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Monday, January 31, 2011

Baidu net income surges in 4th quarter (AP) : Technet

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Baidu net income surges in 4th quarter (AP) : Technet

Baidu net income surges in 4th quarter (AP)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 03:07 PM PST

By DANA WOLLMAN, AP Technology Writer Dana Wollman, Ap Technology Writer – Mon Jan 31, 6:07 pm ET

NEW YORK – Baidu.com Inc., which operates China's leading search engine, said Monday that its fourth-quarter profit more than tripled to surpass Wall Street expectations, sending shares higher in after-hours trading.

While Google Inc. has become synonymous with Web searches in the U.S., Baidu dominates the Chinese market. The research firm Analysys International says that as of September, 73 percent of Web searches in China are done on Baidu. Google snags only 22 percent of searches in China.

The Beijing-based company's profit soared to 1.16 billion yuan ($175.9 million), or 3.32 yuan (50 cents) per American depositary share during the December quarter. That compares with year-earlier earnings of 427.9 million yuan, or 1.23 yuan per U.S.-traded share.

Excluding stock options expenses, the company earned 52 cents per share. Analysts expected 47 cents per share, according to FactSet.

Revenue nearly doubled to 2.45 billion yuan ($371.3 million) from 1.26 billion yuan. Analysts predicted $350.3 million.

Shares of the company rose $8.73, or 8.7 percent, to $117.36 during after-hours trading on Monday after the report was released. In regular trading, Baidu's stock closed at $108.63, a gain of $2.09, or 2 percent.

The company said that in the future it will work to integrate its search technology with other online activities such as e-commerce and social networking. In the U.S., many websites incorporate Google's search technology. A notable exception: Facebook shows search results from Bing, Microsoft Corp.'s search engine.

For the year, Baidu earned 3.53 billion yuan ($534.1 million), or 10.10 yuan ($1.53) per American depositary share. That compares with profit of 1.49 billion yuan, or 4.27 yuan per American depositary share, in 2009.

Revenue rose to 7.92 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) from 4.45 billion yuan in 2009.

For the current quarter, Baidu expects to generate revenue between $360.6 million and $371.2 million, well above the average estimate of $342 million, according to FactSet.

Oracle to pay $46M to settle kickbacks charges (AP)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 04:16 PM PST

– Mon Jan 31, 7:16 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Oracle Corp. has agreed to pay $46 million to settle a lawsuit over alleged kickbacks to win government work.

The Department of Justice charged that Sun Microsystems Inc., which Oracle bought last year, and other technology companies paid kickbacks to Accenture PLC for Accenture to recommend that federal agencies buy Sun products.

The Justice Department said last year that the lawsuit covered software contracts that ran from 1998 to 2006 and were worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Six other companies including Hewlett-Packard Co. have settled similar charges.

The settlement by Oracle's America unit also resolved claims that Sun provided incomplete and inaccurate information to government contracting officers during negotiations over contracts with the U.S. Postal Service and two resellers of Sun products. The government said regulations and contracts required Sun to explain how it did business so that contracting officers could negotiate a fair price for government customers.

Government officials said kickbacks and inaccurate information during contract negotiations cost taxpayers money.

Allegations against Sun were first raised in a lawsuit brought by two whistle-blowers, and the government joined their case in 2007.

Oracle representatives didn't respond to a request for comment.

Shares of Oracle, a software company based in Redwood Shores, Calif., rose 3 cents to close at $32.03.

At nearly $8 a pop, are movie tickets still worth it? (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 10:57 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Mon Jan 31, 1:57 pm ET

The average price of a single U.S. movie ticket crept up to $7.89 last year, according to the latest figures the country's theater owners—almost the same price as a month's worth of all-you-can-eat video streaming on Netflix.

Of course, streaming "Dude, Where's My Car?" or "Lost Boys: The Thirst" isn't quite the same thing as, say, watching "Tron: Legacy" in 3D on a mammoth IMAX screen. Still, word that average U.S. movie ticket prices are creeping steadily toward the $8 mark is certainly food for thought (and no, I don't mean the buttery, popcorn-y kind on sale for $10 a bucket at the concession stand).

The report from the Los Angeles Times is quick to point out that the $7.89 figure from the National Association of Theater Owners (a.k.a., NATO—no, really) is an average that includes matinees and children's ticket prices. See a movie in Manhattan and you'll end up paying a lot more—think $19 for a single ticket to an IMAX 3D showing of "The Green Hornet." (I'll pass, thanks.)

Indeed, it's the whole 3D thing that's playing the biggest role in rising movie ticket prices, NATO rep Patrick Corcoran told the L.A. Times, who also pointed out that the average ticket price in 1970â€"$1.55â€"comes out to $8.71 once you account for inflation.

Then again, its also worth noting that theater attendance dipped a small but noticeable 5.3 percent in 2010 versus last year, with many movie fans presumably deciding to save their money by staying at home.

And in our living rooms, of course, there are more and more home-video options to be had, ranging from $4 movie rentals on iTunes, Xbox Live, PSN, Vudu, and Amazon to buck-a-night Redbox DVD rentals and $8-a-month unlimited Netflix streaming.

We've also got big HDTV screens and surround sound at home—and hey, there's even 3D TV, if you're cool with coughing up $100 for a pair of active-shutter 3D glasses.

Personally, I find myself going to the movies far less than I used to back in the day. In my 20s—when VHS and Laserdisc (remember those?) were the only real home video options, and HDTV displays were only something you read about in Popular Science—I was going to the movies once, maybe twice a week. Sure, I saw a lot of turkeys (I'll never get the two-hour running time of "Scent of a Woman" back), but going to the theater used to be the only real option for widescreen, surround-sound nirvana.

Today? Please. I've got my 46-inch, 1080p HDTV, my Blu-ray-packing PS3, 5.1 channels of surround sound, and nobody nearby who's talking through the whole movie. Given the choice of plunking down $10 or more (not counting subway fare) to see a first-run movie in a theater or waiting a few months to rent it on Netflix or Vudu, well … more often than not, I'll wait to watch at home.

That's not to say I never go to the theater anymore. Given the right movie, I'll pay $15 to sink into the plush seats at the Ziegfeld, a luxurious New York movie palace with a giant 52 by 20-foot screen. (Last movie seen at the Ziegfeld: "True Grit." Thoroughly enjoyed it.) But nowadays, my wife and I are going to the movies maybe four or five times a year, rather than four or five times a month.

Anyway, that's me—now, I'd like to hear from you.

Do you think it's still worth it to go to the movies—and if so, are you going for the 3D, or the big-screen IMAX experience, or just to be with other moviegoers in a dark auditorium?

Or have you had it with the pricey tickets, the expensive popcorn, and the rude cell-phone chatterers? Are you perfectly happy skipping the theater for watching at home?

Related:
Movie ticket prices reach new milestone [Los Angeles Times]

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

Follow me on Twitter!

Android smartphones, tablets on the march (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 08:35 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Mon Jan 31, 11:35 am ET

Just a year ago, Android handsets accounted for a slim 8.7 percent of the global smartphone market, with OS vendors such as Nokia, RIM, and Apple well in the lead, according to an industry survey. Not anymore. Also: Android establishes a beachhead in the tablet market.

We've already been hearing plenty of reports about how Google's Android OS has been surging in the domestic and worldwide smartphone marketplaces, but the latest figures from the industry analysts at Canalys put the new mobile platform landscape on stark perspective, with Android sales seeing an extraordinary, 615-percent growth spurt in 2010 to topple Nokia's Symbian platform off its throne.

As of the end of the fourth quarter last year, Android enjoyed a 33.3 percent share of the global smartphone market, according to Canalys, with Nokia's Symbian OS trailing (just barely) at 31 percent.

Mind you, Nokia still ranks as the No. 1 global manufacturer of smartphones, the survey noted, with the Finnish phone giant seeing worldwide shipments of its smart handsets grow 30 percent in 12 months.

But that wasn't enough to stop Android, which saw its global market share kick in the afterburners with help from a veritable gang of smartphone makers—think HTC, Samsung, LG, and Acer, according to Canalys.

After Nokia comes Apple, which saw its fourth-quarter 2010 global iOS market share dip ever so slightly to 16.2 percent, from 16.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009—although as with Nokia, Apple still saw a healthy surge in global sales (up nearly 86 percent compared to the fourth quarter of '08).

In fourth place, we've got BlackBerry maker RIM with 14.6 percent of the global smartphone market, down more than five percent from the year-ago 2009 period, while Microsoft saw its fourth-quarter 2010 market share slump to 3.1 percent.

Narrowing our focus to the U.S. market, the contest for the top smartphone OS really wasn't one, with a new NPD Group survey crowning Android the crown last quarter with a whopping 53 percent slice of the domestic pie.

Far behind in terms of smartphone platforms was Apple with a 19 percent share, according to NPD. Apple still had the top-selling smartphone in the U.S. last quarter with the iPhone 4, but a trio of Android handsets were nipping at the iPhone's heels: the Motorola Droid X, the HTC Evo 4G, and the Motorola Droid 2.

RIM was tied for second with 19 percent of the U.S. smartphone market last quarter, NPD said, with the old Windows Mobile OS at 4 percent and the new Windows Phone 7 platform at just 2 percent.

Meanwhile, Android isn't just surging in the smartphone department, with researchers at Strategy Analytics reporting (via Bloomberg) that Android-based tablets grabbed a 22-percent share of the worldwide tablet market last quarter, up from a mere 2.3 percent the previous quarter.

That's still far behind Apple's 75-percent global tablet share last quarter, but consider this: Apple's tablet share in the third quarter of 2010 was a dominant 95 percent, meaning that Android managed to take a serious chomp out of Apple's share of the slate market.

But while Android may be gaining ground on Apple's tablet market share—and eclipsing it in terms of smartphones—it's important to keep in mind that almost all the big mobile OSes are moving more devices (many more, in some cases) than they were a year ago.

For example, Apple saw its tablet sales surge an eye-popping 74 percent between the third quarter of 2010 and last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics, even as Android tablet sales soared to 2.1 million units from just 100,000 in the same period.

Same goes for smartphones, with only Mircosoft selling fewer smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2010 than it did during the year-prior period, according to the Canalys survey. Indeed, overall smartphone sales nearly doubled from 53.7 million units to 101.2 million handsets.

In other words: even if Android's piece of the mobile pie is bigger than Apple's, or Nokia's, or RIM's, the overall slices are getting bigger—a lot bigger. For us consumers, that's a good thing.

Related:
Google's Android becomes the world's leading smart phone platform [Canalys]
Google Android Tablet-Computer Sales Soar, Narrowing Apple IPad's Lead [Bloomberg]

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

Follow me on Twitter!

Dell Streak 7 Gets Aggressive Pricing, Imminent Release (PC World)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 06:00 AM PST

Melissa J. Perenson Melissa J. Perenson – Mon Jan 31, 9:00 am ET

The Dell Streak 7 was one of the many tablets revealed at CES last month, but at the time, T-Mobile kept mum on pricing and availability details. Now, all is revealed -- and from a pure-play price perspective, T-Mobile has kept its promise to best the tablet competition with this model.

Today T-Mobile is announcing the Streak 7 will be available starting February 2, and it will cost $200 after a $50 mail-in rebate (with a two-year contract). Off-contract, and on T-Mobile's prepaid mobile broadband plans, the Streak 7 will sell for $450.

That mail-in rebate bumps the Streak 7 to a lower price than the T-Mobile variant of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The Tab recently got a price reduction to $250, after a $50 mail-in rebate of its own.

The Streak 7 is one of several Nvidia Tegra 2-based Android tablets com ing to market this winter. The pricing clearly makes this tablet an intriguing option, but keep in mind it's just the first of a coming flood of high-profile tablets (and many others that are less so). Over the next couple of months, we expect to see the first Android 3.0-based tablet, the Motorola Xoom (also introduced at CES), as well as the RIM Playbook; and, we expect more formal news of the second-generation Apple iPad.

Take a closeup look at the Dell Streak 7 here.

Apple Hit With Another Suit Alleging Privacy Violations (PC World)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 06:20 PM PST

Nancy Gohring Nancy Gohring – Mon Jan 31, 9:20 pm ET

Apple has been hit with another lawsuit accusing it of privacy violations for the way it shares information collected from iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users with advertisers.

The suit was filed last Thursday on behalf of an Apple user in California and seeks class-action status. It charges Apple with sharing information about users' browsing history, application use and other personal details without their consent.

"Apple's privacy policy is opaque and confusing but one thing is clear: it does not inform mobile device users that by providing application developers with their UDID, Apple enables them to put a name to highly personal and in many cases embarrassing information derived from app downloading activity and usage, and internet browsing history, that would otherwise be anonymous," the suit reads.

Apple gives each of its mobile devices a Unique Device Identifier, or UDID. Application developers have access to that number, which offers information about a user's browsing history every time the user clicks on an ad or an application, according to the suit. Developers sometimes sell the data to tracking companies, the suit alleges.

The suit cites a Wall Street Journal article from December that says developers can combine the UDID with other personal information found on the device including user name and password, contacts, current location, and in some cases the phone owner's name.

It also cites a study by the director of information security and networking at Bucknell University, which found that many applications collect the UDID number and user login data that ties to a user account. He also found that many apps transmit the UDID back to a server owned by the app developer or an advertising partner. The suit claims that "such entities inherently have the ability to tie a UDID to a real-world identity," although it doesn't describe why they inherently have that ability.

Apple didn't reply to a request for comment Monday. In December it told the Journal that iPhone apps are not supposed to transmit data about a user without the user's prior permission and explaining how the data will be used.

The suit notes that Apple's privacy policy says that personal information will be shared by Apple to improve services and advertising but that it won't be shared with third parties for their marketing purposes.

Filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the suit asks for a jury trial and for compensatory and punitive damages related to 10 charges. The charges range from invasion of privacy to violations of the Stored Communications Act.

The plaintiff wants the class to include all Apple customers in the U.S. who have downloaded and used apps on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch after July 10, 2008.

It's not the first suit of its kind. Another was filed against Apple last year, also in California.

Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com

Digg Gets an Overhaul to Draw Users Back (Mashable)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 02:08 PM PST

Ben Parr Ben Parr – Mon Jan 31, 5:08 pm ET

Digg has launched an overhaul and redesign of the struggling social media service in an attempt to bring users back and regain some momentum.

This rollout incorporates three major changes for the site. The first is a redesign of the site based on user feedback. It places the key Digg topics -- Gaming, Technology, Science, etc. -- at the top of the page rather than on the side. Story pages have been cleaned up, and the "submit" box has been given more prominence. It now sits at the top of every page, while search has been been reduced to a magnifying glass icon that will display the search box when you click it.

The second part of the update focuses on profile pages and the return of profile statistics. At the top right of every profile page are the Digg, commenting, submission and following stats for every user. Digg says it took "much longer" than expected to import the Digg data from V3 to the current version. It's definitely incomplete, though -- my stats say I've made zero submissions and zero comments in my many years on Digg, both of which are definitely not true. Some data is still missing.

Finally, Digg has added a new slew of opt-in notifications for when your stories hit "Top News." While "Top News" has lost much of its prominence since "My News" was made the default, it's still a point of achievement to have a story you submit reach the front page, so it makes sense that many people would want to be notified when that happens. These notifications will appear either by e-mail or on-site.

The changes are designed to counteract Digg's painful decline by adding the most-requested user features. Users famously revolted after the New Digg launched last August. Since then, Digg has been in decline, enough to force Digg to lay off more than one-third of its team.

The new features will be rolled out over the next few weeks and will be offered at an opt-in basis. Overall, they're nice updates, but th company still has a long way to go to regain user trust and woo users back to its platform. Every little bit counts, though, when you're trying to turn things around.

Check out the before and after screenshots, and let us know what you think of the redesign.

Above: Screenshot of the New Digg

Above: Screenshot of the Old Digg

What should we expect from Android’s Gingerbread and Honeycomb updates? (Appolicious)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 02:45 PM PST

Expo Notes: Get your heart pumping with Scosche's myTrek (Macworld)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 06:00 PM PST

Serenity Caldwell Serenity Caldwell – Mon Jan 31, 9:00 pm ET

While there were plenty of cases and gadgets available for iOS devices at this year's Macworld 2011, Scosche's myTrek Bluetooth pulse monitor caught our eye—and along with it, a 2011 Best of Show award.

The device, which Scosche plans to make available sometime this summer for $149, syncs with the company's free myTrek app for pulse monitoring, workout customization, and fitness tracking. To use the myTrek, you simply strap it to your forearm using the Velcro band and power it on to establish the Bluetooth connection. When you open the app, the device will begin transmitting your pulse and calibrating with the app.

You can tailor your workout regimen by setting your sex, age, weight, and resting heart rate within the myTrek app, and create custom regimen stages based on your planned activity (running, cycling, hiking). You can also choose a designated audio prompt (male or female) to alert you when you switch routines, or tell you whether you need to speed up, slow down, or stop to achieve your desired workout.

When you launch the app, it will display an active graph of your resting pulse rate, along with your current workout mode. By default, you start out in Free Training; as you advance through your workout, a bar along the bottom of the screen will slowly fill up and then automatically move you to the next stage.

While working out, you can select songs from and control your music library in the app or by using the armband. The buttons on the pulse monitor allow you to skip songs, play/pause, and control the volume of your device.

Once you've finished a workout, you can see your progress—along with the calories you've burned and your total time—as a bar graph. All past workout data is all saved within the app, so you can reference it at any time.

All in all, the demonstration I saw on the show floor was short, but impressive (very similar to this demonstration captured on video by Notebooks.com). If nothing else, it was nice to see a non-headphone, non-keyboard iOS Bluetooth accessory on the show floor. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to check out Scosche's other Bluetooth product previewed at the show, the FreedomMIC, a wireless lavalier microphone for the iPhone, iPod touch, and Flip camera. You can read more about the myTrek or the FreedomMIC in Scosche's consumer catalogue.

Baidu upbeat on outlook, targets social search (Reuters)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 08:56 PM PST

By Alexei Oreskovic and Melanie Lee Alexei Oreskovic And Melanie Lee – 39 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Baidu Inc (BIDU.O) beat fourth quarter estimates and painted a bright near-term outlook as it bets on large advertiser spending and new Chinese Internet trends, such as social networking, to spur growth.

Shares of Baidu, a favorite pick of hedge funds, rose 7.7 percent in after-hours trade following the upbeat earnings report on Monday. Options traders predicted before the results that the stock might break out of its recent five-month trading range.

China, with more than 450 million users, is the world's largest Internet market. Yet with Internet penetration hovering around 30 percent and user sophistication outside the big cities still low, the potential for growth is huge.

"The key attractiveness of Baidu is that they are the one and only one in China, they rely on the China story, the high growth Internet market and in particular search, and there's no other key competitor in the market," said Benjamin Tam, a Hong Kong-based portfolio manager with Investors Group.

Baidu, which has increased its focus on e-commerce and online video, grabbed more market share last year after rival Google Inc (GOOG.O) curtailed its operations following a high-profile fallout with Beijing over censorship. Baidu is the No. 1 Internet search engine in China with a 70 percent market share.

The company breezed past Wall Street financial targets in the fourth quarter and reported a higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue outlook.

Beijing-based Baidu's fourth-quarter net income rose to $175.9 million, or 50 cents a share, from $62.7 million, or $1.80 a share, a year ago, before a 10-for-1 stock split. That beat analysts' average forecast of EPS of 45 cents.

Shares in Baidu ended regular trading up 2 percent at $108.63 on Nasdaq.

The firm, whose name comes from an ancient Song Dynasty poem, will also launch a marketing campaign in the first quarter to increase the awareness of search amongst its users.

Baidu executives said the firm expects to aggressively increase investments for its server networks and offices as well as increase hiring in research and development.

One of the key focuses for Baidu in 2011 will be in social search, executives said at its call with investors.

"Social search products represent a significant portion of our total traffic and it continues to grow at a rapid speed," said Baidu's CEO Robin Li said.

"As time passed by we realized the commercial value of this product...So we are developing commercial products or ad products for social search services and going forward we expect to better monetize this kind of traffic," Li said.

Last year, Baidu expanded aggressively outside its core search business. It linked up with Hulu investors to create an independent online video company, Qiyi, and also teamed up with Japanese online retailer Rakuten (4755.OS) to form an online mall.

Local media reported over the past month that Baidu might invest into Sina's (SINA.O) hot microblog product Weibo. Baidu declined to comment on market speculation but Li said on the call that the firm was open to opportunities that "make sense" strategically for Baidu.

SPEEDBUMPS

Despite the upbeat outlook, some analysts warn of risks.

For the fourth quarter, Baidu had 276,000 customers, a 24 percent increase over a year ago but only a 1.5 percent increase from the previous quarter.

"This quarter only grew by 4,000 (customers) it's not the lowest. In Q4 2008, it grew only 3,000 additional customers, but having said that, we had the financial crisis back then," said Wallace Cheung, a analyst with Credit Suisse.

"I wouldn't say (the numbers) are very bad, but it's definitely not good enough," Cheung said.

Analysts also see an increasingly competitive landscape in China's search market in the coming years, as players like Sohu.com (SOHU.O), Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) wrestle for market share.

Baidu said revenue for the first quarter will come in between $360.6 million and $371.2 million, ahead of the average analyst forecast of $354.2 million.

Baidu cited continued improvement in "monetization" for nearly doubling fourth-quarter revenue from a year ago.

Baidu's revenue per online marketing customer increased roughly 56 percent in the fourth quarter.

Total revenue in the fourth quarter totaled $371.3 million compared with $184.7 million a year ago. Analysts, on average, had expected revenue of $360.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Editing by Anshuman Daga)

New Technology Measures Emotional Responses to Web Videos (Mashable)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 08:48 AM PST

Jennifer Van Grove Jennifer Van Grove – Mon Jan 31, 11:48 am ET

Startup Affectiva is building technologies to measure emotion in web video. It is technology the founders, MIT scientists Dr. el Kaliouby and Dr. Rosalind Picard, are looking to perfect with the help of a newly awarded $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Affectiva, a commercial rendering of MIT's FaceSense (also NSF-funded) technology, was originally dreamt up to help those with autism spectrum disorders better understand emotion. The founders now see the potential of opening their emotion measurement technology for market research, product testing and development, clinical use and other academic purposes.

In its current web state, Affectiva analyzes a single facial expression associated with happiness: the smile. Viewers, who must grant the application permission to "watch them," tune in to a film trailer. The software tracks when the user smiles, and he or she can see the complete "Smile Track" once the viewing is complete.

This early prototype is centered around the smile, but Affectiva's software is capable of analyzing multiple expressions and associating them with states of minds. More of those technologies will be carried over to the web thanks in no small part to the NSF grant.

With the new funds, the team now has a six-month window to move Affdex, its facial expression recognition technology, to a cloud environment. The company is also eligible for $600,000 in additional grant funding and has enough runway to go without outside funding for the immediate future.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Yakobchuk.

Remains of the Day: Water, water everywhere (Macworld)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 04:35 PM PST

Dan Moren Dan Moren – Mon Jan 31, 7:35 pm ET

The great thing about the Internet is that there's something for everyone. Maybe you like Macs. Maybe you like tea brewing apparatuses in the form of a penguin—we're not here to judge. In the meantime, however, you can get the skinny on the creation of Apple's legendary 1984 ad, hear a tech industry CEO rage at Steve Jobs, or watch as Microsoft drops cash like it's hot. It's a super-sized edition of remainders for Monday, January 31, 2011.

Apple changes its stance on water damage to iOS devices (9 to 5 Mac)

We've all heard horror stories about perfectly innocent folks who take their iPods or iPhones in to the Genius Bar, only to be rejected for coverage because the liquid contact indicator showed red. It appears Apple will now consider fixing devices with triggered liquid indicators, as long as there's no other serious signs of water damage. So no need to hone your Lady Macbeth monologue.

'1984': As Good as It Gets (AdWeek)

Apple's iconic 1984 ad has been called the most memorable TV commercial ever, and former Chiat/Day creative director Steve Hayden dishes on the behind-the-scenes drama of the spot in AdWeek. Among the surprises: the Apple board hated the ad, the heroine was originally supposed to throw a baseball bat, and director Ridley Scott desperately wanted to have her part played by a young Russell Crowe (in a blond wig, no doubt).

Samsung Galaxy Tab Sales Actually 'Quite Small' (Wall Street Journal)

Remember Samsung's 7-inch "iPad killer," the Galaxy Tab? Company executive Lee Young-hee revealed in a conference call late last week that the 2 million sales figure that Samsung had touted represented units shipped to retailers—not those sold to consumers, which was apparently "quite small." Which I guess explains why my iPad is alive and well.

Closed Apple headed for trouble as Jobs's ego bites: Netgear CEO (Syndey Morning Herald)

Netgear CEO Patrick Lo is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore. The executive ranted about Apple and Steve Jobs at a lunch in Syndey on Monday, describing the company's platforms as "closed" and deriding the CEO for his ego. However, he also admits that sales of the company's Wi-Fi range booster are taking off, thanks to people using their iPads in the bathroom, so I guess he's got no problem biting the, er…hand that feeds him?

The Engadget Show Live! with Steve Wozniak (Engadget)

Steve Wozniak talking about the white iPhone 4? It's like a perfect storm! If Woz is to be believed, it would seem that the rumors of light leakage problems are indeed at the root of the infamous shipping delays. If only Apple had decided to make a Flower Power iPhone 4 we wouldn't be in this situation.

CHART OF THE DAY: Microsoft Incinerates ANOTHER $543 Million Online (Business Insider)

A million here, $543 million there, and pretty soon you're talking about all the money Microsoft dropped in its online segment. Redmond is losing money hand over fist on the Internet, with $2.5 billion dropped in the last four quarters. I guess that Bing doesn't come cheap.

IBM touts social skills on RIM's PlayBook (Reuters)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 03:29 PM PST

By Alastair Sharp Alastair Sharp – Mon Jan 31, 6:29 pm ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – IBM wants to dislodge Microsoft's desktop-bound business software by touting an update of its Lotus programs designed to harness the mobility and collaboration possible with cloud computing.

The computing giant invited BlackBerry maker Research In Motion's co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie to the stage of Lotusphere, an IBM conference in Orlando, on Monday to display IBM's newest wares on RIM's unreleased PlayBook tablet.

Established tech giants and relative upstarts covet opportunities in cloud computing -- using Internet technology to move computers and information away from desktops and into remote data centers. The move to cloud-computing is closely linked to the booming use of smartphones and tablet computers, particularly in offices.

Balsillie demonstrated how a PlayBook user could receive an email from a contact in a Lotus email program and quickly look up his profile in Lotus Connections and invite him into a social network.

IBM's invitation to RIM was strategic for both companies, said Forrester analyst Ted Schadler. IBM was ahead of Cisco, Google and Microsoft in a shifting market to use cloud-based applications to aid sales, marketing, customer service and product development teams, he said.

IBM "can have their cake and eat it too. They can show solidarity with RIM, and at the same time everyone knows they're running on iPad," he said, referring to Apple's tablet.

The global market for social platforms, which allow customers, employees, business partners and suppliers to collaborate and communicate, is expected to almost triple to $1.8 billion by 2014, according to research company IDC.

IBM said its launch of a cloud-based version of LotusLive Symphony, an office productivity suite, would enable its customers to co-edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations at the same time from multiple locations.

It will be available in the second half of 2011 on RIM and Apple devices as well as Nokia smartphones and devices using Google's Android operating system.

IBM also refreshed its Lotus Notes email, Connections file-sharing and networking software, and Lotus Sametime instant messaging software.

With the revamp, "IBM is the leading alternative for organizations looking to break free of costly Microsoft Office desktops," the New York-based company said in a statement.

"IBM is trying to get out from the email war (with Microsoft) and take collaboration ... much deeper into the business with a bigger toolset and deeper ties to business processes," Forrester's Schadler said.

For its part, RIM is eager to fan corporate interest in its PlayBook, which many view as a formidable device that could still struggle to make its mark in a sea of iPad look-alikes.

With the April launch of the iPad, Apple virtually created the market for tablets - touchscreen computers halfway between smartphones and laptops. The device is already reaching into corporations where RIM's BlackBerry has long been the mobile extension of choice.

Google's Android operating system, which Samsung runs on its Galaxy Tab, won a 22 percent share of the tablet market in the fourth quarter, Strategy Analytics said.

IBM said insurer Zurich Financial's North America unit uses IBM software on iPads to connect 60,000 mobile workers with email, calendar, contacts and directories.

Its social software for mobile devices is used by General Motors, the University of Zurich and Russian wireless carrier Vimpelcom, among others.

IBM also said it had spent $42 million to expand cloud-computing facilities in Canada to keep confidential information secure within the country to comply with privacy laws.

Oracle to Pay $46 Million to Settle Kickbacks Complaint (PC World)

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 02:30 PM PST

Grant Gross Grant Gross – Mon Jan 31, 5:30 pm ET

Oracle has agreed to pay the U.S. government US$46 million to settle complaints that Sun Microsystems, which merged with Oracle in 2010, engaged with other technology vendors in a kickbacks scheme affecting government contracts, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

The settlement involves allegations dating back to 2004 that Sun paid kickbacks to systems integrators in return for their recommendations of Sun products to federal agencies. Consulting companies received payments from Sun each time they influenced a government agency to purchase Sun products, the DOJ said in a press release.

The complaints stem from a whistleblower lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas by Norman Rille, a former manager at Accenture, and Neal Roberts, a former partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. They alleged a widespread kickbacks scheme among dozens of IT vendors and systems integrators vying for U.S. government contracts.

Six other companies, including IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Computer Sciences, have reached settlements with the DOJ over similar charges. IBM agreed to pay $3 million, PwC agreed to pay $2.3 million and Computer Sciences agreed to pay $1.4 million in their settlements.

Monday's settlement with Oracle also resolves claims under the False Claims Act that Sun's 1997 and 1999 U.S. General Services Administration Schedule contracts were defectively priced because Sun provided incomplete and inaccurate information to GSA contracting officers during negotiations, the DOJ said. The settlement also resolves complaints that the inaccurate information led to defective pricing in Sun reseller contracts with the GSA and U.S. Postal Service.

U.S. regulations required Sun to disclose how it priced products in the commercial marketplace so that GSA could negotiate a fair price, the DOJ said.

"Kickbacks, illegal inducements, misrepresentations during contract negotiations -- these undermine the integrity of the government procurement process and unnecessarily cost taxpayers money," Tony West, assistant attorney general for the DOJ's Civil Division, said in a statement. "As this case demonstrates, we will take action against those who abuse the public contracting process."

Oracle representatives did not immediately return a phone message and an e-mail seeking comment on the settlement.

Under the False Claims Act, private citizens may file complaints on behalf of the U.S. government and share in the recovery of funds. The DOJ joined the lawsuit by Rille and Roberts in 2007.

The government's defective pricing allegations against Sun were based on an audit conducted by the GSA Office of Inspector General, which concluded that Sun provided inaccurate information during contract negotiations.

"Our auditors did not waver," GSA Inspector General Brian Miller said in a statement. "They pursued the facts until they got to the truth. This case shows that with a lot of hard work and tenacity, justice will prevail."

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.
at 9:50 PM

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