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Monday, February 28, 2011

US says China's Baidu, Taobao markets for piracy (AP) : Technet

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US says China's Baidu, Taobao markets for piracy (AP) : Technet

US says China's Baidu, Taobao markets for piracy (AP)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 08:50 PM PST

By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer Joe Mcdonald, Ap Business Writer – 29 mins ago

BEIJING – The U.S. government has labeled China's top search engine, Baidu, and a popular e-commerce platform "notorious markets" linked to sales of pirated and fake goods.

The two companies were among 33 websites or public markets in China, Russia, India and other countries that the U.S. Trade Representative's office said Monday facilitate trade in music, clothing and other goods that are fake or unauthorized copies.

China is a leading source of fake and counterfeit goods despite repeated government crackdowns. Beijing launched its latest enforcement effort in October and says it hopes to achieve lasting results.

The USTR report said Baidu links to websites that sell pirated or counterfeit goods while outside merchants use Taobao, an e-commerce platform operated by Alibaba Group Ltd., to sell infringing items. It said the list was not a legal finding but an effort to call attention to abuses and encourage governments to stop them.

The outlets cited "exemplify the problem of marketplaces dealing in infringing goods and helping to sustain global piracy and counterfeiting," the report said. "The United States urges the responsible authorities to intensify efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting in these and similar markets."

The report said Taobao is making "significant efforts" to address piracy but "still has a long way to go in order to resolve those problems."

Alibaba said last month its chief executive and chief operating officers resigned to take responsibility after a probe found suppliers defrauded customers. It said 100 salespeople, out of a workforce of 14,000, allegedly involved in defrauding customers were fired.

In a written statement, an Alibaba spokesman, John Spelich, said: "We appreciate the USTR's acknowledgment of our ongoing efforts to work with brand owners in protecting their intellectual property rights and we will continue to work closely with brand owners and others to further enhance the level of trust and integrity in our online marketplaces for the benefit of all our stakeholders."

A Baidu spokesman, Kaiser Kuo, declined to comment.

Other websites cited by the report include Canada-based IsoHunt, Russia-based Rutracker, China's 91.com and Demonoid in Ukraine. It cited public markets in China, Ecuador, Paraguay, Indonesia, Ukraine, India and Argentina.

The report said the economy of a whole city in Paraguay, Ciudad del Este, is "based in part on the trafficking of counterfeit and infringed goods," especially electronics.

"This activity spills over into the entire Tri-Border Region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, creating a hotbed of piracy and counterfeiting," the report said.

___

Baidu.com: http://www.baidu.com

Taobao (in Chinese): http://www.taobao.com

Comcast, NBC deal opens door for online video (AP)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:15 AM PST

By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer Joelle Tessler, Ap Technology Writer – Mon Feb 28, 2:15 pm ET

WASHINGTON – New Internet video services from companies such as Netflix and Apple are offering a glimpse of a home entertainment future that doesn't include a pricey monthly cable bill.

To challenge the cable TV industry's dominance in the living room, though, online video services need popular movies and TV shows to lure viewers, and access to high-speed Internet networks to reach them.

Yet they have had no rights to either — until now.

To win government approval to take over NBC Universal last month, cable giant Comcast Corp. agreed to let online rivals license NBC programming, including hit shows such as "30 Rock" and "The Office." Comcast also agreed not to block its 17 million broadband subscribers from watching video online through Netflix, Apple's iTunes and other rivals yet to come.

Those requirements aim to ensure that the nation's largest cable TV company, with nearly 23 million video subscribers in 39 states, cannot stifle the growth of the nascent Internet video business. Although they apply only to Comcast and NBC, these conditions could serve as a model for other big entertainment companies in dealing with new online competitors. They also send a powerful message that the government believes these promising young rivals deserve an opportunity to take on established media companies.

"These conditions are not just window dressing," said Paul Gallant, an analyst for MF Global, a financial brokerage. "They come across as a pretty comprehensive effort to give Internet TV a real shot at taking off."

The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department spent more than a year reviewing Comcast's plan to buy a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric. The deal gives Comcast control over the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, cable channels such as CNBC and Bravo, the Universal Pictures movie studio and a stake in Hulu.com, which distributes NBC and other broadcast programming online.

Government officials wanted to ensure that Comcast could not crush competition through its control over both a major media empire and the pipes that deliver cable and Internet services to millions of American homes.

But figuring out how to protect online video was tricky because the market is still taking shape.

Netflix offers subscription plans with unlimited online viewing for $8 a month. Apple and Amazon.com let customers rent or buy individual movies and TV shows for as little as a few dollars apiece — providing an alternative for people who don't want big bundles of cable channels they may never watch. Apple and Google make set-top boxes and software that transfer online video to television sets, freeing it from computer screens. TV makers are also building in Internet capabilities.

All these options could make it easier to cut the cable cord — and the cable bill. In 2010, Comcast's cable customers paid an average of $70 per month for video services.

But with control of NBC Universal, Comcast could handicap Web rivals by overcharging for — or simply withholding — all sorts of marquee content. A "Top Chef" fan, for instance, might not drop cable if the show weren't available online. Comcast could also block or slow online video traffic on its massive broadband network. ITunes can't compete with cable if programs stutter online.

None of the major online video companies would comment about Comcast. The cable company insists that it doesn't consider Internet video a threat. Indeed, the Internet lets Comcast expand beyond its existing cable service territory and distribute NBC content more widely, through a broad range of websites and devices.

Still, in approving the deal, federal officials attached dozens of conditions, including several big ones to protect Internet video:

• Comcast must sell its content to online video services. That gives them access to marquee NBC Universal programming.

• Comcast can't interfere with Internet video traffic flowing over its broadband network. That means that it cannot prevent its subscribers from accessing Netflix and other Web video services, or slow down traffic from these services to make them jerky, unreliable and hard to watch.

• Comcast must sell stand-alone Internet access at a reasonable price, without tying it to a cable TV package, to enable cord-cutting. That includes offering a standard 6-megabit-per-second plan, which is fast enough to handle Internet video, for roughly $50 a month.

Although these requirements offer no guarantees of success for new online video services, they aim to ensure that Comcast cannot impede the online businesses. They also break new ground by giving Internet rivals some of the same protections that have long been available to satellite companies and other subscription TV competitors.

Existing FCC rules require cable TV companies to license the channels they own to such rivals. Now, new Internet video services can license big packages of NBC Universal programming for the same price that a traditional rival pays. Or they can buy specific shows or channels if they are already licensing comparable programming from another major media company. For example, if Netflix strikes a deal to license children's programming from The Walt Disney Co., Comcast must make comparable children's programming from NBC available to Netflix under similar terms.

Only Comcast and NBC are bound by these conditions, yet they could pressure other media companies to make their programming available to online services, too. They could also serve as a blueprint for future government merger reviews and even shape new FCC rules affecting the whole industry.

"Before this deal, online video distributors had no rights to programming at all," Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said. "This opens the door."

That said, the rules make no promises. Internet companies may not be able to afford the full NBC Universal programming package as satellite TV and other rivals now do, said Thomas Eagan, an analyst with Collins Stewart. Even Netflix, with more than 20 million subscribers, would have trouble paying a tab that Eagan estimates at $1.5 billion a year.

This approach also shackles these new companies to traditional business models and inhibits innovation, added Philip Leigh, an analyst with research firm Inside Digital Media.

What's more, a lot is open to interpretation with the requirement that Comcast follow the lead of other big media companies that license comparable programming — say, comedies or reality shows — to online services. For instance, should Bravo have to license "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" to an online distributor just because MTV is providing "Jersey Shore"?

And what is to stop all the big media companies from simply operating in lockstep and withholding all programming from online distributors, which would prevent that option from being triggered?

David Cohen, Comcast executive vice president, has said the company could use various arguments to limit the types of programming it must supply. Disputes could wind up in arbitration.

Meanwhile Corie Wright, policy counsel for the public interest group Free Press, said she is disappointed that the government conditions do not attempt to break up a new online service being pioneered by Comcast and other subscription-television providers. This service, which Comcast calls Xfinity, puts popular cable shows on the Internet, but restricts access to subscribers.

"The government may have effectively blessed a business model that forces consumers to pay for a cable subscription to watch video online," she said.

At this early juncture, it's impossible to predict just how the market will evolve. Will Netflix and Apple squeeze the cable industry out of the living room? Will cable companies successfully fend off new online challengers? Or will there be room for both?

Consumers will ultimately decide. But at least viewers will have a choice.

___

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

Suspect in iPad data theft released on bail in NJ (AP)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 03:18 PM PST

By DAVID PORTER, Associated Press David Porter, Associated Press – Mon Feb 28, 6:18 pm ET

NEWARK, N.J. – An Arkansas man accused of stealing more than 100,000 e-mail addresses of Apple iPad users last year was released on bail Monday and will be prohibited from using the Internet except for work — which in his case means a job as a computer consultant.

Andrew Auernheimer of Fayetteville left the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building on Monday without commenting on the charges or his release from federal detention. He had been extradited from Arkansas, where he was arrested Jan. 18.

Auernheimer and San Francisco resident Daniel Spitler face one count each of fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization. Authorities say the two men, both in their mid-20s, tricked AT&T's website into divulging e-mail addresses that included those of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, film mogul Harvey Weinstein and then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who is now Chicago mayor.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman has said there's no evidence the addresses were disseminated for criminal purposes.

Auernheimer's $50,000 bail was covered by a friend identified as Jeffrey Paul Lussier, who attended the hearing with another man who didn't identify himself but said outside court that he had known Auernheimer for years and would employ him as a computer consultant. Auernheimer's travel will be restricted to New Jersey and New York.

In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Zach Intrater said Auernheimer "has demonstrated himself to be a menace on the Internet" and should have his computer use closely monitored. U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo ordered that any computer Auernheimer uses for work must be monitored by law enforcement, and she prohibited him from owning a cell phone that has Internet access.

"If I find him with an iPad or a Droid or any other device that has Internet access, I'll revoke bail," Cox Arleo said. "It's his choice."

Authorities say Auernheimer and Spitler were members of a "loose association of Internet hackers" named Goatse Security that claimed last June to have discovered a weak link in AT&T's security. AT&T acknowledged at the time that more than 100,000 e-mail addresses of iPad users who signed up for AT&T's 3G wireless Internet service were exposed and that it had fixed the problem.

A representative for Goatse Security told The Associated Press in June that it contacted AT&T and waited until the vulnerability was fixed before going public with the information. But federal prosecutors say AT&T was unaware of the breach until it appeared in online media reports.

In January, after the arrests, Goatse Security said in an e-mail to the AP that Spitler and Auernheimer did nothing wrong and were acting in the public interest by exposing the security flaw.

Spitler was released on $50,000 bail in January. Each of the counts he and Auernheimer face carries a five-year maximum prison sentence.

The iPad 2: What we know, what we don’t know, and what we think we know (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:54 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Mon Feb 28, 2:54 pm ET

We're just 48 hours away from getting our first look at the long-awaited, next-generation iPad—or that's what we're expecting, at least.

Indeed, with all the leaks, rumors, and wild guesses we've been hearing in the past months about the next iPad, it's easy to forget that Apple hasn't even officially announced the thing yet, much less doled out any details or pictures.

Since we still have a couple days to kill before Apple ends the suspense, now might a good time to summarize what we know, what we think we know, and—most importantly—what we definitely don't know about the iPad 2.

What we know

The original iPad is still the only iPad, for now: Like I just said, Apple has yet to announce, acknowledge, make veiled references to, or even hint at a new iPad. Well … strike that: during Apple's most recent quarterly earnings call, Apple COO Tim Cook told analysts (who'd been asking about competition from impending Android-based tablets) that "we're not sitting still" in terms of the tablet market, a remark that may qualify as a vague hint.

Apple is holding an iPad-related event Wednesday: The invitations went out last week, with an image showing a Mac OS calendar page peeled back to reveal an iPad peeking out from behind. The caption: "Come see what 2011 will be the year of." So yes—the writing's on the wall, but the invite stops short of saying "come meet the iPad 2" or anything like that.

Last but not least, we know that ... uh ... : If we're only talking about things we definitely know about the next iPad ... well, strictly speaking, we don't know much more than what I just outlined above. Oh, wait: Wednesday's Apple event will be held in San Francisco, at 10 in the morning local time. And iPad-related topics are on the agenda. There you go.

What we don't know

What it'll be called: Everyone's been calling the next iPad the "iPad 2," and there's even a new (and likely fan-generated) rendering of the next-generation tablet floating around with the "iPad 2" name stamped on the back. But as far as I know, no one's come out and reported that the iPad 2 will, in fact, be called the iPad 2. Apple's been known to throw curve balls when it comes to naming its next-gen products (like, for example, the iPhone 3G and 3GS), so I wouldn't put all my eggs in the "iPad 2" basket.

How much internal storage it'll have: Will we get an iPad 2 model with 128GB of built-in flash storage, or will the largest next-gen iPad still top out at 64GB? Hard to say. There have been scattered reports of iPad 2 mockups with "128GB" etched onto the back, but that may be more a case of wishful thinking than a concrete clue. I predict the priciest iPad will still offer "just" 64GB of flash storage (which still costs a premium compared to conventional disc-based hard drives), but that's only a guess on my part.

How much it will cost: Apple is in the habit of marking its next-generation products with the same price as the previous generation, and there's no reason to believe that Cupertino will change course with the iPad 2. Again, though, we've yet to hear any reliable rumors about pricing. (For the record, the current iPad costs anywhere from $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi-only version to $829 for the 64GB 3G iPad.)

When it will ship: Conventional wisdom initially had it that the new iPad would probably hit stores about a month or so after being announced, but now there's talk the iPad 2 might be available immediately. Maybe so, but personally, I'm hedging my bets until Apple serves up the official line.

What we think we know

Slimmer profile, less heft: Just about everyone seems to agree that the redesigned iPad will be "smaller" and "lighter" than its predecessor, complete with a flatter back and tapered edges. Indeed, chatter about a slimmed-down iPad 2 shell has been so consistent (not to mention a logical progression for the iPad line) that I'd be shocked if it didn't come to pass Wednesday.

A camera, or two: Another consistent iPad 2 rumor has it that Apple will fix one of the biggest criticisms of the original iPad—namely, the lack of a camera. A recent Wall Street Journal story claimed that the new iPad will have "at least" one camera in front for FaceTime video chat, and there have been countless sightings of purported iPad 2 cases with strategically placed holes in back for a second, rear-facing lens. While there still seems to be some lingering doubt about a second camera, a front-facing lens is pretty much a no-brainer, particularly since each and every iPad competitor out there has one.

Same-resolution display: The hot rumor back in December had it that the iPad 2 would arrive with a sharper, 2,048-by-1,536 pixel display, good for a "retina"-style screen similar to the one on the iPhone 4. But the latest word and some leaked spy shots have poured cold water on the buzz, and it's now looking almost certain that the revamped iPad display will come with a 1,024-by-768-resolution display, same as the original. Oh well. (Don't worry; recent chatter has it that the iPad 3—yes, 3—might get the retina-display treatment.)

Faster, beefier processor: "Dual-core" is the gotta-have spec when it comes to this year's hottest smartphones and gadgets, and the iPad 2 is no exception. Most believe the revamped tablet will get an updated, dual-core version of Apple's A4 "system-on-a-chip," complete with 512MB of RAM (double the 256MB RAM in the original iPad) and some seriously souped-up graphics capabilities.

Better speaker: The new iPad is reportedly in line for an improved, "wide-ranged" speaker, with the more prominent speaker grille said to be sitting right where the current three-hole speaker on the first iPad lives. Or so they say.

No SD card: An SD (or microSD) card slot on the next iPad would allow for easy memory expansion and speedy photo uploading. It's a nice idea, but early buzz on Apple adding an SD card slot to the iPad has given way to near-universal agreement that it won't actually happen. Bummer.

No 4G support: Not on Verizon Wireless, at least, according to the Wall Street Journal, which adds that the 3G version of the iPad 2 will be available through AT&T and Verizon but not Sprint or T-Mobile.

So, got any predictions about Wednesday's iPad announcement? Post 'em below.

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

Follow me on Twitter!

Video: BlackBerry PlayBook will “support Android apps,” rep says (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 07:39 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Mon Feb 28, 10:39 am ET

Hold on a second—did the Research in Motion representative in this video just say what I think he said?

Chatter has been slowly building over the past few weeks that the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet might arrive with (or eventually add) support for Android-based applications, and a newly surfaced video shot at Mobile World Congress a few weeks ago seems to bolster the rumors.

The video (shot by Mobile Monday Rio de Janeiro and picked up by CrackBerry and Boy Genius Report) starts off as a run-of-the-mill demo of the tablet, complete with the same canned spiel that anyone who wandered into RIM's Mobile World Congress booth might hear.

Well, almost. Right around the 14-second mark, the RIM rep lets slip (it's a little tricky to hear him over the crowd noise) that the PlayBook will "also support Android apps."

The RIM spokesperson doesn't go into much more detail or actually demonstrate any Android apps running on the Playbook—and indeed, it's always possible that the company rep simply misspoke. (For the record, RIM HQ has yet to comment on the rumors.)

But this isn't the first time we've heard whispers that the seven-inch PlayBook might be able to run Android applications.

The buzz initially came from The Boy Genius Report, which blogged back in late January that it had "multiple trusted sources" who swore that RIM was "seriously considering" adding Android app support to the PlayBook. Bloomberg News seconded the Boy Genius post with a report of its own a couple of weeks later.

Android app support would come courtesy of a Java-based "virtual machine" running on top of the PlayBook's QNX operating system, the articles say. Ostensibly, the VM is there to allow PlayBook users to run "legacy" BlackBerry apps, but it could also come in handy when it comes to other platforms … say, Android, for example.

There's a fair amount of back-and-forth on the technical details involved in pulling an Android rabbit out of the PlayBook's hat. Boy Genius Report had initially heard that RIM was leaning toward Google's Dalvik virtual machine, which the search giant employs for the Android OS, while the Bloomberg article later claimed that RIM had changed course in favor of "developing the software internally." (One possible reason, according to Bloomberg: a nasty patent dispute between Google and Oracle over Dalvik.)

While the "how" may be up in the air, the "why" is obvious: by supporting Android applications, the BlackBerry Playbook would hit the ground running in terms of the tens of thousands of apps available in the Android Market.

Interesting—but would the old "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy translate into better PlayBook sales? Good question.

Related:
Adding fuel to the fire: "We'll also support Android apps" heard during PlayBook demo at MWC [CrackBerry]
BlackBerry PlayBook will support Android apps, RIM rep proclaims [Boy Genius Report]

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

Follow me on Twitter!

One in Three Mobile Phone Owners Is a Regular Mobile Gamer [STUDY] (Mashable)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 03:52 PM PST

Jolie O'Dell Jolie O'dell – Mon Feb 28, 6:52 pm ET

A new survey from casual gaming company PopCap shows that an incredibly high percentage of adults in the UK and U.S. is into mobile gaming.

This stat may be due in part to the uptick in smartphone adoption. According to a separate Nielsen survey, 31% of U.S. mobile users now own smartphones, and a Pew survey shows nearly half of cellphone users download and use mobile apps, too.

In PopCap's research, more than half (52%) of 2,425 respondents said they had played a game on a mobile device, whether their own device or someone else's, at some time in the past. The percentage for UK respondents was significantly higher (73%) than the rate for U.S. respondents (44%).

Around one-third of all respondents had played a game on their own mobile phones within the past month, and one out of four respondents said they played games on a weekly basis. Still, some respondents admitted to only having played a mobile game once.

The biggest gaming group was smartphone users. A full 83% of smartphone-owning respondents said they had played at least one mobile game in the past week, putting them solidly in the "avid mobile gamer" category.

Interestingly, the male-to-female ratio in mobile gaming doesn't show the pronounced gender gap seen in console and PC gaming. Men play slightly more than women by a slim margin of 2-10%. This fits pretty well with the current picture we have of the social gaming scene as a predominantly female market.

And mobile gamers aren't just biding their time on mass transit; they're also contributing to the bottom line of game manufacturers across the major mobile platforms. Around half of all mobile gamers in this survey said they had upgraded a free trial game to the full or paid version in the past year. And one out of four mobile gamers, or one out of three smartphone gamers, said they had bought "additional content" for a game within the past year.

Also, smartphone users are more likely to buy games than their feature phone-owning counterparts, for obvious reasons. The average smartphone-using mobile gamer bought 5.4 games in 2010, versus the 2.9 games bought by non-smartphone-owning gamers. Also, the smartphone crowd said they spent more money on games -- $25.57 per user for the year, compared to $15.70 from feature phone owners.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, sjlocke

Japan camera prettifies subjects, even adds "makeup" (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 06:41 PM PST

By Chiaki Kawase Chiaki Kawase – 2 hrs 38 mins ago

TOKYO (Reuters) – Photos are everything for Yuka Obara, a well-known Japanese blogger who insists anything showing her online be picture-perfect -- especially because it's hard these days to delete poor-quality photos once on the web.

The 20-year-old Obara, known by her online profile Yunkoro, has honed her art for four years in line with Japan's cult of the "kawaii" or cute, which has given rise to creative profile picture-taking.

Yunkoro, for example, has lots of advice on how to photograph taking photos so the subjects look honey-eyed and candy-sweet using everyday items such as hand-held mirrors and curtains.

"My blogs are there for people to see, so to have something to show I am quite particular about photos," she said, adding that in the past she has had as many as 1.1 million hits a day.

"I have many points I obsess over when it comes to taking pictures of myself or an object."

Though Yunkoro is proud of her photographic skill, additional help has arrived on the scene from Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp -- a camera that can brush up, clean up and even put make-up on the subject's face.

The LUMIX FX77, released last Friday, has a "beauty re-touch" function that will whiten your teeth, increase the translucency of your skin, remove dark eye circles, make your face look smaller and even magnify the size of your eyes.

For the final touch, it will apply rouge, lipstick and even eye shadow.

There has been huge customer demand for such a product, said Akiko Enoki, a Panasonic project manager in charge of developing the camera.

"According to data we've acquired, around 50 percent of our digital camera clients are not satisfied with the way their faces look in a photograph," she said.

"So we came up with the idea so our clients can fix parts they don't like about their faces after they've taken the picture."

With the digital camera market saturated, Panasonic hopes the current craze for social networking and blogs that has swept Japan and the world will help lift their product's fortunes.

The new camera has already been a hit at Bic Camera, a discount electronics retailer, which was allowed to sell the camera a week before the official launch date.

"It's very popular among people who use pictures in their blogs, or those taking just one commemorative photo that they need to be flawless," said Hiromi Honma, a Bic Camera sales representative.

Profile picture mavens such as Yunkoro are looking forward to the camera, but she said that there are certain tricks of the trade that technology can never replace.

"If your cheeks look too wide in a photograph, you can place your hands on your cheeks so it hides them, and it will have the effect of making your face look much smaller," she added.

Will Amazon's Kindle Be Free By November? (PC World)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 03:45 PM PST

Jeff Bertolucci Jeff Bertolucci – Mon Feb 28, 6:45 pm ET

The price of the popular Kindle e-reader has plummeted dramatically over the past two years, as growing competition from Apple's iPad and competing e-readers like Barnes & Noble's Nook has inspired some impressive price-cutting on Amazon's part. The Kindle, which cost $350 in February 2009, is now as low as $139 for the Wi-Fi-only version.

So where does it go from here?

Possibly to zero by the end of the year, predicts Wired co-found Kevin Kelly in a February 25 post on his Technium site. Kelly's blog includes the chart below that dramatically illustrates the Kindle's price free-fall since 2009. (The 2011 data, of course, is projected.)

Kelly acknowledges that pundits before him have spotted the Kindle's consistent price decline. Blogger John Walkenbach, for instance, predicted the e-reader would be free by November 2011. When Kelly asked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about the Kindle's southward march, Bezos reportedly smiled and said, "Oh, you noticed that!"

A coy response doesn't mean free Kindles by the holidays, of course. But would a free strategy make sense for Amazon?

Business Insider's Jay Yarow doesn't see it happening, but adds that Amazon may very well offer deeply-discounted Kindles to its Amazon Prime customers, who currently pay $79 per for free, two-day shipping and a new Netflix-like video-streaming service.

Kelly believes a free-Kindle strategy makes a lot of sense.

"I don't know if this is Amazon's plan, but it should be. It brilliantly feeds into Bezo's long-term strategy of nurturing extreme customer satisfaction. What could be more satisfying that a free Kindle, free movies, and free 2-day shipping for $80 a year? If the past is any indication of future events, expect an as-if-free Kindle this fall in time for the holidays. Brilliant indeed!"

Other suggestions? How about a free Kindle with the purchase of (insert number here) Kindle books? Your ideas are welcome.

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci ) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com

AT&T to market Amazon Kindle (Investor's Business Daily)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 04:02 PM PST

– Mon Feb 28, 7:02 pm ET

The online e-commerce giant's Kindle 3G-connected e-reader will be available in AT&T (NYSE:T - News) stores starting Sun. Unlike many 3G devices, the $189 version of the Kindle doesn't require a monthly data plan. Instead, Amazon (NMS:AMZN) will cover the data fees, allowing readers to download as much as they want. The Kindle is already on sale at Staples (NMS:SPLS), Target (NYSE:TGT - News) and Best Buy (NYSE:BBY - News), as part of Amazon's push to put the device in more stores and let shoppers tinker with it to generate more sales. AT&T rose 0.9% to 28.38.

Bing Twitter Account Goes Oscar-crazy (PC World)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 06:00 PM PST

Robert McMillan Robert Mcmillan – Mon Feb 28, 9:00 pm ET

The Twitter account used to promote Microsoft's Bing search engine went slightly bonkers Monday afternoon, posting a deluge of pre-Oscar party photos.

The photo blitz lasted an hour or two on Monday afternoon, during which Bing's 91,000 Twitter followers were bombarded with links to photos taken at a Saturday Night Los Angeles Confidential magazine party that was sponsored by Bing.

"At the LA Confidential party presented by @Bing," Microsoft said in Twitter message after Twitter message.

The souvenir pictures show partygoers posing in front of a white background and are doctored to look like a Los Angeles Confidential magazine cover.

They weren't very popular on Twitter, where the reaction was instant and unforgiving. "@bing read my lips: I hate #SPAM !!!!!!!," wrote one follower. "@bing Nice spam, instant unfollow," wrote another.

Microsoft didn't seem to know exactly what happened, but a spokeswoman said Monday that the account was not hacked. "It was not our intention to flood the Twitter feed, we have remedied the situation and apologize for the inconvenience," she said via e-mail.

Microsoft removed the offending Tweets and apologized to followers around 4 p.m. Pacific Time. However, many of the party pictures were still visible on Bing's TwitPic account.

The Bing-sponsored party was held for Jesse Eisenberg, who was nominated for his starring role in "The Social Network," a movie about Facebook.

(Klaus Junginger with IDG News Group Brazil contributed to this story.)

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

More Mobile Spyware Hits Android (PC World)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 03:24 PM PST

Armando Rodriguez Armando Rodriguez – Mon Feb 28, 6:24 pm ET

NetQin Mobile has captured 2 new spyware programs that have been infecting Android phones. The two programs, "SW.SecurePhone" and "SW.Qieting", can release an unsettling amount of personal information from an infected phone.

SW.SecurePhone is an app that has no icon and runs continuously in the background. The app gathers data from your text messages, call log, and pictures, and uploads them to a remote server. SW.SecurePhone can also obtain your phone's location information and record sounds around the device.

SW.Qieting forwards your incoming messages to a monitoring phone.

Both are mainly distributed in the U.S through the internet. Since neither of the two apps have an icon, it's hard to tell at a glance whether you are infected or not. To help users stay safe, NetQin offers the following advice:

1) Download applications from trusted sources and check reviews, ratings, and developer information before downloading anything.

2) Pay close attention to app permissions. An application should not request to do more than what it offers in its official list of features.

3) Be on alert for unusual fees in your phone bill as this may be a sign your phone is infected.

4) Install a trusted security application to protect your phone.

As Android gains in popularity, more and more malware makers will begin to target the platform. So if you have an Android phone, it may be worth your while to get an antivirus program on it. Better to be safe than sorry.

Morgan Stanley hit by China-based hackers: report (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 06:25 PM PST

– 2 hrs 54 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley experienced a "very sensitive" break-in to its network by the same China-based hackers who attacked Google Inc's computers more than a year ago, Bloomberg reported, citing leaked emails from an Internet security company.

The emails from the Sacramento, California-based computer security firm HBGary Inc said that Morgan Stanley -- the first financial institution identified in the series of attacks -- considered details of the intrusion a closely guarded secret, the report said.

Bloomberg quoted Phil Wallisch, a senior security engineer at HBGary, as saying that he read an internal Morgan Stanley report detailing the so-called Aurora attacks.

The HBGary emails don't indicate what information may have been stolen from Morgan Stanley's databanks or which of the world's largest merger adviser's multinational operations were targeted, according to the report.

Representatives for HBGart were not immediately available for comment.

Morgan Stanley spokeswoman declined to comment whether the bank had been targeted in the Aurora attacks.

"Morgan Stanley invests significantly in IT security and manages a robust program to deal with malware and attempted computer compromises," spokeswoman Sandra Hernandez said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Yinka Adegoke in New York, and Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Gary Hill)

RIM rep says PlayBook will support Android apps (Appolicious)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 01:05 PM PST

Verizon to Offer Cloud-based Unified Communications (PC World)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 03:10 PM PST

Stephen Lawson Stephen Lawson – Mon Feb 28, 6:10 pm ET

Verizon is getting set to offer its customers unified communications services that can include presence information, instant messaging, videoconferencing and fixed-mobile call handoffs through a Cisco Systems-based cloud infrastructure.

The carrier announced on Monday that it would use Cisco's unified communications technology to provide a range of capabilities in various packages, hosted in Verizon data centers. Cloud-based unified communications can cost less than in-house systems and be purchased on a per-seat, per-month basis, reducing capital expenditures, according to Verizon. Later this year, the company plans to deliver a hybrid option that lets users base their UC infrastructure partly in their own premises.

Verizon teamed up with Cisco to deliver the service, called Unified Communications and Collaboration as a Service (UCCaaS), which runs on an infrastructure that is based on Cisco's Unified Computing server platform and virtualized with VMware. Trials of the offering began last year, and it is now in beta testing. Verizon is demonstrating UCCaaS at the Enterprise Connect conference in Orlando this week and will make it generally available in the U.S. in June, and in other parts of the world after that.

The service is designed to combine several types of communication, including instant messaging, VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) and videoconferencing, into one platform so users can easily move back and forth as needs demand, Verizon said. While in one kind of conversation, a user will be able to shift to another type of session with one click.

In one sample configuration, involving a hypothetical 1,000-employee company with one site buying a three-year contract, Verizon estimates that UCCaaS will cost US$34.53 per user per month, compared with $43.15 for a do-it-yourself system.

Along with the new services, Verizon plans to offer a new type of business voice client that allows employees to effectively use their Android mobile phones as desktop phones. The client platform, called Verizon Mobile UC and due to ship around the same time as UCCaaS, will be a desktop phone with a traditional handset as well as a dock for the mobile phone. It will connect to the enterprise LAN via Ethernet. While using the dock, employees will be able to make calls without consuming voice minutes and take advantage of mobile-phone features such as lists of recently called numbers.

There are also mobile features that work without the desktop dock. For example, UCCaaS can transfer calls between a desk phone and a cell phone in the middle of a call, said Roberta Mackintosh, director for global unified communication and collaboration. For example, a user could stay on a conference call when leaving the office. The platform can carry this out regardless of who the employee's mobile operator is, Mackintosh said.

In time, Cisco's Cius tablet also will play a role in UCCaaS, according to Verizon. The Cius was announced at the International Consumer Electronics Show in January and is scheduled to ship in March with Verizon Wireless as its first carrier partner.

One thing Verizon learned from its trials of UCCaaS was how much enterprises want to customize their UC deployments, Mackintosh said. For example, they want to integrate the UC software with the applications they use in-house and control upgrades to the software used in the platform. UCCaaS will give them that kind of control, she said.

Getting UC as a service can help enterprises both to save money and to fine-tune their UC implementations, according to analyst Cindy Whelan of Current Analysis.

"Verizon can make applications available to the enterprise that they only need for a subset of their employees," Whelan said.

Whelan thinks some enterprises will try out cloud-based unified communications and may move from in-house systems to the cloud in phases. IT managers may not want to stake their jobs on the reliability of Verizon's service as opposed to in-house systems they can control themselves, she said.

The fixed-to-mobile handoff capability is likely to be one of the most popular features among enterprises, Whelan said. She thinks the Mobile UC dock will be adopted first in industry sectors where employees spend a lot of their time moving around the workplace, such as manufacturing and health care.

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

Motorola Mobility sues TiVo over DVR patents (AP)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 12:42 PM PST

By DANA WOLLMAN, AP Technology Writer Dana Wollman, Ap Technology Writer – Mon Feb 28, 3:42 pm ET

NEW YORK – Motorola Mobility Inc. is suing TiVo Inc., alleging that TiVo's signature digital video recorder set-top boxes use technology patented by Motorola.

"We pride ourselves on our strong R&D (research and development) and intellectual property and will move aggressively to protect that value on behalf of our customers, partners and shareholders," Motorola said in a statement.

According to the lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Texarkana, Texas, Motorola subsidiary General Instrument owns multiple patents for DVR technology, including some filed in 1995, more than two years before TiVo developed its own DVR set-top box.

The patents in dispute allow people to record a television show while watching another.

TiVo, based in Alviso, Calif., declined to comment on the Motorola lawsuit.

In 2009, TiVo filed its own suit against a Motorola customer, Verizon Communications Inc., alleging that it violates TiVo's patent. Motorola sells set-top boxes to Verizon, which in turn sells DVR service to its subscribers. TiVo has also filed a similar suit against AT&T Inc.

TiVo has been embroiled in a similar legal battle against Echostar Corp. and its former subsidiary, Dish Network Corp. for seven years. The companies presented oral arguments before the full panel of appellate judges for the federal circuit in November, and now await a judgment. Echostar has already paid TiVo more than $100 million in damages. If TiVo wins its case, Echostar will have to pay roughly $200 million in damages through July 2009, and, most likely, damages from the past year and a half as well.

Motorola's lawsuit against TiVo came two days after online money transfer service Xoom Corp. sued Motorola for violating its trademark. Motorola last week began selling a tablet computer called the Xoom, which is intended to compete with Apple Inc.'s popular iPad.

Shares of Libertyville, Ill.-based Motorola Mobility fell 94 cents, or 3 percent, to $29.67 during Monday afternoon trading, while shares of TiVo fell 11 cents to $10.29.

Last Minute iPad 2 Rumor Roundup (PC World)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 05:17 PM PST

Daniel Ionescu Daniel Ionescu – Mon Feb 28, 8:17 pm ET

With Apple's iPad 2 event less than 48 hours away, the rumor mill is spinning faster than ever. What's the wisdom of the Web predicting? A thinner, lighter iPad with at least one camera and beefier hardware.

The consensus is that iPad 2 will be more of an evolution than a revolution from the original iPad, of which Apple has sold more than 15 million.

As usual, Apple has been disciplined about not releasing any information before their big press event. That has led the Web to spend much of its time digging, speculating and daydreaming about what may be coming. Some of the rumors make more sense than others, but as always, you should take them with a pinch of salt.

A thinner and lighter iPad 2 is almost a sure bet. Apple likes to shave the fat off its mobile devices with every iteration, and with complaints that the iPad can be too heavy when held up for a longer time, a more svelte iPad 2 is very likely. Also, brace yourself, as there might be a white version of the iPad 2 as well (though given that the company still hasn't managed to ship a white iPhone, a white iPad may be too much to hope for).

The iPad 2 could also have a slightly thinner screen bezel, though the screen is likely to remain unchanged at 9.7-inches. A flat back design and larger, stereo speakers are also very likely developments for the iPad 2. Despite previous rumors, the consensus seems to be that there won't be a Retina display on the iPad 2, but rather a screen that matches the original iPad's 1024x768 resolution.

It's very likely Apple will integrate a front-facing camera on the iPad 2 so users can do video chats. But opinions are split over whether we will see a camera on the back too. Other likely hardware changes include a faster A5 dual-core processor and 512MB or 1GB of RAM, as well as a dual-mode GSM CDMA chip inside the 3G iPad 2. The original iPad has a 1GHz A4 processor and 256MB of RAM.

Less likely hardware developments on the iPad 2 include the rumored SD card slot, a Thunderbolt port

, or even a carbon-fiber body. It's likely that the iPad 2 will cost what the original iPad costs now. The original iPad is likely to become a value sidekick to the iPad 2, sold at a lower price (though Apple is expected to stop manufacturing the original tablet once the new iPad appears).

On the software side, the iPad 2 is likely to introduce iOS 4.3, which brings news subscriptions, extended AirPlay support, and many other improvements. Evidence of FaceTime and Photo Booth apps has been uncovered so far, and some speculate Apple could also introduce an iLife multimedia editing suite on the iPad 2, taking advantage of the camera (or cameras) on board.

What would you like the iPad 2 to feature? Sound off in the comments.

Follow Daniel Ionescu and Today @ PCWorld on Twitter

Intel Completes McAfee Acquisition (PC World)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 03:30 PM PST

Robert McMillan Robert Mcmillan – Mon Feb 28, 6:30 pm ET

Intel has completed its US$7.68 billion acquisition of security vendor McAfee, the chip maker announced on Monday.

The all-cash deal makes Intel a security industry powerhouse, giving it a broad range of consumer and enterprise security products. Though the acquisition has left some observers scratching their heads, Intel says it needs the McAfee technology to help it bake security into its microprocessors and chipsets -- especially as Intel looks to become more competitive in smartphones and other portable devices.

"Intel and McAfee believe today's approach to security does not adequately address the billions of new Internet-ready devices, including PCs, mobile and wireless devices, TVs, cars, medical devices and ATM machines," Intel said Monday in a statement announcing the acquisition's close. "With the surge in cyber threats, providing protection to a diverse online world requires a fundamentally new approach involving software, hardware and services."

Intel had been working to get the deal approved by U.S. and European Union regulators since it was announced last August. The European Commission, in particular, had expressed concerns that Intel would give McAfee special treatment when it came to its processors and chipsets, locking other security vendors out of the technology. Those concerns had reportedly been threatening to hold up the deal, but late last month the European Commission announced that Intel had assuaged its concerns.

Although McAfee's technology can now be integrated into a wide range of Intel products, McAfee itself will be run as a subsidiary, operated out of Intel's Software and Services Group. That group is run by Renée James, who will now be the boss of McAfee chief Dave DeWalt.

McAfee is the world's second-largest security software company after Symantec.

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

SeaMicro Ships Low-Power Servers with 64-Bit Atom Chips (NewsFactor)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 01:58 PM PST

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Jennifer Leclaire, newsfactor.com – Mon Feb 28, 4:58 pm ET

SeaMicro is shipping what it bills as the world's most energy-efficient 64-bit x86 server -- and it's not hype. The SM10000-64 features 256 Intel Atom N570 dual-core processors.

SeaMicro's architecture, combined with Intel's Atom chip technology, equals 512 1.66-GHZ x86 cores in a rack system -- and that translates to 75 percent less power consumption in less space without any software modifications.

"Intel is committed to working with innovative companies to deliver extraordinary solutions," said Jason Waxman, general manager of Intel's Data Center Group. "The combination of SeaMicro's unique server architecture and the new dual-core Intel Atom processor, which provides 64-bit OS support and four gigabytes of OS-addressable memory all while maintaining the benefits of x86 software compatibility, makes for a very compelling value proposition."

Intel Inside

How compelling? SeaMicro reports that its latest offering offers more computing power per unit and more computing space per unit than any other system.

Indeed, SeaMicro's 1.28-terabit-per-second supercomputer-style fabric makes it possible for the SM10000-64 to deliver five times more bandwidth per unit than traditional servers. That means applications that require extensive server-to-server communication, such as Hadoop, can run more quickly by keeping network bottlenecks from inhibiting application performance.

Intel makes it all possible. The N570 supports 64-bit operating systems, four gigabytes of operating system addressable memory per socket, and is the first low-power Atom processor to support virtualization.

Each dual-core N570 processor supports four threads and delivers the industry's best performance per watt for Internet workloads. When used on a SeaMicro motherboard, and in conjunction with SeaMicro power management technology, the N570 uses, at peak utilization, less than one watt for each gigahertz of computing.

Small, But Powerful

"SeaMicro was one of the first to market with servers that contain chip technologies that would more commonly be in the embedded and small-device space," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "SeaMicro was exceptional in the fact that they were pushing forward with Intel's Atom processor, which we've seen in netbooks and is also aimed at the tablet and smartphone market."

King said SeaMicro is essentially building a cluster with Atom processors that can offer a high degree of performance at a fraction of the energy cost of similarly powerful Xeon or Pentium x86 clusters. With Intel's 64-bit Atom chip technology, SeaMicro has more computing power to work with.

Because its servers squeeze so much processing power into such a small space, King said SeaMicro has seen traction with vendors that have built server farms to support web search and other kinds of web-focused technologies.

"This offers a really interesting opportunity for companies like Yahoo, Google and others that have these huge X86 server farms that they are building and supporting," King said. "But there are also some other types of business computing opportunities out there for them. It's an interesting and potentially very disruptive technology."
at 9:35 PM

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