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Gov't targets Web sites selling counterfeit goods (AP) : Technet |
- Gov't targets Web sites selling counterfeit goods (AP)
- Web delivery firm says Comcast taking toll on data (AP)
- Watch out, PC: The tablet cometh (Ben Patterson)
- Rumor control: No, you can’t see who’s viewed your Facebook profile (Ben Patterson)
- Analysts more cautious on PC sales outlook (Reuters)
- Under the Gavel: Nokia vs. Apple vs. Motorola (Macworld)
- FCC mulls broadcast airwaves for wireless use (Reuters)
- Bush praises Obama during Facebook broadcast (AP)
- Teen idol Justin Bieber says he plans to go to university (AFP)
- OpenTable Now Shows You Where You Can Dine Tonight (Mashable)
- Black Friday was good; Cyber Monday could set a new record (Appolicious)
- Third-party Tool Opens WP7 to Unapproved Apps (PC World)
- Ticketmaster Unfazed by Odd Band Names (PC World)
- Iran blames Israel after nuclear scientist killed (AP)
- Google Earth 6: Here's What's New (Mashable)
- Bush bashes WikiLeaks as he pushes memoir online (AFP)
| Gov't targets Web sites selling counterfeit goods (AP) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 02:54 PM PST WASHINGTON – On one of the year's busiest Internet shopping days, federal law enforcement announced a crackdown that blocked 82 domain names of far-flung commercial websites to keep them from peddling counterfeit merchandise and illegal copies of music and software. Nearly 100 million people shop on "Cyber Monday," a day when consumers return to work from the long Thanksgiving weekend. Many buy items online. Counterfeiters are prowling the back alleys of the Internet, waiting to unload shoddy presents unlikely to bring any holiday cheer, John Morton, head of immigration and customs enforcement at the Homeland Security Department, told a news conference. Attorney General Eric Holder said federal law enforcement agents got court orders allowing them to seize the domain names after making undercover purchases from online retailers and confirming that the items sold were counterfeit or infringed on copyrights. The move was applauded by the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America. Anyone attempting to access one of the websites will find a banner saying that the domain name has been seized by federal authorities. The counterfeit goods include sports equipment, shoes, handbags, athletic apparel and sunglasses. The copyright infringement covers copies of DVDs, music and software. Most of the counterfeit goods are produced and shipped from China. On a trip to Hong Kong and to Beijing last month, Holder told law enforcement counterparts from China and around the world to do more to fight these crimes. Congress is considering giving law enforcement more tools to crack down on copyright infringement and the sale of counterfeit goods online, but the proposed legislation has run into some opposition. Earlier this month, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a bill that would allow the Justice Department to obtain court orders identifying sites dedicated to "infringing activity" and require companies that register Internet domain names to suspend those accounts. And to reach Web sites registered outside the U.S., the bill also would require Internet service providers to block their users from accessing those sites and prohibit payment processors and online advertising networks from doing business with them. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has strong backing from Hollywood, the nation's big record labels and other industries that depend on strong intellectual property protections. But some in the technology industry say it could result in Internet censorship by blocking access to Web sites. ___ Associated Press Technology writer Joelle Tessler contributed to this report. |
| Web delivery firm says Comcast taking toll on data (AP) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 05:15 PM PST WASHINGTON – Level 3 Communications Inc., an Internet backbone company that supports Netflix Inc.'s increasingly popular movie streaming service, complained Monday that cable giant Comcast Corp. is charging it an unfair fee for the right to send data to its subscribers. Comcast replied it is being swamped by a flood of data and needs to be paid. Level 3 said it agreed to pay under protest, but that the fee violates the principles of an "open Internet." It also goes against the Federal Communications Commission's proposed rules preventing broadband Internet providers from favoring certain types of traffic, it said. "Comcast is effectively putting up a toll booth at the borders of its broadband Internet access network, enabling it to unilaterally decide how much to charge for content," said Level 3's chief legal officer, Thomas Stortz, in a statement. Comcast called Level 3's position "duplicitous" and said a previous deal for the companies to handle traffic for each other had become unbalanced in Level 3's favor. The spat reflects the complicated commercial relationships of the Internet, where it's not always clear who should be paying whom. Level 3's main business is carrying Internet traffic across the country, charging Internet service providers like Comcast fees to connect to Web sites and other ISPs. However, it is moving into the business of distributing Internet content such as movies for companies including Netflix. Under that business model, it is acting like a content-delivery network, which usually pays ISPs for fast access to their networks. Level 3, which is based in Broomfield, Colo., is now pushing to Comcast five times the traffic that goes the other way. "When one provider exploits this type of relationship by pushing the burden of massive traffic growth onto the other provider and its customers, we believe this is not fair," Comcast's senior vice president Joe Waz said in a statement. The dispute comes at a sensitive time for Comcast Corp., which is trying to get regulatory clearance to buy majority control of NBC Universal from General Electric Co. for cash and assets worth $13.75 billion. The government is examining the deal, especially around concerns that the nation's largest cable TV provider could wield undue power in the distribution of online video once it takes control. Level 3 said Comcast made a take-it-or-leave-it demand last week and it only agreed to the terms under protest to prevent consumer disruptions. Comcast said it is meeting with Level 3 later this week to discuss a new solution. The fight is related to a heated policy dispute in Washington over proposed rules governing Internet traffic. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has been pushing to adopt so-called "network neutrality" rules for more than a year, arguing that they are necessary to prevent phone and cable giants from using their broadband monopolies to become online gatekeepers. Public interest groups were quick to jump on Level 3's complaint Monday to argue that premium services should not be allowed. "Comcast's request of payment in exchange for content transmission is yet another example of why citizens need strong, effective network neutrality rules that include a ban on such 'paid prioritization' practices," Andrew Jay Schwartzman, senior vice president of Media Access Project, said in a statement. The FCC had no comment. It's not the first time Comcast, which is based in Philadelphia, has been accused of unfairly regulating Web traffic. In 2008, the FCC ordered the cable giant to stop slowing and blocking its subscribers from accessing an online file-sharing service called BitTorrent, which lets people swap movies and other big files over the Internet. For Netflix, the dustup could affect its popular video-streaming offering, to which it is pushing customers to save on the cost of sending rental DVDs in the mail. Netflix declined to comment. Starting next year, Level 3 will become Netflix's primary network for piping Internet video, although Netflix also will continue to rely on systems run by Limelight Networks Inc. and Akamai Technologies Inc. If Level 3 is forced to pay more to send movies to homes that rely on Comcast for Internet service, it eventually could try to pass on the costs to Netflix and its subscribers. As more of its 17 million subscribers embrace Internet streaming, Netflix's service has emerged as the biggest source of Internet traffic in the U.S. during peak evening periods, according to a recent study by Sandvine Inc. ___ AP Business Writers Michael Liedtke in San Francisco and Peter Svensson in New York contributed to this report. |
| Watch out, PC: The tablet cometh (Ben Patterson) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 03:45 PM PST Tablets like the iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab are the gotta-have gadgets of the year, no doubt — but could they eventually replace the PC as your platform of choice? Make no mistake: PCs are still big business, with consumers and companies expected to snap up more than 352 million systems this year alone, and more than 409 million in 2011. But tech analysts are cutting their forecasts in the face of surging tablet sales, and the trend is expected to continue in the coming months and years. Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal announced Monday that he now believes consumers and businesses will have bought about 352.4 million PCs in 2010 by the end of December, a figure that represents a 14.3 increase from 2009.
Not bad, but Atwal adds that he's revised his latest projections downward from just two months ago, when he predicted that PC sales would see a 17.9 percent increase over 2009's total. Naturally, Atwal blames slowing PC sales in part on the poor economy, with consumers and enterprise customers alike saving money by holding off on replacing their current systems. Other factors to consider include the rise of cloud-based services, like Google Apps and Microsoft's new in-the-cloud Office applications, as well as the fact that PC makers aren't offering much in the way of jaw-dropping, gotta-have innovations these days. That said, the "weaker consumer demand" for PCs in the coming years is also "due in no small part to growing user interest in media tablets such as the iPad," Atwal says, adding that by about 2014 or so, tablets will "displace" an eye-opening 10 percent of all PC sales. Why are tablets like the iPad, the Samsung Galaxy (click here for my hands-on review), and other forthcoming examples taking off with consumers? Because they "enable better on-the-go content consumption" and boast "instant-on" functionality, according to Atwal — and as the years go by, media tablets will only become more powerful and "PC-like," to the point where users may increasingly think of their tablets as their "primary computing platform." So, is it time to declare the PC dead? Of course not, Atwal says, arguing that PCs are "still seen as necessities" by most consumers and business folk.
But gone are the days when people are replacing their PCs every year, or even every couple of years, with users instead seeing smartphones and especially tablets as "complements, if not substitutes, for PCs," particularly "where voice and light data consumption are desired," Atwal says. One needn't look any further than the latest sales figures for the iPad to see that users are embracing tablets on a large scale. For instance, according to one estimate quoted by Fortune magazine from an analyst with investment bank Piper Jaffray, consumers bought about 8.8 iPads an hour at Apple stores on Black Friday. And it's not just Apple-mania we're talking about here, with Samsung said to have moved an impressive 600,000 of its Android-powered Galaxy Tabs in just a few weeks. Personally, I'm not ready to call my iPad my "primary" computer just yet. Sure, I use it all the time when I'm Web browsing in my living room, but when it's time to go to work, I fire up my desktop or laptop. Then again, I'll probably be keeping my current desktop iMac for a good three or four years, at least, while I'm sure I'll pony up for a new iPad the moment it comes out. What about you: Can you envision the day when a tablet might be your computing platform of choice? Has that day already come? Or will you always turn to a PC first? Related: Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments to Grow 14 Percent in 2010 [Gartner, Inc.] — Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News. |
| Rumor control: No, you can’t see who’s viewed your Facebook profile (Ben Patterson) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 12:24 PM PST Ever wanted to know who's been keeping tabs on your Facebook profile? Bad news — you can't, and any Facebook app that promises otherwise is lying to you, as tens of thousands of scammed users are finding out. The whole "see who's been viewing your Facebook profile!" ploy has been around for months, yet somehow it never gets old. The latest example: an app called Profile Watcher V2.1 (a.k.a. ProfileSpy and ePrivacy), which claims to let you check out who's been sneaking a peek at your Facebook profile page, according to Net security firm Sophos. Indeed, you may have already seen excited posts from your Facebook friends in your news feed about Profile Watch — and the message probably looks something like this: "OMG OMG OMG … I can't believe this actually works! Now you really can see who viewed your profile!" Click the link on the post and you'll be taken to the Profile Watcher app page, which asks you to grant it permission to access your public Facebook information (like your name, profile picture, and list of friends), post to your Facebook Wall, access your data at any time, and send your e-mail. So, can you guess what happens if you click the "Allow" button? The answer, of course, is that Profile Watcher will immediately post one of those "OMG OMG OMG!" messages onto your Facebook wall — meaning you've joined the ranks of countless other Facebook users who've previously fallen for this scam. (At least 60,000 Facebookers have already been fooled by the latest Profile Watcher "campaign," Sophos notes.) And what about that list of everyone who's been stalking you on Facebook? Ain't gonna happen. For the truth about finding out who's viewing your Facebook profile, all you have to do is search Facebook's Help Center, which states in no uncertain terms that doing so is against Facebook's terms of service: "No, Facebook does not provide the ability to track who is viewing your profile, or parts of your profile, such as your photos. Applications by outside developers cannot provide this functionality, either. Applications that claim to give you this ability will be removed from Facebook for violating policy. You can report applications that provide untrustworthy experiences by clicking the "Report Application" at the bottom of the application's About page, or by clicking "Report" at the bottom of any canvas page within the application." If the truth about finding out who's watching you on Facebook is out there, why does this particular scam keep going, and going, and going? Well, probably because there are a lot of people on Facebook who are curious to know who's been checking out their profiles. After all, LinkedIn will let you find out who's been picking over your profile, so long as you're willing to allow other LinkedIn users know when you've clicked on their pages. For now, though, Facebook won't tattle on users who've been viewing your info — and if you click on a Facebook app that claims otherwise, prepare to be scammed. P.S. OK, did you fall for Privacy Watcher? If so, here's how to delete it from your account: Click the Account link on the top-right corner of the main Facebook Page, then click Privacy Settings, followed by "Edit your settings" under the Applications and Websites section. Next, click the "Edit settings" button next to the "Applications you use" heading, and click the little "X" next to the offending app (Privacy Watcher, in this case). Related — Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News. |
| Analysts more cautious on PC sales outlook (Reuters) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 04:15 PM PST BOSTON (Reuters) – Market researchers are scaling back forecasts for global sales of personal computers, blaming an uncertain economic outlook in some markets and competition from tablet devices such as Apple Inc's iPad. Research firm Gartner cut its 2010 forecast on Monday, just as the crucial holiday sales season was getting under way for PC makers like Hewlett-Packard Co, Acer, Dell Inc and Lenovo. Gartner said it expected consumers and businesses to hold off on buying PCs in the near-term as they seek to save money. It said it now expected PC shipments this year to rise 14.3 percent to 352 million units, and it pegged next year's growth rate at 15.9 percent. It had previously forecast growth of 17.9 percent in 2010 and 18.1 percent in 2011. "These results reflect marked reductions in expected near-term unit growth based on expectations of weaker consumer demand, due in no small part to growing user interest in media tablets such as the iPad," Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said in a statement. He said he expected media tablets to displace about 10 percent of PC units by 2014. Market researcher IDC said it was seeing a similar trend, though a spokesman said sales were still poised to grow in the double digits. IDC will update its forecast in mid-December. Data from Gartner and IDC are watched closely to gauge the strength of the PC market. Separately, Gartner said worldwide shipments of servers, or computer systems used by large organizations, rose 14.2 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier. HP led with 32.1 percent of overall revenue in the server market, with IBM a close second with 30.2 percent, Gartner said. Of the top five vendors, only Oracle suffered a decline in third-quarter revenue, Gartner said. Oracle, the world's third-largest software maker, has been trying to step up its competitive edge in hardware following its $7.5 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems earlier this year. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston, Ritsuko Ando in New York and Terhi Kinnunen in Helsinki; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Ted Kerr) |
| Under the Gavel: Nokia vs. Apple vs. Motorola (Macworld) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 03:00 PM PST You can hardly be held accountable—in a court of law, anyway—if you've lost track of the various pieces of pending litigation involving Apple and intellectual property. Fortunately, our crack legal team* here at Under the Gavel lives to keep you updated on the ins-and-outs of the justice system. (I'm serious. If they don't keep you updated, kaput.) As dedicated watchers of legal affairs, you may recall that in October Motorola filed suit against Apple over patent infringement, followed shortly thereafter by a suit going in the other direction. While the U.S. International Trade Commission has already expressed its plan to investigate Motorola's suit against Cupertino, the agency said late last week that it would also be looking into Apple's claims as well. In particular, the ITC will be examining smartphones, their operating systems, and other application software. Apple has requested a cease and desist order be issued to Motorola should the accusations pan out. But before that can happen, one of the body’s six judges will schedule a hearing and decide whether or not there’s a violation. As usual, the agency has set a goal of finishing its investigation within 45 days of its start. Of course, given that the ITC is already investigating Apple, it also seems possible that the two companies will come to some sort of agreement before heading to court. But Motorola isn't the only company Apple is locking horns with; it's also engaged in a back-and-forth with HTC over its Android smartphones. As in the Motorola case, the ITC is investigating allegations of patent infringement leveled by each company against the other. The two firms are due to meet in the courtroom in February. Finally, there's some news on the front of the case that—with apologies to Helen of Troy—launched a thousand lawsuits: Apple's dispute with Nokia. A hearing of Nokia's allegations against Apple began on Monday and is scheduled to continue until December 9. According to Bloomberg, Cupertino has hired itself a bullpen of preeminent patent attorneys to serve as outside counsel for the case, including Robert Krupka of Kirkland & Ellis, William Lee of WilmerHale, and Matt Powers of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. If you don't happen to have their lawyer trading cards at hand, just know that they've represented heavy hitters like Broadcom, Merck and, yes, even Apple itself. The company has also hired an in-house IP specialist, Noreen Krall, who formerly served as Sun's chief IP counsel and as an intellectual property attorney at IBM. Of course, that's only a brief overview of the latest developments in the tangled web of intellectual property lawsuits, which we previously summed up in this diagram. Rest assured that we will be working night and day** to bring you the latest news as it breaks. * Does not imply actual legal expertise. ** As long as it doesn't conflict with our extensive television-watching commitments. |
| FCC mulls broadcast airwaves for wireless use (Reuters) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 09:02 PM PST |
| Bush praises Obama during Facebook broadcast (AP) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 06:10 PM PST DALLAS – Former President George W. Bush has pledged not to publicly criticize his successor, Barack Obama, but he did offer some praise Monday during a live broadcast on Facebook to promote his new book. Bush participated in an hour-long discussion on Facebook Live with the site's founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and was asked what he thought the current administration was handling well. The former president responded that he liked Obama's policy on Afghanistan. "I think the idea of putting more troops in was something that I can applaud," Bush said. "I also appreciate some of the education position. As I understand it they do believe strongly that accountability is necessary in order to achieve excellence in the classrooms." As the discussion started, Zuckerberg asked Bush why he decided to appear on Facebook. Bush quipped: "Because you've got a lot of people paying attention to us, and I'm trying to sell books." He then told Zuckerberg that he loves entrepreneurship and a country that could help make someone like Zuckerberg able to realize his dream and, in turn, create jobs for many people. "Yours is a really interesting company, and plus: I'm shamelessly marketing," he said. Bush, whose book, "Decision Points," was released earlier this month, visited Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., fielding questions from Zuckerberg, Facebook employees and those watching online who submitted questions during the broadcast on the company's streaming video channel. "I've written this book because I recognize there's no such thing as accurate short-term history. I want to give future historians a perspective: mine," he said, adding, "I've also written it for people who wonder what it's like to be president." Zuckerberg told Bush that he admired him for sticking with what he thought was right. Bush said that after moving from Washington to Dallas he became a "Blackberry person" but is now an "iPad person." When asked what songs he had on his iPod, Bush said he didn't use it anymore when riding his mountain bike: "I like to hear the birds." Bush quickly revised the statement, joking: "That's not true. I've got 'Decision Points' on my iPod." On more serious questions, Bush said he still believes Iraq has the ability to be a stable democracy. "It'll work. We just have to hang in there," he said. After the conversation turned to the recent release of more than a quarter-million classified diplomatic files posted by WikiLeaks, Bush said, "Leaks are very damaging and people who leak ought to be prosecuted." "When you have a conversation with a foreign leader and it ends up in the newspaper, they didn't like it. I didn't like it," Bush said. Bush said that "one of the great moments" of his life came this fall when he and his father, former President H.W. Bush, took the mound during the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. He added that he feels it's a blessing to be able to spend time with his parents as they are getting older. "I was given a great gift by George H.W. Bush, and that's unconditional love," he said. "If you are fortunate enough to be a father, my advice is love your child with all your heart and soul," he said. A little over halfway through the chat, the screen indicated that about 6,500 people were watching online. As he wrapped up the discussion, Bush said that he was blessed and content. "If you see me in an airport, I hope you wave with all five fingers, but if you don't you won't be the first," Bush said. "I'm a comfortable guy." ___ Online: |
| Teen idol Justin Bieber says he plans to go to university (AFP) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 03:10 PM PST MADRID (AFP) – Canadian teen idol Justin Bieber said Monday he plans to go to university, even after selling millions of albums by the age of just 16 after being discovered on YouTube. "I always travel with a private tutor who I have five three-hour sessions a week with," he told a news conference in Madrid where he is promoting his third album "My Worlds: The Collection". "I want to finish high school and also university and then evolve wherever my music takes me. I also want to stick my head in the movie world although I am going to focus on my music for now." About 5,000 people flocked to a Bieber autograph session at a record store in downtown Madrid on Monday despite the rain and cold, the online edition of daily newspaper El Mundo reported. The singer, who will perform for the first time in Spain in April 2011, won all four awards he was nominated for at the American Music Awards last week, including favourite artist, making him the youngest ever winner of the trophy. The turning point for Bieber came in 2007 when his mother posted home-made videos of him performing cover songs from Usher, Justin Timberlake and Stevie Wonder on YouTube for friends and family to see. The videos ended up attracting a wider audience and Usher ultimately signed Bieber to RBMG/Island Def Jam. The teenager, whose hits include "One Less Lonely Girl" and "Love Me", currently has 15 million fans on Facebook and six million followers on Twitter. "I will never close my accounts on Facebook and Twitter because it is a way to interact with my fans," he said. |
| OpenTable Now Shows You Where You Can Dine Tonight (Mashable) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 01:59 PM PST The OpenTable website has long remained a sparse entity for booking restaurant reservations, but now it's experimenting with a completely overhauled metro home page for each city it serves. Apart from the much improved new look, the site revamp introduces "Tables for Two Tonight" to all metros, a previously tested concept that highlights available tables for two -- with one-click booking options -- at popular and top-rated restaurants. The addition offers site visitors a quick way to find and book timely reservations. Other improvements include an upgraded restaurant search experience, featured deals and events and suggestions for restaurants you might like based on previous reservations booked through OpenTable. The new metro home pages are already visible to some users and will go live in all metro areas starting Tuesday morning. OpenTable continues to seat millions of diners and sign on new restuarants every quarter. Most recently, the company reported 15.4 million seated dinners for Q3 2010. While its mobile apps play an ever-growing role in the booking process, the website overhaul should help the company convert even more potential diners into seated guests.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Robert Scoble |
| Black Friday was good; Cyber Monday could set a new record (Appolicious) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 05:21 PM PST |
| Third-party Tool Opens WP7 to Unapproved Apps (PC World) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 03:00 PM PST Three developers have released software that allows Windows Phone 7 users to "sideload" applications onto their phones, giving access to applications that have not been approved by Microsoft. Developers of ChevronWP7 say that their intention is to let people build their own applications and use them on the phones. Because Microsoft does not approve of the tool, using it is risky, but corporate users could be among those most interested in it. Microsoft vets applications before loading them into its Marketplace app store, similar to Apple's App Store procedure but unlike Android's Market, which is totally open. Microsoft says the policy ensures people download only secure applications that are free of malware. But the developers of ChevronWP7 argue there are good reasons for wanting to use unapproved applications. "Unlocking allows the sideloading of experimental applications that otherwise can't be published to the Marketplace, such as those which access private or native APIs," they wrote in a blog post. Sideloading refers to transferring applications to a phone, typically from a PC. Corporate users often want to use applications that aren't available in the public markets. With previous mobile-phone software from Microsoft and some other mobile platforms like the iPhone, companies can develop and load applications onto employee phones without needing to post the application in the public application store. With WP7, however, that's not possible. Microsoft requires companies to upload such applications to the public Marketplace. "So either you give everyone in the world access to your proprietary app -- or you go without," wrote mobile enthusiast Terence Eden in a comment on a blog post about ChevronWP7. "With this tool, a company can unlock the phones they've purchased, install their own application on them, then distribute to the field." However, using a tool like ChevronWP7 could also create problems for corporate users. "As soon as [phones are] jailbroken, the likelihood of malware is much higher," said Tim Weingarten, CEO with Visage Mobile, a company that offers software for managing smartphones. "Corporations on one hand want the flexibility to have their own internal app stores where employees can download apps, but they want them to be as secure as possible." He expects that as WP7 evolves, Microsoft will support such internal app stores. Microsoft said it discourages people from using ChevronWP7. "We anticipated that people would attempt to unlock the phones and explore the underlying operating system. Attempting to unlock a device could void the warranty, disable phone functionality, interrupt access to Windows Phone 7 services or render the phone permanently unusable. In addition, only apps and games acquired through Marketplace are certified for quality, performance, content and user safety," Microsoft said in a statement. ChevronWP7's developers say that they haven't modified the operating system at all. ChevronWP7 simply enables the same functionality that Microsoft offers to registered developers, they say. WP7 developers who pay US$99 to register can load apps onto their phones for testing. "I must emphasize the ability to sideload and run unpublished applications is a supported functionality of all Windows Phone 7 devices," Long Zheng, one of ChevronWP7's developers, wrote in a blog post. "Although not enabled by default, it's a behavior embedded into the design of the operating system itself. That's all ChevronWP7 does." Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com |
| Ticketmaster Unfazed by Odd Band Names (PC World) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 04:20 PM PST If you can't quite spell Hannah Montana or Boyz II Men you're not alone. But Ticketmaster found it doesn't pay to be too strict about spelling and modified its search engine to accommodate creative alternatives. Managers of enterprise and website search services could do well to follow Ticketmaster's lead. "Search drives sales for a company like us. It is also the primary point of customer interaction. It is highly visible and it needs to work. Otherwise, we'd lose millions of dollars," Ticketmaster's Geoffrey Young said during a presentation at the ApacheCon conference earlier this month in Atlanta. Ticketmaster improved the success rate of its searches by 30 percent by examining those queries that did not produce any results for the user, Young said. "We approached things as a miss-driven solution and asked, 'How are we going to take care of our users in their existing usage patterns?'" he said. When the company revamped its search service, it incorporated some of its findings into the new search logic. With Ticketmaster's quirky data set, it was a difficult challenge. Ticketmaster processed US$1.3 billion in ticket sales in 2009. In order to buy tickets for a music performance, sports game or some other event, a user visits the site, types in the name of an event and is presented the option to buy tickets. While this may seem like a straightforward process, a lot can go wrong, Young explained. His team examined 2,000 unsuccessful searches to determine how people were failing to get what they were looking for. The idea was to "look at the historical data and let it drive the product that we're building," he said. The most prominent form of unsuccessful searches was for cities or states. People were looking to find events in a certain area but, at the time, Ticketmaster only indexed artists, venues and events. It soon started indexing locations, and dates as well. The next largest cause of unsuccessful searches came in the form of misspellings. For instance, the phrase "Circus Olay" is routinely used to find Cirque du Soleil. Artist names can be a huge source of misspellings The Disney fictional pop starlet Hannah Montana gets spelled in a variety of ways, most involving too many n's and not enough h's. Adding to the confusion, Miley Cyrus, who plays Montana in the show, now performs concerts under her own name, even if many of her fans still look for these events under Montana's. Also not helping matters are the unique spellings of performers such as Boyz II Men, P!nk and Flight of the Conchords, Even their fans miss the subtleties of these quirky spellings. Users also type unofficial, though widely accepted, names for acts, such as "NIN" for Nine Inch Nails, or STP for Stone Temple Pilots, or Amy Lee, who is the lead singer for Evanescence. Finally, 10 percent of missed searches came from search phrases with no spaces between them, such as JanetJackson for Janet Jackson. Young's team began switching over their search infrastructure in 2008. Previously, it used a combination of the Apache Web server, Perl-based scripts and a MySQL back end. Keeping Apache and the Perl scripts, they migrated the system to one that used Ajax on the front end and the Apache Software Foundation's Solr open-source search engine. Overall, Ticketmaster does not maintain a huge collection of search data -- about 250,000 items, which amount to less than a gigabyte. What people see, however, is subjected to a wide array of ever-changing business rules. Madonna may add a third show in a city if the first two sell out within a few hours. Björk will play at some Lollapalooza festivals but not others. Solr promised to provide a flexible platform for capturing all these exceptions, Young said. With the replacement, the team started to add in a number of new hooks that would catch some of the most frequently incorrect searches. They added misspellings into the document keywords. They also developed a synonym list for items that the spell-checker would not catch. When the system went live in 2009, its integrity came under fire almost immediately. On the day tickets for a Bruce Springsteen tour went on sale, the Ticketmaster site showed no shows available, while at same time linking to a broker site that offered more expensive tickets. To many observers, it looked like Ticketmaster was giving first preference to the ticket brokers. And Young got some heat for this. "Bruce Springsteen called a [U.S.] senator, the senator called the head of Ticketmaster. The head of Ticketmaster called me and asked why search wasn't working," Young recalled. He spent three days going through the software and, in the end, concluded it wasn't the search software after all. Ticketmaster never revealed the source of the glitch, though Young did mention that, of some 30 articles that speculated what went wrong, only one correctly identified the culprit. "Search is a convenient scapegoat when things go wrong," Young said. Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com |
| Iran blames Israel after nuclear scientist killed (AP) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 06:47 PM PST TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's president accused Israel and the West of being behind a pair of daring bomb attacks that killed one nuclear scientist and wounded another in their cars on the streets of Tehran on Monday. He also admitted for the first time that a computer worm had affected centrifuges in Iran's uranium enrichment program. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials vowed that the nuclear program would not be hampered by what they described as a campaign to sabotage it — whether by assassination or by the computer virus. The United States and its allies say Iran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb, a claim Tehran denies. The two bomb attacks occurred when assailants on motorcycles attached magnetized bombs to the cars of two nuclear scientists as they drove to work in separate parts of the capital Monday morning. They detonated seconds later, killing one scientist, wounding another and wounding each of their wives, who were in the cars, Tehran's police chief said. At least two other Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in recent years, one of them in an attack similar to Monday's. The wounded scientist, Fereidoun Abbasi, is on a list of figures suspected of links to secret nuclear activities in a 2007 U.N. sanctions resolution, which puts a travel ban and asset freeze on those listed. The resolution describes him as a Defense Ministry scientist who works closely with Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, believed to head secret nuclear projects. Iranian media said he was a member of the Revolutionary Guard, Iran's strongest military force. Majid Shahriar, the scientist killed in the bombing, was involved in a major project with Iran's nuclear agency, said the agency's chief, Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, though he did not give specifics. "Undoubtedly, the hand of the Zionist regime and Western governments is involved in the assassination," Ahmadinejad told a press conference. He said the attack would not hamper the nuclear program. Salehi, who was a former teacher of the slain scientist, wept as he went on state TV later to talk of the killing. "They (Iran's enemies) are mistaken if think they can shake us," he said. Asked about the Iranian accusations, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel did not comment on such matters. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, "We decry acts of terrorism, wherever they occur. And beyond that, we do not have any information on what happened." Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad also acknowledged for the first time that a computer worm affected centrifuges in Iran's uranium enrichment program, which the United Nations has demanded Tehran halt. Iran has previously acknowledged discovering the Stuxnet worm, which experts say is calibrated to destroy centrifuges by causing them to spin out of control, at its nuclear facilities. But Iranian officials — including Salehi — said it was discovered and neutralized before it could cause any damage, and they accused the West of trying to sabotage Iran's program. But Ahmadinejad told reporters, "They managed to create problems for a limited number of our centrifuges through the software ... installed on electronic parts. But this (virus) was discovered and the problem was resolved." He said Iranian experts had learned from the attempt and "this became an experience that stops the path for (sabotage) forever." Earlier in November, U.N. inspectors found Iran's enrichment program temporarily shut down, according to a recent report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog. The length and cause of the shutdown were not known, but speculation fell on Stuxnet. Iran's enrichment program is of international concern because the process can create both fuel for an electricity-generating reactor and nuclear warhead material. Iran insists it wants to enrich only to run a nuclear reactor network. The latest attacks come a day after the release of internal U.S. State Department memos by the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, including several that vividly detail Arab fears over Iran's nuclear program. In some memos, U.S. diplomats say Arab leaders advocated a U.S.-led attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Ahmadinejad dismissed the leaks as "mischief" aimed at damaging Tehran's ties with the Arab world. Monday's bombings bore close similarities to another in January that killed Tehran University professor Masoud Ali Mohammadi, a senior physics professor. He was killed when a bomb-rigged motorcycle exploded near his car as he was about to leave for work. In 2007, state TV reported that nuclear scientist, Ardeshir Hosseinpour, died from gas poisoning. A one-week delay in the reporting of his death prompted speculation about the cause, including that Israel's Mossad spy agency was to blame. There are several active armed groups that oppose Iran's ruling clerics, but it's unclear whether they could have carried out the apparently coordinated bombings in the capital. Most anti-government violence in recent years has been isolated to Iran's provinces such the border with Pakistan where Sunni rebels are active and the western mountains near Iraq where Kurdish separatists operate. Tehran police chief Hossein Sajednia said no one has been arrested in connection with Monday's attack and no one has so far claimed responsibility. The bombings both took place in the morning, in locations in north and northeast Tehran that lie about a 15-minute drive apart, without traffic. There were conflicting reports on what time each attack took place. The slain scientist, Shahriari, was a member of the nuclear engineering faculty at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran and cooperated with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Salehi, who heads the organization. "He was involved in one of the big AEOI projects, which is a source of pride for the Iranian nation," Salehi said, according to IRNA, without giving any details on the project. The AEOI is in charge of Iran's nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment program. A pro-government website, mashreghnews.ir, said the wounded scientist, Abbasi, is a Revolutionary Guard member who is a laser expert at Iran's Defense Ministry and one of few top Iranian specialists in nuclear isotope separation — a process needed for a range of purposes, from producing enriched uranium fuel for a reactor, to manufacturing medical isotopes to producing a bomb. |
| Google Earth 6: Here's What's New (Mashable) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 08:46 AM PST Google has announced the release of Google Earth 6. The latest version is available today for Windows, OS X and Linux.
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| Bush bashes WikiLeaks as he pushes memoir online (AFP) Posted: 29 Nov 2010 06:32 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Former US president George W. Bush has bashed WikiLeaks in a wide-ranging chat streamed live online at Facebook as part of a promotion tour for his memoir "Decision Points." Bush touched on topics ranging from war in Iraq and relations with China to moments with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his beloved Texas baseball team being trounced by San Francisco in a recent US championship series. The 64-year-old former US president was interviewed by Facebook's young founder Mark Zuckerberg and Bush administration attorney Ted Ullyot, now general counsel at the world's top online social networking service. "I've got over 600,000 friends on my Facebook page and I've watched your company grow," Bush said of his reason for visiting the firm's headquarters in Northern California to appear on the Facebook Live streaming channel. "I love entrepreneurship... Plus, the truth of the matter is, I'm shamelessly marketing. I hope people read my book." Bush repeatedly plugged his memoir while sharing anecdotes from the book, playfully teasing Zuckerberg for not finishing college, and fielding questions submitted in messages from people watching on the Internet. When asked his reaction to whistle-blower website WikiLeaks releasing an avalanche of diplomatic memos during the weekend, Bush condemned the move. "Leaks are very damaging and people who leak ought to be prosecuted," Bush said. "I was frustrated to know that there are people who did not honor their agreement with the government not to talk about secrets." Leaks that expose behind-the-scenes comments or conversations sabotage trust that is essential for national leaders to work together, he added. "When you have a conversation with a foreign leader and it ends up in the newspapers they are not going to like it," Bush said. "I didn't like it." Bush said he has happily avoided the spotlight since his departure from the White House but needed to step back into the public eye to promote his memoir. The Republican has shunned efforts by members of his party to take swings at Democratic President Barack Obama. "I don't want to," Bush said, contending that such sniping is bad for the country. "I didn't like it when former presidents criticized me and I'm not going to do it to President Obama or whoever succeeds him." Bush commended the Democratic administration for beefing up US military efforts in Afghanistan and for making education a priority at home. "You didn't even graduate from college," Bush teased before smiling and giving the 26-year-old self-made billionaire a fist 'bump.' Bush advised Zuckerberg to ignore destructive criticism and to stand firm on decisions he believes in. "And no whining," the former president added. "If a leader of an organization goes into a fetal position because of criticism, it is going to be a pretty tough signal to the ranks." "What you are saying rings true," Zuckerberg responded. "One of the things I always admired about you was when things happened you had a vision and stuck to it." The former president said he has become "an iPad person" but that he prefers hearing birds to listening to his iPod MP3 player. Anecdotes in the book include Bush introducing Putin to his small dog only to find the Russian leader unimpressed with the "awesome little guy," Bush said. A few years later the men were together again and Putin introduced Bush to his dog, a hound that Putin commented was "bigger, faster, stronger" than the Bush canine. "It really said a lot about US-Russia relations at that time," Bush said. "I shared the story with Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, and he said 'At least he only showed you his dog.'" Bush predicted that women will be the leaders of the freedom movement, particularly in the Middle East, and that trade with China will drive change in China. "This book is my way of letting you in on my life as president," he said. "I am not trying to shape my legacy. "If you see me at an airport you don't have to wave with all five fingers," he added. "And if you don't, you won't be the first." |
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