Sponsoer by :

Friday, April 29, 2011

Apple juggernaut sends ripples through tech world (AP) : Technet

Sponsored

Apple juggernaut sends ripples through tech world (AP) : Technet

Apple juggernaut sends ripples through tech world (AP)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 12:55 PM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Fri Apr 29, 3:55 pm ET

NEW YORK – Consumer technology companies reporting financial results this week are looking like rowboats bobbing in the wake of Apple Inc.'s supertanker.

Close to oblivion in 1997, Apple is now the world's second-most valuable company, after Exxon Mobil Corp. On April 20, it reported net income of $5.99 billion for the January-to-March period, nearly double that of a year ago. It shipped a record 18.65 million iPhones during the quarter. Its iPad tablet computers are so popular, the company couldn't make enough.

Apple's ascendancy has produced many losers and a few winners, as underscored over the past two weeks:

• Microsoft Corp.: loser.

Apple dethroned Microsoft as the world's most valuable technology company a year ago. In its mid-fall report, it surpassed Microsoft in quarterly revenue. In the January-March period this year, it surpassed Microsoft in net income, too.

On Thursday, Microsoft reported that revenue from the Windows operating system declined for the second straight quarter because people are buying fewer Windows computers.

Some prospective buyers are going to Macs instead — Apple reported that it sold 28 percent more units. Others are going to iPads. Goldman Sachs now believes that more than 30 percent of iPads sold may be replacing PC sales. In the 90s, the trend was the opposite, as Windows PCs were crowding out Macs.

• Nokia Corp.: loser.

Nokia said this week that it will slash 7,000 jobs through layoffs and outsourcing. It still sells more phones than anyone else, but it's losing share to Apple, especially when it comes to smartphones.

Research firm Strategy Analytics also said revenue from Apple's iPhone sales surpassed that of Nokia's phones in the January-to-March period, as iPhones are much more expensive than the average Nokia phone. That makes Apple the world's largest phone maker by revenue.

To better compete with the iPhone, Nokia is ditching its old Symbian software and adopting Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. But the transition will take time; the first Windows-powered Nokia phones aren't expected until late 2011 or early 2012.

• Research In Motion Ltd.: loser.

The maker of the BlackBerry is in a predicament that's similar to Nokia's. RIM warned Thursday that net income, revenue and unit sales for the quarter ending in May will come in below its previous forecast.

The company's high-end phones are looking old compared with the iPhone and ones running Google Inc.'s Android software. They aren't selling as well as the company expected.

RIM promised investors that new phones with revamped software will bring sales roaring back in the latter half of the year, but investors are skeptical, sending RIM's stock down Friday.

• HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.: winners, indirectly.

Although all three companies compete with Apple's iPhone, they are doing well. Unlike Nokia and RIM, the three are betting on Google's Android system, which comes the closest to mimicking the look, feel and functions of the iPhone.

Motorola Mobility is a shadow of the old Motorola, once the world's second-largest maker of phones. But its focus on Android-powered smartphones is showing signs of success. It reported on Thursday a near-doubling of smartphone sales in the first quarter.

HTC of Taiwan has been making smartphones for a decade, and sales are really taking off with the help of Android. On Friday, it reported selling 9.7 million in the first quarter.

For South Korea's Samsung, smartphone sales were a bright spot in the first quarter as overall phone sales declined and other electronics were weak. The company is embroiled in patent litigation with Apple.

• Verizon Wireless: winner.

The No. 1 U.S. cellphone carrier posted a jump in new contract-signing customers — the more profitable kind — after it introduced its version of the iPhone on Feb. 10, which ended AT&T Inc.'s exclusive grip on the device in the U.S.

(Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. of New York and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.)

• AT&T and Sprint Nextel Corp: mixed.

Verizon's new subscribers came at the expense of AT&T and Sprint Nextel Corp. But neither carrier saw signs of current customers moving to Verizon for the sake of the iPhone. Rather, it seems customers weighing between carriers were more likely to go to Verizon because of the iPhone.

AT&T appeared to be splitting new iPhone customers evenly with Verizon Wireless.

Sprint lost lucrative contract customers in the quarter, but continued its long turnaround by signing up a record number of people on cheaper, contract-free plans.

Amazon apologizes for server outage, offers credit (AP)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 08:14 AM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Fri Apr 29, 11:14 am ET

NEW YORK – Amazon.com Inc. apologized Friday for a data-center outage that brought down major websites including Foursquare and Reddit and offered Web services customers a 10-day credit.

The company isn't disclosing how much the credit will cost it. Amazon Web Services accounts for only a few percent of Amazon's total revenue, but the company has high hopes for the business. The service rents out computer time by the hour.

The outage at the data center near Dulles Airport, outside Washington, was a major stumble for the service. Amazon is still restoring some of the computers brought down in the incident, which began eight days ago.

In a post-mortem report Friday, Seattle-based Amazon said human error set off the outage. An automated error-recovery mechanism then went out of control, and many computers became "stuck" in recovery mode.

The service is set up in a way that's supposed to provide redundancy, by letting computers in a different "availability zone" take over when one fails. Amazon said that customers that were properly set up to run their computing tasks over multiple zones were largely unaffected, but that the error made it difficult to switch zones on the fly. It's making changes to prevent the error from recurring.

The credit applies to all customers using the zone that went down, whether they were directly affected or not. Amazon has not revealed how many customers were affected.

Amazon shares rose 45 cents to $195.52 in morning trading Friday.

Fewer stock awards reduces Yahoo CEO's pay 75 pct. (AP)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 07:47 PM PDT

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – 2 hrs 5 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo Inc. cut CEO Carol Bartz's compensation by 75 percent to $11.9 million last year as the Internet company struggled to revive its revenue growth, regulatory documents filed Friday show.

The sharp drop in the value of Bartz's pay package stemmed from the lavish awards she got when Yahoo hired her in January 2009 to engineer a turnaround.

The incentives included 5 million stock options with an exercise price of $11.73. None of those options have vested yet because Yahoo's stock price still hasn't reached any of the thresholds outlined in Bartz's contract, which expires in January 2013.

Bartz, 62, also received $10 million in cash and restricted stock during 2009 to make up for the benefits and stock options she gave up when she left her previous employer, software maker Autodesk Inc., to run Yahoo.

Since her arrival, Bartz has eliminated hundreds of jobs and jettisoned online services that didn't fit into her plan to cement Yahoo's status as the Web's leading hub for news, sports and entertainment. The cost-cutting helped Yahoo double its operating income to $748 million, exceeding a goal of $630 million set by Yahoo's board, according to the company.

That accomplishment is the main reason Yahoo's board gave Bartz a $2.2 million bonus last year, up from $1.5 million in 2009. Bartz's salary remained roughly unchanged at $1 million. She also received stock awards valued at $8.7 million and more than $5,300 in perks. Last year's stock award included 462,180 options with an exercise price of $15.24.

Yahoo shares closed Friday at $17.70.

Although Bartz insists Yahoo is in far better shape than before she arrived, her strategy hasn't done much for the company's stock price. The shares dipped slightly last year while the technology-driven Nasdaq composite index gained 17 percent. The lackluster performance reflected Wall Street's frustration with a slight decline in Yahoo's revenue last year while there was a 15 percent increase in Internet advertising — the main way the company makes money.

Yahoo's stock has done better lately even though the company's net revenue fell 6 percent in the first quarter. The recent rally has been driven by renewed speculation that the company's struggles may make it a takeover target for opportunistic investment funds that believe the company could bounce back under different management.

The buyout chatter still hasn't been enough to lift Yahoo shares to the levels Bartz needs to reach for her stock options to vest. She won't get title to the first 1.67 million stock options granted to her until Yahoo's stock price averages $17.60 during a 20-day period. Yahoo's stock will have to rise to progressively higher levels topping out at $35.19 for all of Bartz's options to vest.

The average closing price of Yahoo's stock during the past 20 trading days has been $16.86.

The Associated Press formula calculates an executive's total compensation during the last fiscal year by adding salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits. That makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The value that a company assigned to an executive's stock and option awards for 2010 was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth to the executive over time. Companies use one of several formulas to calculate that value. However, the number is just an estimate, and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company's stock in the years after the awards are granted. Most stock compensation programs require an executive to wait a specified amount of time to receive shares or exercise options.

5 mind-blowing Portal 2 craft projects (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 06:27 PM PDT

By Mike Wehner mike Wehner – Fri Apr 29, 9:27 pm ET

Portal 2 is on store shelves and gamers around the world are wracking their brains on the game's complicated puzzles. But sometimes a game just isn't enough to satisfy our love for a virtual world like the one that the Portal series created, and when that happens you can be sure that dedicated fans will try to bring a little piece of that world into their own. Thus, the following collection of stunning Portal crafts was born. From DIY to OMG, these projects might just give you a spark of inspiration.

1. Talking turret plushie

This adorable killing machine might be soft and cuddly, but it's actually an extremely high-tech plushie. The glowing eye on the front of the turret sports a motion sensor, complete with the entire gamut of vocabulary options that the "real" turrets use in the game. "I see you..."

2. GLaDOS papercraft

If you have a ton of time and patience, you can make your very own papercraft model of the Portal series' lovable, yet extremely evil, GLaDOS supercomputer. A friendly DeviantArt user is responsible for the masterpiece and has posted the entire template online for everyone to use.

3. Crocheted companion cube

Portal's Companion Cube is one of the most loved "characters" in the game despite being a completely inanimate object. Still, gamers' love for the cuddly cube has extended into the craft world, spawning a multitude of models. This massive, crocheted version just might be our favorite. Measuring over a foot and a half in width, the project undoubtedly took many hours to complete, but looks like it was worth it.

4. Not-so-deadly papercraft turret

From the same bright mind that crafted the GLaDOS papercraft comes a super-detailed paper turret ready to blow you away. The end result might look a few degrees simpler than the more complicated GLaDOS model, but the template reveals how much work really goes into it. Hint: a lot.

5. Life-sized portal gun

The star of both Portal and Portal 2 is undoubtedly the portal gun itself. The magical gadget which can tear the universe asunder has a unique style that would take a master craftsman to duplicate. Lucky for us, prop maker Harrison Krix was up to the task, creating an absolutely perfect replica of the devious device. The final product was put up for auction with proceeds going to the Child's Play charity, and fetched over $14,000.

More from Tecca:

Apple Weekly: White iPhone 4 finally available (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 05:24 PM PDT

By Tecca tecca – Fri Apr 29, 8:24 pm ET

Apple Weekly

White iPhone now available The white version of the iPhone 4 officially went on sale Wednesday. The iPhone 4 was originally set to launch in June 2010 in both white and black; however, the white version was delayed for over 10 months. You can purchase a white iPhone 4 at Apple retail locations, AT&T and Verizon stores, and some Apple reseller locations. On launch day, lines in Beijing to get the phone were reportedly well over 100 people long.

Apple addresses location data issues Apple released a statement this week regarding location tracking in its iPhones and 3G iPads. The company indicated that the devices track your location merely to help you better find wifi hotspots and cellular towers while traveling, not to keep tabs on you or your phone's location. Apple indicated that it has a software update in the works that will reduce the amount of location data stored on the devices, encrypt that data, and offer the option to have your phone or iPad not store any location-based information.

Visa joins Square Visa has invested an undisclosed sum of money in mobile payment startup Square, taking an advisory role in the startup's future. The company was founded in 2009 by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Square allows you to receive mobile payments on your phone and offers users free card readers to swipe credit cards similar to how one might at a traditional brick-and-mortar store.

iOS 5 testing? iOS developer FutureTap received a crash report this week from a device running iOS 5. The report suggests that Apple may be testing iOS 5 on devices now, for a potential release at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.

May edition of Wired for iPad available for free The May iPad edition of Wired is now available for free. The digital version of the magazine typically runs $3.99 per issue; however, for the month of May, Adobe is sponsoring subscriptions in an effort to entice readers to purchase the magazine in the future.

Apple may have purchased iCloud Apple is rumored to have purchased the domain name iCloud.com from Sweden-based cloud storage company Xcerion. The domain was purchased for $4.5 million; however, the buyer has not yet been announced. Apple is rumored to be launching a cloud-based version of iTunes later this year.

Foxconn employees arrested for leaking iPad design? Three Foxconn employees have reportedly been charged with trade secret violations for leaking the iPad 2 case design to accessory companies in China. The employees were arrested in late December of last year and were officially charged for the crime last month.

Post by Emily Price

Apple Weekly

Are You Making What You Should? Startup Guarantees a Raise (Mashable)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 04:48 PM PDT

Sarah Kessler Sarah Kessler – Fri Apr 29, 7:48 pm ET

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

[More from Mashable: Get Daily Dates Instead of Daily Deals With InboxCupid]

Quick Pitch: GetRaised tells you what you should be making and shows you how to ask for a raise.

Genius Idea: Helping users create a letter that explains why they deserve raises.

[More from Mashable: Introducing An App Store for Microsoft Outlook]

The gap between salaries of women and men with the same jobs is well documented, but the founders of Thrive, a personal finance site that Tree.com purchased in 2009, discovered it on their own.

While the percentage of money that women were saving was higher than what men saved, the actual value of those savings was less. "We could have made those women the best savers in the world, and it wasn't going to close the gap," says co-founder Matt Wallaert, whose background is in social psychology (he studies how people make decisions).

After selling Thrive, Wallaert and Avi Karnani founded a new consultancy called Churnless. In the first of what they call the company's "passion projects," they decided to tackle the pay gap. They consulted academics -- including the author of Women Don't Ask --and interviewed human resource professionals before putting together what today is GetRaised.

GetRaised, like many sites, gives users an idea of how their salaries compare to those who share their title, experience level, and location. This portion of the service is free and based on a mashup of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and open job postings in the area. The algorithm also factors in data collected from other users.

More than 10,000 people have logged in to the salary comparison portion of the site since it launched in October (Karnani estimates that about 75% of them are women). But what sets the site apart from others like it is a $20 paid option that actually helps an underpaid person ask for a raise.

After answering a handful of questions about what she has accomplished at work and what her goals are, the site generates a polished letter that lays out the user's case -- complete with her market value and an explanation of her expanding role. If submitting the letter to a supervisor and reasonably following up doesn't result in a pay raise, Churnless will refund the $20.

The founders both admit they were skeptical that a form letter could actually get the job done, but they have not been giving many refunds. According to Karnani, about 75% of subscribers to the service have succeeded in getting a raise within a month -- a higher success rate than either founder expected. The average raise is about $6,500.

Not bad for a $20 investment.

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

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

This story originally published on Mashable here.

FTC prepping Google probe: report (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 06:41 PM PDT

– Fri Apr 29, 9:41 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Trade Commission is alerting high-tech companies to gather data ahead of a probe of the dominance of Google Inc in the Internet search industry, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

The report, citing three people familiar with the matter, said the agency told companies it plans to issue civil investigative demands -- which are similar to subpoenas -- for the information.

The FTC has been considering a broad investigation into Google.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer)

Newest Internet Meme: Royal Wedding Flower Girl Upstages Kate and Wills (PC World)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 04:34 PM PDT

Lisa Greim Lisa Greim – Fri Apr 29, 7:34 pm ET

Internet records were smashed Friday by the first royal wedding of the social media era, as streaming video enabled billions to avoid the event's brutal 2 a.m. wake-up call and watch the goings-on later instead of working.

But all the pomp and ceremony the British Empire can muster were outstaged in an instant by one pissed-off little girl.

With all 10 of the trending topics on Twitter and 1.6 million concurrent video streams, Friday's wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton broke Internet traffic records previously set by the World Cup and the death of Michael Jackson, but the meme of the day came from flower girl Grace Van Cutsem.

Grace, age 3, is Prince William's goddaughter, and obviously less used to the roar of an RAF flyover than some of the other little royals on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

As Kate and Wills kissed, Grace grabbed her ears and then the Internet took over. You can see the results and little Grace later objecting to Donald Trump's trumpeting, Steve Jobs' pontificating, and Justin Bieber's singing.

The Hat, My Gosh, That Hat

There was a lot more for little Grace to be outraged about, including Princess Beatrice's attention-grabbing hat, immediately dubbed the "Cthulhu hat" by NBC correspondent Helen A. S. Popkin and fanned up on a dozen Facebook pages.

In case you don't know, the hat, like the H.P. Lovecraft character the Cthulhu, is described on Wikipedia as known for the extreme descriptions given of its hideous appearance, its gargantuan size, and the abject terror that it evokes.

Google brings video chat to Android via update (Digital Trends)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 06:32 PM PDT

– Fri Apr 29, 9:32 pm ET

google talkOn its Google Mobile blog, the Mountain View company has announced the imminent arrival of its video chat software for Android phones, Google Talk with video. While some apps for Android phones already allow you to video chat (eg. Fring and Tango), Google Talk will become part of the forthcoming Android OS update (2.3.4).

Google Talk with video will allow users to video chat with others using either the same software or Gmail with Google Talk on computers. It'll be possible to make calls over 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi – unlike, for example, Apple's FaceTime, which currently only works over Wi-Fi.

Google's blog post explains: "In your Google Talk friends list, a video or voice chat button will appear next to your contacts and you can simply touch the button to connect with them. Any text chats from the person you're talking with will be overlaid on your phone's screen so you can read them without having to leave the video." The post continues, "And, if you need to check something else, the video pauses automatically so you can go back to your phone's home screen or another app. The audio will keep going even though the video has paused."

Google Talk for Android isn̢۪t available just yet. It̢۪ll be coming to Samsung Nexus S devices over the next few weeks as part of the Android 2.3.4 over-the-air update, and then to other Android 2.3+ devices after that.

But are most people really into video chatting? Many still find it just plain weird to see the other person while chatting over the Internet. And half the conversation can be taken up with lines like: "Can you see me OK?" or "Is the picture sharp?" or "I can only see the top of your head." It can be more of a distraction than a useful addition to a long-distance conversation.

For most people, it just doesn't feel natural to look down the lens of a camera while talking – unless you happen to be a news anchor. Still, at least having the video chat software available gives us the option, and allows Granny on the east coast to see her grandkids on the west any time she wants.

Google Pulls Apps from Android Market Without Warning, Explanation (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 03:01 PM PDT

Jared Spurbeck Jared Spurbeck – Fri Apr 29, 6:01 pm ET
Contribute content like this. Start here.

The Android Market, Google's version of Apple's App Store, "is an open service" that lets developers publish their apps for users to download. In contrast to the App Store's restrictive terms and review processes, the Android Market lets app developers publish apps instantly, without waiting for anyone's permission.

Every now and then, though, Google does pull an app from the Market after the fact. And while these "rejections" aren't as numerous as Apple's, nor as controversial as the time Apple rejected progressive political cartoons from the App Store, they do happen. Here are just a few examples:

Music apps

The official app for the streaming music service Grooveshark was pulled from the Android Market just this month. Unlike the unofficial Spotify client that was semi-voluntarily removed in 2009, the Grooveshark one was the original, and had been on the Market for a year and a half before being removed without warning by Google.

Why the sudden change? Grooveshark's reps say they were "surprised by Google's removal of the Grooveshark App from the Android Market Place [sic], and are still unclear as to what policies have now been violated." So in other words, they have no idea, and weren't given a real explanation by Google.

Mashable writer Brenna Ehrlich suggests that Google may have done it as a concession to the record labels, which it's been negotiating with to get its own streaming music service off the ground. It might not be too far-fetched to think Google did it to remove competition, though, seeing as how the "Don't be evil" company may have forced breaches of contract to get its own mapping services onto Motorola devices.

Games

The popular Flash game Pokemon Tower Defense had an Android version, but it was pulled from the Android Market in short order. It's just one of many, many games, apps and wallpapers on the Market that use copyrighted characters without permission, but unlike them it became wildly popular, which may have led to its getting noticed.

Speaking of making animals fight for you, "Dog Wars" was also pulled, after an outcry from the Humane Society and from former dogfighter Michael Vick. A commenter accused Google of hypocrisy, when there are other games about having humans fight each other, but I suspect most of those are a little less likely to encourage real-world human (or animal) cruelty.

Malware

Google pulled a whole slew of Android apps from the market, after the "Mother of All Android Malware" attacked earlier this year. Like with Dog Wars, though, this is something even its critics might cheer ... and unlike with the rest of these app removals, this one was accompanied by a blog post on Google's Mobile blog.

Open or closed?

For the most part, the Android Market lives up to its promise of being an "open" marketplace, and even protects users from malware despite its openness. It does so not because of laws which protect its users and developers, though, but because of Google corporate policy, which can change at any time.

When Google does exercise its power to remove apps that it doesn't like, users and developers have no recourse and no one to appeal to ... sometimes not even the media, since people aren't watching the Market for controversial rejection stories as closely as they watch the App Store.

After all, the Market is "open." Especially compared to its competition.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Facebook reuniting tornado victims with memories (AFP)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 03:49 PM PDT

by Chris Lefkow Chris Lefkow – Fri Apr 29, 6:49 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – In a digital era update to the lost and found booth, a Facebook page started by an Alabama woman is reuniting victims of the killer US tornadoes with their precious family photos and documents.

As of Friday afternoon, the page featured more than 600 pictures and documents, many just scraps after the powerful winds picked them up and deposited them in streets and yards up to 200 miles (320 kilometers) away.

"This is a photo of a baby girl sitting with Santa Claus in 1957," says one entry accompanying a faded color picture which has "Baby 'Sandra'" written on the back. "Picture found in backyard in Duck Springs, AL."

Facebook user Nicole Hagood posted a picture of a Christmas gathering with the comment: "This photo was found hanging from a gutter in Muscle Shoals. If you recognize this family, please let me know."

Among the torn and rain-spattered documents posted on the site are birth certificates, wills, diplomas, utility bills, letters, checks and Valentine's and Mother's Day cards.

The page, "Pictures and Documents found after the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes," has been "liked" by nearly 50,000 people since it was set up in the hours after the tornadoes ripped through eight southern US states, killing over 300 people.

The page was created by Patty Bullion, a mother-of-three who lives in Lester, Alabama, near the border with Tennessee.

Bullion, 37, said her small town received heavy rain and strong winds but was spared the wrath of the tornadoes, the nearest of which touched down about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away.

"Our area was very blessed," she said in a telephone interview with AFP. "Downed trees, a little bit of roof damage but nothing that can't be fixed."

Bullion said she went on Facebook during the storm to get updates on loved ones and a friend a few houses away posted "It's raining pictures."

"So I went outside," she said. "I walked out the door and I saw something white lying outside in the road.

"I flipped it over and it was an ultrasound picture," she said. "It just ripped my heart out. I'm a Mom. I've got three kids. I can't imagine losing these items."

Bullion said that after the storm passed over she went outside with her husband and children and collected another seven or eight pictures.

Her daughter suggested she put them on her Facebook page but "I knew if we did that only our friends would see it," Bullion said.

"So I started a group," she said, "thinking I'd probably get 100 people on it and if I could just identify one picture it would be worth my time.

"I didn't know it would get this big," she said. "This has been too overwhelming to a small town girl."

Bullion said at least 40 items have been claimed so far.

"Two pictures last night were identified as people that just lost their lives and their family are wanting the pictures back," she said.

Bullion, who had been scheduled to start a new job on Wednesday at the Limestone County council on aging, said creating the page and reading the comments has been an emotional experience for her.

"I was adopted when I was two so I had no idea what I looked like as a baby," she said. "So I know what it's like to not have those pictures.

"I sat there last night and I cried," she said. "I'm not a big crier but tears have rolled. These are these people's lives that are just gone."

Besides family photos and documents, the page has also become a repository for people to share their own emotions following the tragedy.

"This page is wonderful," wrote Tina Moyers Hill. "I wish we would have had a page like this after Katrina. God bless all of you that was affected by this horrible event."

Did Hackers Really Get Credit Card Numbers From Sony? (PC World)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 06:30 PM PDT

Robert McMillan Robert Mcmillan – Fri Apr 29, 9:30 pm ET

Reports surfaced Friday that the hackers behind last week's breach of Sony's PlayStation Network obtained millions of credit card numbers, but the evidence so far appears weak.

Sony confirmed earlier this week that its PlayStation Network and Qriocity service had been hacked, and that there was a chance its customers' credit card numbers may have been compromised.

On Thursday, Trend Micro researcher Kevin Stevens posted a Twitter message that read: "The hackers that hacked PSN are selling off the DB [database]. They reportedly have 2.2 million credits cards with CVVs." CVVs are Card Verification Values, the security codes required for online transactions.

His source was chatter in underground hacker forums. "I have not seen the DB so I can not verify that it is true," he added.

A few hours later, Stevens seemed to think his tweet was being taken too seriously. "This #PSNHack is turning into a bunch of FUD, it really is. I posted up what I saw to warn people, not to incite the masses to create FUD," he wrote.

Later on Friday a Trend Micro spokesman declined to comment on the matter. A second company, Isec Partners, that had also claimed to see online discussion of the PlayStation Network hack, is also no longer talking publicly about the matter.

The evidence so far -- some anonymous boasts in underground hacker forums -- is "highly suspect," according to the Lo-Ping blog, which posted screenshots of the forum messages.

Sony did not respond to a request for comment.

E.J. Hilbert, president of Online Intelligence, which investigates fraud, thinks PlayStation hackers, called modders, may have accidentally stumbled upon the user data but not actually stolen it.

"I dont think there really was an intrusion," he said via e-mail. "I think the modders got access, Sony found it and freaked out. Technically that is an intrusion, but it's possible nothing was stolen," he said.

"From Sony's view, they just dont know what if anything was taken, so it is better to claim intrusion then to [wait and] 'see what happens,'" he said.

Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is robert_mcmillan@idg.com

Nook Color updates further bridge gap between e-readers and tablets (Appolicious)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 04:00 PM PDT

This chair made from computers puts your recycling efforts to shame (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 03:16 PM PDT

By Mike Wehner mike Wehner – Fri Apr 29, 6:16 pm ET

When today's technology eventually falls out of date, it's sometimes hard to know what to do with it. Many of us have drawers filled with old wires, outdated modems, obsolete cell phones, and other devices that have met the end of their lives, yet we don't have the heart to recycle them. Benjamin Cadwell of BRC Designs managed to find a way to hang on to his outdated computer parts without tossing them into a dark closet corner, simply by turning them into stunning furniture pieces.

Cadwell started small, using the frame of an antiquated printer as a base upon which he attached a plethora of wires, chips, motherboards, and various other computer bits until a chair was born. He named his creation the Binary 01, and while it might not look like the most comfortable thing in the world, not to mention something we'd hate to stub our toes on in a dark living room, it's a functional work of art all the same.

And the Binary 01 isn't the only creative use of computer components Cadwell has crafted; his Flickr page shows of the aptly-named Binary 02 chair and a matching coffee table, complete with glass platforms. So if you've got a stash of old desktop computers that have become more useful as paperweights, try looking at them in a slightly different light. The results could surprise you.

[Image Credit: BRC Designs]

[Via: TreeHugger]

green tech news

Amazon cuts cost of hit songs to 69 cents (Digital Trends)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 08:40 PM PDT

Trevor Mogg Trevor Mogg – 1 hr 13 mins ago

amazon mp3 logoSong downloads are cheap these days by any standards. And now they've just got a little bit cheaper.

In what's being seen by many as a bold move, Amazon has just knocked 20 cents off the cost of some of its MP3s in a bid to wrestle some of the music download business away from Apple, whose iTunes store currently dominates the market. The reduced price means that the e-commerce giant is now offering some top-selling songs for the bargain bucket price of just 69 cents.

A report in the LA Times points out that Amazon's market share of the business has been languishing for the last two years at about 10 percent, whereas Apple's iTunes continues to enjoy a share of some 70 percent.

Time will tell if the price cut creates some new loyal customers and causes a shift in the market. Speaking to the Times, Russ Crupnick, a digital music analyst at the NPD Group, said, "The average music consumer spends $46 a year on digital music, which is half of what it was last year. The question is not whether you can sell a 69-cent track. It's whether you can get a customer to spend $69."

Amazon are clearly intent on trying to upset the Apple music cart – the price cut comes off the back of Amazon's recent launch of its cloud-based music locker service in March (something which Apple has yet to offer, though may be coming soon), though admittedly that service has been experiencing some problems of late.

The songs available for 69 cents at Amazon's music store include recent releases such as Lady Gaga's Judas, Kelly Rowland's Motivation and Gorillaz' Revolving Doors. The same songs are selling on Apple's iTunes store for $1.29.

Let's wait and see if Amazon's latest move attracts any music lovers from the iTunes store, or if indeed whether Apple starts making some price cuts of its own, signalling the start of a price war.

Slightly Thicker iPhone 4 Offers UV Protection (NewsFactor)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 02:34 PM PDT

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Jennifer Leclaire, newsfactor.com – Fri Apr 29, 5:34 pm ET

Proving once again that anything Apple does is immediately put under a microscope, headlines are making their way across the Internet regarding the thickness of the just-debuted white iPhone 4.

At long last, Apple rolled out a white iPhone 4 on Thursday. Some estimates figure Apple may sell 1.5 million white iPhone 4s. It adds a new twist to the iconic device -- and since nobody really knows when the iPhone 5 will make its way to market some consumers may opt for the shiny new technology toy now.

They may buy it, that is, if they aren't too disappointed that the white iPhone 4 is a smidgeon thicker than its black predecessor. Indeed, the white model is a whopping .2mm thicker than the black one. It's hardly noticeable to the naked eye, but close up photos reveal it's a tad fatter.

Micro Analyzing Apple

It took Apple nearly a year to roll out the slightly thicker white iPhone 4. Apple encountered problem after problem producing the white iPhone. What caused the delay?

Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller told All Things Digital, that it's not easy to make a white iPhone. "There's a lot more that goes into both the material science of it -- how it holds up over time...but also in how it all works with the sensors."

The bottom line: it took Apple nine months to build a white iPhone 4 model that offered UV protection. It seems white iPhones need to offer special protection to consumers, especially fair-skinned consumers.

"Apple is so visible that they are micro analyzed," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group. "I don't think consumers are going to care about this. That little extra amount of thickness is hardly going to spoil their experience with the device, but it's just the nature of being Apple. They live on such a high peak of excellence that anything that falls away from that is highlighted and exemplified."

The Privacy Scandal

For all the hoopla over the white iPhone 4, the microscope remains focused on geolocatoin tracking issues. Earlier this week news reports revealed that iPhones and iPads collect geolocation data and store it in an unencrypted file on the devices.

"These aren't smartphones; they are spy phones," said John Simpson, director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest group's Privacy Project. "Consumers must have the right to control whether their data is gathered and how it is used."

The Federal Trade Commission's report, "Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change," proposed a Do Not Track mechanism last December. Since then Rep. Jackie Speier, D-CA, has introduced HR 654, the Do Not Track Me Online Act.

In California Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, has introduced SB 761, a bill that would establish a Do Not Track mechanism for companies doing business in California. A "Do Not Track" mechanism is a method that allows a consumer to send a clear, unambiguous message that one's online activities should not be tracked. Recipients of the message would be required to honor it.

"The mobile world is the wild west of the Internet where these tech giants seem to think anything goes," said Simpson. "Consumers need the same sort of strong privacy protections whether they go online via a wired device or a mobile device."

Microsoft stock tumbles after Windows sales dip (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 03:33 PM PDT

– Fri Apr 29, 6:33 pm ET

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp shares fell as much as 5 percent on Friday, a day after the software company reported a dip in its Windows operating system sales.

The world's second-largest tech company behind Apple Inc met Wall Street's profit estimate and beat on overall sales in its earnings report on Thursday.

But investors were concerned with lower personal computer sales nagging at Windows, Xbox sales bringing down profit margins and losses in its online business.

Microsoft shares closed down 3 percent at $25.92 on Nasdaq after a late-day rally. Earlier in the session they hit a low of $25.36, a 5 percent drop which would have been the largest one-day percentage fall since July 2009, had the shares closed at that level.

The shares ended around the level they were at on Monday, before a run-up leading into quarterly earnings. The stock had risen sharply after chip maker Intel Corp forecast revenue above Wall Street estimates, feeding optimism that a dip in PC sales last quarter did not indicate a long-term trend.

"Everyone, including myself, pounded the table on the Intel trade," said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis. "And it just didn't happen."

PC sales fell 1 percent last quarter, according to research firm Gartner [ID:nN13301394]. Microsoft's results reflected that, although it said business demand was outpacing weak consumer demand for PCs.

The stock is down 16 percent in the last 12 months, compared to a 16 percent gain in the Nasdaq.

"There were two catalysts for the sharp decline in Microsoft," said Joe Cusick, senior market analyst at Chicago-based online brokerage firm optionsXpress. "One, the stock broke through the 200-day moving average of $26.08, and UBS lowered their price target for the stock."

UBS analyst Brent Thill on Friday cut his price target on Microsoft to $32 from $35, citing the long-term threat posed by tablets to the traditional PC business.

"Even though they had good earnings, the PC market is under scrutiny and there continues to be uncertainty on whether or not Microsoft can compete with the growing tablet and handheld devices from the likes of Samsung and Motorola," said Cusick.

Options traders, many of whom placed bets on Microsoft shares jumping earlier in the week -- perhaps as a hedge to holding the stock in case of a decline -- moved into a more critical mode.

"There is nothing too rosy in Microsoft options trading on Friday compared to some of the bullish trades we saw ahead of earnings," said Caitlin Duffy, equity options analyst at Interactive Brokers Group in Greenwich, Connecticut.

"For the most part, we are seeing call selling in near-term options," she said, indicating traders are looking to get rid of their rights to buy the stock.

Overall, Microsoft analysts kept their faith that Microsoft will survive a rough patch in PC sales. Twenty-five of 35 analysts polled by StarMine recommend buying the stock. Only one says sell.

As a result of Microsoft's decline, it is close to being eclipsed by old foe IBM in terms of market value. Apple, which overtook Microsoft last year, is the most valuable U.S. tech company at $321 billion, Microsoft is second at $225 billion and IBM is third at $207 billion.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby and Doris Frankel. Editing by Robert MacMillan, Bernard Orr)

Amazon launches 69-cent song store (AP)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 03:57 PM PDT

– Fri Apr 29, 6:57 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Amazon.com Inc. this week launched a store that sells digital songs for 69 cents, an attempt to bring more people to its e-commerce website and bolster its plan to eventually charge people to store tunes on distant servers known as the cloud.

It has cut the price on singles to 69 cents in the past, but this is the first time it has dedicated a page to the offering. About 200 songs out of the 15 million available have had prices cut to 69 cents.

On Friday, that included 26 of the top 40 songs, from artists such as Katy Perry, Jennifer Lopez and Black Eyed Peas. Other songs are priced as high as $1.29 apiece.

Craig Pape, the director of Amazon Music, said cutting prices creates a "halo effect" that helps music sales and improves the site's music recommendation engine.

"It'll give a boost that lasts into the future," he said.

The discounted music pricing follows the Seattle-based company's introduction in March of Amazon Cloud Drive and Amazon Cloud Player, which allow people to store music on its servers and play back tunes over mobile devices that use Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

People with an Amazon account get 5 gigabytes of free storage. Songs that are bought on the store are not counted toward the storage cap, but Pape said the offerings are meant to act together.

"All of that ties into this experience of getting them to discover and buy and listen to more music, so it's all interrelated," he said.
at 10:03 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

My Blog List