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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Apple 1Q dazzles investors, distracts from Jobs (AP) : Technet

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Apple 1Q dazzles investors, distracts from Jobs (AP) : Technet

Apple 1Q dazzles investors, distracts from Jobs (AP)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 09:12 PM PST

By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer Jessica Mintz, Ap Technology Writer – 10 mins ago

Apple Inc.'s shining holiday-quarter results diverted Wall Street's attention, at least temporarily, from news that CEO Steve Jobs is taking another medical leave of absence.

Investors focused on Apple's success in boosting production of iPads, which happened faster than analysts predicted. Shoppers also bought iPhones as fast as Apple could make them, helping drive the company's fiscal first-quarter net income up 78 percent from the prior year.

Apple's shares rose $4.25, a mild 1.3 percent, to $344.90 in extended trading after the release of results. In the regular session, shares dipped 2.3 percent to close at $340.65 as investors grappled with Jobs' undisclosed health problems.

Jobs had surgery in 2004 that he said cured him of a rare form of pancreatic cancer. In 2009, Jobs announced a half-year leave during which time he had a liver transplant; this time, Apple did not say whether Jobs is acutely ill again or when it expects him to return.

While some analysts question how long Apple can prolong its run of smash-hit products without Jobs' day-to-day oversight, most agree the gadget maker can keep going apace for the next few years with updates to the iPad, iPhone and other devices already in the pipeline.

That the quarter, which also included stronger iPod sales than expected and a surge of store traffic and sales in China, blew past expectations and should give Wall Street more confidence on that point.

"The quarter was remarkable," said Shaw Wu, a Kaufman Bros. analyst. In an interview, Wu said he thinks investors will give Apple more credit for the quarter in the coming days or weeks. As for Jobs' health, he said investors are "not as fixated on it."

Apple's newest product, the iPad tablet computer, went on sale in April and was one of the hottest gifts over the holidays. Apple sold 7.3 million of the touch-screen, keyboard-less gadgets, which people use to surf the Web, watch movies, play games and, increasingly, get real work done.

That's about a million more than analysts were expecting for the quarter. Wu said Apple was able to ramp up iPad production to meet widespread demand, and executives sounded confident that would continue even as Apple expands iPad sales to 15 more countries in the current quarter.

PC industry analysts say the iPad and the promise of competing tablets that run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows or Google Inc.'s Android software are prompting people to hold off buying new laptops. Intel Corp., the largest maker of PC processors, said last week that competition from the iPad was part of what held revenue in each of its major divisions, except for server chips, flat from the third quarter.

In a conference call Tuesday, Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, had nothing nice to say about competitors' tablets.

"The ones that are using a Windows-based operating system are generally fairly big and heavy and expensive. They have very weak battery life," Cook said. "From our point of view and what we've seen, customers, frankly, just are not interested in them."

And Cook called the Android tablets on the market bizarre scaled-up smartphones.

Cook, who will lead Apple's day-to-day operations during Jobs' medical leave, does think the iPad is alluring enough to cannibalize some computer sales. But that doesn't meant the iPad team is pulling any punches to prop up Mac sales.

"I also think there's a halo effect," Cook said. "We have introduced millions of people in Asia to Apple through the iPhone. And we're now introducing many more through the iPad. And I think some of those decide to buy Mac."

Mac sales in the quarter support the halo theory. Apple sold 4.1 million, a 23 percent increase from last year, helped by a new line of ultrathin Macbook Air laptops. That's much faster than overall worldwide PC shipments grew over the same period, which industry analysts at Gartner Inc. and IDC put at about 3 percent. But it's still just over half of the number of iPads sold in the quarter.

Apple ended the quarter with almost no iPhones left in stores, having sold 16.2 million, or 86 percent more of the smart phones than a year ago. With the expansion in the U.S. from one carrier, AT&T Inc., to two with Verizon Wireless, Cook didn't even want to guess at when Apple might be able to make enough to consistently satisfy demand.

"We are working around-the-clock to build more," he said.

It became clear in the quarter that Apple's focus on China, which has included the opening of four stores there and the launch of a country-specific iTunes store, is starting to pay off. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said revenue from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan totaled $2.6 billion, about 10 percent of its total revenue and four times the year-ago total. Cook said two years ago, revenue in China was less than $1 billion for the whole year.

Of Apple's 321 stores open worldwide during the quarter on average, China stores clocked the highest traffic and revenue per store. Most of the revenue came from iPhone and iPad sales, even though at the moment, Apple only sells the iPhone through one carrier, the country's second-largest.

Apple also sold 19.5 million iPods, a 7 percent drop from a year earlier, but still about two million more than Wall Street expected. Wu, the analyst, said the strength came from sales of the iPod Touch, which people are buying as a portable videogame device.

Net income for Apple's fiscal first quarter rose to $6 billion, or $6.43 per share, up from $3.4 billion, or $3.67 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast $5.41 per share for the quarter, which ended Dec. 25.

Revenue climbed 71 percent to $26.7 billion, more than the $24.3 billion analysts expected. It was $15.7 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.

For the current quarter that ends in March, Apple said it expects net income of $4.90 per share on revenue of $22 billion. According to FactSet data, analysts were currently expecting net income of $4.48 per share on $20.9 billion in revenue.

Can Apple thrive without its visionary CEO? (AP)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 03:18 PM PST

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE and JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writers Michael Liedtke And Jessica Mintz, Ap Technology Writers – Tue Jan 18, 6:18 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – If investors were as visionary as Steve Jobs has proved to be during his 35 years of tech wizardry, they might be able to figure out whether Apple can still thrive if its founder and CEO doesn't return from his indefinite medical leave.

But Jobs' prescience is a rarity, which is why doubt and anxiety will probably hang over the company until his fate is clearer.

The iPod-iPhone-iPad revolution that Jobs unleashed over the past decade should ensure that Apple's revenue and earnings keep growing for at least the next two to three years, according to analysts. What's more, Jobs has assembled and trained a savvy, hard-driving management team that should be capable of following his road map for the company.

The question is whether Apple can remain a step ahead and develop products that reshape technology, media and pop culture if Jobs isn't around to divine the next big thing.

Without Jobs, "Apple is a lot more like other companies. Its extraordinariness fades," says technology analyst Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates.

Apple Inc. announced Monday that Jobs, who co-founded the company in 1976, would take an indefinite medical leave for unspecified problems. The leave could be related to his previous bout with pancreatic cancer or his 2009 liver transplant.

For now, investors appear to be hoping for the best. Apple stock fell $7.83, a little more than 2 percent, to close Tuesday at $340.65. It recovered more than half of that loss after the closing bell after reporting strong earnings.

For the regular trading day, Apple lost $7 billion in market value, although most analysts believe Jobs' leadership and presence is worth much more to the company.

Jobs' value is difficult to gauge because of the sheer force of his personality, said Robert Sutton, a professor of management science at Stanford University who has studied Jobs and Apple. "Anyone who thinks they can estimate that is probably lying," Sutton says.

Stock market analyst Brian Marshall of investment bank Gleacher & Co. suspects people still hope Jobs will return to the CEO job that he has held since 1997. Since then, Jobs has orchestrated a turnaround that increased Apple's market value by 100 times.

Marshall and other analysts aren't optimistic that Jobs will resume his CEO duties, partly because he did not set a timetable for his return. Before he got the new liver, Jobs took a leave of absence from January through June 2009.

It's tough to gauge Jobs' current health problems because he has said so little about his past ones. He had a tumor removed in 2004 — a rare and very treatable form of pancreatic cancer — but never said whether it had spread to lymph nodes, nor how extensive his surgery was.

"We don't really know how much of his pancreas was removed. He may just have a remnant," and that may be causing continued digestive difficulties, said Dr. Charles R. Thomas of Ohio State University's Knight Cancer Institute.

Dr. Jennifer Obel, a spokeswoman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology and a cancer specialist at Northshore University Health System in suburban Chicago, said the prognosis is good for those with pancreatic tumors like the one Jobs had, even if the tumors spread.

"He's done extremely well living with this disease for many years," she said. "I wouldn't assume anything until he has released more information."

Apple declined further comment Tuesday on Jobs' health.

Apple barely missed a beat the last time Jobs was gone, and its stock climbed more than 60 percent as sales of the iPhone and Mac computers surged, even as the recession dragged on. That's a testament to Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, who will be in charge while Jobs is away once again.

In a Tuesday conference call to discuss Apple's earnings, Cook predicted Apple will still shine.

"Apple is doing its best work ever," Cook said. "We are all very happy with the product pipeline, and the team here has an unparalleled breadth and depth of talent and a culture of innovation that Steve has driven in the company. Excellence has become a habit."

Cook has pretty much the same management team supporting him this time. The key players besides Cook include Jonathan Ive, who oversees the elegant design of Apple's products; Ron Johnson, who runs Apple's stores; Philip Schiller, the marketing chief; and Scott Forstall, who supervises the iPhone software.

It's a bench that investors would like to know better, says Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management and an expert on executive leadership.

"You only hear about Santa," he says, "but it's time that we hear more about the elves."

Cook, who has been with Apple since 1998, and Ive, who has been with there since 1992, will probably carry the biggest load while Jobs is gone, analysts say.

Partly because his role at Apple attracted so much attention during Jobs' last medical leave, Cook is better known than Ive. Apple has recognized Cook's contributions by making him its top-paid executive, with a 2010 compensation package valued at $59.1 million. Jobs limits his annual salary to $1.

But Ive has played a critical role in turning the products that Jobs envisioned into reality, said Leander Kahney, who has written books and a blog about Apple.

Apple's management team has been working together for so long that all the key executives should have a sense of what Jobs would want. And they may still be in touch with Jobs on key decisions because Jobs said he intends to remain involved in the company's strategy. Kay thinks Jobs may have planned even more in the past year than he usually does because of his shaky health.

The stakes are much higher than during Jobs' last medical leave. When Jobs left last time, Apple's market value stood at about $78 billion. It is now $312 billion, behind only Exxon Mobil among U.S. companies. Apple also is facing fiercer competition from Google, which has already threatened the iPhone with a rival software system for smart phones and is now setting its sights on the iPad in the market for tablet computers.

Jobs' greatest gift hasn't been for invention as much his uncanny ability to anticipate what people want and then demand the technology be designed in a simple way that appeals to a mass market.

"You can't really teach that," said George Haley, a business and marketing professor at the University of New Haven. "You can teach the processes, but not the insight. It takes a genius to do it right."

Jobs has also shown an exquisite sense for when the time is right for a product. For instance, the concept for what turned into the iPad was brought to Jobs several years before Apple had even introduced its own phone. Jobs liked the idea of a computer tablet but decided instead that its touch-screen technology would be better suited for a smaller screen at that time. That decision hatched the iPhone in 2007, a hot-selling device that paved the way for Apple's latest must-have gadget, the iPad.

Other companies developed the technology that created the computer mouse and digital music players, but neither of those innovations caught on until Jobs embraced the ideas and turned them into game-changing products.

"Steve did not invent MP3 players — he reinvented them," said Tim Bajarin, the president of Creative Strategies and a longtime Apple watcher. "He didn't invent the smart phone — he reinvented it. He didn't invent the tablet — he reinvented it."

It's difficult to put a price on that kind of market intuition, particularly in an industry that changes so quickly. Almost no one had heard of Twitter three years ago or Facebook five years ago — or for that matter the iPod 10 years ago.

Many analysts liken Jobs to Walt Disney, an entrepreneur who didn't come up with animation or amusement parks but sculpted them into a business that left an indelible mark on the world. Jobs is now the largest shareholder of Walt Disney Co., a stake he accumulated when he agreed to sell Pixar Animation a few years ago.

Just as Walt Disney Co. survived the 1966 death of its founder, Apple looks to be positioned well if Jobs doesn't return to health. But even Disney struggled for years after the well of its founder's ideas finally ran dry.

__

Jessica Mintz reported from Seattle. AP Business Writer Rachel Beck in New York, AP Technology Writers Rachel Metz and Jordan Robertson in San Francisco, AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in New York and AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Comcast wins government approval to take over NBC (AP)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 04:42 PM PST

By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer Joelle Tessler, Ap Technology Writer – Tue Jan 18, 7:42 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The government on Tuesday cleared the way for Comcast Corp., the country's largest cable company, to take over NBC Universal in a deal certain to transform the entertainment industry landscape.

Comcast is buying a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal, home of the NBC television network, from General Electric Co. for $13.8 billion in cash and assets.

The Justice Department and five state attorneys general said Tuesday that they have reached a court settlement allowing the companies to proceed with their combination, subject to conditions intended to preserve competition among video providers.

In addition, the five-member Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted 4-1 to approve the transaction, subject to similar but broader conditions.

Among other things, the government is requiring Comcast to make NBC programming available to competitors such as satellite and phone companies, as well as new Internet video services that could pose a threat to the company's core cable business. Officials want to guarantee that online video services from companies such as Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. can get the movies and TV shows they need to grow — and potentially offer a cheaper alternative to monthly cable subscriptions.

The government's conditions will help ensure that the transaction cannot "chill the nascent competition posed by online competitors," said Christine Varney, head of the Justice Department's antritrust division.

Still, the conditions did not go far enough for Michael Copps, one of the three Democrats on the FCC and a vocal critic of media consolidation. Copps voted against the deal, warning that it "confers too much power in one company's hands."

Several public interest groups and at least a few members of Congress also decried the combination.

"This will ultimately mean higher cable and Internet bills, fewer independent voices in the media, and less freedom of choice for all American consumers," Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said in a statement.

Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen, meanwhile, stressed that none of the conditions "will disadvantage the competitive positioning of the Comcast Cable or NBC Universal businesses."

Philadelphia-based Comcast has about 23 million cable TV subscribers and nearly 17 million Internet subscribers. It also owns a handful of cable channels, including E! Entertainment and the Golf Channel, and has a controlling interest in the Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers sports teams. Comcast's SportsNet Philadelphia channel carries Flyers, Phillies and 76ers games.

Taking over NBC will transform the company into a media powerhouse. NBC Universal owns the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks; 26 local TV stations; popular cable channels including CNBC, Bravo and Oxygen; the Universal Pictures movie studio and theme parks; and a roughly 30 stake in Hulu.com, which distributes NBC and other broadcast programming online.

Most of the government conditions outlined Tuesday will remain in effect for seven years.

One key goal of federal regulators is to ensure that satellite companies, rival cable operators and other existing pay-TV providers can still get access to marquee NBC programming at reasonable prices once the deal closes. The FCC approval establishes an arbitration process to resolve disputes between Comcast and competitors that want to buy programming. It also prohibits Comcast from withholding programming during negotiations — a practice that broadcasters have been using recently to extract higher fees from cable companies.

In addition, both the FCC and the Justice Department are imposing a series of conditions to ensure that Comcast cannot starve new Internet video providers of popular programming. Those include requirements that Comcast offer its programming to legitimate Internet video providers on the same terms and conditions that it offers other pay-TV providers. In addition, if an Internet video provider has reached an agreement to buy programming from another major media company, Comcast must make comparable programming available at equivalent prices.

Both agencies are also imposing conditions to ensure that Comcast cannot force independent programmers seeking spots in its cable lineups to withhold their content, too, from online distribution platforms.

Yet another FCC condition requires Comcast to continue offering an affordable, standalone broadband option for customers who want Internet access but not cable TV service. This condition, too, is intended help drive the growth of online video by allowing consumers to cancel their cable subscriptions without losing their Internet connections.

At least one public-interest watchdog was pleased with the government's online video conditions. Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America, said they could help pave the way for Internet distributors to break the cable industry's "stanglehold" over the video market.

The FCC and the Justice Department are also requiring Comcast to relinquish its management rights — including board seats and shareholder control — in Hulu to ensure that it cannot interfere with the development of competing online services. Comcast will still be required to make NBC content available to Hulu, however.

Another key condition being imposed by both agencies bars Comcast from discriminating against Internet video traveling over its broadband network. Although the FCC recently adopted industry-wide "network neutrality" rules barring broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic on their systems, those regulations are likely to be challenged in court. The condition would ensure that Comcast, which has come under fire for discriminating against Internet traffic in the past, would still have to abide by the rules.

Other FCC conditions require Comcast to increase local news coverage, expand children's programming and programming for Spanish-speaking viewers, add 10 new independent channels and provide a subsidized broadband service for low-income households. The FCC is also prohibiting Comcast from giving its own channels preferential placement in its cable system line-ups.

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AP Technology Writer Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Leaked images, details of upcoming WebOS tablets surface (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 11:47 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Tue Jan 18, 2:47 pm ET

Execs at HP, which gobbled up smartphone pioneer Palm last April, have been promising a tablet based on Palm's WebOS platform for months now, and the table has already been set for a WebOS event next month. Now Engadget claims to have a sneak peek at the long-awaited WebOS tablet, along with a few other enticing details.

You can check out the authentic-looking images (from a "trusted tipster," Engadget says) right here, and yes, the glossy black tablet looks pretty gorgeous — like a tablet-ized version of the Palm Pre, if you ask me.

The Engadget post claims that we'll be seeing two tablets at HP's February 9 WebOS event: a 9-inch tablet, code-named "Topaz," and a 7-inch version, dubbed "Opal."

The tablets will apparently boast a "no-button" design, similar to what we've seen on the upcoming Motorola Xoom and the BlackBerry Playbook, along with front-facing cameras and microUSB ports along the bottom. A trio of built-in speakers for stereo sound may also be in the offing, Engadget notes.

A leaked marketing sheet pegs September 2011 as the launch date for Wi-Fi-only, AT&T 3G, and Verizon LTE versions of the Opal tablet, with another version for AT&T's coming LTE network slated for July 2012.

Engadget also has details on a Bluetooth keyboard accessory for the Topaz tablet, as well as word that a WebOS "low-end teen phone" may also be in the mix.

Related:
HP / Palm's webOS tablets -- pictures, plans, and more [Engadget]

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

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Facebook backpedals on sharing of home addresses, phone numbers (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 11:05 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Tue Jan 18, 2:05 pm ET

Yep, Facebook has waded into yet another privacy quagmire — this time, over plans to share member street addresses and phone numbers with third-party apps and Web sites. Users freaked, and now Facebook says it will suspend the feature pending "improvements" to the permissions process.

The flap began last Friday, after Facebook posted an entry on its developer blog detailing the new feature, which would allow third-party Facebook apps and Web sites to access the phone numbers and actual street addresses of users who'd entered the information into their profiles.

The idea behind the feature was to "streamine" the checkout process for online commerce by automatically filling in shipping and billing addresses before completing a purchase — not the worst idea in the world — as well as allow merchants to send out mobile alerts for, say, specials or discount offers.

But while the new sharing feature was designed as an opt-in â€" meaning that Facebook users had to explicitly grant their permission before apps and Web sites could see their info â€" many complained that the standard, single "request for permission" dialog box failed to emphasize that members were about to give third-party app developers and advertisers access to their home addresses and phone numbers.

Hundreds of angry comments on the Facebook developer blog took the company to task for potentially opening the door to SMS spam or, even worse, making it easy for unscrupulous advertisers to sell personal user information.

By early Monday, Facebook had apparently heard enough, with Douglas Purdy, Facebook's director of developer relations, announcing that the controversial new feature would be "temporarily" disabled pending changes to "make people more clearly aware of when they are granting access to this data."

Purdy didn't describe what those changes might entail, but Inside Facebook has a few good suggestions, including adding an extra step in the permissions dialog that warns users that they're "about to share your mobile phone number and current address."

Of course, one way to ensure that Facebook app makers or advertisers never see your home address or phone number is to simply leave those fields blank in your profile.

Just click the "Edit your profile" link under your name on Facebook, select "Contact Information," and make sure the address and phone number fields are cleared out.

You can also delete your phone number from the "Mobile" tab under "Account Settings," but doing so means you won't be able to receive friend requests or status updates on your handset via SMS.

Related:
Facebook Temporarily Disables Phone, Address Sharing and Aims to Increase Clarity [Inside Facebook]

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

Follow me on Twitter!

"Green Hornet" eyes strong Asian box office (Reuters)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 08:53 PM PST

By Jonathan Landreth Jonathan Landreth – 25 mins ago

BEIJING (Hollywood Reporter) – Jay Chou upstaged his "Green Hornet" co-star Seth Rogen on the first leg of their Asian tour to promote the film, in which the Taiwanese pop star plays the sidekick role once essayed by Bruce Lee.

The 3D film, which topped the North American charts during the weekend, opens in China on February 6, becoming the first Hollywood movie to premiere during the busy Lunar New Year holiday.

Columbia Pictures hopes to capitalize on Chou's popularity as a singer in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan (he told Rogen he was the "Chinese Usher") and leverage promotional sponsorship from the Coca-Cola Co.'s green-bottled brand Sprite.

"We have huge expectations for this film," Li Chow of Columbia's Beijing office said at a press event on Monday, noting that the state-run monopoly China Film Group will release "Green Hornet" on more than half of the nation's 5,690 screens.

Over 100 Chinese reporters and dozens of Chou fans hoisting smartphone cameras were captivated by the slight, mop-haired singer as he fielded questions in Mandarin seated in front of a giant backdrop in which his masked visage featured more prominently than that of leading man Rogen.

Chou, who stars as Kato and also sings the soundtrack's theme song, said working in Hollywood where he's not often recognized and chased by paparazzi as he is in the East provided him great freedom: "This project felt very good. I had room to be creative. Since my English is not that good, this film was not a formal entry into Hollywood. We'll have to see what develops there for me."

Asked why he'd cast Chou, French director Michel Gondry, ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Be Kind, Rewind") said: "We didn't really know Jay was such a star when we started looking at this movie. But when we saw his films, we saw he was cool and natural."

Rogen, like Gondry, sat beside Chou looking tired and nonplussed through the 30-minute question and answer session conducted through an interpreter. Both men politely repeated the Mandarin greeting "ni hao" for the press and Rogen, when asked to sing one of Chou's songs, livened up and cracked wise:

"Just as I would not attempt to paint my own version of the Mona Lisa I would not attempt to sing one of Jay Chou's songs," Rogen said, adding later that his co-star was "much better than Usher."

"I don't own any Usher albums but now I own every Jay Chou album," Rogen said, whereupon Gondry queried: "Did you pay for them?"

Rogen: "No. I should say that. I didn't pay for them. Jay gave them to me."

Gondry: "Jay took us away many times to his car with his bodyguard and forced us to listen to his music very loud and beat us up if we didn't like it."

Columbia's Chow, afterwards: "See, they get along so well."

Next stop for the promo tour: South Korea, followed by Japan and Taiwan.

10 Years of Wikipedia [INFOGRAPHIC] (Mashable)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 01:55 PM PST

Jolie O'Dell Jolie O'dell – Tue Jan 18, 4:55 pm ET

Wikipedia is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a video (narrated by founder and CEO Jimmy Wales) and an infographic showcasing the organization's major milestones over the years.

The State of Wikipedia is a project that takes into account Wikipedia history, site statistics and results from the March 2010 Wikipedia survey conducted by the United Nations University.

It also incorporates real-time data from Twitter, an interactive timeline of Wikipedia mentions from around the web and the beautiful aesthetic that typifies JESS3's work.

All creative materials come from the JESS3 team members, who released the site, video and infographic under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

JESS3 says the project "explores the rich history and inner workings of the web-based encyclopedia, but it's also a celebration of its tenth anniversary."

"With more than 17 million articles in over 270 languages, Wikipedia has undoubtedly become one of the most visited and relied upon sites on the web today. More than a million people have contributed to make the site what it is today," JESS3 adds.

The State of Wikipedia is the fourth installment in JESS3's "The State Of" series. The first installment, The State of the Internet, made its debut about a year ago.

Take a look at the video below and the following infographic, then let us know what impact Wikipedia has had on your life during the past decade.

Click to see full-size infographic.

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

Young game developer proves the potential of the App Store (Appolicious)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 10:48 AM PST

Sprint raises smartphone monthly fee by $10 (Reuters)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 06:57 PM PST

– 2 hrs 26 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) plans to raise service fees by $10 a month for smartphone customers, bringing its prices closer to those of bigger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc (T.N).

Starting January 30, Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, will raise its price for smartphone users, who use about 10 times more data services than typical customers.

Sprint said it chose to raise its price so that it could keep its unlimited service offering, unlike bigger rival AT&T, which has put limits on data usage. Sprint's cheapest service will be $79.99 per month for smartphone use after the change.

While Sprint shares fell after the news, some analysts said its pricing was still competitive. Sprint already charged a $10 monthly premium for a few smartphones with fast wireless data connections. This extends the premium to all smartphones.

It might help ease concerns about data price wars because it could ease pressure on rivals to cut prices.

For example, Pacific Crest analyst Steve Clement said it will likely help No. 4 U.S. provider T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE) that Sprint, which is known to compete fiercely on price, is raising its fees.

"When you've the most aggressive pricer go out and raise prices, that's good for everybody," Clement said. "T-Mobile USA had been viewed as the value leader, but they have lost some of that ground to Sprint. This potentially opens the door for them a little bit."

The $79.99 fee would include 450 minutes of talking time, unlimited mobile-to-mobile talk and unlimited texts and usage of data services such as Web surfing unless the customer is roaming off Sprint's network.

In comparison, T-Mobile USA offers 500 minutes of talk time and unlimited texting and web-surfing for $79.99.

Similar services would cost about $110 at its biggest rival, Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L).

AT&T's most comparable offer would cost $85 a month, but limits data downloads to 2 gigabytes per month, while Sprint and Verizon Wireless still offer unlimited downloads.

Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche estimated that, even after the price rise, Sprint's service would still be about 33 percent cheaper than its bigger rivals.

"This move is interesting in terms of timing as we believe Sprint may be more confident in its pricing power it has with its customers," Fritzsche said in a research note.

Sprint closed down 9 cents at $4.36 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Derek Caney, Andre Grenon and Bernard Orr)

Analysis: Goldman's Facebook retreat reflects new normal (Reuters)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 06:09 PM PST

By Dan Wilchins Dan Wilchins – Tue Jan 18, 9:09 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc's decision to scale back a heavily publicized sale of shares in social network site Facebook shows how the bank risks losing its edge as financial regulation intensifies.

Goldman said on Monday that it will not sell Facebook shares to U.S. investors, because the intense media coverage surrounding the offering could run afoul of U.S. securities laws. The Wall Street bank is likely to face questions on the topic on Wednesday, when it posts fourth quarter results.

Regulators would have trouble arguing that Goldman deliberately planted media stories to promote their offering, especially given how secretive this deal was, lawyers said.

But even so, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into Goldman's handling of the deal, according to reports. After the bank settled with the SEC last July for $550 million for transactions linked to subprime mortgages, analysts and investors say Goldman is less likely to risk regulatory intervention.

"Having the best lawyers money can buy is no longer sufficient. There's an increased recognition there of the significance that regulators and the public have in (Goldman bankers') lives," said Mike Holland, founder of Holland & Co, which oversees more than $4 billion of assets.

Goldman last week released a series of recommendations from an internal committee to change the way the firm does business, changes seen by some as superficial.

But the bank's handling of the Facebook deal shows that even if Goldman has tended to resist change, it may have little choice.

SEC scrutiny of Goldman's deal spooked people inside the company, a person briefed by a key employee said.

"They're trying to stick well within the letter of the law, because they know this deal will face a lot of scrutiny," the person said.

In the near term, stronger regulatory oversight could pressure earnings, said Jeff Harte, an equity research analyst at boutique investment bank Sandler O'Neill. Goldman earlier this decade often generated return on equity, a measure of how much profit a bank can squeeze out of its net assets, of around 25 percent. In recent quarters, that figure has been in the low single digits.

Former Goldman employees called the bank's decision to back away from its plan to sell Facebook shares to domestic investors an embarrassment for the firm.

"It's a client nightmare, to tell them they can buy a stake in a hot company, and then tell them they can't," one former managing director said.

Goldman planned to raise up to $1.5 billion for Facebook, the message board and social network that is one of the most widely visited sites on the web. Goldman also invested $450 million of its own funds in the company.

The question for Goldman Sachs is, how long will the caution persist. Some analysts believe it is temporary.

"They're in the hot seat for the time being. That will fade away over the next year or so, as the pain from the financial collapse becomes less acute," said Sean Egan, principal at ratings agency Egan-Jones Ratings in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

But others are not quite so confident.

"Banks are getting singled out now, and I'm not sure how soon that will go away," a hedge fund manager said.

(Reporting by Dan Wilchins; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Comcast wins approval for NBC Universal combination (Reuters)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 03:31 PM PST

By Paul Thomasch and Jasmin Melvin Paul Thomasch And Jasmin Melvin – Tue Jan 18, 6:31 pm ET

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Comcast Corp will sacrifice day-to-day control of popular video website Hulu as a condition for regulatory approval of its combination with NBC Universal, clearing the way for the deal to close in the next two weeks.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice approved the combination - but with a variety of conditions -- more than a year after the companies announced it. The deal creates a new media powerhouse that controls not just how television shows and movies are made, but how they are delivered to people's homes.

Comcast sees it as a potent combination, particularly as viewing habits change and audiences expect to find their favorite entertainment on the TV set as well as the PC, tablet and smartphone. Not only is Comcast the largest U.S. cable company, it is also the top broadband provider.

That advantage was not lost on the FCC or Justice Department, who made it clear in approving the deal on Tuesday they were worried about Comcast stifling competition from new online video competitors.

As a result, regulators will require that Comcast give up what the Justice Department described as management rights to Hulu, the online video site co-owned by News Corp, Walt Disney Co and NBC Universal.

While Comcast and NBC Universal could remain part owners of the site, they will relinquish voting rights and board representation.

Comcast executives played down the requirement and said they had no plans to sell the stake in Hulu, which has emerged as the premier site for streaming TV shows with a roster of hits like "The Office," "Modern Family" and "Family Guy."

"We're perfectly satisfied with that," said Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen. "We continue to have an interest in the growth and advancement of Hulu ... (but) we're not uncomfortable with the restrictions on governance rights that were imposed."

Among the other conditions is one that requires Comcast to make NBC Universal programs available to streaming services other than Hulu -- so long as those services have deals in place with one or more of NBC Universal's competitors. Put another way, if Apple TV struck deals with CBS or Fox, it would then have the right to distribute NBC shows on similar terms.

What is more, Comcast will be required to make stand-alone broadband service available to customers at $49.95 per month for three years. That means it can't force customers to take both its broadband and cable services.

Many of the other conditions will remain in place for seven years, a longer period than regulators usually require.

Once the deal closes, Comcast will acquire a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co, creating a $30 billion business that would include broadcast, cable networks, movie studios and theme parks.

"We have adopted strong and fair merger conditions to ensure this transaction serves the public interest," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement after the vote on Tuesday. The FCC voted 4-1 in favor of the deal.

Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts thanked regulators, and called it a "proud and exciting day" for the company, which his father, Ralph Roberts, founded in 1963. Company executives said the regulatory conditions would not have any impact on its financial projections.

Other key requirements are intended to ensure that Comcast deals fairly with rival cable and satellite providers since it will now be the owner of major content from NBC and its various cable channels. In other words, it will not be able to withhold content it owns like USA or CNBC from a competing pay-TV company.

The only dissenting FCC vote came from Commissioner Michael Copps, who objected to the merger on the grounds it would give Comcast too much power.

"The potential for walled gardens, toll booths, content prioritization, access fees to reach end users and a stake in the heart of independent content production is now very real," Copps said in a statement.

Other critics of the deal expressed disappointment, including Minnesota Democratic Senator Al Franken. "With approval of this merger, the FCC has given a single media conglomerate unprecedented control over the flow of information in America," he said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Yinka Adegoke in New York and Jeremy Pelofsky and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Dave Zimmerman, Robert MacMillan and Phil Berlowitz)

Jobs makes info about his health a trade secret (AP)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 06:42 PM PST

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione, Ap Medical Writer – 2 hrs 42 mins ago

It would be easier to gauge Apple CEO Steve Jobs' current medical problems if he had said more about the ones he has faced in the past.

Jobs, who turns 56 next month, said Monday that he would take a third leave of absence — he didn't say how long — to focus on his health. It may not be as serious as many fear, but coming from a man who has had cancer and a liver transplant, the lack of detail is causing concern.

Jobs had a neuroendocrine tumor removed in 2004 — a rare and very treatable form of pancreatic cancer — but never said if it had spread to lymph nodes or how extensive his surgery was.

"We don't really know how much of his pancreas was removed. He may just have a remnant," and that may be causing continued digestive difficulties, said Dr. Charles R. Thomas of the Ohio State University's Knight Cancer Institute.

Nor has Jobs revealed why he had a liver transplant in the spring of 2009. It could have been for an unrelated problem, but some experts not involved in his treatment speculated that his cancer had spread.

"These tumors are notorious for recurrence. It may take many years for them to reappear" because they grow so slowly, said Dr. Igor Astsaturov of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

Since the transplant, Jobs has remained extremely thin and has not appeared at recent Apple events.

"If he's jaundiced, there's a concern the liver may not be working as well as it should," Thomas said. Fatigue and weight loss also are troubling signs, he said.

Jobs could be suffering side effects from immune-suppressing medicines to prevent organ rejection. Even if his cancer has recurred, there are many treatment options, including chemotherapy and newer drugs that target various cancer pathways.

"It would be reasonable to consider surgery" or another procedure to destroy small tumors if the cancer turned up in his new liver, Thomas said. "They may be ready to do some aggressive intervention to get him back in the ballgame."

Dr. Jennifer Obel, a spokeswoman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology and a cancer specialist at Northshore University Health System in suburban Chicago, said the prognosis is good for those with pancreatic tumors like the one Jobs had, even if they spread.

"He's done extremely well living with this disease for many years," she said. "I wouldn't assume anything until he has released more information."

Sony Ericsson Sues Clearwire Over Logo (PC World)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 03:20 PM PST

Stephen Lawson Stephen Lawson – Tue Jan 18, 6:20 pm ET

Amid intense competition among handset vendors, carriers and software providers in the fast-growing mobile market, a new battle is brewing between two green swirls.

Handset vendor Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications is suing Clearwire, claiming that the U.S. WiMax operator copied its logo. The Sweden-based company and its U.S. counterpart filed suit on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, seeking Clearwire's profits along with damages and an order to stop the use of Clearwire's current logo.

Both companies use round, green logos with swirling white or silver shapes inside. Sony Ericsson, formed as a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson in 2001, told the court it filed for a trademark on a version of its current logo as early as 2006 and has registered several iterations of the image with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Clearwire was formed in 2008 as a joint venture among Sprint Nextel, the former Clearwire wireless broadband carrier and other partners.

"Prior to Defendants' use of their infringing sphere with swirl logos, Sony Ericsson was the only company in the mobile communications business that used a sphere with swirl logo in green and silver/white colors to identify its goods and services," Sony Ericsson wrote in its complaint.

Clearwire has already used a series of different swirling green marks on its WiMax desktop modems, laptop dongles and portable access points. But Sony Ericsson says it is most worried about Clearwire's plans to offer a branded handset. Clearwire has yet to put its own brand on a phone but has said it intends to. Late last year, the company announced it would delay introducing a handset.

When a Clearwire handset finally goes on sale, that will put Clearwire directly in competition with Sony Ericsson, which says it has sold almost 32 million phones in the U.S. Both companies sell their products both online and in brick-and-mortar retailers, including stores in the Radio Shack and Best Buy chains.

Sony Ericsson's displeasure is nothing new to Clearwire, according to the complaint. Sony Ericsson said it has already challenged trademark applications by Clearwire for versions of its green logo, and that it held talks with Clearwire for several months last year that led to Clearwire discontinuing one version of its logo. But Clearwire's latest mark, introduced without a word of warning, apparently set off Sony Ericsson.

"Clearwire has endeavored to create marks that are confusingly similar to Sony Ericsson's marks," the complaint said.

The suit accuses Clearwire of both trademark and copyright infringement, as well as unfair competition under the laws of both the U.S. and the state of Georgia.

Clearwire spokesman Mike DiGioia said the company would not comment on the suit.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

IBM's net tops Street; outsourcing deals pick up (AP)

Posted: 18 Jan 2011 05:00 PM PST

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – Tue Jan 18, 8:00 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – IBM Corp. rode rising business interest in outsourcing and soaring sales of its new System Z mainframe computer to report a fourth-quarter profit Tuesday that was better than analysts expected.

As corporations spend more to upgrade their computer systems, that has benefited companies like IBM that specialize in corporate sales, even though consumer demand for electronics is lagging and other companies' results have been hurt.

Because it mainly sells to businesses and large organizations, IBM's results aren't a perfect gauge of the health of the overall technology world. But its 9 percent increase in net income and 7 percent increase in revenue demonstrate the strength of corporate tech spending, a market that was eviscerated during the Great Recession.

IBM said after the market closed that its net income was $5.26 billion, or $4.24 per share, topping analysts' projections for $4.08 per share. A year earlier, it earned $4.81 billion, or $3.65 per share.

Revenue was $29.02 billion. Analysts expected $28.18 billion, according to FactSet.

The company also offered a brighter outlook for 2011 than analysts expected. IBM is signing more new service contracts, including a 24 percent jump in the value of outsourcing agreements inked in the fourth quarter.

The stock rose $3.60, or 2.4 percent, to $154.25 in extended trading.

IBM's outsourcing business had declined the previous three quarters, compared with the same periods a year earlier, a trend that worried analysts.

Outsourcing, including technical jobs like running call centers or maintaining computer servers for other businesses, typically makes up more than half of all new services deals for IBM.

Analysts say Accenture and other rivals are gaining ground on IBM in that area. But IBM points to its backlog of total services deals that stood at $142 billion on Dec. 31, $5 billion over the year before.

Revenue from mainframe computers jumped 69 percent; this was the first full quarter in which IBM sold the System Z mainframe.

Still, IBM's profit engine is its software business. Pre-tax income from software rose 4 percent to $3.17 billion in the fourth quarter.

Business software is lucrative for IBM. Retailers, for example, use IBM programs to mine their sales receipts for patterns that help discover and market their most profitable products.

Intel Corp. CEO Paul Otellini said last week when his company reported its earnings that it too was getting a lift from corporations upgrading old systems, a multi-year process he said is probably less than halfway done.

Companies are swapping out old PCs, replacing servers and storage machines and inking new outsourcing contracts or renegotiating old ones.

Gartner Inc. expects worldwide spending on information technology to hit $3.6 trillion in 5 percent increase over 2010.

For 2011, IBM expects net income of $13 per share, excluding one-time items. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $12.65 per share on that basis.
at 9:47 PM

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