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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Review: With iPad 2, Apple one-ups itself (AP) : Technet

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Review: With iPad 2, Apple one-ups itself (AP) : Technet

Review: With iPad 2, Apple one-ups itself (AP)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 09:09 PM PST

By RACHEL METZ, AP Technology Writer Rachel Metz, Ap Technology Writer – 5 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – With the original iPad, Apple brought an attractive, easy-to-use tablet computer to the masses at a reasonable price — a feat numerous companies are trying to top.

With Friday's release of the iPad 2, Apple is pulling further ahead, with improvements that make an already excellent tablet even more enticing. It goes to show that when it comes to tablets, Apple refuses to be bested.

The new iPad is skinnier, faster and slightly lighter. It comes with cameras for video chatting and snapping photos, while keeping the same prices, ranging from $499 to $829 depending on the configuration.

Competitors such as Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. sell good tablets of their own, with many of the same features. Motorola's new Xoom even has a higher-resolution screen than the iPad. Still, nobody has been able to match the iPad's simplicity, innovation and style.

The iPad 2 looks much like the first iPad, though it has a sleeker, lighter body with a curved back. All this helps the tablet fit more naturally in my hands, and the modified shape makes it easier to hold for extended e-reading sessions, for example.

Among the most noticeable changes is the inclusion of cameras, one on the front and one on the back.

This is something I've been hankering for, as the iPad's crisp display, measuring 9.7 inches diagonally, seemed like the ideal canvas for video chat. The subsequent arrival of several tablets with front and rear cameras made it practically a necessity for iPad 2.

Fortunately, Apple thought so, too. Both cameras on the iPad 2 work with the company's FaceTime video chat application and the back camera shoots high-definition videos.

A friend I chatted with over FaceTime moved pretty smoothly on the iPad's screen, though the image could have been much sharper. With the front camera, my friend could see me. If I switched to the back camera, I could show him my surroundings.

You can take still photos, too, though I found this awkward given the tablet's size. The results were not fantastic, but self-portrait fans will find the front-facing camera useful for composing new profile photos for Facebook.

The new iPad has Apple's new dual-core A5 chip, which helped applications open more quickly than on the older iPad. The original never felt slow, but the faster I can start a new game of "Plants vs. Zombies," the better.

Add to that a new version of Apple's iOS software. The new processor and the new iOS combined to improve Web surfing, as I could load up pages noticeably faster over my home Wi-Fi network. As expected, videos loaded quickly and generally streamed flawlessly.

The new software allows you to share music and videos from your iTunes library on multiple Apple devices on the same Wi-Fi network. And it now lets you set the iPad's mute switch to function as a screen lock, which makes it even easier to prevent my Netflix movie from rotating mid-scene just because I've shifted my butt on the couch.

The updated iOS comes with iPad 2 and is available as a free download for the original iPad and the two most recent models of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

On Friday, Apple is also rolling out iPad versions of its iMovie video-editing software and GarageBand software for recording and editing music. I tried GarageBand ($5) and was wowed by how simple it was and how well it took advantage of the iPad's touch screen.

If you're musically inclined, you can pick up your guitar and adjust its sound through GarageBand's bevy of amplifiers and effects pedals. If you don't play an instrument (or feel lazy), you can swipe through a list of "smart" virtual instruments. A guitar with preset chords lets you strum by swiping the screen. You can arrange drums on a grid based on how noisy and complicated you want the beat to sound.

The coolest part is how sensitive the virtual instruments are. Start beating your fingers on a virtual drum kit, and you can hit the drums and cymbals harder or softer. You'll get different sounds if you hit the ride cymbal in different places, and you can even tap the rim of the snare instead of just hitting the drum itself.

It's quick and easy to record and edit songs, then save or e-mail them to a friend (who will hopefully applaud your artistic endeavors).

When playing back my musical masterpiece and other content on the iPad 2 I did long for a second speaker — there is just one on its back. Fortunately, that lone speaker did sound quite crisp, even with the sound turned all the way up.

Like the first iPad, the iPad 2 is rated for up to 10 hours of battery life, and it performed like a champ. Playing a mix of videos streamed from YouTube over Wi-Fi and saved on the iPad itself, I got a bit more than 10 hours of entertainment before it died.

You can buy versions that work with either AT&T's or Verizon Wireless' cellular network, rather than just AT&T before. The cheapest model connects only through Wi-Fi. You can also get it in black or white — before, your only option was black.

Without question, the iPad 2 is a great tablet. Still, this doesn't mean the first iPad is ready for the trash can. It's still a stellar gadget, and now it's cheaper (while supplies last) with the arrival of a successor.

Should you feel the urge to have the latest and greatest, however, go for it. Chances are, it will be the best tablet in town — at least until the iPad 3 arrives.

Turing award goes to 'machine learning' expert (AP)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 06:26 AM PST

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Mar 9, 9:26 am ET

SAN FRANCISCO – A Harvard University professor has been awarded a top technology prize for research that has paved the way for computers that more closely mimic how humans think, including the one that won a "Jeopardy!" tournament.

Leslie Valiant, who teaches computer science and applied mathematics at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, was awarded the A.M. Turing Award for 2010, the Association for Computing Machinery said Wednesday. The $250,000 award is considered the Nobel Prize of computing and is named after the famous British mathematician Alan M. Turing.

Some of Valiant's biggest contributions concern the mathematical foundations of computer learning, an area of study that has led to breakthroughs such as IBM Corp.'s Watson, the machine built to play "Jeopardy!" In matches aired last month, the computer breezed past two of the game show's top winners in a display of how far computer scientists have come in programming computers to understand the subtleties of human language and make decisions based on the mountains of data the machines are able to store.

The association cited contributions that have led to advances in artificial intelligence and areas such as natural language processing, handwriting recognition and computer vision. It also cited his influential models for "parallel computing," or processing many different kinds of data at once rather than the one-at-a-time approach of traditional computing.

Intel Corp., the world's biggest computer chip maker, and Google Inc., the Internet search leader, provide funding for the prize.

ACM President Alain Chesnais said Valiant's accomplishments over the past 30 years have led to "extraordinary achievements" in machine learning.

"His work has produced modeling that offers computationally inspired answers on fundamental questions like how the brain 'computes,'" Chesnais said. "His profound vision in computer science, mathematics, and cognitive theory have been combined with other techniques to build modern forms of machine learning and communication, like IBM's 'Watson' computing system, that have enabled computing systems to rival a human's ability to answer questions."

The organization cited Valiant's "Theory of the Learnable," published in 1984 in Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery, as one of the "seminal contributions to machine learning." His 1982 paper, "A Scheme for Fast Parallel Communication," offered a simple solution to data congestion when computers communicate over networks with limited capacity.

The award will be presented June 4 at a ceremony in San Jose, Calif.

Obamas take anti-bullying message to Facebook (AP)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 05:33 AM PST

– Wed Mar 9, 8:33 am ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have posted a video on Facebook to promote a bullying prevention conference they'll host at the White House.

In a taped video message, the president says that bullying should no longer be treated as an unavoidable part of growing up. He says schools and communities must be a safe place where children can thrive.

Thursday's conference will bring together parents, students and educators to discuss ways to stop bullying.

As the parents of two daughters, the Obamas have said this is a personal issue for them. The president also taped an anti-bullying message last year for the "It Gets Better" campaign following a string of bullying related suicides by young people.

PlayStation Plus users to get in-the-cloud storage for game saves (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 10:33 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Wed Mar 9, 1:33 pm ET

Starting Thursday, those who pony up for Sony's premium "PlayStation Plus" service will be able to back up their PS3 saved-game data online—a feature that could come in handy if your console's hard drive goes belly-up.

The online storage feature will arrive March 10—tomorrow—with PS3 firmware update 3.60 (which will also include other "minor features" to be named later).

Nice, but you won't be able to access the new online storage locker without a subscription to PlayStation Plus, Sony's premium, $50-a-year PSN service that offers games, early access to game demos and betas, and other miscellaneous goodies.

PlayStation Plus users can expect 150MB of online storage, or up to 1,000 game files, which you'll be able to access from the PlayStation 3's XrossMediaBar—and yes, you'll be able to tap into your online files from another PS3 console besides your own, provided you log in with your PSN ID and password first.

The online backup service will work with copy-protected game saves, PSN Senior Director Susan Panico promises, and you'll be able to restore all your saved data once every 24 hours.

The new online storage feature will come as a relief to any PS3 owner whose hard drive conks out, erasing all their game saves in the process—no small thing, particularly for anyone who's been grinding away at a given title for weeks or months. (I recently lost a year's worth of progress in "Dragon Age: Origins" after a botched hard drive swap, and yes, I'm still pretty bummed about it.)

Related:
Online Storage for Game Saves Coming to PlayStation Plus [PlayStation blog]

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

Follow me on Twitter!

“Every one” of HP’s PCs to run WebOS, starting next year (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 08:41 AM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Wed Mar 9, 11:41 am ET

Looks like HP wasn't kidding when it said that its newly acquired, touch-friendly WebOS platform would be making a move beyond tablets and smartphones.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, HP CEO Leo Apotheker said the company is looking to bring WebOS, the touchscreen platform that it acquired along with Palm last year, to its latest PCs starting in 2012.

And we're not just a few of its PCs, Apotheker said. Instead, think "every one" of them, as the Bloomberg story puts it.

The article goes light on the details, with Apotheker telling Bloomberg that bringing WebOS to its upcoming PCs would "create a massive platform" and thereby draw a larger pool of app developers.

Also left unsaid: whether we'd be talking dual-boot Windows/WebOS systems (which may or may not come with WebOS preinstalled) or Windows PCs that would run WebOS simultaneously (more likely). For the record, the Bloomberg story says the plan is for PCs that "include the ability to run WebOS," leaving open the possibility that WebOS would be an optional extra.

If HP's WebOS strategy sounds a little random, well … just consider the upcoming Mac OS X "Lion," which (as The Loop points out) is expected to bring elements of Apple's mobile iOS platform—including the App Store and iPhone-like Launchpad for apps—to the Mac.

And then there's HP's new TouchSmart Windows PCs, including a new model with a 23-inch touch-enabled display (pictured here) that slides down to a 60-degree angle, essentially turning the thing into a giant touch panel.

For now, HP's TouchSmart PC relies on the company's own TouchSmart skin, which adds a touch-friendly layer of apps and functionality atop Windows 7.

So … picture the same TouchSmart PC, except this time running on WebOS rather than the TouchSmart interface—and maybe even capable of syncing with your WebOS-powered TouchPad tablet or smartphone.

It's an interesting strategy, and one that HP badly needs if it wants to stand apart from the crowd and boost its sagging revenue.

But will users actually take to a full-on mobile OS running on a PC—especially those without touchscreens? Good question. Hopefully, we'll get more answers at HP's coming "summit meeting," slated for March 14 in San Francisco.

Related:
Apotheker Seeks to Save HP's 'Lost Soul' With Software Growth [Bloomberg News, via BusinessWeek]

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

Follow me on Twitter!

Apple Offers Video Guided Tours of iPad 2 (Mashable)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 03:39 PM PST

Charlie White Charlie White – Wed Mar 9, 6:39 pm ET

With iPad 2 fever running high, Apple keeps the temperature rising with these 14 just-released "Guided Tour" videos showing off that shiny floozy it'll be selling on Friday at five. See all 14 videos here.

These are some gorgeous videos. I especially like the way each logo is pinned against a moving background at the beginning of each segment. The iPad 2, a full one-third thinner than its predecessor, has never looked so good as it does in these beautifully produced vignettes.

However, if you want to get an unbiased preview of the iPad 2, you'll have to peruse our reviews this weekend. Or, just wait until Friday, March 11, when you'll be able to hold one of these babies in your own hands, and decide for yourself if it's for you.

Here's a little tidbit of good news for you if you're hell-bent on picking up an iPad 2: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says the lines to buy one will be a whole lot shorter than they were last year.

That's because last year, Munster says, Apple had 1200 retail locations distributing the iPad, while this year there will be more than 10,000 stores selling the iPad 2, including Best Buy, Target, Verizon, Walmart, AT&T and the Apple Stores. However, Munster says the Apple Stores might have long lines, since they're starting sales at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Unfortunately, there was one way to buy the iPad last year that doesn't exist this year -- you could order one online and receive it via FedEx on the same day it was offered in stores. No such luck this year, where you can order one on Friday, or go to a store and buy one.

Charlie Sheen sparks new era of cyber celebrity meltdowns (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 07:25 PM PST

By Christine Kearney Christine Kearney – 1 hr 48 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tracking celebrities in trouble used to be so easy. First, there was the problem, then a public apology followed by a trip to rehab and interview in People magazine or on Oprah Winfrey's talk show.

Now, there's Charlie Sheen.

The actor's eerie, self-made webcasts dubbed "Sheen's Korner," posted online this week to mock his former "Two and a Half Men" bosses and defend himself, mark celebrity behavior that has gone beyond the norm. And his Web rants may signal a future in which stars use the Internet to give fans unfettered access to their antics, for better or worse.

"Since YouTube, digital culture has aided and enhanced -- or maybe the better word is abetted -- the celebrity meltdown," said Wired magazine senior editor Nancy Miller. "This will be a future where we see celebrity screw-ups happen in real-time."

Sheen's expletive-filled webcasts show him agitated, smoking cigarettes through his nose, spewing energetic rants and repeating the same phrases over and over. Even celebrity website TMZ, which is known for publishing videos of outrageous celebrity antics, labeled Sheen's videos "disturbing."

His behavior contrasts to pop star Britney Spears' when she suffered her career meltdown in 2007 and 2008. At that time, most of her antics were detailed the traditional way, by the paparazzi. She eventually found treatment, had her affairs taken over by her father and got her life back on track.

Sheen has done just the opposite, making decisions on everything that goes on around him and pouring out his unchecked views to fans via online videos and tweets.

"The more out-of-control the situation has become, the more he has broadcast himself -- literally streaming his opinions, views and rants," said People magazine assistant editor Kate Coyne, adding Sheen has invited people to watch his apparent breakdown "as it occurs, which is unprecedented."

"WINNING" ONLINE?

Yet, while it may seem bizarre to some, his behavior has proven popular. The 45-year-old has gained more than 2 million Twitter followers. His buzzwords such as "winning" and boasts of possessing "tiger blood" are rapidly invading pop culture.

His erratic webcasts -- which appeared filmed with his own phone -- were viewed more than 700,000 times, and his name has been linked to products ranging from soft drinks to comic books. To some, Sheen is still the rebellious Hollywood hero.

He has "created a new genre of 'meltdown-as-miniseries' that will inspire others to emulate him," said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of popular culture. "We seldom hear human beings talk like this, especially not human beings we all know through their on-screen work," he said.

Indeed, an old rule among the star-making machinery of publicists, talent managers and other celebrity handlers has been to keep clients' personal lives private for fear they might jeopardize public images and lead to fewer job offers.

But as technology gets easier to use and performers find it simple to post self-made videos and connect directly to fans, publicists may find them harder to control.

It may seem that, so far, Sheen's antics have only added to his fame, but some Hollywood watchers are saying the actor has reached the point where he crossed into infamy.

"His online appearances to date are quite freaky and really show that without a script he has little to offer," said Deadline Hollywood columnist Pete Hammond.

The detractors -- Sheen would call them "trolls" -- have already produced a "Sheen Free" feed on Twitter.

Whether Sheen's rants are seen as the truthful observations of a Hollywood star or odd, stream-of-consciousness outbursts during a personal meltdown, one thing is certain: more and more celebrities will be bringing their lives online.

"We can look forward to higher levels of famous people stooping to new lows. And then, the montage on YouTube. And then, the remix," said Miller.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

"Bambi" reissue tops home video sales charts (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 05:36 PM PST

By Thomas K. Arnold Thomas K. Arnold – Wed Mar 9, 8:36 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Disney has done it again: taken a cinematic senior citizen, given it a first-class makeover for its Blu-ray Disc debut and taken it straight to the top of the national home video sales charts.

This time, it's "Bambi," the 1942 animated classic about a young deer growing up alone in the forest after his mother is shot dead by hunters. The two-disc "diamond edition" combo pack, which includes the film on Blu-ray Disc as well as standard DVD, debuted at No. 1 on the Nielsen VideoScan DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales charts for the week ending March 6.

Even though "Bambi" hasn't been in theaters since a 1988 re-release, the film handily outsold several new theatrical features including "Burlesque," which bowed at No. 3 on both charts, and "Faster," at No. 4 on both charts. The previous week's top seller, "Megamind," dropped to No. 2 on both charts.

Elsewhere, the romantic comedy "Love and Other Drugs" entered at No. 5 on the DVD chart and at No. 7 on Blu-ray. The mountain misadventure "127 Hours" bowed at No. 7 and No. 6 on the respective charts.

On the rental side, "Faster" took the No. 1 spot on trade publication Home Media Magazine's weekly rental chart. "Megamind" slipped to No. 2, and "Burlesque" debuted at No. 6.

"Love and Other Drugs" and "127 Hours" failed to place because of 20th Century Fox's 28-day delay in issuing discs to Netflix and Redbox. Two Fox titles that came out a month ago but only became available at Netflix and Redbox last week both belatedly debuted in the top 10, "Conviction" at No. 7 and "Never Let Me Go" at No. 10.

Android app builders: What Oracle lawsuit? (InfoWorld)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 04:21 PM PST

By Paul Krill Paul Krill – Wed Mar 9, 7:21 pm ET

San Francisco – Although Oracle is suing Google over the search giant's Android mobile software platform, developers at an Android developer event this week remained undaunted in backing the platform.

Attendees at the AnDevCon conference, which attracted about 800 developers, heard Wednesday about the newly released Android 3.0 Honeycomb platform, which makes accommodations for tablet devices; they also got a brief glimpse of future plans to bring Honeycomb capabilities to smaller-screen devices.

[ Also at AnDevCon, a Motorola Mobility official acknowledged fragmentation concerns related to Android. | Learn how to manage iPhones, Androids, BlackBerrys, and other smartphones in InfoWorld's 20-page Mobile Management Deep Dive PDF special report. ]

Oracle's lawsuit filed last summer, however, alleges that Android infringes Java patents and copyrights Oracle acquired when it bought Sun Microsystems. Oracle is seeking treble damages and an order stopping Google from any further infringement.

Some attendees, however, were not very familiar with the lawsuit, and AnDevCon conference chair Alan Zeichick, of BZ Media, said the litigation was not impacting the event. (AnDevCon was held this week in San Mateo, Calif., about 10 minutes from Oracle headquarters in Redwood City.) "I can can honestly say you were the first person to even bring it up," Zeichieck said.

But developer Sanjeev Tirunagaram said he did bring up the issue in a conference session on Monday. Still, Tirunagaram is not prepared to abandon Android development. "[The lawsuit] won't affect the developer at the end of the day because no matter what, they're not going to shut [Android] down. They're going to settle the case one way or the other," said Tirunagaram, a student at California State University, Northridge, and an intern at T-Mobile.

Other developers concurred. "I think it's just about a big paycheck in the end, and it'll settle itself out," said Wes Richardet, project scientist with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

Skeptical of Oracle's grounds for the lawsuit, developer Joshua Frank said the most of the code Google was using was open source. If the lawsuit does indeed have any legitimacy, Google will settle with Oracle, said Frank, of game builder Tesseract Mobile. "Android's a pretty major development platform, and they're not just going to let it go away," Frank said.

Asked about the lawsuit, Google software engineer Romain Guy went silent. Just prior, he and co-presenter Chet Haase, of the Google Android team, had preached the benefits of Android 3.0 and its capabilities, such as the Renderscript 3D graphics and a hardware-accelerated browser.

Android 3.0's Fragments capability enables developers to build an application for different form factors with minimal amounts of code required per situation. Fragmentation in the Android platform itself, in which there are differentiations in the Android platform between different systems, was lauded by Richardet. "I think fragmentation is good just because it forces a developer to actually take advantage of the differences in the devices," Richardet said.

This article, "Android app builders: What Oracle lawsuit?," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in business technology news and get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

Facebook puts six on Forbes billionaire list (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 03:12 PM PST

– Wed Mar 9, 6:12 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Facebook not only made household names out of its founders thanks to the movie "The Social Network" -- it has also minted the latest crop of the richest people on the planet.

Six of the founders and investors behind the hot Internet startup made the annual list of world's top billionaires compiled by Forbes and published on Wednesday -- and four of them are new to the roster.

They join a list of others made wealthy by the latest gold rush on the Internet, underscoring the extent of the resurgence in a sector left for dead at the turn of the millennium.

Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg clocked in at No. 52 with an estimated worth of $13.5 billion, up from 212 and $4 billion in 2010.

Co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, the youngest billionaire on the Forbes list at 26, Eduardo Saverin, and investors Sean Parker and Russian Yuri Milner are new to the ranks. Rounding out Forbes' "Facebook Six" is investor Peter Thiel, who has moved down to 833 from 828, despite increasing his wealth to $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion.

Created in a Harvard dorm room in 2004, Facebook rocketed from an online directory for college students to the world's No. 1 social network, quickly surpassing its predecessor Friendster and dominating its rival News Corp's MySpace in popularity.

Facebook has about 600 million users and is a threat to more established big Web businesses such as Google and Yahoo for users' time and advertising dollars.

The private Silicon Valley company recently rounded up $1.5 billion in financing led by Goldman Sachs and Milner's Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, suggesting it could be worth $50 billion and setting off a feeding frenzy among investors.

Other names familiar in tech, media and Internet circles make an appearance on the Forbes list. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page both come in at No. 24 on the Forbes list, unchanged from a year earlier though their fortunes have increased to $19.8 billion each from $17.5 billion each.

In China, Robin Li, the man behind the popular search engine Baidu, is listed with an estimated wealth of $9.4 billion. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba.com -- a site similar to eBay for businesses' transactions -- is worth $1.6 billion.

Digital Sky Technologies Chief Executive Milner, credited with beating Silicon Valley at its own game, landed on the cover of Forbes' billionaires list magazine. His firm holds stakes in the center of this generation's Internet leaders including social gaming Zynga and the online coupon site Groupon.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba; Editing by Gary Hill)

Credit card processor VeriFone challenges Square (Digital Trends)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 04:01 PM PST

Geoff Duncan Geoff Duncan – Wed Mar 9, 7:01 pm ET

Credit card processor VeriFone has released an open letter to both consumers and the card processing industry claiming that an smartphone-based credit card reader being marketed by start-up Square is plagued by a "serious security flaw" that puts users' data at risk. According to VeriFone, the problem lies in the Square card reader dongle that connects to an iPhone, iPad, or Android device's headphone connector: the dongle reads information off the card's magnetic strip and sends it to the device unencrypted. The result, according to VeriFone, is that anyone could write a bogus skimming application that collected card information off the Square card reader, and experts could do it from scratch in under an hour. How do they know? They did it.

"In less than an hour, any reasonably skilled programmer can write an application that will "skim"—or steal—a consumer's financial and personal information right off the card utilizing an easily obtained Square card reader," VeriFone's CEO Douglas G. Bergeron wrote in the latter. "How do we know? We did it. Tested on sample Square card readers with our own personal credit cards, we wrote an application in less than an hour that did exactly this."

The idea behind Square is to enable anyone to accept payments using credit cards using just an smartphone, the Square dongle reader, and Square's software—of course, users will also need to have a merchant account with a band and go through all the rigamarole of being authorized to accept credit card payments. However, VeriFone's argument is that because the data read off the card is transmitted to the device unencrypted, anyone could write a bogus "Square" application and use it to skim credit card information from unsuspecting credit card users.

VeriFone is demanding Square recall all its card-reading devices, and notes it is handing its application over to the likes of Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and JP Morgan chase for their examination, urging them to stop accepting payments processed via Square. "If the industry allows Square and other similar attempts to short-circuit security best practices, it will seriously jeopardize the integrity and security of the payment infrastructure and financial systems developed over the last three decades."

Industry watchers have generally greeted VeriFone's accusations and open letter with a healthy degree of skepticism. Some have accused VeriFone of having a blatant conflict of interest, since Square's business model directly undercuts VeriFone's own business for expensive credit card readers. In that context, VeriFone's open letter can be viewed an attempt to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) about a competitor's product. Others have noted that, with the exception of a CVV1 number, the data on a credit card's magnetic strip is exactly the same as the information printed on the credit card itself: skimmers need only take a decent picture of a credit card in order to "skim" the data off it—and they might get the user's legal signature too.

Five Big Security Threats for 2011 (PC World)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 06:00 PM PST

Ian Paul Ian Paul – Wed Mar 9, 9:00 pm ET

Online malicious activity was a major headache in 2010, and so far, 2011 is no different: We've seen scams and malware on Twitter, Facebook, and the Android Market, as well as a rise in politically motivated online attacks. But that's no surprise to security experts such as Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for security firm Sophos. Cluley says that Sophos analyzes about 95,000 pieces of malware every day that is either brand-new or a variant of an older attack.

The bad guys are hard at work figuring out new ways to infect your system. The good news is that the latest antivirus programs do a better job than ever at detecting suspicious activity before it can damage your computer.

But security software can't always protect you; sometimes the best defense is a dose of common sense and a little bit of knowledge about what to watch out for. Whether it's fake antivirus scams, malware on social networks, or good old-fashioned e-mail attachments loaded with viruses, it pays to be on your toes so you don't end up becoming a victim to identity theft, a raided bank account, or even a home invasion.

So here's a look at 2011's five big security threats, and the steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim.

Threat 1: Mobile Apps

What it is: It isn't surprising that smartphones are a hot new malware target: 85 percent of adults in the United States own a mobile phone, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, and the smartphone market is growing at a rapid pace.

As recently as March 1, more than 50 third-party applications on Google's official Android Market contained a Trojan called DroidDream. When you run a DroidDream application for the first time, the malware gains administrator access over your phone without your permission, according to mobile security firm Lookout. That means it could download more malicious programs to your phone without your knowledge and steal data saved on your device.

Google was able to stop the DroidDream outbreak by deleting the bad apps from the Market and remotely removing malicious apps from Android users' devices, but it's only a matter of time before the next outbreak occurs.

And malicious apps on the Android Market aren't the only way that malware authors can target phones: A recent Android malware outbreak in China spread through repackaged apps distributed on forums or through alternative app markets.

The threat of malware, coupled with other security threats (such as data leakage from a lost phone) may soon impact your ability to use personal devices at work, according to Andrew Jaquith, chief technology officer of Perimeter E-Security. Companies may begin to set some serious ground rules for putting company data on personal mobile devices by enforcing "policies for passwords, device locking, remote wipe, and hardware encryption," Jaquith says.

Protect yourself: You can't trust that all apps on the Android Market are malware free. Make sure you read app reviews in the Market and on reputable app review sites such as PC World's AppGuide. And avoid installing any applications you get from unknown sources. That .apk file may be titled "Fruit Ninja" but in reality is a Trojan horse waiting to be unleashed. Don't forget that a number of mobile antivirus apps are available for Android, and it may be wise to have at least one installed on your phone.

Also, read an app's permissions screen carefully--it details what kinds of data an Android application can access (Google makes it mandatory for developers to have a complete list of permissions for every feature that an app has access to on your phone). You can find this list on every app's page in the Android Market (it appears right after you tap the button to download an app). See if you can uncheck undesirable permissions. If you're downloading a wallpaper application, for example, chances are it doesn't need to know your exact location.

iOS users aren't off the hook, either: Some bad actors have slipped by Apple's censors in the past despite the company's third-party app-vetting process. Over the summer, for example, a flashlight app that had hidden functionality got approved to the App Store. The actual risk may be low, but it isn't impossible for a seemingly legit app to have some hidden, malicious capabilities.

Threat 2: Social Network-Based Scams

Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter may be a great place to connect with friends, but they are also a breeding ground for malicious activity. Cluley says some of the most rapid growth in online attacks comes from social networks. In November, antivirus maker BitDefender made a similar statement, saying 20 percent of all Facebook users are active targets of malware.

Social network scams often take the form of phishing attacks that try to lure you in with photos or videos, and harvest your personal information or Facebook login--or worse, infect your PC with malware--along the way. Often, these links will come from Facebook friends who fall victim to these scams. You could also run across rogue Facebook applications that try to access your Facebook data and that of your friends.

While it's probably no big deal if scam artists find out what your favorite movies or quotes are, your profile may contain critical data--such as your date or place of birth, cell phone number, and e-mail address--that can be used to build a profile about you and even steal your identity. Such bits of information may be the final data point a bad actor needs to impersonate you online.

You could even become a specific target for criminals through social networks. In September, three young men ran a burglary ring in Nashua, New Hampshire, by looking at Facebook postings about people going out and then targeting homes they believed were likely to be empty. Police said they recovered over $100,000 in stolen property after cracking the ring, according to New Hampshire's WMUR-TV 9.

Protect yourself: Be wary of any social networking postings that offer you the chance to see a cool photo or video or making claims you know to be untrue--such as a recent Twitter scam that offered to let you see who is viewing your profile. Often, these scams can be stopped by just revoking the app in your security permissions and changing your account password. Another smart thing to do, according to Cluley, is to stop and ask yourself why a Facebook application wants to post messages on your wall or access your friends list. If you can't think of a good reason the app would need to do this, perhaps it's not worth authorizing.

Threat 3: Fake Antivirus

What it is: Although they've been around for a few years now, fake antivirus scams are on the rise, according to Cluley. In the last eight months, Sophos says, it has analyzed more than 850,000 instances of fake antivirus. Also known as "scareware," these scams start by convincing you to download a free antivirus program, sometimes appearing to be software from a reputable security company. Then the software claims your computer is under threat from a virus and you can save your system by buying a "full" version of the antivirus program for a one-time fee.

Once you do that, however, not only have you allowed more potential malware onto your computer, but you may have also handed over your credit card credentials to identity thieves. At that point, the bad guys can drain your bank account or steal your identity.

The irony of all this, says Cluley, is that these scams owe some of their success to the fact that we are becoming more aware of computer security. Since we want to protect ourselves as much as possible from malware threats, we become easily seduced by software promising enhanced security.

Protect yourself: First and foremost, make sure you are running a security program that's current--especially one that effectively blocks brand-new malware (see our reviews of the latest security suites and antivirus programs for which to buy). And never download a security program from a pop-up window you see online or from a third-party site.

Threat 4: PDFs

It may be the oldest online scam in the book, but e-mail loaded with malware attachments is still a big problem despite a high degree of awareness and robust antivirus scanning in Webmail clients such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail. Cluley puts the number of malware-related e-mails sent every day in the "millions," and says that "more and more spam is less about touting Viagra or fake degrees, but [is] turning malicious in nature."

PDF documents appear to be a prime method for these attacks, according to a recent report by MessageLabs, a division of Symantec. "PDFs are potentially one of the most dangerous file formats available and should be treated with caution...Because it is significantly easier to generate legitimate and concealed malicious content with PDFs," MessageLabs said in its February 2011 Intelligence Report (a PDF link--oh, the irony).

In 2010, 65 percent of targeted e-mail attacks used PDFs containing malware, up from 52.6 percent in 2009, according to MessageLabs, which further predicts that by mid-2011, 76 percent of targeted malware attacks could be using PDFs as their primary method of intrusion.

It's not just businesses that are targets of e-mail scams either. Sophos recently discovered an e-mail scam in the U.K. purporting to offer an $80 gift certificate to customers of a popular pet supply retailer.

Protect yourself: Make sure you are running an antivirus program and that it's up-to-date. Also, never open an e-mail attachment that you weren't expecting.

Last but not least, make sure that you keep Adobe Reader (or the PDF reader of your choice) up-to-date; Adobe regularly releases security updates that fix known flaws. The new Adobe Reader X has an updated security architecture that can better protect you against malicious PDF attacks.

Threat 5: War Games

State-sponsored malware attacks, industrial espionage, and hacktivism are on the rise, according to Perimeter E-Security's Jaquith. They may not be threats that affect everyone, but if you manage security for a business, they are the sorts of issues you should be paying attention to.

The hacktivist group Anonymous, for example, grabbed headlines this year for mounting attacks in defense of whistle-blower site WikiLeaks, and attacking government Websites in support of recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. The group also leaked a cache of e-mail messages from a security researcher who was trying to identify Anonymous members. "Whether it's WikiLeaks, Anonymous, or a Chinese or Russian attacker, theft of industrial secrets is shaping up to be one of the key issues of 2011," Jaquith says in a statement.

Protect yourself: If you are trying to safeguard your company's secrets or are worried about data leaks, monitor your company's network traffic for suspicious activity and conduct regular reviews of employee data access privileges.

The Internet may be filled with malware and potential threats, but that doesn't mean you need to panic. Keep your guard up, use common sense, and keep your software up-to-date, and you should be able to reduce your risk of falling victim to attack.

Connect with Ian Paul (@ianpaul) and Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.

Android apps to survive SXSW 2011 (Appolicious)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 01:00 PM PST

Aircell to Boost In-flight Wi-Fi Speed (PC World)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 04:30 PM PST

Stephen Lawson Stephen Lawson – Wed Mar 9, 7:30 pm ET

In-flight Wi-Fi provider Aircell unveiled plans for its second generation of wireless links from aircraft to the Internet on Wednesday, promising higher capacity and the capability to offer its service outside the U.S.

Aircell equips airliners and business jets with in-cabin Wi-Fi systems and operates a network of special cellular base stations around the U.S. to send data from the Internet to the planes and back. Its Gogo service is offered by United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Virgin America and other commercial carriers, and the company also sells Gogo Biz for business jets.

On planes where the airlines choose to upgrade the radio equipment, users should get about four times the speed with the new technology, according to Aircell. The main upgrade option, using a faster cellular technology, is scheduled to become available in the first half of 2012, the company said.

Aircell's plan for a new generation of technology is the latest signal that in-flight Wi-Fi is here to stay. Aircell's services began to appear in 2008 after an earlier, satellite-based attempt to put passengers online, Connexion by Boeing, had failed to capture a strong following. But Wi-Fi is now available on many domestic flights in the U.S. Aircell, the biggest provider of these services, charges between US$4.95 and $12.95 depending on the length of the flight and the passenger's device. Facebook, airlines and other companies have sometimes offered special deals that make the service free.

Business travelers are already demanding in-flight Wi-Fi, and more consumers will, especially the growing number of passengers with smartphones, said analyst Avi Greengart of Current Analysis.

"Connectivity is something that consumers are beginning to take for granted in other aspects of their lives," Greengart said.

And, on flights just as in hotels and coffee shops, people are willing to pay for it, Tolaga Research analyst Phil Marshall said.

Aircell will upgrade its cellular infrastructure from Revision A to Revision B of EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized), the 3G data technology for CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) networks. In Aircell's implementation, Revision B can increase EVDO's downstream speed from about 3.1M bps (bits per second) to 9.8M bps, according to Anand Chari, vice president of engineering. For airlines that want even more capacity, Aircell will also install satellite equipment on planes to link up with Ka-band satellites. The Ka-band system will be available in the continental U.S. in 2013 and around the world in 2015, according to Aircell.

Satellite uplinks will also allow Aircell to offer services outside the continental U.S., on carriers based both in the U.S. and elsewhere. Airlines that want to provide Internet access on international flights before the Ka-band satellites become available will be able to use an existing network on the so-called Ku band, Chari said. The Ka band will be more economical, he said.

Individual passengers should see better performance on their phones and laptops once the faster links are installed. Because not everyone is typically using the shared link at a given time, users are likely to get 5M bps or more, Chari said. However, there will still be limits to what they can do online on a typical flight, he added. For one thing, Aircell uses traffic engineering to make sure everyone sharing the network gets the best possible experience.

"If you want to sit on a plane and watch a Netflix movie, it's not going to work very well for you, because we did not build the network where everybody can watch a Netflix movie," Chari said.

Aircell said in 2008 that it hoped to deploy LTE beginning in 2011 and achieve a 300M bps link from the ground to the air. However, the company doesn't yet have enough radio spectrum to use LTE, though it is working on acquiring more, Chari said. EV-DO Revision B will be a hardware and software upgrade to Aircell's existing EV-DO network, which is supplied by Chinese telecommunications vendor ZTE.

EV-DO Revision B has been available for several years but was upstaged by LTE (Long-Term Evolution), which can offer even higher speeds. Only three mobile operators in the world have deployed Revision B, according to Qualcomm, the pioneer of EV-DO. However, Aircell is better able to take advantage of the technology, Chari said. For one thing, Revision B requires a clean signal, which is harder to achieve when it has to go through walls and other obstacles, he said.

"We have a very unique situation: There is nothing between the aircraft and our towers," Chari said.

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

Hands on with iMovie for iPad (Macworld)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 06:01 PM PST

Jason Snell Jason Snell – Wed Mar 9, 9:01 pm ET

iMovie on the iPhone showed that a simplified video-editing app could work on an iOS device. With the release of the iPad 2, Apple's also releasing an update to the $5 iMovie that lets it work on the iPad 2 as well. I used iMovie on my iPad 2 to edit a few video projects; here are my first impressions.

Getting video in

Although iMovie probably wouldn't exist on the iPad without the iPad 2's front- and rear-facing cameras, those aren't the only ways to get videos into the app. Yes, you can shoot video with the iPad's 720p rear-facing camera and then immediately edit it. But you can also shoot video with the iPhone 4 and then import the footage by connecting it to the iPad via the iPad Camera Connection Kit. I did this, and it worked pretty well.

You can also transfer iMovie projects from the iPhone to the iPad. (But not to the Mac, strangely enough.) Unfortunately, the workflow for this is so convoluted (I counted 15 steps) that I don't think it's actually worth it. If you're planning to edit videos on the iPad, just transfer the raw video files and start your project on the iPad itself.

Unfortunately, iMovie can't use video files that aren't in the specific format shot by iOS devices. That doesn't mean videos shot on all other devices won't work, but lots of them won't. My Canon T2i shoots H.264 videos, but at the wrong resolutions. My Canon HD camcorder shoots in a crazy compression format that an iMac struggles to transcode, so I'm not surprised that iMovie on the iPad refuses to acknowledge its existence. Still, if you're planning on using an iPad to edit your vacation movies, plan on shooting those movies on an iOS device or search out a camera that shoots iPad-compatible video files.

Using the app

Apple says iMovie works only on iPad 2; I was able to install my sample copy on an original iPad and it seemed to work fine, though as projects got more complex it got a little sluggish. This may be one of those cases where Apple decided that if the product didn't worth smoothly and flawlessly on the original iPad, it wasn't worth supporting at all.

Like iMovie on the iPhone, iMovie on the iPad features a scrollable timeline pane along with a video-preview pane. On the iPad, there's room for both of those to be much larger—and in landscape mode, you also get a view into the iPad's video library, making it easy to pick clips and add them to your project.

I was able to piece together a video, trim clips, set transitions, and even record a voiceover in no time at all. The act of recording a voice-over feature actually feels superior to the Mac version; after you record the track, you have the options to review, discard, or keep what you've done. How civilized.

iMovie offers a bunch of different themes, each with its own title style and set of transitions. Editing a transition is easy—just tap the transition's icon in the timeline and you can choose a different transition style or set its duration. Once you tap the transition icon between two clips, you can tap a two-headed arrow icon to open the Precision Editor (an iPad-exclusive feature), to make sure your cuts are happening on exactly the right frame.

Titles are limited, but functional. One of my favorite actions while editing video, splitting a clip in two, is fast and easy (if not obvious): you select a clip and then swipe down on the play head, and poof, one clip becomes two. It makes tactile sense, like you're physically chopping the clip in two.

Though I was able to get up and running in iMovie on the iPad quickly, the app actually has remarkable depth. I was really impressed with the app's help system, located by tapping the question-mark icon on the main menu screen.

In general, seeing iMovie on the iPad actually makes the design direction of the Mac version of iMovie start to make sense. iMovie on the iPad isn̢۪t the same as iMovie on the Mac, but you can tell how the two are related, and I̢۪d imagine that they̢۪ll become even more interrelated in the future.

iMovie looks like a great way for someone traveling light to edit together home movies. The only thing that will really limit its use is the limited number of cameras that produce iMovie-compatible video files. (Presumably the existence of this product will spur camera-makers to make sure their devices create compatible files, at least as an option.) If you shoot most of your home movies on your iPhone already, though, you will have few complaints about iMovie on the iPad.

These are my first impressions. We will have much, much more on iMovie on the iPad—including an in-depth first look and a full review—in the next few days at Macworld.com.

First look: GarageBand for iPad (Macworld)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 06:01 PM PST

Jason Snell Jason Snell – Wed Mar 9, 9:01 pm ET

Let's get this clear: I'm not a musician. I can play the piano a little bit, and I can sight-read music a little bit, but my musical education ended when I was in my early teens.

Over the years, I̢۪ve noodled around a little bit in the musical corners of GarageBand on the Mac. But never have I had the fun I had in the hours I spent playing with the new $5 GarageBand for iPad.

The introduction of "smart" instruments and the tactile nature of the iPad make the difference, I think. Garageband's Smart Instruments eliminate the learning curve usually required to make pleasant sounds: once I set my song in D major, the smart guitar transforms into eight complimentary chords, which I can play by touching the chord name, strumming the strings, or choosing one of four autoplay styles. Within fifteen minutes I had created a multi-layered track with guitar, bass, organ, and drum parts. (My apologies to Fountains of Wayne: I butchered "Hey Julie." But had fun doing it.)

Now, the tactile thing: to use GarageBand on the Mac, you have to use a mouse or (if you're really cool) a USB keyboard or a guitar with a fancy input. Playing keys with a virtual keyboard is unfulfilling. Tapping out chords on an iPad screen, and running your fingers over virtual guitar strings? Fun. It's that simple.

This is not to say that GarageBand for iPad is frivolous or dumbed down. The app itself is quite a large download, owing to its wide variety of included virtual instruments. You can also record real instruments—I was able to use the $29 Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit to attach a Blue Snowball microphone and record a vocal track. (I also used the kit to connect an M-Audio USB keyboard, and it worked great.)

The options GarageBand for iPad offers are broad. You can record tracks as Keyboard, Drums, Smart Drums, Smart Bass, Smart Keyboard, Smart Guitar, Guitar Amp, Audio Recorder, and Sampler. Keyboard is what you'd expect, a virtual keyboard similar to those seen in other iPad apps (though with some nice customization features). Drums is a virtual drum kit you can bang around in, with a remarkable variation in sounds depending on where you hit the drums. The Smart instruments are all training-wheel versions of the real thing, and a lot of fun to use. Guitar Amp lets you plug in a guitar and start playing. Audio Recorder lets you record anything via a microphone (the iPad's own, or one you attach via USB). Sampler lets you sample anything—your dog, a belch, your garage-door opener—and turn it into a playable sound.

Getting audio out of GarageBand when you're done is easy. First is easiest: just e-mail a song. The app creates an AAC file and attaches it to an e-mail, just like that. You can also save an AAC file to your iPad's shared space, so you can drag it out of iTunes later. You can also save your project to iTunes as a GarageBand project file, which you can connect to a Mac and drag out, then open in GarageBand for Mac. I wasn't able to test this feature, however, because it requires a GarageBand for Mac update that hadn't yet been released.

So the exporting thing's handled, but the one thing GarageBand can't seem to do is import anything. I wish there was a way to copy in an audio file and add it to a track. This would be a big boon for those of us who like to use GarageBand for podcasting, and while I accept that GarageBand is a musical tool first and a spoken-word tool second, it sure would be cool to be able to produce an entire podcast using GarageBand for iPad. (Presumably some musicians wouldn't mind bringing in a background track of their own, too?) Maybe in a future update.

But my quibbles are minor. The fact is, you will never get more for your $5 than by buying a copy of GarageBand for iPad. And since it's compatible with the first-generation iPad as well, the wait need not be long. Unless you've never enjoyed music in your entire life, you should buy GarageBand for iPad the moment it hits the App Store.

Stay tuned: my little journey into musical incompetence is just the beginning. We'll have much more about GarageBand for the iPad in the very near future at Macworld.com.

Dell: ARM Servers Could Face Software Issues (PC World)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 02:20 PM PST

Agam Shah Agam Shah – Wed Mar 9, 5:20 pm ET

Dell is experimenting with chips based on ARM processors in its servers, but the architecture faces software issues that could stop it from being a viable alternative to x86 in the short term, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Some Dell clients are intrigued by low-power servers with ARM processors, which have interesting attributes related to power and density in data centers, said Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager of server platforms for Dell. However, there are major concerns about the weak software ecosystem surrounding ARM.

"Fundamentally it's a software issue," Norrod said. "Are there enough benefits from that architecture for porting your code over to that new instruction set ... and maintain[ing] two different software stacks? It's never as trivial as it sounds."

Many servers run on Intel's Xeon and Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron chips, but there is a growing interest in adding low-power x86 netbook chips as companies look to cut energy bills. Dell already offers low-power servers with Via's Nano chips on a selective basis, and startup SeaMicro last week announced a low-power server that includes 256 of Intel's latest Atom N570 dual-core processors.

There are also time and cost issues associated with porting software from x86 to ARM, Norrod said. But the prospect of ARM processors -- which are used in most of the world's smartphones and tablets -- being an alternative to x86 is drawing attention.

"The jury's still out -- this thread is causing Intel and AMD to shift gears," Norrod said.

Norrod said that Dell has a good sense of what the ARM ecosystem will look like for the next 12 to 18 months. Depending on customer demand and viability, the company will have a strategy in place to release ARM-based servers.

ARM, which licenses CPU designs to chip makers, started talking about server processors in 2008. Marvell in November announced an ARM-based quad-core chip for servers, marking the chip designer's entry into the server market. Calxeda and Nvidia are also developing chips based on ARM cores.

ARM doesn't have the history in the server market, and most of the software tuning takes place for the x86 architecture, said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research.

Some companies are also reluctant to experiment with new architectures such as ARM especially when running critical applications, McCarron said. Intel's Xeon has RAS (reliability, availability and serviceability) features to solve data errors on the fly and ensure high server uptime.

"Being a new guy precludes [ARM] from getting activity in that market," McCarron said.

ARM processors could find a start in Web servers, which are generally used for less critical activity. ARM-based chips could also be used in low-end servers sitting on shelves in offices, McCarron said.

Analysts have also pointed out that the ARM architecture has limitations that make the chip limited in scope for servers. The company's upcoming Cortex-A15 processor has a 32-bit design, while x86 chips such as Intel's latest Atom processors have 64-bit extensions.

On a recent earnings call, ARM CEO Warren East said the company would ultimately add 64-bit extensions to its processor, but that a sizeable chunk of the server market was already available with its current 32-bit designs as few server applications used 64-bit applications.

Norrod said that ARM is just one of the interesting storylines that have made the server market the most exciting since the earlier part of the past decade, when blade servers were being introduced in the market. Significant technological development and multiple demand drivers have led to new server designs and form factors, Norrod said.

"It got boring, but it's not boring anymore," Norrod said.

Beyond ARM processors, Dell will continue to expand in the low-power server space with x86 chips. The company will announce new microservers by the end of the month, which could come with the option of low-power netbook chips, a Dell spokesman said.

ARM's U.S. press representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Harvard professor wins Turing Award (AFP/IBM/File)

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 12:53 PM PST

– Wed Mar 9, 3:53 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A Harvard professor whose machine learning research helped create an IBM computer that defeated two human champions in a "Jeopardy!" game has won the prestigious A.M. Turing Award.

Leslie Valiant, a computer science and applied mathematics professor, was honored for his "contributions to the development of computational learning theory and to the broader theory of computer science," the Association for Computing Machinery said Wednesday.

The award, named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing and considered the "Nobel Prize in Computing," carries a $250,000 prize sponsored by computer chip giant Intel and Internet titan Google.

"Leslie Valiant's accomplishments over the last 30 years have provided the theoretical basis for progress in artificial intelligence and led to extraordinary achievements in machine learning," ACM president Alain Chesnais said.

"His profound vision in computer science, mathematics, and cognitive theory have been combined with other techniques to build modern forms of machine learning and communication, like IBM's 'Watson' computing system, that have enabled computing systems to rival a human's ability to answer questions."

Intel's Shekhar Borkar praised Valiant's research in computation theory for having "revolutionized machine learning and artificial intelligence, making machines almost think."

"Watson," the IBM computer, handily defeated two human champions of the television game show "Jeopardy!" last month in a three-day match in a triumph for artificial intelligence.

"Jeopardy!" first aired on US television in 1964. It tests a player's knowledge in a range of categories, from geography to politics to history to sports and entertainment.
at 9:36 PM

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