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Friday, November 12, 2010

Intel hikes dividend again despite tech worries (AP) : Technet

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Intel hikes dividend again despite tech worries (AP) : Technet

Intel hikes dividend again despite tech worries (AP)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 02:54 PM PST

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – Fri Nov 12, 5:54 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Intel Corp. is confident enough in the stability of its moneymaking skills to raise its dividend by 15 percent, even as Wall Street braces for a bumpy ride for the technology industry.

The chip-maker's announcement Friday comes on the heels of a downcast description of the technology market by Cisco Systems Inc. Cisco dragged down stocks this week with a warning that government spending — especially at the state and local level — has suddenly turned sluggish. Many investors are worried that other technology companies are in line for a beating over the next several quarters and that the problems will spread to other industries.

Intel's dividend hike, the fourth since the Great Recession started in late 2007, is less a reflection of the company's optimism about the market than a reminder of its unique advantages in the computing industry. It also underscores the fact that many large companies have been sitting on piles of cash for the past three years and have been pouring some of the money back into their dividends to appease skittish shareholders.

According to Capital IQ Quantitative Research, nearly half of the companies in the S&P 500 have raised their dividend since the end of 2007, while only a fifth cut theirs.

Intel itself has warned recently about tough times in its business of selling microprocessors, the "brains" of personal computers and servers. But at the same time, it commands 80 percent of the market for those chips and is in the desirable position of owning its own factories, which means it can make better chips cheaper than its competitors.

Although the factories are expensive, requiring frequent multibillion-dollar upgrades, Intel has been able to put in technological advances — such as new techniques for shrinking the size of the circuitry on its chips — to help the company wring out more profit from its chips.

"I wouldn't necessarily say that Intel's bullish," said Patrick Wang, a semiconductor analyst with Wedbush Securities. Wang added that Intel will make investors feel better in returning cash to them, even though it isn't a reflection of Intel feeling exuberant about the market.

Intel shares rose 32 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $21.53. But the company's upbeat comments couldn't lift the broader market. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 90.52, or 0.8 percent, to 11,192.58 on news that China might try to slow its surging economy to combat inflation.

As a barometer for the tech sector, Intel has flashed some mixed signals over the past few months.

Back in August, the company cut its quarterly sales forecast, citing "weaker than expected demand for consumer PCs in mature markets," including the U.S. and Europe. Then last month it offered a more encouraging fourth-quarter forecast that met expectations.

The move to raise its dividend Friday provided a counterpoint to Cisco's weak projections.

On Wednesday, Cisco said that new orders during the most recent quarter fell short of the company's expectations. It forecast revenue growth for the quarter ending in January at just 3 percent to 5 percent over last year, less than half the growth rate analysts expected. Some analysts have noted that while Cisco's problems are an omen for much of the tech world, its networking equipment can be very expensive. Analysts say companies selling cheaper products might not experience as severe a slowdown in sales.

Cisco, which provides big companies, government agencies and service providers with the equipment that routes data over the Internet, has announced plans for a dividend, though the exact size isn't yet known and will depend on tax laws and market conditions. Cisco is sitting on $38.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents, much of it stuck abroad and not being used for investments in the U.S. as companies such as Cisco pressure the government to lower taxes on money made outside the U.S. and brought back stateside.

Oracle Corp., one of the world's biggest business software makers, began paying a dividend last year.

Since the recession started, Intel's quarterly dividend has grown to 15.75 cents per share, from 11.25 cents per share. On Friday, the company announced it was extending that further to 18 cents per share, a total increase of 60 percent over the past three years. CEO Paul Otellini said the company "remains on track to have our best year ever and we continue to generate strong cash flows."

Intel, whose stock is a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, has one of that group's highest-yielding dividends. Intel's annual yield currently stands at 3 percent of its stock price. Intel said the new dividend will take effect in the first quarter of next year. The company ended the latest quarter with nearly $15 billion in cash and short-term investments, nearly $3 billion more than it had the quarter before.

Intel is taking in far more than it's giving back through the dividend. At the new, higher rate, Intel will be paying about $1 billion a quarter in dividends, based on the latest share count. That's up from about $900 million per quarter at the lower rate.

Doug Freedman, an analyst with Gleacher & Co., said Intel's boost was higher than he expected. He noted that as the semiconductor and other tech industries have matured, and the supercharged growth of the dot-com days and earlier eras has slipped away, dividends have become more important as a way to reward investment.

"If you're investing in tech, you really need to start paying more attention to dividend yields as much as you want to pay attention to growth," Freedman said. "What Intel's doing with their dividend is more about their business model than optimism about the market or top-line numbers. With no growth, Intel can support that dividend yield."

___

AP Business Writer Andrew Vanacore contributed to this story from New York.

Amazon.com to hire 15K temp workers to fill holiday orders (AP)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 02:38 PM PST

By EMILY FREDRIX, AP Retail Writer Emily Fredrix, Ap Retail Writer – Fri Nov 12, 5:38 pm ET

NEW YORK – Amazon.com Inc. said Friday it is hiring more than 15,500 people to fill temporary holiday jobs at shipping centers around the country, more than it hired last year.

The online retail giant said in news releases that it will hire more than 5,000 people in Phoenix and Goodyear, Ariz., and 4,000 in Pennsylvania at locations including Allentown, Hazleton and Lewisberry.

In Indiana, it will hire more than 2,500 people in Whitestown and Plainfield, and it will hired more than 2,000 each in Hebron, Ky. and Fernley, Nev.

The Seattle company said it is hiring more people this year than last but not how many more.

Many retailers are increasing their hiring this season. Kohl's Corp., Macy's Inc., Toys R Us, Pier 1 Imports Inc., American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and others plan to hire more temporary holiday workers.

Retailers will add between 550,000 and 650,000 jobs this holiday season, according to an updated forecast from the national outsourcing firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. That's significantly more than the 501,400 added last year. But it's still well below the 720,800 added in 2007 as the recession began.

About 10 percent of U.S. holiday sales are made online, but the sector is growing fast. Research firm comScore Inc. expects it to grow 7 to 9 percent compared with a year ago, when online holiday sales were 4 percent higher than the previous year.

Earlier this month Amazon.com also announced thousands of temporary holiday jobs in Campbellsville and Lexington, Ky. and Las Vegas.

The company has 31,200 permanent employees worldwide.

Shares fell $4.55 or 2.7 percent to $165.82 on Friday.

NYC transit union chief seeks to unmask blogger (AP)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 12:09 PM PST

By JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press – Fri Nov 12, 3:09 pm ET

NEW YORK – The head of New York City's transit union wants to go after an anonymous blog that has blasted him, and he asked a court Friday to make Google tell him who's responsible.

John Samuelsen says in court papers that the blog has repeatedly attacked him with false accusations of incompetence and financial improprieties.

The allegations are "being made for no purpose other than to damage my reputation" among union members, Samuelsen said in a sworn statement.

His legal papers say he plans to pursue a defamation suit, but he hasn't been able to learn who's behind the blog, housed by Google-owned Blogspot.com.

There was no immediate answer to an e-mail sent to an address posted on the blog.

Google Inc. declined to comment. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company says it doesn't discuss individual cases to protect users' privacy.

A growing number of people are turning to courts to try to unmask their online detractors, and such lawsuits have gotten more attention since Vogue cover model Liskula Cohen successfully sued Google last year to get the name of a blogger who had denigrated her. Samuelsen's court filing points to Cohen's case.

Samuelsen also is asking a court to order Site Meter Inc., a company that tracks visitors to websites, to turn over any information it might have about the blogger or bloggers. The Los Angeles-based company didn't immediately respond to an e-mail inquiry.

Samuelsen was elected last December to lead the union, Transport Workers of America Local 100. It represents about 38,000 workers who run city buses and subways, plus some private bus lines in the metropolitan area.

His tenure followed some rocky times for the union, which was hit with stiff fines after a three-day strike in December 2005; the walkout was illegal under state law. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Transit Administration — the agency that runs city buses and subways — has struggled with massive budget gaps in recent years, prompting service cuts and fare hikes.

The blog in Samuelsen's cross-hairs is largely devoted to the union's internal politics. It has made a spray of complaints about him, some concerning the handling of money that union members donated for relief efforts in Haiti after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake there.

All the members' gifts, plus $50,000 from the union as a whole, went to relief work, Samuelsen said in his sworn statement.

Are you willing to trust Facebook with your email? (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 02:21 PM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Fri Nov 12, 5:21 pm ET

Facebook has called another press event, slated for next week—and based on the oh-so-subtle decorations on the invites, many believe that Mark Zuckerberg & Co. are poised to unleash a so-called "Gmail killer." But are we truly ready to turn our inboxes over to Facebook?

The latest word on Monday morning's briefing is that we'll get our first look at Project Titan—the code name for what is reputedly a secret Facebook project aimed at creating a full-on Web-based email client to rival such competitors as Gmail, Hotmail and (of course) Yahoo! Mail. (You've noticed that Yahoo! News—which hosts this blog—and Yahoo! Mail are owned by the same company, right?)

Inside Facebook headquarters, Project Titan is being called a "Gmail killer," TechCrunch reports. Many believe that the rumored email project could help explain the recent flap between Facebook and Google over Facebook's unwillingness to allow its users to export their friends lists—and their contact info—into Gmail.

Assuming the rumors are true—and remember, there's no official word from Facebook yet—what might we be talking about here?

Facebook already has its own bare-bones client for exchanging private messages with your Facebook friends, but it's pretty basic. You can't import e-mail from other clients or POP accounts, organize your messages into folders, or archive them for safekeeping; your only options are to mark a message as unread, report spam or delete.

On the low end, Facebook could simply add some of that basic functionality: the ability to create folders, checkboxes for selecting which messages go where, POP support and so on. It's also a good bet that Facebook users would be issued an email address, and Inside Facebook has some theories (would you get an "@facebook.com" email domain, "@fb.com" or something else?) on that front.

The smart money, though, seems to be on the possibility of something far more ambitious: a "full-fledged" email client that would truly compete with Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and other advanced Web-based email services that give you desktop-style features in a browser.

There's even speculation that Facebook's Project Titan could integrate with Microsoft's just-launched Office Web Apps, which could mean you'd be able to edit online Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, all within your Facebook account.

In other words—and again, assuming all the Titan talk is for real—it would appear that Facebook is pursuing nothing more ambitious than to become your online nerve center, your home base, your first stop when it comes to scanning the news, checking in with your friends, corresponding with ... well, the world, and even doing something productive, at least when you're not whiling away the hours on FarmVille.

Are there risks to letting Facebook take over as your email client? Well, sure. Anyone who's already nervous about Facebook invading their privacy will find reason to fret about Facebook handling their email accounts. Will messages be scanned for keywords that would result in targeted advertisements? (Oh, wait—Gmail already does that.) What about Facebook developers—would they get access to your messages? (You never know, although Facebook's been much better lately about letting you slam the door shut on Platform app access to your info.)

But there are plenty of possible advantages, too. As TechCrunch points out, Facebook's engineers have made a science out of mapping your various circles of friends, and the site could use that expertise to create a "smart" inbox that organizes your messages according to who's most important to you—and who isn't. (I'd imagine users would be able to turn off their "smart" inboxes if they wanted to.)

Using Facebook for email could also mean the end of having to remember the current (or proper, depending on the occasion) e-mail address for your various confidants. For better or worse, it's increasingly feeling like the whole world's on Facebook, and while email addresses change all the time (because someone has changed jobs, moved to a new ISP or merely grown tired of their old email client), Facebook accounts tend to stay the same—making emailing someone a simple (and reliable) matter of just typing in their name.

Keep in mind, however, that Mark Zuckerberg isn't shy about touting his ultimate goal of "making everything social"—a quest that seems to translate, sooner or later, into making everything Facebook. Adding a full-on email client to Facebook represents yet another step in that direction, for good or ill.

In any case, this is all just conjecture. For all we know, Zuckerberg could have little more to announce on Monday (at 10 a.m. PT, by the way) than the ability to choose pretty background templates for your Facebook messages.

Something tells me we'll be getting a lot more than that come Monday, however—and given that, I'd like to hear from you.

If Facebook does unveil a new, Gmail-caliber email client, would you make the switch? Would you trust Facebook with your inbox, or are you wary of the privacy implications—or leery of Facebook in general? (Personally, I'm all over the map on this one.)

Let me know.

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

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Penny-pinching consumers cutting cable, cell service (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 10:14 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Fri Nov 12, 1:14 pm ET

Generic brands, brown-bag lunches, and fewer trips to the beauty salon are three of the top ways U.S. consumers are looking to save money, according to a recent survey. Look a little further down the list, though, and you'll find that more and more Americans are also cutting back on their cable TV and cell phone service.

A recent Harris Interactive survey found that a good 22 percent of consumers either scaled back their cable service or canceled it completely in the last six months, and an additional 21 percent gave the idea serious thought.

About 17 percent of consumers tweaked or chopped their cell phone service, the survey said. Another 17 percent kept their cell phones but nixed their landlines.

Most of those either changing or canceling their cable service—28 percent, to be exact—turn out to be Gen X'ers, or those between the ages of 34 and 45 (like yours truly). They also lead the way when it comes to cutting their cell phone plans: 21 percent told the Harris researchers they'd either changed or nixed their wireless service in the last six months.

Then again, 18- to 33-year-old "echo boomers" chopped their landlines at the same rate as the Generation X consumers did: a solid 22 percent, according to the survey.

The Harris figures come on the heels of grim quarterly results from the big cable companies, which lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers in the last quarter.

Pay-TV executives blame the poor economy for their lost subscribers, rather than viewers who are ditching their cable and satellite service for watching shows over the Internet. That said, I think it's still safe to call it a case of "cord cutting."

On the other hand, the number of cell phone subscribers in the U.S. continues to climb, so I'm guessing that most of the consumers polled in the Harris survey simply geared down their wireless service rather than canceling it altogether.

And it's no secret that more and more Americans are ditching their landlines. The National Center for Health Statistics reported in May that nearly 1 in 4 U.S. households have gone all mobile, all the time.

Of course, the scientific Harris poll (which surveyed more than 3,000 consumers last month) only covered the top dozen ways in which Americans have been pinching pennies in the past several months.

I'd be interested to see how many folks took such measures as, say, cutting back on the number of Netflix movies they have at home each month—or canceled their Netflix subscriptions altogether.

Or what about cutting back on trips to the movies, perhaps instead renting movies online or from a Redbox kiosk? Who kept a cell phone a year longer than they normally would have, or decided to put up with an aging PC for a just a little while longer, rather than coughing up for a new one?

How have you cut back when it comes to wireless, online or gadgets in the past year or so?

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

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Remains of the Day: PC and Mac together again…sort of (Macworld)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 04:30 PM PST

Dan Moren Dan Moren – Fri Nov 12, 7:30 pm ET

Microsoft takes a shot at an ad featuring a PC and a Mac—with a twist. Meanwhile, they say only the good die young—but what dies young and then claws its way back to the living? And if the Saw films aren't your cup of tea, you might want to avoid these pictures of tortured Apple products. The remainders for Friday, November 12, 2010 will certainly be watching through their fingers.

PC & Mac take flight — Avatar & Windows 7 (YouTube)

Microsoft's latest Windows ad touts PCs' Blu-ray-playing chops. More to the point, though, I have some questions about this speculative universe where even movies star sentient laptops. Let me get this straight: computers eat computer chips but can still drink ginger ale?

Confirmed: Kin One and Two are returning to Verizon. Wait, what? (Engadget)

Sure, Halloween was a couple of weeks back, but apparently that's not the only time of the year that the dead rise. The Microsoft Kin, the smartphone that Redmond killed off two weeks after its introduction, may walk again, according to leaked documents from Verizon. Remember, folks, this is why you always double tap.

What happens when you shoot a MacBook, and other pictures (Cult of Mac)

Ever wonder what happens if you were to shoot your MacBook with a handgun, handsaw a Magic Mouse, or sledgehammer an iPhone 4? You have? You sick puppy.

Apple removes '09 from iWork Boxes (9 to 5 Mac)

Apparently Apple has scrubbed the '09 from images of the iWork box in a mailer it sent out. Conspiracy theories in 3…2…1—oh my god, they've changed history.

Cisco hires former Apple executive Papermaster (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 03:25 PM PST

– Fri Nov 12, 6:25 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Cisco Systems Inc has hired former Apple Inc executive Mark Papermaster, who left that company weeks after it was rocked by the "Antennagate" controversy on the latest iPhone.

Cisco said on Friday Papermaster has joined the networking giant as vice president of its silicon switching technology group.

Papermaster, who was in charge of iPhone engineering at Apple, left the company last summer. Apple has declined to provide a reason for his departure.

Apple released the iPhone 4 in June and the device has been an unqualified hit.

But the company found itself in a public relations nightmare when reports emerged about bad reception on the smartphone, which featured a new design with an antenna that wrapped around the outside.

The issue refused to go away and Apple was forced to call a news conference and give away free cases to address the matter.

Papermaster spent 25 years at IBM Corp before Apple lured him away in 2008.

IBM sued Papermaster after his departure, saying he agreed to avoid working for any competitor for a year.

A federal court initially barred Papermaster from working for Apple, but the lawsuit was eventually resolved and he began work for Apple in April of 2009.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; editing by Andre Grenon)

Leaks Expose Rebirth of Microsoft Kin Not-So-Smartphone (PC World)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 05:37 PM PST

John P. Mello Jr. John P. Mello Jr. – Fri Nov 12, 8:37 pm ET

Two feature-challenged smartphones designed by Microsoft for younger mobile users look like they will be revived by Verizon. An internal Verizon document leaked to PPC Geeks shows the phones, the Kin ONEm and Kin TWOm, as part of the company's upcoming product lineup. Both units have touchscreens, full Qwerty keyboards, and support Zune Pass, Microsoft's music service. The ONEm has a 5-megapixel camera and 4GB of internal memory; the TWOm, an 8-megapixel camera, which records HD video, and 8GB of memory. The reappearance of the phones is surprising since Microsoft announced in July that it was quitting work on the platform to concentrate all its resources on Windows Phone 7, which launched this month. "We are integrating our Kin team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from Kin into future Windows Phone releases," Microsoft stated at the time.In its attempt to cater to younger mobile users--teens, tweens and twenty somethings--it apparently created a product that appealed to nobody. The phones were more powerful than feature phones, but less powerful than smartphones, yet they were priced more like smartphones than feature phones. That pricing included a minimum data plan of $29.95 a month. The new Kins will be completely cut loose from a data plan, according to Engadget. Moreover, as a feature phone, lower cost plans are available to consumers, plans in the $10 to $15 range.The revival idea may not be Microsoft's. Betanews, citing unnamed sources, reported that Microsoft, when it walked away from the project in July, handed over all the updates to Verizon. "If we gave them all the technology, they could run with it on their own," the source said.Some skeptics doubt that the Kin is being revived at all. They maintain that all Verizon isdoing is clearing inventory.If the phone is being revived and Microsoft is behind it, maybe it's Redmond's "Plan B,"should Windows Phone 7 flop, added one web wag.

Google and Facebook rivalry takes centerstage (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 05:15 PM PST

By Alexei Oreskovic Alexei Oreskovic – Fri Nov 12, 8:15 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The technology industry's latest rivalry takes centerstage next week when Internet powers Google Inc and Facebook lay out their competing visions to create a new generation of Web services at a high-profile conference in San Francisco.

The relationship between the two Internet icons has become increasingly confrontational, and the battle will likely intensify on Monday when Facebook is expected to introduce a revamped version of its messaging technology that could pose a challenge to Google's Gmail.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Google Chief Eric Schmidt will each take the stage, along with dozens of other Internet industry heavyweights, during the 3-day Web 2.0 conference that kicks off Monday.

With reports swirling that Yahoo Inc is being eyed for a takeover by private equity firms, possibly in coordination with AOL Inc or News Corp. Yahoo Inc CEO Carol Bartz's talk at the conference on Tuesday will also be closely watched.

And investors hoping for an eventual wave of initial public offerings by a new generation of fast-growing Web start-ups will keep an eye on appearances by executives from Twitter, Zynga and LinkedIn.

But all eyes will be on Zuckerberg and Schmidt, and the pitched struggle for Web surfers' time online, advertising dollars, and increasingly costly Silicon Valley talent.

Investors are waiting for details of Google's social networking strategy. Google has acquired several small social networking companies in recent months and Schmidt has said the company would begin to add social "layers" to its existing products in the fall.

CLASH OF WEB TITANS

Google's Internet search engine and Facebook's social networking service have grown into billion-dollar businesses, amassing vast numbers of users. Now, the two are increasingly on a collision course.

"Once you have that many (users), you want to try to be all things to all people in some sense ..., and I think everything falls out of that," said a person familiar with Facebook's thinking.

"They have similar aspirations and goals," the person said of Google.

The latest flashpoint appears to be email, with Facebook due to unveil "across the board" changes to its messaging service on Monday, according to the source.

Blog TechCrunch reported on Friday that Facebook will unveil a full-fledged Web email product, along with "@facebook.com" email addresses for users, and noted that the product is referred to within Facebook as a "Gmail-killer."

A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.

Last week, Google began blocking a Facebook feature that allows users to automatically import Gmail contact data into the social networking service. Google accused Facebook of siphoning up Google data without allowing for the automatic import and export of Facebook users' information.

They are also increasingly vying for engineering talent in Silicon Valley. This week, Google internally announced plans to boost salaries by 10 percent, according to media reports, in a move viewed as an effort to staunch an exodus of engineers and managers to Facebook.

But the social network itself lost a star engineer on Friday, when Paul Buchheit said he was leaving Facebook to join Y Combinator, a firm that invests in and provides services for technology start-ups.

Buchheit, who worked at Google from 1999 to 2006, is best known as the creator of Google's Gmail. But he would not discuss any Facebook product plans when reached on the phone on Friday.

When reports of Facebook building an email product first surfaced in February, Buchheit said he was not working on anything related to email at Facebook and that he didn't plan to.

(Editing by Edwin Chan and Richard Chang)

Justin Bieber's new song, "Pray", debuts online (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 06:34 PM PST

By Jason Lipshutz Jason Lipshutz – 2 hrs 31 mins ago

NEW YORK (Billboard) – "Pray," the only new track on Justin Bieber's forthcoming acoustic effort "My Worlds Acoustic," has hit the web two weeks before the disc's November 26 release.

Earlier this week, the pop star announced the mid-tempo single and unveiled the artwork of "Acoustic," which will include stripped-down takes on his hits "Baby," "One Time" and "U Smile."

Unlike the strictly acoustic tracks on the album, "Pray" uses a string section, synthesizers and congas as Bieber offers an inspirational outlook on the future.

"I know there's sunshine beyond that rain, I know there's good times beyond that pain/Heaven, tell me I can make a change," Bieber sings.

In other Bieber news, the singer has announced the creation of www.Bieberpix.com, a forum for photographer Robert Caplin -- who worked on the art for Bieber's memoir, "First Step 2 Forever: My Story" -- to post exclusive pictures of Bieber.

Prints of the photos are being sold on the site, with proceeds going to an unnamed charity.

" is gonna be posting never before seen pics every week to help others," Bieber wrote on his Twitter account yesterday.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

Could Facebook Replace Your E-Mail Inbox? (Mashable)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 12:14 PM PST

Pete Cashmore Pete Cashmore – Fri Nov 12, 3:14 pm ET

Facebook is inviting the press to a special event Monday, leading some to speculate that the company is set to overhaul its Messages product.

The basis for the speculation? The invite prominently displays Facebook's inbox logo. With some additional features, Facebook may even compete with your current e-mail provider, the theory goes.

Let's imagine that Facebook's long-rumored overhaul of its Messages product does transpire, either at this event or in the future: Could it pose a threat to existing e-mail providers? Will Facebook users begin to use Facebook Messages more, and their existing e-mail accounts less?

That's the topic of my CNN column this week.


Check out the column at CNN.com >>

‘Freemium’ apps make up one-third of top 100 grossing iPhone apps (Appolicious)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 10:30 AM PST

Tensions Rise Over Damages at Oracle-SAP Trial (PC World)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 03:40 PM PST

James Niccolai James Niccolai – Fri Nov 12, 6:40 pm ET

The Oracle-SAP trial ended its second week with some tense exchanges over how much SAP should pay in damages for the software theft committed by its TomorrowNow subsidiary.

Oracle called its last witness on Friday morning and had almost finished presenting its case when the court broke up for the weekend. After Oracle wraps up its case on Monday morning, SAP will have about two weeks to make its defense.

For its last witness Friday, Oracle played a video-taped deposition of former SAP CEO Henning Kagermann, who acknowledged that TomorrowNow's use of Oracle's software was "not appropriate in all cases."

Much of Friday was spent on SAP's cross-examination of Oracle's damages expert, Paul Meyer, who testified earlier this week that SAP should pay Oracle US$1.6 billion to compensate for the software stolen by TomorrowNow, which SAP has since shut down.

Bob Mittelstaedt, an attorney for SAP, tried to show that Meyer's analysis was flawed, but he struggled to get yes or no answers to the questions he asked.

If TomorrowNow had negotiated a license for the stolen software, he asked Meyer at one point, would SAP have had the right to sell Oracle's intellectual property to other companies?

"Can you define 'sell' for me?" Meyer asked.

Mittlestandt grew frustrated -- "Can you just answer yes or no please?" he asked several times -- but he managed to stay calm. He impeached Meyer four times during his cross-examination for appearing to contradict his earlier testimony.

He questioned Meyer's assumption that SAP expected to convert 50 percent of Oracle's PeopleSoft customers to its own services and applications. SAP board member Shai Agassi had testified that the 50 percent figure was an "aspirational goal" rather than an expectation.

"You're not saying that for a person making a decision on a rational basis, that an 'aspirational goal' would be a reason to pay a billion dollars [for an Oracle software license]?" Mittelstaedt asked.

"That's one piece from thousands of data sources," Meyer said.

Mittelstaedt: "Were you just looking for the highest numbers you could find?"

Meyer: "No, I was looking at all the numbers."

Under questioning from Oracle's own attorney, Meyer told the jury that the $40 million that SAP thinks it should pay for the license is inadequate. "There's no way that would compensate Oracle for the software taken in January 2005," Meyer said.

SAP will present its own damages expert when it starts its defense. It is also expected to call SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott.

It appears that former SAP CEO Leo Apotheker, who recently became chief executive at Hewlett-Packard, will be spared an appearance in court. Oracle has been unable to subpoena Apotheker and compel him to appear because he has stayed outside of California, where the trial is taking place. HP says he is on a tour visiting HP employees and customers.

Apotheker has given a deposition on video, but Oracle apparently has decided not to use it.

The Top 10 Stories in IT This Week (PC World)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 01:40 PM PST

Nancy Weil Nancy Weil – Fri Nov 12, 4:40 pm ET

We used to go weeks -- months even -- with no news about Java, but that seems to be changing since Oracle bought Sun Microsystems and took over licensing control of the language, which sparked heat this week from the Apache Software Foundation. Oracle also brought star-power to the witness stand this week as CEO Larry Ellison testified in its intellectual-property theft case against SAP.

1. Apache declares war on Oracle over Java and Apple contributing to open source Mac Java project: The Apache Software Foundation contends that Oracle disregarded its own licensing terms for Java technology and so the foundation is urging members of the Java Community Process to join forces against the next proposed version of the language if Oracle does not straighten up. The foundation also threatened to pull out of the JVC is Oracle does not lift licensing restrictions. There also was happier Java news for Oracle as Apple announced that it will contribute to the open-source Mac Java project.

2. Ellison gets a grilling at Oracle-SAP trial: In other Oracle news, Ellison claimed under oath that SAP would have had to pay $4 billion had it licensed all of the intellectual property that its now-closed subsidiary TomorrowNow stole from Oracle, based on his assessment of what percentage of his company's PeopleSoft and Siebel customers could have been stolen away by SAP. His figure was based on how much Oracle paid for those two companies when it acquired them. SAP admits that the theft occurred, so the case now is all about how much it will have to pay.

3. EU invests €15.7 million in IBM-led cloud storage project: The European Union is investing €15.7 million in an IBM-led research project into cloud storage, which also will involve 14 European partners across a spectrum of industries.

4. Red Hat releases RHEL 6: Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 6.0 came out this week, with company executives saying they aim to "erode the Microsoft server ecosystem."

5. Obama may toughen Internet privacy rules, report says: A U.S. Department of Commerce report next week will detail Obama administration plans to toughen policing of Internet privacy, with the president planning to also announce a new federal position to oversee that effort, according to The Wall Street Journal.

6. Amazon bows to social networking pressure on pedophile book: Users of Facebook and Twitter vented their fury in posts and calls for boycotts against Amazon after it was discovered that the online retailer was selling copies of a guide to pedophilia, leading Amazon to stop selling the book.

7. FCC investigating Google over Street View: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission joined what seems to be an ever-growing list of agencies globally that are investigating Google and its data collection for the Street View service.

8. Zeus threatens to strike down community banks: Community banks face a financial threat from the Zeus Trojan, which continues to be used to steal money from accounts, according to speakers at a symposium about cybercrime.

9. At IBM's Zurich nanotech laboratory, silence is key: IBM gave journalists a peek at its advanced nanotechnology laboratory due to open in a few months in Zurich.

10. Supercomputing fest will spotlight world's fastest computers, high-performance issues: We're looking forward to next week's SC10 supercomputing conference in New Orleans, which always provides interesting news about the frontiers of high-powered machines.

Obama admin. wants online privacy protections (The Upshot)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 12:59 PM PST

Linux Mint 10 ‘Julia' Is Now Official (PC World)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 10:06 AM PST

Katherine Noyes Katherine Noyes – Fri Nov 12, 1:06 pm ET

The Linux Mint team announced today that the final release of version 10 of the free and open source operating system, dubbed "Julia," is now officially available.

Launched in 2006, Linux Mint has quickly become the third most popular Linux distribution out there behind only Ubuntu and Fedora, and version 10 makes it easy to see why. Based on Ubuntu 10.10, or Maverick Meerkat, Julia offers numerous enhancements that put it at the forefront of usability.

Welcome Screen

A new Welcome Screen, for instance, lets users install any multimedia codecs they might need right from the start as well as upgrade to the DVD edition, if necessary. Linux Mint has always stood out for its compatibility, thanks in large part to its inclusion of many proprietary multimedia codecs that are often absent from other distributions, and this new capability makes that compatibility even easier to ensure.

Updated Menu

A revamped menu, meanwhile, highlights newly installed applications and adds support for GTK bookmarks and themes for easier customization. It's also now aware of what's available in the user's software repositories, meaning that they can search for software and install packages without even having to open the Software Manager.

Search capabilities are now directly integrated into the menu as well, so users can simply begin typing to look something up on Google or Wikipedia, for example. It's also now possible to look up words in the dictionary and find tutorials, software, hardware devices and even other Linux Mint users that way.

Software Manager

Then, too, there are the updates to Linux Mint 10's Software Manager, making packages easier to browse through and find. Software is now categorized more clearly, while application icons make them easier to recognize.

Update Manager

Also new in Julia is an Update Manager that lets the user tell the operating system if there are packages for which they're not interested in receiving updates. When updates are selected, the Update Manager now shows the size of the file about to be downloaded.

Look and Feel

There's a new look and feel in Linux Mint 10, adding a metallic twist to the distribution's traditional light theme and dark background. A number of artist-created backgrounds are also available.

System Enhancements

Under the hood, components include security-enhanced version 2.6.35 of the Linux kernel, GNOME 2.32 and Xorg 7.5. The speedy Adobe Flash "Square" is also part of Julia, as is a new metapackage called "virtualbox-nonfree" that points to the non-open-source version of Oracle's VirtualBox virtualization software and provides USB support.

Upload Manager

Finally, for developers and administrators, Julia's Upload Manager has been polished with a raft of new improvements.

Following the debut of its release candidate last month, Linux Mint 10 is now available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions via Torrent and HTTP download. It will be supported through April 2012. The software requires an x86 processor with 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of disk space for installation along with a graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution.

I've got Maverick Meerkat running on my main machine, but taking Julia for a lengthier test-drive is going to be one of my weekend projects.

If you're curious about Linux Mint as a user-friendly alternative to Mac or Windows -- or if you're an Ubuntu user who wants to see what Mint is like in light of all the big changes coming down the pike for Canonical's distribution -- there's no better time to give Julia a try.

Follow Katherine Noyes on Twitter: @Noyesk.

Web 2.0 Summit to Map 'Net Economy's 'points of Control' (PC World)

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 04:10 PM PST

Juan Carlos Perez Juan Carlos Perez – Fri Nov 12, 7:10 pm ET

Internet companies are engaged in an escalating landgrab of world-war proportions, involved in vicious battles over many fronts, and the outcomes will have far-reaching consequences for years to come.

At least that's how the current status of the Web economy is perceived by Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle, the head honchos of the hyper-exclusive and highly influential Web 2.0 Summit conference, which runs from Monday to Wednesday in San Francisco.

"We're excited this year to be dealing with the biggest set of transitions in the Internet economy since the dot-com bust. In fact, it's way bigger than the dot-com bust," O'Reilly said recently during a webcast to discuss the focus of the conference.

To illustrate the wrangling for market share and opportunities that is going on, O'Reilly and Battelle have set up an interactive map with clever cartography that includes the Clouds of Infrastructure, the Union of Social Networks, the Land of Search, the Kingdom of E-Commerce, the Oceans of OS and UI, the Subcontinent of Advertising, Location Basin and the Plains of Content.

All those areas are considered "points of control" and will be discussed at length in on-stage interviews and panels at this year's conference, where the speaker roster as usual features industry superstars, including top executives from Yahoo, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Research in Motion and Adobe.

For O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, the Internet economy is at a stage now where players have known where the money is, for a while, the period of hyper-growth has settled down and opportunities for expansion involve invading others' stomping ground.

"Companies are focused less on inventing the future and more on what they're going to take away from the competition," he said.

As in previous years, companies will probably take advantage of the industry attention on the conference to make product announcements. Facebook, for example, will hold a press conference on Monday morning in San Francisco to announce what is rumored to be a major enhancement to its messaging capabilities. The company may launch a full-fledged webmail service, with Microsoft involved in a significant way, according to various media reports.

"Getting into e-mail is a natural extension of what Facebook is doing. E-mail is probably the most widely used form of modern-day social networking, and most of us still do more social networking with e-mail than with any specialized tool every day, including networking to get our work done," said IDC analyst Al Hilwa, who hasn't been briefed on the announcement.

"Facebook is already being used extensively as a marketing and CRM [customer relationship management] tool as social and business worlds continue to blur. Moving deeper into the enterprise sector is a natural growth strategy. So, it is about time Facebook started looking beyond its established franchise to leverage its brand and user base for other ventures," he said via e-mail.

In that sense, it's only fitting that Web 2.0 Summit kicks off on Monday with a keynote appearance by Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, a company whose restlessness and eagerness to branch out from its core business of search exemplify the main theme of the event.

"I think we're setting it up great by starting with Eric Schmidt, because they have so many different plays and so many different points of control," Battelle said during the webcast. In addition to being one of the show's hosts, Battelle is founder, chairman and CEO of Federated Media Publishing.

Attendance at Web 2.0 Summit is capped at 1,000 attendees, a select group made up primarily of CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, marketing executives, entrepreneurs, product managers and venture capitalists.

They come from companies of all sizes: Twenty-four percent work at companies with fewer than 50 employees, while 30 percent work at companies with more than 2,500 employees, according to event co-producers O'Reilly Media and UBM TechWeb.
at 9:17 PM

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