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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Judge echoes Google critics in digital book ruling (AP) : Technet

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Judge echoes Google critics in digital book ruling (AP) : Technet

Judge echoes Google critics in digital book ruling (AP)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 04:33 PM PDT

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Mar 23, 7:33 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – As Google Inc. evolved from being an endearing startup to an Internet empire, the company has become used to critics depicting it as a copyright scofflaw and pushy monopolist. It's different when the unflattering portrait is being drawn by a federal judge.

This week's ruling from U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin did more than complicate Google's efforts to make digital copies of the world's 130 million books and possibly sell them through an online book store that it opened last year. It also touched upon antitrust, copyright and privacy issues that are threatening to handcuff Google as it tries to build upon its dominance in Internet search to muscle into new markets.

"This opinion reads like a microcosm of all the big problems facing Google," said Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley lawyer who represented a group led by Google rivals Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. to oppose the digital book settlement.

Google can only hope that some of the points that Chin raised don't become recurring themes as the company navigates legal hurdles in the months ahead.

The company is still trying to persuade the U.S. Justice Department to approve a $700 million purchase of airline fare tracker ITA Software nearly nine months after it was announced. Regulators are focusing its inquiry into whether ITA would give Google the technological leverage to create an unfair advantage over other online travel services. Google argues it will be able to provide more bargains and convenience for travelers if it's cleared to own ITA's technology.

In Europe and the state of Texas, antitrust regulators are looking into complaints about Google abusing its dominance of Internet search to unfairly promote its own services and drive up its advertising prices.

And Google is still trying fend off an appeal in another high-profile copyright case, one stemming from its 2006 acquisition of YouTube, the Internet's leading video site. Viacom Inc. is seeking more than $1 billion in damages after charging YouTube with misusing clips from Comedy Central, MTV and other Viacom channels. A federal judge sided with Google, saying YouTube had done enough to comply with digital copyright laws in its early days.

Viacom is trying to reverse that decision in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, where Chin now works after being promoted from U.S. District Court last year.

"Google has built a monopoly in search, and having a monopoly isn't necessarily illegal," said John Simpson, a frequent Google critic who has been following the company's business practices for the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. "The question is once you are in a monopoly position, how do you use it? I think Google has repeatedly abused it, and that come out in this decision."

Google has been muted in its reaction to Chin's ruling so far. "This is clearly disappointing, but we'll review the court's decision and consider our options," Google managing counsel Hilary Ware said in a statement.

Tuesday's setback comes less than two weeks before Google co-founder Larry Page takes the reins as the company's CEO from Chairman Eric Schmidt.

Building a digital version of ancient Egypt's fabled Library of Alexandria has long been one of Page's pet projects. He and his partner, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, say they want to provide access to all the knowledge in the world's books to anyone with an Internet connection, an ambition that make an appeal or an attempt at a revised settlement more likely.

Although he applauded the digital book concept, Chin concluded Google has been approaching it the wrong way.

The judge chastised Google for "engaging in wholesale, blatant copying without first obtaining copyright permissions." The company instead negotiated with libraries to make electronic copies of the printed books on their shelves. The strategy has enabled Google to scan more than 15 million books since 2004, even as authors and publishers who thought their copyrights were violated protested in court. Google so far has only shown snippets of digital books that were scanned without the permission of copyright owners.

Chin's opinion about Google's disregard for copyrights echoes complaints that have long been made by some publishers, broadcasters and movie studios. They contend the company has profited from showing their copyright-protected content without explicit permission. Google maintains it has only shown excerpts allowed under the "fair use" provision of copyright law and promptly removes any material upon request of the copyright holder, as required under the law.

Viacom's lawsuit revolves around allegations that YouTube employees regularly allowed pirated videos to be remain online in an effort to attract more viewers, a practice that Google's executives knew about before buying the service. Since the acquisition, Google has created technology to block or quickly remove copyright-protected videos from YouTube.

The wording of Chin's decision may even be strong enough to prod Google into rethinking its approach to copyright law, said Jim Pitkow, CEO of Attributor, which makes tools for flagging online copyright violations.

"If Google were going to set out on this (book) project in 2011, I suspect they would have a different perspective than they did when they first started it all those years ago," he said.

Chin also concluded Google designed the proposed settlement to gain control over material that would have likely attracted even more traffic to its search engine, which serves as the hub of an Internet ad network that has raked in more than $100 billion during the past six years. Google already processes about two out of three search requests, an advantage that critics say the company abuses by highlighting its own services, such as mapping and video, over its rivals.

The proposed settlement "would arguably give Google control over the search market," Chin wrote.

One of the main reasons that the ITA deal remains under review is because the Justice Department is looking into whether Google could combine its market power with ITA's technology to stifle competition in the online travel market.

Google maintains its huge lead in the Internet search could quickly erode with an even bigger company — Microsoft — spending billion to improve and promote its Bing search engine. Meanwhile, Facebook, the owner of the Web's most popular hangout, keeps developing products designed to more deeply immerse its site in people's online lives.

Meanwhile, Chin also was sympathetic to concerns that Google would be able to learn even more about its users than it already knows if it gained control of such a vast library of digital books, as the company would have records on what people read.

Google already has been criticized around the world for collecting personal information sent over unprotected wireless networks while its cars photographed neighborhoods and streets in more than two dozen countries from 2007 to 2010. Just this week, France's privacy watchdog fined Google about $141,000 for the intrusions in that country.

Although he said worries about data collection by themselves wouldn't have been enough for him to block the settlement, Chin emphasized: "The privacy concerns are real."

HP's board purge cleared but pay packages scolded (AP)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 05:56 PM PDT

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Mar 23, 8:56 pm ET

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Just as Hewlett-Packard Co. seemed to emerge from one controversy, it has found itself immersed in two others.

HP won investors' approval Wednesday for its deep boardroom makeover that came the wake of the company's CEO scandal. At the same time, however, shareholders formally scolded HP over how much it pays top executives, and HP waded into a fresh round of sniping with Oracle Corp., a public bickering that adds a new dimension to the longtime partners' newfound antagonism.

That HP could land at the center of three public quarrels on the same day illustrates the tumult that has engulfed one of Silicon Valley's most storied companies.

The decision by shareholders to approve the 13 directors that HP put up for election is a big step toward the company moving beyond the scandal over the ouster of CEO Mark Hurd in August.

Hurd was forced out after an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment. The investigation didn't turn up evidence of harassment, but did uncover inaccurate expense reports that Hurd submitted for outings with his accuser. Hurd maintains that he didn't prepare his own expense reports, and the woman's name was not intentionally left off them. The two have said they didn't have a sexual relationship, and have reached a confidential settlement.

For HP, the world's biggest technology company by revenue, the boardroom makeover that followed was also plagued with trouble.

In January, HP said it was replacing a third of its board as the company tried to shake off the scandal. Four directors who had been particularly vocal in the debate over Hurd's ouster were leaving the board, and five new directors were coming in. Some corporate governance experts expressed fears that Hurd's replacement, new HP CEO Leo Apotheker, played too big of a role in picking the new directors, and called for investors to punish some sitting board members by withholding their votes for allowing it to happen. HP has said that its board acted properly.

Despite the dispute, HP said Wednesday at its annual shareholder meeting, held this year in Arlington, Va., that all 13 candidates won election, based on preliminary tallies.

Yet just as that dustup appeared to be dying down, HP became embroiled in two others.

At the annual meeting, about half of HP's shareholders expressed their unhappiness with HP's pay packages for top managers by casting votes against HP's executive compensation policies.

For instance, as HP's top manager, Apotheker has received a compensation package that could be worth tens of millions of dollars, including a $1.2 million salary and $4 million cash signing bonus. In addition, HP was heavily criticized for approving a severance package for Hurd that was in the tens of millions of dollars, some of which he had to give back as part of a settlement.

The shareholder vote is "advisory," so HP isn't required to change its policies. But the company said it values shareholders' opinion.

"While we are disappointed with the outcome of the advisory shareholder vote, HP intends to carefully consider our shareholders' perspectives regarding executive compensation matters and will take those views under advisement when making future decisions relating to executive compensation," HP said in a statement.

Meanwhile, HP waded into a new public battle of words with Oracle.

Oracle and HP are sparring over a technical issue that illustrates the magnitude of the companies' growing rivalry.

After Oracle announced that it would no longer develop new software that works with Intel Corp.'s Itanium chip, citing declining interest in the microprocessor, HP, which has been Itanium's biggest supporter, shot back that Oracle's actions were "anti-customer" and a "shameless gambit to limit fair competition."

The rift between the two companies has widened since Oracle completed its $7.3 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems last year. Sun is a big server maker, and so is HP. Until then, Oracle had focused on software. That focus turned its CEO, Larry Ellison, into one of the world's richest men.

HP accused Oracle of spreading "disinformation" about interest in Itanium and called Oracle's decision "clearly an attempt to force customers into purchasing Sun servers in a desperate move to slow their declining market share."

The dispute kicked off another round of fighting between the two companies. They also parried over Hurd's ouster (Hurd is a friend of Ellison, and was hired by Oracle after his ouster from HP). There was also fighting over Apotheker's appointment (Oracle tried to draw Apotheker into a lawsuit between Oracle and Apotheker's former employer, German business software maker SAP AG).

HP shares rose 33 cents to close at $42.07. Oracle shares rose 29 cents to $31.41.

Showtime deal with Netflix shows emerging rivalry (AP)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 06:03 PM PDT

– Wed Mar 23, 9:03 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Amid an emerging rivalry between traditional pay TV operators and rising star Netflix Inc., CBS Corp.'s Showtime pay TV service confirmed Wednesday that back seasons of current original series like "Dexter" and "Californication" will not be available on Netflix's streaming service as of this summer.

Instead, CBS will offer them to subscribers who pay for Showtime through Comcast Corp. on Comcast's Xfinity TV online platform. Other cable TV providers are expected to offer online access to Showtime in the future.

Netflix and CBS had reached a separate deal in February that allows older shows that are not generating new original episodes to be run on Netflix's streaming service, including "Medium," "Frasier" and "Cheers."

But news that episodes of current Showtime series would no longer be available broke this week after Netflix announced it was buying the right to debut the series "House of Cards" from executive producer David Fincher.

Debuting an original series on its service makes Netflix even more of a direct rival to pay TV channels like Showtime and HBO.

Netflix had 20.2 million subscribers in the U.S. at the end of December, compared with just under 20 million for Showtime and HBO's estimated 28 million.

Showtime originals that have stopped airing on TV, including "The Tudors" and "Sleeper Cell," will continue to be available for streaming on Netflix.

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey acknowledged the deal allowing it to stream Showtime shows like "Dexter" would expire this summer. But he said negotiations were still ongoing to keep them up.

"We're perplexed at these comments because we're negotiating and these titles may or may not be available," he said.

The conflicting versions of events highlight how new technology is upending the traditional pay TV business.

CBS is seeking to maximize the money it can receive from Netflix from older content, while encouraging consumers to continue to subscribe through pay TV providers like Comcast for new original shows on Showtime.

Highlighting the importance of these existing arrangements, CBS cut a 10-year pact with Comcast in August. The deal allows for CBS and Showtime shows to be played on Comcast's Xfinity TV platform, which can be accessed on computers and iPad tablets.

Other companies, like Time Warner Inc.'s HBO have shunned Netflix entirely. HBO offers its service online for no extra charge to its pay TV subscribers.

Netflix, meanwhile, has been spending more to acquire the rights to TV shows and movies that it can stream to customers to wean them off ordering DVDs in the mail in an effort to reduce postage costs.

Goldman Sachs analyst Ingrid Chung said the impact of CBS pulling some shows from Netflix would not materially affect Netflix, but it could signal that it will have to pay more for the right to stream shows in the future.

CBS shares closed up 21 cents at $24.87 on Wednesday, while Netflix shares finished the regular session up $7.67, or 3.5 percent, at $229.06.

Say Hello to Google's New Online Magazine (Mashable)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 05:15 PM PDT

Ben Parr Ben Parr – Wed Mar 23, 8:15 pm ET

Google's has quietly launched its own full-length online magazine, a quarterly publication whose aim is to create a "breathing space in a busy world."

The first edition of Think Quarterly, based out of the UK, is a 68-page dive into the world of data and its impact on business. The first thing most people will notice is that it's a visually stunning piece of work. It's a rich HTML5 app with Google's quirky sensibilities and the in-depth writing you might find in BusinessWeek or Salon. Google's quarterly magazine is edited and designed by creative agency The Church of London.

The articles themselves are though pieces about major business and technology topics from a variety of freelancers and contributors. Google was able to snag Simon Rogers (editor of The Guardian's Datablog), Ulrike Reinhard (editor of WE Magazine), and other journalists for the project. Many of Think Quarterly's articles features interviews with Google executives and technology leaders. Some of the people featured include Vodafone UK CEO Guy Laurence, Google Chief Economist Hal Varian and famed psychologist Peter Kruse.

"At Google, we often think that speed is the forgotten 'killer application' – the ingredient that can differentiate winners from the rest," Matt Brittin, Google's managing director of UK & Ireland operations, said in Think Quarterly's introduction. "We know that the faster we deliver results, the more useful people find our service."

"But in a world of accelerating change, we all need time to reflect. Think Quarterly is a breathing space in a busy world. It's a place to take time out and consider what's happening and why it matters."

It's unclear whether the new online magazine is another sign that Google is entering the media business or whether it's just a project to feed the company's intellectual curiosity. Google doesn't describe its newest project as a magazine or a publication. Instead, Google calls it a book on its website and a "unique communications tool" on its Twitter account.

Regardless of what you call it, Think Quarterly is an interesting and informative experiment by the search giant.

Skype names new chief financial officer (Reuters)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 07:34 PM PDT

– 2 hrs 4 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Internet telephone service Skype said it named Jonathan Chadwick, a former McAfee financial executive, as its chief financial officer.

Chadwick replaces Adrian Dillon as CFO. Dillon has left the company, Skype said in a statement.

Prior to McAfee, Chadwick spent 13 years in various finance roles at Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O), according to Skype's website.

Intel Corp (INTC.O) completed its acquisition of security software maker McAfee earlier this year.

Skype also said it hired Mark Gillett as chief development and operations officer.

Sources told Reuters in November that Skype would go public in 2011. The Wall Street Journal reported in January that Skype would hold off on an IPO until the second half of the year.

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

New startup Color builds community with photos (AFP)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 06:36 PM PDT

by Glenn Chapman Glenn Chapman – Wed Mar 23, 9:36 pm ET

PALO ALTO, California (AFP) – The founder of an online music service snapped up by Apple more than a year ago is out to weave smartphone users into spontaneous communities through instant image sharing.

Color, which Bill Nguyen plans to launch Thursday, lets owners of Apple or Android smartphones automatically share pictures with any other nearby users of the service.

"It takes the concept of Twitter to a whole new crazy place," Nguyen told AFP while demonstrating Color at his startup's headquarters in a pair of rented storefronts in the Silicon Valley city of Palo Alto.

"Every time you turn on this app, it's like a bat, it connects into every other phone around you," he continued, bat cufflinks in the sleeves of his shirt.

Bain Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank have pumped $41 million in investment money into Color, which Nguyen said was inspired by Apple heralding the start of a "post-PC era."

Nguyen's previous startup was online music site Lala, which was purchased by the maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macintosh computers in December 2009.

Lala hosted digital music collections on the Web, allowing access from varied locations in what it described as "music in the clouds."

Lala also scanned iTunes collections and then stocked Lala account libraries with the same songs on the premise they had already been purchased.

It remains to be seen what Apple has planned for Lala, which it closed last year. Nguyen left Apple in September to start Color.

"If I could do a tribute to Apple and what I learned, this would be it," Nguyen said of Color. "We are creating something brand new; the network is going to be created just by people being around each other."

The post-PC (personal computer) era is marked by a shift from desktop computers to smartphones and tablet devices, Apple visionary Steve Jobs has proclaimed.

"What I saw in Apple products was that this was a world driven by actually using information while you are up and about doing things," Nguyen said. "It had the potential to be social in a way very different from the way the Web was."

Nguyen shunned a Facebook model that he saw as a colossal social network connecting far-flung friends or family, opting instead to let people with smartphones get to know those nearby.

"I wanted to build a system that would give you almost a small town feel again," Nguyen said.

Free Color applications for iPhones and Android devices will let people in close proximity to one another communally capture pictures, videos, and text messages.

Smartphone users activate Color applications and devices do the rest with no need to upload, log in, or identify users.

"Basically, every camera around you is your camera, instantly," Nguyen said.

Color software taps into smartphone gyroscopes to figure out whom in a crowd, say at a stadium rock concert, is closest to the central attraction and which cameras are apt to have the best pictures.

Concertgoers in distant seats get images from people nearby, possible friends, as well as from those in the front row.

Color users can keep all shared images taken at gatherings, with links between smartphones severing after they leave.

"When you post photos to Facebook, there is this weird single perspective to it; it is just your view of your life," Nguyen said. "We thought that was lame; we can do better."

Friends or family using Color can take advantage of a feature that lets them view one another's smartphone pictures in real time no matter where they are.

Color also lets users keep "visual diaries" of daily doings by automatically saving pictures in a calendar.

Color users can peer into each others' visual diaries.

"You're going to start using it and realize your neighbors and co-workers are really cool and you should hang out with them" Nguyen said. "And, you will hopefully spend a little less time on Facebook telling people from high school and college how great you are doing."

Color identifies phones, not people, so no personal data is gathered from users. Abusing the service will result in a phone being blocked from Color.

The startup plans to make money by letting businesses offer deals or promotions to Color users once they are inside establishments.

"Color will transform the way people communicate with each other," said Sequoia Capital partner Doug Leone. "Once or twice a decade a company emerges from Silicon Valley that can change everything.

"Color is one of those companies."

3D Smartphones: Gamechanger or Gimmick? (PC World)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 05:15 PM PDT

Ginny Mies Ginny Mies – Wed Mar 23, 8:15 pm ET

This Spring's CTIA delivered something totally new to the US mobile market: 3D phones. Sprint introduced the HTC EVO 3D while AT&T launched the LG Thrill, a US-branded version of the international LG Optimus 3D. Both are incredibly powerful phones with glasses-free 3D displays. But I have to wonder: Do we really need to see 3D content on a screen that small or is 3D going to be a gamechanger in the smartphone world?

The Specs Explained

Smartphones with 3D displays are nothing new; Docomo's Sharp LYNX 3D has been out for a few months now. The LYNX 3D has the same resolution as the Thrill, at 800-by-480 pixels, but the 3.8-inch display is smaller than both of the US phones. The Thrill has a 4.3-inch display, while the EVO 3D has the best display of the bunch with a 4.3-inch QHD display. QHD, which stands for Quarter High Definition, means the display has a resolution of 960×540 pixels arranged in a 16:9 aspect ratio. This resolution is one quarter of a full HD 1080p frame (hence the name) and is three quarters of a 720p frame.

This difference in resolution is apparent. The Lynx 3D display looked grainy and flat—not much obvious 3D effect happening. The LG Thrill looked slightly better, but the 3D effect was still underwhelming. The HTC EVO 3D looked much sharper and the 3D effect was more apparent.

How it Works

So how does this glasses-free 3D technology work? These phones have parallax barriers, which is a layer placed in front of the display to allow it to show a stereoscopic image (meaning a 3D image) without the need for those dorky 3D glasses (see image at right). Basically, the layer consists of a series of tiny slits that allow each eye to see a different set of pixels.

The downside to this technology, however, is that in order to see the 3D effect, you must be positioned directly in front of the screen. If you're viewing at a slight angle, the image will look like a blurry mess. This can be difficult with a small screen. With an image or a short video clip, it isn't too hard to hold the phone directly in front of your eyes for a few seconds. With a longer 3D video, however, I can see it being a real pain. Of course, I haven't spent enough time with any of these phones to attempt to watch a long 3D movie on them, but I can't see it being very comfortable. You'd have to set it up on a dock and then make sure you're angled correctly throughout the entire movie—no lying on the couch.

3D Content Creation

The coolest feature of the Thrill and the EVO 3D is the ability to create 3D images and videos (the LYNX 3D can capture only 3D still images). Both sport dual-lens 5-megapixel cameras (see image of EVO 3D at left) with dual-LED flashes. In my quick hands-on tests, I was pretty satisfied with the quality of the 3D images created by both devices. I'm eager to test these cameras more thoroughly when I get my review units.

3D images and videos are great for viewing on your own 3D phone, but sharing the magic with other people might be a problem. How many people do you know who own a 3D TV? (Many of the 3D cameras out there require you to hook them up to a 3D TV to see your videos or stills.) And by the time the Thrill and EVO 3D come to market, will there be more 3D devices on their way? Time will tell.

3D Services Online

HTC and Sprint didn't announce a partnership with YouTube 3D (for hosting of 3D video online) as LG did with the announcement of the Optimus 3D. When asked about a partnership, AT&T said they were still working things out with LG to allow AT&T customers to upload 3D video to YouTube 3D.

HTC was a bit more open about its plans. Its product manager said that services supporting 3D content will probably not be limited to just one piece of hardware. That makes sense because if YouTube isn't just limited to a single phone with video capture, why would YouTube 3D be limited to just one phone with 3D video capture? And since YouTube is a Google product, it might be safe to assume that all Android 3D phones will support YouTube 3D. It will be interesting to see what happens in this area.

I don't think 3D is going to be a standard for high-end smartphones like dual-core processors or large touch screens; it feels more like a flashy add-on than a necessary feature. These phones will be successful, though, because the 3D aspect isn't the only appealing feature about them. Both the EVO 3D and the Thrill support 4G networks, are powered by dual-core processors and run on the robust Android platform. On top of that, they're both incredibly good looking, thin and well-designed. I'm looking forward to seeing the support for 3D content grow, but I think it's going to be a slow process. Either way, I look forward to seeing what other mobile 3D products are coming down the pipeline.

Ex-Apple exec rolls out phone-based social network (Reuters)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 05:07 PM PDT

By Yinka Adegoke Yinka Adegoke – Wed Mar 23, 8:07 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bill Nguyen, the serial entrepreneur who sold his last company to Apple Inc in 2009, is launching a new cellphone-based social network which aims to challenge Facebook's dominance in social communications beyond the personal computer.

Color is a free smartphone-based application on iPhones and Android devices which lets people in close proximity capture and share their photos, videos and text simultaneously to multiple phones in real time.

With photos and video-sharing being one of the most popular activities on Facebook, Color's founders hope the always-on mobile nature of Color will create a different kind of 'post-PC' social network. Nguyen said social networks and apps were moving users away for PC-based Web many users were initially familiar with.

"This transition to post-PC world is going to be a huge fundamental shift," said Nguyen. "We're sharing more and more information in real-time."

Nguyen, who sold online music start-up Lala to Apple for a reported $80 million, worked with the iPhone maker for just under a year.

In September he raised $14 million in seed funding from Bain Capital Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. One of Silicon Valley's biggest venture funds Sequoia Capital came on board just before launch with $25 million and another $2 million from Silicon Valley Bank.

Color is a free service with no user names or passwords but Nguyen and his team are hoping to be able to generate revenue through advertising and location-based marketing services.

"People are starting to realize with devices like the iPhone that you can do things on a social network you could never do before on a PC," said Bain Capital Ventures Mike Krupka, who had previously backed Nguyen with Lala.

The company said it will be using the latest round of funding to accelerate its development and infrastructure build-out to analyze large volume location information.

Color recently hired DJ Patil, the chief scientist of business social network LinkedIn. Patil joined Color as its new chief data officer to help analyze the vast amount of data it anticipates as users of the network move from location to location.

Nguyen had previously founded companies like Seven in 2001,

and Onebox before that which he sold in 2001 for $850 million to Phone.com. Color will be his eighth start-up.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; editing by Carol Bishopric)

GetGlue to boost live TV with Facebook check-ins (Reuters)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 05:37 PM PDT

– Wed Mar 23, 8:37 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Social media service GetGlue has reached a new broadcast partnership with Comcast Corp's NBC Universal's cable networks, including USA Network, SyFy and MSNBC, to reward users for alerting friends on Facebook whenever they are watching TV shows.

As more viewers watch TV shows on-demand or online, broadcasters are pushing to maintain viewer ratings for live programs by promoting shows with fans on social networks like Facebook and Twitter and through smartphone apps.

With GetGlue, TV fans are rewarded with virtual stickers for 'checking in' that show up on Facebook, for example. Some of GetGlue's partners have also offered discounts on products like T-shirts and DVDs to the most avid fans, particularly those who unlock their rewards during live broadcasts.

'Checking in' is a phenomenon made popular by location-based services like Foursquare, which enables users to tell their friends where they are through their mobile devices and social network.

"Broadcasters and advertisers prefer live ratings because they know viewers can't fast forward through commercials," Horizon Media analyst Brad Adgate said.

GetGlue already has partnerships with several cable networks including News Corp's FX and Time Warner Inc's HBO.

"This is also modern-day co-viewing for fans of TV shows and it's not going to go away in a multimedia world," said Adgate.

HBO has been a big supporter of GetGlue from its early days as it uses the 'social conversation' on sites like Facebook to promote its shows with fans especially on its high rating Sunday night, according to director of social marketing Sabrina Caluori.

"The biggest use of GetGlue for is to reward our super fans and our brand ambassadors who are really valuable to us in spreading the message about some shows that haven't even launched yet," said Caluori."

In December, HBO's parent Time Warner put $6 million of venture funding into the business in a Series C round, which followed previous funding from Union Square Ventures and RRE Ventures -- at a total of $12 million.

The area of social media-based services around TV has heated up in recent months. Earlier this month, CBS Corp paid an undisclosed sum to acquire Clicker.com, a Web TV guide that leverages a user's social network.

GetGlue was founded by Alex Iskold, a former Goldman Sachs programer, in November 2009. He said the company had more than 900,000 users as of January and was recording an average of about 25,000 tweets and 25,000 Facebook posts shares a day.

"Some of our broadcast partners have seen a bump in ratings when they've tested with us as the viral reach of fans checking in alerts all their friends," said Iskold.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Gary Hill, Bernard Orr)

RIM pulls drunken driving 'app' from Blackberry (AFP)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 04:59 PM PDT

– Wed Mar 23, 7:59 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US senators on Wednesday said that Research In Motion (RIM) has promised to get rid of a Blackberry software program designed to help drunk drivers evade police checkpoints.

The move came a day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and fellow Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer, Frank Lautenberg and Tom Udall urged Google, Apple and Canada-based RIM to remove such third-party software from shops stocked with applications for smartphones.

"Drunk drivers will soon have one less tool to evade law enforcement and endanger our friends and families," the senators said in joint statement.

"We appreciate RIM's immediate reply and urge the other smartphone makers to quickly follow suit."

The senators want to purge smartphones of applications that use driver-generated databases of speed traps, speed cameras, or even drunk driving checkpoints to help drunken drivers avoid police.

Popular smartphone program PhantomAlert asks potential customers on its website: "Tired of traffic tickets? The embarrassment, the time, the points, the frustration, the money?"

"You will be alerted as you approach: Railroad Crossings, Dangerous Intersections, Dangerous Curves, Speed Bumps, Speed Traps, Speed Cameras, Red Light Cameras, School Zones, DUI Checkpoints."

DUI means "driving under the influence," or intoxicated.

PhantomAlert chief executive Joe Scott called the lawmakers' appeal "a knee-jerk reaction" and said his company was helping to "deter drivers from drinking and driving" by making them more aware of the risk of arrest.

Better Than Albums? Music App Builds a Playlist To Fit Your Mood (Mashable)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 04:18 PM PDT

Sarah Kessler Sarah Kessler – Wed Mar 23, 7:18 pm ET

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Moodagent

Quick Pitch: Moodagent creates playlists based on your mood.

Genius Idea: A proprietary system categorizes any tune -- even those never before released.

The rise of digital music has been the death of the album. The total number of albums sold in 2010 was the lowest since Nielsen SoundScan began compiling data in 1993. The only category on the rise last year -- though just by a mere 1% -- was digital singles.

"The album is lost when the tracks are being cherry-picked," explains Peter Berg Steffensen, co-creator of Danish company Moodagent. "We started the company trying to create interesting playlists that have the same effect as an album."

Steffensen and co-founder Michael Henderson spent four years perfecting a system that measures each tune in five basic categories: how sensual, tender, happy, or angry it is, as well as its tempo. With the Moodagent app, users adjust bars representing each of these qualities, in a bid to match their current mood. Based on their selections, the app assembles a playlist from their music libraries.

Unlike music discovery services such as Pandora, Moodagent has an indexing engine -- rather than a human -- categorize the songs. The app has already categorized more than 1 billion songs, which means it can instantly adapt to users' music libraries.

Does it work? In a test run, yes. The app delivered Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" when "tender" was called for, and The Early November's "Hair" when I switched moods to Happy. It's a little harder to say whether Dispatch's "The General" was equal parts sensual and happy, as the app claims.

In any case, the app has proved sufficient enough for Nokia to make it a default option on some phones in 2009 and for more than 5 million people to download its Android, iPhone, and Nokia versions (BlackBerry, Web OS, and Windows versions are in the works).

Despite this popularity, Moodagent's parent company, Syntonetic, is not yet profitable. Current revenue streams include royalty fees from Nokia phones preloaded with the app, advertising revenue from a free version of the app and the $.99  ad-free version.

In the future, the Danish company plans to explore "mood-based" advertising as well as other revenue-earning features. One popular model in music discovery services is to refer users to music they might like in order to collect referral fees from music retailers.

A new version of the Moodagent iPhone app is scheduled for next week.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mooneydriver

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

The HTC Inspire 4G excels in speed and connectivity (Appolicious)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 05:00 PM PDT

Aircell Unveils In-flight Smartphone, Voice Service (PC World)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 05:40 PM PDT

Stephen Lawson Stephen Lawson – Wed Mar 23, 8:40 pm ET

Aircell will introduce a mobile voice service for business aircraft and a smartphone specially designed for in-flight use late this year, the company said Wednesday.

Though the upcoming offerings will not be made available on airliners, the move may signal a pent-up desire by executives to whip out their cell phones and start making calls in the air. The voice service and handset will be offered as options on Aircell's Gogo Biz service, the business-plane counterpart to its Gogo Wi-Fi offering for commercial jets.

The Android-based device, called simply the Aircell Smartphone, was designed specifically for in-flight use. It's not Aircell's first phone: The company already sells the Aircell Axxess handset, and the Smartphone is designed as a drop-in replacement for that unit. It has a 3.8-inch touchscreen but is taller than a typical smartphone because it has a full-size keypad below the touchscreen.

The phone can be used in wired or wireless mode. It is equipped with Bluetooth as well as a jack for wired headsets. The interface is designed for ease of use, and Aircell boasts that it can be used without reading a manual.

The phone is set to start shipping late this year, and pricing will be announced closer to that time, according to Aircell.

Aircell said it adopted Android for the phone for future flexibility and to gain access to the more than 100,000 applications available for it. It's a step away from a more proprietary set of technologies used in the Axxess system, which offers both corded and cordless handsets as well as Wi-Fi but uses the fairly low-bandwidth Iridium satellite network. Aircell says it has deployed equipment for the Gogo Biz service in more than 1,000 aircraft since it was launched about 18 months ago.

The Gogo Biz Voice service, also coming late this year, is designed to offer better voice call quality than any other aircraft-based phone system, along with Internet access similar to ground-based cellular service. It will allow several simultaneous voice calls and data sessions, the company said.

Aircell is the dominant provider of in-flight Internet access in the U.S. Both Gogo Biz and the Gogo service for commercial airlines connect to the Internet via the Aircell Network, which consists of 3G EV-DO Revision A towers on the ground that are dedicated to serving planes. By next year, the company plans to upgrade its network to EV-DO Revision B, in a move it says will bring about four times as much bandwidth. It also plans to adopt satellite technology for service outside the U.S.

The Gogo Wi-Fi service on airliners technically could be used for voice over IP calls, but no U.S. airline allows that use and Aircell can build in mechanisms for them to block those applications.

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

Lady Gaga Says 'I'm Tweeting' in Google Tribute Interview (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 05:51 PM PDT

Donna Porter Donna Porter – Wed Mar 23, 8:51 pm ET
Contribute content like this. Start here.

It's hard to say who will love the Google Goes Gaga interview more -- geeks or fans. Lady Gaga was interviewed by the company's first female engineer, Marissa Mayer, in a celebratory piece (for Google and Gaga) posted yesterday as part of the Musicians@Google channel on YouTube.

With her YouTube and search numbers nearly as extreme as her attire, Gaga is famed the "most downloaded artist in history," Mayer announces, after the star is introduced. The claim follows an impressive introductory multimedia presentation by Google that pays tribute to Gaga's success and the company's own role in that regard.

With Gaga's 8.9 million Twitter followers and 31.2 million Facebook fans, it is easy to forget her social media success is entrenched in YouTube, with her foremost video, "Bad Romance" at 359.6 million visitors for one version.

Otherwise, profanity, digression, attire, and lack of conservative appeal (parenting or political) aside, Google picked a winning partner for their image nip n' tuck. Part of the Facebook Generation, Gaga gets her fans and so does her most famous supporter if focused on this cultural powerhouse demographic.

Good for Google

* The interview reminds us that YouTube is a cornerstone in today's social media as well as the engine that fuels overnight - and diligently earned - fame.

* TechCrunch offers a positive review to an industry base largely critical of the company for its search engine result failures.

* Improved attention for channels such as @Google Talks and reinforcement of their star assets, both Gaga and YouTube.

* Even the pick of Marissa Mayer - with her casual girl next door looks, free-spirited laughter and Lady Gaga Halloween costume photo (19:03) is win at a more basic level for non-techies.

'Google Goes Gaga' Highlights

* Regarding "Born the Way," Gaga touches on its inspiration from being bullied in childhood and states, "This is who the f* ck I am."

* When asked about her favorite YouTube video, she mentions with affection the "boy when he comes home from the dentist" (David at the Dentist). This is followed by a brief discussion on her other favorite, Maria Aragon, the 10-year-old singer who found fame courtesy Lady Gaga, Perez Hilton and YouTube.

* With plenty of questions posed by both Mayer and fans, pre-selected both online and in the audience, the interview offers little known Gaga facts and insights. The answers, which cover the gamut of her culinary skills to her aims at influencing children, may be first uttered here in this interview.

* The stark silence after Gaga discusses "the egg", creativity and ends the labyrinthine sequence with "When God calls you, pick up the damn phone."

Whether seen as a blunder or charming anecdote, despite a fair amount of Google accolades, at about the 31 minute mark, Gaga wasn't too happy with at least one search experience, stating "I googled, I didn't see enough come up, so I'm tweeting."

Donna Porter parlays her 15 years on the Web into practical information on social media and technology. Her experience in journalism, small business and consumer advocacy is supplemented with ISO certifications in Internet research, data evaluation and related fields.

Remains of the Day: Long live the iPod classic (Macworld)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 04:30 PM PDT

Dan Moren Dan Moren – Wed Mar 23, 7:30 pm ET

Steve Jobs denied the demise of the iPod classic as recently as last fall, Apple may be thinking about bringing AirPlay to a big screen near you, and an iPhone 4 succeeds where Humpty Dumpty failed. Once upon a time, there were the remainders for Wednesday, March 23, 2011...

Steve Jobs: 'No Plans' to Discontinue iPod Classic (MacRumors)

I feel like it's been a while since our last run-in with a Steve Jobs e-mail, so let's summon up this, uh, classic from last fall where Steve tells a concerned customer that Apple has "no plans" to kill off the iPod classic. Frankly, I've always thought the inevitable death of the iPod classic would be less a case of pre-meditated murder and more a case of Steve Jobs hurling the product against the floor in a fit of pique when its hard drive grinds to a clicking, whirring halt.

Apple Is Said to Weigh Expanding AirPlay for Streaming Video on Devices (Bloomberg)

Make way, "Apple's going to make an HDTV" shippers: there's a new rumor in town. Bloomberg says the company is considering expanding the licensing of its AirPlay streaming technology to TV manufacturers. Cupertino already allows companies to build in support for audio streaming, but this way you'll be able to watch video from your iOS device on your big screen, without the need for an Apple TV. And, let's face it, it gives Apple another chance to stick it to Google.

Apple Advances the Antenna System for the Telephonic MacBook (Patently Apple)

An uncovered patent shows that Apple may build a crazy external antenna into MacBooks for 3G support. My gut says no—unless the antenna detaches and doubles as a stylus. In that case, my gut says hell no.

iPhone 4 survives 1,000 foot fall from airplane (TUAW)

Air Force Combat Controller Ronald Walker says his iPhone 4 fell out of his pocket while he was checking out parachute locations, and tumbled 1000 feet to the ground. However, when they found the iPhone 4 later (thanks to Find My iPhone), it was intact and totally unharmed. No doubt the next day he dropped it three feet onto the floor and it shattered into a million pieces. You know. For irony.

Senators Announce Blackberry Will Remove Apps That Help Drunk Drivers Evade Police (Senate.gov)

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is the first to agree to remove apps that let smartphone users circumvent police DUI checkpoints from its online marketplace. It does so at the behest of concerned U.S. senators who sent an open letter to smartphone makers RIM, Google, and Apple. Seriously, Google and Apple, you're going to let the Canadians beat you to the punch here? Shame.

Apple removes "Gay Cure" app from iTunes (Edible Apple)

Speaking of removing apps, Apple has tossed a controversial "gay cure" app from the App Store. Among other protests, it had spawned an online petition that had garnered more than 150,000 signatures. So, for once, there's not an app for that.

Product Remainders:

Google Latitude 2.1 - New in the free location-based social networking app are check-ins at popular locations, like restaurants, and improved battery use while in the background.

EarthDesk 5.7 - The latest update to the Mac app that shows a real-time dynamic map of the world on your desktop adds full 64-bit compatibility. Available from the company's Website or the Mac App Store for $25.

Fandango 4.3 - The free movie showtimes app for iOS devices now lets you send high-quality trailers to your Apple TV via AirPlay and sign into Fandango via Facebook. It also improves browsing for iPhone and iPod touch users and lets iPad users browse cast and crew info and rate and review movies.

Friends+ for Facebook & Twitter 1.6 - This update to the $1 multi-service social networking client for iPhone adds the ability to search for your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also now post photos to Facebook and comment on them.

Logo Design Studio Pro 2.1 - The vector illustration and drawing program for creating logos and graphics is now available on the Mac App Store for a limited time price of $40.

Oracle to give early view of software demand (Reuters)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 09:18 PM PDT

– 20 mins ago

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Oracle Corp is poised to provide fresh evidence of the upward curve of technology spending on Thursday, and to detail its battle plan against emerging competitor Hewlett-Packard Co as the two tech giants vie to lead the datacenter revolution.

The business software leader, which last year bought server maker Sun Microsystems, is expected to post sharply higher sales and earnings as its strategy of offering a one-stop shop for business software and hardware shows signs of paying off in an improving economy.

The company, which reports a month before rivals, is always closely watched as it gives an early insight into the latest industry trends.

This quarter, some analysts expect brash talk about Hewlett-Packard, which under new Chief Executive Leo Apotheker is set to focus more on services and software, which will bring it directly into competition with Oracle in some core markets.

Oracle, headed by outspoken and combative Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison, is likely to shoot back on Thursday.

"I'd be very surprised if you don't get some very competitive talk about HP's plans," said Michael Yoshikami at YCMNET Advisors, noting that Oracle has a history of colorful remarks about beating its competitors, such as Germany's SAP and International Business Machines Corp.

Like IBM and Cisco Systems Inc, Oracle and Hewlett-Packard are aiming to provide the infrastructure for companies to move toward "cloud computing," where data is handled remotely in datacenters rather than on premises.

The looming battle between Oracle and Hewlett-Packard is given spice by the fact that HP's former chief executive Mark Hurd -- who left last year after a flap over inaccurate expense reports and a questionable relationship with a female contractor -- now works at Oracle.

Wall Street expects Oracle's fiscal third-quarter profit excluding one-time items to jump to 50 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, up from 38 cents a year ago. The company itself said in December it expected between 48 cents and 50 cents.

Analysts have forecast $8.7 billion in revenue, up from $6.5 billion a year ago, although that quarter only included one month of hardware sales from the Sun acquisition, which closed in January 2010.

Some analysts warn that Oracle's new exposure to hardware, through the Sun deal, means it may suffer from supply chain problems caused by Japan's earthquake, which has constrained production of key computer components.

Oracle may also see some weakening of demand for its software in Japan, which accounted for 5 percent of sales last fiscal year, but analysts do not expect that to offset industry growth.

"Unless one wants to make a more aggressive assertion that either whole companies will cease to exist or the world is headed back into another Great Recession," said Richard Davis, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, "we side with the view of every software company with whom we have spoken -- that they do not expect a material negative impact to underlying, almost universally favorable, demand trends."

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; editing by Carol Bishopric and Matthew Driskill)

Captiva 6.5 Extracts Data While Digitizing Documents (NewsFactor)

Posted: 23 Mar 2011 02:10 PM PDT

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Jennifer Leclaire, newsfactor.com – Wed Mar 23, 5:10 pm ET

EMC has rolled out the latest version of its solution that digitizes paper documents in the enterprise. Captiva 6.5 offers new capabilities that allow it to learn document properties while processing.

Dubbed Production Auto Learning, the new Captiva automatically classifies and extracts business information from documents as they are scanned. The goal is to speed up the capture process for invoices, loan documents, policy claims, and other documents. Analysts are bullish on the innovation.

"IDC continues to see strong interest in document-capture solutions -- especially solutions that help organizations automate their paper-based business processes," said Melissa Webster, program vice president for content and digital-media technologies at IDC. "And in this regard, enterprises have two key requirements. First, the solution must offer very high performance. Second, it must be self-learning, to reduce implementation time and cost, as well as ongoing application maintenance costs."

Manipulating Images

Captiva can process more than 10 million images a day and offers new drag-and-drop processes that aim to help deploy capture solutions more quickly. The new version also helps global companies with localized user interfaces in various languages, including French, Spanish and simplified Chinese.

Erica Boudreau, archivist for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, said the new version of Captiva lets his team compress scanned images using a lossless method, saving storage space and costs while maintaining high-quality images from historical documents.

"The ability to quickly manipulate images and to process them using Captiva's latest optical-character-recognition engine produces more accurate results and saves our staff significant time," Boudreau said.

The All-Digital Enterprise

Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, noted that the IT industry loves digital information, and with good reason -- it serves as the foundation for thousands of business computing solutions and hundreds of billions of dollars in annual sales. But while the "all-digital enterprise" is a lovely utopian notion, he added, most companies in the real world utilize both digital and physical documents and records that cohabitate in a sometimes-uneasy or even uncomfortable manner.

As King sees it, virtually every private and public organization manages a delicate balance between physical and digital records, between traditional and technological business processes -- and EMC's Captiva 6.5 is designed to help organizations effectively address this imbalance.

"The new features -- Production Auto Learning, performance enhancements, and additional language support -- all tweak a mature, well-established and innovative solution, speeding setup and deployment processes and significantly improving overall performance," King said.

"Captiva 6.5 is obviously aimed at global enterprises, but those are the organizations that have the greatest need for comprehensive, intelligent capture solutions," he said. "They are also likely to be most aware of the potential costs they face -- in legal fees and fines, wasted time and revenues, and lost confidence and trust among customers and partners -- should the unthinkable ever occur."
at 9:48 PM

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