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Thursday, March 17, 2011

EMC's anti-hacking division hacked (AP) : Technet

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EMC's anti-hacking division hacked (AP) : Technet

EMC's anti-hacking division hacked (AP)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 05:42 PM PDT

– Thu Mar 17, 8:42 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – The world's biggest maker of data storage computers on Thursday said that its security division has been hacked, and that the intruders compromised a widely used technology for preventing computer break-ins.

The breach is an embarrassment for EMC Corp., also a premier security vendor, and potentially threatens highly sensitive computer systems.

The incident is a rare public acknowledgement by a security company that its internal anti-hacking technologies have been hacked. It is especially troubling because the technology sold by EMC's security division, RSA, plays an important role in making sure unauthorized people aren't allowed to log into heavily guarded networks.

The scope of the attack wasn't immediately known, but the potential fallout could be widespread. RSA's customers include the military, governments, various banks and medical facilities and health insurance outfits. EMC, which is based Hopkinton, Mass., itself is an RSA customer.

EMC said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that RSA was the victim of what is known as an "advanced persistent threat," industry jargon for a sophisticated computer attack. The term is often associated with corporate espionage, nation-state attacks, or high-level cybercriminal gangs.

EMC didn't offer clues about the suspected origin of the attack. It said it recently discovered an "extremely sophisticated" attack in progress against its networks and discovered that the infiltrators had made off with confidential data on RSA's SecurID products. The technology underpins the ubiquitous RSA-branded keychain "dongles" and other products that blanket important computer networks with an additional layer of protection.

The products make it harder for someone to break into a computer even if a password is stolen, for example. The RSA device, working in concert with back-end software, generates an additional password that only the holder of the device would know. But if a criminal can figure out how those additional passwords are generated, the system is at risk.

RSA is one of the best-known names for this type of "two-factor authentication" technology.

RSA declined to comment on what type, or how much, information was stolen.

Richard Stiennon, a security analyst with the IT-Harvest firm, said there would be "tremendous repercussions" if the criminals were able to silently tap into critical systems using the stolen information.

"You'd never have a sign that you've been breached," he said.

In its SEC filing, RSA said that it is "confident that the information extracted does not enable a successful direct attack on any of our RSA SecurID customers." However, it warned that "this information could potentially be used to reduce the effectiveness of a current two-factor authentication implementation as part of a broader attack."

"We have no evidence that customer security related to other RSA products has been similarly impacted," said the company's executive chairman, Art Coviello. "We are also confident that no other EMC products were impacted by this attack. It is important to note that we do not believe that either customer or employee personally identifiable information was compromised as a result of this incident."

The company said it is providing "immediate remediation steps" for customers. It didn't specify what those are. It outlined some generic security tips that offer clues about how its customers might be targeted with the information stolen from RSA, such as closely monitoring the use of social networking websites by people with access to critical networks and the need to educate employees on the danger of clicking on links or attachments in suspicious e-mails.

EMC said it doesn't expect the breach to have a meaningful impact on its financial results.

Its shares slipped 8 cents to $25.58 in extended trading Thursday. They ended the regular session up 25 cents at $25.56.

New York Times' website moving from free to fees (AP)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 04:08 PM PDT

– Thu Mar 17, 7:08 pm ET

NEW YORK – The New York Times will start charging people for unlimited access to its website and mobile services this month, ending the free usage that online readers of the third-largest U.S. newspaper have enjoyed for most of the past 15 years.

The Times will charge $15 every four weeks, or $195 annually, to read more than 20 articles per month on its website. That fee also covers a subscription on the newspaper's software for smart phones. Readers who want unlimited access on the website and the Times' software for Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet computer will have to pay $20 every four weeks, or $260 annually. A digital pass covering the website and both mobile options will cost $35 every four weeks, or $455 annually.

Subscribers to the Times' print edition will still get digital access for free while other readers will be limited to 20 free articles on the website each month. People using mobile applications will get the "top news" section free.

The long-awaited pricing system was announced Thursday as The New York Times Co. tries to counter a steep drop in print advertising. The publisher's annual revenue fell 27 percent from $3.3 billion in 2006 to $2.4 billion last year even as higher prices for its print editions have brought in more revenue from readers. While growing, digital ad revenue hasn't been large enough to offset losses in print advertising.

The newspaper is hoping to bring in more revenue from readers without triggering a backlash that diminishes its Web traffic and slows its rapidly growing sales of Internet ads.

Finding that balance is the primary reason the Times spent more than a year studying the way readers use its website and talking to them about what they might be willing to pay. The newspaper began testing the fees Thursday in Canada and will impose them everywhere else beginning March 28.

Other newspaper publishers will be monitoring the Times' effort as they try to decide whether to charge online readers, too. The Times becomes the second major U.S. daily this month to introduce online fees, joining The Dallas Morning News, which is owned by A.H. Belo Corp.

"This is a big moment for newspapers," said Rob Grimshaw, managing director for FT.com, which introduced fees for unlimited digital access to The Financial Times in 2007. "I think this will show that people are willing to pay for high-quality, original reporting."

After the 20 free articles, craftier Web surfers will still be able to read an unlimited number for free if they can find them through search engines run by Microsoft Corp.'s Bing and Yahoo Inc. or through links posted on content-sharing sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The Times is imposing a daily limit of five articles for traffic coming from Google, which processes about two-thirds of all Internet queries.

The digital fees reflect the Times' confidence in the quality of its newspaper, which has won more than 100 Pulitzer Prizes. Executives are betting that the Times coverage is distinctive enough to persuade readers to pay instead settling for news available on hundreds of websites, including some that crib information from the Times and other newspapers.

The Times' digital fees seemed too high to newspaper analyst Ken Doctor of Outsell Inc. He expected a $10-per-month option to reduce the chances of alienating a generation of younger readers who have grown up thinking online news should be free. "They need to be cultivating readers who are going to be their customers," he said.

A recent survey of 755 U.S. adult Internet users by Pew Internet & American Life Project last fall underscores Doctor's concerns. The typical user paid an average of $10 per month for online content, with people ages 30 to 49 most likely to do so. Overall, just 18 percent of the respondents had paid for a digital newspaper, magazine or article. One-third had bought digital music or software online.

The Times has introduced digital subscription fees twice before, only to rescind them because they weren't bringing in enough revenue.

Without providing details, the Times said it will offer introductory discounts to ease the transition to digital fees.

Shares of the Times Co. rose 3 cents to close Thursday at $8.89.

One Startup's Quest to Reinvent the Banner Ad (Mashable)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 04:06 PM PDT

Jennifer Van Grove Jennifer Van Grove – Thu Mar 17, 7:06 pm ET

In the summer of 2009, LinkedIn approached widget maker Widgetbox with an idea. The professional social network, already jimmy-rigging Widgetbox widgets to create dynamic ads on its site, was anxious to create its own independent ad platform and turned to Widgetbox for help.

The conversation continued and eventually, with LinkedIn's guidance, Widgetbox released a cloud-based ad platform to allow publishers to sell their own compelling and dynamic ad units. 18 months later, Widgetbox officially rebranded as Flite to focus on the ad platform, securing $12 million in Series C funding led by General Catalyst Partners in the process.

Mashable spoke with Flite CEO Will Price on how the company is now building the banner ads of tomorrow.

Banner Ads of Tomorrow

Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicts that the online display advertising business, now a $17 billion industry, can grow to become a $200 billion business. The rise of online advertisements that update in real-time are part of the reason he projects such a big spike in online display ad spend.

While Google owns DoubleClick Studio and plans to push aggressively in the real-time ad direction, Flite believes it can carve out a thick slice of this potential $200 billion pie.

Price calls the startup's ad units "miniaturized websites" and believes them to be the banner ads of tomorrow.

The startup's dynamic units can incorporate combinations of video, polls, forms and a brand's social media content from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. These ads are elastic in nature and can be shared out to social networks. The units can also live on web, mobile or inside Facebook. An ad shared with Facebook keeps its original form, and they look more like widgets than ads, a sign of Flite's Widgetbox roots.

Price says Flite tracks ad impressions as usual, but also measures ad shares and the reach of the individuals who share the units. He suggests that Flite customers see eight to 20 times improvement in ROI over traditional flash-based units.

Fight or Flite

Flite owes its existence to LinkedIn's pain point as a publisher. The social network wanted to go the independent ad route, but to skip the middle man ad network it needed to develop ad units that would give brands a compelling reason to work with the company directory. Enter Flite's cloud-based ads.

The publisher problem is not unique to LinkedIn; Flite customers now include IDG, Digg, MTV, Yelp, Yahoo and even Federated Media. Flite customers then sell its ad units to their direct brand buyers -- Google, Sony, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, IBM and FedEx, to name a few.

More recently, Flite has also started to sell directly to brands and is currently running campaigns for L'Oreal and Microsoft Kinect, Price says.

Onward and Upward

Flite believes it can ride its latest $12 million round of funding to profitability by 2012. The startup was anxious to raise funds and attack the market right now, says Price. The current 60 person team will double in size this year, he says, with new hires split evenly between sales, marketing and engineering.

Flite ad unit activity is also trending upwards. In December 2010, it saw just under 150 million ad impressions, up from 100 million in November and 40 million in October.

With Google as a competitor, though, the startup may encounter a few potholes and flat tires on its road to profitability.

NY Times unveils plan to charge readers on the Web (AFP)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 06:45 PM PDT

by Chris Lefkow Chris Lefkow – 2 hrs 17 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The New York Times unveiled plans to begin charging for full access to its website in a move that will be closely watched by other newspapers looking to boost online revenue.

The Times will offer readers 20 free articles a month at NYTimes.com before they will be asked to sign on to one of three digital subscription plans that cost from $15 to $35 a month.

Arthur Sulzberger, the Times publisher, announced the long-awaited move to a digital subscription model in a letter to readers published at NYTimes.com, the top US newspaper site with more than 30 million unique visitors a month.

Sulzberger said digital subscriptions will begin on Thursday in Canada to "fine-tune the customer experience" and will be extended to the United States and the rest of the world on March 28.

He said home delivery subscribers to the print edition of the Times and the International Herald Tribune, a Paris-based Times co. newspaper, will have full and free access to NYTimes.com.

Unlimited access to NYTimes.com and the newspaper's smartphone application will cost $15 for four weeks while full access to the website and a tablet computer application will cost $20 for four weeks. Full access to NYTimes.com and both smartphone and tablet applications is $35 for four weeks.

Digital subscriptions can be purchased online through NYTimes.com and will be available through Apple's iTunes by June 30.

Sulzberger said the move is a "significant transition" for the Times and "one that will strengthen our ability to provide high-quality journalism to readers around the world and on any platform."

Like other US newspapers, the Times has been struggling with declining print advertising revenue, falling circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.

The Times abandoned a previous effort to charge online called Times Select in 2007 after a two-year experiment.

The News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal is currently the only major US newspaper charging readers for unlimited access to its website and other US publishers have been waiting for the Times to unveil its online plan.

Britain's Financial Times also charges for full online access and the managing director of FT.com, Rob Grimshaw, told AFP on Thursday that it has 210,000 digital subscribers, just over half its print circulation.

The Wall Street Journal's basic for WSJ.com is $103 a year while the Financial Times charges $249 a year for a standard FT.com subscription.

Many US newspaper publishers have been reluctant to erect pay walls around their websites out of fear that it will result in a loss of traffic and online advertising revenue.

But Grimshaw said the "metered model" used by the Financial Times and now adopted by The New York Times can work for "quality publishers."

"We feel this is an approach and a model that can work very well for quality publishers, not just in terms of niche content like business and finance news, but also for high-quality general news," he said.

"If it's high-quality content, if it's unique, if it's differentiated, then it's valuable to people and if it's valuable people will be prepared to pay," he said.

"I think you'll see a lot of other publishers adopting similar models over the next few years," Grimshaw said, although he cautioned that "it won't work for everybody."

"There's an awful lot of duplication going on across the marketplace," he said.

Dan Kennedy, a professor of journalism at Boston's Northeastern University, said the Times was taking a "smart and nuanced approach to the problem of how do you get heavy users of your online content to pay while continuing to be part of the free conversation that's taking place around your news."

Kennedy said the Times, however, is "not a very good test case for the news business as a whole" because the newspaper is "so unique."

"I really do think there's a huge base of people out there who are willing to pay for the Times and pretty much nothing else," he said.

The Times said the NYTimes.com home page and section fronts will remain free to browse and the Top News section on smartphone and tablet applications will also be free of charge.

Web users who find articles through links from Internet search, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter will be able to read those articles "even if they have reached their monthly reading limit," it said.

There will be a five-article a day limit, however, of free links to articles to readers who visit NYTimes.com from Google.

Times Co. shares gained 0.34 percent on Wall Street to close at $8.89.

Groupon's "Lincoln Lawyer" ticket offer is popular (Reuters)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 04:25 PM PDT

Nintendo 3DS: First Impressions (PC World)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 06:45 PM PDT

Patrick Miller Patrick Miller – 2 hrs 15 mins ago

Maybe you're planning on waiting in line for a Nintendo 3DS on March 27th. Maybe you're simply planning on waiting until the dust settles and the hype dies down before you decide whether or not to buy one. Either way, you'll want to read on for our first impressions of Nintendo's latest and greatest.

In Video: Nintendo 3DS Unboxing

Nintendo 3DS Setup

The first thing you're going to do with a Nintendo 3DS is go through the setup wizard. (Thankfully, it's brief, so you can start playing pretty quickly.) You start by configuring the upper screen, which can display a 3D image--just put your head in front of the 3DS, facing it straight-on, and adjust the 3D image slider on the right-hand side to tweak the "3D-ness" of the Nintendo logo. Don't be shy--you'll probably be adjusting this on a game-by-game basis.

Next, you'll set up a brief user profile, though it's nothing more than a name, birthday, and geographical region. If you have access to a Wi-Fi network, you can also set it up at this point. Like the Nintendo DSi, it supports various flavors of WPA2 encryption, so you won't have to risk your network security to get your 3DS online.

Unless you're itching to dive into the action, though, you'll probably want to set up your Mii--Nintendo's cartoony avatar that'll show up intermittently in 3DS apps. Unlike the Nintendo Wii's Mii creator, you can actually use the camera to give yourself an easy starting point--the 3DS will ask you to position your face, take a picture, then find the closest available Mii features that match. (You can also start from scratch, if you like, but that's no fun.) Do your hair, maybe add some glasses, and bam--you're in your 3DS.

By now, you're probably itching to try some games. I sure was. So I cracked open the four launch games I had--Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, Pilotwings Resort, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, and Madden Football--and spent a little time getting to know them.

Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition

Capcom promo event, but wasn't able to delve as deeply as I would've liked.

In short: Very impressive. Porting over Street Fighter is a tricky proposition for a few reasons, since it's designed to be played with a traditional arcade joystick controller and a nice big screen--neither of which you'll get with the Nintendo 3DS. Nonetheless, the controls work surprisingly well. The online play worked splendidly (in fact, it was even easier to find a low-lag match on the 3DS than it is on Xbox Live, though this might be because the 3DS isn't for sale yet), and the game played more or less like its big brother on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

SSFIV 3D takes advantage of the 3D display in two ways. The flashier application is the 3D game mode, which plays and controls exactly the same as the standard game mode, except that your point of view is now over the shoulder of your character, rather than perpendicular to both fighters. It's certainly an interesting look, and fun to play around with, but it takes some getting used to, and veteran players won't be able to gauge distances or block quite as accurately. There's a separate multiplayer mode for the 3D fights, so you won't be matched up with someone who's playing in the regular mode (thankfully).

The 3D actually comes into play subtly in the standard perpendicular fight viewing mode, and it actually looked pretty good. The problem with taking a fighting game designed for a big screen and shrinking it down for the 3DS is that you're forced to change the player's perspective slightly. On a big screen, you can have visually engaging, complicated background scenes as well as big characters with detailed models. On a small screen, you can either keep the characters big but shrink the background, or zoom out so you can see the background but make the characters tiny. The 3D screen on the 3DS uses the 3D perspective to effectively let you do both--the characters are big and easy to see, but the backgrounds are still detailed. The 3D screen essentially makes the game better, something you can't say about some of the rest of these games.

Pilotwings Resort

After dishing out some punishment in SSFIV3D, I was ready to play something more relaxing. Enter Pilotwings Resort. We've already teased a bit of a pre-release footage from Pilotwings Resort in our previous hands-on video. Check it out below.

In Video: Nintendo 3DS Hands-On Preview

The Pilotwings series has always been about the joy (and in some cases, frustration) of flight, and Pilotwings Resort is no exception. After a quick tutorial mode, I was cruising around Wuhu Island in a plane, hang glider, or rocket belt (kind of like a jet pack). I played a few easy training missions that taught me some basic flying skills with each of the vehicles, then I was off to free flight mode, where I could cruise around to my heart's content.

Pilotwings Resort isn't for everyone, but it does put the 3DS's 3D capabilities to the test--after all, the game is about moving freely in a 3D space, and that means it needs to look and feel good. Unfortunately, the first thing I had to do was turn the 3D slider down to about 40%--any higher and I was seeing double, which almost gave me a headache. Once I did, the 3D image looked a bit more tame, which made the game far more playable (your mileage may vary).

Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars

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Amazon will undercut Android Market with its app store (Appolicious)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 04:00 PM PDT

Facebook on Windows Phone Hangs; Fix Coming (PC Magazine)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 11:49 AM PDT

Mark Hachman - PC Magazine Mark Hachman - Pc Magazine – Thu Mar 17, 2:49 pm ET

Microsoft and Facebook said Thursday that they are in the process of rolling out a fix for the Facebook application for Windows Phone 7, which has been hanging for some users.

In the meantime, representatives for both companies recommended that users access status updates and other information via the Windows Phone 7 People Hub, a front end for a user's contacts via social networks.

"Microsoft and Facebook are aware that some people did experience issues while trying to access the Facebook application for Windows Phone 7," spokesman for Facebook said in an email. "The Facebook functionality integrated into the Windows Phone 7 People hub has not been impacted. Microsoft and Facebook are in the process of rolling out a fix, and will restore the full functionality of the Windows Phone 7 application as soon as possible."

A Microsoft spokesman added that ""Microsoft and Facebook are aware that the Facebook application for Windows Phone 7 is crashing for some customers."

Jaime Rodriguez, a client evangelist for Microsoft, said in a tweet Thursday that the app had been crashing since Tuesday. "Facebook for #wp7 team is working with fb to fix crash that started tuesday; pl chk for app updates. Use people hub interim. pL rt #wp7dev"

Microsoft recently confirmed that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace has reached 10,000 apps, and it's done so faster than any other app store.

"The torrid pace of app creation for Windows Phone continues to amaze me – and should give everyone with a phone good reason to smile," Microsoft's Michael Stroh wrote on the Windows Phone blog.

Additional reporting by Leslie Horn.

Amazon's Android App Store: Steve Jobs Just Doesn't Get It (PC World)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 03:18 PM PDT

JR Raphael Jr Raphael – Thu Mar 17, 6:18 pm ET

Roll out the welcome wagon, Android fans: It looks like you'll soon have a new place to shop.

Amazon may be days away from launching its Android app store, if recent signs are any indication. The company briefly had its storefront online this week, as discovered by German website AndroidNews.de. The blog had the bright idea to pull up amazon.com/apps; there, it found a page entitled "Appstore for Android" with a list of 48 "top-selling" applications.

The page has since been taken down, but from its brief stay, we learned that Amazon's Android app store will have apps that aren't available in the main Android Market (beyond just the Angry Birds Rio exclusive Amazon had previously announced). It looks like the store will also offer cheaper prices on some common applications; several programs were marked down by as much as a couple dollars below their Android Market rates.

Amazon's Android App Store: Differing Viewpoints

In the grand scheme of things, the launch of Amazon's new app store signifies an exciting step forward for the world of Android. Think about it: This kind of high-profile competition will bring richer and more diverse options for us, the customers. And, as competition tends to do, it'll encourage competitive pricing. Remember, too, that Amazon is offering its own incentives to developers, which'll help attract new talent and drive innovation on Android even further. And the best part: If you don't like the way Amazon approaches app sales, you don't have to use its store. It's just another choice -- the first of many on the way.

What's fascinating to me is that some people, such as the CEO behind a certain competing smartphone platform, like to characterize multiple app stores on Android as a bad thing. Remember Steve Jobs' anti-Android rant from his company's earnings call last fall?

"In addition to Google's own app marketplace, Amazon, Verizon, and Vodafone have all announced that they are creating their own app stores for Android -- so there will be at least four app stores on Android, which customers must search among to find the app they want," Jobs said.

"This is gonna be a mess for both users and developers," he went on to proclaim.

Amazon's Android App Store: The Jobs Perception Problem

Here's the problem: Jobs, as usual, is looking at this through his Apple-tinted glasses. As I wrote in a friendly letter to the turtlenecked one last year, most markets -- virtual or otherwise -- do allow people to buy products from multiple providers. Choice doesn't lead to chaos (nor does it lead to unstoppable scary-virus-monster attacks, by the way -- but that's another story).

Let's translate this into a more traditional retail scenario for some perspective. Say there's a giant shoe store with thousands of shoes on its shelves. It has something for everyone; its selection is unmatched.

Now, would any of us look at that store and say it should be the only shoe store anyone's ever allowed to visit? Of course not. It may be large, convenient, and the de facto option for many families. But competing shoe stores will add diversity into the mix, offering different items and maybe better prices. They'll take advantage of their own strengths to create new kinds of value for shoppers -- better customer service, for example, or easier ways to check out. Why wouldn't we want that choice?

Competition may not be good for the retailer -- particularly when the retailer is a giant tech company that makes loads of money by owning the only store its customers can utilize -- but competition is almost always good for the consumer. For users, choice doesn't equal chaos. Choice equals power.

Android's app selection is already growing at an alarming rate -- more than three times the rate of Apple's, according to a recent analysis. The introduction of high-profile supplementary app stores like Amazon's is only going to speed up that growth, while simultaneously expanding the marketplace in new and interesting ways.

Apple can slant things however it wishes, but mark my words: This is the beginning of something big.

JR Raphael is a PCWorld contributing editor and the author of the Android Power blog. You can find him on both Facebook and Twitter.

Microsoft Outranks Google in Ethics (Mashable)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 02:35 PM PDT

Jolie O'Dell Jolie O'dell – Thu Mar 17, 5:35 pm ET

When it comes to ethical actions that go beyond slick marketing and corporate mission statements, Microsoft might be outperforming some of its rivals in the tech space.

Microsoft, Adobe, eBay, T-Mobile and Salesforce were a few of the tech companies that made Ethisphere's annual unranked list of the world's most ethical companies. These companies have been recognized for their "real and sustained ethical leadership" across various industries.

Google, whose "don't be evil" motto and highly visible social good activities give the company a friendly public face, wasn't on the list; the company was present on the list in 2010, 2009, 2008 but has since dropped off for reasons unstated by Ethisphere.

As far as we can tell, this is the first time Microsoft has been recognized by this group.

So, what could have put a tarnish on Google's ethical reputation? The huge lobbying budgets in a year of increased user privacy regulations? The patent lawsuit wherein Oracle claimed that parts of Android were not authorized for such use? The ongoing lawsuits over Google Books' copyright violations? Or the $8.5 million settlement of a class action lawsuit over Buzz and its violations of users' privacy?

In corporate America, issues like the ones we've stated above are rather run-of-the-mill -- and Microsoft, Adobe, et al. certainly face similar and sometimes identical troubles. But as far as Ethisphere is concerned, Microsoft's combination of corporate philanthropy, responsibility, innovation for social good, and compliance with standards makes the grade for truly ethical corporate behavior.

Ethisphere contends that these more ethical companies not only have more sustainable businesses, but that they also financially outperform their competitors in the S&P 500 and other indices of publicly traded companies.

Image courtesy of Flickr, bfishadow.

Socialcam iPhone app allows for quick video uploads (Appolicious)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 07:09 PM PDT

Apple, EMC seen leading tech (Investor's Business Daily)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 03:12 PM PDT

– Thu Mar 17, 6:12 pm ET

The shift to mobile devices and cloud computing will benefit the maker of iPhones and iPads as well as EMC (NYSE:EMC - News), whose data storage products are used in virtualization, Credit Suisse said. Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL - News) smart phone will be its main earnings driver, but the tablet will dominate its market, which is projected to reach $120 bil by 2015. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ - News) is seen benefiting from a shift to higher-margin services, data storage and networking. Apple climbed 1.4% to 334.64. EMC rose 1% to 25.56. HP jumped 3.2% to 41.43.

Apple's New iPhone Ads: Our Content is Better (PC World)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 02:52 PM PDT

Jeff Bertolucci Jeff Bertolucci – Thu Mar 17, 5:52 pm ET

In an effort to distinguish its tightly controlled content ecosystem from those of its mobile competitors--specifically, Google's fast-growing Android platform--Apple has released three new iPhone TV ads on its YouTube channel and website.

Each ad touts a unique aspect of the iPhone mobile experience, including the App Store, iPod + iTunes, and iBooks, MacRumors reports. When we checked, the App Store video was labeled "private" on YouTube and hence inaccessible. The iPod + iTunes and iBooks spots, each 30 seconds long, were still viewable, however.

The commercials highlight what Cupertino sees as its core strengths in the mobile market. In the iPod + iTunes ad, for instance, Apple's ever-smarmy narrator says: "If you don't have an iPhone, you don't have an iPod in your phone." Which means you don't have iTunes either. Considering that Apple sold 275 million iPods through September 1, 2010, there's a good chance you own an iPod, or someone in your household does. You may own more than one. And you've no doubt purchased songs on iTunes too. The subtext: Why mess with what works? The iPhone will play your iTunes music without any hassles at all. Those other phones, well...

The iBooks ad is less persuasive. Unlike iTunes, iBooks is a fairly new storefront in the online marketplace. Relatively few iPhone (or iPad) users have had the time or inclination to stockpile a library of iBooks titles. In addition, Amazon's Kindle e-reading app, which is available across multiple tablet and smartphone platforms, is the big kahuna in e-books, not iBooks. And, yes, Kindle runs on the iPhone as well.

Each ads ends with the tag line: "Yup, if you don't have an iPhone, well, you don't have an iPhone." Well, that's true enough. The question is, are the advantages of Apple's safe, secure, and well-stocked content garden enough to buy iPhones rather than Android handsets?

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

Apple iPad 2 parts said squeezed by Japan quake: report (Reuters)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 04:58 PM PDT

By Alexei Oreskovic Alexei Oreskovic – Thu Mar 17, 7:58 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc may face shortages of key components for its newly-released iPad 2 as a result of the earthquake in Japan, according to a report released on Thursday.

Several key components in the new version of Apple's popular iPad tablet PC come from Japan, including the battery and the flash memory used to store music and video on the device, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.

The iPad 2 battery, which IHS iSuppli said is "unusually thin", is manufactured by Apple Japan, an Apple subsidiary, and likely requires advanced manufacturing technologies that reside in the country.

"Logistical disruptions may mean that Apple could have difficulties obtaining this battery, and it may not be able to secure supply from an external, non-Japanese source," the report said.

Production at many Japanese manufacturing facilities has come to a halt following Friday's 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which has left more than 5,600 people dead and destroyed swaths of the country.

Toshiba Corp, which is one of the companies that produces the NAND flash memory used in the iPad 2 according to IHS iSuppli's research, briefly shut down a flash memory manufacturing facility in Japan and warned it could face hurdles distributing its products.

Suppliers of other components whose factories weren't damaged are likely to be affected by logistical issues, such as difficulties procuring raw materials and shipping finished products, the report said.

Apple launched the iPad 2 in the United States last week to strong demand, with many stores selling out of the device and analysts estimating that the company sold 1 million units during the debut weekend.

The current wait time for an iPad ordered online is 4-5 weeks. Apple declined to say how that would be affected.

On Tuesday, Apple said it would delay the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan as "the country and our teams focus on recovering from the recent disaster." An Apple spokeswoman told Reuters the decision to delay sales had nothing to do with any component shortages.

Among the other iPad 2 components sourced from Japan listed in the IHS iSuppli report are a compass from AKM Semiconductor and DRAM memory produced by Elpida Memory Inc. A touchscreen overlay glass is likely from Asahi Glass Co, IHS iSuppli said.

The report said that some of these components, particularly the flash and DRAM memory chips, could be procured from alternative suppliers.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Developers donate proceeds, services to Japan relief efforts (Macworld)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 02:36 PM PDT

Joel Mathis Joel Mathis – Thu Mar 17, 5:36 pm ET

The multiple disasters afflicting Japan—earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear—have created an outpouring of charity around the world. As part of the effort, several Apple-oriented software developers are donating services and money to ease the suffering of victims and their families.

Oregon-based Panic announced Thursday that 100 percent of its sales proceeds for the 24 hours ending at 10 a.m. Pacific Friday will be donated to Japanese relief efforts. The company's Mac apps include the Transmit 4 FTP client; Coda Web development software; and Unison usenet browser. The programs can be purchased through the Mac App Store or directly from Panic's online store—the donation will apply in either case.

California-based SmartRoam announced on Tuesday that users of its ChatTime VoIP app for the iPhone—a product pitched at those making international phone calls—can make free calls to Japan until the end of March. (Unlimited calling to Japan from the United States usually costs $15 a month on ChatTime.) Users who have placed calls to Japan since the earthquake began will have charges for those calls waived.

Idaho's Devon Technologies—maker of data-management Mac software such as Devon Think and Devon Agent—says it will donate 20 percent of its March proceeds to Japanese relief efforts, with most of its donations likely to go to Doctors Without Borders.

Similarly, Denver's Interval Studios is donating 100 percent of its proceeds from March 11 to March 31 to the Japan Society's Earthquake Relief Fund. The company produces the Thicket and Snowdrift apps for iOS—the former previously reached the number 2 spot in the Entertainment category on the Japanese App Store.

Austin's Real Software—maker of Web development tools—plans to give 5 percent of the company's sales to the American Red Cross's Japan fund during the week of March 20-26. The company offers a range of products, including Real Studio Enterprise Edition, a $995 offering made for full-time developers.

Useful Fruit, maker of the $40 Pear Note clipboard program for Mac computers, will donate all of its sales proceeds from Friday, March 18, to UMCOR, the relief organization associated with the United Methodist Church.

And one of Japan's better-known game developers is also contributing to the cause. Square Enix Group—maker of the Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, and Space Invaders franchises—is donating ¥100 million to recovery efforts. The company's employees around the world will be encouraged to donate, as will players of its Nicotto Town virtual-life game.

Marketcircle, maker of business software Billings and Daylite, will donate 100 percent of proceeds from Billings 3 and Billings Touch sales between Monday, March 21 and Wednesday, March 23 to the Red Cross.

In the wake of the disasters, Apple has started taking donations to the American Red Cross via the iTunes Store and one of its Japanese retail stores has reputedly been offering help and shelter to some of those affected.

Updated at 2:51pm PST to add Marketcircle to the list

HP Joins the Cloud, But Others Are Ahead (PC World)

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 02:00 PM PDT

Keir Thomas Keir Thomas – Thu Mar 17, 5:00 pm ET

One of the world's most venerable IT manufacturers is flying into the cloud. The new boss of Hewlett-Packard, Leo Apotheker, has announced that HP intends to compete with Google and Amazon, both of which dominate the nascent cloud services field. According to Apotheker, HP intends to have a cloud offering for every level of customer, from consumer through to enterprise.

Although not entirely surprising--as HP recently announced its cloud-ready WebOS would be on every PC it makes--it's going to be a tough road ahead for HP, which is coming to the cloud party pretty late.

Above all, I can't help feeling that HP's approaching the cloud from the wrong angle. Google and Amazon have their own reasons for being in the cloud, and they're likely to be quite different from those of HP.

With its Docs product, among other things, Google's in the cloud simply because it wants to own our data. If it can give us the tools to get at the data--whether that's an online office suite or even a mobile operating system--then Google's just one step closer to that goal.

We pay for Google services by giving Google access to our data. Is HP as interested in data as is Google? Or, more likely, does it intend to launch cloud services that'll come with a subscription model? If so, bearing in mind that we expect everything online to be free of charge, how will HP convince us to open our wallets? HP's going to have to come up with something very clever indeed.

As for Amazon Web Services (AWS), there's little doubt its cloud services exist to make money. But Amazon has done a stunning job of simultaneously positioning itself as the best and also the fuss-free, bottom-dollar choice.

Users pay only for what they use. There are no minimum terms, and no requirement to enter into a service contract. All of this makes AWS ultra-accessible and also truly democratic--you or I can use it to offload some of our computing requirements, while organizations like NASA also use it.

Can HP emulate that? And even if they did, do we need another AWS? It's not so much that Amazon is part of the cloud services marketplace. It is the services marketplace, and the services are so inexpensive that there's not the kind of discontent that drives customers to a different provider. Once again, HP is going to have to be immensely innovative to gain a foothold.

And that's the sad part of all this. Right now in various boardrooms, HP executives are no doubt talking about creating "cloud products." They're probably looking at what focus groups have told them people want. Market researchers will be a looming presence.

Again, compare and contrast to AWS. It started small. Through a system of being highly responsive to customer feedback, AWS engineers have built a mighty infrastructure of cloud services that address just about any need. In many ways, AWS is built by engineers for engineers. It's all about creating services that scratch an itch.

It's hard to imagine HP getting in at the ground-floor like AWS did. It would require too much humility for such a large and venerable corporation.

There is one area where HP could take the lead, however. If the cloud revolution goes to plan, pretty soon we're going to need cloud printers. Even the most cynical will agree that HP's pretty good at the whole paper-pushing thing.

We'll need printers that live on the Internet and seamlessly integrate with the likes of Google Docs, for all levels of users. And there's room for innovation in this area. Cloud printing will require more than simply spewing out page after page. Perhaps cloud documents printed while out on the road by could be stored in the printer's memory until the worker returns to the office. We might need printers that feature some kind of pigeon-hole system for workers who print when not in the office.

I'm riffing here, of course, and I'm not a product designer. But there's scope for development, and HP would be foolish not to grasp it. But that'd be a process of expanding its core competencies, rather than jumping off into an entirely new area.

The world could probably do with a few more cloud-enabled computers too, although HP shouldn't be surprised if take-up is gentle rather than rapid. Somebody needs to clear a path. HP could do that.

Just a few years ago it was de rigueur for once-mighty companies to grasp at open source to plug holes in their businesses. Sometimes it worked (Apple did OK, for example, as did IBM), but more often it failed. Now it feels like companies grasp at cloud computing instead. But in many ways the cloud presents far more of a challenge, and requires massive innovation. And there simply isn't any evidence that HP has what it takes.

Then again, I hope that I'm wrong.

Keir Thomas has been making known his opinion about computing since the last century. His latest Kindle ebook has just gone on sale. You can learn more about him at http://keirthomas.com. His Twitter feed is @keirthomas.
at 9:24 PM

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