
<?phpxml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
>
<channel>
<title>Haaze.com / smithadam / Voted News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:11:29 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[eBay revenues jump 16 percent with PayPal's Help]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebay-revenues-jump-16-percent-with-paypals-help</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebay-revenues-jump-16-percent-with-paypals-help</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:11:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rasingsirss324</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ebay-revenues-jump-16-percent-with-paypals-help</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Fueled by its PayPal division, eBay reported first quarter results today that exceeded expectations. Revenues jumped 16 percent to $2.5 billion, compared to the same period a year ago, and profits soared by 20 percent to total $475.9 million, or 36 cents a share. The results were in line with its internal projections of revenues of up to $2.5 billion and earnings per share and up to 36 cents a share. The company also met or exceeded analysts expectations for the period. PayPal continues to be the area where eBay sees the most growth. Net revenues from the company's marketplaces service increased 12 percent in the first quarter compared to the year-ago quarter, whereas the company's revenues from payments increased 23 percent in the same time period. The company also confirmed that it is still on track to double eBay's mobile gross merchandise revenues (excluding vehicles) to $4 billion in 2011 from $2 billion last year. But consumers aren't the only ones making purchases. eBay has also been out shopping to fuel its next stage of growth. Last month, eBay agreed to purchase publicly held GSI Commerce for $2.4 billion, the company's second-largest acquisition ever behind Skype. It also purchased Where, a location-based mobile ad network. In a statement, eBay President and CEO John Donahoe, said: &quot;In the first quarter, PayPal continued to drive strong growth globally, eBay sharply accelerated growth in the U.S., and we announced several acquisitions that we believe will enhance our leadership and innovation in commerce and payments. The year is off to a strong start.&quot; eBay is not the only one that is gearing up for the next stage of growth. While it's looking external for growth drivers, its competitor, Amazon, is growing organically. Yesterday, Amazon announced its first quarter earnings. Revenues surged by 38 percent compared to the year-ago period, but its net income fell as the giant retailer invested heavily in all sorts of businesses. eBay's second-quarter outlook is also strong. The San Jose, Calif.-based company expects net revenues in the range of $2.55 to $2.65 billion with GAAP earnings in the range of 36 to 37 cents per share. Non-GAAP earnings are forecasted to fall between 45 to 46 cents a share. eBay boosted its full-year guidance. Revenues are now expected to land between $10.6 to $10.9 billion. However, GAAP earnings per share have been revised downward to between $1.53 and $1.58. Story Copyright (c) 2011 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Dialed In 171: AT&T did it for America]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dialed-in-171-att-did-it-for-america</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dialed-in-171-att-did-it-for-america</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jackyzcakc</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dialed-in-171-att-did-it-for-america</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Casio goes Commando, the Nexus S heads for Sprint, the Droid Incredible 2 shows up, and our jaws drop at AT&amp;T's audacious FCC filing. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Watch out Leaf, Wheego LiFe EV hits the streets]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=watch-out-leaf-wheego-life-ev-hits-the-streets</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=watch-out-leaf-wheego-life-ev-hits-the-streets</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>premampir</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=watch-out-leaf-wheego-life-ev-hits-the-streets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A couple in Georgia receives the first Wheego LiFe electric car to be sold.(Credit:Wheego)The tiny segment of electriccars just got a little more crowded, as Wheego announces the delivery of its first LiFe electric car today. Similar to the Nissan Leaf, the Wheego LiFe runs off lithium ion batteries, has a range of about 100 miles, and, with a top speed of 65 mph, is freeway legal.The first delivery, which heralds the general availability of this two-seat electric runabout, went to a couple in Georgia. The car was sold through a Jim Ellis dealership in Atlanta. Wheego has dealerships signed up across the country.The name of the LiFe, formerly called the Wheego Whip, uses the periodic table abbreviations for lithium and iron, Li and Fe. The body and chassis for the car come from Shuanghuan Automobile in China. Wheego fits it with a 60-horsepower electric motor and 30 kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery pack.As a two seater, the Wheego LiFe is similar in format to the Smart Electric Drive, although the Wheego uses a front-wheel-drive format and has greater range. Cabin tech in the Wheego is limited to a stereo head unit with a CD slot and USB port.Wheego sells the LiFe for $32,995, and notes that a Federal tax credit of $7,500 may be claimed for purchasing the car.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Thunderbolted, Sandy Bridged MacBook Airs in June]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=thunderbolted-sandy-bridged-macbook-airs-in-june</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=thunderbolted-sandy-bridged-macbook-airs-in-june</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Apr 2011 07:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>bodialq</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=thunderbolted-sandy-bridged-macbook-airs-in-june</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Newer! Faster! Sandier!(Credit:Apple)Right now you can have an ultra-portable MacBook or one with up-to-date guts, but you can't have both. But that's apparently changing, if rumors are to be believed.The latest from parts suppliers in Asia indicates that Apple is set to begin mass production of Thunderbolt- and Sandy Bridge- (with Intel Graphics, natch) equipped MacBook Airs late next month, to debut on sales floors in June (which corroborates reports we made back in February).The news comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, from Concord Securities, who gave his take on the Air production to AppleInsider. In addition to being fairly consistently in-line with the rumors department, a summer refresh of the Air makes sense: Its low price point and lightweight design make it ideal for students, and June is around the start of back-to-school shopping. The Air is small, but we could see Apple sacrificing a USB port to make room for Thunderbolt, because with an adapter it can do the job of both.Kou didn't offer any information on pricing, but it would make sense if Apple kept the pricing and product matrix similar to the one the Air enjoys now, starting at $1,000 for the base 11-inch model and sliding up to $1,600 for a fully loaded 13-inch version.Other stats, such as storage capacity and graphics, were also not volunteered, but we're guessing slight bumps in both as SSD drive prices have been dropping. If Apple can find a way to squeeze a 128GB SSD drive into its entry-level 11-inch Air with an i5 processor and Thunderbolt then it could give other ultra-portable makers, like Samsung and Toshiba, real competition.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[App reveals dead bugs, carcinogens in your lunch]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=app-reveals-dead-bugs-carcinogens-in-your-lunch</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=app-reveals-dead-bugs-carcinogens-in-your-lunch</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 18 Apr 2011 07:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>franbrbbab</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=app-reveals-dead-bugs-carcinogens-in-your-lunch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you're concerned about the number of foods you eat that contain pulverized insect bodies, or worry about all the ways another Coke or Pepsi might contribute to your early demise, boy, have I got an app for you.That doctor is probably not prescribing this app...(Credit:Flickr user skampy)The folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest are wagering you're willing to fork over a buck to find out how truly disgusting and/or dangerous the ingredients in your food are with their new &quot;Chemical Cuisine&quot; app. Download it for 99 cents for iOS or Android and you have instant access to an encyclopedia of all those indecipherable ingredients on food labels--things like cochineal extract or carmine, which comes from those unfortunate aforementioned insects and is used to add a nice pink, purple, or reddish hue to your yogurt and other munchies.An Acesulfame-K up your sleeve won&amp;39't make a winning hand in the end.(Credit:CSPI/EchoDitto)Believe it or not, cochineal extract is an ingredient that CSPI rates as safe to consume for most people but notes that some folks can have a severe allergic reaction. &quot;Certain People Should Avoid&quot; is one of five ratings used for the ingredients in CSPI's database. The others are &quot;Safe,&quot; &quot;Cut Back,&quot; &quot;Avoid,&quot; and &quot;Caution&quot; for those ingredients that might pose a risk and need more testing. One entry of interest in that last category is the natural sweetener Stevia, also known as Rebiana or by brand name like Truvia, a bottle of which is currently on a shelf at my home. The app capsule on Rebiana points out that natural doesn't necessarily mean safe or healthy--there's been evidence that it can promote cancer and infertility in rodents.In the &quot;Avoid&quot; category, the artificial colorings and sweeteners dominate, from notorious names like Aspartame to the more harmless-sounding--but still potentially carcinogenic--&quot;caramel coloring.&quot; Most bottles of Diet Coke contain both.CSPI is quick to point out that most food additives are relatively safe in the amounts in which they're used. In fact, I counted less than 20 on the &quot;Avoid&quot; list on Chemical Cuisine.One characteristic of this app seemed a little baffling to me, though. While I'm not exactly operating in the nonprofit sector, this sort of awareness-building app just screams to be made available free, and the 99-cent price seems odd for what amounts to basically a digital pamphlet, albeit a very handy one.Then again, I'm likely to see that dollar returned a thousand-fold with all the dough I now won't spend on those carbonated cancer and corn-syrup bombs in a can in the future.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Bucky Dome: Daddy of all geodesic dome homes]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bucky-dome-daddy-of-all-geodesic-dome-homes</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bucky-dome-daddy-of-all-geodesic-dome-homes</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 16 Apr 2011 07:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>juwanpno8w8</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bucky-dome-daddy-of-all-geodesic-dome-homes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It&amp;39's a bubble! It&amp;39's a gumdrop! It&amp;39's a geodesic dome home.(Credit:RBF Dome NFP)CARBONDALE, Ill.--When you see a geodesic dome, you know exactly what it is. You don't have to wonder if it's Georgian, Victorian, or neomodern. It's a dome. All those geodesic dome homes trace their lineage back to a quiet corner of Forest and Cherry in Carbondale, Ill. R. Buckminster Fuller was the mind behind the dome home. He built what's known locally as the &quot;Bucky Dome&quot; just over 50 years ago, out of panels of plywood. He meant for it to be cheap and easy to put together. The original assembly took just seven hours. Since the 1960s, domes have reproduced and spread out around the country in a wide migration of Fuller's ideas. It's no wonder many people think of him as the grandfather of the sustainability movement.Not for sale: Geodesic dome home. Needs a little TLC.(Credit:Amanda Kooser/CNET)An effort to restore the dome has been given new life with the recent award of a Save America's Treasures matching grant to the tune of $125,000. &quot;He envisioned the dome as a house. It was the first dome home. It's the only one he ever lived in,&quot; says Janet Donoghue, development director of the nonprofit RBF Dome NFP, which is looking to resuscitate the worn structure.The group has its work cut out for it. &quot;When it was built, he said the material he needed to make it waterproof wasn't invented yet,&quot; says Donoghue. The Bucky Dome is in rough shape. Sad brown shingles cling helplessly to the outside, mold has taken hold on the inside, and many of the plywood triangles are water-damaged.A much more modern geodesic dome in the form of metal piping and tarps covers the entire outside in an attempt to protect Bucky's former residence.Related links&amp;149' Geek's guide to Route 66, part 1&amp;149' Route 66: Build your own giant Blue Whale&amp;149' Dungeons &amp; Dragons park: Dice not includedThere are signs of life. The upstairs loft/study area looks ready to move in to. The swooping bookshelves look just like they did in old photographs. Mold treatment is under way. The nonprofit has raised about $25,000 since the beginning of the year to get the restoration going. Plywood is cheap and plentiful. &quot;We're going to do it piece by piece. We're going to preserve as much as we can,&quot; says Donoghue.My visit to the Bucky Dome comes as part of a Carbondale side trip from the Geek's Guide to Route 66. It's a perfectly geeky place to visit, a way to bring myself back down to earth after the flights of fancy I found at the Dungeons &amp; Dragons-themed Boo Rochman Memorial Park. The dome is an efficient use of space and it still has a groovy futuristic look to it.We may never turn into a culture of dome dwellers, but there is something appealing and comforting about a circular abode. I think I might like a dome of my own to call home.Bucky Fuller contemplates some awesome bookshelves.(Credit:RBF Dome NFP)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Altec Lansing InMotion Air review: Stylish Bluetooth speaker]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=altec-lansing-inmotion-air-review-stylish-bluetooth-speaker</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=altec-lansing-inmotion-air-review-stylish-bluetooth-speaker</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>winmanmansdasd</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=altec-lansing-inmotion-air-review-stylish-bluetooth-speaker</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Altec&amp;39's InMotion Air is a portable Bluetooth speaker that retails for $199.(Credit:Altec Lansing)Let's start with the good stuff. Altec Lansing's InMotion Air IMW725, which retails for $199, is one of the better-looking compact wireless Bluetooth speakers out there. It's got a unique, modern design and comes with a built-in rechargeable battery, which allows you to take it outside without having to plug it in. We also liked the hideaway dock on the back of the unit for the small remote and the inclusion of a USB dongle. The dongle lets you stream audio from your Windows orMac computer to the InMotion Air, using it as a computer speaker--whether or not you've already got Bluetooth compatibility built in.Since this InMotion Air uses Bluetooth, it works with a wide range of devices that support the A2DP version of Bluetooth, including iPhones, iPads, and nearly every smartphone andAndroid tablet. Alas, there's no dock for charging your phone, nor is there a free USB charging port like the one found on Altec's own Octiv Duo speaker dock.There is an audio input for connecting other devices (using an optional cable), but you don't get a built-in speakerphone like those found on some rival Bluetooth speakers, such as Aliph's tiny Jawbone Jambox.As we said, we liked the design, though its off-kilter geometric shape may not please some. It's transportable but not superportable--meaning that it's lightweight and is easy to move around the house or take with you outside onto the patio or pool, but it's not exactly suitcase-friendly.How does the InMotion Air sound Read the full review to find out.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[IE9: Microsoft is back in the browser game]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ie9-microsoft-is-back-in-the-browser-game</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ie9-microsoft-is-back-in-the-browser-game</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>johnmark01</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ie9-microsoft-is-back-in-the-browser-game</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After a three-week IE9 immersion, I've concluded that Microsoft once again has a competitive Web browser.And even though Internet Explorer remains the most-used browser on the Net today, convincing me that Internet Explorer 9 is a real browser was quite an accomplishment. Here's why.IE6, now a decade old, is loathed by Web developers the world over for its lack of standards support, and it's the focus of a Microsoft effort that's trying to get the companies and people using the browser to modernize. After a five-year hiatus, IE7 emerged with some handy features, such as tabbed browsing and a search box, but it was mostly about trying to catch up with rivals such asFirefox and Opera that hadn't idled away the years. IE8 took the major step of trying to conform to Web standards, using a &quot;compatibility view&quot; mode only as a fallback to show sites that had been crafted for earlier versions of IE. But it still lagged other browsers in the breadth of standards it supported, and it crawls when executing the ever-more-important Web-based JavaScript programs.Even though IE is built into Windows, the most widely used personal computer operating system on the planet, its share of usage steadily diminished as people realized there was a better answer. Microsoft had competed fiercely with Netscape in the 1990s and won, but then it sat back and left the innovation to others.Thus, the world of Web developers and technical enthusiasts can be forgiven for being skeptical about IE9.But as I see it, Microsoft has fully awoken here. No doubt the influence of Apple'sSafari and Google's Chrome helped ring the alarm bells and shake loose funding for programmers and marketing, but Microsoft's grasp of the importance of the Web is much more than a knee-jerk reflex to catch up to rivals. My life with IE9 The browser itself worked well for me, for the most part. My top pick is still Chrome, with Firefox 4 a close second, but IE9 got the job done.After an initial week of kicking the tires, I took the plunge and set it as default browser. I spend most of my working day, and a lot of my off hours, in a browser, so that's actually a big step. Slow browsers drive me nuts.I compiled a list of 38 complaints as I was testing IE9. That may sound like a lot, but many are petty ones such as occasionally blank full-screen YouTube videos or wonky page rendering on Picplz and Apple's online store. The proof that IE9 had passed the test was that after I had set it as default browser, I rarely cringed as I contemplated the prospect of clicking a link, the way I had with IE8.My biggest problem using IE9 was that it chained me to a deskbound quad-core Dell Windows PC (it's a laptop, but five cables tether it down). I missed the lumbar-preserving stand-up arrangement I use for my other main machine, a MacBook Pro. In other words, it was an issue that had nothing to do with the browser itself. Neither IE9&amp;39's list of tabs across the top of the browser window nor the list that appears when hovering over the taskbar icon are very useful for navigating large numbers of tabs. In fairness, it&amp;39's a problem all browsers have.(Credit:screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET) I did have some complaints I think are worth mentioning. Chief among them:&amp;149' Tab management--I often have dozens open--was no better than with most browsers today, and often worse. The integration with the taskbar probably helps people who use mice to navigate a smaller number of tabs, but I use keyboard shortcuts (ctrl-tab), and a long list of text wasn't much better than a long list of tabs. I'm glad Microsoft added the option to add a new row of tabs below the combined search/address bar, but I wish there was a way to activate that option only when tabs in the ordinary configuration get too narrow. IE groups tabs by color, but I find this organizational scheme marginally useful sometimes and a hidrance at other times, so I shut it off. When I hold down ctrl-tab to zing past a large number of tabs, many intermediate tabs don't get highlighted in the tab strip, requiring me to guess how far I've gone and when to stop. Finally, IE9 often didn't pick up a site's favicon correctly, and I find those tiny graphics very useful for quickly locating the tab I want.&amp;149' Google Docs is hobbled. I spend a lot of time with Google's online word procesor and spreadsheet, and both suffered performance lags, despite the speed boost of IE9's Chakra engine for running JavaScript. The word processor was fine until documents got moderately long--one or two thousand words--then it started dragging. The spreadsheet seemed to have trouble even earlier. Perhaps Google bears some of the responsibility here, but Firefox, Safari, and Chrome don't suffer from this same drawback. I also had a temporary showstopper: when my display was zoomed to 125 percent and the Google Docs page was shrunk, the cursor would be misplaced. Changing the zoom settings back to 100 percent all around fixed it.&amp;149' IE9 just didn't have quite as light a feel as Chrome or Firefox. When there's that little bit of lag when you repeat the same action over and over--Ctrl-T to spawn a new tab or Ctrl-L to start typing a search term or Web address--it just wears you down. For all the vaunted hardware acceleration in IE9, its user interface response was just a bit poky.&amp;149' Is it the browser or the OS Antitrust settlement notwithstanding, IE9 still feels enmeshed with Windows. This time the installation didn't require a reboot, an improvement over IE8 and over Safari upgrades on Mac OS X, but the trade-off is that for installation, you must first quit any application that gets within a mile of HTML rendering. For me that was Photoshop, Avast antivirus, Firefox, Chrome, Google Talk Plugin, HP Digital Imaging Monitor, Java SE binary, Java Update Scheduler, Skype, Synaptics Touchpad Enhancements, Tweetdeck, Windows Desktop Gadgets, Windows Explorer, Windows Host Process (Rundll32), Windows Live Mesh, Yahoo Messenger. To its credit, the installer restarted my antivirus software afterward. I also still dislike seeing &quot;Internet options&quot; and &quot;Windows Update&quot; in IE9 menus. These are operating system actions, but Microsoft probably is leery of removing them after so many people have learned to find them in IE.But overall, IE9 was a capable, competent browser. Its gradual arrival will liberate Web developers hobbled by old browsers--especially as Windows 7 finally replaces Windows XP at corporations wedded to IE6. The W3C&amp;39's new HTML5 logo(Credit:W3C)  The ever-expanding Web Today's Web is a vastly more powerful platform for software than a decade ago. Graphical elements and formatting are richer and more dynamic with modern Cascading Style Sheets technology, and JavaScript has come into its own with higher performance in browsers and libraries such as jQuery that make it easier to use. HTML5's vaunted video tag and the coming WebSocket specification can make pages even more active, while storage technologies can let Web applications work even when there's no network connection.It's a world where Google Docs can be a viable replacement for Microsoft Office for some fraction of the market, and where programmers can contemplate massively multiplayer online games built from Web standards.With IE9, Microsoft has embraced this vision, even though it undermines two other important programming foundations from Microsoft, the company's Windows operating system and its Silverlight technology that serves both as a browser plug-in and as Windows Phone 7's native application technology.That internal competition must have made for some heated meetings, but really, Microsoft had little choice. Powerful rivals were moving together down the Web-app path, and developers were following. It's a classic cannibalization story: sometimes a company is better off embracing a popular technology that hurts its own products, because the alternative is letting competitors inflict the pain.Thus, at the same time it was building IE9, Microsoft re-engaged with Web standards work with HTML, CSS, Scalable Vector Graphics, typography, and more. Many of these standards are present in IE9, one indicator that Microsoft isn't faking its support for the new Web merely with marketing bafflegab.Microsoft also embraced many healthy practices developing IE9. Publicly released platform preview editions let Web developers test the browser as it evolved, and Microsoft responded to feedback.To be sure, IE9 still lacks support for a number of Web standards. But I'd rather see an IE9 in its present state and released than an IE9 supporting all those standards but arriving sometime at the end of 2011. I don't expect Microsoft to adopt Google's six-week update cycle, but I do think successors to IE9 are under active development, and I see no reason why animated (and hardware-accelerated) CSS transitions and transformations aren't on the to-do list.WebGL--the hardware-accelerated 3D graphics interface all the other browser makers have embraced--is a big question mark for IE. Microsoft has a competing interface in Silverlight 5, which goes into beta testing this week, not to mention native Windows apps using DirectX. But judging by IE9, it's not unthinkable that Microsoft would support it somehow, if enough developers used it on the Web.After all, Microsoft clearly has decided it's time for an IE it can be proud of. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Verizon to install 100 gigabit network in U.S.]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-to-install-100-gigabit-network-in-u-s-</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-to-install-100-gigabit-network-in-u-s-</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:10:46 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kabuuto95</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=verizon-to-install-100-gigabit-network-in-u-s-</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Verizon Communications plans to upgrade segments of its U.S. Internet backbone to 100 Gigabit Ethernet by the end of the second quarter, the carrier said today.The upgrade to 100G will happen in three segments: Chicago to New York, Sacramento to Los Angeles, and Minneapolis to Kansas City.The upgraded network can offer backbone speeds of 100 gigabits per second, up to 10 times faster than is generally now available. Verizon said the upgrade can benefit business customers that increasingly depend on video streaming, cloud-based applications, and other bandwidth-intensive services.Internet backbones use high-speed fiber-optic networks to send data between major routers on the Internet. The various backbones that support the Internet are maintained by different organizations, including telecom companies such as Verizon. Providing a major improvement in performance over 1G and 10G Ethernet and the more recent 40G Ethernet, the 100G Ethernet standard was ratified last summer by the IEEE, or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.The U.S. effort will follow a deployment earlier this month in Europe, where Verizon set up a 100-Gigabit Ethernet network between routers on a 555-mile stretch from Paris to Frankfurt. As in Europe, Verizon's U.S. backbone upgrade will use Juniper Networks' routers and Ciena's equipment to help the link bridge the long distance between cities.Beyond offering faster speeds, 100G Ethernet is more efficient than other network standards.Verizon can upgrade its current fiber-optic system by simply installing new equipment on the network rather than replacing the underlying infrastructure. The network is also more efficient, according to Verizon, because it can carry traffic on a single 100G wavelength as opposed to 10 different wavelengths, each running at 10 gigabits per second. And the overall efficiency of 100G Ethernet can help cut down on latency, or the total time it takes for the data to reach its destination.&quot;Advancing to 100G is a significant step in strengthening our global IP network to handle the bandwidth demands of our customers--whether it's large enterprises or the average consumer,&quot; Ihab Tarazi, vice president of network planning at Verizon, said today in a statement. &quot;Besides greater scalability and network efficiencies, we also expect 100G deployment to improve latency on a route-by-route basis.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Tax per gallon, or per mile]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tax-per-gallon-or-per-mile</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tax-per-gallon-or-per-mile</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ionivappy</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tax-per-gallon-or-per-mile</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As the Nissan Leaf does not use any gasoline, its drivers do not pay for highway maintenance.(Credit:Josh Miller/CNET)A report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), looks at the feasibility of taxing drivers based on miles driven. To implement the tax, the CBO found that technology exists to seamlessly record and transmit mileage.Conrad requested the report to explore means of raising money to fund a $556 billion budget request by the Obama administration to maintain highways. Currently, funds are raised from an 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal tax on gasoline and a 24.4-cent-per-gallon federal tax on diesel. Conrad suggested an alternate per-mile tax due to lower revenues from the gas tax as vehicles become more efficient.While saying per-mile metering devices were feasible, the report fell short of estimating the cost of implementing metering devices. It said that, while it would be less expensive to require manufacturers to install metering devices as original equipment, the phase-in would take many years.Implementing a per mile tax would face many similar hurdles. If everycar in the nation could not be equipped with a factory-installed or aftermarket metering device all at the same time, the tax would need to allow some drivers to pay the per mile tax, and others to continue to pay the per-gallon tax. Both Oregon and Washington are already considering some means of taxing cars that use little or no gas. Previously, Oregon considered a per-mile tax. Both states are currently looking into a road tax aimed specifically at plug-in vehicles.(Source: The Hill and KUOW.org)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Sony: PS3 hacker GeoHot fled to South America]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ps3-hacker-geohot-fled-to-south-america</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ps3-hacker-geohot-fled-to-south-america</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:10:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Poereelsoprip</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=sony-ps3-hacker-geohot-fled-to-south-america</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Update, 7:01 p.m. PT:with Hotz saying he is on a long-planned vacation.If you've been following the drama between Sony and hacker GeoHot (aka George Hotz) then you're in for a fun twist today: Sony is accusing Hotz of fleeing the country, but Hotz says he's just enjoying spring break.Sony makes the allegation in a court filing (PDF, see page 2, line 24) dated Friday.After news stories began appearing today, Hotz wrote a blog post to set the record straight.&quot;Actually, it's true I'm in South America, on a vacation I've had planned and paid for since November. I mean, it is spring break' hacking isn't my life,&quot; he writes. &quot;Rest assured that not a dime of legal defense money would ever go toward something like this. And of course [Sony-employed law firm Kilpatrick Townsend &amp; Stockton] loves the idea of painting me as an international fugitive. I have been in contact with my lawyers almost every day' I would not let the case suffer.&quot;George Hotz telling Sony how he feels.(Credit:YouTube)Hotz is well known for reverse-engineering the multi-digit code that allows the installation and execution of non-Sony-recognized code onPlayStation 3s, essentially allowing anyone with a PS3 to run homebrew software, or even pirated games.A federal magistrate a couple weeks ago OK'd Sony's request for Hotz to hand over his hacking gear--his PS3 consoles, computers, and other equipment--untouched. It seems that before turning the stuff in, he allegedly made edits, deleting key evidence that Sony likely planned to use against him.What's more, Hotz was allegedly caught lying about having a PlayStation Network (PSN) account. But Sony says it was able to prove that in February of last year, Hotz allegedly purchased a new PS3 and, tracing the serial number, Sony says it concluded that he had set up a PSN account under the screen name &quot;blickmanic,&quot; which is also a name Hotz used on previous Web forums oniPhone jailbreaking.Besides jailbreaking PS3s for non-sanctioned use on PSN, Hotz was a very vocal and active member of the iPhone/iOS jailbreaking community, bringing several key userland jailbreaks to the devices, including blackra1n and limera1n. While Apple consistently moved to patch the exploits Hotz used in its software, it never went overtly litigious as Sony has.It's unclear what will happen in this case next. It's not publicly known where in South America Hotz is staying, what gear he has with him, and what assets he has access to. Recently, a court granted Sony access to Hotz's donation-based PayPal account, so that cash source may well be totally unavailable.Whatever the case, we expect this to be far from over. There are egos, weird and obscure copyright laws, and potentially millions of dollars still at stake. If you're like me, you might want to make some metaphorical popcorn as well.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Crave 37: That '70s steampunk show (podcast)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crave-37-that-70s-steampunk-show-podcast</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crave-37-that-70s-steampunk-show-podcast</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:10:45 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>myleswweme</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=crave-37-that-70s-steampunk-show-podcast</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Episode 37 -Xbox 360 1977 edition -DIY cyclocomputer -Jules Verne gets steampunked -Steampunk Star Wars -Burglar Blaster        Donald Bell     Full Profile E-mail Donald Bell   E-mail Donald Bell If you have a question or comment for Donald Bell, 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       Donald Bell is CNET's senior editor for portable entertainment, covering everything from tablets to MP3 players. He's also a musician, a hardware hacker, and a collector of vintage audio gadgetry. He appears every week on CNET's Crave video podcast.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Power line connected to help cool Japanese reactor]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=power-line-connected-to-help-cool-japanese-reactor</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=power-line-connected-to-help-cool-japanese-reactor</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 Mar 2011 07:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>cinematime</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=power-line-connected-to-help-cool-japanese-reactor</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This view from Japan state broadcaster NHK shows a Japanese Self Defense Force helicopter dropping water on reactor 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Thursday. The reactor is the smaller steam-emitting building to the right of the tower' the helicopter is at top center dropping the water.(Credit:Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)The Tokyo Electric Power Co. has successfully restored power to part of a dangerously overheating nuclear power plant damaged by last week's earthquake and tsunami, a key move in efforts to cool the site.The power company, also called Tepco, connected a power line to reactor 2, one of six at the Fukushima Daiichi power station about 140 miles northeast of Tokyo. The site has six reactors' keeping them and their associated spent-fuel ponds cool has been a problem ever since the massive magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunamis knocked out power and damaged auxiliary cooling pumps.The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that the new power cable was connected to reactor 2, which suffered a serious explosion Monday that breached its primary containment vessel. Due next for a connection is reactor 3, which suffered an explosion of its own and which is fueled by a more hazardous combination of uranium and plutonium oxide.Tepco had been trying to connect the power line yesterday, but radiation risks postponed the work.The situation at the reactors is dire. A fire earlier this week forced most of the plant's staff to evacuate, complicating efforts to stabilize temperatures. Today, highly unusual efforts to keep the fuel from overheating included spraying 30 tons of water from trucks and dropping several loads of water from a helicopter.The power line means cooling reactors with electrical pumps will be much easier. Japanese state broadcaster NHK reported today that the tsunami damaged the main pumps, so makeshift ones will be used instead.Tepco already had resorted to cooling reactors 1, 2, and 3 with seawater, another last-ditch move because seawater is highly corrosive. Reactors 4, 5, and 6 had been shut down before the quake because of an inspection, but they, too, are a problem because of hot fuel in their spent-fuel ponds. Reactor 4's pond was the site of a serious fire already.This illustration, based on GeoEye satellite photo viewed through Google Earth, shows the locations of the six Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors.(Credit:Photo from Google and GeoEye' graphic by Stephen Shankland/CNET)<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Balloons float real-life 'Up' house near LA]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=balloons-float-real-life-up-house-near-la</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=balloons-float-real-life-up-house-near-la</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Mar 2011 08:10:58 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>barbarastone</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=balloons-float-real-life-up-house-near-la</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:National Geographic)Ever wished real life could be more like a Pixar movie It was for a little while on Saturday, as a team of awesomizers managed to successfully lift a house into the air, &quot;Up&quot; style, using a cluster of brightly colored balloons. The adorable 2,000-pound, 16x16-foot yellow house took to the skies with the aid of 300 weather balloons that grow to 8 feet tall when inflated. From top to bottom, the entire aircraft measured 10 stories high and reached an altitude of 10,000 feet. It flew for about an hour at dawn from a private airfield east of Los Angeles. Oh, and there were people (of the non-animated variety) aboard.  The floating feat sets a world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted, according to the National Geographic Channel. It filmed the flight as part of a new series called &quot;How Hard Can It Be&quot; that's set to debut in the fall.  And if you're wondering how hard it can be to set a balloon-supported house aloft, well, &quot;it was pretty hard,&quot; Paul Carson, the show's host, notes in the behind-the-scenes video below. &quot;It was very difficult actually.&quot; Volunteers in California&amp;39's High Desert prepare the house for liftoff Saturday. (Credit:National Geographic)A view of the 300 balloons from the inside of the little house. (Credit:National Geographic) Pixar's 10th animated feature focuses on the fate of 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen, his house, and a wayward 8-year-old who happens by one day. Launched into the sky together by a cluster of balloons tied to the roof of Fredricksen's house, the two set off on what could safely be called a high-flying adventure. It took the National Geographic team of scientists, engineers, and balloon pilots two weeks to pull off their version of the &quot;Up&quot; house--from the initial assignment through planning, building, and rigging the house and setting it aloft in the clear skies to cheers down below. Carson picks &quot;incredulity&quot; to describe the dominant feeling among the crew as the house made its way skyward. As for us, &quot;grinning like dopes&quot; would about cover it. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[New ads link Angry Birds back story to Bing]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-ads-link-angry-birds-back-story-to-bing</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-ads-link-angry-birds-back-story-to-bing</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Mar 2011 08:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>georgewego</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-ads-link-angry-birds-back-story-to-bing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[So that&amp;39's how they find the eggs...(Credit:CNET)A new set of advertisements portrays the bad guys in one of the most popular mobile video games as using Microsoft's search engine to do their dirty work.Bing has sponsored four animated video advertisements that join the Angry Birds series' existing story. The ad spots feature the pigs, the villains of the game, who make use of Bing on a smartphone to search out bird eggs and have off with them. Two of those 15-second ad spots are up this morning, with the other two to be released later on down the line. This is not the first time Bing has been a part of the Angry Birds world, with developer Rovio having partnered with the search engine as part of the Valentine's Day update in its Angry Birds: Seasons game. When users would fail a level, the software would offer up a way for them to do a search on Bing for a walk-through or strategy of that level. In a post on the Bing Blog, the company says this same functionality is coming to the original Angry Birds game as well, in a slightly expanded form:&quot;For a limited period, Angry Birds will also feature search integration with Bing providing over a hundred clues to speed you through the levels and help squash the porcine thieves. Featuring Bing Image Search, Bing Maps, and Bing Shopping, the videos show Angry Birds fans how they can advance in the game, featuring the lovable Angry Birds characters.&quot;Up until now, Rovio has been highly protective of the Angry Birds franchise, which has turned out to be a breakout hit for the developer as a top download on iOS and Android, and likelyWindows Phone 7 when it arrives there this spring. During a talk at last week's Games Developer Conference, Rovio's &quot;mighty eagle&quot; Peter Vesterbacka had said that the company had declined a number of offers from top film and TV studios, saying most had been downright &quot;weird.&quot; Even so, recent partnerships to link its upcoming sequel with the Fox film &quot;Rio,&quot; as well as this new ad campaign with Bing, are beginning to show that the company is OK with blurring the lines of fiction and reality with product placement.As a gamer I can't help but feel a little put off by a game's plot being mixed in with, admittedly clever, advertising. Though in this case, the functionality can be incredibly useful if you're repeatedly getting stuck on the same level (as has proven to be the case for some in &quot;Seasons&quot;). It also goes down a lot smoother when remembering that at the end of the day it's all about flicking birds to their doom. Perhaps the next two ads will come from the birds' side, and have them doing a search for the nearest wing repair shop.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Bing cooking up instant search, HTML5 features]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bing-cooking-up-instant-search-html5-features</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bing-cooking-up-instant-search-html5-features</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Mar 2011 08:10:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>buddymarcosie</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bing-cooking-up-instant-search-html5-features</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft is preparing to make searching Bing an instantaneous affair. According to blog Winrumors, which was tipped off to a preview program Microsoft is running, the company is planning to roll out a special version of Bing for users with HTML5-compatible browsers. Those users will get a few extra flourishes like instant results as they type queries, as well as animations and transitions between pages. This new version is said to be launching around the same time as the final release of Internet Explorer 9, which Microsoft is expected to announce at the South by Southwest conference kicking off Friday. Microsoft is holding an invite-only, Internet Explorer 9-related media event on Monday, March 14.A Microsoft representative declined to comment. The preview page for Bing at Bing.com/peek spills the beans on the new features, without letting users access them just yet.(Credit:CNET)Microsoft has long been expected to bring instant results to Bing, despite knocking the feature when it was launched by rival Google back in September of last year. In an interview with USA Today shortly after Google Instant's launch, Bing director Stefan Weitz said while the feature was &quot;slick,&quot; Microsoft's mission was to attack what users would be able to do with the results to make the task at hand take less time. Even so, instant results have proven to be a success for Google, with the company saying last week that just 2 percent of users had opted out of using the feature. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Reports: Google yanks infected Android apps]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reports-google-yanks-infected-android-apps</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reports-google-yanks-infected-android-apps</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>resbimmarlk</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reports-google-yanks-infected-android-apps</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google apparently has used a kill switch to remove 21 malware-infected apps from both its Android Market and from people's Android devices.Calling the Trojan the &quot;mother of all Android malware,&quot; enthusiast site Android Police said yesterday the infected apps were discovered by a Reddit user. That Reddit user found that pirated versions of legitimate apps were infected by a Trojan called DroidDream, which uses a root exploit dubbed &quot;rageagainstthecage&quot; to compromise a device.This piece of malware is especially virulent because it apparently cannot only capture user and product information from a device but also has the ability to download more code capable of further damage. The 21 apps in question, all now taken down but still listed by Android Police, came from a publisher named Myournet. However, mobile security vendor Lookout and other sources said yesterday that DroidDream has so far shown up in more than 50 Android apps, including ones from other publishers.Conversation threads on Reddit suggest that Google was slow to respond to the malware discovery after the company was first alerted via official channels. But after contacting someone at Google directly, Android Police said the company responded quickly to remove the infected apps.Like Apple, Google has a kill switch that gives it the ability to remotely remove apps from users' phones andtablets that it deems are in violation of its developer agreements. As in this case, such a feature can be used to wipe out apps infected by malware.At least 50,000 people had downloaded the apps in question, according to enthusiast site AndroidCentral. However, many of those potentially infected may have been protected by staying current with the latest Android updates. AndroidCentral notes that Google actually patched its source code to prevent this type of exploit for users running Android 2.2.2 or higher and that the vulnerability doesn't exist at all in Gingerbread, aka Android 2.3.CNET has contacted Google for further information and will update the story if and when more details are released.This new exploit follows a report of a bot called Android.Pjapps that also has turned up in phony versions of legitimate Android apps. The difference is that the bot infected only apps in unregulated Android app stores, whereas DroidDream found its way into Google's &quot;regulated&quot; Android Market.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Another coupe for Aston Martin]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=another-coupe-for-aston-martin</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=another-coupe-for-aston-martin</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>isjumfo</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=another-coupe-for-aston-martin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Aston Martin adds the Virage to its GT car lineup at the 2011 Geneva auto show.(Credit:Aston Martin)Aston Martin Virage (photos) With its DB9, DBS, and Vantage, you would think Aston Martin had its GT lineup well covered. But the company, obviously feeling there was room to squeeze in anothercar, announced the all-new Virage, to be unveiled at the 2011 International Motor Show in Geneva.The Virage is another sport touring coupe, and Aston Martin says it fits between the DB9 and DBS. The car is powered by a 6-liter V-12, similar to that used in the DBS, but is supposed to offer more of the comfort and style of the DB9.Unlike its sibling GT cars, the Virage gets an active suspension, relatively new technology for Aston Martin. It also comes standard with ceramic brakes.Aston Martin says the Virage will come with a new navigation system and a 700-watt audio system. But photos of the car show a Bang &amp; Olufsen audio system, which should be a premium option. If the audio system is anything like those found in the DB9 and DBS, then it will have 13 speakers and 1,000 watts of amplification.Aston Martin will announce pricing at the Geneva auto show, and offer the car for sale soon after. It will be available in hard-top and convertible forms.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Online banking hit by thieves]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-banking-hit-by-thieves</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-banking-hit-by-thieves</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>smopzefeNeuse</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-banking-hit-by-thieves</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A new Trojan dubbed &quot;OddJob&quot; is stealing people's money by taking over their online banking sessions after they think they've logged off. The Trojan, which targets Windows-based computers, is being used by criminals in Eastern Europe to steal money from accounts in the United States, Poland, and Denmark, Amit Klein, chief technology officer of Trusteer, writes in a blog post today.  Klein said in an e-mail that he could not identify the banks being targeted or provide an estimate on the number of victims.  &quot;It is early days for this malware,&quot; he said. &quot;It appears to be a work in progress, so we expect the code to become more sophisticated over time.&quot; The Trojan intercepts communications that customers have with banking sites via Internet Explorer orFirefox, stealing or interjecting information and terminating user browser sessions when done, Trusteer said.  When a bank customer is on the bank site, the Trojan takes advantage of the session IT token to impersonate the customer, riding the coattails of the existing authenticated session. It then bypasses the logout request of the customer so that the session is not actually terminated when the customer thinks he or she is logging out. To avoid triggering security software, the malware's configuration is not saved to disk, but a fresh copy is fetched from the command and control server each time a new browser session is opened.  Web surfers can protect themselves by installing software security updates, refraining from clicking on URLs in e-mail messages, and using software that secures Web access, like Trusteer's Rapport product, the company said. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[This week in Crave: The true-confessions edition]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=this-week-in-crave-the-true-confessions-edition</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=this-week-in-crave-the-true-confessions-edition</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 12 Feb 2011 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>rockyraj631</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=this-week-in-crave-the-true-confessions-edition</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Little iApps)Too busy mourning the death of Guitar Hero this week to keep up with all things Crave Here's what you missed while you were wondering how to live out your rock star dreams now that Activision's cutting the chord on the game.  &amp;149' Nikon went zoom crazy with its new Coolpix cams.  &amp;149' We got our hands on the new HP TouchPad.  &amp;149' Intel's Sandy Bridge and AMD's Fusion went chip-to-chip in a gaming showdown.  &amp;149' Forgive me iPhone for I have sinned.  &amp;149' A new robot baby head made us cower in fear.  &amp;149' Speaking of heads, Wafaa Bilal had an implanted camera removed from his. &amp;149' Dell means business with its new 10-inchWindows 7tablet.  &amp;149' Ten years have brought major changes to CNET reporter Dong Ngo's Vietnamese village. &amp;149' What's the fate of theiPod Classic Is Nikon&amp;39's Coolpix L120 cool enough for you (Credit:Nikon)  &amp;149' Up, up, and away for the robot stealth plane. &amp;149' Sorry, Motor City' it's not looking good for that RoboCop statue. &amp;149' Oh yeah, and there was that Verizon iPhone thing...  Got a great story idea for us A good joke Something you want to confess Write to us at crave at cnet dot com.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Nissan releases Esflow details before Geneva show]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissan-releases-esflow-details-before-geneva-show</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissan-releases-esflow-details-before-geneva-show</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:10:55 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Julianasue</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissan-releases-esflow-details-before-geneva-show</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Artist&amp;39's rendering of Nissan&amp;39's Esflow concept all-electric sports car(Credit:Nissan Europe)Nissan released a preview today of the Esflow, an all-electric sportscar concept bound for the 2011 Geneva Motor Show.Via its European Web site, the automaker gave EV sports car enthusiasts a taste of what could eventually be a production vehicle.The two-seater Esflow is unmistakably aimed to compete as a sports car with an ultra-low-profile aluminum chassis, a wraparound windshield, and roll bars incorporated behind each seat.It's a rear-wheel drive car that contains two electric motors, each one mounted over the rear wheel it powers above the rear axis, according to Nissan.(Credit:Nissan Europe)The car was designed using the same lithium ion batteries as in the Nissan Leaf, but mounted very low and toward the center of the car. Nissan claims this change &quot;centralizes the mass of the car, and thus its rotation point, close to the driver's hips.&quot;The Esflow has a range of about 240 kilometers (149 miles) per charge, significantly more than the current Nissan Leaf which claims to get about 100 miles per charge. The all-electric 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport, for comparison, claims about 244 miles on a full charge, though CNET testing of the Tesla found its range to be between 150 to 200 miles.(Credit:Nissan Europe)It can accelerate from zero to 100 kilometers (62 miles) in 5 seconds, according to Nissan.Other features include LED lights, LCD screens, and small rear-view cameras mounted near the car's side mirrors.Along with its Esflow details, Nissan also released a storyboard-like scenario bizarrely insinuating that its EV sports car is for tech-minded single men.&quot;Daniel, an ESFLOW owner, works in tech, but lives for the weekend. On Friday night after work, he gets behind the wheels of his ESFLOW, which instantly links with his pocket PDA and determines the fastest route to his girlfriend's home. Finding street side parking is a [cinch] as the ESFLOW's compact dimensions allow it to slip in to the narrowest of spaces. On Saturday he drives to a popular club to exhibit his DJ skills and his friends are impressed by his cool EV sports car,&quot; according to an excerpt from Nissan's &quot;Driver&quot; description.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Tap That App takes on Android security]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tap-that-app-takes-on-android-security</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tap-that-app-takes-on-android-security</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:10:48 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>wanabbugtae</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tap-that-app-takes-on-android-security</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Nikon Coolpix S6100, S4100, S3100, L24 announced]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nikon-coolpix-s6100-s4100-s3100-l24-announced</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nikon-coolpix-s6100-s4100-s3100-l24-announced</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>limaparx232</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nikon-coolpix-s6100-s4100-s3100-l24-announced</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Coolpix S6100(Credit:Nikon)Nikon didn't do too much to change the sub-$200 end of its S-series cameras from 2010, but just enough to keep them interesting. For example, the S6100 gets more marketing-pixels megapixels, but gets a 3-inch touch-screen LCD, too. Add in the 7x optical zoom, wide-angle lens, and Nikon's Expeed C2 image processing engine, and you've got a pretty decent-sounding pocket camera for the money.The S4100 and S3100 also get megapixel bumps and slightly wider, longer lenses, but are otherwise seemingly on par with their predecessors. Lastly, Nikon refreshed its entry-level, AA-battery-powered L22 series compact by, of course, adding more megapixels. Here's hoping they improved quality control, too. Here's how the models breakdown:(Credit:Nikon)Nikon Coolpix S6100Replaces S600016 megapixels7x 28mm-equivalent wide-angle lens3-inch high-resolution (460K dot) touch screen720p HD video captureAvailable in March for $199.95Silver, black, red, and violet versions(Credit:Nikon)Nikon Coolpix S4100Replaces S400014 megapixels5x 26mm-equivalent wide-angle lens3-inch high-resolution (460K dot) touch screen720p HD video captureAvailable in late February for $179.95Plum, silver, red, and black versions(Credit:Nikon)Nikon Coolpix S3100Replaces S300014 megapixels5x 26mm-equivalent wide-angle lens2.7-inch LCDAvailable in late February for $139.95Silver, red, blue, purple, pink, yellow, and black versions(Credit:Nikon)Nikon Coolpix L24Replaces L2214 megapixels3.6x optical zoom3-inch LCDAvailable in late February for $119.95Red, silver, and black versions<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Blame me: Mozy scraps unlimited backups]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=blame-me-mozy-scraps-unlimited-backups</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=blame-me-mozy-scraps-unlimited-backups</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>CarPsyday</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=blame-me-mozy-scraps-unlimited-backups</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Mozy, the online backup service provider and EMC subsidiary, plans to announce today that it's dumping its subscription permitting customers to store unlimited data.The reason is not hard to guess: with ever-growing quantities of photos and videos, the unlimited plan is financially unsustainable, the company said. In other words, it's my fault.You see, I'm a Mozy customer. I spent $82 for a two-year subscription and started inflicting my hundreds of gigabytes of photos and increasingly videos as well. I'm a photo nerd, so each 21-megapixel photo in raw format sucks up something like 20MB or 25MB, and each video is shot in 1080p so even shortish clips can occupy a half a gigabyte.I'm somewhere in the top 0.3 percent in terms of my data use, but I'm also a leading indicator, and that's why Mozy is altering course.&quot;There has been a change in consumer behavior,&quot; said Russ Stockdale, Mozy's vice president of product management. &quot;What we have seen since we launched an unlimited service five years ago is there has been an explosion in digital content, specifically digital photos and video.&quot;In my case, with just under 600GB of data, the $3.40 per month I pay now will explode to just about $60 per month when my subscription runs its course in a few months.That's because Mozy will begin charging $5.99 per month for up to 50GB of data, with more costing $2 per month per 20GB after that. And, recognizing that more and more people have multiple computers to back up, it's added a new multi-machine option costing $9.99 a month for up to 125GB and three computers. More computers or further 20GB increments add another $2 per month each.Good-bye unlimitedNeedless to say, I'm now looking at Mozy alternatives. But I don't feel resentful--just sad at the disappearance of yet another uncapped part of the Net.I'm grandfathered into an unlimited-data plan with T-Mobile UK, but if I leave to try to find a carrier with better service, they don't have an unlimited plan for me, and I can't go back to the T-Mobile plan. Likewise, my unlimited home broadband account actually has fair-use limits, as is customary in the U.K. My $25 a year at Flickr gets me unlimited photo storage, but it's something of a holdout in an increasingly pay-as-you-go world.And Mozy isn't alone. Google Docs costs $1,400 a year for 400GB, for example, and Google's Picasa Web Albums costs $100 per year for 400GB. Jungle Disk, which provides a front end to storage using Amazon's S3 service, charges $3.15 per gigabyte per month. Carbonite, perhaps Mozy's best-known competitor, throttles down bandwidth for big-data users. And up-and-comer Dropbox charges $20 per month for 100GB.Here's Mozy's rationale for the change: the average storage per user increased more than 50 percent last year. More than half of the growth, though, was with the top 10 percent of the users, as measured by how much data that they have.&quot;The great majority of customers are growing at manageable levels, while the heaviest users bring up the average for the entire group,&quot; Stockdale said.Mozy braces itselfThe company knows it's in for some ill will.&quot;We do not take this on lightly...I don't expect everybody to be happy about it. But if they take a look at what we're doing and why, it'll at least be understandable,&quot; he said. Mozy is trying to make the change so it can provide sustainable high-quality backup in the long term&quot; and not resort to fine-print shenanigans hoping few will notice.The unlimited plans come to an end starting March 1, but last through the end of each customer's paid subscription.Not all of Mozy's costs are going up. Hard drives can hold ever more data for a given price (2-terabyte drives can be had for $100 these days). But that's not enough to deal with Mozy's financial plight, Stockdale said.&quot;The cost of storage is an element, but it is not even the majority of cost of providing the service,&quot; Stockdale said. &quot;The bandwidth, the data centers, the people who manage that--those costs are a larger part of the cost of providing this.&quot;Mozy, though a subsidiary of storage powerhouse EMC, uses its own software running on commodity storage systems. Later this year, though, to it'll start moving users to EMC hardware and eventually migrate everyone, Stockdale said.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Penske delivers first electric Smart ForTwo]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=penske-delivers-first-electric-smart-fortwo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=penske-delivers-first-electric-smart-fortwo</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:10:44 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>juwanpno8w8</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=penske-delivers-first-electric-smart-fortwo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Ceremonial presentation by Penske Automotive Group Chairman Roger Penske, center, and Smart USA president Jill Lajdziak, right, to the first Smart ForTwo Electric Drive customer, Mindy Kimball, left, at her home in Silver Spring, MD.(Credit:Nick Wass )To kick off the latest phase in their electriccar program, Smart USA President Jill Lajdzia and Roger Penske, chairman of Smart USA parent company Penske Automotive Group, personally delivered the first Smart ForTwo Electric Drive to a customer in Maryland.Mindy Kimball, a 36-year-old Major in the United States Army, is the first customer to lease a ForTwo Electric Drive, the all-electric version of the tiny two-seater. It's powered by a 30 kW electric motor with 16.5 kWh lithium-ion battery, and has an electronically controlled top speed of 60 mph. Although testing has shown the electric Smart can travel up to 98 miles on a full charge, a more realistic highway and city driving pattern will yield about a 63 mile range.At the ceremonial presentation to the first Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, Penske Automotive Group Chairman Roger Penske shows some of the car's features. (Nick Wass/AP Images for smart USA)(Credit:Nick Wass )These vehicles are only available in the U.S. by lease. Interested parties can apply to lease a vehicle on Smart's Web site. Early adopters of electric vehicles will face a few challenges while the industry matures. But they'll also receive a few perks. By leasing a ForTwo Electric Drive, Kimball became a member of Team 250, which is the second phase of Smart's program to roll out electric vehicles in the U.S.The program will place 250 electric vehicles with companies, municipalities, organizations, and individuals around the country for testing. Members of Team 250 will receive other perks such as a concierge service, personal access to Smart USA's Electric Drive expert, 24/7 roadside assistance, and a chance provide feedback about their driving experience. The next phase will be full series production of the electric two-seaters, which is scheduled to begin in 2012, to make the electric ForTwo available to the public for purchase.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[New API a harbinger of future Quora apps]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-api-a-harbinger-of-future-quora-apps</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-api-a-harbinger-of-future-quora-apps</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sleniouminori</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-api-a-harbinger-of-future-quora-apps</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Quora&amp;39's new API helps with projects such as Andrew Brown&amp;39's Chrome extension for showing Quora notifications.(Credit:Quora/Andrew Brown)Quora, an increasingly popular question-and-answer site with a social networking angle, has released an application programming interface that opens the door for third-party software to use the service.The API, announced Friday, has very limited features and is only an alpha release that the company doesn't promise will remain stable. But it's an important milestone nevertheless for the company as it charts a course through the complexities of building a business on today's Net.That's because an API, if rich enough, means people using a service don't necessarily have to use that services' Web site. For example, Twitter's API is powerful enough that many people employ software such as TweetDeck or Seesmic to use the short-message service. That helped Twitter grow fast into something of a utility on the Net and saved the company money on Web servers that show pages to visitors. But it also means the company can't as easily choose one obvious Web business model, showing online advertisements--and Quora's subject-specific discussions could be a nice match for targeted advertising.Of course, a full Quora API doesn't preclude a Web ad business model. Enabling third-party use of the service could accelerate its growth, and if the site is still compelling enough to use directly, a stronger advertising business could follow. And fast growth is important for the site: Facebook, the social network where millions already spend a lot of time online, has a question and answer service of its own.So far, there's not enough of an API to bypass Quora's Web site. According to a post by Quora engineer Edmond Lau, the API exposes information about the number of people a Quora user follows, how many people follow that user, and how many inbox messages and notifications the Quora user has. So there's not enough at present to build a full-fledged Quora app that would have let people do things like publish and answer questions, follow new people, and vote on the merits of a various answers.That's enough to help out programmers, though. Lau specifically pointed out Andrew Brown's Chrome extension and Jason Wiener's Firefox extension as applications that would be able to use the API.Those programmers were happy with the move. &quot;Awesome work Edmond! Thanks again for the help,&quot; Wiener said in a response to Lau's post. And Brown said, &quot;This is a great step forward for the developers community (and soon the Quora developers community). I'm excited to see what other products come from this.&quot;It's important that Quora began adding an API, but it's not a big suprise. &quot;When there are enough users and content on Quora that an API would be really useful, we'll almost certainly add one,&quot; said Quora employee Charlie Cheever in a Quora question in December 2009.&quot;For right now, we'll probably focus on the Web interface since that's how we think most people will use the product, at least to start. Another reason we probably won't do an API for a little while is that the interface into the product is changing frequently in big ways right now,&quot; he said, &quot;and APIs that aren't stable are hard to use effectively.&quot;Via Read Write Web<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[CES: Citi swiping Dynamics' 'smart' credit cards]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-citi-swiping-dynamics-smart-credit-cards</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-citi-swiping-dynamics-smart-credit-cards</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sarah01</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-citi-swiping-dynamics-smart-credit-cards</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Dynamics-powered Citi credit card lets you select which account you want to use at the time of payment.(Credit:Dynamics)LAS VEGAS--Dynamics' high-tech update on the old-fashioned credit card, which we covered from Demo in September, has landed a real customer. AtCES here, the company announced that Citigroup will be launching a trial of a credit card that lets users pay with either their regular credit account or with reward points they've accumulated. The user will press a button on the credit card to select a method of payment. That will activate the card's built-in electronics and rewrite the magnetic strip on the back so standard credit card-reading machines will use the chosen account.A small number of Citi customers will get the trial Citi ThankYou Prestige 2G Card later this yearDynamics' technology is designed to enable the creation of credit cards as thin and durable as existing passive cards, but with security features such as coded keypads that unlock the card's number display and magnetic strip, flexible multi-account features like those Citi is using, and other twists on the old, boring, static credit card.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Micron's new solid-state drive: 256GB for $425]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microns-new-solid-state-drive-256gb-for-425</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microns-new-solid-state-drive-256gb-for-425</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:10:34 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Simoncarter</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=microns-new-solid-state-drive-256gb-for-425</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Micron Technology is unveiling four new solid-state drives at the Storage Visions conference in Las Vegas this week. One 256GB model will cost $425--pricey compared to a traditional hard disk drive but competitive for the speedy flash chip-based storage drives. Micron 256GB solid-state drive will be available for about $425.(Credit:Micron)Micron's RealSSD drives--marketed under the Crucial brand name--will be available for laptops in 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch form factors--the former size typically goes into ultra-small laptops like the MacBook Air, while the latter is the standard size for mainstream laptop drives. Micron, which runs a joint flash chip manufacturing venture with Intel, is making the flash chips (that populate the SSD) on a cutting-edge 25-nanometer manufacturing process, allowing higher data capacities. Generally, SSDs are much faster than standard hard disk drives at reading data and tend to be lighter and more shock-resistance than hard disks. For that reason, SSDs are used, for example, across Apple's new MacBook Air product line. Based on the SATA 6-gigabit-per-second (Gb/s) interface, the new drives reach read speeds up to 415 megabytes per second, which is 17 percent faster than Micron's previous generation drives, the company said in a statement. Write performance varies by capacity, with the 512GB drive achieving up to 260MB/second write speeds, which is more than 20 percent faster than previous drives, Micron said. Micron's solid-state drive pricing--in volumes of 1,000--will be $825 for 512GB, $425 for 256GB, $215 for 128GB, and $110 for 64GB. Final consumer pricing will come out from Crucial around March, Micron said. &quot;We expect the consumer pricing to be similar to OEM (1K volume) pricing,&quot; the company said. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[CES: Sifteo cubes promise revolutionary tabletop gameplay]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-sifteo-cubes-promise-revolutionary-tabletop-gameplay</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-sifteo-cubes-promise-revolutionary-tabletop-gameplay</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>EffoxDeek</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-sifteo-cubes-promise-revolutionary-tabletop-gameplay</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sifteo cubes, which are scheduled to go on sale this Fall, interact with each other wirelessly.(Credit:Sifteo)LAS VEGAS--After being demonstrated as a concept almost two years ago at the TED conference, Sifteo cubes are gradually making their way toward becoming an actual shipping product.Today, as the fledgling company got ready to demo the product at CES, it announced that it would soon be launching an Early Access Program that would give consumers the opportunity to buy its much-anticipated interactive cubes at a discounted price before they go on sale nationally in the fall.Just what are Sifteo cubes Well, that's a little difficult to explain, but they're basically a form of digital interactive tiles or blocks that respond to each other wirelessly. Think of them as 21st century dominoes.Sifteo co-founders David Merrill and Jeevan Kalanithi, who first came up with the prototype for the cubes when studying human-computer interaction at the MIT Media Lab, say that &quot;Sifteo cubes are a brand new way to play games using wireless 1.5-inch blocks with full-color screens that respond to motion and start interacting with the player and each other, as soon as they are picked up and moved around.&quot;To play with Sifteo cubes, you have to first install Sifteo's software (Mac or Windows) onto an Internet-connected computer and then buy games and apps from Sifteo's online library, which is accessible through the software. The games are then downloaded wirelessly to the cubes via a USB wireless link. For best performance, the company says users should play within a few feet of the USB wireless link (about 20 feet is the maximum range).Sifteo's initial collection of titles will include games for adults, learning puzzles for kids, and games people can play together. The company will launch its Early Access Program in the next few months. You'll be able to join the program for a discounted price of $99 (normally $149) and receive the Sifteo pack: three cubes with a charging dock, USB wireless link, and AC adapter' and 1,000 points to purchase games and apps from the online store. You can also buy anything in the Sifteo store (up to $200) for 50 percent off until June 30.We'll have more photos and video once we get a full demo of the cubes on the floor of CES. For now, you can check out this video from the TED conference (note: the new cubes are now slimmer). <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Laptop ban at German transport ministry]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=laptop-ban-at-german-transport-ministry</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=laptop-ban-at-german-transport-ministry</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 30 Dec 2010 08:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kohlline142</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=laptop-ban-at-german-transport-ministry</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Germany is a remarkably underrated country. Not only has it largely avoided the financial arthritis brought on by the most greedy banks, it also offers a unique sense of playful optimism in a world gone sour.You might, therefore, wonder why Germany's transport minister, Peter Ramsauer, rammed through a rather difficult diktat against laptops.Oh, he didn't ban his no doubt assiduous employees from staring into screens and rectifying traffic problems. No, he banned the use of the word &quot;laptop&quot; as it is not German but Denglish--that difficult mixture of Deutsch and English.The Independent reports that the replacement of &quot;laptop&quot; with the far more elegant &quot;Klapprechner&quot; has been an uproarious triumph. It seems that other techneologisms have failed to escape the cross herrs (my pun) of the ministry. The wondrous (not really) German word &quot;downloaden&quot; is now verboten. How can this work of art possibly be a Klapprechner(Credit:Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)However, I must admit to a woe-filled tear duct at the thought that a common Denglish word for cell phone has also suffered the same cloaking as have so many German buildings on Google Street View.For many Germans refer to their cell phone as their &quot;handy&quot;.Yes, no more &quot;I have lost my handy.&quot; At least at the transport ministry. Out with &quot;Can I take a picture I'll use my handy.&quot; And begone &quot;I haven't had a handy since myiPhone caught fire at the circus.&quot;Somehow, this seems a great pity. It also seems symbolic of the year 2010. The more we have believed that technology enhances freedom (including freedom of speech), the more the truths of that supposed freedom have been tested, questioned and, in some cases, assaulted by greasy-haired lawyers. Technology has taken us to places where some (even those in government) feel more uncomfortable than in a tuk tuk from Moscow to Turkmenistan. As those whose incomes (and politics) depend on making technology's exigencies the only ones that matter, real human beings will, just occasionally, worry and resist. In 2011, that tension will only become more pointed.But one cannot leave 2010 on a miserable note. So might I wish everyone who has read, commented, written e-mails (using long words or short), liked, disliked or retweeted, an extremely enlightened New Year. Perhaps I will bump into some of you at CES. Should I have a glazed look in my eye, it will probably be the shock of the new. Or the effects of a random tempranillo. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[CES: Android tablet preview]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-android-tablet-preview</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-android-tablet-preview</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:10:28 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>monlimrekokoloko</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ces-android-tablet-preview</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If 2011 will be a breakout year for Android tablets, CES will serve as the starting gate.(Credit:ViewSonic)When my boss asks me what tablets I expect to see at CES, I have to laugh a little. It's a nervous laugh. Maybe I'm overreacting, but with theiPad's breakout success this year, I'm expecting a tidal wave of tablets at CES 2011.There are the obvious elephants in the room. RIM will surely be making a fuss about its PlayBook. HP should have a WebOS tablet to show off (or risk humiliation, at this point). And as for Microsoft, if we don't see a branded tablet we should at least see a convincing strategy for how the company plans to compete.But it's not the big guys that are giving me heartburn heading into CES--it's the rapidly expanding tribe of Android tablet manufacturers. With Google's tablet-optimized version of Android (aka, Honeycomb) slated for next year, any manufacturer not already invested in brewing its own tablet OS will be throwing its hat in the Android ring.Below is a listing of all the manufacturers I fully expect will have Android tablets on display at CES 2011. Each link points to the rumored or announced tablet(s) in question.AcerArchosAsusCreativeDellEntourageFusion GarageLGMotorolaMSINotion InkSamsungToshibaViewSonicNoticeably absent from this list: Sony. I know it's supposed to have its PSP Android phone in the works, but I haven't been able to get a pulse on tablet plans. As a company, Sony is notoriously bad at keeping a lid on products, so I would be surprised if a fully baked Android tablet dropped out of thin air at CES. Still, as a big, capable manufacturer, it's got to be working on something, rightOf course, this list is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the tablets (Android and otherwise) we'll see at CES. I'm going in assuming everyone's got a tablet to show. Whether it's Philips or Sony, or the guy at the churro cart. If I had to bet on a standout device early on, it would be the Motorola tablet Google's Andy Rubin showed off a few weeks back. It stands to reason that Google has given this tablet an early blessing for a reason, and Motorola's PR machine is already putting some money behind advertising.The only thing I really know for sure: I'm in for a busy CES. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Anonymous explains self amid WikiLeaks drama]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=anonymous-explains-self-amid-wikileaks-drama</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=anonymous-explains-self-amid-wikileaks-drama</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:12:45 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>kburgessks45</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=anonymous-explains-self-amid-wikileaks-drama</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Anonymous group that has been attacking Web sites of organizations that it deems enemies of WikiLeaks has apparently issued a press release to explain its motivations and structure.&quot;Anonymous is not a group of hackers,&quot; Anonymous representatives wrote in a statement (PDF) issued today. &quot;We are average Internet citizens ourselves and our motivation is a collective sense of being fed up with all the minor and major injustices we witness every day.&quot;The group said it does not intend &quot;to steal your personal information or credit card numbers&quot; and does not plan on attacking the &quot;critical infrastructure of companies such as MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, or Amazon.&quot; Instead, Anonymous said that its Operation: Payback is designed to &quot;raise awareness about WikiLeaks and the underhanded methods employed by the above companies to impair WikiLeaks' ability to function.&quot;&quot;It is a symbolic action,&quot; Anonymous said. &quot;As blogger and academic Evgeny Morozov put it, a legitimate expression of dissent.&quot;Anonymous has launched a slew of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks over the past week on companies, government agencies, and organizations that it believes are &quot;impairing&quot; WikiLeaks. The group took both Visa.com and MasterCard.com offline earlier this week. Anonymous noted in the apparent press release that there were &quot;calls&quot; to take down Amazon.com, but it claims those attacks never materialized.Citing Amazon's decision to stop hosting WikiLeaks on its servers, Anonymous confirmed that some of its members wanted to target the online retailer.&quot;After the attack was so advertised in the media, we felt that it would affect people, such as consumers, in a negative way and make them feel threatened by Anonymous,&quot; the group wrote. &quot;Simply put, attacking a major online retailer when people are buying presents for their loved ones would be in bad taste.&quot;But that didn't stop the organization from attacking PayPal for preventing users from donating money to WikiLeaks in support of its efforts. Anonymous asserted that it was not trying to hurt PayPal's &quot;ability to process payments,&quot; but that it had been slowing the company's &quot;network down just enough for people to notice and thus, we achieve our goal of raising awareness.&quot;Assuming the press release is real, the decision on the part of Anonymous to explain itself is an interesting one. The group seems to be concerned with being viewed as vigilantes who launch online attacks to the detriment of consumers. It also seems to fear the possibility of being misunderstood and wants to distance itself from the belief that it's a rigid organization acting at the behest of a handful of leaders.&quot;Anonymous has a very loose and decentralized command structure that operates on ideas rather than directives,&quot; the statement said.Also today:&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'Police in the Netherlands are investigating an apparent attack on police and prosecutor Web sites in that country after arresting a 16-year-old individual yesterday for allegedly being involved in Anonymous attacks on financial institutions. A police representative told the Associated Press that authorities &quot;assume it is hackers,&quot; but said that they were &quot;not sure yet.&quot;&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'Moneybookers, another online-payment company, was targeted by Anonymous this morning. The site was reportedly down for a few minutes. Anonymous targeted Moneybookers for informing WikiLeaks in August that it had shuttered its account on the service due to the controversy surrounding the organization.&amp;149'&amp;nbsp'Although sensitive documents have already been leaked, the U.S. government apparently is working to limit such revelations in the future, Wired is reporting. According to the publication, the U.S. military is asking troops &quot;to immediately cease use of removable media on all systems, servers, and standalone machines residing on SIPRNet.&quot; Wired claims that directive came from a document it obtained. The document was reportedly written by Maj. Gen. Richard Webber, the commander of the U.S. Air Force's Network Operations.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[New virus tweets its way into Twitter]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-virus-tweets-its-way-into-twitter</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-virus-tweets-its-way-into-twitter</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>factorychocolate</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-virus-tweets-its-way-into-twitter</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A new virus is infecting Twitter users through the use of URLs shortened by the goo.gl service.Apparently triggered last night, the virus is spreading as a result of users clicking on links that start with http://goo.gl, Google's URL shortener. TechCrunch is saying that the virus started on Twitter's mobile site and has been growing through different URLs, including http://goo.gl/od0az and http://goo.gl/R7f68.The virus tries to redirect unsuspecting users to malicious Web sites, according to Techweet, which says that the messages are coming from new, disposable Twitter accounts as well as existing accounts that have been hijacked.Twitter users have been busy tweeting warnings to each other to avoid clicking on links that may spread the nasty virus. People using Twitter through a mobile phone should be especially wary of any shortened URLs that seem suspicious.TechCrunch says the tech folks at Twitter are aware of the virus, have been sending out password resets for those affected, and are monitoring the problem.Shortened links have posed a problem on Twitter and other sites since users can't see the actual URL until they click on the link itself. As such, they've been a favorite trick for cybercriminals who use them to point people to malware-hosting Web sites.Certain services, such as TinyURL, offer a preview feature so you can see the full URL before clicking on the link. Some browser plug-ins exist that can also preview these types of URLs. And a few antivirus products say they can detect malicious shortened URLs.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[LastPass acquires Xmarks, premium service announced]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lastpass-acquires-xmarks-premium-service-announced</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lastpass-acquires-xmarks-premium-service-announced</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Bonessemn</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lastpass-acquires-xmarks-premium-service-announced</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Xmarks&amp;39's survival is now confirmed.(Credit:Xmarks&amp;39's survival is now confirmed.)In late September, Xmarks, the popular browser add-on that syncs bookmarks, saved passwords, open tabs, and so on, took its some 4.5 million fans on a roller-coaster ride. It announced the imminent shutdown of the service because of lack of funding just to retract that a few days later when CEO James Joaquin hinted that a knight-in-shining-armor rescue was likely. Now that rescue has been confirmed. In a blog posted today, Xmarks announced that it has been acquired by LastPass, a cross-platform password management service. This also means that Xmarks is now in transition from a &quot;free&quot; to a &quot;freemium&quot; business model. The new model, which is similar to that of LastPass, allows people to utilize most of Xmarks' existing functions for free. More-savvy users, however, can also opt for Xmarks Premium, which costs $12 per year and includes new enhanced features such as support foriPhone iOS and Android, priority support, and more.Apart from that, according to the blog, together with this merger, users can now opt for both the Xmarks and LastPass Premium services bundled for a reduced subscription rate of $20 per year, $4 less than if you pay for each separately. This bundle, however, doesn't mean the two services will be merged into one. Rather, they will remain as separate browser add-on downloads with their respective management Web pages.This is great news for those who need to keep their browsers in sync. Though there are many bookmark-syncing services, most allow for syncing within a single browser. Xmarks, on the other hand, supports the three most popular browsers: Internet Explorer,Firefox, and Google Chrome. It's likely that it will also supportSafari and Opera in the future.In the days after its shutdown was announced, according to Xmarks, a significant number of users pledged financial support to keep the service alive. If you're one of those people and you want to make good on your promise, the upgrade is available here. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[WheeMe: Like a Roomba for your sore back]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wheeme-like-a-roomba-for-your-sore-back</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wheeme-like-a-roomba-for-your-sore-back</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sanya01</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=wheeme-like-a-roomba-for-your-sore-back</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:DreamBots)No massage could ever come close to those given by Eleanor, the miracle worker who is CNET's in-house masseuse (we do have to pay for her time, but rates are good). Sometimes, however, even she needs a day off, and for those sad occasions, we're thinking CNET might want to invest in a few WheeMe massage robots. The WheeMe toy car massage robot comes in several color combinations (click to enlarge). (Credit:DreamBots)Yes, they wash our hair and give us sponge baths, and now robots are climbing atop our backs to massage our aching muscles, too. Employing tilt sensor technology, the palm-size bot from Israel's DreamBots automatically steers itself around at 4.5 centimeters per second, gently caressing your muscles with &quot;patented fingerettes&quot; that make it look like the love child of a toy car and a rubber caterpillar. DreamBots points out that WheeMe works best on horizontal surfaces such as the back or stomach (although one or two photos on the DreamBots site hint at more provocative targets). The company promises the robot won't fall off or lose its grip as it silently maneuvers around your achy-breaky body.  The WheeMe measures 3.9 inches by 3.5 inches by 2.3 inches, weighs less than a pound, and runs on three AA batteries or three rechargeable AA nickel metal hydride batteries. It's available for preorder now for $49 and starts shipping in the spring, with a limited number of units set to be manufactured before the end of this year, according to DreamBots.  Man, we can't wait to get our backs on this one. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Gawker shakes up blog format, sales department]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gawker-shakes-up-blog-format-sales-department</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gawker-shakes-up-blog-format-sales-department</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:10:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>sirwanwin5</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gawker-shakes-up-blog-format-sales-department</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Gawker&amp;39's new look for 2011 (Credit:Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Web publisher Gawker Media plans to drastically change the way users interact with its network of sites with a redesign launching next year that lets users jump through stories and interactive advertising akin to using an RSS reader.The new design was unveiled earlier today by Gawker founder Nick Denton as being the &quot;most significant change in the Gawker model since the launch of Gizmodo and Gawker in 2002,&quot; and something that &quot;represents some convergence of blog, magazine and television.&quot; What that means to end users is that they'll be able to cycle through news stories from a right-hand navigation bar, without scrolling down the page like a typical site. One of the big reasons for this, Denton explained, is so that certain stories can remain pinned to the top, no matter what you're looking at, which works better with the company's high-volume publishing model.Denton noted that a large part of the change is centered on advertising, particularly balancing the cycle of breaking news content--some stories being big, and others small-- around advertisers that are choosy about where content appears. &quot;We can't predict a surge in traffic' and often advertisers don't want to be associated with scandal, however enticing it is to readers,&quot; Denton said. &quot;But the experience of Gawker, Deadspin and other sites shows that--once the dust has settled--advertisers flock to buzz and growth.&quot;As part of the redesign, one item that's already causing controversy is the use of video ads. These have now been integrated into the reading experience, so that readers must sit through a clip prior to reading a story. These are similar to the click-through ads found on many publishing sites (including CNET), but their placement within the site now more closely resembles content.The overall change is being attributed, in part, to the departure of two high-level Gawker sales employees, as reported by Business Insider. Gawker sales boss Chris Batty and salesman Michael Caesco have left the company due to what Denton referred to in a private employee e-mail as a &quot;serious&quot; divergence in strategy that &quot;spilled over into unhealthy conflict between editorial and sales,&quot; according to the story. &quot;However, of all media companies, Gawker Media is one that has built itself around audience growth, in the belief that advertising will follow,&quot; Denton said in the e-mail. &quot;That isn't the only media strategy available' it just happens to be the one that we chose' and it is to that which everybody signs up when joining the company.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Richard Branson's quest for shiny iPad stardom]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=richard-bransons-quest-for-shiny-ipad-stardom</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=richard-bransons-quest-for-shiny-ipad-stardom</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>themamedizin</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=richard-bransons-quest-for-shiny-ipad-stardom</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Richard Branson poses in front of the Manhattan flagship Apple Store with newsprint-covered mannequins to promote the launch of Project, his new iPad-based magazine.(Credit:Caroline McCarthy/CNET)NEW YORK--There must be something squirreled away in the human brain that is hard-wired to go absolutely bonkers at the sight of anything that's shiny, slick, and begging to be touched. That, after all, is how Apple CEO Steve Jobs sells products. But aniPad is only as good as the things you can do on it, and in this sense the device is implicitly a bit of a challenge, an Everest to climb or an English Channel to swim, for developers and entrepreneurs: What can you do on this How can you take advantage of the features it offers--the touch screen, the accelerometer, the Internet connection--to tap into that human desire for all things slick and tactile Will you succeedLeave it to Virgin Group billionaire Richard Branson--the man who wants to revolutionize the consumer airline industry on multiple continents, take tourists into space, and save the planet--to add Jobs' challenge to his to-do list. On Tuesday morning at the trendy Crosby Street Hotel, he took to the stage in a screening room to unveil Project, a monthly iPad-based publication that he calls &quot;the first truly digital magazine for creative people about creative people.&quot;Developed in collaboration with U.K. digital shop Seven Squared, Project is a flashy, multimedia-filled affair that requires a little bit of time to build familiarity. Swipe up and down to flip between &quot;pages&quot; of the same article, swipe left-to-right to switch articles, click at the bottom of the screen for links back to the table of contents and the &quot;library&quot; of Project issues (which cost $2.99 apiece), and keep an eye out for pop-up surprises like lists of Web links, video and audio clips, and cues for wacky ways to fool around with the images. One article in the premiere issue, about farm-to-table chefs in restaurants around the world, has a title page covered in &quot;dirt&quot;--rub it away on the iPad's touch screen, and you'll see the title. A feature about touring Tokyo is accompanied by a 3D flyover of Google Earth and time-lapse photography of clouds rolling over the cityscape as night falls.The cover of the debut issue of Project.(Credit:Project)On the video &quot;cover&quot; of the first Project issue is actor Jeff Bridges, star of the upcoming film &quot;Tron: Legacy,&quot; accompanied by flickering lights and static and an ambient electronic humming not unlike the background noise that runs through much of the film &quot;The Social Network.&quot; The article about Bridges himself (entitled &quot;DUDE, SERIOUSLY&quot; in a nod to his role as &quot;The Dude&quot; in the cult film &quot;The Big Lebowski&quot;) features the actor walking slowly across a beach as waves crash in trippy accelerated motion behind him.It's beautiful and speedy (though the download time for an issue tops 10 minutes, the actual experience has little lag time) with all the visual allure of an aquarium of bright tropical fish and the tactile appeal of a sandbox. The obvious issue, of course, is whether the high-tech ornamentation is so much that it actually detracts from the fact that this is, at its core, a magazine--and magazines are meant to be read. The articles themselves, as well as the messages in the souped-up advertisements for brands like Lexus and Panasonic, can come across as afterthoughts when there's so much audio-visual distraction. It's not clear whether the digital world's massive case of attention-deficit disorder will be a good or bad thing for Project.(A counterpoint to this, in turn, could be the hand-wringing a few decades back over whether computer-generated effects would kill high-quality cinema.)The media absolutely adores Richard Branson, as evidenced by the number of broadcast and still cameras poking their lenses around during Tuesday's presentation. Particularly in Branson's native U.K., they've made the whole affair into something worthy of Project's own shiny digital pages, too: an alleged horse race with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, whose own tablet publication &quot;The Daily&quot; is reportedly launching before the end of the year. Never mind that comparing a daily newspaper to a monthly culture magazine is a bit incongruous' these two billionaires absolutely must be feuding!Branson seemed eager to shoot these allegations down while, that penchant for the slick and salacious likely ticking away in his own mind, courting the idea of a rivalry.&quot;I've read quite a bit in the past few days about a battle I've launched with a certain newspaperman. This is not a battle, it's not a war, it's the future of publishing,&quot; Branson said. &quot;If people would like to call it a battle, we'll accept that battle as a battle on quality, and I think once you see our competition you'll agree that our team wins, hands-down. It's all about choice, but a fair bit of competition doesn't hurt.&quot;Later, he referred to Virgin's executives as &quot;cheapskates,&quot; highlighting that the publication only has about 20 full-time employees, and added that they &quot;definitely haven't got a Rupert Murdoch-style advertising budget.&quot;Indeed, Project's marketing is primarily of the &quot;guerrilla&quot; variety, with Virgin installing odd newsprint-covered mannequins in different locations in major cities, with USB filed &quot;drops&quot; attached that offer access to materials for a contest to design future Project cover art. It's a strategy quite in keeping with the jet-setting creative thinkers whom Project hopes to court as its readership. The highbrow audience is one thing that Branson implied will set Project apart from its News Corp. counterpart: &quot;I have intelligence based on 30 years of reading News of the World and other newspapers that they publish,&quot; he said in reference to Murdoch's affinity for the lowbrow, &quot;that quality-wise, I think, on quality--we'll be willing to be judged.&quot;One outlet that likely doesn't see much rivalry is Apple, which has reportedly been helping out both The Daily and Project as the two publications prepare to launch. As wholly digital publications, they're some of the first big showcases of the iPad's potential as savior of the beleaguered publishing industry. So Apple, for obvious reasons, wants these ventures to succeed. Some media outlets have even tossed about the rumor that Apple has some kind of stake in The Daily.&quot;I don't believe that Jobs has an investment in The Daily, but I may be mistaken,&quot; Branson said on Tuesday. &quot;Nor does he in this project, but I think he's very supportive of both.&quot; Indeed, Apple vice president of product marketing Michael Tchao, who began his second stint at Apple last year while development of the iPad was in full steam (his original role at Apple had been in the early '90s on its failed Newton device), was in the audience as Branson unveiled Project.But even the seal of approval from Apple doesn't guarantee success--especially since Project's team has said that other tablet platforms will eventually become part of their strategy, something that loosens the currently-close ties to the iPad manufacturer.&quot;If bloggers don't like it we'll be dead very quickly,&quot; Branson admitted with regard to Project's relatively slim marketing budget and reliance on word-of-mouth buzz.And if he fails in this quest, he's obviously got a few more big projects (pun intended) to tackle. Like, you know, space travel.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Cybersecurity bill gives DHS power to punish tech firms]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cybersecurity-bill-gives-dhs-power-to-punish-tech-firms</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cybersecurity-bill-gives-dhs-power-to-punish-tech-firms</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Adam01</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cybersecurity-bill-gives-dhs-power-to-punish-tech-firms</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, shown here at the 2010 RSA conference, would have the power to &amp;34'establish and enforce&amp;34' cybersecurity requirements for the private sector.(Credit:James Martin/CNET)Democratic politicians are proposing a novel approach to cybersecurity: fine technology companies $100,000 a day unless they comply with directives imposed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.Legislation introduced this week would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to levy those and other civil penalties on noncompliant companies that the government deems &quot;critical,&quot; a broad term that could sweep in Web firms, broadband providers, and even software companies and search engines.&quot;This bill will make our nation more secure and better positions DHS--the 'focal point for the security of cyberspace'--to fulfill its critical homeland security mission,&quot; said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.Thompson's proposal comes after a decade of heated, sometimes classified discussions in Washington centering on how much authority the federal government should have to regulate network and computer security, and which agency should be in charge. In a series of reports, three successive presidential administrations have taken strikingly similar approaches that favor self-regulation.Skeptics say it's not clear that lawyers and policy analysts who will inhabit DHS' 4.5 million square-foot headquarters in the southeast corner of the District of Columbia have the expertise to improve the security of servers and networks operated by companies like AT&amp;T, Verizon, Microsoft, and Google. (American companies already spend billions of dollars on computer security a year.)&quot;Congress is stepping forward to regulate something it has no idea how to regulate,&quot; says Jim Harper, a policy analyst at the free-market Cato Institute. &quot;It's a level of bureaucracy that actually adds nothing at all.&quot;DHS's own cybersecurity record is far from perfect. In 2005, government auditors concluded that DHS failed to live up to its cybersecurity responsibilities and may be &quot;unprepared&quot; for emergencies' as recently as 2008, the head of the DHS said the agency still needed to develop a plan to respond to a &quot;cybercrisis.&quot;Besides Thompson, the new bill, called the Homeland Security Cyber and Physical Infrastructure Protection Act (HSCPIPA), has other high-profile backers. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairman of the intelligence subcommittee, and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), chairman of the cybersecurity subcommittee, are also co-sponsors. No Republicans have signed on.&quot;Cyberattacks, whether originated by other countries or sub-national groups, are a grave and growing threat to our government and the private sector,&quot; Harman said. &quot;This bill provides new tools to DHS to confront them effectively and make certain that civil liberties are protected.&quot;Section 224 of HSCPIPA hands DHS explicit legal &quot;authorities for securing private sector&quot; computers. A cybersecurity chief to be appointed by Napolitano would be given the power to &quot;establish and enforce&quot; cybersecurity requirements.HSCPIPA's process works like this: DHS draws up a list of regulated &quot;critical&quot; companies by evaluating the likelihood of a &quot;cyberincident,&quot; existing vulnerabilities, and the consequences of an attack. DHS is supposed to consult with the NSA, other federal agencies, and the private sector to the &quot;maximum extent practicable,&quot; but the other groups don't get a veto over the final list.Any &quot;system or asset&quot; that is a &quot;component of the national information infrastructure&quot;--read broadly, that could be any major Web site or provider--is fair game for DHS regulation. Companies can appeal if they don't want to be on the &quot;critical&quot; list, but it means asking DHS to reconsider its original decision (no neutral party considers the appeal).&quot;With a little bit of imagination, you can pretty much pull anything into that,&quot; says Lauren Weinstein of People for Internet Responsibility. &quot;Does Google represent critical infrastructure now It's hard to see how any major Internet service or property could be assured of the fact that it would not be covered.&quot;Once the list is complete, DHS has the authority to require those regulated tech companies to &quot;comply with the requirements&quot; that it has levied. Those requirements include presenting &quot;cybersecurity plans&quot; to the agency, which has the power to &quot;approve or disapprove&quot; each of them. DHS &quot;may conduct announced or unannounced audits and inspections&quot; to ensure &quot;compliance.&quot;&quot;In the case of noncompliance,&quot; the legislation says, DHS &quot;may levy civil penalties, not to exceed $100,000 per day, for each instance of noncompliance.&quot;Harper, from the Cato Institute, says that private firms already have the right incentives on cybersecurity. HSCPIPA imposes &quot;a layer of bureaucracy that seeks to replicate the incentive structure that technology firms already face,&quot; he says.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[iOS 4.2, where iPhone meets iPad]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ios-4-2-where-iphone-meets-ipad</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ios-4-2-where-iphone-meets-ipad</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:10:16 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>siringbim252</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ios-4-2-where-iphone-meets-ipad</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Apple)ForiPad owners envious of theiPhone's multitasking abilities, you won't have to covet any longer.iOS 4.2--software that will update, improve, and repair a variety of features and bugs for the iPhone,iPod Touch, and iPad--could be available by Friday. Steve Jobs said last month that it would arrive sometime in November, and this week the rumormongers are pointing to the end of the week for the day it will drop. The near final version of the software was released to developers last week, and Apple has already started accepting iOS 4.2-compatible apps.Now, this isn't just another incremental update. iOS 4.2 is, at least from a development standpoint, an evolutionary step for the iOS platform, as it finally brings the iPhone and iPad in step with one another. Previously their OS releases were slightly out of sync, due to the iPhone software and hardware upgrades coming in summer and the iPad hardware and software getting introduced in April this year. With this upgrade the two will share the same software.There are some significant updates iPad and iPhone users are each waiting for in this release, along with the expected minor improvements.Here's a handy summary of what's expected in iOS 4.2:AirPlayThis is a more polished version of AirTunes. With AirPlay, as Jobs described at a September press conference, you can stream audio, video, and photos over Wi-Fi to other devices on your network. That includes your iPhone, iPod, and iPad, but also Apple TV. The way Jobs described it, you could be watching a movie on your iPad, hit pause, turn on AirPlay, and pick up the movie right where it left off on your Apple TV. Netflix, which makes iPhone and iPad apps, and is available on Apple TV, already does this even without AirPlay. But will AirPlay functionality work with other non-iTunes content Either with music-streaming services like Pandora or Hulu Plus We don't know if app makers will need to individually support AirPlay in their apps, or if it's included by default.And where do apps fits in Apple TV does not have App Store access--yet anyway--so being able to play games or open apps on a large screen TV via AirPlay would certainly increase the appeal of Apple TV in its current incarnation.AirPrintiOS 4.2 also brings the ability to print to any networked printer from an iOS device. AirPrint works over Wi-Fi, will automatically sniff out a printer on your network, and doesn't require any added drivers. We do know that Apple has struck an agreement with Hewlett-Packard, which will enable all its newest printers to work with AirPrint.This is a pretty big deal for iPad users. Apple has sold it as a productivity device, and pushed productivity apps, but provided no easy way to print directly from it. Of course the advent of AirPlay simultaneously cuts out several app developers who created apps to enable printing from the iPad. Multitasking and more for iPadiOS 4.2 brings the stuff that came to the iPhone in iOS 4 to the iPad. Yes, that means multitasking (the ability to run multiple apps simultaneously), folders for organizing apps, and Game Center access.Apple has also added a way to adjust the brightness from within an app as part of the multitasking bar. Previously users would have had to leave whatever app they had open and dig through the device's settings menu.The new multitasking bar for iPad(Credit:CNET)There's also an update for 3G iPads: with 4.2 they will have the same higher signal bars at the lower end of the wireless spectrum released following Apple's iPhone 4 antenna press event. The Great iPad Lock Switch ControversyIt sounds innocent enough, that iOS 4.2 will turn the slider on the top right corner of the iPad from a screen orientation lock to a mute button. But it's riled up some hardcore iPad users. They're not happy that what was once a simple flick of a button to keep the screen locked in landscape or portrait mode now requires pulling up the new multitasking bar, swiping to the left, and selecting the screen orientation lock. The change adds more steps, but what it really does is make life easier for Apple since the switch's function will be consistent across the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch models now.Speed boost for iPhone 3GScores of iPhone 3G owners were none too pleased with the iOS 4 update on their older model phones. Complaints poured in that their phones were freezing up when typing or scrolling, and the battery life plummeted. One iPhone owner has even sued Apple over the update's effect on her phone. But developers who've had access to the beta version of 4.2 say that it will return those affected 3G models to the speed they used to operate at before the 4.0 update.Minor housekeeping for iPhone 4 As with any update, there are a bunch of small improvements planned, including options for new text alert sounds, new wallpaper for iPhone 4s, and added settings for Game Center.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Did Jammie Thomas case backfire on file sharers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=did-jammie-thomas-case-backfire-on-file-sharers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=did-jammie-thomas-case-backfire-on-file-sharers</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2010 07:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Allena</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=did-jammie-thomas-case-backfire-on-file-sharers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Jammie Thomas-Rasset was supposed to lead the major labels into a trap. Proponents of less restrictive copyright laws predicted that the decision by the four biggest record labels to drag a single mother of modest means into court for allegedly sharing music over the Web would lead them into a legal, political, and public relations killing field. &quot;Ordinary Americans could have chosen figures at the lowest range of the statutory guidelines but went much higher.&quot;--RIAA attorneySince 2006, when Thomas-Rasset first refused to settle the copyright complaint brought against her by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the labels' trade group, her supporters said her case would illustrate how impossible it was to definitively prove who was sitting at a computer when music files were illegally distributed over file-sharing networks. If she somehow lost her case, then it would cast a bright light on the unfairness of assessing huge damage awards on people who download music for their own use.  Many predicted the court fight would prove the futility of filing these kinds of lawsuits and discourage others from filing them. But on Wednesday, Thomas-Rasset saw the third jury of her peers vote against her. This time, since the Minnesota native had already been found liable of copyright infringement, the jury was tasked only with determining what she should pay in damages. They came down hard, assessing an amount of $62,500 for each of the 24 songs she was accused of illegally sharing. The total she owes is now $1.5 million.This fight is a long way from being over. Thomas-Rasset's attorneys have vowed to continue to fight. They will likely argue that these types of damage awards for copyright infringement are unconstitutional. The case is likely headed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals or maybe even the Supreme Court. But all of that is still a ways off. In the meantime, her losses are arming copyright owners with valuable credibility and precedents. After four years of legal maneuvering and three separate trials, the evidence suggests that Thomas-Rasset's case was the wrong one to challenge the nation's copyright laws. The RIAA can now point to three separate juries that believed a fair damages amount for Thomas-Rasset to pay was respectively: $222,000, $1.9 million, and $1.5 million. The range for statutory damages for each instance of copyright infringement is between $750 and $150,000. Instead, the juries in the Thomas-Rasset trials chose $9,250, $80,000, and $62,500. Jammie Thomas-Rasset(Credit:Jammie Thomas-Rasset)In the first trial, the judge tossed the award because he said he erred in instructing the jury. In the second trial, the judge reduced the $1.9 million amount to $54,000 and the RIAA appealed, which is how we ended up with this third trial. Should the judge consider reducing the $1.5 million amount, the RIAA can now point to three jury verdicts and argue that he is the one out of step. Jennifer Pariser, the RIAA's senior vice president of legal affairs and litigation, said in an interview with CNET on Thursday that plenty of opponents have argued that Congress set the range for statutory damages on copyright infringement before the digital age and did so to discourage the commercial pirating of music and films. The amounts were not meant for individual users who just want to hear some tunes. Pariser rejects the notion that the range doesn't apply in the file-sharing era or that lawmakers would necessarily reduce them now. She said the decisions by the juries in the Thomas-Rasset trials support that argument. &quot;Ordinary Americans could have chosen figures at the lowest range of the statutory guidelines [for a total amount of $18,000] but went much higher.&quot; When it came to proving that it was Thomas-Rasset who shared the songs, the RIAA won the first trial by showing that the 24 songs in question were shared on the Kazaa file-sharing network from Thomas-Rasset's Internet protocol address and using her Kazaa username. The jury made up its mind to rule against her in the first five minutes of deliberation, one member Wired.com. Juries don't seem to like or believe Thomas-Rasset, another one of the liabilities in her case. On the stand, she was at times combative and even suggested that her own children or boyfriend may have downloaded the music.As for the music industry's image, there's no question it took a beating with music fans as a result of the trials. The PR hits, however, have been mitigated by the benefits of winning three high-profile jury decisions, complete with wince-inducing damage awards. The shock-and-awe factor of those awards is sure to provide copyright owners with a powerful cautionary tale. Jennifer Pariser, the RIAA&amp;39's senior vice president of legal affairs. (Credit:RIAA)The music industry may have given up on suing people for illegal file sharing two years ago, but the Thomas-Rasset case has thus far failed to deter other copyright owners from taking up where the RIAA left off. A growing number of independent film studios and adult-film makers this year began suing suspected illegal file sharers at a far faster rate than the RIAA ever did. This week, Kenneth Ford, one of the lawyers representing several adult-film makers, filed a lawsuit against a total of nearly 10,000 alleged illegal file sharers. In just the past two weeks, Ford has filed against nearly 17,000 people. Lawyers representing those filmmakers can now carry the damages amount against Thomas-Rassets into the negotiations with suspected film pirates. The copyright owners can use her to illustrate that refusing to settle is risky. The lawyers could lay it out like this: The decision should rest on simple arithmetic. Thomas-Rasset could have settled with the RIAA for about $3,000. Instead, she fought--and the least amount she's been on the hook for since is $54,000. For copyright owners, that's a big stick to wield. The vast majority of people accused by the RIAA during its five-year litigation campaign decided to settle for a few thousand dollars. The same goes for the copyright cases brought by indie film studios, according to the lawyers representing the defendants. Tyler Ochoa, a law professor at Santa Clara University, said that the big problem isn't Thomas-Rasset's case. &quot;The law is on [the copyright owners'] side right now,&quot; Ochoa said. &quot;The notion that there is a personal use exception to copyright has pretty much disappeared in recent years.&quot;The good news for the file-sharing crowd is that there are other potential challenges to copyright law rising out of the suits filed by indie film studios. Some of the attorneys representing those accused by the filmmakers say there's a growing number of people who say they are innocent and are determined not to settle. Robert Talbot, a law professor at the University of San Francisco, represents 23 defendants. &quot;I have a couple of cases that would be good to take all the way.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>
