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Thursday, December 16, 2010

Yahoo to close more services after 600 layoffs (AP) : Technet

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Yahoo to close more services after 600 layoffs (AP) : Technet

Yahoo to close more services after 600 layoffs (AP)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 03:43 PM PST

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – Thu Dec 16, 6:43 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – The content-sharing site Delicious may not be on Yahoo Inc.'s shrinking menu of online services much longer.

Although a final decision evidently hasn't been made, Delicious is on a list of services that Yahoo is planning to close after shedding 600 employees, or about 4 percent of its work force, earlier this week.

An internal Yahoo slide containing the endangered list was posted on the Internet Thursday. The presentation was shared through Twitter, whose popularity may be one of the reasons that Yahoo no longer prizes Delicious as much as it did five years ago when it bought the site for an undisclosed sum.

In a statement, Yahoo confirmed it will phase out several services in the coming months without specifically mentioning Delicious. The company, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., said it would provide more details "when appropriate."

Other services on Yahoo's "sunset" list include MyBlogLog, Yahoo Buzz, Yahoo Picks and Yahoo Bookmarks.

They would become more detritus in a housecleaning that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz began shortly after she was hired to engineer a turnaround nearly two years ago. She has closed or sold a variety of unprofitable or little used services so Yahoo could focus on other areas more likely to attract traffic and sell advertising. Some of the priorities heading into 2011 include mobile, communications and local services.

Bartz's strategy hasn't paid off yet, with Yahoo's revenue growth still lagging other Internet rivals such as Google Inc. and Facebook, leaving its stock price in the doldrums.

Yahoo shares gained 6 cents to close Thursday at $16.51. The stock price is down slightly for the year and hasn't come close to approaching the levels it reached during the spring of 2008 when Yahoo was still mulling a takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. Those talks ended after Yahoo balked at Microsoft's last offer of $33 per share in May 2008.

Yahoo bought Delicious at a time when its then-CEO, Terry Semel, was trying to build a social hub. He would later try to buy Facebook for $1 billion, only to be turned down by that social network's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who was just named Time magazine's person of the year, for building one of the world's most influential services.

Delicious started in 2003, a few months before Zuckerberg began working on Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room.

In a Thursday e-mail to The Associated Press, Delicious founder Joshua Schachter said he regrets selling his creation to Yahoo. He left Yahoo in 2008 and is now working on a new startup, called Tasty Labs, that is trying to turn social networks into a more useful business tool.

Research in Motion profit jumps 45 percent (AP)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 04:29 PM PST

By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press Rob Gillies, Associated Press – Thu Dec 16, 7:29 pm ET

TORONTO – Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, on Thursday said its third-quarter earnings jumped 45 percent as sales keep surging overseas despite tough competition in the smart-phone market.

The results beat analyst expectations, and the company provided a forecast for the current quarter that also exceeded Wall Street expectations. Its shares rose in extended trading.

RIM said it shipped 14.2 million BlackBerrys in the quarter, narrowly beating Apple Inc.'s iPhone sales in its latest quarter, which ended in October. Most of RIM's growth is now coming from markets outside the U.S., Canada and Britain, where the BlackBerry is already the business phone of choice.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said its net income was $911 million, or $1.74 per share, in the fiscal third quarter, which ended Nov. 27. That was up from $628 million, or $1.10 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.65 per share, on average.

Revenue rose 40 percent to $5.49 billion, better than the $5.4 billion expected by analysts.

"International markets continue to adopt BlackBerry in record numbers," RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said on a conference call with analysts.

Forty-eight percent of RIM's subscriber base at the end of the quarter was international. Balsillie acknowledged some disappointment in subscriber additions in North America this year.

"We've had, you know, OK net adds, but we're positioned to grow very, very strong and, you know, we've really knocked the cover off the ball in so many other markets around the world and yet our penetration in those are still very, very modest," he said.

Sales outside the U.S., U.K. and Canada represented about 44 percent of total revenue, while revenue in the U.S. represented about 34 percent of total revenue.

In August, RIM launched the BlackBerry Torch, with a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard for an overall look that's similar to competing devices. It also refreshed the look of the operating system.

RIM has said it will launch its first tablet computer, the PlayBook, early next year. On the call, Balsillie didn't give a more specific date. He said the initial versions will be Wi-Fi only.

For the quarter ending in February, the company projected earnings of $1.74 to $1.80 per share on revenue of $5.5 billion to $5.7 billion.

Analysts were looking for $1.61 per share and revenue of $5.46 billion.

The company's U.S.-traded shares climbed 94 cents, 1.6 percent, to $60.18 in after-hours trading after rising as much as 5 percent at one point.

BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said the results were "definitely solid" but said there's nothing that alleviates his concern that RIM will lose market share to Apple's iPhone and phones running Google Inc.'s Android software in 2011.

"Every one knew there was a strong quarter coming out of the company and they delivered," Gillis said.

"The concern over the future is still intact," he said. "There's definitely still demand for the phones in the international markets. Let's see what happens next quarter when they report and give guidance. It will be that May quarter where you'll see if they pulled through or you're going to see the cracks."

Aurion Capital Management analyst Greg Taylor noted RIM continues to do well overseas, but said analysts who are negative about RIM's prospects are unlikely to change their mind.

"There's still this negative sentiment in the U.S. on how you are going to respond if Verizon gets the iPhone," Taylor said. While the company is doing well internationally, there's concern that it will start to lose out to Apple and Android there as well, he said.

Review: Gingerbread makes Nexus S a smart cookie (AP)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 01:44 PM PST

By RACHEL METZ, AP Technology Writer Rachel Metz, Ap Technology Writer – Thu Dec 16, 4:44 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – For some people, the holidays go hand in hand with gingerbread, in the form of houses or cookie-cutter men. This year, you can add smart phones — specifically, the Nexus S, the first device running the freshest version of Google's Android operating software, Gingerbread.

Developed by Google Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., the phone has a cool curved glass screen, back- and front-facing cameras and the ability to read special tags on such things as stickers embedded with Near Field Communication chips.

Combined with a fairly good price, it's likely to be on a number of holiday wish lists.

Best Buy stores will sell it for $200 with a contract from T-Mobile, or for a more wallet-stretching $530 if you want it to work on either T-Mobile's or AT&T's network.

The Nexus S is the follow-up to the Nexus One, an HTC Corp. phone that Google trotted out early this year but stopped selling months later as plenty of similar Android-running devices became available.

Although Nexus One was a good phone, it wasn't as amazing as Google thought it was. The company avoids this problem with the Nexus S, which is both a brainy and cool-looking handset.

First, let's get to the brains.

There are a number of subtle changes that come with Gingerbread, such as zippier overall performance.

The most obvious update is with the on-screen keyboard. It is better than previous versions of Android at recommending words as you type, such as last names and other words that you've typed before, but hadn't been in the phone's original dictionary. The keyboard features more space between keys and a multi-touch capability that make typing easier and speedier than on Froyo, Gingerbread's Android predecessor.

The copy and paste tools are simplified in Gingerbread, too, with a little slider that appears on the screen that you can move to select text.

The phone's most-touted feature has been its inclusion of Near Field Communication, or NFC, technology, which is a short-range wireless technology for transmitting data. This could ultimately function as a wireless payment system, eliminating the need for your wallet.

For now, though, Google is only letting the phone read NFC chips inserted in objects, such as movie posters you might pass at a bus stop. Once you are nearly touching one of these tags, the phone will automatically read it and, say, pull up a link to a film trailer.

To give reviewers an immediate sense of how this works, Google included a "Recommended on Google" sticker with the Nexus S the company loaned me for this review. Whenever the screen on my phone was active and within less than an inch of the sticker, it would add the NFC chip embedded in this sticker to my collection in a little app called "Tags." The tag contained a link to a YouTube video that explained the development of the Nexus S.

Cool, right? Too bad you can't really use the feature right now unless you live in Portland, Ore., where Google is distributing these stickers to some businesses. I'm all for adding technology to handsets, but it would be nice if I could actually do something with it near my home in San Francisco. Hopefully this will change in the near future, but it's still unclear.

More immediately useful is the Nexus S' bright screen. Like the phones in Samsung's Galaxy S series, it sports an AMOLED display, which basically means it will likely have higher color saturation than a standard LCD screen would.

This screen, which is 4 inches diagonally, is great for watching videos and surfing the Web, and it is super-sensitive to touch. It is a nice canvas for the latest version of Google Maps — out now for Android phones — which lets you use fingers to tilt the angle of the map and, in many cities, see 3-D buildings when you zoom in.

The screen is also easy to see if you're not looking at it head-on, which is good if you want to share a video with a buddy. It was much brighter in sunlight than another Android phone I had on hand.

What makes the screen truly unique, though, is that it's slightly curved in the center. It's not clear to me why this is beneficial. The press release announcing the phone said it give the phone "a more ergonomic style and feel when held to the user's face," but my face couldn't tell the difference between the Nexus S and a similar-sized smart phone.

Besides giving the phone a bit of a more interesting look and helping it stay slender, it could potentially help protect most of the viewing area if you drop it because only the very top and bottom of the frame would touch the ground.

Wanting to stay on-trend with the iPhone and several other Android-running smart phones, the Nexus S includes both front-facing and back cameras. The low-resolution front camera is handicapped because the phone doesn't include any video chat software, and software I downloaded either wouldn't work, or wouldn't work properly on it.

The 5-megapixel back camera takes crisp shots, but has some shutter lag — that annoying gap between when you press the shutter and when the camera actually takes a photo. I missed having a dedicated camera button, as I felt awkward focusing a shot and then maneuvering a finger to the virtual button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

This camera is also surprisingly Spartan, feature-wise, with just a handful of white balance and exposure settings, but you can always make photos look more exciting by downloading a camera app from the Android Market (the free Retro Camera is a fun one).

I wasn't wowed by the phone's battery life, either. It's rated for up to 6.7 hours of talk time when using a 3G network, and in a day of what I would consider fairly light multitasking, I got about seven hours of life out of the phone. On other days it lasted longer, but I wasn't doing much more than checking e-mail, making a few calls, playing the occasional game of "Angry Birds" and looking up a restaurant in Google Maps.

Still, the Nexus S impressed me overall, especially with the freshening to Android that Gingerbread brings. You just may want to get one while they're hot.

Living with 4G, Day 1: So far, so good (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 02:10 PM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Thu Dec 16, 5:10 pm ET

So, how's life at chez Ben with my cable modem unplugged, and only wireless 4G data for broadband? Surprisingly good, actually — indeed, save for the fact that I can't (quite) stream video at razor-sharp 1080p quality, I've hardly noticed that my cable modem's stopped blinking.

Just to recap: I announced yesterday my intention to try replacing my Road Runner wired broadband service with a wireless 4G connection — specifically, my new portable Overdrive hotspot for Sprint, which I chose because it's the only U.S. carrier that offers an unlimited 4G data plan. (My new Overdrive isn't a review unit, by the way; I now own it, and the $60 monthly data fee comes out of my own pocket.)

Besides simply wanting to see how long I could tolerate living with 4G data rather than wired broadband (I haven't canceled my Road Runner subscription quite yet, mind you), I was also curious to try my experiment from a cord-cutter's perspective. My dream scenario: tossing my cable box in favor of 4G wireless for Internet and a pair of rabbit ears for my TV. (As I've written before, though, a certain 24-hour basic-cable sports network is keeping me from taking the plunge.)

My test got off on the wrong foot, however, when my new Overdrive refused to connect to Sprint's 4G network, despite the fact that my Overdrive admin panel insisted that I had a "good" 4G signal. Did I have a bum Overdrive? Was the unit fundamentally flawed?

Well, no, as it turns out. A friendly and efficient Sprint rep notified me that my data plan was still 3G-only, rather than a 4G-3G combo. Why? Because I apparently still had an unlimited 3G plan (I guess it had been grandfathered in at some point), and the rep wanted to make sure I was actually ready to give it up before switching to the new plan, which offers unlimited 4G data but only 5GB of monthly 3G data. I thanked her for asking (a surprisingly considerate thing to do, given that Sprint probably wants to nix all its remaining unlimited 3G plans, pronto) and assured her that I was  ready and willing to give up unlimited 3G for good — and within minutes, my Overdrive was in 4G heaven.

So, with 4G transfer speeds hovering at about 4Mbps down and 1Mbps up (compared with 10Mbps-plus downloads and 500Kbps uploads for Road Runner), and with a not-too-bad latency rate of about 70-80 milliseconds (versus 15 ms or so for cable), I unplugged my Apple Airport Wi-Fi router, turned off the cable modem, powered up the Overdrive, and began the first phase of my test: everyday productivity. For me, that means keeping a couple of instant-messaging clients and a Twitter app open, composing blog posts in Google Docs, firing off e-mails, and streaming some Internet radio over iTunes.

Four hours of smooth sailing later, I'd pretty much forgotten that I'd switched off my cable modem. My IM connections remained rock-solid all morning, as did my open Google Doc and my e-mail — indeed, save for one brief hiccup in my streaming tunes, I didn't encounter any problems at all. So far, so good.

Surfing the Web and sending e-mail is one thing; what about streaming video, or gaming?

After lunch, I decided to fire up my Xbox 360, connect it to the Overdrive, and frag a few fellow gamers in a "big team" Halo Reach death match. My expectations were low; I expected long load times, laggy performance, and a lot of humiliation at the hands of my opponents.

Well, guess what: my 4G-enabled online Halo match went off pretty much without a hitch. The expansive "Hemorrhage" game map loaded within about a minute or so, and there I was, squeezing off head shots with deadly accuracy, ramming hapless players in my Warthog, and generally have fun — so much fun that, again, I forgot I was gaming over 4G. Only once did the action freeze, and then only for a few moments.

Not bad, but then it was time for the acid test: streaming video.

First stop: my PlayStation 3 and its Vudu movie app. To begin with, I tried watching the first couple minutes of "Inception" in the 1080p-quality "HDX" mode ... and at last, the limitations of 4G began to show themselves. After buffering for about 30 seconds the clip began to play, but the image looked soft and blocky, with the waves crashing against the shore in the opening scene looking disappointingly murky.

When I downshifted to Vudu's standard HD mode, however, video playback improved considerably. Yes, the beach scene that kicks off "Inception" still looked soft, with blocky artifacts plainly visible in the background. But the video stream never buffered, and the overall image quality was relatively decent — a smidge above SD, I'd say, and totally watchable.

I then switched gears to Netflix on Xbox Live, queuing up "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," an HD-quality streaming title on Netflix, and lo and behold: It played in HD, and looked razor-sharp to my eyes. Next, I tried an HD episode of "Battlestar Galactica," only to see the Netflix connection gauge slip back to three bars out of four — no HD, although the standard-def image looked reasonably good, with no buffering to speak of. Yet when I tried another HD movie — "The Girl Who Played with Fire," this time — I was back to HD quality again.

My guess is that the Overdrive's 4G connection (which was spiking at about 5Mbps down at the time) was right on the cusp of supporting HD-quality streaming video, with HD streaming coming and going depending on the moment-to-moment speed of my 4G connection.

Even though HD video streaming proved to be unreliable via 4G, I was pleased to see that video streaming in general — even at just SD quality — was a go. Having suffered through stop-and-go Netflix streaming with my old 3G-only MiFi before (more stop than go, frankly), it was a welcome change.

Conclusions? It's only been a day, but so far, I'm finding that life with 4G isn't all that much different from life with a cable modem, except for the lack of crystal-clear 1080p video streaming — which, truth be told, I won't be able to do without for too much longer. Guess I won't be tossing out my cable modem just yet.

I've also yet to try any mammoth multi-gig downloads yet, but don't worry — that test is up next. Stay tuned.

So, got any real-world 4G torture tests you'd like me to try? Let me know, and I'll be happy to oblige.

Note: Your 4G mileage will vary depending on where you live, and indeed, many areas, particularly rural ones, are still without 4G (or even 3G) coverage. The big U.S. carriers say they'll have coast-to-coast 4G coverage ready within a few years, but for now, spotty 4G is the name of the game.

Also, for those of you wondering how much 4G data one might blow through in a day: So far, I've used a whopping 2.59 GB in less than 24 hours. Whoa.

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

Follow me on Twitter!

Dual-core LG Optimus 2X: the Android smartphone to beat (for now) (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 10:12 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Thu Dec 16, 1:12 pm ET

LG's well-leaked 4-inch Android smartphone has finally broken cover, boasting such mouth-watering features as full-on 1080p playback and recording, dual cameras and — best of all — a dual-core processor, the first of its kind for a smartphone. When will it arrive in the U.S.? Good question.

There are a couple of sour notes about the Optimus 2X that we should hit first, beginning with the fact that for now, it doesn't have a U.S. release date. LG says the 2X will go on sale in Korea next month, with Europe and Asia "to follow." As for North America, well … still up in the air.

Also, the Optimux 2X won't be shipping with "Gingerbread," the latest and greatest version of Android — not a huge surprise, really, given that the just-released Nexus S is the only Gingerbread Android phone for now. Instead, the 2X will arrive with the next best thing, Android 2.2 "Froyo," and LG promises an update to Android 2.3 "in due course."

Moving back to the good stuff, though: We find that the Optimux 2X will come with a 4-inch WVGA display, the same size as on Samsung's "Galaxy S" Android phones, along with two cameras: a 1.3-megapixel lens in front for video chat, and an 8MP snapper in back capable of 1080p-quality video capture.

Speaking of 1080p, LG claims the Optimus 2X will be able to handle 1080p video playback along with HDMI "mirroring," meaning users can transmit 1080p video to an external monitor via the phone's HDMI output while following along on the handset's display. Cool.

Other features on the upcoming Optimus include a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope (naturally), as well as DLNA (short for Digital Living Network Alliance) media sharing with compatible PCs, TVs and other devices on your home network.

Perhaps the Optimus 2X's key feature is the processor that's humming under the hood: a dual-core, 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 "system-on-a-chip," the first of its kind to arrive in a smartphone รข€" or, at least, the first of its kind to be announced in a smartphone.

The new dual-core processor promises zippier performance than we've seen on even the fastest single-core 1GHz handsets, especially when it comes to multitasking and handling 1080p video.

But what about battery life? LG has yet to speculate on how long the Optimus 2X's 1,500 mAh battery will keep its dual-core engine running.

Don't expect LG to stand alone in the land of dual-core handsets for long. Samsung has already been chirping about its own dual-core processor, code-named "Orion," that's slated to replace the "Hummingbird" chip that's powering its current crop of Galaxy S smartphones. Other handset manufacturers are sure to follow.

In other words, that 1GHz smartphone in your pocket (and in mine, too)? So yesterday, my friend.

Related: Press release [LG]

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

Follow me on Twitter!

WikiLeaks's Assange walks free on bail in London (Reuters)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 07:55 PM PST

By Avril Ormsby Avril Ormsby – 1 hr 34 mins ago

ELLINGHAM, England (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, fighting extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes, walked free on bail from a British jail on Thursday protesting his innocence and pledging to continue exposing official secrets.

Assange spoke to a crowd of journalists and supporters waiting in outside the High Court in London five hours after a judge said he could be released on 200,000 pounds ($312,000) bail under stringent conditions.

"It's great to smell fresh air of London again," Assange, illuminated by a blizzard of photographers' flashes, said.

WikiLeaks has angered U.S. authorities by publishing hundreds of a trove of 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables, including details of overseas installations that Washington regards as vital to its security.

Assange, wearing a dark suit and open-necked white shirt, brandished court papers titled "Swedish Judicial Authority vs Julian Paul Assange." He was then driven away in a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

The 39-year-old Australian later arrived at Ellingham Hall, in Suffolk eastern England, where he must live as a condition of his bail. He spoke to reporters at the mansion that belongs to a former army officer and Assange supporter, Vaughan Smith.

"I continue on with our work. Clearing my name is not the highest task I have. The highest task I have is to continue with my work."

Janice Game, 63, who lives opposite the Georgian house said she had come out to see reporters waiting in the snow for Assange to drive through the gates of the 650 acre estate.

"I do not think that Vaughan would have him at the house unless he believed completely that he was innocent."

Assange has spent nine days in a London jail after Sweden issued an arrest warrant for him over allegations of sexual misconduct made by two female WikiLeaks volunteers. Assange denies the accusations.

Assange told reporters soon after his release that he was more concerned the United States might try to extradite him than he was about being extradited to Sweden.

Assange and his lawyers have voiced fears that U.S. prosecutors might be preparing to indict him for espionage over WikiLeaks' publication of the documents.

"We have a rumor today from my lawyers in the United States, it's not confirmed yet, that there has been an indictment made against me in the United States," Assange said.

The New York Times said on Wednesday federal prosecutors were looking for evidence that he had conspired with a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking classified documents.

Shortly before Assange's release, his mother Christine, who had flown over from Australia, said she could not wait to see her son and "to hold him close."

Australian police said WikiLeaks was not committing any criminal offence in Assange's home country by releasing the U.S. cables.

Celebrities such as journalist John Pilger, film director Ken Loach and socialite Jemima Khan are backing Assange.

APPEAL REJECTED

High Court Justice Duncan Ouseley upheld a lower court decision to release Assange on bail, rejecting an appeal by British prosecutors who had argued he was a flight risk.

Assange must also abide by a curfew, report to police daily, and wear an electronic tag.

Smith said his home, set in sprawling grounds, would offer Assange peace and security. "It's quite hard to get too close without trespassing," he told Sky News. "The Internet is not so good though."

A defiant Assange had told reporters in central London the diplomatic cables showed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had instructed U.S. ambassadors around the world "to engage in espionage behavior."

This seemed to be "representative of a gradual shift to a lack of rule of law in U.S. institutions that needs to be exposed and that we have been exposing," he said.

Assange's lawyer Mark Stephens accused Swedish authorities of pursuing a vendetta against his client. He said the cell in London's Wandsworth prison where Assange was held had once been occupied by the writer Oscar Wilde, who spent part of his sentence for gross indecency at the jail in the 1890s.

A full extradition hearing is expected in early February.

(Writing and additional reporting by Adrian Croft, Keith Weir, Stefano Ambrogi and Michael Holden in London and Mia Shanley in Stockholm; editing by Matthew Jones)

Apple updates AirPort Utility, base station firmware (Macworld)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 04:57 PM PST

Dan Moren Dan Moren – Thu Dec 16, 7:57 pm ET

If AirPort troubles have got you blue going into the holiday season, then perhaps this will help: Apple on Thursday released both a firmware update for AirPort Base Stations and Time Capsules that fixes a number of bugs in the wireless routers and an update for its AirPort Utility.

AirPort Base Station and Time Capsule Firmware Update 7.5.2—and isn't that a mouthful—patches a number of issues related to stability, as well as fixing some specific problems with Apple's new AirPlay streaming technology. The firmware update also improves USB connectivity—including hooking up external storage devices—and fixes bugs with NAT port mapping settings. Finally, as per the Wi-Fi Alliance's specifications, TKIP security is now disabled with 802.11n rates.

The update also patches five known security holes, including a vulnerability that could cause the router to restart, a flaw that could potentially expose services behind NAT, and a possible denial of service risk. All users of 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations, 802.11n AirPort Express models, and all models of Time Capsules should update to the new firmware. The update requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later, Windows XP SP3 or later, Windows Vista SP1 or later, or Windows 7.

Of course, in order to run the firmware update, Apple recommends you first download AirPort Utility 5.5.2 for Mac or Windows. Besides allowing you to update your base station's firmware, the new versions of the utility come with their own fixes.

On the Mac side, the 10.29MB update resolves an issue where the DHCP tab won't show up correctly, fixes a problem where the utility would quit when launched, and squashes a bug where the network password wouldn't get stored in the Keychain. You'll need Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later to install it.

The 10.70MB Windows update addresses an issue where not all settings would be imported and one where MAC address control lists wouldn't be propagated over an extended network; it requires Windows XP SP3 or later, Windows Vista SP1 or later, or Windows 7.

You can download the AirPort Utility updates from Apple's support downloads site or via Software Update. To install the new base station firmware, follow the instructions in this knowledge base document.

Bing and Blekko integrate Facebook 'Likes' and mobile check-ins (Digital Trends)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 07:54 PM PST

Jeffrey Van Camp Jeffrey Van Camp – 1 hr 23 mins ago

bing-search-engine-main-page

Google can’t be happy about this news. Blekko has integrated Facebook ‘Likes’ into search results. Worse, Microsoft’s Bing, the search giant’s top competitor, is doing the same. Every user that logs into Blekko or Bing through Facebook Connect will see which search results their friends have ‘Liked,’ reports PC Mag. In addition, those who wish can filter out everything that isn’t recommended by friends.

“Millions of Facebook users are curating their web experience everyday by simply clicking ‘Like’ on the content, commerce, travel, restaurants and brands they love most,” said Rich Skrenta, chief executive of Blekko. “We’ve taken this data and applied it to Blekko’s results making them spam-free and personally relevant.”

Facebook & Bing: getting cozy

For Bing, this is its second round of Facebook integration. Earlier this year, the search engine began integrating Facebook status updates into its results. The new ‘Like’ integration was announced in October, but the changes are now beginning to roll out. Microsoft hopes to get a leg up on Google through the partnership.

“The core of our work addresses the fact that the Web is getting more complex and faceted — not less,” said Satya Nadella, online services division senior vice president, in a blog post. ”We are building new technologies that help Bing figure out what people like you are trying to do, and match that with the right experiences to help get things done.”

Mobile Bing updates

Microsoft is also rolling out updates for its mobile iPhone and Android apps. Most notably, the apps now support Facebook and Foursquare mobile check-ins. Bing for Android will also add a “What’s Nearby” feature, which, like Google Places, will show you what places are nearby and split them up by category like Bars, restaurants, entertainment, etc. Support for voice search, Bing Vision (Google Goggles), Bing StreetSide, OpenTable, GrubHub, and Yelp, are also being added to both apps.

Do you use Bing on the Web or on mobile? What do you think of the upgrades and Facebook integration?

Twitter raises $200 million, now valued at $3.7 billion (Digital Trends)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 06:05 PM PST

Aemon Malone Aemon Malone – Thu Dec 16, 9:05 pm ET

Twitter finds itself with an extra few bucks to spend thanks to a $200 million dollar fundraising effort that valued the company at $3.7 billion. That’s still a ways below Facebook’s $45 billion estimated value, but still nothing to scoff at — Twitter is only a year into its first serious attempts to become profitable, after all.

Twitter’s new funding comes after a closely watched bidding war between famed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Cauflied & Byers and Russian firm DST. In the end, Kleiner won out, pushing the Twitter’s valuation close to $4 billion.

In addition to the funds, the micro-blogging site has also added experience in the form of two new board members: Mike McCue, CEO of Apple’s beloved app developer Flipboard; and former DoubleClick executive David Rosenblatt.

What might Twitter be thinking of doing with all the extra cash on hand?Well,  so far the company hasn’t officially said what it plans to do. One possibility, according to the Irish Times, would be to expand operations outside of the U.S. by opening up in either Dublin or Ireland. Twitter executives met with British Prime Minister David Cameron fueling the rumors that Twitter may try to reach across the pond in the near future.

Vimeo launches online video school (Macworld)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 12:30 PM PST

Heather Kelly Heather Kelly – Thu Dec 16, 3:30 pm ET

Video isn't just for camcorders anymore. Most new point-and-shoot cameras, DSLRs, and smartphones now shoot quality standard and high definition video. Unfortunately, basic video techniques aren't as widely known as still photo skills.

Video sharing site Vimeo hopes to help videographers at all levels learn more about creating quality videos with its new online Vimeo Video School, which launched today. The free school is actually a combination of how-tos created by Vimeo employees called Lessons, and a curated collection of existing tutorial videos by Vimeo members. The content is broken up into difficulty levels and categories, such as Software, Shooting, Behind The Scenes, and DSLR.

Each lesson is a combination of text, diagrams, and video that explains a technique step-by-step with examples, and ends with a challenge to the student to create a video and post it. There are currently 20 lessons, with new ones being rolled out every week. Some of the available lessons include Make a Great Holiday Video, Capturing Good Sound, and Do-It-Yourself Dolly and Shoulder Rig. Vimeo also recruited videographer Philip Bloom to work on a series of lessons that cover DSLR video basics.

The site was already filled with quality user-generated video tutorials, many from filmmakers who took time to explain his or her techniques for a popular video they created. Vimeo has taken a cue from this give-and-take in its community with its Vimeo Video School.

Kobo Looks to Social Reading to Distinguish It From Kindle (Mashable)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 03:40 PM PST

Sarah Kessler Sarah Kessler – Thu Dec 16, 6:40 pm ET

This post is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark as a new part of the Spark of Genius series that focuses on a new and innovative startup each day. Once a week, the program focuses on startups within the BizSpark program and what they're doing to grow.

When Borders-backed Kobo launched last December, it was joining a crowd of e-readers that had already aligned themselves with major booksellers. Amazon released its first-generation Kindle e-reader in November 2007, followed by Barnes & Nobles's Nook in November 2009. Kobo wasn't available in the U.S. until May.

As a latecomer, the bookseller has held its own, accumulating 103 million registered users and growing from 10 to 170 employees in its first year.

Last week, the company launched its social app, making it the first of its competitors to provide a real-time social experience to its readers. The new app allows readers to check-in to books, earn badges, and keeps track of their reading stats -- and share all of these activities to their Facebook profiles.

CEO Mike Serbinis recently spoke with Mashable about Kobo's growth and the potential of social reading to differentiate the company from its growing list of competitors.

Gaining Customers With An Affordable Device

When Kobo launched its $150 product earlier this year, most e-readers in the market were selling for somewhere around $300. The strategy was to make the Kobo store accessible to people who wouldn't otherwise buy an expensive reader or tablet.

"[Selling an affordable e-reader] was always part of the strategy, but [also] knowing that our own delivery of an e-reader would be mostly about getting customers who, for now, want to use an e-reader rather than a tablet," Serbinis says. "We knew [the e-reader device] wouldn't' be forever, that it would be focused on getting those customers. So far, it seems like it's working well beyond our expectations."

Most of Kobo's customers read books on multiple devices, and, like the Kindle and Nook, the device has released apps that customers can use to purchase books on different platforms.

In other words, it's not the device that will continue to be important in the future, but content sales. Kobo helped give people a device that was more affordable than tablet and other e-reader options at the time, which -- even though Amazon and Barnes and Noble quickly answered by dropping their own prices -- was an effective way to gain new customers at launch.

Differentiating the E-Reading Experience

The price point of its e-reader is no longer a differentiator for Kobo, but the company is hoping that the new social reading component of its app might be. The component rolled out on the iPad app last week and is planned to launch on its iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and e-reader apps in the future.

It's the first serious step any of the major players have taken toward changing the actual reading experience (though Copia did launch a social reading platform last month). Readers can "check in" with specific characters and places in the books that they're reading and earn badges for activities like late-night reading, reading during rush hour, or finishing a book.

The new format also provides an opportunity for brands to partner with Kobo to offer rewards with badges. Reading in Starbucks three times could turn into a branded badge and a free small coffee, for instance.

Serbinis is confident that this kind of social interaction is where the future of reading is headed. "Anyone who is not moving in this direction is not going to be around next year at this time," he says.

His argument is that reading has always been social -- that's what book clubs, lending, highlighting and conversations have always been.

Whether readers agree is yet to be determined but could pay off big time in Kobo's favor.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Mac App Store needs to do it better than Chrome OS (Appolicious)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 11:25 AM PST

Oracle software sales surge, shares rise (Reuters)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 04:35 PM PST

By Jim Finkle Jim Finkle – Thu Dec 16, 7:35 pm ET

BOSTON (Reuters) – Oracle Corp forecast that its profit in the current quarter will beat Wall Street estimates, suggesting that its strategy of offering a one-stop shop for software and hardware is paying off.

Shares in the company run by Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison rose almost 4 percent after it also reported new software sales surged past its own forecasts.

"It's a nice present for shareholders," a JP Morgan analyst told Oracle executives during an earnings conference call.

Oracle, which has spent more than $42 billion on acquisitions over the past six years including its January 2010 purchase of hardware maker Sun Microsystems, has seen sales grow faster than those of rivals as it cross-sells its database, middleware, business management software and hardware to the same set of customers.

Avian Securities analyst Jeff Gaggin said that strategy has helped Oracle win business away from rivals including Hewlett-Packard Co, International Business Machines Corp and SAP AG.

"I'm not convinced that this necessarily means the IT spending environment is robust, but it certainly suggests that Oracle's strategy is paying off," Gaggin said.

Still, Oracle wasn't the only major technology company to release strong results on Thursday. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion reported results that mostly beat expectations and it forecast strong profits for the current quarter.

Oracle said sales of new software climbed 21 percent from a year earlier to $2 billion during its fiscal second quarter ended November 30.

Three months ago, the company forecast that those sales would rise between 6 and 16 percent.

Investors pay close attention to new software sales because they generate high-margin, long-term maintenance contracts and are a good gauge of the company's future profits.

The world's No. 3 software maker said it has a $2 billion pipeline of sales of its Exadata computers. Three months ago the company sized the pipeline at $1.5 billion.

Exadata are specialized computers for handling tasks such as analyzing business trends that come preloaded with Oracle's software.

Oracle forecast that it will report profit, excluding items, of 48 cents to 50 cents per share in its current quarter. That's above the average analyst forecast of 46 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company reported second-quarter profit, excluding items, of 51 cents per share, beating the average analyst forecast of 46 cents.

Revenue climbed 48 percent from a year earlier to $8.58 billion, buoyed by sales from the acquisition of Sun. That handily beat the average analyst forecast of $8.34 billion.

It posted hardware sales of $1.08 billion, slightly below the $1.1 billion that analysts were expecting.

"Hardware was so-so," said Cowen & Co analyst Peter Goldmacher. That was a bad sign, he said, because Oracle executives have said that they are looking to Exadata sales to fuel long-term growth.

Oracle's shares rose 3.9 percent to $31.46 after closing at $30.27 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Robert MacMillan, Richard Chang, Phil Berlowitz)

IBM predicts five big tech innovations coming by 2015 (Digital Trends)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 06:37 PM PST

Jeffrey Van Camp Jeffrey Van Camp – 2 hrs 41 mins ago

ibm-next-five-in-five-tech-predictions

We already know that tablets are going to take a bite out of PC sales and robots will take over social networks, but what else is happening in the next five years? Well, IBM has a few guesses. The company recently unveiled its annual “Next Five in Five,” showcasing five innovations it thinks will hit the tech market in the next five years. This year’s list is filled with better batteries, 3D holograms, computer heat energy, better GPS, and citizen scientists.

Here’s the list:

  • Better batteries: Though battery capacity and power have traditionally only improved about 7 percent  a year, IBM thinks we may see smaller batteries that last 10 times longer than today’s.
  • 3D holograms: We’ve reported on early holographic tests, but things will get a lot more real. 3D holograms will infect phones, TVs, and all sorts of screens, making 3D something consumers actually want. No glasses needed.
  • Computer heat: IBM hopes to harness the energy produced by massive farms of computer servers and use it to heat and cool other buildings. “In the data center, 50% of the energy is cooling the data center, and a lot of that heat is just lost to us,” said Don Campbell, Chief Technology Officer for Business Analytics at IBM. ”A micro approach to passing water across the chip, pulling heat out of the chip and instead of getting rid of it, capturing, extracting and repurposing it, can lead to something as simple as driving a coffee maker in the lunch room, or as massive as heating a building in winter.”
  • Personalized GPS: Android phones already have turn-by-turn navigation, but IBM predicts this technology can get a whole lot better by pulling real-time traffic data, advising alternate routes, and even telling you how many parking spots are available in a nearby lot. Pretty cool, right?
  • Citizen scientists: Finally, in five years, IBM believes that sensors in smartphones, cars, computers, and social networks will help scientists get a real-time picture of where and how you live. In other words, ordinary people will be able to donate their personal data to help scientific research.
Here’s the video:

What do you think of these predictions? If we only accomplish better batteries, I’ll be happy. My phone has been unplugged for six hours and it’s already dying.

Privacy Groups Pan Policy Paper From Commerce (PC World)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 02:10 PM PST

Grant Gross Grant Gross – Thu Dec 16, 5:10 pm ET

New online privacy measures proposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce Thursday fall short of the action that's needed to protect Internet users, several privacy advocates said.

The Commerce Department paper calls for an online privacy bill of rights and codes of conduct for Internet companies, with enforcement by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. But several privacy groups questioned whether the codes of conduct would be effective because of the paper's suggestion that affected companies help write them.

The policy recommendations in the report are an "early Christmas gift to the data collection industry," said John Simpson, consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog.

Internet-based groups have been creating their own codes of conduct for years, and Web-based tracking and data collection continue to grow, said Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America. "The solution is not more self-regulation," she said. "That seems to be the main thrust of the Commerce Department report."

The report seems to give more attention to concerns of Web-based companies than to consumers, with little change in online data collection likely, other privacy advocates said. The report is "designed to marginalize consumers," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.

The Commerce Department proposal would give companies that comply with the codes of conduct safe harbor from some enforcement actions, added Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. But the Commerce Department has failed to enforce safe harbor requirements in privacy agreements with the European Union, Dixon said.

Safe harbor provisions would likely enforce existing data collection and tracking practices that privacy groups have protested, Chester added.

Some of the privacy advocates suggested the report's recommendation for a privacy bill of rights may be helpful. The report may also help push Congress to act on privacy legislation next year, the Future of Privacy Forum said.

"The report is a sophisticated effort to advance consumer privacy without thwarting innovation," the group said in a statement. "Although it sets a framework that will influence legislation, it creates an alternate path for a mode of government initiated self-regulation, with advocates at the table and the FTC providing enforcement. If businesses respond by seriously engaging in efforts to advance fair information practices, the U.S. has the chance to take back the international privacy leadership role it once had."

Other people praised the Commerce Department effort.

The paper's call for a privacy policy office in the Commerce Department is important, said Peter Swire, chief privacy counselor during President Bill Clinton's administration. That office will serve as a "visible point of contact" for privacy policy in President Barack Obama's administration, he said.

"For the past decade, the executive branch has lacked a visible leader on Internet privacy," Swire, now a law professor at Ohio State University, said in an e-mail. "The many changes in the Internet and commercial practices in the past decade mean it is high time to have this sort of leadership position."

The paper should put companies on notice that online privacy is important to the Obama administration, added Lisa Sotto, head of the privacy and information management practice at the Hunton & Williams law firm in New York.

"There has been a real hunger for rules of the road when it comes to domestic privacy issues, and this would put a road map in place," she said. "CEOs ought to sit up and take notice that privacy is a topic they can no longer relegate to the dusty basement."

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

How Ubuntu Linux Could Help Google's CR-48 Notebook (PC World)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 03:03 PM PST

Katherine Noyes Katherine Noyes – Thu Dec 16, 6:03 pm ET

Google's Chrome operating system-based CR-48 notebook computer may be in just a select set of hands so far, but it's been generating plenty of media attention.

Reviews to date have been largely mixed, though of course the details of the specific hardware in the devices right now won't matter much in the long run.

What's been particularly interesting, though, is that while the world awaits the arrival of official Chrome OS notebooks, a number of enterprising technophiles have already found a way--and a reason--to add Linux to these early devices.

Looking Beyond the Browser

Linux aficionados, of course, have a long history of replacing factory-installed operating systems--Windows, especially--with a Linux distribution instead. In the case of Windows, there are countless good reasons to do so.

Such moves may be for practical or ethical reasons, but in the case of the Chrome OS notebook, it's clear from reviews that there are some things the CR-48 just isn't designed for--such as, most things outside the browser.

Google Chimes In

So, in true Linux geek fashion, there's evidently been a concerted effort to get Ubuntu--the most popular Linux distribution of all time--up and running on the device.

And running it now is, if the YouTube video below is any indication. Ubuntu 10.10, or Maverick Meerkat, is running on the device in that video, and--despite the fact that the whole purpose of sending out the notebooks was to test Chrome OS--a separate post on Google's own site even offers a tutorial on making that happen.

รข€˜An Intentional Design Feature'

"While Chrome OS verified boot protects against unintended system modification by malicious or buggy software, the ability to hack your own device is an intentional design feature of Google Chrome notebooks," the page reads.

"The instructions for building your own version of Chromium OS, and installing it on a CR-48 are given elsewhere," it notes. "Some enthusiasts, however, may want to install something completely different. This page provides an example, showing how the official Chrome OS software can coexist with Ubuntu, a popular linux distribution."

The tutorial goes on from there to describe how to get Ubuntu on the CR-48 side by side with Chrome OS, including freeing SSD space, configuring the kernel and setting boot priority.

The result, it seems, is a dual-boot machine that has all the Web-centric advantages of Chrome OS along with the more traditional benefits of Linux.

A Dual-Boot Scenario

Will official Chrome OS netbooks offer a dual-boot option when they finally debut?

That remains to be seen. Given what sounds like a fairly limited Web-centric experience with the CR-48, however, it seems like that might be a good idea. And with all its many benefits for business and individual users, Linux would be a great choice.

Follow Katherine Noyes on Twitter: @Noyesk.

Commerce Deptartment seeks Web privacy enforcement (Reuters)

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 02:44 PM PST

By Diane Bartz Diane Bartz – Thu Dec 16, 5:44 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Commerce Department should have its own privacy office and develop voluntary, enforceable codes of conduct for data companies and advertisers that track people on the Internet, said a report by the department's Internet Policy Task Force.

The report issued on Thursday arrives as people express more concern about the ability that companies have to collect data on Internet users' personal Web habits and sell it to advertisers.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke argued on Thursday that consumer distrust of the Internet could undermine people's use of the technology. "Self-regulation without stronger enforcement is not enough," he said.

The report urged development of a privacy bill of rights to give Internet users more information about what data companies collect and how they use it. It also called for urgent steps to address privacy issues related to moving data to the "cloud," powerful servers owned by private companies.

The idea of opening a Commerce Department privacy office, which officials said was underway, came under fire from the privacy group Consumer Watchdog, which said the office may not have enough of a consumer focus.

"There is a fundamental conflict of interest in putting the administration's Privacy Policy Office in the Commerce Department," said John Simpson, a privacy expert with the group, whose sentiments were echoed by other privacy organizations.

Privacy expert Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University, applauded the report.

"For the past decade, the executive branch has lacked a visible leader on Internet privacy. The many changes in the Internet and commercial practices in the past decade mean it is high time to have this sort of leadership position," he said.

Google said in a statement that it supported the Commerce Department's approach, and looked forward to working with the administration.

Senator John Rockefeller, chairman of the Commerce Committee, which has held hearings on privacy, said he believed that legislation was also needed to protect consumers.

"Industry self-regulation has largely failed," he said. "Online companies must be more accountable, and our national privacy policy must better serve consumers."

The Federal Trade Commission, which put out its own privacy report earlier this month, would enforce the codes of conduct, officials said.

The FTC has called for the development of a "do-not-track option" for consumers skeptical of allowing companies to collect and perhaps sell their personal data.

The report did not endorse that approach, or criticize it. "We think the goals behind do-not-track are very important," said Daniel Weitzner, an official at the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Weitzner also said the department recommended "strong consideration of strong security breach notification."

"We think it's time for a strong national standard, he said.

The Commerce Department is seeking public comment on the report by late January.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz. Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Robert MacMillan)
at 10:26 PM

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