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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Panasonic invests $30M in electric car maker Tesla (AP) : Technet

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Panasonic invests $30M in electric car maker Tesla (AP) : Technet

Panasonic invests $30M in electric car maker Tesla (AP)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 08:17 PM PDT

By SHINO YUASA, Associated Press Shino Yuasa, Associated Press – 37 mins ago

TOKYO – Panasonic Corp. is investing $30 million in Tesla Motors Inc., the U.S. maker of electric sports cars, eyeing expansion in the global market for green vehicles, both sides said Thursday.

Panasonic, Japan's biggest electronics maker, will acquire about a 2 percent stake in Tesla, purchasing Tesla common stock at $21.15 per share.

Panasonic, which already makes batteries for Tesla vehicles, said the two firms will jointly market and sell battery packs for electric cars.

Shares in Panasonic jumped 3.7 percent to 1,181 yen Thursday following the announcement of the capital tie-up with Tesla.

Apart from Panasonic, Toyota Motor Corp. already has invested $50 million in the high-end electric car maker. Toyota, the world's No. 1 automaker, has also signed a $60 million contract to have Tesla help develop an electric version of Toyota's RAV4 crossover vehicle.

"It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Panasonic, the world's leading battery-cell manufacturer, would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla," said Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk. "We believe our partnership with them will enable us to further improve our battery pack while reducing cost."

Tesla opened its first Asian showroom in a fashionable Tokyo neighborhood last month, hoping to woo rich buyers before eventually widening its appeal with cheaper models.

But the company has not turned a profit since it was founded in 2003, and so far Tesla has sold only about 1,000 of its high-end electric cars. It currently sells just one vehicle, the $109,000 Roadster sports car, which is popular among celebrities and performance-car enthusiasts.

But interest is high in Tesla because of growing concerns about global warming and pollution. Governments around the world are offering tax rebates and incentives for electric car buyers, and they also won't need to ever fill up at a gas station.

Nissan Motor Co., which is bullish on electric vehicles with its Leaf set for delivery in December, expect such vehicles to grow to 10 percent of overall global sales by 2020 but other research puts the number lower. Current sales of electric cars are negligible.

Naoto Noguchi, President of Panasonic's battery cell unit, said the company hopes to build its reputation as a green company.

Last month, Tesla showed a retooled factory in Fremont, California, the site of the former joint venture between Toyota and General Motors Co., where it plans to produce its next-generation electric sedan, the Model S, in partnership with Toyota, set to start in 2012.

See me, Obi-Wan Kenobi: Scientists seek 3-D video (AP)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 02:39 PM PDT

By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer Malcolm Ritter, Ap Science Writer – Wed Nov 3, 5:39 pm ET

NEW YORK – Scientists say they have taken a big step toward displaying live video in three dimensions — a technology far beyond 3-D movies and more like the "Star Wars" scene where a ghostly Princess Leia image pleads, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

In that classic movie, the audience sees her back before a new camera perspective shows her face. Such a wraparound view of a moving image was just movie-trick fantasy in the 1977 film, but now?

"It is actually very, very close to reality. We have demonstrated the concept that it works. It's no longer something that is science fiction," said Nasser Peyghambarian of the University of Arizona.

Actually, the results he and colleagues report in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature look more like a slide show than a video. In experiments, the technology displayed a new image only every two seconds. That's only about one-sixtieth as fast as the system would need to produce true video.

In addition, the image allowed only a 45-degree range of viewing angles because of how the experiments were done. The researchers are working toward providing a full, 360-degree view.

In fact, Peyghambarian figures that his team could produce a true 3-D video screen that might reach living rooms in perhaps a decade. And you wouldn't need those funny glasses to enjoy it.

Apart from the possibilities for entertainment, it might allow doctors in multiple places around the world to collaborate on live surgery, he said. If the screen were placed flat on a table, they could get a 360-degree view by walking around, just as if the patient were lying there.

While the 3-D image would not actually be projected into the air, that's how it would appear to a person looking into the screen.

Other possibilities, Peyghambarian said, including eye-catching ads at shopping malls and a technique to enable designers of cars or airplanes to make changes more quickly. Live 3-D video could also help the military train troops, he said.

We see objects by perceiving the light that bounces off them. Peyghambarian's technology uses holograms, two-dimensional images that reconstruct the light that would have bounced off a physical object, making it look 3-D.

In contrast, technology used for 3-D movies like "Avatar" or the election-night "hologram" of a CNN reporter in 2008 produces images that don't show different views from different angles, as a genuine hologram or a real object does, Peyghambarian said.

Many people have seen holograms of still images. The Arizona group is one of maybe half a dozen around the world that are trying to move that technology into 3-D video, said V. Michael Bove Jr. of the MIT Media Lab.

Bove said several groups, including his own, have in fact produced such videos, achieving the magic rate of 30 frames a second. But those displays are only about the size of a postcard or smaller, he said, and one big challenge is how to make the display bigger.

The Arizona group uses a plastic plate that stores and displays an image until another image is "written" electronically on it. That approach might someday allow for much bigger images, said Bove, who is collaborating with the Arizona researchers but did not participate in the new study.

Peyghambarian said he now gets an image every two seconds on a 4-by-4-inch device. His team also has a 1-foot-square plate, but that takes longer to replace images.

He would like to scale up to plates about 6 or 8 feet square to show people at full size, so they could appear at meetings without having to actually show up.

His work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the military.

Bove compared the state of holographic video research to that of developing television about 80 years ago. Different groups are taking different approaches, and it is not clear which technology will prove best, he said.

In any case, he said, the Arizona system "produces bright, sharp holographic images. ... This thing is beautiful."

___

Online:

http://www.nature.com

In social media election, the GOP capitalizes (AP)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 03:47 PM PDT

By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle, Ap Entertainment Writer – Wed Nov 3, 6:47 pm ET

NEW YORK – In the final minutes of one of the most watched and fiercely contested races of Tuesday's midterm elections, the campaigns of both Sen. Harry Reid and the Republican challenger to his Nevada Senate seat, Sharron Angle, were working social media.

"Thirty-five minutes to go-every vote is needed!" read Angle's Facebook page shortly before polls closed. "You, your neighbor, your mother-in-law ... GET OUT & vote, NV!"

Reid, who was also exhorting his followers to relay his messages online, ultimately prevailed. But the postings showed that at the most crucial moments in the 2010 election, social media was in the thick of it.

For an entity that effectively didn't exist just years ago, social media has rapidly flourished as a political force.

"This is the election when it became more deeply embedded in the rhythms of campaigning," says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. "It's not so much that as a single thing it influences people's votes but that it's now so inextricably a part of the political communication landscape."

The 2010 elections may also have been when Republicans truly embraced it. The change was evident at the finale, when House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner tweeted congratulations to a litany of triumphant Republicans and fellow Twitter users.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin played an active role in the elections with posts on Facebook that were instant news; the 10 most popular political videos on YouTube were all Republican videos.

"There was much hand-wringing over whether the Internet was a fundamentally democratic or liberal platform for communication, versus a conservative one," says Steve Grove, the head of news and politics at YouTube. "We always felt like the reason that it was more used by Democrats was just they weren't the party in power, and parties not in power look for innovation when trying to communicate with voters in new ways."

The reverberations the Internet can have on an election cycle have been well-known at least since Howard Dean let out an unusual battle-cry during the 2004 presidential election. But 2010's election was the first where social media was virtually ubiquitous.

In 2008, Facebook had one-fifth the active members it now has. Twitter was nascent, its news value not yet realized. Location-sharing services such as Foursquare and Gowalla didn't exist or had just been created.

This year, most major candidates had a Facebook page. Election night results went directly to smart phones. And everything — the campaigns, the ads, the voting — was filtered through social media.

More than 12 million clicked Facebook's "I Voted" button on Tuesday, more than twice the 5.4 million from two years ago.

Asked if Facebook is contributing to a heightened awareness of elections, Adam Conner, associate manager for privacy and global public policy at Facebook, said that he'd "like to think that we are."

"It's important when the message comes from places like Facebook but I think it's really exciting when people's friends are telling them, `Hey, it's an election. Make sure you vote. Make sure you participate, it's important to me,'" says Conner.

Networks and news organizations sought to weave social media into their coverage. Reporters and TV anchors tweeted through the night. ABC partnered with Facebook, NBC posted video on Twitter and CBS worked with Google. The Washington Post was the first news organization to sponsor a "promoted trend" on Twitter with the hash tag "Election."

The flow of Twitter updates from selected sources was enough to usurp TV coverage for some users.

"By `tuning into' Twitter on election night, I was able to get timely updates on the races that mattered to me from people I've already decided that I trust," said Mark Rosch of New Mexico. "Social media, particularly Twitter, gave me the ability keep up with the far-flung contests I was most-interested in, as well getting more information more quickly on local races."

Foursquare encouraged users to vote by awarding a special "merit badge" to those who went to polling places. More than 50,000 of its 4 million users received it.

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and others used their power to get out the vote, supplying easy links for locating one's nearest polling place. That could have helped voter turnout, which was projected at 42 percent of registered voters, about 1.2 percentage points higher than the 2006 midterms.

Mindy Finn, co-founder of the online political media firm Engage, said politicians are spending less than 5 percent of their budgets on social media. She cautioned overestimating its effect.

"Do we assign impact to people talking to their friends and neighbors in the same way we assign impact to people knocking on doors and making phone calls for a particular candidate or political party or cause?" said Finn. "On a basic level, it's the same and things haven't changed. Friends are still contacting friends and neighbors are still talking to neighbors."

One of the most buzzed-about candidates of the election didn't win. Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party candidate who ran for the Senate in Delaware, had the most-viewed politician channel on YouTube. (YouTube counted 450 candidates with official channels.)

Her campaign ad in which she began by saying, "I'm not a witch," was watched by millions. It was parodied on "Saturday Night Live," set to song in a popular "Auto-Tune the News" video and creatively co-opted by countless YouTubers with their own political messages to distribute.

Those clips, combined with the many older videos of O'Donnell that circulated widely, made her one of the most viral candidates — yet she still lost badly to Democrat Chris Coons.

Facebook claimed correlation between social media buzz and election success. It said that 74 percent of House and Senate candidates with more Facebook fans than their competitors won on Tuesday.

The social networking platform also co-hosted a town hall meeting with ABC News. The sight was telling: a room full of people on laptops gazing at a giant Facebook "buzz wall."

They were far from alone in their Internet-tethered election experience. Akamai Technologies Inc., which delivers about 20 percent of the world's Internet traffic, showed traffic peaking around 6 p.m EDT at over 5.6 million global page views a minute. That's one of Akamai's highest traffic rates in five years of measurement — even more than during President Obama's election night win in 2008.

Come two years and the next presidential election, social media is likely to be vital territory sought by Democrats and Republicans.

"In 2012, this will be a very contested battlefield," says the Pew Internet's Rainie. "It's not a sidelight to politics right now. This is a central venue."

___

Associated Press writer Leanne Italie contributed to this report.

Zuckerberg: Instead of a Facebook phone, think Facebook on every phone (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 01:18 PM PDT

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Wed Nov 3, 4:18 pm ET

So tell us, Mark: Is Facebook making its own phone? "No," Zuckerberg said bluntly during a much-anticipated briefing about Facebook's mobile plans. But just because Facebook isn't building a phone doesn't mean Facebook doesn't want to be on your phone—or on everyone's phone, no matter the platform.

Zuckerberg's big news wasn't about any one particular product, feature or developer API (although there were announcements for all three Wednesday), but rather that mobile would begin to play a much bigger part in Facebook's overall goal to "make everything social." (And by the way, the iPad "is not a mobile device," Zuckerberg insisted.)

Sure, Zuckerberg argued, you can already access your Facebook profile on the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry handsets, and any handset with a mobile Web browser. In fact, more than 200 million Facebook users are already doing so, compared with a mere (and I use the word "mere" in relative terms, of course) 65 million just one year ago.

But Facebook is looking to turn even more cell phone users into Facebook users with the help of a trio of new features: the ability to log into a mobile app using your Facebook ID, with one click; allowing developers of location check-in apps like Foursquare, Loopt and Yelp to hook into Facebook's recently launched Places feature; and Deals, which lets merchants offer specials to mobile Facebook users who've checked into their businesses.

The new "single sign-on" feature is pretty simple. Participating third-party apps such as Groupon and Flixster will provide users a "Login with Facebook" button (as some third-party websites have). Click the button, and you're taken to a page where you must give the app permission to access your Facebook profile. Once that's done, you're logged in and ready to go.

The appeal, of course, is to vastly simplify the process of logging into a mobile app—no more keying in your credentials over and over on a tiny keypad. But you'll also have to be comfortable with giving the app permission to access your Facebook profile.

Next up: revamped tools for developers who want to more deeply connect their location-aware apps (think Loopt, Foursquare, Yelp and the like) to Facebook's Places application. Facebook's new location APIs now allow developers to publish check-ins from their apps to your Facebook Places info, meaning that anyone checking where their friends are on Facebook will see the latest check-ins from any Facebook pals using, say, the Yelp or Loopt mobile apps (provided they've logged into their Facebook accounts first, of course). Location-based app developers will also be able to draw venue info from Facebook, allowing smaller developers to create a check-in-type app without having to build their own database of restaurants, merchants, pubs and so on from the ground up.

Last but not least: Facebook is getting into the mobile coupon business with Deals, a new feature allowing local merchants to publish offers via Places to Facebook mobile users who check in with their businesses. Merchants can create deals using a simple form on their Facebook fan page, then publish the deal through Places; from there, mobile Facebook users looking for somewhere local to shop using Places can spot nearby deals (marked with a yellow tag), check in with the business that's offering the deal, and present the coupon screen on their handsets to a clerk or waiter to redeem the offer.

Naturally, many of these new features will be added to updated versions of Facebook for Android (available now) and the iPhone (coming in the next week or so). Update: The revamped Facebook app for iPhone just hit the App Store.

But those hoping for a Facebook for iPad announcement on Wednesday came away sorely disappointed.

"The iPad? The iPad isn't mobile, it's a computer!" said Zuckerberg in response to a reporter's query, making a touch-typing motion with his fingers. "It is not a mobile platform the same way a phone is."

Stepping in to smooth any ruffled features, Facebook mobile project manager Erick Tseng took the microphone to explain that the social networking giant is waiting for more—and different—tablets to hit the market before building a Facebook app for the iPad (if it makes a specific iPad app at all, that is). "The question is, How do we scale for a tablet form factor that doesn't lock us into a specific platform?" Tseng said.

Indeed, the emphasis throughout Wednesday's briefing seemed to be that Facebook wasn't looking at any one mobile platform but all of them. For example, Zuckerberg pointed out that the newly updated Facebook app for Android—which he admitted has been "traditionally a little behind" the iPhone app—now has "general parity" with its iOS counterpart. Zuckerberg was also careful to highlight the existing Facebook apps for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, not to mention Facebook on the mobile Web.

So what we're talking about here, essentially, is no single Facebook phone, nor an app for this smartphone platform or that one, but a broad mobile strategy that works "no matter what platform you're on" and facilitates a range of mobile activities ... all of which are intended to make you sign up for Facebook on your phone. You may love Facebook's mobile strategy or hate it, but it terms of its breathtaking scope, it's hard not to at least admire it.

It's ambitious, all right—but is it scary, too? Naturally, several questions from the assembled audience of journalists (I was watching remotely via video stream) focused on the issue of privacy—for example, what'll keep merchants from using your Facebook location info improperly?

The answer: Checking in using Places is an opt-in activity, meaning no one can see that you're at the Gap through Facebook unless you proactively checked in there. And besides, said Facebook's Tseng, you can still manage all your privacy options—including your mobile ones—using your Facebook privacy panel.

Still, there's no getting away from the fact that your Facebook information, as Zuckerberg often puts it, "wants" to be social—that's the whole purpose of Facebook, after all. If you don't want to be sharing your mobile activities or risk losing your privacy, you probably shouldn't use Facebook on your phone—or at all, for that matter.

What do you think? Do you like the idea of being able to sign into a mobile app through Facebook? How about using Yelp or Foursquare hand-in-hand with Facebook Places? Or getting offers from nearby merchants through your Facebook-enabled phone? Fire away below.

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

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EA gaming exec: Sure, we’ve seen the PSP2 (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 11:36 AM PDT

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Wed Nov 3, 2:36 pm ET

Sony's still being coy about its plans for revamping the aging PlayStation Portable, but an exec for one of the biggest gaming publishers isn't shy about admitting that his team has seen the PSP2 in action.

Gaming site CVG went ahead and asked Patrick Soderlund, senior vice president of Electronic Arts, whether he'd had "any exposure at all" to the rumored PSP2, which Sony is still refusing to either confirm or deny.

Soderlund didn't equivocate. "Well, obviously as a developer we have had that," the exec told the (probably surprised) CVG reporter, before quickly adding that "I'm not allowed to talk about it."

This isn't the first time that a game publisher has blabbed about the existence of the long-anticipated PSP2. Back in September, the executive producer of the gaming studio behind Mortal Kombat freely admitted that he had a PSP2 "in the house" and that it was "a pretty powerful machine."

For its part, Sony is still dishing out the "we don't comment on rumors or speculation" line when it comes to the PSP2, which is rumored to have a larger display, dual analog sticks and a rear-facing touchpad.

During a recent earnings call, a Sony exec hinted that there is in fact a product that "we are making right now," but that no details would be revealed until "the timing is right."

But was the exec talking about the mysterious PSP2 or the supposed PlayStation Phone, a device that appears to be a Sony Ericsson-manufactured, Android-powered handset with slide-out gaming controls and its own dedicated section of downloadable games in the Android Market?

Hard to say, and indeed, it's still not clear how the so-called PlayStation Phone fits into the PSP picture—assuming, of course, that the PlayStation Phone exists. (Engadget swears up and down that its leaked PSPhone photos are real.)

In any case, details about the PSP2—the dedicated gaming handheld, not the Android phone—continue to trickle in. Kotaku's "multiple" sources claimed late last week that like last year's PSP Go, the new PSP won't have an optical drive for physical UMD game discs, opting instead to go all-flash for storage. (Whether we're talking Sony's removable Memory Sticks, integrated flash storage or something completely different still appears to be up in the air.)

Kotaku's spies also claim that the PSP2 will have 1GB of RAMâ€"double that of the Xbox 360, and far more than the mere 64MB of RAM in the current PSP Go and 3000 models. In other words, we could be talking a revamped PSP with the chops of a full-on living-room gaming console.

Unfortunately, there's still no credible word on when the PSP2 might see the light of day. One possibility is the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but that sounds a little too soon for me. Or perhaps the Game Developers Conference in late February ... but that might be too small of a venue. Personally, I'm betting Sony will finally take the wraps off a new PSP in June, at the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles, although that's just a guess.

What would you say to a revamped PSP with the power of an Xbox 360?

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

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Facebook Deals creates rivals out of Foursquare and Groupon (Digital Trends)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 05:45 PM PDT

Molly McHugh Molly Mchugh – Wed Nov 3, 8:45 pm ET

Facebook DealsRemember back when Facebook was in talks to acquire Foursquare? Now they don't have to. With the announcement of Facebook Deals today, any mayors and candidacy hopefuls out there might be wondering what this means for Foursquare. Speculation is leaning towards nothing good.

Facebook's introduction of Places two months ago should have served as a warning sign for Foursquare, but the company denied any sort of unease. Where were the rewards with Places? All Facebook's location-based application offered was a measly posted update to the mini-feed of where you were. Foursquare had mayors and badges and the occasional coupon. But paired with the newly launched Deals, Foursquare's got some serious competition.

Like its' predecessor, Deals is free and simple for vendors to use. As a business, would you rather make a play for Facebook's 500 million users, or Foursquare's 4 million? It's a pretty easy decision. And once a business has created a deal, it's also shared to all fans of the page, which is better advertising than Foursquare has available.

Foursquare's "Specials" feature lets businesses reward customers similarly to Deals, but it caters to the site's social ladder. It advises retailers to "show extra love to your venue's Mayor!" Deals doesn't require a game where you unlock anything, or rack up points, or become the metaphoric mayor – all users are privy to all deals, and this is likely going to get it more action.

And for consumers, Deals also offers options when it comes to incentives. A virtual punch card is available, as well as the chance of giving to charity, or to be rewarded for bringing friends.

Despite any ominous premonition, Foursquare has proven itself a successful and innovative business, with a devoted following – and it has proven very beneficial for some businesses. CEO and founder Dennis Crowley also revealed at the ad:tech conference today that the site is working away on improvements to the site, included its rewards system, so don't count it out yet.

But Foursquare isn't the only potential victim. Popular daily deal site Groupon could also take a hit. In the same press conference as it introduced how easy its' new mobile app lets users claim Groupon deals, Facebook more or less announced its plans to fiercely compete with the site. Facebook offers its Deals service to retailers for free, and Groupon takes a percentage of what vendors make off its coupons.

Just to solidify its place in the location game, Facebook released the Places API (which used to be read-only). With a few simple lines of code, Facebook is encouraging any and all third-party applications to allow users to link their check-ins on any location-based sites to its’ site. Advantage, Facebook.

PayPal patches hacker hole in iPhone application (AFP)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 07:33 PM PDT

– 1 hr 21 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – PayPal has rushed out a patch for a flaw in its iPhone application that could let hackers access accounts at the online financial transactions service, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

The flaw only affected people that used PayPal applications on iPhones connected to the Internet through unsecured Wi-Fi networks, according to the Journal.

A hacker would have needed to intercept PayPal transaction data by using commonly available gear to get between an iPhone and the Wi-Fi hotspot.

PayPal told the Journal it knew of no accounts compromised by the flaw, which was fixed on Wednesday.

Remains of the Day: Save the daylight, save the world (Macworld)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 05:22 PM PDT

Dan Moren Dan Moren – Wed Nov 3, 8:22 pm ET

Apple has trouble with basic time travel, Microsoft has its finger on the button, and T-Mobile's got the iPhone 4 in its sights (which it borrowed from Apple). Lock on to the remainders for Wednesday, November 3, 2010.

iOS 4.1: Repeating alarms may trigger incorrectly before or after DST change (Apple)

Hey, look! A knowledge base article addressing that iOS Daylight Saving Time bug that's been plaguing people. Let's see what Apple has to say:

To resolve this behavior for existing alarms, set the repeat interval to Never. You will need to reset these alarms for each day you need them.

After November 7th, 2010, you can set your alarms to repeat again.

"Guyyyyyys, daylight saving time is haaaaaaaaaaaard."

Microsoft details Windows Phone 7 kill switch (PC Pro)

Remember all the hubbub over the iPhone's "kill switch"? Surprise: Turns out Microsoft's got one for Windows Phone 7. "In the rare event that we need to, we have the tools to take action," said Microsoft's director of product management for the Windows Phone Marketplace. And this is that tool.

Class claims Apple knew its 'Upgrade' would turn 3G iPhone into an 'iBrick' (Courthouse News Service)

Install iOS 4 on your iPhone 3G and end up with nothing more than a case of sobbing regret? You're not alone! And now you can do something about it. I mean, no, you can't really fix the phone, but hey, you can join the great American tradition of suing somebody by joining this class action suit and, maybe, possibly getting a whole $27.16 out of it. In Apple gift card form, naturally.

T-Mobile disses Apple and AT&T (9 to 5 Mac)

T-Mobile's hitting Apple where it hurts—its U.S. carrier partner. A new ad knocks the respective video-chatting capabilities of the iPhone 4 and the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G by parodying Apple's own Get a Mac campaign. But they couldn't even be bothered to hire John Hodgman or Justin Long? Come on, guys, show a little pride in your knock-offs.

Twitter for Android updated to catch up to iPhone app (Digital Trends)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 05:12 PM PDT

Laura Khalil Laura Khalil – Wed Nov 3, 8:12 pm ET

Not only is this good news for Android users, its helpful for anyone switching phones to share in a consistent experience across mobile platforms.

android twitter app

Here are some of the details of this release:

Tweet details page. Twitter has changed the layout of the timeline and introduced a Tweet details page, which you can access by simply clicking on a Tweet. This feature – which is already available in Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for iPad and Twitter for Windows Phone – makes it easier to click on links and reply to, retweet, or favorite a Tweet. This also brings the application up to par with other third party apps such as TweetDeck.

Speed. The app is now even faster. In this version, Twitter has created a new way of drawing a timeline of Tweets that optimizes for scrolling speed. Try it for yourself to see how quickly you can scroll up and down your timeline.

Pull to Refresh: This feature, also available through the iPhone app, functions just as it sounds – when you're at the top of your timeline, simply pull down to load new Tweets. No more need to push the refresh button and wait.

Swipe to Reveal: Swipe across a Tweet to get quick access to several options, such as viewing a user's profile, sharing a tweet, or replying.

Quote a Tweet: Clicking the retweet icon now gives you the option to quote a Tweet, a major feature for users who were tired of being forced to simply retweet. Of course, you can still retweet as you normally would.

In addition, make sure to smile for the camera — your avatar is now in hi-res. These are welcome addition to Twitter for Android. Try them out and tell us what you think!

DreamWorks uses social gaming to boost "Megamind" (Reuters)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 06:01 PM PDT

By Georg Szalai Georg Szalai – 2 hrs 53 mins ago

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) – Social-networking firm Zynga is embarking on its first-ever feature film integration, partnering with DreamWorks Animation on a 24-hour campaign to boost awareness of the Friday release of "Megamind."

Some might call it the digital age's version of the Thursday primetime TV spot for the latest movie release.

Seeking to leverage Zynga's reach, the studio will integrate "Megamind" into Zynga's most popular game FarmVille, which boasts 17 million daily and 56 million monthly active users worldwide. Zynga's games are available on such social networks as Facebook and MySpace.

On Thursday, "Megamind's" titular antihero will launch his own Mega-Farm, a themed landmark within the social game that incorporates the storyline and characters of the film.

For 24 hours, users can see special branded content from the film, such as a "Megamind" contraption. Two special items will be available to players who visit the character's farm -- a special Mega-Grow formula that helps to instantly grow crops without wilting plus a collectable decorative item that players can put up in their own farms.

"We are always looking for new ways to connect with movie fans, and the biggest shift in marketing mix has been that more dollars nowadays go online," said Anne Globe, head of worldwide marketing for DreamWorks Animation. "FarmVille is huge, and the comedic nature of the film lends itself to the fun of the game play."

Globe said her team will look at such metrics as awareness levels, online chatter (via Twitter and the like) and a possible spike in ticket sales to evaluate the success of the FarmVille campaign. If it works well, "we certainly would want to do more" with future movie or DVD releases.

Players can purchase tickets to go see the movie directly from FarmVille, which helps the companies track the campaign's success.

The short-term focus of the movie promotion lends it urgency and excitement, but there may be the opportunity for keeping fans engaged with key DreamWorks Animation film or TV characters longer term, she said.

Zynga late last year ran a weeklong campaign with Universal Studios in social game Mafia Wars in support of the Blu-ray and DVD release of "Public Enemies." Zynga also has done FarmVille integrations with the likes of McDonald's and Farmers Insurance.

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus founded the company, named after his late bulldog Zinga with a nod to an African warrior queen, in 2007. Its other games include Zynga Poker, Cafe World, YoVille, PetVille and Treasure Isle.

San Francisco-based Zynga's games are free, but the privately held company reportedly has been profitable since shortly after launching. It makes money when users pay for virtual goods, such as accessories, that allow them to add items inside a game, move up in it or to give friends gifts.

DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg was recently quoted as saying that if he had to start all over again, he would want to be Pincus, because he created the next killer app.

YouTube yanks Islamic cleric's jihad sermon videos: NY Times (AFP)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 04:08 PM PDT

– Wed Nov 3, 7:08 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – YouTube has yanked videos featuring calls by Yemen-based radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi for a holy war, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The American-born Awlaqi has been cited as a catalyst for terrorist attacks and was charged Tuesday in absentia in Yemen with incitement to kill foreigners under the banner of Al-Qaeda.

The move by Yemeni prosecutors came several days after parcel bombs destined for Chicago were traced to suspected jihadists in Yemen.

Removal of some of Awlaqi's hundreds of videos at YouTube follows complaints from American and British officials, according the the Times.

US Congressman Anthony Weiner, a Democrat from New York, dubbed Awlaqi the "bin Laden of the Internet" in a letter sent last week demanding removal of the videos.

"We are facilitating the recruitment of homegrown terror," Weiner said in a message posted at his website.

"There is no reason we should give killers like al-Awlaqi access to one of the world's largest bully pulpits so they can inspire more violent acts within our borders, or anywhere else in the world," he said.

Awlaqi, a citizen of both Yemen and the United States, has appeared in more than 700 YouTube videos that have logged a combined total of 3.5 million views, according to the congressman.

Awlaqi has been connected to several terrorist plots and reportedly met with the 9/11 hijackers prior to the infamous attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

"I understand that YouTube is a clearing house for ideas and that your company aims to not infringe on free speech, but al-Awlaqi?s message, promoted via YouTube, has caused violence and is a threat to American security," Weiner said in his letter to the head of the video-sharing service.

"I request that you remove this man and his hateful rhetoric from your website, as he poses a clear and present danger to American citizens."

Google-owned YouTube did not immediately reply to AFP requests for comment.

Qik Video Chat Gets Native Android App On T-Mobile (Mashable)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 02:40 PM PDT

Blake Robinson Blake Robinson – Wed Nov 3, 5:40 pm ET

Qik just got a major shot in the arm from T-Mobile. The companies announced today that T-Mobile Video Chat powered by Qik will be the first service to offer native integration with the Android address book.

The address book integration will enable users to view their contacts and see whether they are available for video chat. Video chats can then be established directly from the address book in a native interface that will come preloaded on T-Mobile devices with video capabilities.

The Qik video chat service works over both T-Mobile's 3G network and Wi-Fi. In addition to conducting video calls, users will also be able to send and receive video messages using the service.

T-Mobile Video Chat powered by Qik will first be available on the new T-Mobile myTouch. It is, however, expected to roll out to additional devices as front-facing cameras become more prevalent. Many T-Mobile subscribers using devices without front-facing cameras will be able to receive video messages.

These iPhone apps will keep you up-to-date on world news events (Appolicious)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 12:32 PM PDT

LG Elec to launch 8.9-inch tablet in early 2011: source (Reuters)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 07:55 PM PDT

– 59 mins ago

SEOUL (Reuters) – LG Electronics Inc, the world's No.3 handset vendor, plans to launch an 8.9-inch tablet device based on an upcoming version of Google's Android operating system, a source close to the matter said on Thursday.

The device, to run on Google's upcoming "Honeycomb" operating system tailored to tablet PCs, will be rolled out in South Korea and overseas early next year, the source said, who asked not to be identified as the new Google system has not been announced yet.

With the rollout, LG seeks to jump into the fast-growing tablet PC market that is becoming increasingly crowded with the likes of Samsung Electronics, Research In Motion and Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell.

Handset vendors and PC makers are rushing into the new category of devices, which Apple jump-started this year with its hot-selling iPad.

Apple controlled 95 percent of the emerging market for tablet computers last quarter, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

The upcoming LG device will be the first tablet PC for the company, after it dropped a plan to introduce tablets based on the Android 2.2 operating system, also known as "Froyo," citing the need for "the most reliable and suitable Android version," for tablets.

Samsung, however, launched Galaxy Tab, powered by Android 2.2 version, in South Korea on Thursday after unveiling the 7-inch model in Europe and other Asian countries earlier.

"There's a controversy whether Froyo is a suitable system for tablet devices, but consumers will make the final call on the issue after using Galaxy Tab," JK Shin, head of Samsung's mobile division, told reporters on Thursday.

The delay by LG could deal a further blow to the South Korean electronics firm, which is grappling to turn around its loss-making mobile unit due to a lack of competitive smartphone models to compete with Apple's iPhone, RIM's BlackBerry and Samsung's Galaxy S.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

Google Helps Auto-Tune Your Web Server (Mashable)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:07 AM PDT

Christina Warren Christina Warren – Wed Nov 3, 1:07 pm ET

Google has announced that it is launching a new module for the Apache HTTP server called mod_pagespeed that will perform many speed optimizations automatically. This means that rather than having to fine tune your server configuration for every site you setup, you can instead install the Apache module to optimize automagically.

In a blog post announcing the new module, Google notes that it has seen mod_pagespeed reduce page load times by up to 50%.

Here's some of what mod_pagespeed does:

  • Makes changes to pages built by a CMS without having to change the CMS itself.
  • Recompresses images when the HTML context changes.
  • Extends the cache lifetime for elements like logos and images on your website to a year, while still letting you update those files.
Google will be working with Go Daddy to get mod_pagespeed running on many of its servers. It is also working with Contendo to integrate mod_pagespeed into its CDN.

When it comes to getting mod_pagespeed running on your own web server -- Google has released it for many Linux distributions (CentOS, RHEL, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora), but you can also download the source and compile it for your platform as necessary.

If you don't control your own server or slice, you'll need to ask your web host to look into adding mod_pagespeed to its setup.

Check out this video to see mod_pagespeed in action.

Image courtesy of Flickr, mayhem.

Google Agrees To Hand Slap for Revealing Info in Buzz (NewsFactor)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 11:33 AM PDT

Barry Levine, newsfactor.com Barry Levine, newsfactor.com – Wed Nov 3, 2:33 pm ET

Google has reached a settlement in the class-action suit over privacy issues relating to its Buzz social-networking program. Under terms of the settlement, the search giant will establish an $8.5 million Common Fund to support organizations focusing on Internet privacy policy or privacy education, in addition to covering lawyers' fees.

The company also agreed to "do more to educate users about the privacy aspects of Google Buzz." Google said it has made changes to the program that clarifies users' options, such as control over privacy settings. There will be no cash payments to users, and final approval by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California will be considered on Jan. 31.

'Many Benefits'

Gary E. Mason, the lawyer for the plaintiffs bringing the class-action suit, said the settlement "provides many benefits to class members, including providing a significant amount of money to nonprofit groups committed to educating users about Internet privacy," and making sure that users can join Buzz without compromising their privacy.

Launched last winter as an app within Gmail, Buzz revealed the contact lists and other private information of some users to other Gmail users. Lists of friends were automatically created from Gmail contacts and the most-frequent e-mail contacts, even though some might not be friends.

At the time, the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Marc Rotenberg told The New York Times there was concern that "Gmail users are being driven into a social-networking service that they didn't sign up for." Google said the auto-friend feature was intended to get people started.

Google modified the program so that Buzz simply suggests which users might be friends, and it also created a Buzz tab in Gmail to allow users to opt out of Buzz completely.

'Making an Exception'

The company is estimated to have 170 million Gmail users worldwide, and, appropriately enough, a notification of the settlement was sent via e-mail to all Gmail users.

"Google rarely contacts Gmail users via e-mail, but we are making an exception to let you know that we've reached a settlement in a lawsuit regarding Google Buzz," the e-mail begins. It noted that everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless someone decides to opt out before Dec. 6.

Google frequently appears in stories relating to privacy issues. In addition to the Buzz episode, the company has been the target of investigations worldwide relating to the collection of personal data by its Street View vehicles in the U.S. and other countries.

While the Federal Trade Commission announced last week it was closing its investigation into the Street View matter, there are still many state attorneys general who are demanding answers. And this week the United Kingdom's Information Commission ruled that Google had committed a "significant breach" of that country's Data Protection Act. There will not be a fine or punishment, but the U.K. will audit the company's data-protection practices.

Cloud and Virtualization Features Set Fedora 14 Apart (PC World)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 11:17 AM PDT

Katherine Noyes Katherine Noyes – Wed Nov 3, 2:17 pm ET

Fedora 14, or "Laughlin," made its official debut on Tuesday, and it's packed with a raft of new features designed to enhance the experience for users of the open source desktop operating system.

Usability has been a key focus in the past few releases of Red Hat-sponsored Fedora, which is the second most popular Linux distribution, behind only Ubuntu, according to DistroWatch. Significant improvements in networking, software management, hardware support, and other functionality have resulted, so much of the work on this latest release has concentrated instead on providing bug fixes and increased stability.

In addition to an improved desktop environment, however, Fedora 14 also features enhancements including "libjpegturbo," a library that brings noticeable performance improvements to users who load and save images in the popular JPEG format. The library "practically halves processing time on most systems," the software's makers say--even users on older hardware, in fact, will see a speed improvement.

Also included in Laughlin is SPICE (Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environment), a framework for desktop virtualization designed to provide an enhanced remote desktop experience. Users of desktop virtualization can now enjoy sound, display and device support as well as rudimentary support for accelerated 2D graphics and encryption.

Fedora users on netbooks and other small devices, meanwhile, gain a better experience with Laughlin thanks to its inclusion of a subset of MeeGo.

Available on EC2

Fedora 14 is also the first of many successive releases of the distribution to be available on Amazon's EC2 cloud computing environment. As a result, systems administrators can now try out the leading-edge features of Fedora 14 in the cloud, providing a sneak preview at what may come to downstream distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in the future.

Support for Intel's IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) remote server management software, on the other hand, makes it easier for systems admins to support, manage and administer hardware from afar, with additional capabilities like Serial-over-LAN and identity LED manipulation.

Then there's Fedora 14's use of the new systemd, a next-generation system initialization and session management daemon that will ultimately replace Upstart and System V init. Users of this feature can experience improvements such as parallel and on-demand starting of services, faster boot times and the ability to track processes, daemons and sockets, or even take snapshots of a system state, according to the Fedora team.

Another feature assists in the easy migration of Xen virtual machines to KVM virtual machines, while Apache has been updated with a number of module and security fixes.

New Debugging Tools

For developers, Fedora 14 offers a bevy of improved debugging tools in GDB, its GNU debugger, which comes complete with a new Python scripting feature. Python 2.7 is included, as is Rakudo Star, an implementation of Perl 6. Fedora 14 also offers support for the D programming language, which combines the power of languages such as C and C++ with the programmer productivity of modern languages like Ruby and Python.

Named after Nobel Laureate and physicist Robert Laughlin, Fedora 14 runs version 2.6.35 of the Linux kernel. GNOME 2.32 is its default desktop environment, but KDE 4.5 is available as well. The distribution can be downloaded for 32- and 64-bit systems from the project's site. The next release, Fedora 15, is scheduled for release in April 2011.

All in all, Fedora 14 looks to be a solid new release with numerous compelling features that make it well worth a closer look.

Follow Katherine Noyes on Twitter: @Noyesk.

Andreessen's venture fund nears $1 billion (AP)

Posted: 03 Nov 2010 08:02 PM PDT

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – 52 mins ago

MENLO PARK, Calif. – A venture capital fund run by Internet browser pioneer Marc Andreessen and his longtime business partner, Ben Horowitz, has raised another $650 million as the firm looks for opportunities in technology startups.

That brings to nearly $1 billion the total that the Andreessen Horowitz firm has raised since it started a year and a half ago. Some of the firm's prominent investments have included Zynga, an online game maker, and Foursquare, which lets people publish their whereabouts around town. The firm was part of an investor group that bought a majority stake of the Skype Internet phone service last year from eBay Inc.

In an interview at the firm's Silicon Valley offices, Andreessen and Horowitz said some of the areas they're interested in include tablet computers, software for mobile phones and cloud computing — letting other companies manage software and services out of vast data centers that serve many other customers. The firm already has invested in Kno, which is making large-screened tablets for displaying educational textbooks, and Nicira Networks, which aims to improve the performance of cloud services delivered over the Internet.

Andreessen co-authored the first widely used Internet browser. He and Horowitz struck it rich when Netscape, which Andreessen co-founded and in which Horowitz held key roles, was sold to AOL for $10 billion at the height of the dot-com boom. They hit the jackpot again when they sold a company they started together, called Opsware, to Hewlett-Packard for $1.7 billion in 2007.
at 9:20 PM

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