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Hurd in the crosshairs: SEC probe seen as limited (AP) : Technet |
- Hurd in the crosshairs: SEC probe seen as limited (AP)
- Divided FCC adopts rules to protect Web traffic (AP)
- Muve service includes unlimited music downloads (AP)
- HP’s PalmPad bound for CES? Hmmm … (Ben Patterson)
- PlayStation phone to be dubbed “Xperia Play,” launch in April? (Ben Patterson)
- Microsoft said to plan new Windows for tablets (Reuters)
- Synology announces new 15TB NAS device (Macworld)
- FCC Approves Rules To Govern Internet, Including Wireless (Investor's Business Daily)
- New Foursquare update adds support for photos, comments (Digital Trends)
- Zynga launches music partnership with Dr. Dre (Digital Trends)
- Amazon to Sell More Than 8 Million Kindles in 2010 [REPORT] (Mashable)
- Zynga’s Mafia Wars hits Android in two new ways (Appolicious)
- OpenBSD Chief Believes Contractor Tried to Write Backdoors (PC World)
- Top ERP Predictions for 2011 (PC World)
- Intel says FTC approves McAfee acquisition (AFP)
- 'Do Not Track' Coming to Firefox 4 (PC World)
- US regulators approve 'net neutrality' rules (AFP)
| Hurd in the crosshairs: SEC probe seen as limited (AP) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 02:33 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO – A federal probe of Mark Hurd's hasty resignation as Hewlett-Packard Co.'s CEO touches on some of the biggest names in technology. Yet the potential damage to Hurd, HP or his current employer, Oracle Corp., is likely limited, legal experts say, because the allegations against him are narrow and their underlying facts are murky. Hurd's biggest headache in the Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation, which was revealed this week, likely won't be the allegations of sexual harassment or the findings of inaccurate expense reports that got him ousted from HP in August. Potentially more problematic is an allegation by Hurd's accuser, a former HP marketing contractor named Jodie Fisher, that Hurd tipped her off in advance about HP's plans to buy technology services company Electronic Data Systems for $13.9 billion in 2008. Fisher later appeared to recant her statement, and there are some protections for revealing inside information to family members and other close confidantes if they don't trade on the information. Still, the SEC could sanction Hurd if it determines that he made a material disclosure and that Fisher didn't fall into a protected category. "Tipping a takeover target is an original sin in the eyes of the SEC," said John Coffee Jr., a professor at Columbia Law School and an expert on securities regulation. "While there's no evidence that she traded on it, or that he was telling her to induce her to trade, it nonetheless violates the norms." It's OK for executives to share secrets with some outside parties, such as spouses or close friends, if there's an established pattern of sharing confidential information with them. But Coffee said a one-time disclosure to someone without a legitimate need to know might get Hurd into trouble. Coffee added that he doesn't believe that Oracle, which hired Hurd as a co-president one month after his ouster from HP, is at risk in the SEC investigation. Investigators also aren't likely to focus on HP for the way it disclosed Hurd's exit, he said. "I don't know that they have any business worrying about whether the board was too quick or too slow in a case involving somewhat gray and disputed allegations of sexual harassment," Coffee said. HP, which says it is cooperating with the SEC investigation, has never publicly disclosed Fisher's allegation about the acquisition tip. In announcing Hurd's resignation, the world's biggest technology company said that although it found no evidence of sexual harassment, it found inaccurate expense reports for some of Hurd's private outings with Fisher. Hurd argues that he didn't prepare his own expenses and that Fisher's name was inadvertently left off some reports, but included on others. The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC is looking at the possibility that Hurd destroyed computer evidence related to the case. A person familiar with the case told The Associated Press that Hurd cleared his computer before he returned it to HP, to protect the privacy of family members who sometimes used the machine. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the details. Fisher helped organize and host HP networking events that Hurd would attend. She accused Hurd, who is married with children, of harassment after her work dried up. She blamed the reduction on her rebuffing his advances, a charge Hurd denies. The SEC and Oracle declined to comment. Hurd spokesman David Satterfield has said that Hurd acted properly "in all respects." SEC investigations are common after surprising, market-moving events. Often, any violations found are settled, sometimes without a fine. One example is HP's 2007 settlement with the SEC over the sequence of events that led to the exposure of an embarrassing "pretexting" scandal, in which HP hired investigators to unearth private phone records of board members and journalists. HP did not pay a fine in that settlement, but agreed to not violate the disclosure requirements for public companies. Coffee said that what's been publicly disclosed about the Hurd case so far "doesn't justify SEC litigation time." Rather than send armies of lawyers to argue the case in court, he said, the SEC would more likely try to settle any violations found. HP is facing lawsuits over the handling of Hurd's resignation, in particular because some $9 billion in its market value evaporated in the first trading day after the announcement of Hurd's departure. Shares haven't fully recovered despite the fact that investors have generally been pleased by comments from Hurd's replacement, Leo Apotheker, the former CEO of software maker SAP AG. Apotheker has rescinded employee pay cuts imposed under Hurd and vowed to close gaps with rival IBM Corp. in software and research. HP has also been criticized for the size of Hurd's severance package. He got a $12.2 million cash payout and has filed papers to sell some $30 million worth of stock that he got by exercising options that were part of his severance. To squash a courtroom battle with HP over whether Hurd should be allowed to work at Oracle, an HP rival, Hurd agreed to give back some $14 million in restricted stock to HP that he had also been given in his severance. |
| Divided FCC adopts rules to protect Web traffic (AP) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 06:26 PM PST WASHINGTON – Federal regulators adopted new rules Tuesday to keep the companies that control the Internet's pipelines from restricting what their customers do online or blocking competing services, including online calling applications and Web video. The vote by the Federal Communications Commission was 3-2 and quickly came under attack from the commission's two Republicans, who said the rules would discourage investments in broadband. Prominent Republicans in Congress vowed to work to overturn them. Meanwhile, critics at the other end of the political spectrum were disappointed that the new regulations don't do enough to safeguard the fastest-growing way that people access the Internet today — through wireless devices like smart phones and tablets. The new rules have the backing of the White House and capped a year of efforts by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to find a compromise. They are intended to ensure that broadband providers cannot use their control of the Internet's on-ramps to dictate where their subscribers can go. They will prohibit phone and cable companies from favoring or discriminating against Internet content and services that travel over their networks — including online calling services such as Skype, Internet video services such as Netflix and other applications that compete with their core businesses. The prohibitions, known as "net neutrality," have been at the center of a Washington policy dispute for at least five years. The issue hit home with many Internet users in 2007, when Comcast Corp. slowed traffic from an Internet file-sharing service called BitTorrent. The cable giant argued that the service, which was used to trade movies and other big files over the Internet, was clogging its network. The new FCC rules are intended to prevent that type of behavior. They require broadband providers to let subscribers access all legal online content, applications and services over their wired networks. They do give providers flexibility to manage data on their systems to deal with network congestion and unwanted traffic, including spam, as long as they publicly disclose how they manage the network. "Today, for the first time, we are adopting rules to preserve basic Internet values," Genachowski said. "For the first time, we'll have enforceable rules of the road to preserve Internet freedom and openness." On one level, the new rules probably won't mean big changes for Internet users. After Comcast's actions cast a spotlight on the issue — and drew a rebuke from the FCC — all of the major broadband providers have already pledged not to discriminate against Internet traffic on their wired networks. Even Genachowski acknowledged Tuesday that a key goal of the new rules is to preserve the open Internet as it exists today. Still, critics say the rules don't do enough to break the existing lock-hold that wireless carriers have over the online applications that subscribers can access through their systems. The regulations prohibit wireless carriers from blocking access to any websites or competing services such as Internet calling applications on mobile devices, and they require carriers to disclose their network management practices, too. But wireless companies get more leeway to manage data traffic because wireless systems have less network bandwidth and can become overwhelmed with traffic more easily than wired lines. That means that while wireless carriers must allow access to Internet calling services such as Skype, they could potentially still block online video applications, such as Sling. The rules also wouldn't apply to phone makers, so Apple could still dictate which applications to accept or reject for the iPhone. Apple could choose to block Skype, for instance, even if AT&T, which provides wireless service for the iPhone, can't. At a time when more and more people go online using smart phones and other mobile devices instead of computers, the rules leave wireless carriers with tremendous control over tomorrow's Internet, said Gigi Sohn, president of the public interest group Public Knowledge. At the same time, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., fears the rules don't do enough to ensure that broadband providers cannot favor their own traffic or the traffic of business partners that can pay extra. Big websites such as Google Inc., for instance, could pay to have their content download more quickly than mom-and-pop sites — leading to what critics term a two-tiered Internet. While the new rules prohibit unreasonable network discrimination — a category that FCC officials say would most likely include such "paid prioritization" — they do not explicitly bar the practice. What's more, they leave the door open for broadband providers to experiment with routing traffic from specialized services, such as home security systems, over dedicated networks as long as they're kept separate from the public Internet. These concerns resonated with Genachowski's two Democratic colleagues at the FCC, who voted to approve the rules only reluctantly. "Today's action could — and should — have gone further," said Michael Copps, one of the other two Democrats on the commission. But, he added, the regulations do represent some progress "to put consumers — not Big Phone or Big Cable — in control of their online experiences." Republicans, meanwhile, said they worry the rules will discourage phone and cable companies from upgrading their networks because it will be more difficult for them to earn a healthy return on their investments. Republicans also said the regulations seek to fix a problem that doesn't exist because broadband providers have already pledged not to discriminate. "The Internet will be no more open tomorrow than it is today," said Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the two FCC Republicans, in voting against the rules. A number of prominent Republicans — including Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, and Fred Upton of Michigan, the incoming chairman of the House Commerce Committee — vowed to try to overturn the rules. Robert McDowell, the FCC's other Republican, predicted that the FCC will face court challenges to its regulatory authority as well. In April, a federal appeals court ruled that the agency had exceeded its existing authority in sanctioning Comcast for discriminating against online file-sharing traffic on its network — violating broad net neutrality principles first established by the FCC in 2005. Those principles serve as a foundation for the formal rules adopted Tuesday. |
| Muve service includes unlimited music downloads (AP) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 01:25 PM PST NEW YORK – Recording companies fed up with people illegally downloading music have a possible solution: Add the cost of music to monthly phone bills. Mobile phone operator Cricket Communications Inc. will introduce a new unlimited plan entitling people to talk, surf the Web, send text messages, stream video — and download music — to their hearts' content. The service, dubbed Muve Music, is the first of its kind in the U.S. The service will cost $55 per month when it launches in January with a catalog of music from major recording labels such as Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music. Muve even includes unlimited use of the popular app Shazam, which identifies the name of a song that is playing near the phone. The plan's price is reasonable, given that Cricket subscribers already pay $55 per month for all of these unlimited features (minus the music downloads, of course) on a smart phone running Google Inc.'s Android software. On its own, a comparable music subscription service, from the likes of MOG, Rhapsody, Thumbplay and Rdio, costs $10 a month. Under the Muve plan, phone owners won't technically own the music they download. The music cannot be removed from the phone, for instance, and transferred to a computer or a digital music player such as an iPod. And music will vanish if a subscriber cancels service. That model dissuades cell phone customers from canceling, while recording labels receive an unspecified percentage of those $55-per-month subscriber fees. Cricket, based in San Diego, doesn't require its customers to sign contracts as larger carriers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless typically do. Cricket has more than 5 million subscribers, which it describes as predominantly low income. Only half of them, for instance, are estimated to have computers in their homes. Their customers, it says, aren't likely to purchase songs or albums digitally through Apple Inc. or Amazon.com Inc., nor are they likely to subscribe to digital music services such as Rhapsody. The alternative for many people would be to download music illegally. Cricket and music labels are hoping that Muve will provide an easier way for people to download music and entice them to begin paying for it. The Samsung Suede ($199) will initially be the only phone that works with Muve. The phone can't download apps, but it has a 3-inch touchscreen, much like the iPhone, and can surf the Web and access e-mail. Although Cricket's Muve Music plan is the first of its kind in the U.S., other companies have introduced similar plans internationally. In 2007, for instance, phone maker Nokia unveiled its "Comes with Music" plan, whose costs were baked into the monthly data and voice plans that subscribers were already used to paying. Like Cricket, the service was designed so that music couldn't be loaded onto digital music players. In April, Nokia lifted that restriction, but only for Chinese customers. |
| HP’s PalmPad bound for CES? Hmmm … (Ben Patterson) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 02:17 PM PST HP has made no secret of the fact that it's working on a tablet based on Palm's WebOS for early 2011, while the "PalmPad" name was outed by recent trademark filings. A new report, however, claims we may see the expected slate device at the Consumer Electronics Show, although a few oddities in the story are raising red flags. FoxNews.com says it has a "trusted" source who claims to have spec sheets and diagrams for the new tablet, along with word that the long-anticipated PalmPad — or rather, three different models of the PalmPad — will debut at CES next month. The "consumer" version of the PalmPad will support Sprint's 4G WiMax network, according to Fox News, and will also boast such niceties as dual cameras (1.3 and 3.0 megapixels, each with its own LED flash), a mini HDMI video output, and a USB 3.0 port, while the largest of the three tablets will have a screen that's about as large as the iPad's 9.7-inch display. Also on tap — although not for CES, apparently — is a fourth version of the PalmPad for college students, which will come with an 8.9-inch display and be customized for participating universities, according to the report. Interesting, right? But Fox News' diagram of the purported PalmPad, complete with HP logos and a notation of an "optional HP PalmPad Dock," is raising eyebrows among the likes of PreCentral, CNET, and Engadget, all of whom point out that the image looks more or less identical to HP's existing, Windows 7-based Slate 500 (warning: PDF). And while the Fox post notes that the PalmPad is a "spinoff" of the Slate, the story also calls it the "never-released" Slate — odd, since the long-delayed Slate 500 was finally released a couple of months ago. Last but not least, the bloggers at Engadget point out that if HP really is planning on launching the PalmPad at CES, just two weeks from now, this is the first they're hearing of it — and me too, frankly. Of course, it's always possible that the HP diagrams are legit (if "recycled," as CNET's Erica Ogg puts it), and that the "Slate-was-never-released" reference is just a factual foul-up. And hey — maybe HP simply chose not to invite me to the PalmPad's coming-out party. (Zut alors!) Still, I'd advise taking these latest PalmPad rumors with a healthy grain of salt until more details emerge. Stay tuned. Related: EXCLUSIVE: iPad Competitor Coming Soon From Palm [FoxNews.com] — Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| PlayStation phone to be dubbed “Xperia Play,” launch in April? (Ben Patterson) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 01:45 PM PST The long-rumored, Android-powered PlayStation phone must be the worst kept secret at Sony since 2009's widely leaked PSP Go, and now we have even more purported tidbits to mull over, including a potential name for the handset and even a release date. First up, the name: "Xperia Play," which was discovered after phone blogs Pocketnow and the Xperia X10 Blog began rifling through European Union trademark filings. The bloggers found that the "Xperia Play" name (which is the brand for Sony Ericsson's high-end smartphones) had been registered by a PR agency that counts Sony Ericsson as one of its clients. Of course, the EU trademark filing doesn't specify what "Xperia Play" might stand for, leaving open the possibility that it could be the name of something other than the rumored PlayStation phone; perhaps, for example, it refers to a mobile PlayStation app store. Most observers, however, seem to think "Xperia Play" could be the name of the phone itself, despite the fact that simply calling it the PlayStation Phone might be a better idea. OK, so we have some hints about the name — when are we going to see the genuine article? Based on the number of leaked photos that have been circulating around the Web — dozens, it seems, with a few videos to go along with them — you'd think Sony Ericsson would be pretty far along with the Android slider phone. There's always the Consumer Electronics Show, which is only about two weeks away, but the latest rumors indicate that we might have to wait a bit longer, with Pocket-lint citing a source (the anonymous kind, naturally) who claims the Xperia Play — or whatever it ends up being called — could emerge from the shadows at the Mobile World Congress in February, with an actual street date around April. Sony has already announced that a PlayStation app for iOS and Android handsets is set to arrive in the near future. The app won't let you play games or remotely tap into your PS3, mind you, but at least you'll be able to burnish your collection of PS Trophies and chat with fellow gamers while you're on the go. Late last month, the chief executive for Sony Ericcson dropped some rather large hints about a possible PlayStation phone, telling the Wall Street Journal that "there's a lot of smoke" about the handset and "there must be a fire somewhere," adding that Sony "has an extremely strong offering in the gaming market, and that's very interesting." Rumored specs for the slider, which has also gone by the code-name "Zeus Z1," include a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor, 512MB of RAM, a microSD memory slot, all running on Android 3.0 "Gingerbread." Leaked photos of the handset reveal slide-out gaming controls, including a pair of touch-sensitive joysticks, a D-pad, and the four familiar PlayStation controller buttons (triangle, square, circle, and "X"). Related: — Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News. |
| Microsoft said to plan new Windows for tablets (Reuters) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 05:04 PM PST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is working on a version of its core Windows operating system for devices such as tablets, according to media reports on Tuesday, and the company said its Windows Phone 7 software is making headway in the booming smartphone market. Microsoft plans to unveil a version of its operating software that runs for the first time on processors designed by UK-based ARM Holdings PLC, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported. ARM's processors dominate the tablet and handheld device market. Microsoft intends to announce a version of its operating system to run on ARM chip architecture, which competes with the "x86" designs favored by Intel, the Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the plans as saying. It was unclear when such an operating system might come to market, but the U.S. software maker could claim lost ground in tablets and other battery-powered mobile devices by forging a new partnership with ARM. Microsoft and ARM declined to comment. Microsoft said on Tuesday that more than 1.5 million cellphones carrying Windows Phone 7 operating software have sold in the first six weeks of launch, meeting what the company called "realistic" expectations. Windows Phone 7 may be Microsoft's last chance to establish a major presence in a hot cellphone market now dominated by Apple Inc and Google Inc, analysts say. The sales numbers were disclosed for the first time by Achim Berg, vice president of business and marketing for Windows phones, in an internally conducted interview posted on Microsoft's website. "It's a decent number. The mobile market is going to be a battle for Microsoft," said Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Partners who has a "buy" rating on Microsoft. Microsoft's disappearance from the phone market and its delayed response to tablet devices like Apple's iPad has been seen as a drag on shares this year. Its shares closed up 26 cents on Tuesday at $28.07. DECENT SHOWING But Gillis noted that the shipment of 1.5 million phones was sales into the distribution channel, rather than directly into consumers' hands, which tempers the announcement. Taiwan's HTC, Dell Inc, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are among the vendors who have launched or plan to begin selling Phone 7-based devices. The industry is closely watching the early days of what could be a longer-term driver of growth. Gillis forecasts about 25 million Phone 7 sales in 2011. In contrast, analysts expect Apple to sell more than 60 million iPhones next year. "We all know that the competition is extreme in this industry, and we have to compete on multiple fronts," Berg said in the interview. "We are on a path to begin releasing the first of several updates in the next couple of months, and several more mobile operators around the world will introduce Windows Phone 7 on their network in 2011." Gillis noted that Microsoft is spending $500 million to market the Windows 7 smartphone, and suggested the company could see market gains by using some of that cash to subsidize the devices so consumers get them for free. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Gary Hill) |
| Synology announces new 15TB NAS device (Macworld) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 04:30 PM PST Synology America Corp on Tuesday announced the release of its newest server, the Disk Station DS1511+. Synology, a manufacturer of network attached storage devices for homes and businesses, has a reputation for creating feature-rich NAS solutions for a variety of audiences, and this latest unit should satisfy small businesses, prosumers, and network administrators. Capable of storing up to 15TB of data, this expansive NAS device is for those with serious storage demands. The $900 DS1511+ is the successor to Synology's DS1010+ server model. Alone, the new device can hold up to five 3TB SATA hard drives that can be configured in a variety of RAID arrays for maximum performance or maximum redundancy. When it is connected with two of Synology's DX510 server storage expansion units, it can manage and process the storage of a whopping 15 3TB drives. According to Synology's press materials, in a RAID 5 configuration the DS1511+ can write the drives at a rate 165.91 MB/sec, and reads them at 197.8 MB/sec. The device is also reportedly able to host up to 30 websites on its hard drives. The new server runs Synology's Disk Station Manager (DSM) 3.0 operating system. The DSM 3.0's user interface (UI) is designed to look like a common household desktop UI, and sports features such as multi-tasking, multimedia streaming, and Time-Machine-like back-up options. According to Synology, the UI's User Home Feature makes it easy for office administrators to create secure, shared folders for a large amount of server users to access information from. The DSM 3.0 can be remotely accessed via any Windows, Mac, or Linux workstation. Information from the server can also be retrieved via apps for the iPhone and Android smart phones. Besides a normal storage device, the DS1511+ can also be utilized as a surveillance storage device. It can connect with up to 700 models of IP surveillance cameras so offices and homes can be appropriately protected. Synology claims that it designs its storage devices with energy efficiency in mind. According to the company, the DS1511+ only consumes about 68 watts while operating, and 30 watts while in hibernation. It is a compact device with a size (HxWxD) of 157mm X 248mm X 233mm, and a weight of 4.25kg. The DS1511+ is available now and comes with 3-year warranty on the product, as well as technical support for it, at no extra cost. |
| FCC Approves Rules To Govern Internet, Including Wireless (Investor's Business Daily) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 04:36 PM PST The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted to extend Internet regulation to wireless phone networks for the first time as part of a controversial revamp of "net neutrality" rules that will likely face legal challenges and opposition by GOP lawmakers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gained the support of the two other Democratic FCC members, while the two Republican appointees voted against the proposal. Undermined by an April court decision that gutted much of the FCC's Web authority, Genachowski aimed to carve out new rules acceptable to Internet service providers on one side and online firms and consumers' groups on the other. The rules open the door to new revenue-making services for ISPs and give them more leeway to manage data usage on broadband networks. Mobile Operators Angry Still, phone companies have been dug in against extending even mild Internet regulation to wireless networks. Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - News), co-owner of No. 1 mobile operator Verizon Wireless, criticized the new rules and hinted at a possible court challenge. Verizon had hoped to avoid increased wireless regulation by proposing a net-neutrality compromise with Google (NMS:GOOG) in August. "This assertion of authority without solid statutory underpinnings will yield continued uncertainty for industry, innovators and investors," Verizon said in a statement. The FCC has had net neutrality "principles" in place since 2005. They require ISPs to treat all Web content sent over broadband networks equally. With Tuesday's vote, Genachowski aimed to formalize rules with more clout, but the agency's legal position is still wobbly because of Comcast's (NMS:CMCSA) victory in the April court decision. The rules govern ISPs, mainly cable TV and phone companies. Genachowski says they will aid the growth of emerging services such as online video and Internet phone calling over wireless networks. The new wireless Web rules ban ISPs from blocking access to Web sites or competing voice and video applications. Skype Happy Internet phone-calling company Skype hailed the FCC's rules. "We support the Commission's decision that it will not tolerate wireless carriers who arbitrarily block Skype on mobile devices," said Christopher Libertelli, Skype's senior director of regulatory affairs. Netflix (NMS:NFLX) spokesman Steve Swasey said, "The FCC's new rules move in the right direction but didn't go as far as we had hoped." The FCC seems to be heading in a different direction than Europe's regulators, who have let wireless providers plow ahead with plans to charge Internet firms that gobble up bandwidth. France's Industry Minister Eric Besson told reporters Tuesday that Google and other Web content providers aren't contributing enough to the costs of telecom networks. "European operators are already starting to prioritize and de-prioritize different types of (Web) traffic," said Mark Newman, an analyst at research firm Informa Telecoms. The plan also drew a cool response from consumer groups that claim it's riddled with pro-business loopholes. Public interest groups have been unhappy that Genachowski gave up on a plan to re-regulate Internet services under pre-World War II rules that govern plain old phone services, a move fiercely opposed by AT&T (NYSE:T - News) and other ISPs. Still, the FCC chairman won a big victory after several setbacks. Genachowski has made little real headway with a much-hyped national broadband plan released in March aimed at freeing up more wireless spectrum and boosting U.S. Internet services. President Obama had trumpeted the "Open Internet" in his 2008 campaign. Tuesday's vote "moves the ball forward on a highly contentious issue and delivers a win for the administration," said Paul Gallant, an analyst at MF Global. Courts, Congress Hostile But courts are likely to overturn the FCC's new Web rules, says George Reed-Dellinger, an analyst at Washington Analysis. "Even optimists admit that the FCC will have a difficult time in proving it has the authority to regulate ISPs" under the 1934 Communications Act or the 1996 Telecommunications Act, he said. With Republicans gaining control of the House, there's no chance Congress will pass legislation adopting the FCC's new Web rules, Dellinger says. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in the fall proposed a compromise bill that would have fenced off mobile networks from Web rules. Walter McCormick, president of industry lobbying group USTelecom, said in a statement that the FCC's new rules are "an expansive assertion of regulatory authority over the Internet: one that goes far beyond the Waxman legislative proposal." |
| New Foursquare update adds support for photos, comments (Digital Trends) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 10:31 AM PST
Foursquare says the addition of photos will allow users to, for example, “see dishes before ordering them, figure out if a venue looks fun, or easily identify a hard-to-find spot.” Foursquare has already partnered with a few companies to push photos to users’ devices when they check-in to certain places. The comment feature allows users to post thoughts about friends’ check-ins to, say, share plans to meet at a particular neighborhood bar later in the evening. With the iPhone’s push notification enabled, Foursquare will update users about their friends comments on the fly, even if the app isn’t currently active. The Foursquare update is now available in Apple’s App Store and should be launching next week for Android devices. Blackberry users can expect the new features in January. |
| Zynga launches music partnership with Dr. Dre (Digital Trends) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 02:19 PM PST The video will stream for free within Mafia Wars beginning today in anticipation of Dr. Dre’s new album, Detox, will will be released in early 2011, marking his first release in over a decade. "We're always looking for innovative and interesting ways for fans to discover great music and with an artist of Dre's cultural significance we really wanted something special that's never been done before," said Jimmy Iovine, Chairman, Interscope Geffen A&M Records. "We felt it was a perfect fit for Dre to be the first musical experience for the millions of Mafia Wars players to enjoy while gaming."
Beginning today, Mafia Wars will feature a number of Dr. Dre-inspired game experiences including music and limited edition virtual goods, such as headphones, a vintage car and weapons. The Dr. Dre in-game music integration isn’t the first of its kind. Recently Zynga partnered with Snoop Dogg to blow up a 4-ton armored truck in the Nevada desert to commemorate Mafia Wars reaching 10 million visitors in two weeks. Both partnerships leverage Zynga's more than 200 million monthly active users worldwide, providing a unique platform that encourages new fans and old, alike. Dr. Dre began his career creating groundbreaking music as a member and producer of the hip hop group N.W.A. His two solo albums which followed, The Chronic (1992) and Dr. Dre 2001 (1999) are two of the most influential and essential hip hop albums of all time. Among the artists whose music Dr. Dre has produced are Eminem, Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, 2Pac and 50 Cent. He has won five Grammy awards including Producer of the Year in 2001. In 2008 Dr. Dre co-founded with Jimmy Iovine, Beats by Dr. Dre, a headphone and sound transmission company. |
| Amazon to Sell More Than 8 Million Kindles in 2010 [REPORT] (Mashable) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 01:25 PM PST A new report suggests that Amazon's Kindle e-reader will blow past estimates and sell more than 8 million units of the devices this year. According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek's sources, Amazon sold 2.4 million Kindles in 2009. If those numbers are accurate, that means the device's sales have more than tripled in a year. It doesn't look like the iPad was a Kindle-killer after all. Amazon is notorious for being tight-lipped about sales of the popular device. The retail giant told us that the Kindle 3 is the fastest-selling Kinde ever, but didn't provide any numbers to back that assertion up. We're not certain why Amazon's so secretive about sales of the device, but clearly it must think it's a strategic advantage to keep that information under wraps. Amazon's newest Kindle, which launched earlier this year, is smaller and faster. But most of all, it's cheaper with its very affordable $139 price point. That alone is probably a major factor in the rapid rise of Kindle sales. Still, Apple sold 4.19 iPads in Q3 alone, half of Kindle's 2010 sales. The stage has been set for an interesting battle over the future of e-books in 2011. |
| Zynga’s Mafia Wars hits Android in two new ways (Appolicious) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 09:26 AM PST |
| OpenBSD Chief Believes Contractor Tried to Write Backdoors (PC World) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 04:50 PM PST The lead developer of the OpenBSD operating system says that he believes that a government contracting firm that contributed code to his project "was probably contracted to write backdoors," which would grant secret access to encrypted communications. Posting to an OpenBSD discussion list Tuesday, Theo de Raadt said that while he now believes that a company called Netsec may have been involved in backdoors, he doesn't think that any of this software made it into the OpenBSD code base. The controversy was kicked off last week, after former Netsec CEO Gregory Perry e-mailed de Raadt privately, to warn him that there might be 10-year-old bugs in the software that OpenBSD uses for secure Internet communications. Perry said that the back door code was developed as a way for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to monitor encrypted communications within the U.S. Department of Justice. OpenBSD's de Raadt went public with the e-mail, saying he'd rather the whole matter be hashed out in public, and while no one has come forward to back up Perry's allegations (quite the opposite -- two people named in his e-mail have said the claims are false), parts of what Perry claimed do check out. For example, there really was a government security contractor called Netsec. And as Perry claimed, a Netsec developer named Jason Wright did make contributions to OpenBSD. "I believe that Netsec was probably contracted to write backdoors as alleged," de Raadt said in his posting. "If those were written," he added, "I don't believe they made it into our tree. They might have been deployed as their own product." According to de Raadt, Wright worked primarily on drivers for OpenBSD. Another Netsec developer, Angelos Keromytis, wrote security code that used these drivers, de Raadt said. If there is a 10-year-old back door in OpenBSD, it would be hard to identify, as it would probably look just like any other security vulnerability. But it would give anyone who knew about it a way to eavesdrop on supposedly secure Internet communications -- VPN traffic, for example -- that used the buggy software. Last week, the general reaction to Perry was extremely skeptical. According to former FBI agent and computer crime investigator E.J. Hilbert, "the deployment of an open source software with backdoors in it is completely idiotic, because it's open source," he said last week. He called Perry "a nut." If the FBI created back doors in OpenBSD it would be tantamount to giving criminals a way to breaking into OpenBSD systems, Hibbert said. "Everybody in the world is going to be looking at it and finding them." Since Perry's allegations were made public, developers have found two new bugs in OpenBSD, but de Raadt said Tuesday that he thinks that neither of them is a back door. In fact, de Raadt seems to think that the whole incident has helped OpenBSD. "I am happy that people are taking the opportunity to audit an important part of the tree which many had assumed -- for far too long -- to be safe as it is," he said. Except for an e-mail note adding some more detail to his allegations, Perry has not commented further on the matter. Reached Tuesday, an FBI spokesman had no comment on the issue. De Raadt did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story. Perry is CEO with GoVirtual, a VMware services company. When the backdoor code was allegedly added to OpenBSD's IPsec stack, however, he was CEO of Netsec, which did contract work for the FBI. He has said that he came forward because his FBI nondisclosure agreement has expired. Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is robert_mcmillan@idg.com |
| Top ERP Predictions for 2011 (PC World) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 11:50 AM PST Some aspects of the ERP (enterprise resource planning) software landscape, such as tired legacy code-bases and disastrous implementation projects, may never go away. But in recent years, the pace of change with ERP has accelerated, and there all signs are that will continue in 2011. Here's a look at some of the likely outcomes for ERP next year, based on conversations with industry analysts, recent market data and a bit of gazing into the crystal ball. ERP gets serious in the cloud While ERP vendors have been making moves toward cloud computing for some years now, the situation will get serious in 2011 as customers demand that option, according to Frank Scavo, managing principal of the IT strategy firm Strativa. "As cloud-based solutions for CRM, HR, and other functional areas gain market share, many ERP prospects will ask why they can't have their entire ERP suite in the cloud," he said via e-mail recently. Some vendors are already trying to provide the cloud experience, simply by porting their software to public cloud services like Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud or selling them via subscription, he said. "But the real action will be with vendors that have built or re-engineered their products from the ground up to take full advantage of the capabilities of cloud-based computing, such as multi-tenancy and low-impact revision upgrades," he added. "As the economic recovery improves new deal flow, vendors who do not move beyond hosting will find themselves increasingly out of consideration." And an Amazon-like option simply isn't enough, according to Forrester Research analyst Paul Hamerman. "Customers want a complete service offering that bundles vendor maintenance, application managed services, upgrades, hosting, and usage fees. Look for enterprise application vendors, and their services partner ecosystems, to deliver more comprehensive ERP deployment options," he said via e-mail. The "game-changing technologies" for cloud-based ERP are PaaS (platform as a service) as well as BPM (business process management), which allow the extension and customization of cloud software, Hamerman added. Third-party maintenance in limbo The historic US$1.3 billion verdict Oracle recently won in its corporate-theft suit against SAP will have an impact next year on the market for third-party software maintenance, Hamerman predicted. SAP admitted that its former TomorrowNow subsidiary made illegal downloads of Oracle software in the course of providing cut-rate support for Oracle customers. Oracle is also suing Rimini Street, another third-party support provider. Third-party maintenance will "slow or go underground as litigation plays out," Hamerman said. But the rising cost of support will nonetheless prompt customers to consider alternatives, he added. In lieu of that, vendors like SAP have an opportunity to "completely reinvent the game of ERP support" given the BI and analytics tools at their disposal, said Jon Reed, an independent analyst who closely tracks SAP. Such a system could charge customers based on the burden they place on SAP, rather than impose a flat percentage on all customers, regardless of need, Reed said. Admittedly, this may be too visionary, since like all software vendors, SAP is heavily dependent on maintenance revenue. But SAP in particular would be a notable company to lead such a movement, given the high-profile revolt its customers delivered in recent years over maintenance fee hikes. Either way, SAP and other ERP vendors should prepare for customers to start looking for ways to reduce their maintenance spending, said Ray Wang, CEO and principal analyst of Constellation Research. They'll do this by getting rid of shelfware, canceling licenses and other means, he said. ERP goes social -- yes, social Anyone tired of the word "social" uttered in connection with business software should brace themselves for another long year. In 2011, the market will be flooded by social-themed ERP product tweaks, integrations and innovations, Wang said. Research firm Gartner recently released numbers that seem to back Wang's outlook. Companies will spend 14.9 percent more on enterprise social software this year than in 2009, with the total reaching $664.4 million, according to Gartner. Next year, that figure will jump 15.7 percent to $769.2 million, Gartner said. Social ERP is inevitable, as there are simply too many opportunities for vendors to take advantage of the social-software milieu, with its streams of real-time information, group collaboration and sharing, and outreach to customers, Wang said. Mobility Mobile applications are already becoming a requirement for ERP vendors and that won't change in 2011, judging by recent numbers from research firm IDC. The number of downloaded mobile applications will leap from 10.9 billion this year to 76.9 billion in 2014, and revenue will experience a greater than 60 percent compound annual growth rate in the next several years, topping $35 billion in 2014, IDC said. Among ERP vendors, SAP stands out as betting the biggest on mobility as something that not only generates revenue, but shatters its image as a provider of monolithic ERP systems. Co-CEO Bill McDermott promised repeatedly this year that SAP will give customers the ability to get business information on "any device, any place, at any time." The company is soon due to deliver a converged mobile middleware platform based on technology it acquired through the purchase of Sybase in June, and has already been pumping out an array of mobile applications. The buying spree continues Consolidation, a steadfast fact of life in the ERP industry, is going into 2011 alive and well. One active buyer could be Infor, which has grown through a string of smaller purchases. Infor is now led by Charles Phillips, who is seen as a key player in Oracle's historic run of acquisitions. Some rumblings have Phillips' eye on one of the ERP market's last large independents, Lawson Software. One of that company's backers is activist investor Carl Icahn, who took a stake in Lawson this year and has been expected to push for a sale. Look for Oracle to keep buying as well, particularly in vertical markets, and don't rule out a social software acquisition by SAP. Oracle Fusion Applications hit the market This is it. No more "bye years" for Oracle's Fusion Applications. CEO Larry Ellison himself has promised the long-delayed software will finally debut early in 2011. Fusion Applications are supposed to combine the best attributes of Oracle's various ERP lines into a high-powered, next-generation fleet of applications that are infused with BI (business intelligence) and available in modular form. Oracle has been stressing that last point, both to ease the concerns of customers with no desires for forced or big-bang upgrades, as well as to set expectations for the market. The company still has many questions to answer about Fusion Applications as well, regarding matters such as pricing and dependencies on other Oracle software. Some are also wondering if Oracle will deliver Fusion software pre-loaded on a hardware appliance like its Exalogic Elastic Cloud. Overall, indications are that Fusion Applications will arrive with considerable fanfare, but Oracle will take pains to roll them out deliberately. Microsoft Dynamics starts making serious waves While Microsoft's Dynamics ERP products have typically taken a back seat, publicity-wise, to its ubiquitous Office and SharePoint software, its fortunes could change next year. For one, Dynamics boss Kirill Tatarinov is now reporting directly to Steve Ballmer, as analyst Josh Greenbaum noted in a recent blog. Ballmer is interested in Dynamics because of three things, one of which is "product pull-through," Greenbaum said. "Today, every dollar of Dynamics generates from $3 to $9 in additional software sales for Microsoft. Now that's what I call a stack sale." In addition, the Dynamics channel has a good handle on Microsoft's strategy for Azure, its cloud platform, according to Greenbaum. "It's clear that the value-add of Azure has to be about driving innovation into the enterprise, and that's not something the average Office or Windows developer really gets. But Dynamics partners live and breath this concept every day," he wrote. Third, Dynamics itself will help Azure grow and innovate, Greenbaum contends. "While SQL Server, Sharepoint, Communications Server, Windows Server, and other pieces of the stack will have a big play in Azure, the customer working in that innovative new Azure app will most likely be directly interfacing a piece of AX, or Dynamics CRM. That makes Dynamics essential to Azure, and vice versa." 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 |
| Intel says FTC approves McAfee acquisition (AFP) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 03:10 PM PST WASHINGTON (AFP) – Intel said Tuesday that US anti-trust regulators have cleared its 7.68-billion-dollar acquisition of computer security firm McAfee but the deal is still being examined in Europe. "The Federal Trade Commission has concluded its review of the proposed McAfee transaction and has cleared it," Intel vice president for investor relations Kevin Sellers said in a note on Intel's investor relations website. "We are continuing to work with the staff at the European Commission as they continue their review," Sellers added. The Santa Clara, California-based Intel, whose processors power nearly 80 percent of computers worldwide, announced its plan to purchase McAfee, one of the world's largest anti-virus software companies, in August. |
| 'Do Not Track' Coming to Firefox 4 (PC World) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 10:56 AM PST Hard on the heels of Microsoft's decision to offer "do not track" functionality in its upcoming Internet Explorer 9 browser comes word that Mozilla is planning a similar move for its Firefox 4. "Technology that supports something like a 'Do Not Track' button is needed and we will deliver in the first part of next year," Mozilla chief executive Gary Kovacs reportedly told Agence France-Presse while demonstrating Firefox 4 recently at Mozilla headquarters. "The user needs to be in control." While acknowledging that the issue is a complex one that will require balancing the needs of users and advertisers, "I fundamentally believe that the balance is tipped too far," Kovacs said. "You can't tell me the delivery of a piece of content is going to be that much better if you know everything about my life." In short, "It's all about moderation," he added. The PEBKAC Factor Microsoft's announcemen two weeks ago came soon after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's proposal that consumers be allowed to subscribe to a "do not track" system similar to the "do not call" lists used to block telemarketers. Microsoft's new feature is expected in the release candidate version of Internet Explorer 9 that's due early next year. To put the feature to work, users will turn it on and select a list of sites to block. Of course, like so many software features, how well it works depends largely on how well users understand it and make it work for them. As my PCWorld colleague Tony Bradley recently pointed out, user error could play a significant role. Problems could exist, in other words, between the keyboard and the chair (PEBKAC). Opting Out by Default Over at Mozilla, meanwhile, discussions have actually been going on since May of this year about the possibility of allowing third-party cookies only until a Firefox session is closed. Effectively, that would mean that the user opts out of online tracking by default. That feature apparently didn't get implemented, but now -- in the wake of the FTC-inspired discussions -- the sentiment has been revived. It's not yet clear what form Firefox's feature will take or how it will work, and Mozilla didn't get back to me in time for this post. What is clear, however, is that "do not track" capabilities are going to take center stage in the browser arena next year. Follow Katherine Noyes on Twitter: @Noyesk. |
| US regulators approve 'net neutrality' rules (AFP) Posted: 21 Dec 2010 06:43 PM PST WASHINGTON (AFP) – US telecom regulators, in a vote split on party lines, approved rules that supporters said are needed to ensure an open Internet but opponents decried as unnecessary government intervention. The five-member Federal Communications Commission (FCC) agreed to the rules aimed at safeguarding "network neutrality," the principle that lawful Web traffic should be treated equally, by a 3-2 vote at an open meeting here. The three Democrats on the panel voted in favor of the rules, which are likely to face legal challenges and Republican opposition in Congress, while the two Republicans voted against them. "Our action will advance our goal of having America's broadband networks be the freest and fastest in the world," said FCC chairman Julius Genachowski. The FCC's first-ever "net neutrality" rules met with a mixed reaction, with public interest groups and some Democrats saying they did not go far enough and Republicans condemning them as government meddling in the private sector. President Barack Obama said the FCC move "will help preserve the free and open nature of the Internet while encouraging innovation, protecting consumer choice, and defending free speech." Representative John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio who is slated to become speaker when the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in January, said "the new House majority will work to reverse this unnecessary and harmful federal government power grab." The rules are a balancing act by the FCC between support for consumers and the cable and telephone companies that are the US Internet Service Providers. One controversial rule saw the FCC endorse taking a different approach to fixed broadband and mobile broadband, giving wireless providers greater freedom to manage their networks because of spectrum issues. Under the new rules, both fixed and mobile broadband providers are allowed to conduct "reasonable network management." The rules would prevent fixed broadband providers from blocking lawful content, applications or services, providing their own video content at a faster speed, for example, than that of a rival. Wireless providers may not block access to lawful websites or applications that compete directly with their own voice or video telephony services but they could block other applications or services. Fixed broadband providers can also charge consumers according to usage, a metered pricing practice already used by some wireless carriers. Craig Aaron, managing director of public interest group Free Press, said the rules "don't do enough to stop the phone and cable companies from dividing the Internet into fast and slow lanes, and they fail to protect wireless users from discrimination. "No longer can you get to the same Internet via your mobile device as you can via your laptop," Aaron said. Senator Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, said "net neutrality" is the "most important free speech issue of our time" and the rules fall "far short." "Mobile networks like AT&T and Verizon Wireless would be able to shut off your access to content or applications for any reason," he said. "For instance, Verizon could prevent you from accessing Google Maps on your phone, forcing you to use their own mapping program, Verizon Navigator, even if it costs money to use and isn't nearly as good." Verizon said it was "deeply concerned" by the split FCC vote. "The FCC appears to assert broad authority for sweeping new regulation of broadband wireline and wireless networks and the Internet itself," it said. "This assertion of authority without solid statutory underpinnings will yield continued uncertainty for industry, innovators, and investors." Michael Copps, one of the Democrats on the FCC, expressed regret that the rules -- while discouraging -- did not explicitly ban "paid prioritization," the practice of a company paying for the faster delivery of its own content. Robert McDowell, one of the Republican commissioners, described the vote as "one of the darkest days in recent FCC history" and said it would open the door to "a global Internet regulatory pandemic." "The courts will easily sink it," McDowell predicted. "Nothing is broken in the Internet access market that needs fixing. Existing law and Internet structures provide ample protection to consumers," he said. The FCC drafted the rules after suffering a legal setback in April when a court ruled that it had not been granted the authority by Congress to regulate the network management practices of Internet service providers. |
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