome for Intel. The smartphone and tablet market runs on ARM, and both of those device segments are beginning to act more like PCs every time a new product is announced from Apple, Motorola, Samsung, or HTC. Until Intel brings out a more power-efficient Atom architecture that offers discernibly better performance than ARM (two seemingly contradictory metrics), it will have a difficult time finding space in small devices such as smartphones and tablets. So, whether the report today is accurate is practically irrelevant, since the writing is already on the wall. Updated at 6:40 p.m. PT: adding comments from Linley Gwennap. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Spread Christmas cheer with Angry Birds]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spread-christmas-cheer-with-angry-birds</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spread-christmas-cheer-with-angry-birds</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samya01</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spread-christmas-cheer-with-angry-birds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A festivus for the rest of us: First, Angry Birds Christmas ornaments, and now an Angry Birds Christmas edition.(Credit:NickandChapin Channel/YouTube)Everyone's favorite finch-flinging frolic is going festive for both iOS and Android devices (just try saying that five times fast after downing a glass of egg nog). Rovio Mobile's next big update for Angry Birds, which celebrates Christmas, has been hinted at, detailed, and screenshotted, and now the company has made it official, though we don't have an exact release date yet.  Angry Birds Christmas will be free if you purchased the 99-cent Angry Birds Halloween edition for iOS devices. Rovio had initially tweeted that the Christmas title would only be coming to theiPod Touch,iPhone, andiPad, but today posted a message that it's flying onto Android too.  Now we're just waiting to hear if Angry Birds fans with MeeGo, WebOS, and Symbian devices will see their Yuletide cheer turn into jeer this holiday.   Angry Birds has steadily been growing into a phenomenon (being No. 1 in most mobile app stores for a while can do that for you), and Rovio is riding the wave with an official Angry Birds Day scheduled for December 11. Nearly a thousand people in 65 countries have already signed up for the meetups, which Rovio is flavoring as a celebration of popping 3 trillion piggies, and the chance to meet, play, and compare scores with Angry Birds fans. I'm pretty decent at Angry Birds, and have had many three-star rounds, if I may brag for a moment. Comparing scores against others might be intimidating, though. I fear the grand master of Angry Birds in my area would probably show up and school everyone. (Credit:Rovio) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple's tough iTunes note meant for indie labels]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apples-tough-itunes-note-meant-for-indie-labels</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apples-tough-itunes-note-meant-for-indie-labels</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Dhoni</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apples-tough-itunes-note-meant-for-indie-labels</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple's letter to music labels about the company's adoption of 90-second song samples sounded brash and uncompromising, reminiscent of how the company once seemed to negotiate with the music industry.Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America, said he&amp;39's in favor of longer samples. He just thinks artists should be compensated for them. (Credit:Rick Carnes)Apple wrote in e-mails to an undisclosed number of music industry executives--made public on Tuesday--that it would soon offer longer samples for songs that are at least two-and-a-half minutes in length. For shorter songs, iTunes would continue to offer 30-second previews, the company wrote. CNET broke the news in August that Apple planned to offer longer samples. What raised eyebrows about Apple's note was that it appeared that the company was offering an ultimatum to the entire record industry. But the largest stakeholders, the four top labels--Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI Music--signed off on Apple's plan to boost the length of iTunes' song previews from 30 seconds to 90 seconds in August, according to multiple music industry sources. Apple has also penned individual deals with some of the top publishing companies. Instead of the big guys, Apple's notice appears to be directed at the scores of independent record labels, industry insiders said. Apple stated in the letter that it would roll out longer samples soon at iTunes and that anybody who left their music up at the Web store was automatically agreeing to give Apple the right to offer the longer song samples &quot;gratis,&quot; or for free. The message is pretty clear: accept the longer previews for longer songs, or pull them off iTunes. An Apple representative confirmed that the note was sent but declined to comment for this story. Managers at some of the bigger indie labels were reluctant to comment today, saying they hadn't seen Apple's letter or hadn't had time to analyze it. Two did acknowledge that it seemed that Apple was playing hardball. There's a reason for the tough approach. Apple is in a hurry to get the deals done so it can offer the longer samples for holiday shopping. Time is running out. Apple CEO Steve Jobs was expected to announce the longer samples at a press event on September 1, music industry sources told CNET. Before that could happen, the National Music Publishers Association notified the company that it would need to negotiate a deal with the publishers before going ahead with its plans. Sources said the NMPA is still in negotiations with Apple, as is Broadcast Music Inc.. (BMI), a group that collects royalties on behalf of songwriters and publishers. Hanna Pantle, a BMI spokeswoman, told CNET today, &quot;We are in active and positive negotiations with Apple for the performance right of our repertoire.&quot; At a time when many iTunes users favor YouTube to sample and discover music, a longer sample seems like a no-brainer. In its note, Apple said, &quot;We believe that giving potential customers more time to listen to your music will lead to more purchases.&quot;But some in the music industry have grumbled in the past that Apple should compensate rights owners for the previews. &quot;It's like giving away ice cream samples--someone has to pay the cost,&quot; said Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America. &quot;I think it would be a good thing for consumers to go to 90 seconds. But they're tripling the amount of time, and they want it for free. I think there ought to be compensation. I believe anytime you use music, you ought to reward the people making the music.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hybrid hard disk market set to take off]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hybrid-hard-disk-market-set-to-take-off</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hybrid-hard-disk-market-set-to-take-off</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:24:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Fely</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hybrid-hard-disk-market-set-to-take-off</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The hybrid hard disk drive market is expected to reach 600 million units in 2016, according to market researcher Objective Analysis. This would mean an explosion of mainstream drives that integrate the performance-boosting benefits of flash memory. Seagate&amp;39's Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Drive can add a lot of performance on certain tasks with just a touch of flash memory. (Credit:Seagate)The first generation of hybrid drive technology was &quot;well conceived but poorly implemented,&quot; according to a report released on Monday by Objective Analysis. &quot;Now that working versions have been implemented the hybrid drive promises to sweep the PC hard drive market.&quot; &quot;We expect the hybrid drive market to nearly double every year for the five years following its initial adoption, reaching 600 million units by 2016,&quot; said analyst Jim Handy, who authored the report, in a statement. &quot;This blazing growth will result from hybrid drives replacing standard HDDs in mainstream PCs.&quot; Hybrid drives, in their current form, add a small amount of flash memory to a traditional spinning HDD. But this pinch of flash can deliver a big boost to performance on certain tasks at relatively little extra cost, as CNET Reviews demonstrated with the 500GB Seagate Momentus XT and as other reviews of the Seagate drive have shown. &quot;The NAND [flash memory] in these hybrid drives will be pretty small. Seagate's Momentus XT does a really good job with only 4GB of flash, and Nvelo's Dataplex software accelerates HDDs very well with only 16GB of NAND,&quot; said Handy, responding to an e-mail query. Handy continued. &quot;We expect the hybrid drives released in 2010 and 2011 to be introduced around the 4GB level, but over the forecast period, the amount of flash per drive should ramp to an average of 16GB.&quot; The upside for consumers is that they're not as expensive as flash-only solid-state drives, which can add hundreds of dollars to the price of a traditional HDD. &quot;A 4GB NAND--using SLC [single-level cell] NAND flash, which is required in this application--should add about $20 to the manufacturing cost of an HDD today, which might translate to an added $30 to 40 to the end user.&quot; He continued. &quot;A lot of consumers would be perfectly happy to spend an extra $30 to 40 to get the performance of an SSD and the capacity of an HDD. So far they have not been happy to spend an extra $200 to 500 to get an SSD that's smaller than an HDD.&quot; In the case of Apple's just-announced MacBook Air, for example, adding just 128GB of flash storage to the base configuration increases the price of the 13-inch model from $1,299 to $1,599. And choosing a 256GB solid-state drive over a 500GB hard disk on a 15-inch MacBook Pro adds a whopping $650 to the price. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook Acquires Drop.io, Nabs Sam&nbsp'Lessin]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-acquires-drop-io-nabs-samnbsplessin</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-acquires-drop-io-nabs-samnbsplessin</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>dsoopddpss</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-acquires-drop-io-nabs-samnbsplessin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[New York-baseda4sfile sharing site Drop.io has just posted the breaking news of its acquisition by Facebook on its company blog. This looks like it is the latest in a series of talent acquisitions by the social giant. Before its exit, Drop.io had $9.95 million in funding, led by RRE Ventures.From the Drop.io blog:&amp;''Today, wea4a4re proud to announce that wea4a4ve struck a deal with Facebook.a4sa4sWhat this means is that Facebook has bought most ofa4sdrop.ioa4a4s technology and assets, and Sam Lessin is moving to Facebook.In the coming weeks, wea4a4ll be winding down thea4sdrop.io service. As of this week, people will no longer be able to create new free drops, but youa4a4ll be able to download content from existing drops until Dec. 15. Paid user accounts will still be available through Dec. 15 and paid users will be able to continue using the service normally.a4sa4sAfter Dec. 15, paid accounts will be discontinued as well.&amp;''Drop.io allowed users to exchange files or &amp;''drops&amp;'' privately with their friends through web, email, or phone. The company will be shutting off all accounts after December 15th.As this has all the markings of an acqui-hire, founder Sam Lessin will be joining the Product Management organization at Facebook, where his fellow Harvard alumnus and friend Mark Zuckerberg is CEO. We&amp;'ve got no word on what will happen to the rest of the team.From Facebook, &amp;''We can confirm that we recently completed a small talent acquisition for Drop.io and acquired most of the company&amp;'s assets. We&amp;'re thrilled that Sam Lessin will be joining us at Facebook.&amp;''CrunchBase Informationdrop.ioInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Developers: Get ready for your closeup in VentureBeat&'s Mobile App Spotlight]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=developers-get-ready-for-your-closeup-in-venturebeatrsquos-mobile-app-spotlight</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=developers-get-ready-for-your-closeup-in-venturebeatrsquos-mobile-app-spotlight</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>smopzefeNeuse</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=developers-get-ready-for-your-closeup-in-venturebeatrsquos-mobile-app-spotlight</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Are you an app developer with a creation that&amp;'s ready for the klieg lights VentureBeat has partnered with Intel to provide a new showcase for your mobile app: VentureBeat&amp;'s Mobile App Spotlight.Why did we create this program Fundamentally, we want to help connect our readers with the latest innovations in the mobile and app worlds, and boost the efforts of entrepreneurs and inventors who are coming up with great new ideas. There&amp;'s been an explosion of creativity in mobile apps in the past few years &amp;8212' but that very fecundity has posed new challenges to developers.Here&amp;'s how it works: If you have a new app, submit it for consideration to the Mobile App Spotlight. VentureBeat&amp;'s editors will pick three apps to profile over the coming months, and they&amp;'ll be highlighted on VentureBeat&amp;'s homepage. (Note: To qualify as new &amp;8212' at least to our audience &amp;8212' the app must not have previously been written about in VentureBeat. If this program isn&amp;'t a fit, you can still keep us in the loop with your news &amp;8212' we&amp;'re glad to hear from you.) Apps written for any major smartphone platform are welcome.Why did we team up with Intel to create this program At VentureBeat, we&amp;'ve long tracked innovation in the mobile industry, before there was an App Store, iPads, or Android tablets. When we noticed that coaxing users to download an app was a growing challenge, we started covering app discovery and created the DiscoveryBeat series of events to discuss the technical and marketing challenges and the business opportunities in getting your hot app noticed. And Intel, our sponsor for the Spotlight, is increasingly interested in helping mobile-app developers solve the challenge of discovery, too.There are all kinds of tips and tricks that help you get your app out there. But one thing we consistently heard from developers is that it sure doesn&amp;'t hurt to get recognition from a publication like VentureBeat to get influential users&amp;' attention. Flattery aside, we get the message!And we hope you do, too: Submit your app today!The Intel AppUp Developer Program is sponsoring VentureBeat&amp;'s Mobile App Spotlight. However, VentureBeat&amp;'s editorial staff selects apps for the program according to its customary editorial standards, without input from Intel.Next Story: AT&amp;038'T finally gets a MiFi wireless hotspot of its own for $50 Previous Story: Rumors swirl over Twitter funding &amp;8212' but who&amp;'s getting a piece of the piePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: app discovery, app stores, Mobile App Spotlight, mobile apps          Tags: app discovery, app stores, Mobile App Spotlight, mobile appsOwen Thomas is the executive editor of VentureBeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Tripleseat: Building the Next OpenTable Outside the Valley&nbsp'System]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tripleseat-building-the-next-opentable-outside-the-valleynbspsystem</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tripleseat-building-the-next-opentable-outside-the-valleynbspsystem</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bugbewin</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tripleseat-building-the-next-opentable-outside-the-valleynbspsystem</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Over the last week I&amp;'ve gotten several pitches from companies taking a new twist on OpenTable&amp;'s business. One of two things has happened: Either there&amp;'s a new flurry of activity around the restaurant reservation/recommendation/lead generation space or having groused about OpenTable and recently posed a question on whether they should be disrupted, I&amp;'ve just become the go-to target for anyone launching a business in this space. Either way if you&amp;'re a restauranteur looking for a better way, watch this space, because the topic will keep coming up.One pitch that caught my attention was Tripleseat, and the company is announcing a $500,000 round of funding later today from Omaha-based Dundee Venture Capital. (More on that round in a second.) TripleSeat isn&amp;'t really trying to be an &amp;''OpenTable killer.&amp;'' It&amp;'s focused on streamlining the experience of booking and organizing private events, not just one-off restaurant reservations. And its business is not limited to restaurants. Its customers include other places you&amp;'d have events like large hotel chains, bowling alleys and boats. (Note to Heather Harde: Can we have our Christmas party on a boat I&amp;'m envisioning something like the one above, and Arrington wearing a hat like Michael Scott in the Booze Cruise episode of The Office. Awesome.)Tripleseat&amp;'s founder, Jonathan Morse, says an average client makes 30% of their income from private events and managing them is a huge headache, because they take a lot more coordination and details than a restaurant full of individual diners. Especially since private events tend to come in clumps, especially during the Holidays. As someone with 20 years experience in the hospitality and restaurant business, he&amp;'s seen the pain first-hand. OpenTable isn&amp;'ta4soptimizeda4sto handle it and most restaurants are just using pen and paper and basic Excel files.But the opportunity aside, one reason to watch Tripleseat is that they&amp;'re building the company completely outside the usual Silicon Valley Web echo-chamber. The company is headquartered in Boston, and turned to Omaha for its Web development and, now, its funding. Until now the company has been bootstrapped, and it&amp;'s done pretty well with no cash: It manages $140 million in event revenues for about 100 customers, many of which are sizable hotel and restaurant groups. The company&amp;'s revenues are a fraction of that, they charge between $100 and $300 a month for their software as a service package. But it&amp;'s an indication of their value to a restaurant or hotel.Morse and a handful of sales people have built the company since 2008, mostly doing meetings over the Web and cold-calling, boldly saying his business doesn&amp;'t need a big on-the-ground-sales team. I&amp;'m not so sure he&amp;'s right, at least if he wants to become a large company. Software as a service products are great for getting revenues quickly, but most of the big ones have built huge salesforces and taken a decade or more of work to get to point where they could go public. OpenTable, although a hardware and software solution, is a great example of that playbook done well. But I respect Morse&amp;'s staunchly anti-Valley mindset. He believes this business will take time to build no matter what and organic and sensible growth is safer than rather than raising a ton of money and throwing dozens of sales people at the problem all at once.Every week on my TechCrunchTV show, Ask a VC, we get questions on how cities like Omaha and entrepreneurs like Morse who have deep domain expertise, but aren&amp;'t coders and are outside the Valley system can get attention from VCs. And nearly every guest always says look to your own community first, build something good and money and attention will come. Maybe Tripleseat will take double the time to get to OpenTable&amp;'s size, but the company deserves props for taking that advice and building a solid business whether they get the Valley&amp;'s blessing or not.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple&'s PC market share expected to grow &8211' if you consider iPad a PC]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=applersquos-pc-market-share-expected-to-grow-8211-if-you-consider-ipad-a-pc</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=applersquos-pc-market-share-expected-to-grow-8211-if-you-consider-ipad-a-pc</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>carolin7831</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=applersquos-pc-market-share-expected-to-grow-8211-if-you-consider-ipad-a-pc</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Could the iPad be Apple&amp;'s key to gaining a bigger slice of the global personal computer market If you consider it a PC like Goldman Sachs does, then yes.Goldman Sachs on Monday resurrected its analyst coverage of Apple with a note from the newly hired Bill Shope, formerly of Credit Suisse. The note, packed with praise for Apple and bearing a stock-price target of $430, has created a stir &amp;8212' including on Wall Street, where Apple&amp;'s stock popped on Monday before drifting back down a bit today to about $321.Shope noted the growth in the &amp;''global PC personal computer market,&amp;'' but he includes tablets such as the iPad in that market a4&quot; including when he tracked the growth of Apple&amp;'s share of the &amp;''PC market&amp;'' over the past 15 years.While there is overlap in the markets for tablets and computers (some people are buying the former rather than the latter), it seems strange to just lump them together for purposes of historical analysis. He wrote that &amp;''Apple&amp;'s share of the PC market has been below 5 percent for most of the past 15 years,&amp;'' but that, with tablets from all vendors now in the mix, that share will rise to 12 percent next year.However the data might be framed, it does show why other PC makers are (or should be) stepping up their development of tablets. Shope forecasts that Apple will sell 37.2 million iPads next year, which would give it a 68 percent share of the tablet market.Macs, meanwhile, are more than holding their own, despite the iPad&amp;'s cannibalization. NPD Group on Monday said Mac sales will break a record this quarter, with more than 4 million being purchased. Sales are up 20 percent so far this quarter compared with the same period last year. Growth is faster overseas than in the United States, NPD said. About half a million of those sales will be of the MacBook Air.For Shope, the key to Apple&amp;'s growth story is the &amp;''ecosystem&amp;'' of software and content the company has created. In his 59-page report, he says that people buy Apple hardware products for their design, but once they buy in, they stay because of the &amp;''switching costs&amp;'' involved with moving to another platform. He says Apple&amp;'s revenue growth relative to operating expenses a4&quot; nearly triple since iTunes launched in 2003 a4&quot; is traceable in large part to this lock-in. Once you buy an Apple product, you&amp;'re likely to buy many more Apple products because they&amp;'re all tied to the platform.John Melloy of CNBC took note of an otherwise-overlooked aspect of Shope&amp;'s report: the $50 billion in cash Apple is sitting on. So far, the company has &amp;''steadfastly refused to part with this cash hoard,&amp;'' Shope wrote. He predicts a big dividend.Some observers say the cash is best used to improve efficiency, which improves margins. Others note the incredible growth in the stock, and the missed returns that represents for Apple.But Dan Nathan, an options trader quoted by Melloy, said that &amp;''Apple invests only in Steve Jobs&amp;' ego. &amp;''They have made a monumentally horrible decision on this cash management issue, and believe it or not it has cost investors in a serious way. Their arrogance will be the thing that brings them back down to the stratosphere with every other once dominant tech company.&amp;''That might be more than a bit harsh, but, as noted by Fortune&amp;'s Philip Elmer-Dewitt, revenues have grown seven times faster than operating-system R&amp;amp'D spending. Dewitt chose to characterize this as being evidence of the &amp;''bang [Apple] gets for its R&amp;amp'D expenses.&amp;''Apple hasn&amp;'t reported how much it spends on Jobs&amp;' ego.Previous Story: Justin Bieber, World Cup, Haiti, iPad top 2010 trends on Facebook and TwitterPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: iPad, pc mac, tabletsCompanies: Apple, Goldman SachsPeople: Bill Shope, Steve Jobs          Tags: iPad, pc mac, tabletsCompanies: Apple, Goldman SachsPeople: Bill Shope, Steve JobsVentureBeat 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[Microsoft to appease developers with major Windows Phone 7 update in February]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-to-appease-developers-with-major-windows-phone-7-update-in-february</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-to-appease-developers-with-major-windows-phone-7-update-in-february</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>nocarlberg</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microsoft-to-appease-developers-with-major-windows-phone-7-update-in-february</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Updates are in the works for Microsoft&amp;'s Windows Phone 7 platform that may make it more enticing to mobile developers, according to Tom Warren at WinRumors.Sources tell Warren that the update, which is expected to be announced at the Mobile World Congress event in February, will offer developers more freedom with their apps by opening up greater multitasking support, in-app downloads and better customization for users. The news is buoyed by a Business Insider report from yesterday that also pointed to a February update that would relax app restrictions, based on the word of a mobile app company head.Microsoft was notoriously restrictive with the initial apps that hit Windows Phone 7. In conversations with developers, they mentioned that Microsoft paid extremely close attention to even minor aspects of their apps &amp;8212' like the exact pixel width of their app&amp;'s margins. Clearly, Microsoft wanted to convey that its platform&amp;'s apps were polished and iPhone-like from the start. Now that Windows Phone 7 is beyond the launch hump, Microsoft can afford to give developers more flexibility.Previous reports also pointed to Microsoft announcing a smaller Windows Phone 7 update in January at the Consumer Electronics Show. That update will apparently bring copy and paste functionality, as well as support for CDMA networks like Verizon and Sprint (which was delayed initially).It&amp;'s unclear how these two updates will coexist. They could potentially be one and the same &amp;8212' with Microsoft unveiling some aspects in January, and more in February. But I think it&amp;'s more likely that we&amp;'ll see the first update within the first few months of 2011, and the bigger update in the following months.Microsoft is also expected to announce a Silverlight update for Windows Phone 7 at the Mobile World Congress, and it&amp;'s apparently working on overhauling its mobile version of Internet Explorer.Next Story: What to watch for in cleantech in 2011: companies, IPOs and trends Previous Story: S&amp;038'P 500 index welcomes Netflix, boots the New York TimesPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: apps, CES, developers, mobile world congress, smartphones, updates, Windows Phone 7Companies: Microsoft          Tags: apps, CES, developers, mobile world congress, smartphones, updates, Windows Phone 7Companies: MicrosoftDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[eBay&'s $75 million Milo buy: Another reason e-commerce is set to boom]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebayrsquos-75-million-milo-buy-another-reason-e-commerce-is-set-to-boom</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebayrsquos-75-million-milo-buy-another-reason-e-commerce-is-set-to-boom</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>factorychocolate</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebayrsquos-75-million-milo-buy-another-reason-e-commerce-is-set-to-boom</guid>
<description><![CDATA[E-commerce giant eBay is close to announcing it has purchased local shopping search engine Milo for $75 million, according to a report by Business Insider.That report appears to confirm what a source familiar with eBay&amp;'s plans told VentureBeat. According to our source, eBay plans to spend $75 million on a startup that specializes in tracking inventory in local stores &amp;8212' Milo.com&amp;'s specialty.While the price tag might seem disappointing in light of earlier hype about Milo, the purchase makes sense for eBay, which needs to rejuvenate its core marketplace business. Originally driven by auctions, eBay&amp;'s marketplace has lost its identity as it moved to fix-price listings and suffered from lackluster technology and design.What eBay.com excelled at was moving units at the beginning and end of a product&amp;'s life: early on, when there&amp;'s scarcity &amp;8212' think Beanie Babies or the Nintendo Wii video-game console' and at the end, when it needs to be heavily discounted to be moved. It also continues to work well for one-of-a-kind items like collectibles. In short, eBay&amp;'s network of buyers and sellers works best when the marketplace needs to discover the right price.But scarce or discounted goods are a tiny part of retailing. Think of those overpriced Nintendo Wiis: People were taking advantage of local shortages by buying regular-priced consoles where there was an excess, and then reselling them on eBay to people where local stores had run out of stock. That&amp;'s really a question of inventory.Those profits could, in theory, be captured by the operators of local stores if they had a better way of linking up the real-time contents of their shelves with interested buyers &amp;8212' and eBay.com&amp;'s still-sizable audience combined with Milo&amp;'s technology might accomplish that.In short, there&amp;'s a ton of commerce that has yet to feel the friction-removing touch of the Internet. And eBay&amp;'s rumored Milo purchase would just be a start.Update: In an email, Milo founder Jack Abraham at first declined to comment on what he characterized as &amp;''rumors and speculation.&amp;'' He then tweeted a confirmation. Well played, Abraham, well played.Next Story: Motorola brings streaming video to mobile devices via mystery gadget Previous Story: Conde Nast digital chief: Murdocha4a4s iPad newspaper a4Adoesna4a4t make any sensea4PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: e commerce, e-commerce 2.0, local commerce, local searchCompanies: eBay, Milo          Tags: e commerce, e-commerce 2.0, local commerce, local searchCompanies: eBay, MiloOwen 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[YouSendIt acquires startups Attassa and Zosh to mix up document delivery]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yousendit-acquires-startups-attassa-and-zosh-to-mix-up-document-delivery</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yousendit-acquires-startups-attassa-and-zosh-to-mix-up-document-delivery</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>wanabbugtae</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yousendit-acquires-startups-attassa-and-zosh-to-mix-up-document-delivery</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Digital content-delivery startup YouSendIt announced this morning that its acquiring two startups: Attassa, which makes add-ons for Microsoft Outlook, and Zosh, which has an app to let you to sign documents from an iPhone.Attassa, founded in 2007, provides add-ons for Microsoft&amp;'s Outlook email software, such as file-sharing and backup as well as an improved display of conversations and extended contact information. Its application for the iPhone, All My Mail, lets you browse and manage multiple email accounts.Zosh launched at DEMO Spring last March, winning the DEMOgod award in the Mobile category at the conference. Its presentation featured CEO Joshua Kerrdestroying a fax machine on stage with a baseball bat, to prove the point that the application, which lets you sign documents on your iPhone by emailing them to an address, obviated the need for faxes.YouSendIt plans to integrate the acquisitions to extend its own product offerings and has decided to shut down both individual offerings in the interim. Back in September, the startup raised $15 million in its fourth round of funding. No terms of the acquisition were disclosed.Next Story: AT&amp;038'T&amp;'s 4G LTE network coming mid-2011 with 20 devices by year end Previous Story: Intel CEO says graphics-processor combo chips to generate $125B in revenue for PC makers in 2011PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: acquisition, attachments, content delivery, DEMO, DEMO Spring 2010, digital, e-mail, e-signature, faxCompanies: Attassa, YouSendIt, ZoshPeople: Joshua Kerr          Tags: acquisition, attachments, content delivery, DEMO, DEMO Spring 2010, digital, e-mail, e-signature, faxCompanies: Attassa, YouSendIt, ZoshPeople: Joshua KerrSid 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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<title><![CDATA[WeatherBill nabs $42M from Khosla, Google to help farmers cope with climate change]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=weatherbill-nabs-42m-from-khosla-google-to-help-farmers-cope-with-climate-change</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=weatherbill-nabs-42m-from-khosla-google-to-help-farmers-cope-with-climate-change</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>CatholdAtmott</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=weatherbill-nabs-42m-from-khosla-google-to-help-farmers-cope-with-climate-change</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Weather-based insurance startup WeatherBill said today it had raised $42 million and signed on new investors Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures for its second round of financing.The company, which was founded by two ex-Google employees in 2006, offers what it calls &amp;''disruptive&amp;'' technology that delivers personalized weather insurance products for the $3 trillion global agriculture industry. In a statement, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla said WeatherBill hasthe potential to &amp;''fundamentally change the risk profile&amp;'' of agriculture. The company&amp;'s products is aimed at helping farmers protect their business and crops from weather changes brought on by climate change.As we wrote last year, data is the next big thing in cleantech. WeatherBill is one of the companies leveraging weather and data to produce new products aimed at billion-dollar industries. WeatherBug is using weather data to make smart grid offerings. A number of lighting systems, home energy management and building energy management startups also factor in weather to determine how to program lighting and air conditioning systems for the maximum amount of energy savings and tenant comfort. Others use data in other ways &amp;8212' Genscape, for example, uses sensors to provide data about the grid that energy traders pay to use. And while WeatherBill&amp;'s weather and data technology is currently used for agricultural insurance, it could one day be used for energy markets as they become more weather-sensitive.Farming and food supply is, of course, very sensitive to the weather. More than 90 percent of crop losses happen because of unexpected weather, and WeatherBill expects things to get worse as the effects of climate change increase the frequency of those events, says CEO David Friedberg, pointing to recent droughts in Russia and China and flooding in Australia. Friedberg co-founded the company with other ex-Googler Siraj Khaliq, now WeatherBill&amp;'s company&amp;'s chief technology officer.The companya4a4s technology enables the real-time pricing and purchasing of customizable weather insurance by using weather modeling and local weather monitoring systems.WeatherBill&amp;'sprograms pinpoint weather conditions expected to affect adversely affect farmer&amp;'s land, and automatically pays the farmer if those weather incidents happen. The company&amp;'s technologyalso powers Raincheck.com, an automated weather insurance program for travelers worldwide.Investors in this financing round also include NEA, Index Ventures, Allen &amp;amp' Company, First Round Capital, Atomico and Code Advisors. The company plans to use the capital to support product expansion in the U.S. and worldwide.[Images via Flickr/Sony200boy and NatalieMaynor]Next Story: Watch DEMO Spring 2011 now (live feed) Previous Story: Unofficial: Verizon iPhone surpassed 1M sold at launchPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: agriculture, cleantech, climate change, data, farming, weatherCompanies: Google, Google Ventures, Khosla Ventures, WeatherbillPeople: David Friedberg, Siraj Khaliq, Vinod Khosla          Tags: agriculture, cleantech, climate change, data, farming, weatherCompanies: Google, Google Ventures, Khosla Ventures, WeatherbillPeople: David Friedberg, Siraj Khaliq, Vinod KhoslaIris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you  pronounce her last name). Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[XXX sites win web domain approval]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=xxx-sites-win-web-domain-approval</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=xxx-sites-win-web-domain-approval</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>wanbimsiryy85</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=xxx-sites-win-web-domain-approval</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The internet&amp;'s governing body has approved the new .xxx domain for porn web sites.After a decade-long review process, the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided to grant final approval for the domain proposal for the porn industry. The whole affair shed light on both the politics and technology behind starting new domain names.At its annual meeting in San Francisco today, ICANN voted 9-3 to approve the domain, which allows web sites to end their web addresses in .xxx, rather than .com or .biz.The .xxx web sites will likely start appearing in the coming months. Sometime in the fall, a big land rush will take place for companies applying for .xxx domain names. The domain name application was originally submitted by Stuart Lawley, chief executive of ICM Registry, who said he wants consumers to make safe and secure transactions on .xxx sites. Lawley proposed the .xxx domain names in 2004, and he plans to make money selling domain names. A number of national governments, including the U.S., opposed the creation of the domains.Adult sites won&amp;'t be forced to use the new domain. The Free Speech Coalition, which represents some of the adult industry, opposed the domain name on the grounds that it would raise costs for porn providers. The domain names cost $60 each, and the porn sites will have to register a lot of them to keep their brands from being hijacked. The FSC said the new domain would make it easier for filters to block adult sites and that it would appeal the decision to an advisory board consisting of government representatives.Lawley said he has received requests to reserve more than 200,000 domain names. Here&amp;'s a partial chronology of the whole process.Next Story: A startup scribe goes native Previous Story: Does Googlea4a4s Larry Page care about social networkingPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: porn, xxxCompanies: ICM RegistryPeople: Stuart Lawley          Tags: porn, xxxCompanies: ICM RegistryPeople: Stuart LawleyDean 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[DEMO: Send an SMS slideshow with Highnote]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demo-send-an-sms-slideshow-with-highnote</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demo-send-an-sms-slideshow-with-highnote</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>NurgeNicesmum</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demo-send-an-sms-slideshow-with-highnote</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Mobile multimedia messaging application Highnote announced today that it is launching an updated version of its app at the DEMO Spring 2011 conference.The app lets smartphone users send a slideshow to their friends. It&amp;'s billed as a way to send more rich media without being constrained by the limits text- and media-messaging have. Naturally, users can only send their messages to other Highnote users.Users can create messages to single recipients or groups and do some pretty heavy-duty editing a4&quot; at least, by mobile standards. They can change the color of the text, the alignment and other elements of the actual message. Highnote users can also save quick replies, such as a &amp;''love it&amp;'' or &amp;''can&amp;'t right now&amp;'' to speed up replies to messages.Highnote users can add other types of media to their messages, like video, sound clips, map locations and songs from their iPod. Users can add two pieces of media per slide and nine slides per message. If a Highnote user sends a message to someone without the app, the recipient will receive a link via text message to view the slide show.But part of a4&quot; if not the whole a4&quot; appeal of text messaging is that just about every single phone in existence has text messaging enabled. So it&amp;'s a quick way to message other people who doesn&amp;'t involve picking up the phone, and there&amp;'s basically a guarantee that they will be able to reply back using a text message as well. Media messaging, or MMS, also has the same appeal a4&quot; almost every phone or carrier has the service enabled.So it&amp;'s like a cross between social networking and texting, but still only works if everyone uses it. It does send text messages, but following a link to the slide show online kind of defeats part of the purpose of the application a4&quot; immediacy. That&amp;'s part of the appeal of messaging application Kik, and why it became so popular a4&quot; it was simple and blazingly fast.The application is available for free on iTunes and on the Android Marketplace. Versions for Windows Phone 7 and the BlackBerry operating system are in the works, according to the company.Next Story: License plate-based social network Bump.com raises more than $1M (exclusive) Previous Story: VentureBeat Mobile Summit: The top 180 players in mobile debatePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: DEMO, DEMO Spring 2011, messaging, MMS, slideshowsCompanies: Highnote          Tags: DEMO, DEMO Spring 2011, messaging, MMS, slideshowsCompanies: HighnoteMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron. 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[Racktivity raises $8 million for data center efficiency]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=racktivity-raises-8-million-for-data-center-efficiency</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=racktivity-raises-8-million-for-data-center-efficiency</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>DimaFGert</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=racktivity-raises-8-million-for-data-center-efficiency</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Racktivity has raised $8 million in second-round financing for its management of data center power.The round was led by Partech International, and existing investor Big Bang Ventures participated. The European company also announced it would open a U.S. headquarters in Redwood City, Calif. It said it will use the new round of funding to accelerate growth and expand its sales presence in Europe and the U.S.Racktivity makes a power distribution unit called Rack Controller as well as software that manages and reduces data center energy use and maximizes uptime, or the time equipment can run without failing. The company says it will deliver the first of its modules to the U.S. in the first quarter of 2011.Greening data centers are a growing concern for big companies. Data centers eat up around three percent of all energy consumed in the U.S., and a number of startups are competing to provide solutions ranging from wireless centers to energy management software to networked lighting.Racktivity has deployed its Rack Controller in Europe through companies like Combell, Terremark Europe and Zenith Infotech. Combell, a data center hosting company, reported lowering its total cost of ownership by 65 percent.[Flickr/The Planet]Next Story: Verizon&amp;'s LTE 4G network lands Dec. 5, serving 110M users in 38 markets Previous Story: Study says training with video games can help you do your job betterPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: data centers, green data centersCompanies: Big Band Ventures, Combell, Partech International, Racktivity, Terremark Europe, Zenith Infotech          Tags: data centers, green data centersCompanies: Big Band Ventures, Combell, Partech International, Racktivity, Terremark Europe, Zenith InfotechIris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you  pronounce her last name).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[Fisker to release Karma hybrid (finally), with an extra $150M and possible IPO]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fisker-to-release-karma-hybrid-finally-with-an-extra-150m-and-possible-ipo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fisker-to-release-karma-hybrid-finally-with-an-extra-150m-and-possible-ipo</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Luisa01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fisker-to-release-karma-hybrid-finally-with-an-extra-150m-and-possible-ipo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After several rounds of delays and price increases, electric car startup Fisker says it will start production next month for the Karma, a luxuryplug-in hybrid priced at $95,900.The company raised $150 million earlier this month at a $600 million valuation, and its backers include storied venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield &amp;amp' Byers and New Enterprise Associates. Production of the Karma will start March 21, so it looks like the company is on track to begin selling them in March or April of this year.Fisker is often compared to electric car company Tesla because both are producing luxury electric vehicles and have received hefty amounts of government and venture capital backing.But Fisker focuses on plug-in hybrids and has yet to sell a car, while Tesla has gone public, focuses on all-electric cars and already has one (the Roadster) out on the market, with another, the Model S, planned for release next year.Still, investor Scott Sandell of New Enterprise Associates thinks Fisker could copy Tesla&amp;'s success. In an interview with VentureWire, he said the company offers &amp;''potentially a huge return in a fairly short order. &amp;8230' Tesla is worth $3 billion. &amp;8230' The public markets want a few more of these. I think it could be a blockbuster IPO.&amp;''Fisker will ramp up production of the Karma over the course of this year. The vehicle is expected to go up to 50 miles on battery before switching to gas and can go from zero to 62 miles per hour in less than six seconds. The company eventually expects to produce 15,000 Karmas a year and also has plans for a line of more affordable hybrids, termed &amp;''Project Nina&amp;'', projected to start at $47,000 and become available in 2012. The government expects 1,000 Karmas to be produced this year. The company will be closing reservations, which cost $5,000 apiece, after receiving over 3,000 orders so far, according to VentureWire.Fisker was founded by Henri Fisker, a veteran luxury car designer. It was granted a $529 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy and $21.5 million in grants and loans from the state of Delaware, where it is refitting an old GM factory to produce its cars.The Karma was supposed to launch in 2009. Then September 2010. Then last year Fisker said it was planning to sell 15,000 Karmas by the end of 2011 at a $87,500 price point, with a ramp-up to 100,000 Project Nina sedans a year by 2015. Now, the company says it will being producing 1,500 Karmas a month by October and still wants to hit 15,000 Karmas annually, it just won&amp;'t be able to do that this year. And the Karma&amp;'s price has gone up almost 20 percent since its initialprice of $80,000 in 2008, which then went up to$87,900. In December, the company raised it again to $95,900.Fisker isn&amp;'t the only electric car startup hoping to go public after releasing its first car, nor is it the only car company to experience delays with new cars. Electric sedan maker Coda has said repeatedly than an IPO is in its sights (and also delayed the debut of its sedan from last year to late 2011). Last year an executive told VentureBeat the company hoped this would be the year for an IPO.Fisker will be up against other plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt, which is already on sale and experiencing strong demand, and Toyota has plans for a plug-in Prius in 2012.Next Story: Scvngr finds 1 million users willing to complete location challenges Previous Story: Apple looks towards music files that surpass CD qualityPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: electric cars, hybrids, Karma, Project NinaCompanies: Coda, Fisker, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, TeslaPeople: Scott Sandell          Tags: electric cars, hybrids, Karma, Project NinaCompanies: Coda, Fisker, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, TeslaPeople: Scott SandellIris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you  pronounce her last name). Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook Weeks Away From Launching New Games&nbsp'Portal]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-weeks-away-from-launching-new-gamesnbspportal</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-weeks-away-from-launching-new-gamesnbspportal</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Preety01</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-weeks-away-from-launching-new-gamesnbspportal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We are hearing reports that Facebook is weeks away from launching a new, redesigned dedicated gaming portal. Details are sparse at this point, but the portal will present a new, more feature rich way to both find games and play games within the social network. We are told that Facebook will launch the portal with a number of game publishers as partners. With 200 million Facebook users playing games on the site monthly (or 40% of its userbase), it&amp;'s not surprising that Facebook is ramping up its gaming initiatives. The company alluded to launching a new dashboard at its gaming press event held in September, with the social network&amp;'s product manager for the games team Jared Morganstern telling the press that there will be a wave of innovation around the dashboard. At that time, Facebook announced changes with gaming applications in relation to the news feed and bookmarks. Earlier in the year, the social network launched an updated Games dashboard for users but we&amp;'re told that this new platform will be a centralized place for users to both find and play games. While we don&amp;'t know who the partners are at launch, we can only assume that Facebook would want to have the game publishers who attract the most traffic (i.e. Zynga, Playdom) on board for a new portal. We understand that Facebook will announce a number of initial partners at launch and will steadily be adding partners along the way as well.We hear the launch of the platform is slated for mid-November. We&amp;'ve reached out to Facebook for comment and we&amp;'ll update the post when we hear back. Update: A spokesperson for Facebook responded to us with this: As we announced in September, we have a games team working on building features to make it easier for people to discover and re-engage with games. We have nothing further to share at this time. That&amp;'s not a denial, so I&amp;'m pretty sure something is in the works. CrunchBase InformationFacebookInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Confirmed: Ebay Acquires Milo For $75 Million. Investors Make A&nbsp'Killing.]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=confirmed-ebay-acquires-milo-for-75-million--investors-make-anbspkilling-</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=confirmed-ebay-acquires-milo-for-75-million--investors-make-anbspkilling-</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>pnojubimJohn1</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=confirmed-ebay-acquires-milo-for-75-million--investors-make-anbspkilling-</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An update to our post earlier today: We&amp;'ve confirmed that local shopping startup Milo has in fact been acquired by eBay, for $75 million. Business Insider first reported on the possible deal earlier today. Milo CEO Jack Abraham confirmed the acquisition via a Tweet and eBay issued a press release. Investors in the company certainly did well.  They raised just $5 million in venture capital. We&amp;'ve heard that True Ventures, which led the Series A round, owns some 25% of the company prior to acquisition. If accurate, they just pocketed nearly $20 million, a 10x or more return on an investment made a year ago.So what is Milo Essentially the site lists real-time in-store product inventory for over 50,000 stores accross the country' featuring over 3 million products from Target, Macya4a4s, Best Buy, Crate &amp;amp' Barrel and more.The one problem Milo faces is that Google has started playing in the same space. Earlier this year, Google Product Search  launched Blue Dot, on mobile search. Similar to Milo, Blue Dot allowed users within search to see if a product is in-stock at nearby stores. However, Milo countered back then that Google doesn&amp;'t have the inventory reach that Milo has. A few weeks ago, Google unleashed a new version of Product Search, with more inventory listings from 70 popular retail brands, many of whom also list with Milo.Milo struck back with a coupon feature and also previously launched an Android app, but having Google as a competitor is no doubt daunting for any bootstrapped startup. Especially in the search game. For eBay, Milo represents just another way to get into the $917 billion market of online research to offline buying. And Forrester estimates that this will eventually reach $1.3 trillion and account for nearly 50% of total retail sales by 2013. eBay plans to bring the inventories of its sellers to Milo. The company will also integrate Miloa4a4s local product feeds into both its online marketplace and mobile applications. eBay&amp;'s barcode-scanning iPhone application RedLaser will also feature Milo local results.And Abraham did add this via a Tweet: &amp;''Within eBay we will complete our mission of bringing every product, on every shelf, of every store in the physical world onto the internet.&amp;''CrunchBase InformationMiloeBayInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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