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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

5 NJ schools get grants from $100M Facebook gift (AP) : Technet

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5 NJ schools get grants from $100M Facebook gift (AP) : Technet

5 NJ schools get grants from $100M Facebook gift (AP)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 06:27 PM PDT

iPads take a place next to crayons in kindergarten (AP)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 03:35 PM PDT

By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press Clarke Canfield, Associated Press – Tue Apr 12, 6:35 pm ET

PORTLAND, Maine – Kindergarten classes are supplementing crayons, finger paints and flashcards with iPads, a development that excites supporters but that detractors worry is wasted on pupils too young to appreciate the expense.

Next fall, nearly 300 kindergartners in the central Maine city of Auburn will become the latest batch of youngsters around the country to get iPad2 touchpad tablets to learn the basics about ABCs, 1-2-3s, drawing and even music.

"It's definitely an adventure, and it'll be a journey of learning for teachers and students," said Auburn kindergarten teacher Amy Heimerl, who received an iPad on Tuesday ahead of the full deployment in the fall. "I'm looking forward to seeing where this can take us and our students."

But the $200,000 that Superintendent Tom Morrill is proposing to spend on iPads — which retail for around $500 — might be better spent on some other school program, said Sue Millard of Auburn, who has children in the fourth grade and high school. She also questions whether kindergartners are old enough to appreciate the effort.

"I understand you have to keep up with technology, but I think a 5-year old is a little too young to understand," she said.

Maine was the first state to equip students statewide with computers when it distributed Apple laptops to all seventh- and eighth-graders in 2002 and 2003. The program has since expanded, with laptops parceled out to about 50 percent of high school students.

The state Department of Education says it believes Auburn is the first school district in Maine that will give iPads to kindergartners. The school board last week unanimously approved the plan to give all kindergartners iPads next fall.

The iPad is a powerful education tool with hundreds of teaching applications, Morrill said. With its touchpad screen, it's simple to use and can bring learning to life with imagery and sounds, he said.

"It's a revolution in education," Morrill said.

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller declined to comment on how iPads are being used in schools, but dozens of school districts around the country have been giving iPads to students. Schools in Omaha, Neb.; Columbiana, Ohio; Huntington, W. Va.; Paducah, Ky.; Charleston, S.C.; and Scottsdale, Ariz., are among the places where kindergarten pupils are using them.

Angus King, the former Maine governor who launched the state's laptop program, said the idea of iPads in kindergarten wows him. Anything that holds the attention of pupils will help in the learning process, he said.

"If your students are engaged, you can teach them anything," King said. "If they're bored and looking out the window, you can be Socrates and you're not going to teach them anything. These devices are engaging."

Morrill is convinced that in the end, using iPads to teach kindergarten will lead to improved student proficiency scores.

Heimerl, one of five kindergarten teachers in the district who got iPads on Tuesday, was impressed as she checked out apps for phonics, building words, letter recognition and letter formation.

"The more education teachers have using these tools the better we can enhance children's learning and take them to that next level," said Heimerl, a teacher at Park Avenue Elementary School.

Not everyone is sold. Larry Cuban, professor emeritus of education at Stanford University and the author of "Oversold and Underused: Computers in Schools," said there's no proof that computers bring learning benefits to pupils that young.

"There's no evidence in research literature that giving iPads to 5-year-olds will improve their reading scores," he said.

Peter Pizzolongo of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, based in Washington, said iPads can be an effective supplement to three-dimensional objects, whether they be books or building blocks.

"We can't say whether what the school district in Maine or anywhere else is doing is good or not good, but what we can say is when the iPad or any other technological tool is used appropriately, then it's a good thing for children's learning," he said.

The best use of iPads is probably in elementary and special education classes because the devices are so easy to use, said Nick Sauers of Iowa State University's Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. There are hundreds of education apps to choose from with a touch to the screen.

Sauers expects a boom soon, with most current iPad initiatives being billed as pilot or experimental programs.

"I think next year is when we'll see our first big bubble," Sauers said. "There will be districts next year that implement it school-wide, whether it be at the high school level or elementary level."

Morrill said most of the criticism has been about the costs during tough economic times — not about whether tablet computers are age-appropriate.

He said he plans to raise the money needed for about 325 iPads and teacher training from foundations, the federal government, the local school department and other sources.

As bullish as he is on the kindergarten iPad, he cautions that it needs to be properly supervised and isn't a panacea.

"I'm not saying they should be on this 24-7," he said. "The students still need to move, get up, dance, socialize."

Cisco plans to shut its Flip camcorder business (AP)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 02:49 PM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Tue Apr 12, 5:49 pm ET

NEW YORK – Cisco Systems Inc., one of the titans of the technology industry, on Tuesday said it is killing the Flip Video, the most popular video camera in the U.S., just two years after it bought the startup that created it.

It appears to be a case of a big company proving a poor custodian of a small one, even one that makes a hit product. Cisco never meaningfully integrated the Flip Video into its main business of making computer networking gear.

Flip Video users are now lamenting the demise of a camera that broke new ground. It was inexpensive, pocketable and very easy to use, from shooting to editing and online sharing. These features have been copied by many other manufacturers, but the Flip Video still outsells them.

Nicole Bremer Nash, a freelance writer in Louisville, Ky., calls the Flip Video "the little camera that could."

"I was hoping they'd continue the line and expand the accessories for it instead of getting rid of it altogether," she said.

The Flip Video is named after an arm that flips out of the camera body and lets the user connect it directly to a computer. The camera even contains video-editing software that fires up on the computer.

"I just find it a really easy process to use, and that's why I really enjoy my Flip camera," said Courtney Sandora, another Louisville resident. She's been using Flip cameras for three years, and said she was "saddened and shocked" by Cisco's decision.

"There were many opportunities for Cisco to integrate Flip more into its vision of a networked world," said Ross Rubin, an electronics industry analyst at NPD Group. "The camcorders, for example, never even had Wi-Fi built into them."

"It was a brand the company had invested heavily in and could have leveraged for all kinds of consumer video experiences — video conferencing, security applications, et cetera," Rubin said.

Cisco didn't explain why it's shutting down the Flip Video unit rather than selling it. But the decision is part of a larger shakeup at the world's largest maker of computer networking gear. After several quarters of disappointing results and challenges in its core business, it's reversing years of efforts at diversifying into consumer products.

A week ago, CEO John Chambers acknowledged criticism that the company has been spreading itself too thin. He sent employees a memo vowing to take "bold steps" to narrow the company's focus.

The shakeup announced by the San Jose, Calif., company on Tuesday will result in the loss of 550 jobs, or less than 1 percent of its work force of about 73,000.

Cisco expects to take restructuring charges of no more than $300 million spread out over the current quarter, which ends April 25, and the following one.

The company is also retrenching on another consumer video business — home videoconferencing. In November, it started selling the umi, a $599 box that turns a high-definition TV into a big videophone. But signs soon emerged that the umi wasn't doing well. It cut the price of the unit in March, along with the monthly service fee, which went from $24.95 per month to $99 per year.

On Tuesday, Cisco said it will fold umi into its corporate videoconferencing business and stop selling the box through retailers. Instead, it will sell it through corporate channels and Internet service providers.

Cisco's Home Networking business, which makes Wi-Fi routers and has the 2003 acquisition of Linksys at its core, will be "refocused for greater profitability," but Cisco will keep selling the routers in stores.

Cisco shares fell 3 cents to close at $17.44 Tuesday. The shares are close to their 52-week low of $16.97, hit a month ago.

Analyst Simon Leopold at Morgan Keegan said the pullback on the consumer side is a good thing for investors, but not enough to set off a stock rally.

Consumer products have been a drag on Cisco's results because they carry profit margins that are far lower than the big-ticket capital equipment the company sells to corporations and governments, Leopold said. But the drag has been minor, because consumer products are still only a small part of Cisco's overall business.

Last year, the Flip Video was still the top-selling video camera in the U.S., with 26 percent of the market, according to IDC analyst Chris Chute. But that only amounted to 2.5 million units sold. Dedicated video cameras are small potatoes compared to digital still cameras and smart phones, both of which now shoot video.

Top competitors in the pocket camcorder field, which could benefit from Flip Video's demise, are Eastman Kodak Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. Rubin expects Kodak to pick up much of Cisco's market share.

Leopold said the performance of Cisco's corporate products has been a bigger factor for investors than the consumer business. He believes the selling is overdone because its market share losses are mainly in fringe products rather than bread-and-butter routers and switches.

Apple's Plan for a World Without Wires (Mashable)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 04:33 PM PDT

Ben Parr Ben Parr – Tue Apr 12, 7:33 pm ET

Apple is reportedly working on a way to sync iPods with iTunes wirelessly. It's just another step in Apple's steady march toward making wires and cords a thing of the past.

Steve Jobs is apparently pushing hard to make the next generation iPods capable of this type of wireless sync, according to Cult of Mac's sources. iPods with wireless sync would make the USB cable obsolete. Instead of importing music, movies and apps through Apple's iconic 30-pin connector, it would automatically sync whenever a user was connected to his or her Wi-Fi network.

There are more than a few problems standing in Apple's way, though. Big questions still loom about the reliability and signal strength of wireless syncing, and apparently it can be a drain on battery life. To address those issues, the world's most valuable tech company has been allegedly testing iPods with carbon fiber cases, rather than the aluminum used in most of the company's iPods.

Adding fuel to the fire, Apple has also recently hired Kevin Kenney, a senior composites engineer with expertise in carbon fiber. Apparently he has worked with Apple in the past and has even been named in some of Apple's patents.

One caveat to the carbon fiber rumors, though: the stuff is conductive and presents its own set of problems to transmitting wireless signals. Of course, nobody really knows what type of designs Apple may or may not be testing with the next-generation iPod, because nobody knows what Apple has up its sleeve.

AirPlay and the War Against Wires

It's no secret that Apple wants to decrease its reliance on wires, especially as it tries to shape a post-PC world. You can bet Steve Jobs doesn't like that the iPhone and iPad still have to plug into a Mac or PC to function.

To create its world without wires, Apple has been working hard on improving the performance of AirPlay, a feature that lets users stream their music to different stereo systems. The AirPort Express and the new Apple TV both serve as hubs for streaming iTunes to multiple stereos. Apple's "Remote" app turns the iPhone or iPod touch into a remote control for music streaming.

AirPlay is impressive technology, especially if someone takes the time to really set it up properly. I have a group of friends that have wired their four-story home so that they can control any stereo in the house with their iPhones. It's simply the future.

While we question some of aspects of Cult of Mac's report (carbon fiber is a lot more expensive than aluminum), we definitely believe Apple is working on a wireless sync solution for iTunes and iOS. Wi-Fi Sync could even make its debut in June, when Apple is set to reveal the future of iOS and Mac OS at WWDC.

In any case, we think Wi-Fi Sync is a feature that will come sooner rather than later. And it won't be the end; Apple will keep on finding ways to make its devices more mobile and less reliant on wires or cords.

A World Without Wires

Our society is slowly disconnecting from the countless wires that have tied us down for years. The increasing popularity of laptops and the rise of smartphones have made mobile computing easy and efficient. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have made it possible for us to surf the web and answer our phones from almost anywhere. We can even charge our devices via wireless.

We're still a long ways off from a world without wires, though. At the end of the day, we still have to plug our laptops and tablets into the wall. We still need cords to power our microwaves and our TVs. We have cords for our USB devices, our headphones and even our Wi-Fi routers. Wires run through our homes and under our streets to power our way of life.

Our society is addicted to wires, and it's a problem that Apple clearly wants to solve. It starts with AirPlay and wireless syncing, but until someone can solve the power problem, our reliance on cords plugged into electrical outlets will continue.

New technology is on its way, though. Inductive charging (the technology that makes products like the Powermat possible) is slowly making its way into more homes, and there have been recent advances in resonant inductive coupling, a technology that utilizes oscillating magnetic fields to transfer electricity without a cord.

In other words, don't be surprised if your future Macbook Air doesn't come with a power cord. It's going to happen.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alengo

Huffington Post, AOL sued by bloggers (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 07:30 PM PDT

TV airwaves needed to counter wireless crunch: FCC (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 06:21 PM PDT

Wal-Mart shrinks electronics space, adds items (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 06:37 PM PDT

By Lisa Baertlein Lisa Baertlein – 2 hrs 29 mins ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores is cutting the size of its electronics department as popular gadgets shrink and making room to add back dropped items like fishing poles, fabric and full-figure fashions.

"It's still a vibrant category but much smaller items are being sold," Rosalind Brewer, president of Walmart East, said while speaking at the ISI Retail Summit on Tuesday.

Company officials said Wal-Mart will be selling the same number of products despite the reduction in the physical size of its electronics departments. They added that the size of the electronics departments will vary store by store.

Over the last couple of years, the world's biggest retailer expanded space for entertainment items by about 20 percent to push the sale of flat-panel televisions. Now, hot items for viewing digital content range from smart phones to tablet computers like Apple Inc's iPad.

Janney Capital Markets analyst David Strasser estimated that Wal-Mart would be moving about 2,000 square feet per store away from the category, "suggesting the company would effectively be eliminating 7.2 million (square feet)" in its electronics departments overall.

Consumer electronics chains in general have been feeling the pinch from online competitors, a weak economy and declining demand for televisions. Big box retailer Best Buy Co Inc, a bellwether in consumer electronics, has been hurt by U.S. shoppers showing little interest in items like 3-D and Internet-based televisions.

Wal-Mart has been adding back thousands of items to its U.S. stores in a reversal of its 2008 decision to cut less popular products and deeply discount favored merchandise.

Brewer, who oversees 1,600 stores from Maine to Puerto Rico, said her division was also seeing higher-income shoppers return to Wal-Mart's discount stores.

Wal-Mart's sales at stores open at least a year have fallen for seven consecutive quarters in contrast with the growth seen during most of the recession when shoppers flocked to its stores for lower-priced goods.

As the economy started recovering, Wal-Mart saw some higher income shoppers turn to competitors like Target Corp.

Soaring gasoline prices could force some shoppers to look for ways to save money, which may benefit Wal-Mart.

To that end, Brewer said her division was seeing customers return to making stock-up trips as gas prices rise.

Wal-Mart shares closed up 1.3 percent at $53.52 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein, editing by Bernard Orr)

HTC's Sensation 4G vs. Samsung's Galaxy S II (PC World)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 04:00 PM PDT

JR Raphael Jr Raphael – Tue Apr 12, 7:00 pm ET

Blink your eyes for a second these days, and you just might miss the launch of another wildly impressive Android smartphone.

The latest high-end handset to enter the mix is HTC's Sensation 4G, a dual-core device announced on Tuesday and coming to T-Mobile this summer. The Sensation 4G boasts a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 768MB of RAM. It has a 4.3-inch qHD display, front- and rear-facing cameras, and HD video-recording capability. The Sensation also ships with Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread -- the latest and greatest smartphone-based edition of the Android OS.

So how does the HTC Sensation 4G stack up next to other 4G Android phones already on the horizon? I compared the Sensation with Samsung's Galaxy S II, another hotly anticipated device, to get an idea of just how competitive the handset will be.

HTC Sensation 4G: The Galaxy S II Comparison

This comparison chart shows a side-by-side glimpse of the two phones' specs. Looking at the breakdown, one thing's for sure: The HTC Sensation 4G is a tough competitor -- but the Galaxy S II is ready to put up a fight.

(Click the thumbnail at right to enlarge.)

In terms of pure computing power, the two phones are pretty darn close. The Sensation 4G has the upper hand on processing speed; its 1.2GHz dual-core chip is a hair ahead of the Galaxy S II's 1GHz dual-core component. The Galaxy S II edges out the Sensation in the RAM department, though: It packs a full gig of memory, while the Sensation has just 768MB (still no small amount).

How 'bout displays? Both phones sport 4.3-inch screens. The HTC Sensation uses LCD technology, while the Galaxy uses Super AMOLED Plus. Each material offers its own set of advantages and drawbacks, and it's tough to label either as objectively superior. The HTC Sensation does have the higher resolution, however, at 540-by-960 pixels next to the Galaxy's 480-by-800.

The Sensation is slightly larger than the Galaxy S II and about an ounce heavier, too. It also has less on-board storage: The Sensation ships with 1GB of internal space, while the Galaxy S II will come with the option of either 16 or 32GB. And of the two phones, only the Galaxy S II will feature NFC support -- something that doesn't mean much now but may prove useful in the future.

One final point worth mentioning: Though the HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S II both run on Gingerbread, the phones provide noticeably different software experiences. The Sensation comes with HTC's Sense user interface, whereas the Galaxy S II utilizes Samsung's TouchWiz UI. Which is better is purely a matter of personal preference; the best thing you can do is spend some time playing around with each setup to see how you feel. If you're like me and prefer an unmodified stock Android experience -- a "pure Google experience," as it's called -- you may want to look at a skin-free device like the upcoming T-Mobile G2X instead.

The HTC Sensation 4G is set to launch sometime this summer on T-Mobile. No U.S. launch plans have been announced for the Galaxy S II thus far, but the phone is expected to arrive in the U.K. in early May -- so odds are, we'll be hearing something soon.

[More 4G comparisons: Verizon 4G Phones: HTC Thunderbolt or Droid Bionic?]

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

Facebook saga grows with new legal drama (AFP)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 06:03 PM PDT

by Glenn Chapman Glenn Chapman – Tue Apr 12, 9:03 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – The drama of the Facebook story heightened as a man with a shady past used old emails and a powerful law firm to press his claim to half the online social networking firm.

A legal claim filed last year by Paul Ceglia and deemed dubious by many was being re-evaluated after lawyers at DLA Piper amended the complaint to include emails that appear to back the New York State man's position.

Ceglia contended that he hired then Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg in 2003 to do software coding for a StreetFax website and wound up providing seed money for what Zuckerberg than called "the face book."

Evidence presented by Ceglia, whose background includes criminal charges for fraud and a conviction for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, included a signed contract and email exchanges.

"This is a fraudulent lawsuit brought by a convicted felon, and we look forward to defending it in court," Facebook lawyer Orin Syder of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher said in a statement.

"From the outset, we've said that this scam artist's claims are ridiculous and this newest complaint is no better."

Ceglia claims he provided Zuckerberg with $2,000 in exchange for half of what is now Facebook, which boasts more than 600 million members and was recently valued at $50 billion.

DLA Piper has defended the integrity of the email, saying it conducted tests to confirm the exchanges were not altered.

Zuckerberg reportedly did work on StreetFax for Ceglia, but Facebook wasn't part of the deal.

Zuckerberg signed a contract with Ceglia in April 2003 for "the purchase and design" of a live Harvard yearbook website with the working title of "The Face Book," according to the lawsuit.

Ceglia has maintained that he forgot about the matter until coming across the contract while defending himself against charges that he defrauded customers of his wood pellet business.

Ceglia's amended complaint was separate from a lawsuit by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss that became fodder for Hollywood film "The Social Network."

A US appeals court ruled on Monday that the Winklevoss twins can't back out of the settlement deal they made in a lawsuit charging that Zuckerberg stole their idea for Facebook.

"The Winklevosses are not the first parties bested by a competitor who then seek to gain through litigation what they were unable to achieve in the marketplace," the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said.

"At some point, litigation must come to an end," the court said. "That point has now been reached."

The Winklevoss brothers claim they enlisted Zuckerberg to finish software code for their ConnectU social-networking website while they were all students at Harvard University in 2003.

Zuckerberg, a second year student at the time, took their code and their idea and launched Facebook in February 2004 instead of holding up his end of the deal, according to the brothers. Facebook rejects that account.

The twins inked a settlement two years ago that got them $20 million in cash and $45 million worth of stock valued at $36 per share.

The value of that yet-to-be-issued stock has skyrocketed along with Facebook's estimated market value, the judges noted in their ruling.

The brothers challenged the settlement, which was supposed to be confidential, on the grounds that Zuckerberg suckered them during settlement talks by not revealing Facebook internally valued the stock at $9.

The lower figure would have resulted in the Winklevoss twins getting many more shares.

The Winklevoss brothers based the value of Facebook stock on news that months earlier technology giant Microsoft had bought a small piece of the social networking star in a deal that valued the stock at just shy of $36 and the company at $15 billion.

While the cases are not related, forensic analysis of Zuckerberg's computer hard drives and emails could wind up used to either back up or debunk Ceglia's claim in court.

Computers Ceglia used for any exchanges with Zuckerberg would also be fair game as potential evidence.

Law enforcement agencies vacuum up data online, lack reporting procedures (Digital Trends)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 03:48 PM PDT

Molly McHugh Molly Mchugh – Tue Apr 12, 6:48 pm ET

I read your e-mailA doctoral candidate at Indiana University has published a paper claiming that law enforcement authorities are more and more commonly requesting e-mail, instant-message, and cell-phone location data, despite the gray area surrounding whether or not providers have to give up this information.

Christopher Soghoian's paper, titled The Law Enforcement Surveillance Reporting Gap, alleges that there "are likely hundreds of thousands" of requests for information and that while this has become generally accepted and known, we should be more concerned about this type of activity being monitored and recorded. Soghoian points out that Congress requires law enforcement agents to document wiretapping, but for some reason snooping over the Internet hasn't fallen under the same type of scrutiny. Of course, this has pushed investigation to the Web, where authorities have more freedoms.

As it currently stands, there is no official reporting method when it comes to various methods of electronic communication surveillance. And the information is largely being given to officials by Internet providers and phone carriers alike. "Unfortunately, many companies, particularly those with the close ties to the government, will not discuss their disclosure of user data to law enforcement agencies," Soghoian says. " The reason for this widespread secrecy appears to be a fear that such information may scare users and give them reason to fear that their private information is not safe." AOL, Facebook, Google, Sprint, and Time Warner are only a few of the companies that have admitted to receiving massive amounts of police requests for user information.

Of course, there is reason for this type of investigation. Investigating drug and child pornography cases account for "the majority" of this type of surveillance. But the act itself isn't what's being held up as ludicrous – it's the fact that law enforcement agencies aren't being required to create statistical reports of these actions.

While that sort of legislation hasn't made it very far in Congress, politicians continue to lobby for increased consumer control of data-collection. Bloomberg reports that Senators John Kerry and John McCain introduced a new bill today that would let consumers mandate whether or not businesses stored their information. The bill would not include the heatedly debated "do-not-track" stipulation.

Scientists Develop Brain-Computer Interface for Cell Phones (Mashable)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 03:21 PM PDT

Jolie O'Dell Jolie O'dell – Tue Apr 12, 6:21 pm ET

Some of the most cutting-edge interfaces – technologies that even go beyond gestural interfaces like Microsoft's Kinect – might be much closer to implementation than you think.

In fact, a group of researchers in San Diego have developed a system that allows users to dial a phone number on a cell phone using only their thoughts. The method is surprisingly accurate and would be a huge advantage for disabled people or anyone who needs a more hands-free experience or who regularly performs tasks that require a high degree of mental focus.

The technology, which was developed by University of California, San Diego neuroscience researcher Tzyy-Ping Jung and colleagues, tracks electrical activity in the brain using a headband of electrodes and a Bluetooth device. Users of the system were shown digits from zero to nine flashing at slightly different speeds on a computer screen; the frequency of each digit was detected by the electrodes, allowing the Bluetooth device to "know" which numbers to dial.

In various trials, subjects with varying degrees of training showed between 70% and 85% accuracy when attempting to dial a ten-digit phone number.

Computer-brain interfaces have been around for a while; this is the first instance we've seen of a brain interface being applied to a mobile phone. Being able to make brain interfaces smaller, faster and cheaper might go a long way toward these novel technologies becoming more practical for everyday use for a mass audience.

Still, brain interfaces have a long way to go. In the comments, let us know what you think of Jung's work; can you imagine a use case or two for widespread use of a brain-cell phone interface?

Quora finally endorses an iPhone app as the social media world awaits an official version (Appolicious)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 05:00 PM PDT

Samsung sells Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab 7.0 for $349.99 (Digital Trends)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 01:31 PM PDT

Jeffrey Van Camp Jeffrey Van Camp – Tue Apr 12, 4:31 pm ET

samsung-galaxy-tab-four-in-a-row

On April 10, Samsung released a new Wi-Fi only version of its Galaxy Tab 7.0 touch tablet. This marks the first release of the Galaxy Tab that isn't tied to a specific carrier. Samsung's original tablet runs on Android 2.1, has a 3MP rear camera, a front-facing camera, and can access the Android Market.

The Galaxy Tab 7.0 got a price cut as well. Though it was released at prices exceeding $600 last year, the 7-inch iPad competitor now runs for $349.99 at most online retailers, including Amazon and TigerDirect. The lowered price puts it in line with the original iPad, which can be purchased for roughly the same price.

This news comes as Samsung prepares to launch its Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, which both run on Android 3.0 and are priced as low as $469. Oddly, Samsung has not shown any public interest in upgrading the original 7-inch tablet, which looks somewhat dated when placed next to its larger cousins.

With a contract, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3G models currently sell for $549 on AT&T, $249 on T-Mobile, $199 on Verizon, and $299 on Sprint.

Flip handheld video camera gets the ax (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 05:25 PM PDT

By Jim Finkle and Paul Thomasch Jim Finkle And Paul Thomasch – Tue Apr 12, 8:25 pm ET

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The popular Flip video camera -- the top-selling camcorder in the United States last year -- is getting the ax as part of a revamp at parent company Cisco Systems, CEO John Chambers said on Tuesday.

The move to kill a gadget that won rave reviews for jump-starting low-cost handheld video comes less than a week after Chambers said he had to make "tough decisions" about cutting spending on some product areas.

Cisco bought Flip in 2009 for $590 million in an acquisition spree to build a stronger consumer business. The surprise decision to shut down Flip rather than sell it underscores pressure on Chambers to whittle down Cisco's money-losing consumer division.

Cisco spokeswoman Karen Tillman did not say why the company decided to kill the Flip business rather than sell it.

Last year Cisco sold 23 percent of all camcorders in the United States, ahead of Sony and Eastman Kodak, according to market research firm NPD Group. Those figures exclude sales by Wal-Mart and some club stores.

Cisco said it would clean out its Flip phone inventory before ending the product line. It is almost unheard of for a manufacturer to kill a top selling product in its category.

Social networking site Twitter was abuzz with tweets about the news, and "RIP Flip" was one of the day's most discussed topics. "Too bad. I still love my Flip!" tweeted one user.

Flip has recently lost some of its cachet, primarily because mobile phones makers now offer devices with similar functions incorporated into their handsets. It has also faced strong competition from other handheld camcorders, including Kodak's line of PlaySport devices.

Cisco plans to cut 550 of its 73,000 jobs. Chambers has previously said the company would focus on five areas: routing, switching and services; collaboration; data center virtualization; architectures; and video.

(Additional reporting by Jennifer Saba, Bill Rigby and Noel Randewich; Editing by Derek Caney and Richard Chang)

Is the iPhone 4 Faster on AT&T or Verizon? (PC World)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 06:00 PM PDT

Megan Geuss Megan Geuss – Tue Apr 12, 9:00 pm ET

When Verizon launched its own version of the iPhone in February--ending the long exclusive deal that AT&T had struck with Apple to sell the landmark phone--many AT&T iPhone users rejoiced. Finally, iPhone lovers could have their beloved device and connect it to a network with decent data speeds and fewer dropped calls. Some of them left their AT&T plans then and there, and bought a Verizon iPhone. But any AT&T customers still waiting for their contracts to run out might find our recent test results interesting--and instructive.

We have little doubt that the Verizon iPhone connects and holds voice calls better than the AT&T iPhone does, but if you're a heavy data user you might want to reconsider the AT&T iPhone. (For a head-to-head look at the two phones' specs, see the comparison chart we created in January.) We tested the connection speeds of both the AT&T iPhone 4 and the Verizon iPhone 4 in five western cities, and recorded faster data speeds on AT&T's version of the phone.

Verizon iPhone Slower?

In early 2011, we tested the AT&T iPhone 4 in San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Portland, and San Diego. In those five West Coast cities, it clocked an average download speed of 1.25 mbps and an average upload speed of 0.92 mbps. When we tested the Verizon iPhone 4 in San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, we recorded an average download speed of 0.89 mbps and an average upload speed of 0.54 mbps.

Comparing just the three cities where we tested both the AT&T and Verizon iPhones, AT&T wins again. In our Seattle tests with AT&T's iPhone, we saw a 1.34-mbps average on the downlink and 1.05 mbps on the uplink--nice-looking numbers for a 3G network. In our Verizon iPhone tests two months later, we saw a somewhat slower result in that city: a 1.06-mbps average downstream speed and a 0.54-mbps upstream speed.

The same thing happened in San Francisco and San Jose. While the AT&T iPhone achieved download speeds in the range of 1.4 mbps in both cities and upload speeds of 0.73 mbps (San Francisco) and 0.92 mbps (San Jose), Verizon's iPhone averaged 1.10 mbps downstream in both cities, and upload speeds in the range of 0.5 mbps.

Of the 52 locations we tested, San Francisco's Bernal Heights registered the fastest download speed of all at 2.25 mbps, with a 0.72-mbps upload speed.

In Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the Verizon iPhone reached slower average download speeds, at 0.66 mbps and 0.55 mbps, respectively. Los Angeles saw the slowest average speeds by far, downloading faster than 0.5 mbps in only half of the 12 locations we tested. Similarly, the Verizon iPhone had uploads faster than 0.25 mbps in only half of our Los Angeles testing locations.

Considerable Network Delay

During our tests we also measured the latency times for the Verizon iPhone. Latency refers to the time it takes for a single packet of data to travel through the network. Latency times of less than 100 milliseconds are ideal, while delays of less than 200 milliseconds usually won't cause noticeable impairments to services such as VoIP and video chat.

The Verizon iPhone produced an average latency time of 765 milliseconds across our five testing cities. Las Vegas had the best average latency time of the five cities we tested, at 249 milliseconds; Los Angeles clocked our slowest average latency time, at 2022 milliseconds. Considering that a network delay of more than 200 milliseconds can cause delays in extremely time-sensitive services, that nifty front-facing camera probably won't do you much good if you're in L.A. (unless you're in Santa Monica or Century City, where our test phone saw great latency times of 166 and 187 milliseconds, respectively).

Other Verizon Phones Faster

Our testing also shows that other Verizon phones--Android phones--may connect more effectively and more quickly with the Verizon CDMA network than the Verizon iPhone does. In San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Portland, and San Diego, Verizon's Motorola Droid 2 averaged 0.9 mbps for downloads and 0.62 mbps for uploads.

More bad news for Verizon iPhone users: Big Red's CDMA network may be slowing as Verizon focuses on building out its new 4G LTE network. Verizon strongly denies this, but our early 2011 tests with the Droid 2 showed that download speeds on the Verizon 3G network had slowed 7 percent from the year before.

For now, it seems that an iPhone buyer would do well to think about whether voice calling or data capability is more important. If you're already on AT&T and you're thinking about jumping ship to Verizon, remember that while your call quality is likely to improve, data service on your Verizon iPhone might be a bit slower.

In this comparison we've tried to give a general picture of how well the two versions of the iPhone connect to their respective networks. Your own results in your own neighborhood might vary from ours, so it's critical that you find out for yourself how well a Verizon iPhone might work for your needs. Examining our data is a good start, but asking your iPhone-using friends and neighbors may be more predictive.

This whole topic may become irrelevant when the LTE-capable iPhone 5 comes out, possibly this spring. The real question may be whether to buy an iPhone 4 at all right now, regardless of carrier, or to wait until the 4G goodness of the iPhone 5 becomes available.

How We Tested

Our testing method is designed to approximate the experience of a real smartphone user on any given day in their city. We speed-tested the Verizon iPhone 4 in ten to twelve testing locations spaced evenly throughout our five testing cities. At each testing location in each city, we took a "snapshot" of the performance of each wireless service, using an FCC-approved app made by Ookla to test for upload speed, download speed, and network latency. We looked for the fastest signal available in each location, and used that data to draw citywide averages.

Because wireless signal quality depends to a large extent on variables such as network load, distance from the nearest cell tower, weather, and the time of day, our results can't be used to predict exact performance in a specific area. Rather, they illustrate the relative performance of wireless service in a given city on a given day.

Mark Sullivan and Armando Rodriguez of PCWorld contributed to this report.

Cloud Foundry for Applications Launched by VMware (NewsFactor)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 02:17 PM PDT

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Mark Long, newsfactor.com – Tue Apr 12, 5:17 pm ET

VMware has introduced the industry's first open platform as a service (PaaS) to foster the development of software applications for cloud-computing environments. Called Cloud Foundry, the platform's goal is to shorten the time it takes for software developers to take their applications from concept to code and to the cloud.

Based on technology originally developed by SpringSource, which VMware acquired in 2009, Cloud Foundry gives software developers a broad choice of frameworks, app infrastructure services, and deployment options. Moreover, the platform isn't tied to any cloud environment, nor does it require a VMware infrastructure.

Instead, Cloud Foundry is being delivered as a service from enterprise data centers and public cloud providers. While we have heard similar announcements from VMware before, this one looks like the real thing, noted Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC.

"VMware is finally ready to put the platform out in the hands of developers to play with and will release the entire stack in open source for anyone to leverage," Hilwa said.

Multiple Support

Due to the breadth of frameworks that app developers use today -- and will undoubtedly continue using -- Cloud Foundry has been designed to support multiple frameworks, noted VMware Chief Technology Officer Steve Herrod.

"In the initial release, Spring for Java, Rails and Sinatra for Ruby, and Node.js are supported," Herrod wrote in a blog. "The system also supports other Java-virtual-machine-based frameworks such as Grails."

What's more, Cloud Foundry is designed to support a wide variety of application services because there simply is no single solution that meets all application requirements, Herrod observed.

"Initially, Cloud Foundry supports MySQL, MongoDB and Redis [and in] coming months, we will add support for other application services," Herrod explained. "We will work with the industry to support popular third-party technologies as well as VMware's own vFabric application services."

Cloud Foundry not only runs on top of VMware's current vSphere and vCloud infrastructure, but also on top of other infrastructure clouds. For example, VMware partner RightScale demonstrated Tuesday how Cloud Foundry can be deployed on top of Amazon Web Services. "Because of the open architecture, it could also be implemented on top of other infrastructure technologies like Eucalyptus or OpenStack," Herrod wrote.

Competing with Rival Platforms

Hilwa sees Cloud Foundry as an important strategic move that positions VMware as another emerging pole for Java developers. "While VMware's offering will be competing with Microsoft Azure, it will more directly compete for Java workloads with Red Hat," Hilwa said.

For VMware, the goal is to provide developers with a choice of frameworks so apps can be ported from different worlds, which Hilwa views as an ambitious approach.

"We have to watch VMware to see if it is able to add more and more frameworks quickly enough or generate the open-source traction to bring others into the fold," Hilwa said. "Going into production, launching tools, [and] putting out pricing are all milestones to watch out for."

Though we are in the early days of cloud platforms or PaaS offerings, and with most of the offerings still in the hands of early adopters at best, it's "at exactly times like these that players move into adjacent businesses and try to change the game," Hilwa explained. "VMware clearly hopes to do that for PaaS platforms."

IBM Refreshes Power Systems to Keep Unix Sales Edge (PC World)

Posted: 12 Apr 2011 01:40 PM PDT

James Niccolai James Niccolai – Tue Apr 12, 4:40 pm ET

IBM has updated its Power systems lineup with higher-density blades and faster processors for its mid-range Power 750 server, looking to keep its momentum in Unix sales as the market inches back to life.

IBM has been outselling both Oracle and Hewlett-Packard in the Unix market, helped by its introduction last year of the eight-core Power 7 processor, and by lingering doubts about the roadmaps of its two biggest rivals, said IDC analyst Jed Scaramella.

HP had to fend off more questions about the future of HP-UX last month, after Oracle joined Red Hat and Microsoft in saying it would stop developing new software for Intel's Itanium processor, on which HP's Unix servers are based.

HP assured its customers its roadmap for Itanium systems stretches out more than a decade, and said it would support its customers on existing Oracle releases throughout that time. But a glimmer of uncertainty can make buyers wary when it comes to decisions about high-end platforms.

"Whenever questions are raised and people are talking about business-critical applications, they tend to be very cautious," Scaramella said.

HP got something of a boost on Tuesday, however, when Intel announced in Beijing that its next Itanium processor, code-named Poulson, will ship next year and should double the performance of the current Itanium 9300.

Oracle has had challenges too. The company may finally have convinced customers that it is committed to developing Sun's Sparc-based systems, but it has also indicated that it has more interest in selling specialty, high-end systems than general purpose servers.

"That may have been a comment about x86 more than Sparc, but it put some questions in the market about Oracle's overall strategy," Scaramella said.

Those factors combined mean that most of the Unix-to-Unix conversions IDC has seen have been to IBM's AIX platform, he said. HP is faring better in the x86 market, Scaramella said, and overall its server business is strong.

That's not to say IBM's Unix business is booming; the Unix market as a whole is still coming back from the recession, and IDC predicts that sales will be down 1 percent this year compared to last, Scaramella said.

The Unix systems market was worth US$3.8 billion in the fourth quarter, according to IDC. IBM took 53.8 percent of that, up from 48 percent in the same quarter a year earlier, Scaramella said. HP's share stayed roughly level at 23.3 percent, and Oracle's declined from 23 percent to 17.7 percent.

Tom Rosamilia, general manager of IBM's Unix and mainframe businesses, said IBM has seen a jump in demand for Power systems during the current, second quarter, and "we're seeing an acceleration of that demand looking ahead in the pipeline."

The blades announced Tuesday are updates to IBM's first Power7 blades, the PS701 and PS702, announced a year ago this month. They double the density of those products, meaning customers can fit more compute power in the same form factor.

The PS703 crams 16 Power7 cores into one blade, up from eight cores in the PS701. The PS704, which IBM calls a "doublewide" because it snaps two blades together with high-speed interconnects, will support up to 32 Power7 cores, up from 16 in the PS702 doublewide released last year.

IBM doubled the density by shrinking the packaging around the processor and using new, "ultra-small" memory controllers, it said.

"Based on the combination of these new technologies, the layout and configuration of the design allowed for placement of two 8-core P7 processors on a single wide blade, while still preserving 16 DIMM slots and support for new solid-state disks or rotating storage options," IBM said.

The Power 750 is getting a moderate speed bump from faster processors. The new options include eight-core Power7 chips running at 3.6GHz or 3.2GHz, a six-core Power7 at 3.7GHz, or a four-core Power7 at 3.7GHz.

The Watson supercomputer that won Jeopardy earlier this year was built from a cluster of Power 750 servers, along with IBM's DeepQA and other software.

Watson showed that a machine can outsmart humans under certain conditions, but IBM still has a niggling problem: who wants to buy one?

"At this point we don't have that many customers that want to buy a Jeopardy machine," Rosamilia acknowledged.

IBM has been trying to find commercial uses for other Watson-like systems and believes it has found one in the medical world.

Watson was good at sifting through massive amounts of unstructured data very quickly to find the best answers to a question. If a doctor could input a patient's symptoms, blood tests and other data, a computer might be able to sift through reams of medical histories and other data and suggest possible diagnoses, Rosamilia said.

"Think of this as a medical assistant, not a replacement for a doctor," he said. "The computer can say, Here's what I think the problem is and here's my degree of certainty about it."

The new 750 processors will be available May 20, and a system with a four-core processor starts at $30,180. The new blades will ship May 20, IBM said. Pricing for those wasn't available.
at 9:34 PM

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