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HP shares slide as powerhouse faces growth fears (AP) : Technet |
- HP shares slide as powerhouse faces growth fears (AP)
- Amazon offers free online movies to Prime members (AP)
- Court bars streaming of TV programming online (AP)
- Report: Apple to unveil iPad 2 on March 2 (Ben Patterson)
- Verizon: Xoom tablet to cost $800, or $600 with two-year contract (Ben Patterson)
- Demand Media post 4Q profit, revenue rises 33 pct (AP)
- Valet unveils style-savvy iPad, iPhone app (Digital Trends)
- Google’s Next Sweet Thing: Android 3.0 Honeycomb Buzzing To Developers (PC World)
- Skype and Facebook: When Social Media Collide (PC World)
- Nintendo 3DS Hands-On: Does It Live Up to the Hype? (PC World)
- Iranian Cyber Army Strikes Again -- Hitting Voice of America (PC World)
- Lanyrd Keeps Your Conference Life On Track, Via Twitter (Mashable)
- Five things to expect from Apple’s iPad 2 announcement (Appolicious)
- Cellphone calls alter brain activity: study (Reuters)
- The DT3 - Our top new music releases for February 22 (Digital Trends)
- Remains of the Day: Two's company (Macworld)
- Apple updates software for 6th gen iPod nano (Macworld)
- Novell Preps Suse for SAP (PC World)
| HP shares slide as powerhouse faces growth fears (AP) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 05:13 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO – Hewlett-Packard Co.'s new CEO Leo Apotheker delivered some disappointing news to Wall Street on Tuesday after his first full quarter with the technology company. Revenue growth, a persistent worry for companies of HP's size, will be slower this year than many analysts had envisioned. It was an unusual letdown that raised questions about the momentum of the company's acquisition-fueled transformation into a computing clearinghouse. Investors punished HP's stock, one of the the Dow Jones industrial average. The stock shed 12 percent in extended trading following the release of the fiscal first-quarter results. Few companies are as good a proxy for the technology market as HP. It's the world's biggest technology company by revenue and is a player in many far-flung markets, from personal computers and smart phones and tablets to technical services and computer servers and data storage. Yet the latest report appears to point more toward the danger of companies setting ambitious financial targets in a shaky economy than any broad weakness in technology spending that will spill over to other companies. Another heavyweight, Cisco Systems Inc., has also stumbled, but its problem is mainly that it relies heavily on sales to cash-strapped government buyers. That's an area that HP is far less exposed to. HP said after the market closed that its net income jumped 16 percent to $2.61 billion, or $1.17 per share, in the three months ended Jan. 31. A year ago, it earned $2.25 billion, or 93 cents per share. HP said that excluding one-time items, it earned $1.36 per share in the latest quarter. That was ahead of the $1.29 per share that analysts polled by FactSet expected on that basis. Revenue rose 4 percent to $32.30 billion, from $31.18 billion a year ago. But analysts expected more: $32.96 billion, according to FactSet. HP appeared to attempt to quell concerns by raising its full-year profit forecast. It expects net income in a range of $5.20 to $5.28 per share, excluding items, which is in line with analysts' target for $5.23 per share on that basis. But revenue prediction fell short. HP said it expects revenue of $130 billion to $131.5 billion in its current fiscal year, which ends in October. Analysts expected $132.91 billion. The guidance raised concerns because HP has spent heavily in recent years on acquisitions that were expected to propel substantial growth in areas that rival IBM Corp. has found highly lucrative, especially selling technical services to corporations. Those changes were set in motion by Apotheker's predecessor, Mark Hurd, who was forced out in August in a sexual harassment scandal that led to Apotheker's hiring and the replacement of a third of HP's board of directors. The latest numbers show that HP is benefiting from the changes in its business model — just not as much as some investors would like. HP's keener courtship of corporations has helped the company grow in the face of anemic consumer demand. Hurd was trying to make HP look more like IBM, which rescued itself from near collapse in the 1990s by focusing on outsourcing and other technology services that investors can count on being in strong demand in good times as well as bad because they can help save companies money. Yet revenue in HP's services division fell 2 percent from the year-ago period. Weakness in short-term services contract signings drove the decline, Apotheker said. It doesn't necessarily reflect an industry-wide problem. IBM's services revenue rose 2 percent in the latest quarter. IBM's services business is almost twice as big as HP's. HP's personal computer division had a 1 percent decline in revenue. HP underestimated the extent of the weakness in the consumer PC market, Apotheker said. Consumers have scaled back their spending on PCs amid economic worries. They also now have more choices with the emergence of tablet computers. HP's experience doesn't track exactly with the overall PC market, which remains hobbled by the Great Recession but has continued to grow, albeit slowly. Shares in HP, which is based in Palo Alto, tumbled $5.83 to $42.40 in after-hours trading. They had closed the regular session down 44 cents, or 1 percent, at $48.23. |
| Amazon offers free online movies to Prime members (AP) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 11:22 AM PST NEW YORK – Online shoppers subscribing to Amazon.com's premium membership are getting a new entertainment feature that will allow them to watch movies over the Internet, just as they can through Netflix's rapidly growing video subscription service. Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime membership charges $79 annually for free two-day shipping and low-cost next-day shipping. Beginning Tuesday, the millions of people subscribing to the Prime service can also watch roughly 5,700 movies and television shows through Amazon's on-demand video service at no additional charge. The selection will include a mix of movies and TV shows, such as "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy, the documentary "March of the Penguins" and the 1970s British comedy series "Fawlty Towers." All of those titles are also available through Netflix Inc.'s much larger online video library, which offers more than 20,000 movies and TV shows. Amazon's expansion into video streaming still poses a threat to Netflix, which now has 20 million subscribers. The competition from a deep-pocketed rival such as Amazon could make it more difficult for Netflix to attract and retain subscribers looking to save money. Netflix offers a streaming-only service that costs $8 per month, or $96 annually, but most of its subscribers pay more so they can also receive some DVD-by-mail rentals. Netflix's most popular combination plans cost $10 to $20 per month. With another bidder in the video-streaming market, movie studios may be able to demand more money for the licensing rights. That could raise Netflix's expenses and lower its profit margins. "When you have a big and growing market, there will be competition," said Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey. The specter cast by Amazon rattled investors as Netflix shares dropped $13.83, or 5.9 percent, to $221.69 in afternoon trading Tuesday. Amazon shares shed $5.57, or 2.9 percent to $180.93. Amazon's streaming feature also could hurt cable and satellite TV providers by creating a cheaper entertainment channel. All but about 1,700 of the titles in Amazon's streaming library are TV shows, Cameron Janes, director of Amazon Instant Video, said in an interview with The Associated Press. People can stream these movies and shows on PCs and Macs, or through about 200 different Internet-connected TVs, set-top boxes and Blu-ray players. Netflix's service also can be streaming through many of the same devices as well as the top-selling video game consoles, mobile phones and Apple Inc.'s popular iPad tablet computer. Most of the movies and TV shows that Prime members can stream for free are at least several years old. Amazon has a broader catalog of about 90,000 movies and television shows that people can either rent or buy, often on the same day they become available for sale on DVD. That means Amazon customers who want to watch more recent movies and TV shows will have to pay extra to rent or buy those titles. Netflix's streaming library also leans heavily on older material, although the company has been spending more to obtain the right to show some more movies closer to their DVD release dates. Netflix's DVD library offers more than 100,000 titles, including recently released movies Amazon plans to add to the collection of movies and shows Prime members can watch for free, Janes said. He declined to be more specific. "We're just getting started," he said. This is day one for us." ___ AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report. |
| Court bars streaming of TV programming online (AP) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 12:41 PM PST WASHINGTON – In a key victory for television broadcasters, a federal court has ordered a Seattle start-up called ivi Inc. to stop distributing broadcast signals over the Internet without their consent. The U.S. District Court in New York issued a preliminary injunction against ivi on Tuesday barring the company from streaming copyright-protected broadcast programming online. Ivi captures over-the-air broadcast signals from stations in Seattle, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and delivers them to subscribers who have downloaded its ivi TV player, which costs $4.99 a month. The company is being sued for copyright infringement by the big broadcast networks, local stations in New York and Seattle, public broadcasters, several large movie studios and Major League Baseball. Ivi said it will shut down its broadcast channel offerings while it appeals the court ruling. "The oppressive big media networks must open their doors to innovators or they will inevitably fall," the company said in a statement. "People want responsible choice, not the one-size-fits-all television offerings imposed by powerful media interests." In court, ivi has argued that it is entitled to the same rights to distribute broadcast programming that federal copyright law automatically grants cable TV operators. Tuesday's court ruling rejected that reasoning, concluding that ivi does not qualify as a cable system. The National Association of Broadcasters said it welcomed the decision. |
| Report: Apple to unveil iPad 2 on March 2 (Ben Patterson) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 11:40 AM PST If the latest chatter is true, we may finally get our first glimpse at the next iPad in a little more than a week. Kara Swisher over at All Things Digital says she has "multiple" sources who claim that Apple will hold a media event in San Francisco on March 2. Apple has yet to officially confirm an event next week, but according to Swisher, the company "seems poised" to take the wraps off the long-anticipated iPad 2, with the event "likely" to take place at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The story comes just hours after a flurry of rumors that the next-generation iPad had been delayed, with major news outlets eventually backtracking on the claim Monday. While Apple hasn't said a peep about the new iPad yet, rumors peg it to be both thinner and lighter than the 1.5-pound, 0.52-inch original, with at least one camera for video chat, a souped-up processor, and more RAM. There had also been talk that the iPad 2 would arrive with an improved screen similar to the "retina" display on the current iPhone 4, but a recent report in the Wall Street Journal shot down those rumors, noting that the new display may "disappoint customers" hoping for a "significant improvement" in resolution. The news comes just days before the arrival of the Motorola Xoom, a tablet with a 10.1-inch display that runs on Android 3.0 "Honeycomb," the new tablet-centric version of Google's mobile Android platform. The next iPad also faces competition from the upcoming, Android-powered LG G-Slate, RIM's BlackBerry Playbook, and the WebOS-powered Touchpad from HP. Update: Both the New York Times and Reuters (via Yahoo! News) are now independently confirming the (still unofficial) March 2 iPad event. Related: — Ben Patterson is a technology blogger for Yahoo! News. |
| Verizon: Xoom tablet to cost $800, or $600 with two-year contract (Ben Patterson) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 07:56 AM PST Does $800 sound too steep for Motorola's soon-to-arrive, Honeycomb-powered Xoom tablet? If so, Verizon Wireless says it will shave $200 off the Xoom's sticker price—so long as you sign a two-year contract. Also: Verizon confirms that the Xoom won't ship with Flash support. Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha had already told Reuters last week that the 10.1-inch, dual camera-wielding Xoom tablet—now officially set to go on sale this Thursday, February 24—would cost an unsubsidized $800. But Verizon's announcement Tuesday marked the first time that the carrier officially confirmed its pricing for the 32GB, 3G-enabled Xoom, the first of an expected wave of Android 3.0 "Honeycomb"-powered tablets this year. And if you're not thrilled by the Xoom's $800 price tag (which is, by the way, just $70 more than last year's camera-less 32GB iPad 3G), Verizon says it'll have another option on tap: a Xoom for $600, but with a two-year contract. Signing on the dotted line would lock you in to one of Verizon's 3G tablet data plans, which start at 1GB of data for $20 a month. (You can also get 3GB of data for $35, 5GB for $50 a month, or 10GB for $80/month.) Verizon also confirmed chatter Monday that the Xoom wouldn't arrive with built-in Flash support out of the box. Instead, the tablet will come with eventual "support" for Flash, which will be "available soon as a free download." Adobe said Monday that Flash Player 10.2 for tablets would be arriving within "a few weeks" of the first Honeycomb devices going on sale—and given that the Xoom is set to land in stores on Thursday, it sounds like Adobe's Flash update won't be ready until sometime in March. A couple of existing Android tablets -- namely, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Dell Streak 7 -- already boast support for Flash. That said, the Tab and the Streak are both running on an earlier version of Android (2.2, to be precise) that wasn't originally intended for tablets. One of the hottest devices to come out of last month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Xoom packs in a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, a pair of cameras—a 5MP, HD video-recording camera in back, plus a 2MP lens in front for video chat—along with a 10.1-inch display, a microUSB port, and an HDMI video output. The Xoom will initially ship with support for Verizon's 3G network only, although the carrier says an update due in the second quarter would enable access to its faster 4G LTE data network. — Ben Patterson is a technology blogger for Yahoo! News. |
| Demand Media post 4Q profit, revenue rises 33 pct (AP) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 04:02 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO – Online content manufacturer Demand Media Inc. made money for the first time in the fourth quarter, a breakthrough that follows an initial public offering of stock that investors have quickly embraced. The company said Tuesday that it earned $1 million in the final three months of 2010, compared with a loss of $3.9 million in the prior year. But the profit turned into a loss for accounting purposes because of preferred stock that converted to common shares as part of last month's IPO. After factoring in that conversion, Demand Media lost $7.6 million, or 54 cents per share. The conversion formula won't apply to Demand Media's future results, making the calculation that resulted in the $1 million profit more meaningful to investors. Revenue for the quarter totaled $73.6 million, a 33 percent increase from the prior year's $55.5 million. Although the performance exceeded Demand Media's forecast, investors weren't impressed. The company's shares sagged 48 cents, or 2.1 percent, in extended trading after finishing the regular session at $22.88, up 24 cents. Even with that dip, the shares have still surged more than 30 percent from their IPO price of $17 to give Demand Media a market value of nearly $1.9 billion. That's about $400 million higher than The New York Times. Co., whose flagship newspaper has won more than 100 Pulitzer Prizes. The disparity reflects a steep downturn in revenue at the Times Co. and other major newspaper publishers during the past four years as less expensive and more convenient alternatives on the Internet siphoned advertising revenue away from their print editions. The shift has been devastating for newspapers because online advertising hasn't generated nearly enough income to replace the revenue that has evaporated from print. But most newspapers are still earning money, something that Demand Media hadn't done until now. Heading into the fourth quarter, Demand Media had accumulated losses of $53 million since its 2006 inception. Demand Media, based in Santa Monica, assigns roughly 13,000 freelance writers to produce stories about frequently searched topics and then sells ads alongside the content at its own websites, including eHow.com and Livestrong.com, and about 375 Internet other destinations operated by its partners. They include the National Football League and Gannett Co.'s USA Today, the nation's second-largest daily newspaper. All told, Demand Media's content was called up on Web pages 6.1 billion times in the fourth quarter, a 35 percent increase from 4.5 billion times in the same 2009 period. The search-driven approach to generating low-cost articles has caused some journalism purists to deride Demand Media as a "content mill." That criticism has raised fears that Internet search leader Google Inc. may revise its closely guarded algorithms in a way that will make it more difficult for Demand Media's material to rank high in the search results. But Demand Media CEO and founder Richard Rosenblatt assured analysts in a Tuesday conference call that the company adheres to all of Google's guidelines for indexing websites. He also defended Demand Media's methods as an attempt to give people helpful information as quickly and as conveniently as possible. In a show of confidence, Demand Media predicted its revenue will increase by at least 30 percent again in the first quarter and by least 23 percent for all of this year. The forecast calls for first-quarter revenue of as much as $73.5 million and full-year revenue of as much as $325 million. Demand Media didn't project its earnings. The company plans to increase its spending on content in an effort to build an even bigger audience. "None of us are breaking our arms patting ourselves on the back right now," Charles Hilliard, Demand Media's chief financial officer, said in a Tuesday interview. |
| Valet unveils style-savvy iPad, iPhone app (Digital Trends) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 06:30 PM PST
If you like to follow the world of men's fashion, lifestyle and culture, you might have already heard of Valet. The Web-based men's magazine is a definitive guide to all things style and culture, from the newest designer collaborations to the best high-end shaving products. The company has just released a free app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, and we're liking the look of things. Users will see all the same features in the app that they would on Valet's site, and leaving comments and sharing via social media is designed to be simple and fast. In "The Mix" users can horizontally scroll through the latest stories, "The Handbook" features over 100 relevant how-to guides. Features available only on the new app include a listing of Valet-approved shops in your area, a personal note-keeping section for your clothing measurements or your significant other's sizes, and a video hub. The interface is just as clean and simple as Valet itself. Any self-respecting man with an iPad should probably download this app. It's free, after all. |
| Google’s Next Sweet Thing: Android 3.0 Honeycomb Buzzing To Developers (PC World) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 04:38 PM PST This is going to be a big month for tablet developers! The Motorola Xoom is grabbing some nice reviews, and the impending iPad 2 is getting a lot of rotation in the rumor mill. And now, Google's latest Android sweet thing is extremely tablet-centric. Android 3.0, dubbed Honeycomb is now hot in the hands of developers. In addition to optimized dual-core processor and 3D graphics support, Android 3.0 also touts some major improvements to tablet UI. Browser tabs! Now there's a novel idea! (hint, hint, Apple...) I have installed a handful of Android SDK releases in the past. Every time I was turned off by the sluggish simulator, poor documentation, and the Eclipse IDE (the latter obviously being a manner of preference, but I'm just so very used to Xcode). The release of the Honeycomb SDK definitely has me intrigued enough to give Android another look, and I'm sure many other mobile developers will agree. You can read more about Honeycomb's sweet new features here. Have you installed the Honeycomb SDK yet? Share your thoughts in the Comments. |
| Skype and Facebook: When Social Media Collide (PC World) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 06:00 PM PST Back in October when Skype 5.0 client software appeared, it was heralded as a good thing all round. It integrated Skype's audio and video conferencing into Facebook's social media management, allowing Skype users to view and comment on Facebook friends' posts, and to communicate with them via SMS and Skype's voice service. So far so good, but just over a month ago, a strange quirk emerged at many companies and schools that cast a shadow over the whole thing. As of the aftermath of Presidents' Day, that shadow is still looming. Towards the end of January, help desks like the one I manage started to receive a lot of foot traffic from Skype users. Something that looked a lot like a Trojan or virus was making Internet Explorer windows open repeatedly, stacking error message on top of error message in a cascade of spawning windows. A quick speed-read of the error message pointed towards Facebook--a site that's blocked by many corporate Web filters as not related to business. The hapless clients who brought in their machines insisted that they'd not been trying to get into Facebook, but every one of them did have a Skype client loaded. The mystery deepened upon visiting Skype's support site. Skype users were complaining about the issue, wondering whether the Skype client was carrying a virus. "Our Anti Virus has come up clean, as has MalwareBytes, Spybot Search and Destroy, Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, HiJackThis, and AdAware," said one post, which went on to say that uninstalling the program and installing the latest version did not fix the problem. The early consensus was that removing Skype 5.0 software completely was the most effective fix. Reverting to Skype 4.0 also worked. While this did fix the issue, it didn't come to grips with the underlying cause--and Skype staff did not weigh in on their support forum to provide any guidance. In the end, a conversation among several Skype clients came up with a quick and effective solution: Turn off Facebook integration in the Skype 5.0 client. Sure enough, that fixed it. It turned off the much-vaunted features of the new software, but it was worth the sacrifice. Yep, the spawning Facebook windows were not caused by a virus; it was likely a case of poor programming. Why else would Skype 5.0 keep looking for Facebook when WebSense and other content filtering programs keep saying "Site blocked"? That's the most likely explanation and as of now, Skype doesn't seem to have offered any other reason. All this came to light almost exactly a month ago, but in the post-Presidents' Day holiday rush, our help desk is still getting cases of Skype 5.0 related spawning pop-up windows. In a finger-pointing frenzy, it's possible to blame Skype, WebSense, and other content filtering software, or the administrators who choose to block social networking sites from their company networks. But in the long run, the path of least resistance is the same: Just say no to Facebook integration until the bug is fixed. Here's how to do it for yourself: 1. Brace yourself for multiple browser windows.2. Launch Skype.3. Use Alt-Tab on your keyboard to get through the spawning windows to Skype.4. Click on the Facebook tab in the right pane of the Skype window.5. Click on the link labeled "Don't Show Facebook In Skype." This will halt the insane flow of new browser windows. But to get rid of them, you'll probably want to restart your system. Matt Lake is an author, award-winning technology journalist and technical services coordinator in the field of education. |
| Nintendo 3DS Hands-On: Does It Live Up to the Hype? (PC World) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 06:30 PM PST We've covered Nintendo's 3DS plenty these last few months, and with good reason. Nintendo's DS platform currently qualifies as the second-bestselling game console in the world, just a few million units behind Sony's PlayStation 2. That, and we're as curious as you about the glasses-free 3D experience. Will it be enough to fend off Sony's Next Generation Portable (NGP) and Apple's rapidly expanding iOS gaming platform? Nintendo 3DS launch titles through their paces, including Pilotwings, Steel Diver, Nintendogs + Cats, Super Street Fighter IV 3D. We also allowed Nintendo to guide us through some of the 3DS's built-in features like Street Pass, the gyroscopic motion controls, and the augmented reality angle. Read on for our impressions, and have a look at our video hands-on, too. Patrick Miller, Staff Editor: I wasn't hyped for the 3DS in the slightest until I got a chance to play with it. Frankly, if I hadn't been a devoted Nintendo DS owner, I would probably have been a bit confused by the various mishmash of features: Augmented reality games, motion controls, Street Pass, and so on. However, having seen game developers take the original Nintendo DS's unorthodox feature set and turn it into some of the most innovative games I've ever seen, I'm officially stoked. I can see myself carrying one everywhere thanks to the Street Pass features, which allows various games to interact with other 3DS-toting people (Super Street Fighter IV 3D, for example, allows your character to "battle" other passers-by while your 3DS is in standby mode), and the Games Coin function, which allows me to earn in-game currency simply by walking around with 3DS in tow (think pedometer with perks). Likewise, the camera-based augmented reality game features (demoed in a game called FaceRaider) are just the tip of the iceberg. Give me a Phoenix Wright title for the 3DS and I'm sold. When it comes to the 3D technology itself, I was less than impressed. The 3D effect basically makes the 3DS screen appears as though you're looking into a diorama, and it wasn't fantastic. It's neat, but not a game-changer as far as I'm concerned. Alex Wawro, Editorial Assistant: After an hour goofing around with the hardware, I can tell you it works, and it works well. Oddly enough, the 3D effect is the least interesting aspect of the 3DS. It's entrancing for about half an hour, but the image depth is rather limited. Most of the games and movies we saw topped out at what appeared to be an inch or so of simulated depth. Part of the appeal of 3D movies like Avatar or Tron: Legacy is being able to peer past the first "layer" of 3D to explore the world at leisure, but I didn't get that when playing Pilotwings or Steel Diver, and I think it may be because the screen is just physically smaller and more limited when simulating depth. The augmented reality stuff that comes bundled with the system is arguably more exciting, though the AR game we saw was just a simple snipe hunt designed to show off the tech. Jason Cross, Senior Editor: I'm a little surprised at how little I was wowed by the 3D screen, but even more surprised to hear this thought echoed by my coworkers. Yes, the glasses-free 3D screen works, and it works well, provided you don't move your head or tilt the 3D unit too much. But it doesn't really add that much to the gaming experience. It's at its best when playing the simple augmented-reality 3D games, which convincingly warped and distorted the table on which the special card was resting. Nate Ralph, Staff Editor: The best part of finally seeing the 3DS in action? That child-like wonder on a colleague's face while we checked out the augmented reality apps Nintendo had on display. I'll be honest--I don't see myself ever firing up Face Raiders or its ilk once the initial new-gadget honeymoon period has passed. But there's a latent sense of immersion rolled into the experience, and I can't help but daydream about the possibilities. Think N64's Pokemon Snap, with your backyard as the Safari Zone. Or Paper Mario, with your cluttered desk as the stage. The actual "3D" part of the experience was quaint, but it's going to take a fair bit of creative game development to get me to toggle the depth slider away from the "off" position. No, the real trick of the 3DS isn't 3D, it's all the other features: The hardware is considerably more powerful, making for better-looking and faster-running games. The quick "suspend mode" multitasking that lets you pop over to the web browser or notepad mid-game is a great convenience. The unified friend code system and StreetPass feature for swapping game data automatically when you just pass by someone else carrying their 3DS along with them. These are the nifty new features that make me really want the system. Accelerometer and gyroscope controls work well, though I'm not terribly surprised at how useful they seem, given their widespread use in cell phone gaming. The big question marks are the browser and the eStore, neither of which we were able to get a look at. The Web browser on the previous Nintendo DS models was just unusably awful. I find myself downloading simpler, less expensive games these days, so a robust online store is a growing necessity. If anything, the favorable impression I get from the 3DS only makes me more excited about Sony's upcoming NGP portable. It doesn't have a 3D screen, but it does have most of the 3D's other features, plus a few unique ideas all its own (front and back touchpads, anyone?). Confirming for myself that 3D isn't the make-or-break feature I thought it might be, but that all the other new abilities of the system are better than I expected, reaffirms that Sony's on the right path with the NGP and its substantial feature set. Keep tabs on us: Twitter - Facebook - RSS | Tip us off or get in touch |
| Iranian Cyber Army Strikes Again -- Hitting Voice of America (PC World) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 02:10 PM PST The pro-Iran hacktivist group that defaced the Baidu and Twitter Web sites a year ago has hit another target: the U.S. Government's Voice of America news site. Voice of America was knocked offline temporarily Monday after hackers were able to change the organization's DNS (Domain Name System) settings, redirecting Web traffic hitting Voice of America sites to another site controlled by the hackers. "On Monday, February 21, VOANews.com's primary domain, along with numerous related domains registered with Network Solutions, were hacked by an unknown party. This enabled the hacker to redirect VOA URLs to a site claiming to be run by a group called the 'Iranian Cyber Army,'' Voice of America said Tuesday in a statement posted to its Facebook page. Visitors to the Web page saw a statement addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, telling the U.S. to "stop Interfering in Islamic countries." Breaking into domain name registration accounts and redirecting Web sites is a favorite tactic of the Cyber Army, and it has pulled off this attack numerous times in recent years. The group posted similar messages in the Twitter and Baidu incidents. After it was hacked, China's top search engine company, Baidu, sued its domain name registrar, Register.com, claiming that hackers got into the account by pretending to be Baidu representatives in an online chat with the registrar's tech support staff. That lawsuit was quietly settled at the end of November. The Web site Shortwavepirate.info has compiled a list of Web sites hit by the Cyber Army. Most of the Voice of America sites have now been restored, and no data was lost due to the incident, said Network Solutions Director of Social Media Shashi Bellamkonda, in an interview Tuesday. He wouldn't say exactly how the hackers were able to change the DNS. "It isn't a hack or a breach of Network Solutions services," he said. "The DNS was changed and we helped the customer reset it." Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is robert_mcmillan@idg.com |
| Lanyrd Keeps Your Conference Life On Track, Via Twitter (Mashable) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 04:08 PM PST The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: Lanyrd Quick Pitch: Lanyrd helps you get more out of conferences. Genius Idea: Via Twitter, track event sessions and keep up with favorite speakers -- at all stages in the conference lifecycle. Some newlywed couples work to produce an offspring on their honeymoon. Most don't labor towards birthing a startup. But that's exactly what British entrepreneurs Natalie Downe and Simon Willison did on their post-nuptial adventure. After traveling in Europe and Africa, the couple caught ill in Casablanca and extended their stay and booked an apartment to recover. The pair have a shared love for building projects in their spare time -- which is why, with all that extra time in a bedroom, they managed to create and release an early build of Lanyrd. Within two hours of its launch, Downe and Willison saw the site generate more than 14,000 visits. After finding immediate success with social media denizens, the couple applied to Y Combinator's accelerator program. Lanyrd was accepted and has since relocated to Mountain View, California to complete it. The site remains a largely bootstrapped effort, though the couple did accept the $150,000 in convertible debt offered up by Start Fund. Willinson calls Lanyrd "the IMDb of conferences" -- except that its content is crowdsourced. The site asks its users to do the heavy lifting for them by filling in the blanks on each conference: sessions, speakers and content. The incentive? The same as at any conference: self-aggrandizement. Organizers will go to any lengths to promote their events. Speakers want to flesh out their profiles by adding past, present and future engagements. And everyone wants to see useful conference content. "Conferences are traditionally insufficient for transferring knowledge," says Willinson. "Longer term, this is about capturing the value of what's shared." Lanyrd's tie-in with Twitter is ingenious -- and almost spooky. Sign in with your Twitter handle, and you'll automatically be greeted with a smorgasbord of contacts and upcoming conferences, drawn from your Twitter relationships. You may see that Lanyrd knows you spoke at a trade show last month, or that you're on a panel this fall. The site already lists 6,000 crowdsourced conferences and 30,000 user profiles. Downe and Willison opted to use Twitter's social graph -- rather than Facebook's, say -- because they believe the "follow" has more aspirational value than the "friend." You likely already follow the people you'd like to know, the speakers you'd like to see talk. According to Lanyrd, you've already composed a list of the thought leaders you'd like to bump into at an upcoming conference. So Lanyard is well positioned to find the sessions of social relevance to you. Since users are encouraged to add speakers and their Twitter names to sessions, the speaker need not be a Lanyrd user to have a Lanyrd presence. On signing up, you may notice your conference history has already been charted for you by your Twitter followers, organizers or fellow attendees. Next up, Lanyrd has its sights set on South by Southwest, held in Austin next month. The startup launched its unofficial guide to the show Tuesday to help users find which sessions their Twitter friends are attending, and stay current on slides, videos and notes. The SXSW tool marks Lanyrd's first real test at a major conference. At worst, the event will provide a trove of data and real-world experiences that Downe and Willison can use to better determine how to serve users while they're attending conferences. Downe and Willison describe the chain of events following their June 2010 nuptials to their present day found status as an unexpected, whirlwind affair. Their story, and their startup, are still in their nascent stages. The couple will graduate from the Y Combinator program in March, and may be forced to return to the UK when their visas expire. But location may matter little to a startup that has successfully leveraged the power of an international hit like Twitter. Image courtesy of SimonWillison.net
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. |
| Five things to expect from Apple’s iPad 2 announcement (Appolicious) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 01:23 PM PST |
| Cellphone calls alter brain activity: study (Reuters) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 02:39 PM PST CHICAGO (Reuters) – Spending 50 minutes with a cellphone plastered to your ear is enough to change brain cell activity in the part of the brain closest to the antenna. But whether that causes any harm is not clear, scientists at the National Institutes of Health said on Tuesday, adding that the study will likely not settle recurring concerns of a link between cellphones and brain cancer. "What we showed is glucose metabolism (a sign of brain activity) increases in the brain in people who were exposed to a cellphone in the area closet to the antenna," said Dr. Nora Volkow of the NIH, whose study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was meant to examine how the brain reacts to electromagnetic fields caused by wireless phone signals. Volkow said she was surprised that the weak electromagnetic radiation from cellphones could affect brain activity, but she said the findings do not shed any light on whether cellphones cause cancer. "This study does not in any way indicate that. What the study does is to show the human brain is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation from cellphone exposures." Use of the devices has increased dramatically since they were introduced in the early-to-mid 1980s, with about 5 billion mobile phones now in use worldwide. Some studies have linked cellphone exposure to an increased risk of brain cancers, but a large study by the World Health Organization was inconclusive. Volkow's team studied 47 people who had brain scans while a cellphone was turned on for 50 minutes and another while the phone was turned off. While there was no overall change in brain metabolism, they found a 7 percent increase in brain metabolism in the region closest to the cellphone antenna when the phone was on. Experts said the results were intriguing, but urged that they be interpreted with caution. "Although the biological significance, if any, of increased glucose metabolism from acute cellphone exposure is unknown, the results warrant further investigation," Henry Lai of the University of Washington, Seattle, and Dr. Lennart Hardell of University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden, wrote in a commentary in JAMA. "Much has to be done to further investigate and understand these effects," they wrote. Professor Patrick Haggard of University College London said the results were interesting since the study suggests a direct effect of cellphone signals on brain function. But he said much larger fluctuations in brain metabolic rate can occur naturally, such as when a person is thinking. "If further studies confirm that mobile phone signals do have direct effects on brain metabolism, then it will be important to investigate whether such effects have implications for health," he said. John Walls, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association, an industry group, said the scientific evidence so far "has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices, within the limits established by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), do not pose a public health risk or cause any adverse health effects." Volkow said her the findings suggest the need for more study to see if cellphones have a negative effect on brain cells. Meanwhile, Volkow isn't taking any chances. She now uses an ear phone instead of placing a cellphone next to her ear. "I don't say there is any risk, but in case there is, why not?" (Editing by Philip Barbara) |
| The DT3 - Our top new music releases for February 22 (Digital Trends) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 02:14 PM PST
Each week the Digital Trends staff selects three albums that we think you should know about. Not in-depth reviews, just passing on some music we like. Want to suggest a band or album? Email us at dt3@digitaltrends.com, or leave a comment below.
Adele – 21
Keeping with the title of her last and debut album, 19, Adele's new album title refers to her young age, despite the impressive maturity of her powerful voice. The British songstress and Grammy winner comes to her sophomore album with a youthful fierceness and the 60s-tinged soul sound that made her famous. The album has variety, too, with everything from upbeat hits "Rolling in the Deep" and "Rumor Has It" to the more heartfelt "Turning Tables" and "Someone Like You."
Radiohead – King of Limbs
The kings of alternative music are back with their 8th album, which was suddenly announced only a week before its release. In typical Radiohead fashion, it is an experimental departure from their last album, with more abstract loops and snappy syncopated beats. Longtime fans will no doubt stay in love with the band's trippy sound and the eerie falsetto of Thom Yorke's vocals.
The Cave Singers – No Witch
This is the Seattle folk group's third studio album, and their first since they made the label switch to Jagjaguwar. The band brings their infectious live energy to hippie-folk tracks laced with hints of blues and rock and roll. The album has a darker mood than previous records, with singer Pete Quirk's raspy vocals and the addition of moody electric guitar melodies.
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| Remains of the Day: Two's company (Macworld) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 04:30 PM PST iPad 2 rumors come attached with a date at last, Steve Jobs is still conducting his correspondence, and it's finally time to prepare yourself for the onslaught of teenage girls who will now be breathlessly reading Mac rumor sites. The remainders for Tuesday, February 22, 2011 are ready to scream their heads off. Exclusive: Apple iPad 2 Event Set for March 2 (All Things D) Kara Swisher at All Things D says the iPad 2 will be announced at an Apple event next week on March 2. Or maybe—just maybe—the company will shock us all at this supposed event by announcing that they will never again make another iPad. Buuuuuuuut, yeah, it's probably going to be the iPad 2. Steve Jobs Email Suggests In-App Subscriptions Don't Apply to 'Software As a Service'? (MacRumors) Steve Jobs may be on leave, but he's still checking his e-mail. Responding to one developer's concern over the company's in-app subscription terms, Jobs replied that the rules are intended for publishers and not "[Software as a Service] apps." Ohhhh, that clears up everything, Steve. Why didn't you just say so? Justin Bieber Confirms Black Apple MacBooks: Rumor Roundup (FastCompany) Because when you want the most trusted name in Mac rumors, you turn to Justin Bieber. During an interview, the teen pop sensation supposedly told a Rolling Stone writer that he has "the only black MacAir in the world." MacAir? Well, at least now we know who's funding all of those Apple product knockoffs. Apple cofounded effort to design and build $2 billion New Stanford Hospital (AppleInsider) Apple is one of half a dozen tech companies who have contributed millions to fund the building of a new hospital at Stanford Medical Center. Apple senior vice president of retail and Stanford Hospital & Clinics Board member Ron Johnson dishes on the project in a video. I mean, I guess I'd be a little less resistant to going into a hospital that's designed like an Apple Store. Apple in talks to improve sound quality of music downloads (CNN) CNN says Apple and other online music purveyors are planning to amp up the quality of the tracks they sell by offering 24-bit audio. But we all know audiophiles won't be happy until they can hear the dust mites drifting through the air at the original recording session. |
| Apple updates software for 6th gen iPod nano (Macworld) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 04:06 PM PST Although iOS devices seem to get all the attention these days, it's good to know that Apple hasn't completely forgotten about the other members of the iPod family. The company has just released iPod software update version 1.1 for the 6th generation iPod nano, which adds two new features to the tiny touchscreen player. New in the 1.1 software are the abilities to completely turn off the iPod (rather than just put it to sleep) and to control music or radio playback using the Sleep/Wake button. Shut down Previously, holding down the Sleep/Wake button for several seconds would force the nano to go to sleep. Now, you can turn it off instead (as long as it's not charging or connected to a powered accessory or cable, that is). Apple indicates that shutting the nano off will cause the following:
Control playback You can also now use the Sleep/Wake button to either skip to the next track or radio station, or pause or play the current track or live radio, all with a double-click. To set it up, Apple lists the following steps:
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| Novell Preps Suse for SAP (PC World) Posted: 22 Feb 2011 11:30 AM PST Novell has customized a version of its Suse Linux Enterprise Server software for heavy users of SAP software, the company announced Tuesday. For SAP shops, deploying this version of the Suse Linux, called SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, could cut time and work needed for installation and upgrades, the company claims. Novell worked with SAP to iron out all the potential tricky parts in deploying SAP applications on servers running Suse Linux. The package can easily deploy a wide range of SAP applications, including SAP Business Suite software, SAP Business All-in-One solutions, the SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Search, SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator and SAP BusinessObjects Explorer. The distribution is based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 with SP1 (Service Pack 1). It features a framework designed to ease installation of SAP applications by using a workflow that knows which applications to install first. The package also has the prerequisite libraries and other tools that are needed for these programs to run. The company claims that by using these tools, installations can be automated and completed in a matter of hours, instead of days as is the norm. The distribution also offers a number of other features to extend the use of SAP software in different environments. It includes a copy of the SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension, which allows administrators to set up off-site backups of the applications that can be quickly pressed into production should the main servers go offline for some reason. It has also been tweaked to support large databases that can run entirely within the working memory of one server, or a cluster of servers. On the hardware side, both Fujitsu and IBM have pledged to support this package on their own servers. |
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