<![CDATA[Technology]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/ Redorbit News http://www.redorbit.com/media/themes/redorbit/images/logo_160x80.gif http://www.redorbit.com/ 160 80 <![CDATA[Microsoft To Release Consumer Preview, Not Beta Of Windows 8]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471857/microsoft-to-release-consumer-preview-not-beta-of-windows-8/ 2012-02-09 12:44:21 Consumer Electronics Show, Steve Ballmer promised a big “milestone” for Microsoft’s mobile OS in February, and reiterated that the Redmond, WA-based company has “reimagined” Windows with Windows 8, reports Chloe Albanesius for PC Mag. With little in the way of advanced details, Microsoft is expected to unveil a “consumer preview”, or “beta” of Windows 8, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 29, but away from the tradeshow floor. Microsoft has announced it will open the Windows Store to the public at the same time it ships Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Although the company is staying silent on a ship date for the final edition of Windows 8, the Consumer Preview’s timing hints at a fall 2012 debut assuming the company paces Windows 8’s development and testing as it did Windows 7’s. Microsoft has a spotty record of releasing major software on schedule, with Windows 7’s first developer-oriented released at the end of October 2008. Microsoft offered a public beta of that OS in January 2009, and the final version hit shelves the third week of October, 2009. The software giant would also certainly prefer not to duplicate the release timetable of Windows Vista, which missed 2006’s holiday selling season, not shipping until January 2007. It is not fully clear how Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be distributed but it probably won’t reprise Windows 7 beta’s launch, which was plagued with problems. An overload of Microsoft’s servers forced it to halt downloads, an on-then-off limit on the number of copies it would supply, and then a sudden halting of availability just a few weeks after its introduction which left users with a bad taste in their mouths for dealing with Microsoft and its release issues. Windows 8 was offered with a Developer’s Preview in September 2011 and include the apparent death of the Start button, an iconic element that’s been part of the operating system for nearly 17 years, writes Computerworld’s Gregg Keizer. Windows 8 is expected to feature a dramatic overhaul of the OS’s user interface by introducing a tile-based component suggestive of Windows Phone, specially-design apps for that interface and a digital distribution site -- the Windows Store -- that will be the only outlet for those Metro-style apps. Microsoft’s use of the “Consumer Preview” name on products available to large numbers of users will not hide the fact that it is essentially a “beta” product, writes Ed Bott for ZD Net. Use of that phrase on an important software such as Windows 8 would send mixed messages. Old-school Windows beta testers would be demanding to know where to file bug reports, while the real target market might be scared off by the “don’t get mad at us” asterisk. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 Consumer Electronics Show, Steve Ballmer promised a big “milestone” for Microsoft’s mobile OS in February, and reiterated that the Redmond, WA-based company has “reimagined” Windows with Windows 8, reports Chloe Albanesius for PC Mag. With little in the way of advanced details, Microsoft is expected to unveil a “consumer preview”, or “beta” of Windows 8, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 29, but away from the tradeshow floor. Microsoft has announced it will open the Windows Store to the public at the same time it ships Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Although the company is staying silent on a ship date for the final edition of Windows 8, the Consumer Preview’s timing hints at a fall 2012 debut assuming the company paces Windows 8’s development and testing as it did Windows 7’s. Microsoft has a spotty record of releasing major software on schedule, with Windows 7’s first developer-oriented released at the end of October 2008. Microsoft offered a public beta of that OS in January 2009, and the final version hit shelves the third week of October, 2009. The software giant would also certainly prefer not to duplicate the release timetable of Windows Vista, which missed 2006’s holiday selling season, not shipping until January 2007. It is not fully clear how Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be distributed but it probably won’t reprise Windows 7 beta’s launch, which was plagued with problems. An overload of Microsoft’s servers forced it to halt downloads, an on-then-off limit on the number of copies it would supply, and then a sudden halting of availability just a few weeks after its introduction which left users with a bad taste in their mouths for dealing with Microsoft and its release issues. Windows 8 was offered with a Developer’s Preview in September 2011 and include the apparent death of the Start button, an iconic element that’s been part of the operating system for nearly 17 years, writes Computerworld’s Gregg Keizer. Windows 8 is expected to feature a dramatic overhaul of the OS’s user interface by introducing a tile-based component suggestive of Windows Phone, specially-design apps for that interface and a digital distribution site -- the Windows Store -- that will be the only outlet for those Metro-style apps. Microsoft’s use of the “Consumer Preview” name on products available to large numbers of users will not hide the fact that it is essentially a “beta” product, writes Ed Bott for ZD Net. Use of that phrase on an important software such as Windows 8 would send mixed messages. Old-school Windows beta testers would be demanding to know where to file bug reports, while the real target market might be scared off by the “don’t get mad at us” asterisk. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Approval Of Google’s Motorola Mobility Acquisition Could Come Next Week]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471676/approval-of-google%e2%80%99s-motorola-mobility-acquisition-could-come-next-week/ 2012-02-09 12:17:24 according to people familiar with the issue, who wished to remain anonymous. The Justice Department is set to hand down a final word on the acquisition prospect on February 13. But while the DOJ may be ready to give the deal its approval, some tension among US and European industry watchers are concerned Google may use its acquisition to force licensing of the Motorola Mobility’s patents to other companies on unfair terms. Google announced in August that it had planned to buy the smartphone hardware business for $12.5 billion, looking to expand its patent portfolio. If regulators approve the deal, the purchase will give Google more than 17,000 patents for mobile-phone technology. Motorola Mobility holds several FRAND patents, and Google has promised it would still offer to license the patents to competitors with fair terms. The DOJ will also most likely approve a plan, led by Microsoft and Apple, to purchase Nortel Network Corp. patents, according to the informants. The acquisition will give the Apple-Microsoft consortium -- which also includes RIM, Sony, Ericsson and EMC -- control over more than 6,000 patents and applications for wireless technology. One of the people familiar with the matter said the DOJ became concerned with the increasing tendency of patent holders suing to keep other companies from using their smartphone technology. The DOJ will continue to monitor companies that haven’t sworn off such practices, the person said. Meanwhile, in a letter to technology standards groups yesterday, Google said it would consider seeking court injunctions to block companies from using its technology if it couldn’t resolve “standard compliant” patent disputes. That letter was written to resolve question from the European Commission, which is reviewing the Motorola Mobility deal to determine if it would hurt competition. European regulators are also set to rule on the acquisition by February 13, said Antoine Colombani, a spokesman for the Brussels-based commission, on February 7. If the commission doesn’t give the deal its approval, it could lead to an investigation lasting a further 90 days. “Transparency and consistency in licensing practices are important with respect to standard essential patents,” Deputy General Counsel Allen Lo said in a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. “I am confident that Google’s acquisition of MMI will not disturb those goals or otherwise adversely affect” manufacturers or consumers. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 according to people familiar with the issue, who wished to remain anonymous. The Justice Department is set to hand down a final word on the acquisition prospect on February 13. But while the DOJ may be ready to give the deal its approval, some tension among US and European industry watchers are concerned Google may use its acquisition to force licensing of the Motorola Mobility’s patents to other companies on unfair terms. Google announced in August that it had planned to buy the smartphone hardware business for $12.5 billion, looking to expand its patent portfolio. If regulators approve the deal, the purchase will give Google more than 17,000 patents for mobile-phone technology. Motorola Mobility holds several FRAND patents, and Google has promised it would still offer to license the patents to competitors with fair terms. The DOJ will also most likely approve a plan, led by Microsoft and Apple, to purchase Nortel Network Corp. patents, according to the informants. The acquisition will give the Apple-Microsoft consortium -- which also includes RIM, Sony, Ericsson and EMC -- control over more than 6,000 patents and applications for wireless technology. One of the people familiar with the matter said the DOJ became concerned with the increasing tendency of patent holders suing to keep other companies from using their smartphone technology. The DOJ will continue to monitor companies that haven’t sworn off such practices, the person said. Meanwhile, in a letter to technology standards groups yesterday, Google said it would consider seeking court injunctions to block companies from using its technology if it couldn’t resolve “standard compliant” patent disputes. That letter was written to resolve question from the European Commission, which is reviewing the Motorola Mobility deal to determine if it would hurt competition. European regulators are also set to rule on the acquisition by February 13, said Antoine Colombani, a spokesman for the Brussels-based commission, on February 7. If the commission doesn’t give the deal its approval, it could lead to an investigation lasting a further 90 days. “Transparency and consistency in licensing practices are important with respect to standard essential patents,” Deputy General Counsel Allen Lo said in a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. “I am confident that Google’s acquisition of MMI will not disturb those goals or otherwise adversely affect” manufacturers or consumers. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Amazon Adds Viacom Content To Streaming Services]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471657/amazon-adds-viacom-content-to-streaming-services/ 2012-02-09 10:57:51 Reuters. With this announcement, Amazon Prime members will now have access to its free two-day shipping for DVDs and access to an online streaming video service for $79 a year. This gives Amazon a substantial arsenal of popular shows such as “Dora The Explorer,” “Jersey Shore” and TV Land’s “Hot in Cleveland.” Brad Beale, director of video content acquisition for Amazon, said in a statement: “Over the last year we have received fantastic customer feedback about Prime Instant Video. We are constantly working to improve the service by adding the shows that our customers enjoy the most.” “This deal with Viacom brings Prime customers and Kindle Fire users thousands of comedies, kids’ shows, reality TV and much more from some of the best cable networks available.” Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s Chief Executive Officer, has bolstered the video service with films and shows from studios including Fox and Warner Bros. in part to spur sales of the Kindle Fire tablet computer. Amazon spends about a third of Netflix’s $1 billion a year on content deals and needs to expand streaming video rights to compete, according to Brian Nowak, an analyst at Nomura Securities in New York. Customers on the Amazon Instant Video online streaming service more than doubled in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, Amazon said last month, and video streams almost quadrupled. A lot of this growth coincides with Amazon’s new tablet device, the Kindle Fire which is showing positive results overall owing to its dual purpose nature of e-book reader with ease of integration of Amazon’s streaming video services, writes Danielle Kucera of Bloomberg News. While more online video offerings will probably help profit margins down the road by luring more consumers to pay annually for Prime and buy more goods on Amazon’s site, such deals could hurt earnings in the near term, Nomura’s Nowak said. Data from streaming services are showing that users are increasingly watching series of shows end-to-end in 1-2 settings. Amazon is planning on taking advantage of this by expanding content offerings as customer demand increases, said Brad Beale, Amazon’s director of video-content acquisition. “We’re going to continue working on adding more content to Prime,” Beale said in an interview. “I can’t peg a particular budget number, but I can absolutely tell you that there’s more really good stuff to come.” --- On the Net: ]]> 0 Reuters. With this announcement, Amazon Prime members will now have access to its free two-day shipping for DVDs and access to an online streaming video service for $79 a year. This gives Amazon a substantial arsenal of popular shows such as “Dora The Explorer,” “Jersey Shore” and TV Land’s “Hot in Cleveland.” Brad Beale, director of video content acquisition for Amazon, said in a statement: “Over the last year we have received fantastic customer feedback about Prime Instant Video. We are constantly working to improve the service by adding the shows that our customers enjoy the most.” “This deal with Viacom brings Prime customers and Kindle Fire users thousands of comedies, kids’ shows, reality TV and much more from some of the best cable networks available.” Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s Chief Executive Officer, has bolstered the video service with films and shows from studios including Fox and Warner Bros. in part to spur sales of the Kindle Fire tablet computer. Amazon spends about a third of Netflix’s $1 billion a year on content deals and needs to expand streaming video rights to compete, according to Brian Nowak, an analyst at Nomura Securities in New York. Customers on the Amazon Instant Video online streaming service more than doubled in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, Amazon said last month, and video streams almost quadrupled. A lot of this growth coincides with Amazon’s new tablet device, the Kindle Fire which is showing positive results overall owing to its dual purpose nature of e-book reader with ease of integration of Amazon’s streaming video services, writes Danielle Kucera of Bloomberg News. While more online video offerings will probably help profit margins down the road by luring more consumers to pay annually for Prime and buy more goods on Amazon’s site, such deals could hurt earnings in the near term, Nomura’s Nowak said. Data from streaming services are showing that users are increasingly watching series of shows end-to-end in 1-2 settings. Amazon is planning on taking advantage of this by expanding content offerings as customer demand increases, said Brad Beale, Amazon’s director of video-content acquisition. “We’re going to continue working on adding more content to Prime,” Beale said in an interview. “I can’t peg a particular budget number, but I can absolutely tell you that there’s more really good stuff to come.” --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Advocates Call For FTC Investigation Into Google Privacy Violations]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471643/advocates-call-for-ftc-investigation-into-google-privacy-violations/ 2012-02-09 09:47:55 federal lawsuit in the US District Court of the District of Columbia this week. The lawsuit hopes to force government officials to punish Google over the plans, reports Byron Acohido for USA Today. The complaint, by the Electronic Privacy and Information Center (EPIC), says Google violates a settlement agreement the company struck with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year over a separate privacy controversy. Google could face fines of up to $10,000 for each violation of the June 2011 settlement terms, an amount that could leave quite a large dent in Google’s fortunes because of the popularity of its services, experts say. EPIC said in its suit, “The imminent change in Google’s business practices threatens the same customer interests that the FTC’s consent decree sought to protect. If the FTC does not act to prevent the change, all Google users, including EPIC, face an imminent harm that is both certain and great.” The privacy policy changes were not commented on directly by the FTC, but spokeswoman Claudia Farrell told several news outlets that the agency, “takes compliance with our consent orders very seriously and always looks carefully at any evidence that they are being violated.” The FTC’s settlement with Google last summer came after it charged the company with exposing private information of Gmail users as it introduced its social network, Google Buzz. Google is required, under the terms of the settlement, to clearly notify users of new changes in its privacy policies, reports Cecilia Kang for the Washington Post. Buzz was added to the Gmail accounts of about 176 million users without asking their permission, instantly establishing a list of Facebook-like friends, with an algorithm selecting up to 50 of each Gmail user’s contacts and designated them as Buzz followers, similar to how Twitter users follow each other’s postings. “Buzz involved the combining of data from discrete services and it gave rise to the consent order,” Marc Rotenberg, EPIC’s executive director told the USA Today reporter. “This is about combining data across the entire Google platform, even after they were made subject to the consent order. As a legal matter we think it is far more serious.” Google defends its new policy saying it does not violate the settlement it reached with the FTC. “We take privacy very seriously. We’re happy to engage in constructive conversations about our updated privacy policy but EPIC is wrong on the facts and the law,” a Google spokesman said in a statement to Jessica Guynn of the Los Angeles Times. Google claims its services will improve by combining a blanket privacy policy and make them easier for consumers to understand. A Google spokesman said it does not share users’ personal information outside of Google, just with its own services such as Gmail and Google Maps. Rotenberg did not object to that point, but wants the new policy to be agreed to by each user. “If some users like the Google change in terms of service, that’s OK. They should opt in. But if other users don’t like the proposed change, they have the right to say no,” Rotenberg told Guynn. “This has to be the user’s choice, not Google’s choice. And the FTC must enforce its consent order to protect the rights of users to make these choices.” Google is being called upon by legislators to explain the changes, and is beginning to find resistance in Europe, reports Jessica Guynn for the Los Angeles Times. Regulators there have asked Google to delay the rollout of the new policy until they can investigate how the changes will affect consumers. Google has said it plans to move forward even as the European Commission looks to overhaul its data protection rules to make them more stringent, writes Emma Woollacott for TG Daily. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 federal lawsuit in the US District Court of the District of Columbia this week. The lawsuit hopes to force government officials to punish Google over the plans, reports Byron Acohido for USA Today. The complaint, by the Electronic Privacy and Information Center (EPIC), says Google violates a settlement agreement the company struck with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year over a separate privacy controversy. Google could face fines of up to $10,000 for each violation of the June 2011 settlement terms, an amount that could leave quite a large dent in Google’s fortunes because of the popularity of its services, experts say. EPIC said in its suit, “The imminent change in Google’s business practices threatens the same customer interests that the FTC’s consent decree sought to protect. If the FTC does not act to prevent the change, all Google users, including EPIC, face an imminent harm that is both certain and great.” The privacy policy changes were not commented on directly by the FTC, but spokeswoman Claudia Farrell told several news outlets that the agency, “takes compliance with our consent orders very seriously and always looks carefully at any evidence that they are being violated.” The FTC’s settlement with Google last summer came after it charged the company with exposing private information of Gmail users as it introduced its social network, Google Buzz. Google is required, under the terms of the settlement, to clearly notify users of new changes in its privacy policies, reports Cecilia Kang for the Washington Post. Buzz was added to the Gmail accounts of about 176 million users without asking their permission, instantly establishing a list of Facebook-like friends, with an algorithm selecting up to 50 of each Gmail user’s contacts and designated them as Buzz followers, similar to how Twitter users follow each other’s postings. “Buzz involved the combining of data from discrete services and it gave rise to the consent order,” Marc Rotenberg, EPIC’s executive director told the USA Today reporter. “This is about combining data across the entire Google platform, even after they were made subject to the consent order. As a legal matter we think it is far more serious.” Google defends its new policy saying it does not violate the settlement it reached with the FTC. “We take privacy very seriously. We’re happy to engage in constructive conversations about our updated privacy policy but EPIC is wrong on the facts and the law,” a Google spokesman said in a statement to Jessica Guynn of the Los Angeles Times. Google claims its services will improve by combining a blanket privacy policy and make them easier for consumers to understand. A Google spokesman said it does not share users’ personal information outside of Google, just with its own services such as Gmail and Google Maps. Rotenberg did not object to that point, but wants the new policy to be agreed to by each user. “If some users like the Google change in terms of service, that’s OK. They should opt in. But if other users don’t like the proposed change, they have the right to say no,” Rotenberg told Guynn. “This has to be the user’s choice, not Google’s choice. And the FTC must enforce its consent order to protect the rights of users to make these choices.” Google is being called upon by legislators to explain the changes, and is beginning to find resistance in Europe, reports Jessica Guynn for the Los Angeles Times. Regulators there have asked Google to delay the rollout of the new policy until they can investigate how the changes will affect consumers. Google has said it plans to move forward even as the European Commission looks to overhaul its data protection rules to make them more stringent, writes Emma Woollacott for TG Daily. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[App Economy Added Half Million US Jobs Since 2007]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471394/app-economy-added-half-million-us-jobs-since-2007/ 2012-02-09 05:48:50 new report by Dr. Michael Mandel of South Mountain Economics. "The incredibly rapid rise of smartphones, tablets, and social media, and the applications—"apps"—that run on them, is perhaps the biggest economic and technological phenomenon today," read the report. The app economy is now responsible for roughly 466,000 jobs in the U.S.; up from zero in 2007 when the iPhone was launched, according to the analysis. This figure exceeds the number of jobs the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates software publishers, wireless network operators, or Internet publishing add to the economy, respectively. Since government statistics aren't particularly useful for nascent industries like the app economy, Dr. Mandel said he took a different approach by studying The Conference Board's comprehensive database of online help wanted ads. He queried the database for computer and mathematical positions containing key words such as "iOS" and "Facebook".  After determining the total number of help wanted ads for app programming jobs, he studied the ratio of help wanted jobs to total employment in other industries that are accurately tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For example, the want-ad to employment ratio for computer and mathematical jobs is 3.5.  Therefore, multiplying the number of want ads for app programmers by 3.5 allowed Mandel to arrive at his estimate for total employment in the field.  However, the figure did not include the number of non-programming jobs in the app economy, such as marketing or sales. Further analysis of want ads placed by mid-size app developers suggested that there was a 1:1 ratio of programming jobs to support positions.  Additionally, Mandel multiplied this number by a "spillover multiplier" of 1.5 to reflect the fact that a job in one field will typically create job opportunities in other industries.  The 1.5 multiplier figure is conservative, given that the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates of multipliers across a variety of industries range from 0.8 for retail trade to 6.9 for oil and gas extraction. Dr. Mandel is optimistic about the future of the app economy, noting that the average number of help wanted ads containing the word "app" has skyrocketed 250% since December of 2008, and shows few signs of slowing. Indeed, as the proliferation of smartphones grows, so will app economy revenues, which will in turn attract more venture capitalists to back app economy entrepreneurs, which will entice more entrepreneurs to move into the sector – all good news. "How big can the app economy get? That depends in many ways on the future of wireless and social networks.  If wireless and social network platforms continue to grow, then we can expect the app economy to grow along with them," Dr. Mandel said. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 new report by Dr. Michael Mandel of South Mountain Economics. "The incredibly rapid rise of smartphones, tablets, and social media, and the applications—"apps"—that run on them, is perhaps the biggest economic and technological phenomenon today," read the report. The app economy is now responsible for roughly 466,000 jobs in the U.S.; up from zero in 2007 when the iPhone was launched, according to the analysis. This figure exceeds the number of jobs the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates software publishers, wireless network operators, or Internet publishing add to the economy, respectively. Since government statistics aren't particularly useful for nascent industries like the app economy, Dr. Mandel said he took a different approach by studying The Conference Board's comprehensive database of online help wanted ads. He queried the database for computer and mathematical positions containing key words such as "iOS" and "Facebook".  After determining the total number of help wanted ads for app programming jobs, he studied the ratio of help wanted jobs to total employment in other industries that are accurately tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For example, the want-ad to employment ratio for computer and mathematical jobs is 3.5.  Therefore, multiplying the number of want ads for app programmers by 3.5 allowed Mandel to arrive at his estimate for total employment in the field.  However, the figure did not include the number of non-programming jobs in the app economy, such as marketing or sales. Further analysis of want ads placed by mid-size app developers suggested that there was a 1:1 ratio of programming jobs to support positions.  Additionally, Mandel multiplied this number by a "spillover multiplier" of 1.5 to reflect the fact that a job in one field will typically create job opportunities in other industries.  The 1.5 multiplier figure is conservative, given that the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates of multipliers across a variety of industries range from 0.8 for retail trade to 6.9 for oil and gas extraction. Dr. Mandel is optimistic about the future of the app economy, noting that the average number of help wanted ads containing the word "app" has skyrocketed 250% since December of 2008, and shows few signs of slowing. Indeed, as the proliferation of smartphones grows, so will app economy revenues, which will in turn attract more venture capitalists to back app economy entrepreneurs, which will entice more entrepreneurs to move into the sector – all good news. "How big can the app economy get? That depends in many ways on the future of wireless and social networks.  If wireless and social network platforms continue to grow, then we can expect the app economy to grow along with them," Dr. Mandel said. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Google Offers Gift Cards To Track Web Usage]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471391/google-offers-gift-cards-to-track-web-usage/ 2012-02-09 05:41:17 Screenwise website. “What we learn from you, and others like you, will help us improve Google products and services and make a better online experience for everyone.” Participants who agree to install the extension will earn one gift card for every three months in the program — up to $25 total. “Our panel management partner, Knowledge Networks, will give you a $5 Amazon.com Gift Card code instantly when you sign up and download the Google Screenwise browser extension.  Then you’ll get additional $5 Amazon.com Gift Card codes every three months for staying with it,” Google said, noting that Amazon is not a sponsor of the program. Knowledge Networks is a company that pays users to participate in surveys and data collection by other companies. Participants in Google’s Screenwise program must be 13 years of age or older, have a Google Account (or sign up for one) and be ready to use the Google Chrome browser. The company has also launched a less public version of the program that pays people to install a black “data collector” box on their home network for more extensive tracking and measuring of their Internet use, Ars-technica reported. Google has offered the enhanced Screenwise program to existing members of Knowledge Networks.  Participants will receive a Screenwise Data Collector box that will reside on their home network, acting as a router and Wi-Fi access point that monitors the traffic of all connected devices. The box will essentially capture a "household's web access," although it will not gather information from other devices in the house. Google said it would accept the first 2,500 Knowledge Networks members who signed up for the program, and would compensate participants $100 upon sign up and an additional $20 for each month the device is installed, up to one year. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 Screenwise website. “What we learn from you, and others like you, will help us improve Google products and services and make a better online experience for everyone.” Participants who agree to install the extension will earn one gift card for every three months in the program — up to $25 total. “Our panel management partner, Knowledge Networks, will give you a $5 Amazon.com Gift Card code instantly when you sign up and download the Google Screenwise browser extension.  Then you’ll get additional $5 Amazon.com Gift Card codes every three months for staying with it,” Google said, noting that Amazon is not a sponsor of the program. Knowledge Networks is a company that pays users to participate in surveys and data collection by other companies. Participants in Google’s Screenwise program must be 13 years of age or older, have a Google Account (or sign up for one) and be ready to use the Google Chrome browser. The company has also launched a less public version of the program that pays people to install a black “data collector” box on their home network for more extensive tracking and measuring of their Internet use, Ars-technica reported. Google has offered the enhanced Screenwise program to existing members of Knowledge Networks.  Participants will receive a Screenwise Data Collector box that will reside on their home network, acting as a router and Wi-Fi access point that monitors the traffic of all connected devices. The box will essentially capture a "household's web access," although it will not gather information from other devices in the house. Google said it would accept the first 2,500 Knowledge Networks members who signed up for the program, and would compensate participants $100 upon sign up and an additional $20 for each month the device is installed, up to one year. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Robotic Beast Of Burden Makes Outdoor Debut]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471388/robotic-beast-of-burden-makes-outdoor-debut/ 2012-02-09 05:29:57 [ Watch the Video ] The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is previewing a mechanical beast of burden that would help lighten the load for soldiers. The machine named AlphaDog and built at Boston Dynamics is shown in a newly released video trekking outside in the woods. The video shows the robot raising itself with a load under its own power. Then it manages to negotiate different terrains, going uphill, downhill, and through the woods avoiding obstacles like holes in the ground along the way. The AlphaDog, also called the LS3 (Legged Squad Support System) has been designed to distinguish between trees, rocks, soldiers and other obstacles. DARPA has plans to start 18 months worth of testing on the machine before it is deployed out into the field with Marines. Plans are for the device to carry up to 400 pounds of gear for 20 miles without refueling for 24 hours. Slashgear notes that vision sensors will be improved and refined so that it can properly detect obstacles and autonomously correct its course as needed. There are also plans to add hearing sensors so that the robot will follow simple commands such as “stop”, “sit”, or “come here” much like a real dog. The LS3 will also be equipped with an auxiliary power source to power radios and other handheld devices while in the field. The purpose of this tool is to help unburden troops in the field of heavy loads. According to DARPA some soldiers carry up to 100 pounds of gear, resulting in physical strain, fatigue and degraded performance. The Army has identified physical overburden as one of its top 5 technology challenges. This new technology will help improve warfighter readiness by carrying the majority of the load. According to Army Lt. Col. Joe Hitt, “If successful, this could provide real value to a squad while addressing the military’s concern for unburdening troops. LS3 seeks to have the responsiveness of a trained animal and the carrying capacity of a mule.” --- On the Net: ]]> 0 [ Watch the Video ] The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is previewing a mechanical beast of burden that would help lighten the load for soldiers. The machine named AlphaDog and built at Boston Dynamics is shown in a newly released video trekking outside in the woods. The video shows the robot raising itself with a load under its own power. Then it manages to negotiate different terrains, going uphill, downhill, and through the woods avoiding obstacles like holes in the ground along the way. The AlphaDog, also called the LS3 (Legged Squad Support System) has been designed to distinguish between trees, rocks, soldiers and other obstacles. DARPA has plans to start 18 months worth of testing on the machine before it is deployed out into the field with Marines. Plans are for the device to carry up to 400 pounds of gear for 20 miles without refueling for 24 hours. Slashgear notes that vision sensors will be improved and refined so that it can properly detect obstacles and autonomously correct its course as needed. There are also plans to add hearing sensors so that the robot will follow simple commands such as “stop”, “sit”, or “come here” much like a real dog. The LS3 will also be equipped with an auxiliary power source to power radios and other handheld devices while in the field. The purpose of this tool is to help unburden troops in the field of heavy loads. According to DARPA some soldiers carry up to 100 pounds of gear, resulting in physical strain, fatigue and degraded performance. The Army has identified physical overburden as one of its top 5 technology challenges. This new technology will help improve warfighter readiness by carrying the majority of the load. According to Army Lt. Col. Joe Hitt, “If successful, this could provide real value to a squad while addressing the military’s concern for unburdening troops. LS3 seeks to have the responsiveness of a trained animal and the carrying capacity of a mule.” --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[As Yahoo’s Struggles Continue, Board Chairman Bostock Steps Down]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471385/as-yahoo%e2%80%99s-struggles-continue-board-chairman-bostock-steps-down/ 2012-02-09 05:21:58
  • Yahoo
    • ]]>     0
  • Yahoo
    • ]]>         <![CDATA[Electrical Engineers Build 'No-waste' Laser]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471382/electrical-engineers-build-no-waste-laser/ 2012-02-09 05:12:54 Team makes startling discovery in highly efficient, 'thresholdless' laser A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that funnels all its photons into lasing, without any waste. The two new lasers require very low power to operate, an important breakthrough since lasers usually require greater and greater "pump power" to begin lasing as they shrink to nano sizes. The small size and extremely low power of these nanolasers could make them very useful components for future optical circuits packed on to tiny computer chips, Mercedeh Khajavikhan and her UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering colleagues report in the Feb. 9 issue of the journal Nature. They suggest that the thresholdless laser may also help researchers as they develop new metamaterials, artificially structured materials that are already being studied for applications from super-lenses that can be used to see individual viruses or DNA molecules to "cloaking" devices that bend light around an object to make it appear invisible. All lasers require a certain amount of "pump power" from an outside source to begin emitting a coherent beam of light or "lasing," explained Yeshaiahu (Shaya) Fainman, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego and co-author of the new study. A laser's threshold is the point where this coherent output is greater than any spontaneous emission produced. The smaller a laser is, the greater the pump power needed to reach the point of lasing. To overcome this problem, the UC San Diego researchers developed a design for the new lasers that uses quantum electrodynamic effects in coaxial nanocavities to alleviate the threshold constraint. Like a coaxial cable hooked up to a television (only at a much smaller scale), the laser cavity consists of a metal rod enclosed by a ring of metal-coated, quantum wells of semiconductor material. Khajavikhan and the rest of the team built the thresholdless laser by modifying the geometry of this cavity. The new design also allowed them to build the smallest room-temperature, continuous wave laser to date. The new room-temperature nanoscale coaxial laser is more than an order of magnitude smaller than their previous record smallest nanolaser published in Nature Photonics less than two years ago. The whole device is almost half a micron in diameter – by comparison, the period at the end of this sentence is nearly 600 microns wide. These highly efficient lasers would be useful in augmenting future computing chips with optical communications, where the lasers are used to establish communication links between distant points on the chip. Only a small amount of pump power would be required to reach lasing, reducing the number of photons needed to transmit information, said Fainman. The nanolaser designs appear to be scalable – meaning that they could be shrunk to even smaller sizes – an extremely important feature that makes it possible to harvest laser light from even smaller nanoscale structures, the researchers note. This feature eventually could make them useful for creating and analyzing metamaterials with structures smaller than the wavelength of light currently emitted by the lasers. Fainman said other applications for the new lasers could include tiny biochemical sensors or high-resolution displays, but the researchers are still working out the theory behind how these tiny lasers operate. They would also like to find a way to pump the lasers electrically instead of optically. Co-authors for the Nature study, "Thresholdless Nanoscale Coaxial Lasers," include Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Aleksandar Simic, Michael Kats, Jin Hyoung Lee, Boris Slutsky, Amit Mizrahi, Vitaliy Lomakin, and Yeshaiahu Fainman in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The nanolasers are fabricated at the university's NANO3 facility. The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, the NSF Center for Integrated Access Networks (CIAN), the Cymer Corporation and the U.S. Army Research Office. --- Image Caption: This is UC San Diego postdoctoral researcher Mercedeh Khajavikhan at work in the optics laboratory. Credit: Josh Knoff, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering --- On the Net: ]]> 0 Team makes startling discovery in highly efficient, 'thresholdless' laser A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that funnels all its photons into lasing, without any waste. The two new lasers require very low power to operate, an important breakthrough since lasers usually require greater and greater "pump power" to begin lasing as they shrink to nano sizes. The small size and extremely low power of these nanolasers could make them very useful components for future optical circuits packed on to tiny computer chips, Mercedeh Khajavikhan and her UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering colleagues report in the Feb. 9 issue of the journal Nature. They suggest that the thresholdless laser may also help researchers as they develop new metamaterials, artificially structured materials that are already being studied for applications from super-lenses that can be used to see individual viruses or DNA molecules to "cloaking" devices that bend light around an object to make it appear invisible. All lasers require a certain amount of "pump power" from an outside source to begin emitting a coherent beam of light or "lasing," explained Yeshaiahu (Shaya) Fainman, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego and co-author of the new study. A laser's threshold is the point where this coherent output is greater than any spontaneous emission produced. The smaller a laser is, the greater the pump power needed to reach the point of lasing. To overcome this problem, the UC San Diego researchers developed a design for the new lasers that uses quantum electrodynamic effects in coaxial nanocavities to alleviate the threshold constraint. Like a coaxial cable hooked up to a television (only at a much smaller scale), the laser cavity consists of a metal rod enclosed by a ring of metal-coated, quantum wells of semiconductor material. Khajavikhan and the rest of the team built the thresholdless laser by modifying the geometry of this cavity. The new design also allowed them to build the smallest room-temperature, continuous wave laser to date. The new room-temperature nanoscale coaxial laser is more than an order of magnitude smaller than their previous record smallest nanolaser published in Nature Photonics less than two years ago. The whole device is almost half a micron in diameter – by comparison, the period at the end of this sentence is nearly 600 microns wide. These highly efficient lasers would be useful in augmenting future computing chips with optical communications, where the lasers are used to establish communication links between distant points on the chip. Only a small amount of pump power would be required to reach lasing, reducing the number of photons needed to transmit information, said Fainman. The nanolaser designs appear to be scalable – meaning that they could be shrunk to even smaller sizes – an extremely important feature that makes it possible to harvest laser light from even smaller nanoscale structures, the researchers note. This feature eventually could make them useful for creating and analyzing metamaterials with structures smaller than the wavelength of light currently emitted by the lasers. Fainman said other applications for the new lasers could include tiny biochemical sensors or high-resolution displays, but the researchers are still working out the theory behind how these tiny lasers operate. They would also like to find a way to pump the lasers electrically instead of optically. Co-authors for the Nature study, "Thresholdless Nanoscale Coaxial Lasers," include Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Aleksandar Simic, Michael Kats, Jin Hyoung Lee, Boris Slutsky, Amit Mizrahi, Vitaliy Lomakin, and Yeshaiahu Fainman in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The nanolasers are fabricated at the university's NANO3 facility. The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, the NSF Center for Integrated Access Networks (CIAN), the Cymer Corporation and the U.S. Army Research Office. --- Image Caption: This is UC San Diego postdoctoral researcher Mercedeh Khajavikhan at work in the optics laboratory. Credit: Josh Knoff, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[New Solar Cell Grabs More Of The Sun's Energy]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471366/new-solar-cell-grabs-more-of-the-suns-energy/ 2012-02-09 04:24:13 Image Caption: New solar cell. Image credit: Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory --- On the Net: ]]> 0 Image Caption: New solar cell. Image credit: Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Sprint's Losses Grow Amid iPhone Costs And Network Upgrades]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471057/sprints-losses-grow-amid-iphone-costs-and-network-upgrades/ 2012-02-08 13:32:37
  • Sprint Nextel
  • Apple
  • Verizon
  • AT&T
    • ]]>     0
  • Sprint Nextel
  • Apple
  • Verizon
  • AT&T
    • ]]>         <![CDATA[A New Future For Hard Drives?]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112471046/a-new-future-for-hard-drives/ 2012-02-08 12:41:50 Thomas Ostler said in a statement. The technology uses ultra-short heat pulses to change the magnetism of material in the drive, which allows for faster drives. "This revolutionary method allows the recording of Terabytes - thousands of gigabytes -  of information per second, hundreds of times faster than present hard drive technology," Ostler said in a statement. Modern magnetic hard drives are based on a principle that sees that the north pole of a magnet is attracted to the south pole of another, and two like poles repulse. The team has demonstration that the positions of both the north and south poles of a magnet can be inverted by an ultrashort heat pulse, harnessing the power of much stronger internal forces of magnetism. “For centuries it has been believed that heat can only destroy the magnetic order," Dr Alexey Kimel, from the Institute of Molecules and Materials, Radboud University Nijmegen, said in a statement. "Now we have successfully demonstrated that it can, in fact, be a sufficient stimulus for recording information on a magnetic medium.” The researchers published their findings in the February edition of the journal Nature Communications. --- Image 2: The ultimate magnetic storage medium, consisting of many individual nanometre sized magnetic grains with a density of 10 petabytes/m^2. The data is written to the device using an ultrafast heating process to drive the reversal at a data rate of 200Gb/s. Compared to today's hard drive technology this would allow 10 times the amount of storage capacity and 300 times the performance. Credit: Richard Evans, University of York [ More Images ] --- On the Net: ]]> 0 Thomas Ostler said in a statement. The technology uses ultra-short heat pulses to change the magnetism of material in the drive, which allows for faster drives. "This revolutionary method allows the recording of Terabytes - thousands of gigabytes -  of information per second, hundreds of times faster than present hard drive technology," Ostler said in a statement. Modern magnetic hard drives are based on a principle that sees that the north pole of a magnet is attracted to the south pole of another, and two like poles repulse. The team has demonstration that the positions of both the north and south poles of a magnet can be inverted by an ultrashort heat pulse, harnessing the power of much stronger internal forces of magnetism. “For centuries it has been believed that heat can only destroy the magnetic order," Dr Alexey Kimel, from the Institute of Molecules and Materials, Radboud University Nijmegen, said in a statement. "Now we have successfully demonstrated that it can, in fact, be a sufficient stimulus for recording information on a magnetic medium.” The researchers published their findings in the February edition of the journal Nature Communications. --- Image 2: The ultimate magnetic storage medium, consisting of many individual nanometre sized magnetic grains with a density of 10 petabytes/m^2. The data is written to the device using an ultrafast heating process to drive the reversal at a data rate of 200Gb/s. Compared to today's hard drive technology this would allow 10 times the amount of storage capacity and 300 times the performance. Credit: Richard Evans, University of York [ More Images ] --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Apple Prepping To Take Over Your Home Television Next]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112470835/apple-prepping-to-take-over-your-home-television-next/ 2012-02-08 11:21:51 Heather Perlberg for Bloomberg. Canadian telcos, Bell and Rogers, unnamed sources tell Tony Smith writing for Hardware, were approached by Apple, which is looking to ink deals with companies that specialize in internet access, and pursuing big-name broadband ISPs to get behind the Apple-branded “iTV.” Peter Misek, analyst for Jefferies had previously suggested Bell and Rogers would make suitable partners for Apple’s plans, and that carriers AT&T and Verizon would likely also offer the product in the United States, Reuters reports. Internet TV is a big part of Apple’s game plan and it’s specifically targeting the iTV at the growing number of viewers who get their video content from the web rather that cable or live TV. More and more viewers are stepping away from cable, motivated by the increasing cost of cable service, but also by the sense that they’re not using the service as much as they used to. With the cable companies bundling more and more unseen channels, customers are finally pushing back and demanding to pay for only what they want to watch. With online movies and television shows being easier to view all the time, cutting the cable is becoming more of an option than ever. Indeed, why pay a lot to watch a show one month when you can view it more cheaply a few months later? And you can pay just for the content you want, not all the channels that you don’t. Companies such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, not to mention TV-to-viewer mediation companies like TiVo are well poised to expand and become mainstream players on your home television. In January, Tivo said 38 percent of viewers no longer watch shows live, but come to them later, at a time that suits them. They use DVRs such as TiVo, they use downloads, or they use catch-up TV services. All of that being said, Apple’s prime selling point will be its superior user interface which millions of folks are familiar with from using iPhones and iPads. That familiarity combined with Apple’s marketing prowess will certainly make waves in yet another industry. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 Heather Perlberg for Bloomberg. Canadian telcos, Bell and Rogers, unnamed sources tell Tony Smith writing for Hardware, were approached by Apple, which is looking to ink deals with companies that specialize in internet access, and pursuing big-name broadband ISPs to get behind the Apple-branded “iTV.” Peter Misek, analyst for Jefferies had previously suggested Bell and Rogers would make suitable partners for Apple’s plans, and that carriers AT&T and Verizon would likely also offer the product in the United States, Reuters reports. Internet TV is a big part of Apple’s game plan and it’s specifically targeting the iTV at the growing number of viewers who get their video content from the web rather that cable or live TV. More and more viewers are stepping away from cable, motivated by the increasing cost of cable service, but also by the sense that they’re not using the service as much as they used to. With the cable companies bundling more and more unseen channels, customers are finally pushing back and demanding to pay for only what they want to watch. With online movies and television shows being easier to view all the time, cutting the cable is becoming more of an option than ever. Indeed, why pay a lot to watch a show one month when you can view it more cheaply a few months later? And you can pay just for the content you want, not all the channels that you don’t. Companies such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, not to mention TV-to-viewer mediation companies like TiVo are well poised to expand and become mainstream players on your home television. In January, Tivo said 38 percent of viewers no longer watch shows live, but come to them later, at a time that suits them. They use DVRs such as TiVo, they use downloads, or they use catch-up TV services. All of that being said, Apple’s prime selling point will be its superior user interface which millions of folks are familiar with from using iPhones and iPads. That familiarity combined with Apple’s marketing prowess will certainly make waves in yet another industry. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[After Extortion Attempt, Hacker Releases Symantec Source Code]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112470812/after-extortion-attempt-hacker-releases-symantec-source-code/ 2012-02-08 08:25:26 pastebin.com/GJEKf1T9 -- failed after weeks of heated emails, and the hacker told Symantec that he would release the code. Hackers with the group Lords of Dharamaja, part of the Anonymous collective, leaked about 1.27gb of Symantec’s source code Monday night. They claim the code is for Symantec’s PCAnywhere program. Meanwhile, Symantec said the source code was for 2006 products and has since updated its products with newer source code. But to be safe, the company said it had contacted customers in recent weeks to get them to apply software upgrades that could address any known security issues. As previously reported on RedOrbit.com, emails between law enforcement and Yamatough were a ploy to try to trace the hacker and expose his operation. Once the negotiations failed, however, the code went public. The negotiations also may have bought Symantec some time to address issues to its PCAnywhere program. “Symantec was prepared for the code to be posted at some point and has developed and distributed a series of patches since January 23rd to protect our users against known vulnerabilities,” company spokesman Cris Paden told Joseph Menn and Frank Jack Daniel of Reuters. Symantec said the revealed source code is most likely only one of many 2006 codes the hacking collective has in its possession, and more will probably be released in time, including those for Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition and Norton Internet Security. “As we have already stated publicly, this is old code, and Symantec and Norton customers will not be at an increased risk as a result of any disclosure,” Paden added. The email chain involving a $50,000 payoff was widely circulated, and some even mocked the antivirus giant for its attempt to buy protection. But Symantec made it clear that it was law enforcement that was in contact with the hacker the whole time and no money had ever been planned to actually be paid. In fact, Paden said, “Sam Thomas” was a false name created by law enforcement who pretended to pursue the negotiations only in an attempt to trace the hackers. The entire conversation was a ruse. Paden declined to name the law enforcement agency involved, saying it could compromise the investigation. Yamatough, apparently fed up with the negotiations and growing impatient, decided to post the code Monday night, which is available on bittorrent. He said he had never intended to take the money offered. But did tell Reuters that his group “tricked them [Symantec] into offering us a bribe so we could humiliate them.” Paden said the company is analyzing the leaked code, but given that it was years out of date, the company’s recent patches should protect users of its software. “We’re able to say with high confidence, any type of cyber attacks generated by this attack would have old characteristics and look like an attack from 2006 that can easily be stopped using current versions of our solutions,” said Paden. “Our customers are protected.” Paden said he cannot comment as to whether law enforcement had any success in tracing the hackers, and added that the investigation is ongoing. “As to what happens next, we’re not sure,” he concluded. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 pastebin.com/GJEKf1T9 -- failed after weeks of heated emails, and the hacker told Symantec that he would release the code. Hackers with the group Lords of Dharamaja, part of the Anonymous collective, leaked about 1.27gb of Symantec’s source code Monday night. They claim the code is for Symantec’s PCAnywhere program. Meanwhile, Symantec said the source code was for 2006 products and has since updated its products with newer source code. But to be safe, the company said it had contacted customers in recent weeks to get them to apply software upgrades that could address any known security issues. As previously reported on RedOrbit.com, emails between law enforcement and Yamatough were a ploy to try to trace the hacker and expose his operation. Once the negotiations failed, however, the code went public. The negotiations also may have bought Symantec some time to address issues to its PCAnywhere program. “Symantec was prepared for the code to be posted at some point and has developed and distributed a series of patches since January 23rd to protect our users against known vulnerabilities,” company spokesman Cris Paden told Joseph Menn and Frank Jack Daniel of Reuters. Symantec said the revealed source code is most likely only one of many 2006 codes the hacking collective has in its possession, and more will probably be released in time, including those for Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition and Norton Internet Security. “As we have already stated publicly, this is old code, and Symantec and Norton customers will not be at an increased risk as a result of any disclosure,” Paden added. The email chain involving a $50,000 payoff was widely circulated, and some even mocked the antivirus giant for its attempt to buy protection. But Symantec made it clear that it was law enforcement that was in contact with the hacker the whole time and no money had ever been planned to actually be paid. In fact, Paden said, “Sam Thomas” was a false name created by law enforcement who pretended to pursue the negotiations only in an attempt to trace the hackers. The entire conversation was a ruse. Paden declined to name the law enforcement agency involved, saying it could compromise the investigation. Yamatough, apparently fed up with the negotiations and growing impatient, decided to post the code Monday night, which is available on bittorrent. He said he had never intended to take the money offered. But did tell Reuters that his group “tricked them [Symantec] into offering us a bribe so we could humiliate them.” Paden said the company is analyzing the leaked code, but given that it was years out of date, the company’s recent patches should protect users of its software. “We’re able to say with high confidence, any type of cyber attacks generated by this attack would have old characteristics and look like an attack from 2006 that can easily be stopped using current versions of our solutions,” said Paden. “Our customers are protected.” Paden said he cannot comment as to whether law enforcement had any success in tracing the hackers, and added that the investigation is ongoing. “As to what happens next, we’re not sure,” he concluded. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Chinese Firm Seeking $38M, Apology From Apple]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112470538/chinese-firm-seeking-38m-apology-from-apple/ 2012-02-08 06:02:23
  • Apple
  • Proview International Holdings
  • Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce
    • ]]>     0
  • Apple
  • Proview International Holdings
  • Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce
    • ]]>         <![CDATA[Siri Comprises 25% Of All Wolfram Alpha Searches]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112470535/siri-comprises-25-of-all-wolfram-alpha-searches/ 2012-02-08 05:58:27 reported on Monday in a profile of the search engine’s upcoming premium service. Wolfram Alpha is the invention of Mathematica creator Stephen Wolfram. Less than three years ago, the 52-year-old scientist and software designer sought to build a new kind of search engine that, unlike Google or Bing, did not scavenge the Web but instead culled its own curated database to locate answers. Wolfram Alpha currently powers a free service that works with the iPhone 4S to provide Siri’s go-to resource for data. However, a new, premium version of Wolfram Alpha, dubbed Wolfram Alpha Pro, is set to arrive on Wednesday at a price of $4.95 per month ($2.99 for students).  The new service, which Dr. Wolfram describes as the next step of what can be done with his approach, includes abilities above and beyond what has been offered in the past in terms of handling data and images. For instance, Wolfram Alpha Pro allows users to take inputs from up to 60 different data formats, including binary structures of data files, images copied and pasted, and queries as simple as “what’s the capital of Massachusetts?” In addition to searching Wolfram Alpha’s own data banks, it can query the data users input as well, and lets users manipulate data that Wolfram Alpha Pro outputs. “We’re not just dealing with knowledge from the world at large, we’re also dealing with a kind of individual knowledge that people have, and take data that people have, and upload it, and allow them to dip into it. … You take the data, throw it at Wolfram Alpha Pro, and see what it has to say about it,” said Dr. Wolfram. This entire process is done with Computational Document Format, which allows users to interact with their data rather than just have Wolfram Alpha output a static report. Wolfram Alpha Pro even launches a viewer for some data sets that allows users to change the scales of graphs, manipulate data based on the output, and more. Wolfram Alpha is currently integrated with iPhone 4S’s Siri, although an iOS app and an Android app are available. WA Pro versions for mobile are expected to be available soon.  In the meantime, interested users can participate in the Wolfram Alpha Pro beta testing program right away. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 reported on Monday in a profile of the search engine’s upcoming premium service. Wolfram Alpha is the invention of Mathematica creator Stephen Wolfram. Less than three years ago, the 52-year-old scientist and software designer sought to build a new kind of search engine that, unlike Google or Bing, did not scavenge the Web but instead culled its own curated database to locate answers. Wolfram Alpha currently powers a free service that works with the iPhone 4S to provide Siri’s go-to resource for data. However, a new, premium version of Wolfram Alpha, dubbed Wolfram Alpha Pro, is set to arrive on Wednesday at a price of $4.95 per month ($2.99 for students).  The new service, which Dr. Wolfram describes as the next step of what can be done with his approach, includes abilities above and beyond what has been offered in the past in terms of handling data and images. For instance, Wolfram Alpha Pro allows users to take inputs from up to 60 different data formats, including binary structures of data files, images copied and pasted, and queries as simple as “what’s the capital of Massachusetts?” In addition to searching Wolfram Alpha’s own data banks, it can query the data users input as well, and lets users manipulate data that Wolfram Alpha Pro outputs. “We’re not just dealing with knowledge from the world at large, we’re also dealing with a kind of individual knowledge that people have, and take data that people have, and upload it, and allow them to dip into it. … You take the data, throw it at Wolfram Alpha Pro, and see what it has to say about it,” said Dr. Wolfram. This entire process is done with Computational Document Format, which allows users to interact with their data rather than just have Wolfram Alpha output a static report. Wolfram Alpha Pro even launches a viewer for some data sets that allows users to change the scales of graphs, manipulate data based on the output, and more. Wolfram Alpha is currently integrated with iPhone 4S’s Siri, although an iOS app and an Android app are available. WA Pro versions for mobile are expected to be available soon.  In the meantime, interested users can participate in the Wolfram Alpha Pro beta testing program right away. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Google Releases Beta Version Of Chrome For Some Android Devices]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112470532/google-releases-beta-version-of-chrome-for-some-android-devices/ 2012-02-08 05:51:49 blog posting on Google’s website. “Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.” Google said Chrome for Android aims to improve the speed of mobile browsing by preloading top search results and allowing users who are signed-in to sync their tabs, bookmarks and search suggestions with their mobile phones. The new browser also enables the private “Incognito Mode” browsing currently present on the Chrome desktop version. “Chrome for Android is designed from the ground up for mobile devices,” Pichai said. The software is “focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized Web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.” Chrome recently surpassed Firefox as the No. 2 browser worldwide, analysis firm StatCounter reported in December. Chrome had 25.7 percent of the world market share at the end of 2011, which grew to 28.4 percent in January, StatCounter said. Meanwhile, Google’s Android software has taken the lead in the market for smartphone operating system, surpassing Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Microsoft Corp.’s mobile software. Android handsets held 48 percent of the U.S. smartphone market share in the fourth quarter of 2011, while the iPhone had 43 percent, according to data from NPD Group Inc. Nearly three in five first-time smartphone buyers purchased Android, NPD said. Google did not disclose whether or not it planned to release versions of Chrome to be compatible with previous versions of Android or other rival operating systems. Shares of Google’s stock fell less than one percent on Tuesday, closing at $606.77.  The shares have tumbled 6.1 percent year to date. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 blog posting on Google’s website. “Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.” Google said Chrome for Android aims to improve the speed of mobile browsing by preloading top search results and allowing users who are signed-in to sync their tabs, bookmarks and search suggestions with their mobile phones. The new browser also enables the private “Incognito Mode” browsing currently present on the Chrome desktop version. “Chrome for Android is designed from the ground up for mobile devices,” Pichai said. The software is “focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized Web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.” Chrome recently surpassed Firefox as the No. 2 browser worldwide, analysis firm StatCounter reported in December. Chrome had 25.7 percent of the world market share at the end of 2011, which grew to 28.4 percent in January, StatCounter said. Meanwhile, Google’s Android software has taken the lead in the market for smartphone operating system, surpassing Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Microsoft Corp.’s mobile software. Android handsets held 48 percent of the U.S. smartphone market share in the fourth quarter of 2011, while the iPhone had 43 percent, according to data from NPD Group Inc. Nearly three in five first-time smartphone buyers purchased Android, NPD said. Google did not disclose whether or not it planned to release versions of Chrome to be compatible with previous versions of Android or other rival operating systems. Shares of Google’s stock fell less than one percent on Tuesday, closing at $606.77.  The shares have tumbled 6.1 percent year to date. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Researchers Combine GPUs And CPUs In Single Chip]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112470040/researchers-combine-gpus-and-cpus-in-single-chip/ 2012-02-07 12:53:01
  • North Carolina State University
  • 18th International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture
    • ]]>     0
  • North Carolina State University
  • 18th International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture
    • ]]>         <![CDATA[Glitch Lets Web Users Watch Video From Home Security Cameras ]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112470037/glitch-lets-web-users-watch-video-from-home-security-cameras/ 2012-02-07 12:43:43
  • Trendnet
  • ConsoleCowboys
    • ]]>     0
  • Trendnet
  • ConsoleCowboys
    • ]]>         <![CDATA[In-Flight Wifi Enabled For Some US Airlines]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112469779/in-flight-wifi-enabled-for-some-us-airlines/ 2012-02-07 08:34:51
  • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
  • Gogo
  • Row 44
  • Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
  • Frontier Airlines
    • ]]>     0
  • Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
  • Gogo
  • Row 44
  • Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
  • Frontier Airlines
    • ]]>         <![CDATA[Three Years After Deletion, Facebook Photos Still Online]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112469776/three-years-after-deletion-facebook-photos-still-online/ 2012-02-07 08:25:15
  • Facebook
    • ]]>     0
  • Facebook
    • ]]>         <![CDATA[Google Unveils 'Solve for X' Site For Radical Thinkers]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112469456/google-unveils-solve-for-x-site-for-radical-thinkers/ 2012-02-07 05:46:54 Solve for X" website on Monday, describing it as a forum where big thinkers can gather to "hear and discuss radical technology ideas for solving global problems." "Radical in the sense that the solutions could help billions of people. Radical in the sense that the audaciousness of the proposals makes them sound like science fiction. And radical in the sense that there is some real technology breakthrough on the horizon to give us all hope that these ideas could really be brought to life," Google said. "This combination of things - a huge problem to solve, a radical solution for solving it, and the breakthrough technology to make it happen - is the essence of a moonshot." The Solve for X conference appears to coincide with Google X, the company's clandestine lab for 'shoot-for-the-stars' ideas, about which the New York Times reported last November. The Solve for X site is not yet open to the public, but those interested in participating can sign up to be alerted when it is.  In the mean time, the company has released a short promo video about the conference. Based on Google+ messages and tweets from Richard DeVaul, Google's "Rapid Evaluator" and a former prototype scientist at Apple Inc., some people have already been invited to the "Solve for X" conference to discuss 'moonshot' ideas. These attendees "have had talks on transforming education, 5x improvements in agriculture through better decision support, synthetic biology and carbon-negative biofuels," DeVaul said on Friday. Videos and materials from the conference will soon be posted to a new YouTube channel, and those interested in attending should stay tuned, he said. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 Solve for X" website on Monday, describing it as a forum where big thinkers can gather to "hear and discuss radical technology ideas for solving global problems." "Radical in the sense that the solutions could help billions of people. Radical in the sense that the audaciousness of the proposals makes them sound like science fiction. And radical in the sense that there is some real technology breakthrough on the horizon to give us all hope that these ideas could really be brought to life," Google said. "This combination of things - a huge problem to solve, a radical solution for solving it, and the breakthrough technology to make it happen - is the essence of a moonshot." The Solve for X conference appears to coincide with Google X, the company's clandestine lab for 'shoot-for-the-stars' ideas, about which the New York Times reported last November. The Solve for X site is not yet open to the public, but those interested in participating can sign up to be alerted when it is.  In the mean time, the company has released a short promo video about the conference. Based on Google+ messages and tweets from Richard DeVaul, Google's "Rapid Evaluator" and a former prototype scientist at Apple Inc., some people have already been invited to the "Solve for X" conference to discuss 'moonshot' ideas. These attendees "have had talks on transforming education, 5x improvements in agriculture through better decision support, synthetic biology and carbon-negative biofuels," DeVaul said on Friday. Videos and materials from the conference will soon be posted to a new YouTube channel, and those interested in attending should stay tuned, he said. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Global Smartphone Shipments Up 55%, iPhone Leads The Way]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112469453/global-smartphone-shipments-up-55-iphone-leads-the-way/ 2012-02-07 05:41:00 reported on Monday. Shipments of smartphones made by Nokia, Research in Motion Ltd. and HTC finished the quarter in third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively. According to the IDC report, there were 158 million smartphones shipped globally during the fourth quarter, a 55 percent increase over the 102 million units shipped during the same period in 2010. Apple, which shipped 37 million iPhones during the three months ending December 31, 2011, was the top seller within the United States and worldwide, the Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm said. IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said the iPhone 4S, which went on sale in October and helped Apple double its profit during the quarter, “played a key role in smartphone growth to capture pent-up demand.” Global demand for smartphones has surged in recent months amid falling prices that have attracted new customers and enticed existing users to trade up to more powerful phones. By the end of 2011, one out of every three mobile phones shipped worldwide was a smartphone, IDC said. Apple’s share of the global smartphone market grew to 24 percent during the fourth quarter from 16 percent during the same period in 2010, surpassing Samsung Electronics Co. as the top-selling smartphone maker during the quarter. Samsung’s fourth quarter year-over-year market share grew from 9.4 percent in 2010 to 23 percent in 2011, IDC said. Meanwhile, Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM and Espoo, Finland-based Nokia saw their respective market shares shrink during the fourth quarter as both companies scramble to reverse slowing sales. Nokia’s market share tumbled to 12 percent from 28 percent a year earlier, while RIM’s market share fell to 8.2 percent from 14 percent the previous year. HTC Corp., whose phones run on Google’s Android operating system, saw its market share fell to 6.5 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011, down from 8.5 percent during the fourth quarter of 2010. On a full-year basis, global shipments of smartphone reached 491.4 million units in 2011, up 61.3% from the 304.7 million units shipped in 2010, IDC said. Although this surpassed IDC's full-year estimate of 54.7% growth for the year, it fell below 2010's year-over-year growth of 75.7%. “Although this marks a slowdown from 2010, IDC still fully expects continued double-digit growth for the foreseeable future,” the research firm said. --- On the Net: ]]> 0 reported on Monday. Shipments of smartphones made by Nokia, Research in Motion Ltd. and HTC finished the quarter in third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively. According to the IDC report, there were 158 million smartphones shipped globally during the fourth quarter, a 55 percent increase over the 102 million units shipped during the same period in 2010. Apple, which shipped 37 million iPhones during the three months ending December 31, 2011, was the top seller within the United States and worldwide, the Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm said. IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said the iPhone 4S, which went on sale in October and helped Apple double its profit during the quarter, “played a key role in smartphone growth to capture pent-up demand.” Global demand for smartphones has surged in recent months amid falling prices that have attracted new customers and enticed existing users to trade up to more powerful phones. By the end of 2011, one out of every three mobile phones shipped worldwide was a smartphone, IDC said. Apple’s share of the global smartphone market grew to 24 percent during the fourth quarter from 16 percent during the same period in 2010, surpassing Samsung Electronics Co. as the top-selling smartphone maker during the quarter. Samsung’s fourth quarter year-over-year market share grew from 9.4 percent in 2010 to 23 percent in 2011, IDC said. Meanwhile, Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM and Espoo, Finland-based Nokia saw their respective market shares shrink during the fourth quarter as both companies scramble to reverse slowing sales. Nokia’s market share tumbled to 12 percent from 28 percent a year earlier, while RIM’s market share fell to 8.2 percent from 14 percent the previous year. HTC Corp., whose phones run on Google’s Android operating system, saw its market share fell to 6.5 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011, down from 8.5 percent during the fourth quarter of 2010. On a full-year basis, global shipments of smartphone reached 491.4 million units in 2011, up 61.3% from the 304.7 million units shipped in 2010, IDC said. Although this surpassed IDC's full-year estimate of 54.7% growth for the year, it fell below 2010's year-over-year growth of 75.7%. “Although this marks a slowdown from 2010, IDC still fully expects continued double-digit growth for the foreseeable future,” the research firm said. --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Facebook Getting Ready To Tap Into Mobile Ad Market]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112469450/facebook-getting-ready-to-tap-into-mobile-ad-market/ 2012-02-07 05:34:47 filed for an IPO last Wednesday, seeking to raise $5 billion on Wall Street.  Analysts put the world's largest social network's valuation at between $75 billion and $100 billion. The company also announced that its active user count is now up to 845 million.  About 483 million use the site every day, generating about 2.7 billion likes and comments per day. "We currently do not show ads or directly generate any meaningful revenue from users accessing Facebook through our mobile products, but we believe that we may have potential future monetization opportunities such as the inclusion of sponsored stories in users' mobile News Feeds," Facebook said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ben Wood, the managing director of iProspect, said Facebook could start to offer brand video advertising potions on the site as well.  However, he believes Facebook should tread carefully so it doesn't drive away its users. “Facebook has to carefully manage that tricky tension between pleasing Wall Street and not commercializing the product so much that it alienates its membership," Wood told the Telegraph. "I also think Facebook could run into trouble if it starts selling adverts based on its users' data away from the site. The rules around cookie laws, especially in the European Union, are getting increasingly difficult.” --- On the Net: ]]> 0 filed for an IPO last Wednesday, seeking to raise $5 billion on Wall Street.  Analysts put the world's largest social network's valuation at between $75 billion and $100 billion. The company also announced that its active user count is now up to 845 million.  About 483 million use the site every day, generating about 2.7 billion likes and comments per day. "We currently do not show ads or directly generate any meaningful revenue from users accessing Facebook through our mobile products, but we believe that we may have potential future monetization opportunities such as the inclusion of sponsored stories in users' mobile News Feeds," Facebook said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ben Wood, the managing director of iProspect, said Facebook could start to offer brand video advertising potions on the site as well.  However, he believes Facebook should tread carefully so it doesn't drive away its users. “Facebook has to carefully manage that tricky tension between pleasing Wall Street and not commercializing the product so much that it alienates its membership," Wood told the Telegraph. "I also think Facebook could run into trouble if it starts selling adverts based on its users' data away from the site. The rules around cookie laws, especially in the European Union, are getting increasingly difficult.” --- On the Net: ]]> <![CDATA[Popular BitTorrent Site Shuts Down]]> http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112469447/popular-bittorrent-site-shuts-down/ 2012-02-07 05:28:07 MegaUpload and the aggressive prosecution of its founders some two weeks ago, another site BTJunkie has closed its digital doors amid fears of similar reprisals from federal prosecutors. In a statement to users on its website, BTJunkie explained that the move was quasi-voluntary. “This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on. It’s been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!” The seven-year-old BitTorrent search engine was ranked #5 in the world in terms of web traffic last year by the file-sharing blog TorrentFreak. While other file-sharing sites have also been scrambling to lower their profile since the MegaUpload crackdown, the decision by BTJunkie to completely shut down is the most dramatic step yet taken by a high-profile site to avoid legal prosecution. Moreover, it seems to signal the success of the reactionary, shock-and-awe intimidation tactics being adopted by federal agencies in the aftermath of collapse of the SOPA-PIPA anti-piracy legislation. On January 20 the private New Zealand residence of Kim Dotcom, the 38-year-old founder and innovator behind Mega Upload, was raided by federal authorities. Dotcom along with several associates were arrested and are now faced with extradition to the U.S. where the Department of Justice has charged them with conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and money laundering. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that MegaUpload and similar websites have caused more than $500 million in damages to copyright owners—an estimate that is based on the fallacious assumption that every download represents the loss of an album or film sale. Despite the trend amongst file-sharing sites to duck for cover, the world’s most infamous BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay has till now defiantly refused to bow the knee to threats and pressure from both U.S. and international governments. The site, which rightly describes itself as “the galaxy’s most resilient BitTorrent site,” has been the target of copyright enforcers for several years. In 2009, several men associated with the website were sentenced to a year in prison and forced to make large payouts to copyright holders. In an interview with TorrentFreak, BTjunkie’s founder said that while his site was bowing out of the fight for now to avoid the fate of sites like MegaUpload and The Pirate Bay, he believes that history is on the side of unfettered file-sharing. “I really do hope so, the war is far from over for sure.” --- On the Net: ]]> 0 MegaUpload and the aggressive prosecution of its founders some two weeks ago, another site BTJunkie has closed its digital doors amid fears of similar reprisals from federal prosecutors. In a statement to users on its website, BTJunkie explained that the move was quasi-voluntary. “This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on. It’s been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!” The seven-year-old BitTorrent search engine was ranked #5 in the world in terms of web traffic last year by the file-sharing blog TorrentFreak. While other file-sharing sites have also been scrambling to lower their profile since the MegaUpload crackdown, the decision by BTJunkie to completely shut down is the most dramatic step yet taken by a high-profile site to avoid legal prosecution. Moreover, it seems to signal the success of the reactionary, shock-and-awe intimidation tactics being adopted by federal agencies in the aftermath of collapse of the SOPA-PIPA anti-piracy legislation. On January 20 the private New Zealand residence of Kim Dotcom, the 38-year-old founder and innovator behind Mega Upload, was raided by federal authorities. Dotcom along with several associates were arrested and are now faced with extradition to the U.S. where the Department of Justice has charged them with conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and money laundering. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that MegaUpload and similar websites have caused more than $500 million in damages to copyright owners—an estimate that is based on the fallacious assumption that every download represents the loss of an album or film sale. Despite the trend amongst file-sharing sites to duck for cover, the world’s most infamous BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay has till now defiantly refused to bow the knee to threats and pressure from both U.S. and international governments. The site, which rightly describes itself as “the galaxy’s most resilient BitTorrent site,” has been the target of copyright enforcers for several years. In 2009, several men associated with the website were sentenced to a year in prison and forced to make large payouts to copyright holders. In an interview with TorrentFreak, BTjunkie’s founder said that while his site was bowing out of the fight for now to avoid the fate of sites like MegaUpload and The Pirate Bay, he believes that history is on the side of unfettered file-sharing. “I really do hope so, the war is far from over for sure.” --- On the Net: ]]>