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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Feds: Woman illegally fired over Facebook remarks (AP) : Technet

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Feds: Woman illegally fired over Facebook remarks (AP) : Technet

Feds: Woman illegally fired over Facebook remarks (AP)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 01:10 PM PST

By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press Sam Hananel, Associated Press – Tue Nov 9, 4:10 pm ET

WASHINGTON – A Connecticut woman who was fired after she posted disparaging remarks about her boss on Facebook has prompted a first-of-its-kind legal case by federal authorities who say her comments are protected speech under labor laws.

The National Labor Relations Board alleges that American Medical Response of Connecticut Inc. illegally fired Dawnmarie Souza from her job as an emergency medical technician late last year after she criticized her supervisor on her personal Facebook page and then traded Facebook messages about the negative comments with other employees.

The complaint, filed Oct. 27 by the board's Hartford, Conn., regional office, could set a precedent for employers to heed as more workers use social networking sites to share details about their jobs.

"It's the same as talking at the water cooler," said Lafe Solomon, the board's acting general counsel. "The point is that employees have protection under the law to talk to each other about conditions at work."

Federal labor law has long protected employees against reprisal for talking to co-workers on their own time about their jobs and working conditions, including remarks that may be critical of managers. The law applies whether or not workers are covered by a union.

NLRB officials claim the Connecticut ambulance company has an unlawful policy that prohibits employees from making disparaging remarks about supervisors and depicting the company "in any way" over the Internet without permission.

"This is the first complaint we've issued over comments on Facebook, but I have no doubt that we'll be seeing more," Solomon said. "We have to develop policies as we go in this fast-changing environment."

The trouble for Souza started when her supervisor asked her to prepare an investigative report when a customer complained about her work, according to the complaint. Souza claimed she was denied representation by her union, the Teamsters Local 443.

Later that day, Souza logged onto her Facebook page from a home computer and wrote: "Looks like I'm getting some time off. Love how the company allows a 17 to be a supervisor."

A 17 is the code the company uses for a psychiatric patient. Souza also referred to her supervisor with two expletives. Her remarks drew supportive Facebook postings from other colleagues.

John Barr, an attorney representing the company, said the real reason Souza was fired was because of two separate complaints about her "rude and discourteous service" within a 10-day period. He said Souza would have been fired whether the Facebook comments were made or not.

Barr said the company understands that workers have right to talk about wages and working conditions. But he said it stands by its policy against employees discussing the company on the Internet, including social media sites.

"If you're going to make disgusting, slanderous statements about co-workers, that is something that our policy does not allow," Barr said.

Jonathan Kreisberg, director of the board's regional office in Hartford, said the company's policy is overly broad. He acknowledged that the law protecting worker speech has some limits, such as not allowing employees to disrupt the workplace or engage in threatening conduct. But Kreisberg argued that Souza's Facebook comments did not cross a legal line.

"Here she was on her own time, on her own computer and on her own Facebook page making these comments," Kreisberg said. "If employees are upset about their supervisor and get together on their own time talk about him, criticize and call him names, they can do that."

A hearing on the case before an administrative law judge is set for Jan. 25.

E Ink, maker of Kindle display, to offer color (AP)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 09:44 AM PST

By DANA WOLLMAN, AP Technology Writer Dana Wollman, Ap Technology Writer – Tue Nov 9, 12:44 pm ET

NEW YORK – Up until now, people who have bought e-readers have had to make a compromise: either read in color on a highly reflective screen, or read in shades of gray on a display that's easy to make out even outdoors.

E Ink Corp., the company that makes the black-and-white display for Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, said it will begin selling screens that also show colors.

The new technology, called E Ink Triton, displays 16 shades of gray, along with thousands of colors. As with other E Ink displays, people should be able to read it anywhere without having to squint.

Amazon did not immediately respond to inquiries Tuesday on whether that means a color Kindle is coming.

Amazon has said that although it hasn't ruled out color E Ink displays, the technology isn't yet ready for prime time.

Even in color, E Ink still presents compromises. On the one hand, e-readers with E Ink screens have longer battery lives than those with reflective LCD displays, such as Apple Inc.'s iPad. But colors will appear more muted on E Ink displays. And E Ink's technology still cannot play video, as the iPad and other tablets can.

The first e-reader with a color E Ink screen will come from Chinese manufacturer Hanvon. The e-reader will have a display that measures 9.7 inches diagonally, and readers will be able to get online through either Wi-Fi or a 3G cellular connection. It is expected to go on sale in China for about $440.

Hanvon, which sells other products such as tablets in American stores, said it might sell its newest e-reader in the U.S.

Google announces 'Instant Previews' search feature (AP)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 06:06 AM PST

By DANA WOLLMAN, AP Technology Writer Dana Wollman, Ap Technology Writer – Tue Nov 9, 9:06 am ET

NEW YORK – People searching on Google will soon be able to see previews of websites before clicking on them.

The "Instant Previews" feature announced Tuesday is meant to help people bypass websites that are either irrelevant or simply too visually cluttered for their tastes. It works for Google Web searches, as well as searches for news, video and local businesses.

After clicking on an icon of a magnifying glass, people will see a picture of the website in the white space to the right of the search results within a tenth of a second. Although the preview photo will vary in size, just as Google Inc.'s image results do, Google designed the previews so that they'll never eclipse the search results and clutter the page.

Google will also show a box above the picture zooming in on the section of the website where the search terms appear. The search terms will be highlighted in that box.

While someone looks at a picture of a website, Google will load visual previews for other search results in the background so that people can quickly compare websites by rolling the cursor over the results on the page.

The feature is a follow-up to Instant Search, a feature Google unveiled in September that updates search results as people continue typing. Last week, Google said that people who own an iPhone or a smart phone running Google's Android software can use Instant Search too.

Google said it is introducing visual previews because word-based search results can only tell someone so much about what a website holds in store. People who use Google can already read short snippets from a site before they click on it, as well as, say, the date a news story or article was published.

All told, Google claims that people who use Instant Previews are 5 percent more likely to feel satisfied with the website they chose.

Google will roll out Instant Previews in 40 languages over the coming days.

Mixed picture for Windows Phone 7 after first day of sales (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 03:53 PM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Tue Nov 9, 6:53 pm ET

The trajectory of Windows Phone 7 remained uncertain Tuesday, a day after Microsoft threw a massive coast-to-coast coming-out party celebrating its belated return to the smartphone market.

A slew of Windows Phone 7 handsets from the likes of LG, Samsung, Dell, and HTC went on sale in the U.S. on Monday, and there were scattered reports of sell-outs, including word from the Los Angeles Times that the gorgeous, 4.3-inch HTC HD7 was briefly sold out on T-Mobile's website.

Sounds promising for Microsoft, right? Perhaps, but then comes sobering word from CNET News.com, which sent a couple of reporters to an AT&T branch on San Francisco's Market Street.

The CNET scribes found a line of 200 people snaking out the door early Monday, just like you'd expect for the launch of a new iPhone. Just one problem: Turns out almost everyone in line was only waiting for tickets to the Maroon 5 concert in celebration of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 launch. Later in the day, the CNET crew learned that the AT&T store had yet to break double digits in Windows Phone sales.

Meanwhile, Scott Moritz at TheStreet.com cites a market research firm that claims Microsoft sold just 40,000 Windows Phone 7 handsets on Monday, a fraction of the 200,000 Android phones that Google says are sold each day. Last month, Apple boss Steve Jobs claimed that consumers are activating about 275,000 iPhones a day.

For its part, Microsoft has yet to release sales figures for Windows Phone 7, which it first announced back in February.

Four different makes and models of WP7 devices went on sale Monday: the 4-inch Samsung Focus, the LG Quantum QWERTY slider, and the HTC Surround (which comes with a slide-out Dolby surround speaker), all on AT&T, and the aforementioned HTC HD7 on T-Mobile.

All four phones are selling for $199 with a new two-year contract, with more handsets due to arrive on Verizon, Sprint, and other worldwide carriers in the coming months.

Because Windows Phone 7 is essentially an all-new mobile platform, Microsoft is facing an uphill battle against the more established iOS and Android platforms.

With its totally revamped interface and relatively small app store — just 2,000 applications for now, a figure that's actually a little ahead of what Microsoft had been hoping for — consumers will probably be taking a wait-and-see approach to Windows Phone 7, especially in these (very) early days.

Not helping matters was the initial word that Windows Phone 7 wouldn't support cut-and-paste, a criticism that almost always comes up when discussion turns to the revamped OS.

Microsoft has since promised that the feature would arrive early next year in the form of a software update, but I've heard plenty of smartphone users — both casual consumers and fanatics alike — dismiss Windows Phone 7 out of hand because of the missing feature. (Oh, and there's no Flash support for the Web browser, either.)

Even if first-day Windows Phone 7 sales were slow, my guess is that Microsoft will dig in for the long haul. Unlike its ill-fated Kin experiment from earlier this year, the new Windows Phone OS makes for a worthy competitor in the increasingly cutthroat smartphone wars, and it's well worth remembering that Google's first Android phone didn't exactly come roaring out of the gate, either.

Then again, the T-Mobile G1 — the very first Android handset — came out almost two years ago, when the BlackBerry ruled and the iPhone was just nipping at its heels. The mobile world has turned upside-down since then, and it remains to be seen if Microsoft can gain a foothold in the increasingly crowded smartphone market — or whether it's already too late.

Anyone out there buy a Windows Phone 7 handset yet? Think Microsoft stands a chance against Apple and Google?

CNET News.com: Chalking up the Windows Phone 7 launch
Los Angeles Times: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 HTC HD7 sells out temporarily online
TheStreet.com: Microsoft Sells 40K Windows 7 Phones

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

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Following Sprint’s lead, Verizon tests $70/month unlimited data bundle (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 10:55 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Tue Nov 9, 1:55 pm ET

Shortly after shaking things up with a bargain $15-a-month data plan, Verizon Wireless is testing out a new unlimited mobile bundle that'll sound familiar to anyone who subscribes to Sprint's $70/month "Everything Data" plan.

First reported by the Boy Genius Report and now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, Verizon's latest deal — which offers unlimited text mesasges, data, and mobile-to-mobile calling for $69.99 a month — is just a "selectively distributed discount" for now.

That means the bundle, which also includes 450 standard voice minutes, isn't open to just anyone; you'll have to be the lucky recipient of an email offer from the carrier, which is describing its latest mobile plan as a customer "retention tool," the Journal reports.

The Boy Genius Report has a screenshot of Verizon's email offer, which also includes a $139 family bundle with the same unlimited text messages, data, and mobile-to-mobile minutes, along with 1,400 voice minutes.

Both of the trial Verizon plans require that you extend your mobile contract for another year, Boy Genius adds.

Verizon's new unlimited mobile bundles bear a striking resemblance to the "Everything Data" plans on Sprint, which offer unlimited data, messaging, and mobile-to-mobile minutes (including calls to cell phones on other carriers), plus 450 regular voice minutes, for — you guessed it — $69.99 a month.

Sprint also offers an individual "Everything Data" plan with 900 minutes for $89 a month, along with a pair of unlimited family bundles: one with 1,500 minutes for $129 a month, and a second with 3,000 minutes for $169/month.

Verizon recently began tinkering with its smartphone data offerings, launching a $15-a-month plan that includes 150MB of data late last month.

The deal is set to expire at the end of December, Reuters says, but it's always possible that Verizon will keep the plan around. Verizon is hanging onto its existing $30-a-month unlimited data plan for smartphones.

Meanwhile, the other big mobile carriers are slowly but surely picking off their unlimited 3G smartphone data offerings.

AT&T did away with unlimited 3G smartphone data (except for subscribers who've been grandfathered in) back in June, right before the launch of the iPhone 4, while T-Mobile announced in October that it would start "throttling" users who exceeded 5GB of 3G data a month.

Of course, tiered data plans like those offered by AT&T ($15 a month for 200MB of data, or $25/month for 2GB) might make sense for mobile users who aren't using that much data on their phones. Fans of streaming video, however, will probably blow through such 200MB and 2GB data caps pretty quickly.

So, what do you think of the $70-a-month unlimited data bundles offered by Sprint and (now) Verizon? Sound like good deals? Or would you rather pick a cheaper data plan with a cap?

Boy Genius Report: Verizon Wireless testing Sprint-like, $70, 450-minute, unlimited plan
Wall Street Journal: Verizon Tests Lower Unlimited Pricing

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

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MacBook Air tops Consumer Reports ratings (Macworld)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 05:47 PM PST

Jason Snell Jason Snell – Tue Nov 9, 8:47 pm ET

Consumer Reports may not like the iPhone 4 much, but it loves loves loves the MacBook Air.

Tuesday the magazine and web site published its new computer ratings, and wouldn't you know it? Apple's new tiny laptops lead the laptop pack and earn CR's "Recommended" designation.

With a score of 67, the 11-inch MacBook Air ( ) received a 67 rating (out of 100), putting it in the Very Good range and making it hit the top of the list (which, honestly, was only two laptops long) of 11-inch laptops. CR rated it "very good" in its Ergonomics and Display categories, "fair" in Versatility and Speakers, and "good" in Performance.

The 13-inch MacBook Air ( ) received a 78 rating (out of 100), and placed first in a much larger list of 13-inch laptops. The 13-inch Air scored "very good" in Performance, Ergonomics, and Display, "good" in Speakers, and "fair" in Versatility.

Two 13-inch MacBook Pro models placed third and fourth in the category, with scores of 73 and 72, and the latter 2.4GHz model also received a "recommended" check mark. The 2.53GHz Core i5 15-inch MacBook Pro tops Consumer Reports' 15- to 16-inch model chart as well, and the 17-inch MacBook Pro tops the 17- to 18-inch list.

The only dark news for Apple? No Mac laptop appears anywhere on CR's 14-inch model chart. But that's probably just because Apple fails to make a laptop that size.

For a whole lot more about the MacBook Air, visit our MacBook Air page or read our full review of the new MacBook Air models.

[Updated 8:03 p.m. PT to fix a boo-boo.]

Remains of the Day: Now in 3D (Macworld)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 04:30 PM PST

Dan Moren Dan Moren – Tue Nov 9, 7:30 pm ET

It's an extravaganza of sight and sound today, with Apple snapping up a small wireless audio company, Hasbro producing a 3D add-on for the iPhone, and Microsoft painting the town, er, teal. Don your funny glasses and experience the eye-popping remainders for Tuesday, November 9, 2010.

Apple buys Wi-Gear to build stereo Bluetooth headphones (9 to 5 Mac)

Apparently Apple has acquired Wi-Gear, maker of fine Bluetooth headphones, seemingly in a move to start producing its own wireless earphones. Hopefully, the first thing it'll do is to try and wipe the old product name from the face of the Earth.

Hasbro unveils device that promises 3-D on iPod (Associated Press)

If wireless audio doesn't precisely do it for you, then perhaps you need a trip into the third dimension. Hasbro appears to have reincarnated the View-Master, a staple of my own childhood, with its forthcoming My3D. Slide your iPhone into the plastic device and, combined with specially designed software, it will supposedly provide an immersive experience. So, uh, not to be a party pooper, but how the heck do you use the touchscreen?

Microsoft Admits to Illegal Graffiti Ads (SFGate.com)

Microsoft copped to illegally plastering ads for Windows Phone on sidewalks around San Francisco, though it contended that they were nothing more than temporary water-soluble "chalk art." Unfortunately, that chalk art has failed to wash away after a heavy rainstorm, making this yet another invention out of Redmond that has overstayed its welcome.

Breakaway (YouTube)

Apple's deal with Verizon to sell iPads is paying dividends already, in the form of this commercial for the magical device. Say, did anybody else get the model with the "dissipate your entire house into nothingness" feature, because I'm on the fence.

Steve Ballmer reveals his secret Twitter account (Network World)

Turns out Steve Ballmer has a secret—and now not-so-secret—Twitter account. In it, he apparently only posts notes about his trips to Russia and the Ukraine. (Because in the former Soviet Union, Twitter tweets you.) He's yet to quite figure out the service, though. His latest tweet, presumably about his dinner, read only "BORSCHT BORSCHT BORSCHT BORSCHT BORSCHT BORSCHT."

Dell's Kace Management Tools Going Mobile (PC World)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 05:10 PM PST

James Niccolai James Niccolai – Tue Nov 9, 8:10 pm ET

Dell is updating its Kace systems management products to help IT departments deal with the army of smartphones and tablets invading their company networks, Michael Dell said on Tuesday.

Dell will extend the Kace products to include support for the Apple iPhone and iPad, as well as tablets and smartphones based on Google's Android OS, Dell said, speaking at the Kace customer conference in San Francisco.

"It's critical to be able to manage all devices, whether they are client devices or mobile devices, and that's a challenge we want to address," he said. Smartphones are "basically small computers" and "somewhat insecure," Dell said, and IT departments need help managing them.

Dell acquired Kace in February as part of a wider effort to expand its business beyond PCs. It has been investing heavily in the company, Dell said, increasing its customer base by 900, to about 2,500, and tripling the size of its support staff, including the addition of new support centers in Asia and Japan.

"Systems management is a big area of investment and a big focus for us," Michael Dell said.

Kace offers two appliances today for managing PCs and servers -- the K1000, for inventory and patch management, and the K2000, which can deploy applications and OS images.

They have little smartphone support, however, only some basic management capabilities for the iPhone. Future Kace products will manage phones and tablets based on Android, Windows 7 and Apple's iOS, said Lubos Parobek, vice president for product management at Dell's Kace division.

As well as performing basic inventory, customers will be able to deploy software to the devices, erase data and lock them down if they are stolen, he said. He couldn't give a release date but said the capabilities will be added to the K1000 appliance.

Dell will be competing with a number of companies. Fiberlink, Sybase and LogMeIn all offer tools for managing mobile phones as well as computers. Google offers a basic phone management service, and Good Technology sells software that lets enterprises manage phones from most manufacturers.

In some ways Dell is adding to the problem even while it tries to solve it, by selling its own little army of smartphones. It's already released the Streak and the Venture Pro, and on Tuesday Michael Dell pulled another, Android-based device from his pocket that he said will be formally announced on Wednesday. The device has a 3.5-inch screen and will be sold in India and other emerging markets, he said, without giving any more details.

Dell will have its own equivalent to the iPad too, he said -- a 10-inch device based on the Honeycomb release of Android that's expected next spring.

Dell also showed briefly an upcoming "mini" Kace appliance for small organizations. Looking more like a mini-desktop PC than an appliance server, it will be for companies with less than about 150 computers to manage.

"This is something you'll hear more about next year," Dell said, showing the silver box briefly on stage. "This will have a really easy-to-use interface and will bring inventory and asset management to smaller organizations."

He also referred briefly to a new Kace technology called "super-disk," which he said will allow organizations to make use of all the disk space around their organizations that is going unused. He didn't provide any details or say when the technology will be ready.

It's now a little safer to complain about your boss on Facebook (Digital Trends)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 05:25 PM PST

Molly McHugh Molly Mchugh – Tue Nov 9, 8:25 pm ET

Facebook workA federal agency ruled today that it was illegal for a company in Connecticut to fire a woman who lewdly criticized her supervisor on Facebook. In what could easily be the first of many cases of its kind, the National Labor Relations Board argued that Dawnmarie Souza's Facebook rant against her boss was well within her First Amendment rights.

Souza worked as an emergency medical technician whose boss required her to prepare a report due to customer complaints about her conduct. She alleges she was denied union representation, and from there, took her Facebook to vent.

Posting on her home computer later that day, Souza wrote, "Looks like I'm getting some time off. Love how the company allows a 17 to be a supervisor" (17 is code for psychiatric patient).  Souza's work colleagues also replied to the thread, and she tossed in some vulgar names to boot.

While her former employer maintains that she was fired based on her performance as a staff member, what's most significant in this case is what it means for employees. Souza is not the first to get fired for this, but she is the first to be defended for it. In this virtual age, companies everywhere are enforcing social media policies and today's ruling will directly affect how legitimate they are.

"If employees are upset about their supervisor and get together on their own time to talk about him, criticize him, call him names, they can do that," argues the board's regional direction Johnathon Kreisberg in a statement to The New York Times. That being, Souza's former employer's policy prohibiting employees from negatively portraying the company and its supervisors on the Internet steps well over the line. When it comes to being off the clock, federal labor law allows employees to say most anything that want, but this is the first time the National Labor Relations Board has extended this right to a social networking site.

But don't take this as the go ahead to blast your entire office on any and every social media site. Rules and regulations surrounding online conduct should be regarded as extremely fluid, and in most cases posting nasty comments about your boss can land you in the unemployment office. According the National Labor Relations Act, a message's intentions are important, as only those that fall under "the purpose of collective bargaining" are totally safe. It's a thin proverbial line to draw and one that will probably get thinner.

Facebook is becoming the water cooler â€" it’s where colleagues interact and gossip, and the government is stepping up to protect that. A formal hearing to decide how true that is will take place in January.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Merton the Chatroulette Piano Guy Puts on a Show at YouTube HQ [VIDEOS] (Mashable)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 03:13 PM PST

Ben Parr Ben Parr – Tue Nov 9, 6:13 pm ET

Earlier today, while YouTube was briefing the press on YouTube Remote for Android and YouTube Topics at its headquarters in Silicon Valley, the company welcomed a special guest through its doors: Merton of Chatroulette fame.

Merton is the mysterious and hooded improv piano player who rose to Internet fame with a series of videos depicting him playing songs for random strangers on Chatroulette. His videos have garnered millions of views, helping him launch a musical career that now has him traveling across the country.

Perhaps because YouTube played a major role in his rise to prominence, Merton (who hasn't revealed his real name but isn't Ben Folds) entertained the employees of the Google-owned web video company with his improvisational lyrics and musical jabs over YouTube's changed rating system. The lobby of YouTube HQ quickly filled up with interested onlookers as Merton put on a show.

While we couldn't stay and record the whole thing, we did catch a few clips of Merton's melodies for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Magic Fiddle Turns Your iPad Into a Violin, and It Rocks (Mashable)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 03:52 PM PST

Christina Warren Christina Warren – Tue Nov 9, 6:52 pm ET

Smule, makers of the musical iOS titles like Ocarina, I Am T-Pain, Glee Karaoke and Magic Piano, has just released its newest creation: Magic Fiddle for iPad [iTunes link].

What is Magic Fiddle, you might ask? It's pure, unadulterated musical awesome. It turns your iPad into a string instrument -- with a twist. The $2.99 app was just released in the App Store, but we got to spend some time speaking with Smule Co-founder, CTO and Chief Creative Officer Ge Wang earlier this week about the app and how it works.

Describing Magic Fiddle doesn't make a lot of sense until you see it in action. Smule created some demonstration videos showing off the app, and the fiddle, in action. Check out this example, which comes just in time for a certain plumber's birthday:

You play Magic Fiddle the same way you would play a stringed instrument like a violin or a fiddle. You place the device on your shoulder and then use your fingers to pluck the strings and your other hand acts as the bow. If you have ever played a string instrument before, catching on to the process is very easy. My fiancé was able to pick up Magic Fiddle in just a few minutes.

I don't have any previous experience with string instruments (I took piano lessons and never got that violin I always wanted), but thanks to the "Storybook" guiding mode, I too was able to pick up on the instrument's nuances and learned proper finger position.

The app really goes out of its way to anthropomorphize itself. When you first pick it up, this is how the app greets you:

You tell the app your name and you can even name your fiddle. I named mine HAL.

When we spoke to Wang about the app, he pointed these features out, emphasizing the importance of making the app easy to pick up and making it feel whimsical and fun. The idea is also for the app to be easy to get a feel for -- whether you are already an expert at games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, you have previous experience with a stringed instrument, or you just love music and want to play.

In addition to his work at Smule, Wang is also an Assistant Professor at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford. This is important, because just like the backends of apps like Ocarina, Glee Karaoke and I Am T-Pain were developed using some of the technology research pioneered at CCRMA, Magic Fiddle also gets some of its technological footing from the university.

In particular, Wang pointed out to us that Magic Fiddle isn't just playing pre-recorded notes. The device itself is actually creating music. Using physical modelings developed at Stanford, the iPad itself has been programmed, by way of the app, to be able to generate and create unique sounds. These sounds aren't 100% accurate to a real fiddle or violin, but they follow the same models. The results are that you are able to do freestyles and solos that have a lot more personality and zing, rather than merely just trying to match certain notes.

Making Music Fun

Ultimately, what comes through with Magic Fiddle, as with all of Smule's other apps, is just how much fun it can be to create music. Beyond that, however, Magic Fiddle is a testament to just how much can be accomplished on electronic devices like the iPhone or iPad.

Two years ago -- almost to the day -- Ocarina was released for the iPhone. It was one of the first true "breakthrough" iPhone apps in that it showed that you could do something with an iPhone that most people probably never even expected to see: Play music based on blowing into the microphone. It helped kickstart a flurry of innovation in music-based apps and games that continues today.

With Magic Fiddle, we think Smule is doing the same thing for the iPad. Magic Piano remains one of the iPad's games most fun games, but Magic Fiddle, like Ocarina, really breaks the mold of what is possible and what is expected from the tablet device. Using multitouch for the strings and the bow -- plus using Smule's Global feature of connecting players with one another around the world, the game and app has tons of replay value and really makes the idea of making music on an electronic device feel natural. It's also a ton of fun.

Magic Fiddle comes with a Songbook bundled with 20 songs that you can play along with and learn. Smule will also sell song add-on packs, with more songs added as time goes on, to even further enhance the app.

Magic Fiddle has put a child-like grin on my face. Give it a try; we think it'll do the same for you. What do you think about the way smartphones and tablets are being used to create music? Let us know.

Hasbro and iPhone team up for 3D viewing (Appolicious)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 10:34 AM PST

AT&T halves selling price on BlackBerry Torch (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 02:02 PM PST

– Tue Nov 9, 5:02 pm ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – AT&T has slashed the price of Research In Motion's BlackBerry Torch smartphone as it ushers in three devices running on Microsoft's Phone 7 operating system ahead of the holiday buying season.

The Torch, a touchscreen phone with a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, launched exclusively on AT&T from August 12 for $199.99 with a two-year contract, about the same price as Apple's iPhone.

AT&T, the second largest U.S. network, slashed that price to $99.99 on November 7.

"It's a promotion for the holiday season," AT&T spokeswoman Kate Tellier said. "It's usual to do this around the holidays," she added.

Indirect retailers such as Amazon.com sell the phone for as little as 1 cent. Best Buy sells the phone for $149.99 on a two-year contract and Firefly.com offers it for $29.99.

Carriers typically pay indirect channels a fee for selling phones with their network contract attached, Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt said in an August note to clients.

That fee enables the channels to undercut the carrier on the price of the device and carriers generally follow suit three to six months later, McCourt said.

AT&T on Monday launched two phones running Windows software, the Samsung Focus and the HTC Surround, both for $199.99 on two-year contract. It also expects to launch a third, the LG Quantum.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp)

Does Your Business Need Social CRM Monitoring? (NewsFactor)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 01:54 PM PST

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Jennifer Leclaire, newsfactor.com – Tue Nov 9, 4:54 pm ET

Before you answer the question in the headline, consider the statistics. For example, Nielsen reports that more than one million Tweets are sent out every hour. At the same time, 34 percent of online Americans have used Facebook, Twitter or other social media to rant or rave about a product, company or brand.

With more web-based conversations taking place over these social platforms, Cisco Systems believes it's more critical than ever that businesses be aware of what their customers are saying about them and be able to respond to general inquiries or rectify problems to enhance and protect their brand reputation.

"As an active user of social media, Cisco realizes the value of social-media interactions to our business," said John Hernandez, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Customer Collaboration business unit. "Our employees were some of the earliest adopters of MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social sites. Our own consumer products group is already using Cisco SocialMiner to collaborate with their customers."

Of course, Cisco is one of many companies that have released a social CRM product. So Cisco has a stake in the game. What do others have to say about the viability -- and the necessity -- of social CRM?

Are You Active in Social Media?

As Jason Weaver, CEO of Shoutlet, sees it, the only reason a company wouldn't find value in social CRM is if it is not at all active in social media. And these days, if a company has no social presence, it's already behind.

"Social CRM is a way to manage customer relationships in the social space. If you're spending time conversing with customers, answering customer questions on social platforms, engaging with loyal fans, and reaching out to new users, having a platform that can help with both the execution of those efforts and the collection of data at both the individual and group level makes sound business sense," Weaver said.

He cited the benefits of integrating social CRM as the ability to streamline social-media responses, enact efficient team work flows, track and archive conversations, pinpoint your biggest fans through features like influencer scoring, and encouraging them to become evangelists in highly targeted social-media promotions.

Smarter Customers

Chris Hall, vice president of product marketing at Inquira, points out that four out of five Americans are using social networks to make decisions about what to see, where to go, and what to buy. Given this, he said, it's safe to say that the era of social networking has arrived.

"Social networks have empowered customers; they are smarter, better informed, more demanding, and unpredictable in the type of experience they expect," Hall said. "The rapid proliferation of these networks as a platform for customer and peer-to-peer (P2P) interaction has presented enterprises with a significant opportunity and a new set of challenges."

To successfully leverage social technologies, Hall said enterprises must provide integration into a knowledge-management platform that can make internal and external conversations automatically available as knowledge assets. Enterprises that successfully embed knowledge management and learning systems as a key component of social and P2P interactions are meeting and exceeding customer expectations and striding ahead of their competitors, he said.

Internet firms must be accountable for data: execs (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 05:53 PM PST

By Jasmin Melvin Jasmin Melvin – Tue Nov 9, 8:53 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Internet companies need to be more accountable for the mass of personal data collected from users to guard against cybercrime, industry executives said on Tuesday.

"Information is the currency of growth, but it's also increasingly become the currency of crime," Peter Cullen, chief privacy strategist for Microsoft Corp, said at the Family Online Safety Institute's annual conference.

"People have very high expectations when it comes to companies in terms of how they collect, use, store and most importantly protect their information," Cullen said.

Companies must hold themselves to high standards when handling consumers' personal information and invest more in internal structures to ensure privacy, he added.

Michael Fertik, founder of the online reputation-management company ReputationDefender, called for U.S. regulations that mandate opt-in defaults to give consumers greater control of their "digital dossier."

"It's remarkable how deep the data sets are about each of us, and it's disturbing," Fertik told Reuters, citing websites that track users' locations.

Companies such as Google Inc, Yahoo Inc, Facebook and Microsoft collect personal data that is often used in advertising or passed on to third parties without users' knowledge.

Fertik advocated limits on how long companies can keep personal data on consumers, warning that over time the data could be used beyond advertising, such as assessing health care premiums based on how often a person frequents fast food restaurants.

"Companies that make the bulk of their revenue in advertising have a very terrible tension between that economic incentive and your privacy interests," said Fertik, a member of the World Economic Forum Agenda Council on Internet Security.

The Commerce Department reported earlier this week a seven-fold surge in high speed Internet subscribers between 2001 and 2009.

Mobile devices are also increasingly being used to access the Internet; yet most Americans are unfamiliar with the privacy implications of being connected anytime and anywhere.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is preparing recommendations for privacy laws, and telecommunications analysts predict bipartisan support on this issue.

Amy Mushahwar, a data privacy and security attorney at Reed Smith LLP, in a phone interview called privacy a "nonpolitical" issue that both Republicans and Democrats could agree upon in a divided Congress.

"This is a much less partisan issue that still has the potential for movement," she said.

(Reporting by Jasmin Melvin; Editing by Richard Chang)

Mozilla Firefox Celebrates 6 Years (PC World)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 12:01 PM PST

Katherine Noyes Katherine Noyes – Tue Nov 9, 3:01 pm ET

Mozilla is celebrating the sixth birthday of its Firefox browser today, and it's inviting users of the popular free and open source browser to help by sending in a postcard for display in Mozilla's Mountain View or Paris offices.

It was Nov. 9, 2004, that Firefox 1.0 made its debut following Mozilla's own emergence several years previously to promote "openness, innovation and opportunity" on the Web. Firefox has since become the browser of choice for some 400 million people around the world, Mozilla said.

Today, Firefox is available in more than 70 languages and offers an easy way for people to enjoy rich Web experiences. Nearly a quarter of Internet users choose Firefox as their window to the Web, and more than 150 million people use Firefox add-ons to customize their Web experience.

"The success of Firefox is due to the passionate and dedicated Mozilla community, comprised of tens of thousands of developers, localizers, testers, ambassadors and campus reps," Mozilla wrote in a celebratory blog post on Tuesday.

The Chrome Factor

Of course, the market landscape today is far different from what it was when Firefox was born. Back in 2004, Internet Explorer's domination seemed more or less complete, and competitors were few and far between.

Using source code from the ill-fated Netscape, Mozilla innovated a powerful new browser complete with tabs, live bookmarks, a tightly integrated search box, pop-up blocking, and hundreds of add-ons. Perhaps even more important, Firefox went on to become one of the most widely known examples of free and open source software.

In the browser arena today, however, there's not only Firefox and Explorer but also Google's Chrome, which is posing a serious challenge. Both Firefox and Explorer have slipped recently in market share, in fact: Firefox went from 23 percent to 22.8 percent during the course of October, according to data from researcher Net Applications, while Internet Explorer fell from 59.7 percent to 59.2 percent. Chrome, meanwhile, rose from 8 percent to 8.5 percent.

The JägerMonkey Factor

Nevertheless, Firefox has a very good chance at succeeding in this newly intensified competitive atmosphere. Its JägerMonkey JavaScript engine, for example, promises to set the browser apart when it comes to JavaScript processing. Firefox 4--due early next year, but available now in beta--will include that as well as features including the new "Panorama" tab manager and hardware acceleration.

More than anything, though, I'm grateful to Firefox and Mozilla for helping to bring free and open source software to the forefront of mainstream public attention. Without Firefox, this would still be a much more closed-source computing world, I believe, and that would be bad for everyone.

Follow Katherine Noyes on Twitter: @Noyesk.

Google to give staff a 10 percent pay rise: reports (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 08:18 PM PST

– 1 hr 35 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Google Inc will give its staff a 10 percent pay increase at the start of next year, according to website Silicon Alley Insider.

Chief Executive Eric Schmidt informed Google's more than 23,000 employees of the raise by email, the Wall Street Journal later reported.

Silicon Alley Insider, citing a reader, earlier reported that Google is giving all its employees a $1,000 holiday bonus in addition to pay increases of at least 10 percent.

"While we don't typically comment on internal matters, we do believe that competitive compensation plans are important to the future of the company," a Google spokesman said in an email.

The Internet industry is waging a "war for talent," Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said on a call with analysts last month.

(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)
at 10:04 PM

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