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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Former NCAA player's suit threatens Hollywood (AP) : Technet

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Former NCAA player's suit threatens Hollywood (AP) : Technet

Former NCAA player's suit threatens Hollywood (AP)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 12:44 PM PST

Verizon to sell Sony Ericsson's PlayStation phone (AP)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 12:25 PM PST

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Sun Feb 13, 3:25 pm ET

BARCELONA, Spain – The first "PlayStation phone" is coming to Verizon Wireless in April, the CEO of phone maker Sony Ericsson said Sunday.

The Xperia Play phone will have a big touch screen and a pad that slides out to reveal control buttons similar to those on a Sony PlayStation Portable. The phone marks a change in strategy for Sony and a coup for Sony Ericsson, which has been trying to get its phones back into the U.S. market.

The phone looks similar to the PSP Go, a version of the PlayStation Portable released in 2009.

The Play phone will run Google Inc.'s Android operating system and play modified PlayStation games that won't run on other phones. It's the first time Sony has allowed its PlayStation games to run on hardware not made by Sony. The license isn't exclusive to Sony Ericsson, so other phone makers could follow, but Sony Ericsson will have a substantial head start.

Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg demonstrated the phone in Barcelona, a day ahead of the opening of the Mobile World Congress trade show there. He said he didn't know what the phone will cost.

Sony Ericsson is a joint venture of Sony Corp. of Japan and LM Ericsson AB of Sweden. They merged their phone-making businesses in 2001, and have faced calls to make phones that take advantage of Sony's strength in game consoles since then. Recently, touch screen phones, especially Apple Inc.'s iPhone, have become big game platforms in their own right, thanks to their large screens and intuitive controls.

Verizon Wireless is the largest U.S. wireless carrier, but it hasn't carried Sony Ericsson phones for several years. Last year, Sony Ericsson dropped the Symbian operating system, which is largely unknown in the U.S., in favor of Android, with the aim of penetrating the U.S. smart-phone market. Sony Ericsson's worldwide sales have continued to slide, but it's now able to sell more expensive phones, stemming some of the revenue decline.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. of New York and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.

Nokia CEO: Co. to get billions from Microsoft (AP)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 12:48 PM PST

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Sun Feb 13, 3:48 pm ET

BARCELONA, Spain – Nokia Corp. will get billions of dollars from Microsoft Corp. to ditch its current smart-phone software in favor of Windows Phone 7, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said Sunday, in a defense of the deal.

Nokia, the world's largest maker of phones, and Microsoft announced their alliance Friday. Both investors and employees reacted with dismay: Nokia's stock dived 14 percent and Finnish employees used flex time to go home early.

On Sunday, a day ahead of the start of the Mobile World Congress cell phone trade show in Barcelona, Elop told press, analysts and industry players that apart from the benefits of the alliance that were laid out Friday, Microsoft is paying Nokia billions of dollars to switch to Windows Phone 7.

"This is something I don't think was completely explained," Elop said.

Elop, a former Microsoft executive, said Finland-based Nokia had been courted by Google Inc. as well, which sought to convince it to use its popular Android software for smart phones. Microsoft's payments are recognition that Nokia had "substantial value to contribute," said Elop.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 7 last year, on phones made by LG Electronics Inc. and HTC Corp., but has only captured a few percentage points of the smart phone market, according to analysts.

Nokia's worldwide market share in smart phones was just over 30 percent in last year's fourth quarter, down from 40 percent a year earlier. Those phones use Symbian, a relatively old software package that wasn't designed to be used with touch screens.

Money and in-kind contributions will flow both ways in the deal, Elop reiterated. Nokia will be contributing its Ovi mapping service and will be paying Microsoft royalties for the use of its software, as other manufacturers do. It will save money by not continuing development of its own software. The net benefit is still in the billions, he said.

Analysts believe Google pays manufacturers to use Android, but no figures have come to light.

Elop was hired in September to shake things up at Nokia, but he may face an uphill battle in getting employees on board. At the Barcelona event, Elop was asked whether he's a "Trojan horse" — a Microsoft insider who's penetrated Nokia and steered it in a direction favorable to Microsoft.

"The obvious answer is 'No,'" Elop said. "Thanks for asking."

He said the decision to go with Windows Phone was unanimous in Nokia's senior management team. Nokia's board approved the deal Thursday night, a day ahead of the announcement in London.

Adding Nokia's market share to that of existing Android phones would have left the world with only two real players in smart phone software, Elop said. He didn't mention the iPhone, but it's the other dominant force in smart phones. A duopoly would have big ramifications for everyone, he said.

"A decision to go with Windows Phone creates a very different dynamic," Elop said. "It's an environment where now, Windows Phone is a challenger."

Microsoft has made smart phone software for more than a decade. Windows Phone 7 is an attempt to make a clean break with the past, and create an operating system designed for big iPhone-style touch screens.

JPMorgan planning media fund: report (Reuters)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 07:31 PM PST

– 2 hrs 1 min ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan is planning on starting a fund of between $500 million and $750 million to invest in internet and digital media companies, the Wall Street Journal said on Sunday.

The paper said that marketing materials were sent to prospective investors about two weeks ago.

The reported move comes as interest in social networking sites is increasing. Investor interest and valuations are surging for privately held Web companies like Facebook, Zynga and Groupon.

LinkedIn Corp announced plans to go public this year in what could be a test of investor appetite for social networking websites ahead of a highly anticipated Facebook offering.

Facebook, the world's No. 1 internet social network, recently raised $1.5 billion in funding in a deal that valued the company at $50 billion.

Facebook said recently it planned to publicly disclose its financial results by April 2012, a regulatory requirement triggered by the company's number of shareholders and a move that some believe could lead to a public offering.

JPMorgan was not immediately available for comment.

Doctors work to help Giffords' brain rewire itself (AP)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 09:18 PM PST

By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer Malcolm Ritter, Ap Science Writer – 13 mins ago

NEW YORK – Compared to a sleek new laptop, that three-pound mass of fatty tissue called the brain may not look like much. But when it's injured, it adapts and rewires its circuits in new ways.

That's the kind of flexibility that doctors and rehabilitation specialists hope to encourage in Gabrielle Giffords, the brain-injured Arizona congresswoman.

Details about her recovery have been thin. But members of her staff say she recently began speaking for the first time since the Jan. 8 attack by a gunman in Tucson. Brain injury patients who regain speech typically begin to do that about four to six weeks after the injury, experts say.

Still, recovery for the 40-year-old Giffords will be a long, tough journey, as it is for anyone with a significant brain injury. Patients can make remarkable progress. But experts caution that they shouldn't expect to return to exactly the way they were before.

Too little has been revealed and it's too early to say if Giffords might be able to return to her job in Congress. One expert questioned whether that would be the best thing for her to do.

Most people with such injuries have some level of impairment for the rest of their lives.

Scientists are still unraveling just how the brain works to recover from traumatic injury and how to help it repair as much as possible.

They're dealing with an organ about the consistency of cold porridge. It contains maybe 100 billion densely packed nerve cells, each of which is connected to 1,000 or so other nerve cells, called neurons. Those connections form circuits that are the foundation of the brain's activity.

Brain injuries can disrupt that in several ways. A car accident can smash a head, stretching and tearing brain tissue across a wide area. A penetrating injury like a bullet causes more localized damage, but the force of the impact can also damage neuron connections some distance away from the projectile's path.

Either way, brain injury produces an "utter quagmire" of specific disruptions in brain functioning that doctors have only blunt tools to fix, said Dr. Jonathan Fellus, director of the brain injury program at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, N.J.

What all this disruption means to the patient depends on what brain circuits have been affected. People might have trouble reasoning, finding words, remembering things, organizing priorities, recognizing faces, understanding what's said to them, or doing multiple things at once. Or they could have problems walking, reaching, getting dressed or feeding themselves.

So how can the brain get better?

In some cases, brain cells that were impaired or stunned but not killed by the initial injury get back on track. Another surprising factor is that the brain's wiring is not fixed. In response to an injury, neurons can alter their patterns of connections.

For example, if the damaged part of the brain is small enough, new connections might bring in neighboring neurons to stand in for dead ones. Or existing connections can be strengthened, allowing neurons to work together more efficiently than they had to before.

Rewiring can bring in a whole different brain circuit to compensate for a damaged one.

So a person who used to find his way to work just by instinct may come to rely on memorizing the route more formally. Or somebody who struggles to find words may emphasize facial expressions more than before. A patient who has trouble remembering what he sees may compensate by telling himself what he's looking at, bringing in his verbal memory circuitry.

Patients may develop compensation strategies on their own, though more typically they're guided by doctors and therapists, said Dr. Bruce Dobkin, director of the neurologic rehabilitation and research program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Fellus compares brain rewiring after injury to taking back roads when an interstate highway is damaged. It's a less efficient way to get a job done, he said, and the added effort may help explain why brain injury patients often feel tired or simply fail to accomplish some tasks.

"They have to pace themselves, they have to do things in a more organized way," staying more focused on a task like memorizing a phone number than they had to before, he said.

That's certainly the case with Kim Towns, 47, of Chesapeake, Va., even 23 years after she was shot in the forehead.

"I can't really concentrate like I used to. I get tired really easily, I get depressed," she said. Rather than doing several things at once, "I have to really just sit down and concentrate on one particular subject."

In any case, brain rewiring — scientists call it plasticity — is driven by what a patient is learning and experiencing, said Jordan Grafman, director of the Traumatic Brain Injury Research Laboratory at the Kessler Foundation Research Center in West Orange.

That's why patients should get into rehabilitation as soon as possible, where "people are paid to stimulate you," providing skilled expertise as well as respite for exhausted caregivers, he said.

The time course of recovery can be long. It's most dramatic in the first year, with probably more than a third of patients who survive severe injuries showing improvement by the end of that time, said Dr. Alan Faden of the University of Maryland.

Grafman said progress often slows in the second six months of the first year, becoming perhaps not evident to those who see the patient every day, but noticeable to someone who drops by only every three months.

During the second year, gains are usually minimal but can sometimes be significant, said Grafman. After that, many people show no further improvement, but some do, he said.

The course of recovery depends on things like age — with patients from teens to 40 recovering better than those over 50 to 60 — and how motivated, young and healthy a patient is, the size and location of the injury and even a genetic predisposition to recovery.

But for the most part, brain injury patients will always have some degree of impairment, Grafman said.

That's not necessarily a recipe for misery; it just means people need to adjust, said Grafman, who has studied Vietnam veterans with brain injuries for 30 years.

"I'm always impressed ... at seeing how may of them have lived quite successful lives, having families and kids and working at jobs," he said. They "wind up living, in some sense, an ordinary life."

Giffords might have to make the same kind of adjustment.

Without knowing details of her progress it's impossible to say whether she could return to Congress, Grafman said. A supportive staff might make it possible, he said, but "would it be the best thing for her?"

Impairment can add stress for those who strive to return to a high-pressure job, Grafman said. And over a long period, that added stress could harm their mental abilities even more. Persistent stress kills neurons, he said, and can interfere with memory and decision-making beyond the long-term effects of the brain injury itself.

As it stands now, "Giffords will have strengths that remain. That's what you want to play into," he said, even if it leads to a productive life outside the halls of Congress.

___

Online:

Brain injury information: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tbi/tbi.htm

ZTE aims for 5-fold smartphone sales growth in 2011 (Reuters)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 04:18 PM PST

By Tarmo Virki, European Technology Correspondent Tarmo Virki, European Technology Correspondent – Sun Feb 13, 7:18 pm ET

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – China's ZTE Corp aims to grow its cellphone sales 30 percent to 40 percent this year, on par with last year, while it focuses increasingly on the smartphone market, a senior official said.

To boost its position in the smartphone market, the firm will launch new models and a tablet running Google's Android software later on Monday.

ZTE sold around 60 million cellphones last year, 34 percent more than a year earlier, making it the world's fourth-largest cellphone maker.

Lin Qiang, president of ZTE's handset business in Europe, said the firm aims to grow sales volumes at the high end of the market to more than 10 million from around 2 million last year.

The fast growth is boosted by rising demand for the firm's flagship ZTE Blade model, sales of which it sees rising to around 2 million from 500,000 last year.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki)

Egypt's Facebook Freedom Fighter (The Daily Beast)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 07:40 PM PST

Rare-earth shortage? Afghans think they can help (AP)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 09:00 PM PST

By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Elena Becatoros, Associated Press – 31 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan – Amid surging demand for rare-earth minerals used in everything from cell phones to gas-saving cars, Afghans are dreaming of cashing in on vast deposits they believe lie beneath their feet.

The problem is that they are in one of the country's most dangerous spots, on the south bank of the Helmand River in southern Afghanistan, where fighting rages in a traditional Taliban stronghold.

That Afghanistan sits on vast mineral wealth has been detailed in several surveys, the most extensive of which were conducted by the Soviets in the 1970s. Mining companies, both Afghan and foreign, already have shown interest, notably in its copper, iron and oil.

Last month, Afghan officials proudly presented what they say is $3 trillion worth of deposits scattered throughout the country, more than triple the initial dollar amount estimated by the U.S. Defense Department last June.

But with poor infrastructure and security that ranges from precarious to downright prohibitive, there is a limit to how much the country can hope for, at least in the medium term.

Among the most exciting right now are the rare earths, with a spat between China and Japan last fall highlighting China's near-monopoly on the minerals.

In 2007 the U.S. Geological Survey estimated 1.4 million metric tons of rare-earth elements lie in southwest Helmand. The Afghan Ministry of Mines says there is more elsewhere in the country, "huge deposits" overall, according to Jalil Jumriani, who deals with policy and promotion at the ministry in Kabul.

The U.S. Defense Department's Task Force for Business and Stability Operations estimates the Khanneshin area in Helmand holds some $89 billion in rare earths and niobium, minerals strategic for high tech and industrial industries.

"This deposit could represent a long-term development opportunity for Helmand province that would create jobs across the spectrum from low-skilled laborers to chemists, physicists and engineers," the task force said in a statement last month.

USGS scientists are analyzing samples taken over the past 18 months from Helmand to determine what exactly is there in the way of the 17 rare-earth minerals.

Jack Medlin, a USGS specialist, said it was too soon to call it "a world-class rare-earths deposit. We're not there yet. We will be there probably by midsummer."

Jumriani said officials were treading cautiously. Once the picture clears and the mining law is overhauled to define investors' rights, Afghanistan will hold a road show to present its rare-earth deposits, possibly this summer in Hong Kong or Singapore.

"We want to take these steps slowly, and we want to make sure that the people in Afghanistan can get the real benefits of this," Jumriani said.

Rare-earth minerals are used in areas as diverse as cell phones, hybrid car batteries, defense industries and wind turbines, and China accounts for 97 percent of production.

China has 30 percent of the world's rare-earth deposits, but the United States, Australia and others stopped mining their own a decade ago because it was cheaper to buy Chinese ores. Several companies now plan to resume production in North America and Australia.

Beijing announced in 2009 that it would reduce rare-earth exports to curb environmental damage and conserve supplies. Manufacturers were alarmed when China temporarily blocked shipments to Japan last year during a dispute over islands claimed by both governments. The Japanese government is discussing creating a rare-earths recycling industry to reduce reliance on imports.

China already has made a hefty investment in Afghan minerals, signing a $3 billion contract to mine copper. But it is not known whether it will seek a stake in Afghanistan's rare earths.

Also, experts caution that it is still unclear whether the Helmand deposits are mineable and can yield a profit. One question needing study is which of the rare-earth minerals are more abundant, the more abundant ones called light rare earths, or the heavy rare earths critical to specific industries. Medlin said old data lean toward the lights, but there are indications heavy rare earths are present too.

A Ministry of Mines report last month indicated the deposit included the rarer type.

"The heavy rare earths in Khanneshin are found only in few locations around the world. This deposit could represent a long-term opportunity for Helmand province, creating jobs and stabilizing the area," a statement said.

"There's been quite a lot of hype about mineral resources in Afghanistan," said Andrew Bloodworth, a mining expert at the British Geological Survey. Afghanistan is unquestionably rich in minerals, he said. "It's a big country with complicated geology, and ... the chances are they're going to have mineral resources which are going to be of interest."

But just having the minerals is not enough. Mines need roads and railroads, no easy proposition in a war-wracked country.

"The question is ... if this is an economic deposit, can you produce rare-earths out of it in two years or five years? And the answer to that is, maybe," Medlin said. He does not expect it to have an impact within five years, but in the longer term it "could have a big impact."

___

AP researchers Zhao Liang and Yu Bing and AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed to this report from Beijing.

Zynga talks may value it at up to $9 billion: report (Reuters)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 05:59 PM PST

– Sun Feb 13, 8:59 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Online gaming group Zynga Inc is holding talks with potential investors which could lead to it raising $250 million in new funding, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

That may give Zynga a valuation of between $7 billion and $9 billion, the paper said, citing unnamed sources.

Zynga, known for games including FarmVille and Mafia Wars, filed papers in April authorizing the issuance of new stock that valued the company at about $4 billion, the paper reported.

The Wall Street Journal also reported last week that Google Inc and Facebook Inc, plus others, have held low level takeover talks with Twitter that give the Internet sensation a value as high as $10 billion.

4 Ways to Do Good This Valentine's Day (Mashable)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 08:54 AM PST

Zachary Sniderman Zachary Sniderman – Sun Feb 13, 11:54 am ET

Valentine's Day is everyone's favorite holiday. Unless you're in a relationship and you have to plan a whole big thing for your significant other. Or if you're single and the day just reminds you of what you don't have. Or maybe you just don't like holidays in general? Okay, Valentine's Day sucks.

Even if you can't stand February 14, we can all agree that it's good to give back. That's why we've pulled together a short collection of ways you can do good this Valentine's Day -- from charitable donations to advocacy to cards for your loved one(s).

Of course, there are probably even more possibilities out there, so please share -- in the comments below -- other ways to give back and do good this Valentine's Day.

  • Causes.com: This site will donate $10 of any purchase to one of five charities, including the Campaign for Cancer Prevention, Support the National Parks and TPRF: Food for People. You can buy Valentine's staples like flowers, e-cards, or even chocolate-dipped strawberries from online vendors.

  • Change.org: Rather than donating money to a cause, Change.org is asking for your advocacy this Valentine's. This campaign asks your support in stopping the use of forced or child labor to mine for diamonds. It might not be as "romantic" as actually giving your sweetie a real diamond but that won't matter when you're trying to make someone else's life better.
  • Charity: Water: charity: water is becoming known for its Valentine's day productions, as can be seen in its Western love-duel clip above. The charity has also made sure to include some options for consumers like a diamond waterdrop bracelet from Kwiat jewelers. All proceeds go directly to charity: water. You can also give the "gift of clean water in someone's name, and notify that person via a Valentine's card.
  • Charity Cards: If you want something that's simple but says it all, try Charity Gift Certificates. Once you send your e-card, the recipient can then choose a charity to benefit from your gift. It's a win-win-win.
Image courtesy of Flickr, ♥myu

Verizon iPhone making moves on AT&T, new tracker (Appolicious)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 02:42 PM PST

Linux group hopes to gain from Nokia-Microsoft pact (Reuters)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 09:21 PM PST

By Tarmo Virki, European Technology Correspondent Tarmo Virki, European Technology Correspondent – 11 mins ago

BARCELONA (Reuters) – Wireless Linux group LiMo hopes to benefit from a tie-up between Microsoft and Nokia as this should push smaller phone makers to seek alternative software platforms, its head said on Monday.

Computer operating system Linux has started to win traction in mobile with Google Inc's Android rising to the No. 1 spot in global smartphone rankings last quarter, helped by a wide array of models from many vendors.

"With Microsoft and Nokia now in lockstep and the Android arena rapidly becoming commoditized, other handset vendors must look elsewhere to avoid the irreversible margin collapse that befell PC manufacturers," Morgan Gillis, head of LiMo, told Reuters.

LiMo, a non-profit foundation, hopes to benefit from its focus on giving greater say over software development to telecoms operators, but it has struggled to win wider adoption outside Japan.

The market for software platforms on cellphones was led by Nokia's Symbian operating system for a decade, but its position has weakened since Apple Inc's 2007 introduction of iPhone, culminating to last week's announcement on adopting Microsoft's Windows Phone as its primary platform.

"The new tie-up has great upside for Microsoft although there is also a major risk that the existing Windows Phone vendors will now feel alienated," Gillis said.

"It's clearly a huge gamble for Nokia but they were caught between a rock and a hard place."

Linux is the most popular type of free or so-called open source computer operating system which is available to the public to be used, revised and shared.

Linux suppliers earn money selling improvements and technical services, and Linux competes directly with Microsoft, which charges for its Windows software and opposes freely sharing its code.

On Monday, LiMo unveiled a new version of its platform, which it expects to reach market in phones sold in the second half of 2011.

(Editing by Bernard Orr)

Sony takes console war to cellphones (Reuters)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 12:52 PM PST

By Tarmo Virki and Georgina Prodhan Tarmo Virki And Georgina Prodhan – Sun Feb 13, 3:52 pm ET

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – Sony Ericsson unveiled on Sunday its long-awaited PlayStation smartphone, taking video game console wars to cellphones.

Sony's PlayStation, on the Sony Ericsson's new Xperia Live phone, will take on Microsoft's Xbox Live, available on Windows Phone 7.

The launch came just two days after Microsoft's Windows Phone got a major boost from Nokia, the world's largest phone maker by volume, who said it would use the platform across its smartphone portfolio.

"Console wars are moving to the mobile platform, but Microsoft and Sony have significant ground to cover if they are to close the gap to Apple," said Geoff Blaber, an analyst at CCS Insight.

"The Xperia Play offers something refreshingly different amidst a sea of homogenous Android devices," he said.

Sony Ericsson said Verizon Wireless would sell the model in the United States, opening access to the world's largest smartphone market for the a 50-50 venture of Sweden's Ericsson and Japan's Sony Corp.

Sony Ericsson also unveiled two other smartphone models running Google's Android software and said it plans to launch at least eight Android phones this year.

"We want to become the largest Android phone maker," Bert Nordberg, chief of Sony Ericsson told Reuters in an interview, adding the company would need to increase its market share in Android to around 25 percent from 14 percent now.

Android has risen fast to be the platform of choice for many smaller phone makers who have rolled out dozens of similar models to battle against Nokia and Apple.

Sony Ericsson will focus increasingly on growth this year, after turning profitable in 2010, Nordberg said, adding the firm aims to increase both revenue and profits in 2011.

The venture's fourth-quarter earnings fell well short of analyst expectations as it had to cut prices on old models and new ones are yet to hit the stores.

All new models will go on sale around the start of April, leaving the group with an awkward gap having already had to slash prices in the previous quarter.

Nordberg said he was also pleased about outcome of the firm's legal battle over a similar logo with Clearwire as the U.S. operator retracted during court hearings from its plan to put the logo onto the phones.

"It was a victory for us," Nordberg said.

SAMSUNG'S IPAD RIVAL

Samsung Electronics launched a second tablet computer on Sunday, with a bigger screen and more processing power than the original Galaxy Tab that is seen as the only real rival to Apple's iPad.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is intended to be a multimedia hub for aficionados of games, electronic books and social media, with a 10.1 inch (25.7 centimeter) screen, and two cameras.

The tablet, with two core processors to better handle media, is based on the latest Google Android platform.

It will be sold by Vodafone in more than 20 countries before being released to other carriers.

Samsung, No. 2 phone maker after Nokia, also launched a new top-end smartphone, Galaxy S II, designed around hubs for social networking, reading, games and music.

South Korean electronics giant Samsung, whose telecoms division accounted for nearly half its profit last quarter, has sold around 10 million Galaxy S smartphones since its June 2010 debut, and 2 million Galaxy tablets.

It still has a long way to catch up with Apple, which sold more than 7 million iPads and 16.2 million iPhones last quarter alone, but is gaining ground on Nokia, which announced a crucial tie-up with Microsoft on Friday.

(Additional reporting by Leila Abboud and Nicola Leske; Editing by Greg Mahlich, Bernard Orr)

Samsung beats Apple to second tablet computer (Reuters)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 10:04 AM PST

– Sun Feb 13, 1:04 pm ET

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – Samsung launched a second tablet computer on Sunday, with a bigger screen and more processing power than the original Galaxy Tab that is seen as the only real rival to Apple's iPad.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is intended to be a multimedia hub for afficionados of games, electronic books and social media, with a 10.1 inch (25.7 centimeter) screen, dual surround-sound speakers, and front- and rear-facing cameras.

The tablet, with two core processors to better handle media, is based on the latest Google Android platform, Honeycomb -- which has been optimized for tablets.

It will be sold by Vodafone in more than 20 countries before being released to other carriers.

Samsung, now the world's second-biggest phone maker after Nokia, also launched a new premium smartphone, the ultra-slim Galaxy S II, designed around hubs for social networking, reading, games and music.

South Korean electronics giant Samsung, whose telecoms division accounted for nearly half its profit last quarter, has sold around 10 million Galaxy S smartphones since its June 2010 debut, and 2 million Galaxy tablets.

It still has a long way to catch up with Apple, which sold more than 7 million iPads and 16.2 million iPhones last quarter alone, but is gaining ground on Nokia, which announced a crucial tie-up with Microsoft on Friday.

"If I were (chief executive) Stephen Elop heading up Nokia, I would be looking over my shoulder at Samsung and feeling extremely nervous," said Ben Wood, lead analyst at telecoms research firm CCS Insight.

Samsung also announced a range of enterprise services compatible with its two new devices, to address some of the security concerns that have held Android phones back from a serious challenge to Research in Motion's (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Nuance offers mobile users non-typing choices (Reuters)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 05:02 PM PST

– Sun Feb 13, 8:02 pm ET

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – Dragon Dictation software maker Nuance launched a mobile application in Europe on Monday that lets users speak, trace or handwrite instructions to their phone instead of typing.

Nuance, the market leader in speech-to-text software, can turn spoken instructions into emails, SMS text messages, Facebook and Twitter updates, web searches, instant messages or anything traditionally done by typing on a keypad or keyboard.

Its FlexT9 mobile application, launched in the United States last month, adds the possibility of tracing continuously from one letter to the next on a touchscreen keyboard without lifting one's finger between letters.

It also allows users to trace handwritten characters on a touchscreen instead of typing them, or to tap out the characters in the traditional way, offering to predict or correct the intended word -- much like the T9 predictive SMS text service.

After years of using numeric keypads to type text messages, users who have upgraded to smartphones are already offered full keyboards, for instance on Research in Motion's BlackBerry, and touchscreens led by Apple's iPhone.

Nuance and others are now expanding users' choices further about how they interact with their devices. Google says one-quarter of Web searches on phones based on its Android software are already done using voice input instead of typing.

"What we're looking at is the real usability of the keyboard," said John West, Nuance mobile solutions architect.

FlexT9 will now be available in UK English, German, French, Italian and Spanish in addition to U.S. English for users of Android smartphones, priced at $4.99 per download in the Android Marketplace app store.

There are no current plans for an iPhone app, as Apple does not allow its keyboard to be taken over.

Android, which is available for free to handset and tablet PC makers, overtook Nokia's Symbian as the most popular operating system for smartphones at the end of 2010.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Samsung Makes Galaxy Smartphone More Enterprise Friendly (PC World)

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 03:10 PM PST

Mikael Ricknäs Mikael Ricknäs – Sun Feb 13, 6:10 pm ET

Hoping to make Android more attractive to security-minded CIOs, Samsung has added encryption and integrated Cisco's AnyConnect VPN client on its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S II, it said on Sunday at the Mobile World Congress.

The encryption is implemented on the phone's hardware to improve performance, according to Samsung. Data stored on both the internal and external storage can be encrypted. Security features are not much use for an enterprise without the ability to manage them, so Samsung also announced it has partnered with Sybase on mobile device management.

Using Sybase's Afaria platform, an IT department can enforce device encryption. Other features include the ability to control what applications are installed on the Galaxy S II or if the user is allowed to use the camera, the Bluetooth or the Wi-Fi connection.

While Sybase is helping Samsung to protect data on the smartphone, Cisco helps protect corporate data, including e-mail and virtual desktops, between the Galaxy S II and the enterprise network. Cisco's AnyConnect client is used by more than 40 percent of enterprises, according to Samsung.

The partnership with Cisco includes integration of its online conferencing platform WebEx and the Mobile client on the Galaxy S II, as well. The latter allow users to make voice over Internet Protocol calls via a Wi-Fi network. Using WebEx, Galaxy S II owners will be able to view shared desktops, browsers, applications and documents with live annotations. Meetings can be started directly from the address book.

The last part of Samsung's push to make the Galaxy S II more enterprise friendly is its implementation of Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync protocol, which will, for example, allow users to look for contacts using Exchange's Global Address List, while also being able to synchronize e-mail, calendar, contacts and tasks.

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at 9:44 PM

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