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AT&T expands Wi-Fi zones in public spaces (AP) : Technet |
- AT&T expands Wi-Fi zones in public spaces (AP)
- Xtranormal charges for formerly free cartoon tools (AP)
- Ceiling lights in Minn. send coded Internet data (AP)
- Publisher confirms Julian Assange book deal (AP)
- Remains of the Day: A very Apple Christmas (Macworld)
- Apple boosting phone shipments (Investor's Business Daily)
- Socializing can be tied to brain structure, doctors unsure whether Facebook friends count (Digital Trends)
- PlayStation Network losing money, but the outlook is bright (Digital Trends)
- This Is Google's New Android Music App [VIDEO] (Mashable)
- Sources say Apple boosts shipment of CDMA iPhones for early 2011 (Appolicious)
- SAP Has No Interest in Paying Interest to Oracle (PC World)
- Hacktivism Could Escalate Security Problems in 2011 (NewsFactor)
- Turk hackers avenge basketball riot: Cyprus police (AFP)
- Vladimir Putin Orders Russian Government to Switch to Free Software by 2015 (Mashable)
- With iPod Rival, Samsung Aims To Match Apple Products (NewsFactor)
| AT&T expands Wi-Fi zones in public spaces (AP) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 09:12 PM PST NEW YORK – AT&T Inc. is expanding Wi-Fi access for its subscribers in New York and introducing it in San Francisco, adding data capacity in two cities with heavy wireless network use from the iPhone and other devices. The phone company is to announce Tuesday that it will expand Wi-Fi hot spots in New York's Times Square just ahead of New Year's revelers cramming there for the annual countdown to midnight. It is also deploying its first hot spots in a public, outdoor area of San Francisco, the Embarcadero waterfront district. For years, AT&T has operated a wide network of hot spots in hotels, airports, Starbucks coffee shops and other indoor locations. The new "hot zones," as AT&T calls them, are different in that they cover public, outdoor spaces are and cluster together many access points to cover a larger area. The zones provide fast data service for AT&T subscribers and divert traffic from the company's cellular network. Many AT&T smart phones, including the iPhone, connect automatically to AT&T Wi-Fi when it's available. IPhone users are legion in both New York and San Francisco and tax AT&T's network heavily. The company made it a priority this year to improve wireless service in the two cities. The Dallas-based company set up a hot zone in Times Square in May, and later in downtown Charlotte, N.C., and Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood. Chief Technology Officer John Donovan said those pilots have been successful, so the company is expanding coverage around Times Square and setting up zones around nearby Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Donovan said the company plans further Wi-Fi expansions, including in sports stadiums. Wi-Fi is a cost-effective complement to wireless broadband over AT&T's regular, 3G cellular network, Donovan said, but it doesn't replace investment in that technology. The motivation for the zones is to improve the subscriber experience where a lot of people gather, he said. AT&T's smart-phone and landline broadband subscriber can use the zones for free, and usage doesn't count toward monthly data limits. |
| Xtranormal charges for formerly free cartoon tools (AP) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 04:13 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO – Animation website Xtranormal — whose cartoon-making tools have spawned viral videos of cuddly puppies debating such topics as quantitative easing and the iPhone in stilted monotones — is no longer offering free, unlimited use of its tools. The change reflects the higher costs of running Xtranormal as the site's popularly grew. More than 2 million people now use its simple moviemaking tools, up from about 500,000 in June. According to Xtranormal, those users have published about 9.3 million videos so far. Some of the videos have received thousands or even millions of views, further boosting Xtranormal's popularity and usage. Until Thursday, Xtranormal charged for special characters and backdrops, such as an animated version of pop star Lady Gaga or a prison cell setting. But it made a number of characters and settings free to use, and only about 1 percent of users bought items. Now Xtranormal charges for all characters and sets, and for publishing videos for sharing, which used to always be free. The minimum purchase is now $10 for 1,200 points — it used to be $5 for 300 points — though new users get 300 for free and can earn points for such tasks as getting friends to use Xtranormal. Characters and backdrops, known as sets, cost 37 to 150 points, and publishing costs 100. A previously free movie using two puppies standing in a field, for example, would now cost 325 points, or about $2.71 when buying the minimum number of points. Then, as now, the videos don't include ads beyond an "Xtranormal" logo in the bottom left corner, and any characters and sets you buy are yours to use in other movies. Users who signed up for the site before Thursday and already paid for characters or sets will be able to publish videos using those items for free until Feb. 1. Bruno Langlais, Xtranormal's vice president of marketing, said the company had to impose the new charges so it can become profitable quickly. Xtranormal expects to turn a profit for the first time in the first half of 2011. Every movie users make costs Xtranormal, he said. This rises as the site gets more users. "At some point, we've got to make some money," he said. It is still possible to publish your first video for free, but you'll need to choose a cheaper set or use just one character instead of two. And you can still preview a cartoon you're making for free, but you will now have to pay each time you want to publish a video, which is needed to post it on YouTube or blogs for sharing. Xtranormal, which has offices in Montreal, Boston and San Francisco, had already shifted its business model earlier this year. The company, which began in 2005 by selling its animation software to filmmakers for storyboarding, began focusing on a "freemium" model in June. Many more people discovered the site and tried it out because enough of it was free and easy to use. The latest change could backfire, though, if current users — those who boosted the site's popularity through their videos — become incensed by the change and stop using it. Langlais doesn't believe this will happen: He said Xtranormal polled users before making the change and found them supportive. He also pointed out that Xtranormal has revamped its online video-making tool to showcase more of the options users have when creating cartoons and, perhaps, entice them to buy more characters and sets. |
| Ceiling lights in Minn. send coded Internet data (AP) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 06:56 AM PST ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Flickering ceiling lights are usually a nuisance, but in city offices in St. Cloud, they will actually be a pathway to the Internet. The lights will transmit data to specially equipped computers on desks below by flickering faster than the eye can see. Ultimately, the technique could ease wireless congestion by opening up new expressways for short-range communications. The first few light fixtures built by LVX System, a local startup, will be installed Wednesday in six municipal buildings in this city of 66,000 in the snowy farm fields of central Minnesota. The LVX system puts clusters of its light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, in a standard-sized light fixture. The LEDs transmit coded messages — as a series of 1s and 0s in computer speak — to special modems attached to computers. A light on the modem talks back to the fixture overhead, where there is sensor to receive the return signal and transmit the data over the Internet. Those computers on the desks aren't connected to the Internet, except through these light signals, much as Wi-Fi allows people to connect wirelessly. LVX takes its name from the Latin word for light, but the underlying concept is older than Rome; the ancient Greeks signaled each other over long distances using flashes of sunlight off mirrors and polished shields. The Navy uses a Morse-coded version with lamps. The first generation of the LVX system will transmit data at speeds of about 3 megabits per second, roughly as fast as a residential DSL line. Mohsen Kavehrad, a Penn State electrical engineering professor who has been working with optical network technology for about 10 years, said the approach could be a vital complement to the existing wireless system. He said the radio spectrum usually used for short-range transmissions, such as Wi-Fi, is getting increasingly crowded, which can lead to slower connections. "Light can be the way out of this mess," said Kavehrad, who is not involved in the LVX project. But there are significant hurdles. For one, smart phones and computers already work on Wi-Fi networks that are much faster than the LVX system. Technology analyst Craig Mathias of the Farpoint Group said the problems with wireless congestion will ease as Wi-Fi evolves, leaving LVX's light system to niche applications such as indoor advertising displays and energy management. LVX Chief Executive Officer John Pederson said a second-generation system that will roll out in about a year will permit speeds on par with commercial Wi-Fi networks. It will also permit lights that can be programmed to change intensity and color. For the city, the data networking capability is secondary. The main reason it paid a $10,000 installation fee for LVX is to save money on electricity down the line, thanks to the energy-efficient LEDs. Pederson said one of his LED fixtures uses about 36 watts of power to provide the same illumination that 100 watts provides with a standard fluorescent fixture. Besides installation costs, customers such as St. Cloud will pay LVX a monthly fee that's less than their current lighting expenses. LVX plans to make money because the LED fixtures are more durable and efficient than standard lighting. At least initially, the data transmission system is essentially a bonus for customers. Pederson said the next generation of the system should get even more efficient as fixtures become "smart" so the lights would dim when bright sunlight is coming through a window or when a conference room or hallway is empty. Because the lights can also change color, Pederson said they could be combined with personal locators or tiny video cameras to help guide people through large buildings. The lights could show a trail of green lights to an emergency exit, for instance. While Kavehrad and Mathias credited LVX for being the first company in the United States to bring the technology to market, Kavehrad said it trails researchers and consumer electronics companies in Japan and Korea in developing products for visible-light networks. Pederson's previous company, 911 EP, built high-powered LED roof lights for squad cars and other emergency vehicles. He said he sold the company in 2002. He said the visible-light network grew out his interest in LEDs that goes to the mid-1990s. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, which pays for 24-hour lighting and replacing fluorescent bulbs on high ceilings, is considering an LVX system, said Jeffrey W. Hamiel, executive director of the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The system might include mounting cameras on the light fixtures to bolster the airport security system, but the real attraction is the savings on electricity and maintenance. "Anything we can do to save costs is worth consideration," he said. Michael Williams, the city administrator in St. Cloud, said the city had been considering LVX for some time. "It's pretty wild stuff," he said. "They have been talking about it with us for couple of years, and frankly it took a while for it to sink in." |
| Publisher confirms Julian Assange book deal (AP) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 07:08 PM PST LONDON – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he's being forced into penning an autobiography to keep his organization from going under. New York publishing house Alfred A. Knopf confirmed Monday that it had struck a deal with the 39-year-old Australian to bring out his autobiography, whose publication date has yet to be determined. Assange, speaking to The Sunday Times, said the deal would bring in more than $1 million, with $800,000 from Knopf and another 325,000 pounds ($500,000) from U.K. publisher Canongate. But he said he only agreed to it because he was under financial pressure. "I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said. "I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat." Assange shot to worldwide prominence on the back of a series of spectacular leaks of classified U.S. material, including the ongoing publication of some 250,000 classified State Department cables. But with the international attention came international legal problems. The U.K.-bound activist is currently fighting extradition to Sweden, where he faces sex crimes allegations, and has said he fears moves to indict him in the United States on espionage charges. He's previously said that most of his organization's money goes to fighting off legal and technical attacks. Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards declined to comment on the specific figures mentioned by Assange, but confirmed that a deal had been in place since "prior to the holidays." Bogaards said Assange was due to deliver his manuscript sometime in 2011. The autobiography's title hasn't been made public. Knopf is an imprint of Random House Inc. ___ Online: Alfred A. Knopf: http://knopf.knopfdoubleday.com/ WikiLeaks: http://wikileaks.ch/ |
| Remains of the Day: A very Apple Christmas (Macworld) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 04:30 PM PST Apple sold a ton of iOS devices, one iPhone caught a thief, Verizon's on the horizon, and Kindles are doing okay, too. The remainders for December 27, 2010 aren't under the tree, but you can find them right where you left them. Facebook for iPhone Usage Statistics (AllFacebook) As John Gruber points out, the Facebook app for iPhone gained another million users on Christmas day, suggesting that St. Nick left a lot of iOS devices under trees this year. Would it kill all of you to write a thank-you note before you start poking your friends from high school? A Find My iPhone Christmas Miracle (9 to 5 Mac) When some coal-in-the-stocking-worthy thieves stole a Texas man's Land Rover, he remembered the iPhone he'd left between the seats. Using the Find My iPhone feature, the man directed officers to the stolen car, and then helped again when one of the cuffed suspects escaped, and drove off again in the stolen car—running over an officer in the process. Guiding police to your stolen car and then to the escaping perp? There's an app for that. Report: Apple to ship 5-6 million Verizon compatible iPhones (Loop Insight) Verizon customers need to track their stolen cars, too! Based on rumors from the various Taiwan-based suppliers, the latest thought is that Apple will start shipping CDMA-based, Verizon-compatible iPhones sometime in early 2011. Which means, if you will, that perhaps Verizon is on the horizon. (Apple, you're free to use that in a press release.) Third-Generation Kindle Now the Bestselling Product of All Time on Amazon Worldwide (Amazon) If you're a techie and you didn't get an Apple product this holiday season, perhaps you scored a third-generation Kindle instead. If so, you're not alone; Amazon says its latest Kindle is now the bestselling product in Amazon.com's history, outselling even the seventh Harry Potter book. Of course, Amazon's still not saying how many Kindles it has actually sold. Even more damning: the company has thus far not released a single story about finding a stolen car by tracking the forgotten Kindle inside. |
| Apple boosting phone shipments (Investor's Business Daily) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 03:33 PM PST The tech giant increased its target for Q1 iPhone shipments to 20 mil-21 mil units from 19 mil, said DigiTimes, which cited Taiwan-based component suppliers. Apple's (NMS:AAPL) shipment target for the widely anticipated CDMA iPhone, to be launched in N. America and Asia-Pacific in Q1, is 5 mil-6 mil units. Global iPhone shipments in the soon-to-be-completed Q4 are seen at 15.5 mil, meaning 2010 shipments will total 47 mil. Shares rose 0.3% to 324.68. |
| Posted: 27 Dec 2010 12:25 PM PST
The study determined that the amygdala, the core deep inside the brain, is bigger for those with large social circles, but it's still unknown whether a sizable group of friends increases the amygdala's size, or if a person with a larger amygdala naturally attracts more peers. Lisa Feldman Barrett, part of the research team, says it could be both, but further research is necessary. Still, the study suggests that the human brain size could be expanding as our social lives continue to develop, which only seems natural. As our social networks grow, it appears that the amygdala must also evolve in order to meet the demands of the extremely multifaceted nature of human relationships. Question is, does this apply to our online lives as well? Researchers surmised that "a larger amygdala might enable us to more effectively identify, learn about and recognize socioemotional cues in conspecifics, allowing us to develop complex strategies to cooperate and compete." It could easily be argued that the increasing intricacies of relationships is due in part to social networking sites. Still, the study does not directly identify the possible role social networking websites play, and its unknown the degree of cognitive effort these types of relationships require. So don't get too excited about your thousands of Facebook friends quite yet – for now, real life connections are the kind that will give you a bigger brain. |
| PlayStation Network losing money, but the outlook is bright (Digital Trends) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 04:29 PM PST
But while Sony can sometimes take time to get to a conclusion, it eventually figures it out. Earlier this year, Sony began investing heavily in the future of the PlayStation Network. A yearly fee was initiated for an upgraded service, more video content—including exclusive programs like the Tester—became available, and much more was promised in the future. So far the results have not borne fruit in terms of cash for Sony, but that seems to be changing, and by next year the PSN could be turning a profit. By 2012, that profit margin could be in the billions. In an interview with Reuters Japan (which was then translated and recounted by 1up.com), Sony Computer Entertainment President Kaz Hirai said that PSN sales in 2009 were approximately $434.3 million, and in 2010, that number nearly doubled. Next year that number is expected to nearly double again, putting the total sales into the billion dollar range, and by 2012, Sony expects the PSN to pull in around $3.6 billion in total sales. Now, these numbers are coming from Sony itself, so the projections might be putting a heavy emphasis on internal confidence as much as anything, but there are figures to back up their optimism. Last month, the total number of PSN accounts topped 60 million (although the number of total PS3s sold worldwide since launch was under 45 million at the beginning of December, meaning many accounts are duplicates—but it is still an impressive number). With December typically being one of the busiest sales months, that number could see a significant boost. There is also the fact that many analysts have predicted that thanks to the price cuts, the greater acceptance of blu-ray, and the growing list of exclusive titles, the PlayStation 3 could overtake the Xbox 360 as the second best selling console behind the Wii– so the projections are themselves based on projections. For now PSN is still in the red, but it seems like Sony is finally catching up to its video game competitors. But playing catch up is something that Sony is used to by now. From the first day of its launch, the PlayStation 3 has been a hardware behemoth. It is by far the most powerful of the three major consoles, it has a blu-ray player built in, and of the three, Sony has the biggest global reach. And yet the PS3 continued to see lower than expected sales, lost money on each unit sold until recently, and still remains in third place. The reasons are up for debate. Some might argue that the Xbox 360 used its year head start very effectively while Nintendo attacked a new market of casual gamers, leaving the PS3 out in the cold. Others might argue that the price tag, coupled with Sony's bewildering approach of "if you want it, work harder and save your money" to the price turned others away. Whatever the cause, the first few years of life have been rocky for the system. But then in 2010 things began to click. Sony seemed to have learned its lessons, and the price of the PS3 began to drop. More units were sold, and that created more manufacturing which lowered the cost of the parts, which in turn finally dropped the PS3 to a position where each unit sold was netting a profit after three and a half years. Patience was part of it, but so was finding the right ways to appeal to gamers. As the PSN begins to show a profit, expect Sony to continue to expand the services it offers. The hardware battle will rage on, but the next battlefield is shaping up to be the online services offered to gamers. Whatever console you own, the success of the PSN is good news. Competition breeds innovation, so as Sony's profits soar, Microsoft and Nintendo will almost certainly continue to push their online services as well. Regardless of your console of choice, 2011 is already shaping up to be a very interesting one for gamers. |
| This Is Google's New Android Music App [VIDEO] (Mashable) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 02:22 PM PST Video footage of the new version of the Google Android music app has leaked, revealing a revamped and colorful user interface. First posted on XDA Developers and spotted by Engadget, the 50 second footage provides a demonstration of the new features of Android's default music app. The updated app is much easy on the eyes that its predecessor. The vibrant colors of the album covers captured our attention, while the elegant transitions and album stacking strike us as being more like the iPhone's iPod music player. It's more readable as well. Our guess is that you'll see the new music application launch with Android 3.0, aka Honeycomb. The Android interface has long needed an upgrade to keep it competitive with the design of the iPhone UI. We've heard that Android 3.0 will bring much-needed graphical and usability updates to the OS. The leaked music app is likely a preview of what we can expect.
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| Sources say Apple boosts shipment of CDMA iPhones for early 2011 (Appolicious) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 10:22 AM PST |
| SAP Has No Interest in Paying Interest to Oracle (PC World) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 03:50 PM PST SAP is fighting back against Oracle's demand it fork over US$212 million in interest on top of a $1.3 billlion sum a jury awarded Oracle last month in its corporate-theft suit against the German software vendor, according to a court filing last week. Oracle sued SAP in 2007 over illegal downloads the company's former subsidiary, TomorrowNow, made in the course of delivering reduced-price service to Oracle software customers. SAP has accepted liability for TomorrowNow's actions, but called the award's size unreasonable and so far, hasn't ruled out an appeal. The judgment was based on "hypothetical" fees that SAP would have had to pay if it licensed Oracle's software legally. Oracle wants interest on the $1.3 billion dating as far back as Jan. 2005. "The jury's award, if it stands, more than adequately accomplishes the goals of the Copyright Act, as it at least fully compensates, and, really, overcompensates Oracle (particularly considering that by receiving its money today, Oracle completely avoided the economic collapse of 2007," SAP's Dec. 23 filing in US District Court for the Northern District of California states. SAP's filing also took issue with the calculation method used by Oracle's expert witness to determine the interest amount. "If the Court were to choose to award interest ... it should, like so many other courts, follow 28 U.S.C. § 1961 and award interest at a flat rate equal to the weekly average 1-year constant maturity Treasury yield (which is currently .30%), compounded annually." By this method, Oracle's pre-judgment interest on the $1.3 billion dating back to Jan. 19, 2005 -- the day SAP announced it had bought TomorrowNow --would amount only to about $22.7 million through Dec. 23, according to SAP. An Oracle spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris's e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com |
| Hacktivism Could Escalate Security Problems in 2011 (NewsFactor) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 11:09 AM PST As IBM predicts information-technology innovations, The Wall Street Journal offers Walt Mossberg's best products of 2010 list, the Financial Times names Apple CEO Steve Jobs Person of the Year, and so on, some security researchers are turning their eye toward 2011. Indeed, security issues plagued the high-tech industry in 2010. From the infamous WikiLeaks issues to Google hacks from China to social-media attacks to mobile-device threats and beyond, 2010 was a year to remember for security researchers. But what will 2011 bring? More of the same. Much more, said Paul Henry, a security analyst at Lumension. Read on to learn about some of the top security predictions for 2011. (It's not all bad news.) Beware of State-Sponsored Crime The year 2010 in security all started with China and the Google hacks. Remember? What drama! More recently, we watched the Stuxnet state-sponsored malware attack wreak havoc on Microsoft users. More drama. The lesson? It's no longer your disgruntled employee or even the opportunistic hacker simply taking advantage of a chink in your armor that you need to worry about. "Your disgruntled employee and opportunistic hackers have limited budgets and resources, while today's state-sponsored threat comes with unlimited resources. After all, they print the money," Henry said. "The increased risks associated with state-sponsored cybercrime require more diligence." More Social-Media Malware With Facebook reportedly planning to vie for LinkedIn's audience, the risk of exposing personal information continues to grow. As Henry sees it, it's hard to believe that the companies that proved they could not be trusted with the simplest of information now want to host our resumes. "As social media expands to contain more personal information, so does the risk that this very same information will be used in more effective spear phishing-like attacks," Henry said. "By expanding the information we are placing on social web sites, we are making the job of social engineering easier for the bad guys." Virtualization Security Arrives On a more positive note, Henry expects security vendors who have been sitting on the sidelines to recognize that Virtualization is here to stay, jump into the game, and finally write software that can interface to the vSafe API and provide meaningful policies on otherwise unseen traffic. "Virtualization security can help reduce enterprise costs, but we must deal with the associated risk of moving from a bare-metal environment to a virtual one," he said. "Gartner noted that by 2012, 60 percent of the deployed virtual machines will be less secure than their original bare-metal counterparts." WikiLeaks Lingers Last but not least ... We haven't heard the last of WikiLeaks. In fact, Henry expects the impact of WikiLeaks to expand well beyond simply embarrassing governments to releasing data that will cause harm to big-business reputations. "With the pressure put on employees and the ill feeling many hold against employers in these tough economic times, WikiLeaks could become first choice for releasing tension," Henry said. "The current WikiLeaks issue underscores the importance of proper data classification and data-leakage protection on our servers and on all of our endpoints. We have entered a new age of hacktivism, and WikiLeaks is just a glimpse of what the future will hold." |
| Turk hackers avenge basketball riot: Cyprus police (AFP) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 07:38 AM PST NICOSIA (AFP) – Turkish computer hackers targeted around 20 websites in Cyprus over the weekend in retaliation for an attack on a Turkish basketball team by Greek Cypriot fans, a police spokesman said on Monday. "Acting on information from the office for combating cyber-crime, it was observed that around 20 company websites hosted within the Cyprus Republic were illegally accessed by Turkish hackers," said Michalis Katsounotos. On some website homepages, the hackers inserted the emblem of basketball team Pinar Karsiyaka, the crescent moon of the Turkish flag, or the words "No Terrorism in Sport." A FIBA basketball cup match on December 21 between hosts APOEL Nicosia and Turkey's Pinar Karsiyaka ended in violence as 500 rock-throwing local fans clashed with police who prevented them from confronting the Karsiyaka players. Tear gas was used to restore order, while police cars ferrying reinforcements to the sports stadium were pelted with stones. Five officers received hospital treatment for minor cuts and wounds. Three 15-year-old youths have been charged with assault, affray and illegal possession of dangerous weapons, and investigators are trying to identify more suspects using CCTV footage. Katsounotos said no Karsiyaka team members were hurt, but a large police escort was used to shepherd the Turkish team back to their hotel and later to the divided island's Larnaca international airport. Turkey's ambassador to breakaway northern Cyprus, Kaya Turkmen, lodged a protest with UN peacekeepers on the island, and President Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, slammed those involved in the attack as "brainless." A FIBA tribunal has fined APOEL 40,000 euros (52,000 dollars) and ordered them to play their next European home matches behind closed doors. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey seized and occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia seeking to unite the island with Greece. |
| Vladimir Putin Orders Russian Government to Switch to Free Software by 2015 (Mashable) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 09:28 AM PST Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a government order that lays out the groundwork for the transition of federal bodies and agencies to use free software, including Linux, by 2015. The 25-point document (available here) outlines specific steps the government must take in order to move off proprietary software and onto free and/or open source alternatives like Linux. The government order was approved on December 17 and affects all federal agencies of the federal budget. Each point of the document names the specific action that must be taken, the agency responsible for implementing that order, the time frame for implementation, and the expected result. For example, point #5 instructs Russia's Ministry of Communications to form, "the base package of free software solutions for typical problems of the federal executive bodies," with the expected result a free package of software that includes operating systems, drivers and application software for servers. Order #5 calls for, "creating and maintaining a single repository of free software used in the federal bodies of executive power," while order #20 requires, "the development of departmental plans to move to the use of free software, including plans for transition of subordinate budget institutions." The final order, to be implemented in Q3 2015, calls for, "preparation of the draft orders of the Government of the Russian Federation on the adoption of a phased introduction of free software for the next planning period." Russia has been moving in the direction of free software for the last few years. In 2008, the government ordered schools to implement free software packages in all of its computers. Schools that now want to use proprietary software have to pay for it out of their own pockets. |
| With iPod Rival, Samsung Aims To Match Apple Products (NewsFactor) Posted: 27 Dec 2010 02:27 PM PST Building out its family of products, Samsung Electronics has confirmed that it will debut a personal media player based on its Galaxy smartphones at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The four-inch touchscreen Samsung Galaxy Player has Wi-Fi, front- and back-facing cameras, and comes with eight, 16 or 32 gigabytes of data storage -- much like Apple's iPod touch -- according to a blog that covers Samsung products. Samsung Hub also reported that the player is 9.9mm thick and runs Android 2.2 with a one-gigahertz processor, a microSD card slot, and access to Samsung Apps and the Android Market, which has more than 200,000 offerings. The South Korea-based Samsung previously released the Galaxy Player 50 at the IFA conference in Berlin in September, with a smaller 3.2-inch display, only a rear-facing camera, and running Android 2.1. A similar device, the GB-70, is also expected at CES. Eye on Apple Having launched the Galaxy Tab in September -- a seven-inch answer to Apple's 9.7-inch iPad tablet, with one million sold in the first two months, as well as a line of Galaxy smartphones that have sold more than five million units on all major carriers, Samsung seems poised to try to match the Cupertino, Calif., computer giant product for product in the aggressive consumer electronics arena. "Samsung is trying to match Apple family by family," said technology consultant and analyst Rob Enderle. "Samsung is one of the few companies that can match Apple's distribution. Although they don't have their own stores like Apple, in terms of being able to [compete] in the same kind of stores, they can do that." Enderle added that other companies trying to match Apple's success have done so "piecemeal, without going after the full set of products." "Samsung is one of the most powerful consumer electronics companies in the world and the one that scares Sony the most. If you had to pick the company most capable of taking on Apple, Samsung would probably be it." Samsung Electronics, a division of the Samsung Group, also makes semiconductors, smart televisions, home appliances, computing products, and printers. Price, Features Are Key Apple's line of iPods, which includes the Shuffle, Nano, Classic and touch, have sold more than 260 million units since 2001, according to the company. To compete, the Galaxy Player will need to be "at least price competitive with Apple's line," said analyst Michael Gartenberg of Gartner Research. "It's in many ways the first competitor to the iPod touch," Gartenberg said, while noting that the newcomer lacks some elements of the iPod's appeal. "First, it's going to need a simple sync solution to get content on the device as well as a robust media marketplace. It's also going to need a much stronger story for games, which remain a weak part of the Android operating system." |
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