Broadband usage growing even as gaps persist (AP) : Technet

Broadband usage growing even as gaps persist (AP)
The Socialite Network: UK's Queen joins Facebook (AP)
Web browser pioneer backs new way to surf Internet (AP)
iPhone triggers videogame gold rush (AFP)
Alarm glitch could have iPhone users scrambling (AP)
Report: NTT DoCoMo to Offer LTE for Competitive Price (PC World)
Is Twitter About to Let Businesses Claim Locations? [UPDATED] (Mashable)
Time Warner Cable targets rivals, Hulu with Look Back (Reuters)
Meet RockMelt, the Social Savvy Browser (Mashable)
Flash comes to iDevice through Skyfire Web Browser (Appolicious)
Can Seesmic Reinvent Itself as an Enterprise Tool? (Mashable)
AOL hires advisers for options, eyes Yahoo: report (Reuters)

Broadband usage growing even as gaps persist (AP)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 09:08 PM PST

By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer Joelle Tessler, Ap Technology Writer – 20 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The U.S. still faces a significant gap in residential broadband use that breaks down along incomes, education levels and other socio-economic factors, even as subscriptions among American households overall grew sevenfold between 2001 and 2009.

What's more, even when controlling for key socio-economic characteristics, the U.S. continues to confront a racial gap in residential broadband use, with non-Hispanic white Americans and Asian-Americans more likely to go online using a high-speed connection than African-Americans and Hispanics.

Those are some of the key conclusions of a new analysis of Census data being released Monday by the Commerce Department. It found that the percentage of households that connect to the Internet using broadband grew to 63.5 percent in 2009 from 9.2 percent in 2001, reflecting increases across nearly all demographics.

The report — prepared by the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Economics and Statistics Administration — is based on a Census survey of about 54,000 households conducted in October 2009.

The new report provides some of the deepest analysis yet of broadband usage trends in the United States. And it is likely to help guide Congress and the Federal Communications Commission as they develop policies to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable high-speed Internet service.

The analysis, said Lawrence Strickling, head of the NTIA, shows that "there is no single solution" to make this happen.

Among the major findings:

• 94.1 percent of households with income exceeding $100,000 subscribed to broadband in 2009, compared with 35.8 percent of households with income of less than $25,000.

• 84.5 percent of households with at least one college degree subscribed to broadband last year, compared with 28.8 percent of households without a high school degree.

• 77.3 percent of Asian-American households and 68 percent of non-Hispanic white households subscribed to broadband last year, compared with 49.4 percent of African-American households and 47.9 percent of Hispanic households.

• 65.9 percent of urban households subscribed to broadband in 2009, compared with 51 percent of rural households.

Closing such gaps is a top priority for the FCC, which released a sweeping national broadband plan filled with policy proposals in March. The agency's top recommendations include tapping the federal program that subsidizes telephone service for poor and rural Americans to pay for broadband, and unleashing more airwaves for wireless connections. Wireless broadband is seen as a particularly attractive option for bringing high-speed connections to rural areas that may be too sparsely populated to justify costly landline networks.

At the same time, the NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service, part of the Agriculture Department, have been handing out roughly $7 billion in stimulus money to pay for new broadband networks and programs to get more Americans online.

Strickling stressed that one key challenge for policymakers lies in convincing Americans who are not online of the benefits of broadband.

The Census data found that 38 percent of Americans who don't have broadband at home say they don't subscribe because they don't need it, while 26 percent say it's too expensive and only 4 percent say it's not available where they live.

A survey conducted by the FCC last year reached many of the same conclusions. It found that 35 percent of Americans do not use broadband at home, including 22 percent of adults who do not use the Internet at all. Of that 35 percent, 36 percent say it is too expensive, while 19 percent do not see the Internet as relevant to their lives. Another 22 percent lack what the FCC calls "digital literacy" skills.

To try to change such attitudes, the stimulus program includes $250 million for projects to teach digital literacy skills and encourage broadband adoption, plus another $200 million for public computer centers.

One surprising finding of the new Commerce Department report is that African-Americans and Hispanics lag behind in broadband adoption even when controlling for factors such as income and education. The data show a gap of 10 percentage points in broadband use between whites and blacks and a gap of 14 percentage points between whites and Hispanics even after controlling for socio-economic factors.

Although the data do not provide an explanation for these numbers, Rebecca Blank, under secretary for Economic Affairs, believes it could reflect limited exposure to the Internet among certain racial groups.

"Internet usage relies on networks," she said. "If the people around you don't use the Internet, you will be less likely to use the Internet, too."

The Socialite Network: UK's Queen joins Facebook (AP)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 03:12 PM PST

By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press David Stringer, Associated Press – Sun Nov 7, 6:12 pm ET

LONDON – Queen Elizabeth II is now on Facebook — but she's not going to be your friend.

Britain's queen has launched a series of official pages offering the website's 500 million users daily updates on her engagements, the royal household said Sunday.

The 84-year-old British monarch will be featured in videos, photos and news items on the site, which will be available starting Monday, alongside other members of the country's royal family, including Princes William and Harry.

Users will be able leave messages or comments for Buckingham Palace on the site and find details of royal events close to their homes.

However, because the pages will be corporate — and not a personal account — people won't be able to request to become friends with the queen.

A royal official said the queen had personally approved the plan, but acknowledged she has not actually used the site herself.

"The decision went right up to the queen," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the plan. "If you are going to have an online presence in 2010, you just have to be on Facebook."

The Facebook page is the queen's latest social media venture — the royal family already have an account on the Flickr photography website, joined Twitter in 2009 and set up a video channel on YouTube in 2007.

Buckingham Palace set up its own website in 1997, which now allows people to apply for palace jobs online, track the royal family via Google Maps or read details in a section devoted to the queen's prized corgi dogs.

Her Facebook site will include Britain's court circular, the official daily record of the royal family's engagements. It lists all royal diary appointments from the previous day and was created by George III in 1803, reportedly after he became frustrated with inaccurate newspaper reports.

___

Online:

http://royal.gov.uk/

Web browser pioneer backs new way to surf Internet (AP)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 01:35 PM PST

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – Sun Nov 7, 4:35 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – The Web has changed a lot since Marc Andreessen revolutionized the Internet with the introduction of his Netscape browser in the mid-1990s. That's why he's betting people are ready to try a different Web-surfing technique on a new browser called RockMelt.

The browser, available for the first time Monday, is built on the premise that most online activity today revolves around socializing on Facebook, searching on Google, tweeting on Twitter and monitoring a handful of favorite websites. It tries to minimize the need to roam from one website to the next by corralling all vital information and favorite services in panes and drop-down windows.

"This is a chance for us to build a browser all over again," Andreessen said. "These are all things we would have done (at Netscape) if we had known how people were going to use the Web."

Andreessen didn't develop the RockMelt browser the way he did Netscape, whose early popularity waned as Microsoft Corp. bundled its Internet Explorer browser with the Windows operating system.

RockMelt is the handiwork of Tim Howes and Eric Vishria, who formerly worked with Andreessen. But Andreessen's seal of approval has been stamped on startup.

The biggest chunk of RockMelt's $10 million in funding has come from the venture capital firm that Andreessen runs with his partner, Ben Horowitz.

Andreessen also sits on RockMelt's board of directors, and his advice has been called upon frequently.

"When you are trying to reinvent the Web browser, who would you rather run your ideas by besides Marc?" said Howes, RockMelt's chief technology officer (Vishria is CEO).

Facebook's imprint also is all over RockMelt, although the two companies' only business connection so far is Andreessen. He also serves on Facebook's board of directors.

RockMelt only works if you have a Facebook account. That restriction still gives RockMelt plenty of room to grow, given Facebook has more than 500 million users.

After Facebook users log on RockMelt with their Facebook account information, the person's Facebook profile picture is planted in the browser's left hand corner and a list of favorite friends can be displayed in the browser's left hand pane. There's also a built-in tool for posting updates in a pop-up box.

The features extend beyond Facebook and Twitter. RockMelt includes a tool that shows results from Google searches in a drop-down box that can be scrolled through to peruse the recommended websites in the main part of the browser. The browser's right-hand pane is reserved for listing favorite websites, with automatic notifications whenever they get fresh information on them.

RockMelt stores each user's preferences on a remote server, making them available on any computer that has the browser installed on its hard drive.

Although its backers hail the browser as a breakthrough, RockMelt is borrowing some technology and ideas from other sources. Its foundation is built on Chromium, the same open-source coding that spawned Google Inc.'s Chrome browser two years ago. Another browser called Flock has been trying to tap into the online social scene for the past five years.

No browser has come close to surpassing Internet Explorer, despite various challenges through the years. Internet Explorer still holds a roughly 60 percent market share, according to the research firm Net Applications. The Mozilla Foundation's Firefox, which drew upon Netscape, ranks a distant second at 23 percent followed by Chrome at about 9 percent.

RockMelt is starting off with a modest goal: it hopes to attract 1 million users as it extends invitations to people interested in trying the browser. Requests can be made through http://www.rockmelt.com.

Andreessen is convinced Internet Explorer's lead remains vulnerable, even after more than a decade of domination and repeated upgrades.

"I don't believe in mature markets," he said. "I think markets are only mature when there is a lack of innovative products."

iPhone triggers videogame gold rush (AFP)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 12:09 PM PST

by Fabrice Hoss Fabrice Hoss – Sun Nov 7, 3:09 pm ET

MONTREAL (AFP) – The commercial tsunami unleashed by the iPhone has served as a launch pad for the videogame industry in Montreal, which hopes to seize on the success of Apple's smartphone.

Hundreds of participants in the two-day Montreal International Game Summit that opens Monday in Quebec's big city will be looking for ways to better milk the gaming market cow, in the face of Apple's golden example.

In barely a year and a half, the iPhone has seized 20 percent of the portable gaming market and five percent of the global videogame market, estimated at some 50 billion dollars a year.

In addition to standard cell phone functions, the iPhone has an embedded camera, a portable media player and full Internet capabilities. It also provides third-party applications through its App Store, including games, social networking and GPS navigation.

"The iPhone democratized access to games, made it easy and affordable for consumers," said Alex Thabet, CEO of interactive entertainment developer Ludia, a company based in Old Montreal.

"We're talking about some 300,000 applications today on the App Store. So it's an extremely competitive market that puts a lot of pressure on prices."

In the last quarter alone, Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones, up 91 percent from a year ago. And the California-based company has described its latest model, the iPhone 4, as its most successful product launch ever, with more than three million sold in the first three weeks after its debut.

With some 100 million iPhones and iPods, it's a huge market for videogames and in Montreal, seen as the videogaming capital of eastern North America, game creators are going all out to get an edge on this booming market.

Color, animation, likable characters, all weapons are on the table to seduce iPhone gamers.

"It's true that for iPhones, gaming is on a smaller scale. So you often have to exaggerate movements, making them more dynamic," said Gamerizon animator Huu Le Nguyen.

In the heart of Montreal, iPhone gaming is making the fortune of Gamerizon, a young startup company dedicating all the talents of its mostly 30-some game developers to Apple's smartphone.

The strategy has reaped rewards: over five million downloads and exceptional returns revolutionizing the sector.

"They are very short games and because you can create them quickly, with a three- to four-month maximum development cycle, allows smaller developers to compete against their bigger rivals," explained Gamerizon chief executive Alex Sakiz."

"This is what we learned six months ago and it's what we've been doing ever since."

The move plays right into the hands of Yann Lee, a compulsive 36-year-old gamer. He already has some 50 car racing and other games on his iPhone, and the number keeps rising week by week.

Apple takes a 30 percent commission for each game sold. It's a big margin but far from slowing game developers' digital gold rush, amid an seemingly limitless market.

"Often, when you're waiting for someone at a restaurant or you're waiting for a plane, you get a little bored. It's very practical when you have nothing to do, it's something to pass the time," said Lee.

"What's nice is that you can try them out and it's not expensive... a dollar for most apps. If you don't really like the game, you can always tell yourself it's just a dollar after all."

Alarm glitch could have iPhone users scrambling (AP)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 01:50 AM PDT

– Sun Nov 7, 3:50 am ET

CUPERTINO, Calif. – Apple says the end of daylight savings time could cause problems for iPhone users.

The Cupertino-based company said on its website that repeating alarms set on iPhones and some versions of the iPod touch may not recognize the end of daylight saving time and may work incorrectly shortly before or shortly after the Sunday morning time change.

Apple says devices using the mobile operating system iOS 4.1 are likely to trigger alarms before or after the time change.

The company recommends turning off repeating alarms and setting them manually until Monday, when it's safe to set them to repeat again.

Apple is releasing an update of the software later this month to address the glitch.

___

Online:

Apple, http://support.apple.com

Report: NTT DoCoMo to Offer LTE for Competitive Price (PC World)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 05:40 PM PST

Martyn Williams Martyn Williams – Sun Nov 7, 8:40 pm ET

NTT DoCoMo plans to set charges for a new LTE (long-term evolution) data network at only slightly higher than those for its current 3G network, a Japanese business newspaper reported on Monday.

The carrier is scheduled to detail launch plans for the new network later Monday, but ahead of that The Nikkei daily said it will charge a flat-rate fee of ¥6,510 (US$80) per month for the service when it begins in December.

Current monthly charges for its 3G data network range between a minimum of ¥1,000 to up to ¥5,985 for unlimited use.

The LTE charge is about 9 percent higher, but users can expect a big improvement in data transmission speeds.

DoCoMo's current network, based on WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) 3G technology offers download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps and uploads at up to 3.6Mbps. The new LTE service promises speeds of up to 75Mbps.

The new network comes with some catches.

It is initially limited to only major cities and the monthly fee covers up to 3 gigabytes of data transmission. That's enough for 99 percent of users, said The Nikkei, but others will face additional charges of ¥2,625 per 2 gigabytes. DoCoMo's 3G service has no limits on data usage.

NTT DoCoMo will offer full details of the service in a news conference scheduled to begin at 1pm local time (0400 GMT).

Martyn Williams covers Japan and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com

Is Twitter About to Let Businesses Claim Locations? [UPDATED] (Mashable)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 11:50 AM PST

Ben Parr Ben Parr – Sun Nov 7, 2:50 pm ET

Twitter has allowed users to tweet their location via its Places feature for a while now, but now it looks like the company is taking Places a step further with a feature that lets businesses "claim" a location or place.

The feature, first spotted by the Hacker News community and tech pioneer Dave Winer, provides a permanent URL for specific locations, along with a list of people who have recently tweeted from that location and their tweets. The interesting part though is that at least one of these pages, Twitter HQ, has been "claimed" by @Twitter.

The "claiming" of Place pages could be a sign that Twitter is getting serious about competing in the geolocation space currently dominated by Facebook and Foursquare. It could give businesses a new avenue to promote themselves on Twitter, and it could lead to new revenue possibilities for the microblogging service.

Place pages are nothing new; Places launched in June and the updated Place pages were likely part of the launch of the New Twitter. However, the "claimed by" feature is something we have never seen before. We've only found one location that has been claimed so far, but that doesn't preclude the possibility that Twitter is testing the feature with a limited set of partners.

What does Twitter plan to do with its Place pages? Is Twitter planning to launch a deals feature of its own? We don't know the answers to these questions yet, but we've contacted Twitter to find out.

Update: Here is Twitter's response to our inquiry on claiming Places:

"Claiming Twitter Places is not available at this time. We're experimenting with a variety features. Allowing businesses to claim a Place is a natural thing to consider for the future."

It looks like this feature is indeed in testing, though not with businesses quite yet. We agree with Twitter though that being able to claim a Place is a logical avenue for the company to pursue.

Time Warner Cable targets rivals, Hulu with Look Back (Reuters)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 05:03 PM PST

By Yinka Adegoke Yinka Adegoke – Sun Nov 7, 8:03 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Time Warner Cable will launch on Monday a service to allow subscribers to watch some of their favorite shows three days after they've originally aired as it aims to stay ahead of the growing threat of cheaper Web video services like Netflix Inc and Hulu.

The new service, called Look Back, also is targeted at differentiating the second largest U.S. cable company from rivals like satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network Corp or new video services from the phone companies Verizon Communications and AT&T Inc.

Look Back is launching nationally to most of Time Warner Cable's 13 million or so customers on 24 channels including ABC, NBC, Discovery Network and Food Network, Time Warner said. The same networks also will be available on high definition channels.

If a show has aired, say, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on a Sunday night it will be available to play and rewind via the customer's remote control until 9 p.m. on Wednesday night.

The service has disabled the ability to fast-forward through commercials that aired live. This was one of the conditions Time Warner Cable had to meet for programing rights for the new service.

Time Warner Cable's Chief Programing Officer Melinda Witmer said the new service will allow programmers and advertisers to more easily get from Nielsen, the TV ratings company, the number of minutes of commercials that are watched by viewers because programs and commercials are saved on Time Warner's servers.

"This gives consumers more options so they don't have to think about whether they have set up their DVRs to record a show, Look Back does so automatically," Witmer said.

The new service is planned to launch on more channels in coming months as Time Warner Cable expands its server capacity. Witmer said the cable company already has programing rights for more than three times its launch offering. Look Back will be complementary to its 'Start Over' service which allows subscribers to restart a show that has already begun airing.

Like other cable companies Time Warner Cable has struggled with losing more video customers due to the weak economy and stiffer competition from rivals. In the last year it has lost an average of 100,000 video customers each quarter.

There is also growing concern some customers are dropping traditional pay-TV services altogether -- a trend called cord-cutting -- and opting for lower-cost Web services such as Netflix. Cable executives insist they have seen little evidence of consumers cutting the cord.

Cablevision Systems Corp is taking a slightly different path to offering its subscribers more on-demand programing features and last week said it will start rolling out its long-expected network-based digital video recorder technology in New York City this quarter.

Cablevision executives said they plan to bring an end to the purchase of physical, home-based DVRs soon after this first launch.

Cable and satellite companies are rolling out new remote DVR services so people can program their DVRs from their smartphones and tablet devices like the iPad.

Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan said pay-TV companies have to offer more flexible services in order to keep customers, who could be willing to settle for lower quality content for a cheaper price and better user experience.

"If cable can roll out a much easier intuitive guide like an iPad and offer all you can eat video on demand with extensive library of content I think that will be hugely helpful to helping them win," said Eagan.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; editing by Carol Bishopric, Diane Craft)

Meet RockMelt, the Social Savvy Browser (Mashable)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 11:47 AM PST

Blake Robinson Blake Robinson – Sun Nov 7, 2:47 pm ET

RockMelt, a new browser that lives in the cloud and uses Facebook authentication to synchronize a user's browsing experience across machines, went into limited public beta today.

It was built around the premise that the browser is busted. The thought is that older browsers aren't made for the way we now use the web, and maybe it's a solid way of thinking. After all, browsing is a passive activity, and the Internet is increasingly about interaction.

There are some unique concepts here, namely the fact that RockMelt lives in the cloud. This allows your "browser experience" to be, in a way, profiled. Your settings, bookmarks, etc., are all backed up online.

Using Facebook for authentication, your user environment can be replicated anywhere RockMelt is installed. And really, that's what RockMelt is all about: The user environment.

Users of Google Chrome will feel at home, because RockMelt is built on Chromium, the open source project behind Google's browser. The major differences are columns running down each side of the browser.

The left side depicts your favorite Facebook contacts. When a contact is listed on the left bar, you'll be able to quickly initiate Facebook chats with them or post content to their Facebook walls. You can also easily send them e-mails through the seamless contact popout.

Straddling the right side is your bookmarks -- and here's another area where RockMelt's cloud is put to clever use. Bookmarks are updated from the cloud, so content is cached and waiting for you when you log on.

All in all, RockMelt is an interesting twist on the browsing experience. The social elements of the browser make for a compelling and streamlined online interaction process. And because it's powered by Chromium, it not only supports Chrome extensions, it's guaranteed to support the latest and greatest aspects of the web, like HTML5 and CSS3.

RockMelt is now in limited beta and you can apply for an invitation. The company has released this video demonstration of its new browser:

Flash comes to iDevice through Skyfire Web Browser (Appolicious)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 04:33 PM PST

Can Seesmic Reinvent Itself as an Enterprise Tool? (Mashable)

Posted: 07 Nov 2010 09:26 AM PST

Jennifer Van Grove Jennifer Van Grove – Sun Nov 7, 12:26 pm ET

This post is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark as a new part of the Spark of Genius series that focuses on a new and innovative startup each day. Once a week the program focuses on startups within the BizSpark program and what they're doing to grow.

A little more than three years ago, Seesmic launched as a Twitter-for-video service, but by mid-2009 the startup had completely shifted gears to focus on consumer software for the social web. Today, Seesmic is shuffling once more, this time to refocus on the enterprise.

"We are moving from an end consumer-focused company to a business- and enterprise-focused one," says Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur.

"We found out that most of our users are business users, community managers and enterprise [professionals]. That's why I started this strategic partnership with Salesforce, which is helping us go enterprise full-speed."

Le Meur is referencing the recent collaboration between Salesforce and Seesmic to bring Saleforce's enterprise social application Chatter inside the Seesmic platform. He believes this to be a huge first step in tailoring the application experience around enterprise professionals, an audience the startup hopes to monetize against.

Seesmic the Platform

Seesmic has long been available for web, desktop and mobile, but with the release of Seesmic Desktop 2, the company made the transition from social media software to social media platform.

"We're always adding new platforms, and became a platform ourselves to grow even faster," explains Le Meur.

The available API has allowed third-party developers to build and release plugins that bring external application features -- like Chatter functionality -- inside the desktop application, essentially making the application a fully customizable social media browser for consumer and business tasks.

The platform strategy is key for Seesmic as it pushes to attract enterprise clientele. The marketing advantages alone have been instrumental in reaching potential new customers, says Le Meur.

"Since we integrated them, the CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff himself took us to his keynotes around the World in Tokyo, London, Paris ... That is amazing marketing and it's free for a startup," he says.

Third Time's a Charm?

Seesmic as a video service was a failure. "Video conversation was too early, it did not grow beyond a great but small community and wasn't viable," explains Le Meur.

This new shift in focus also seems to suggest that Seesmic as social media software targeted at consumers may have missed the mark.

Given the bumps in the road, would Le Meur have done anything differently in hindsight? "No, never," he says, "I never look behind me, always ahead, focusing on what I should do different in the future."

The future is the enterprise, and failures and missteps aside, if Seesmic can find a way to effectively monetize its service and entice enterprise clientele to pay for upgrades, or attract enterprise partners to finance integration, then there's no reason why the startup can't make a fourth quarter comeback. Still, social software for the enterprise is a very crowded space, and the startup is bound to face obstacles -- IT departments restricting external downloads, for one -- as it traverses this road.

Le Meur does share that his company will likely raise more funding "shortly." "Many people are interested in what we do," he says. To date, the startup has pulled in $12 million in Series A and B rounds from noteworthy investors including Mark Pincus and Ron Conway.

We also pushed for specific stats on core metrics, but Le Meur would only share that the company is actively tracking registered users, new users, desktop and mobile apps downloads, and active daily users as its key metrics. For now, all we have to go on is his word that "revenue is coming soon and we are very happy about the growth."

Images courtesy of Flickr, loiclemeur, Romtomtom

Technet

Sunday, November 7, 2010