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Saturday, April 23, 2011

Your Phone, Yourself: When is tracking too much? (AP) : Technet

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Your Phone, Yourself: When is tracking too much? (AP) : Technet

Your Phone, Yourself: When is tracking too much? (AP)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 08:54 PM PDT

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – 41 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – If you're worried about privacy, you can turn off the function on your smartphone that tracks where you go. But that means giving up the services that probably made you want a smartphone in the first place. After all, how smart is an iPhone or an Android if you can't use it to map your car trip or scan reviews of nearby restaurants?

The debate over digital privacy flamed higher this week with news that Apple Inc.'s popular iPhones and iPads store users' GPS coordinates for a year or more. Phones that run Google Inc.'s Android software also store users' location data. And not only is the data stored — allowing anyone who can get their hands on the device to piece together a chillingly accurate profile of where you've been — but it's also transmitted back to the companies to use for their own research.

Now, cellphone service providers have had customers' location data for almost as long as there have been cellphones. That's how they make sure to route calls and Internet traffic to the right place. Law enforcement analyzes location data on iPhones for criminal evidence — a practice that Alex Levinson, technical lead for firm Katana Forensics, said has helped lead to convictions. And both Apple and Google have said that the location data that they collect from the phones is anonymous and not able to be tied back to specific users.

But lawmakers and many users say storing the data creates an opportunity for one's private information to be misused. Levinson, who raised the iPhone tracking issue last year, agrees that people should start thinking about location data as just as valuable and worth protecting as a wallet or bank account number.

"We don't know what they're going to do with that information," said Dawn Anderson, a creative director and Web developer in Glen Mills, Pa., who turned off the GPS feature on her Android-based phone even before the latest debate about location data. She said she doesn't miss any of the location-based services in the phone. She uses the GPS unit in her car instead.

"With any technology, there are security risks and breaches," she added. "How do we know that it can't be compromised in some way and used for criminal things?"

Privacy watchdogs note that location data opens a big window into very private details of a person's life, including the doctors they see, the friends they have and the places where they like to spend their time. Besides hackers, databases filled with such information could become inviting targets for stalkers, even divorce lawyers.

Do you sync your iPhone to your computer? Well, all it would take to find out where you've been is simple, free software that pulls information from the computer. Voila! Your comings and goings, clandestine or otherwise, helpfully pinpointed on a map.

One could make the case that privacy isn't all that prized these days. People knowingly trade it away each day, checking in to restaurants and stores via social media sites like Foursquare, uploading party photos to Facebook to be seen by friends of friends of friends, and freely tweeting the minutiae of their lives on Twitter.

More than 500 million people have shared their personal information with Facebook to connect with friends on the social networking service. Billions of people search Google and Yahoo each month, accepting their tracking "cookies" in exchange for access to the world's digital information. And with about 5 billion people now using cellphones, a person's location has become just another data point to be used for marketing, the same way that advertisers now use records of Web searches to show you online ads tailored to your interest in the Red Sox, or dancing, or certain stores.

Autumn Bradfish, a sophomore at the University of Iowa, said she doesn't see a problem with phone companies using her location to produce targeted ads, as long as they deliver relevant offers to her. She said she would not disable the tracking feature on her iPhone because she enjoys using a mapping app that helps her find new restaurants.

"I'm terrible with maps," she said.

The very fact that your location is a moving target makes it that much more alluring for advertisers. Every new place you go represents a new selling opportunity. In that sense, smartphone technology is the ultimate matchmaker for marketers looking to assemble profiles on prospective customers.

That profiling is what makes some users uneasy.

At a technology conference in San Francisco this past week, security researchers disclosed that iPhones and iPads keep a small file of location data on their users. That file — which is not encrypted and thus vulnerable to hacking — is transferred when you sync your phone to your computer to back up information. Security firm F-Secure Corp. said the iPhone sends users' location data to Apple twice a day to improve its database of known Wi-Fi networks.

The data that is available goes back to last year's launch of Apple's new iOS 4 operating software. Researchers say the tracking was going on before that, though the file was in a different format and wasn't easy to find until the new system came out. In June, Apple added a section to its privacy policy to note that it would collect some real-time location data from iPhone users in order to improve its features.

While Apple has been silent about the latest findings, it has noted that its practice is clearly spelled out in user agreements. Other phone makers say the same. Google acknowledged this past week that it does store some location data directly on phones for a short time from users who have chosen to use GPS services, "in order to provide a better mobile experience on Android devices." It too stressed that any location sharing on Android is done with the user's permission.

But consumer advocates warn that too many people click right through privacy notifications and breeze over or ignore such legalese. Case in point _some iPhone users who found about this past week about the data storage say they didn't know anything about Apple's tracking.

"It's like being stalked by a secret organization. Outrageous!" said Jill Kuraitis, 54, a freelance journalist in Boise, Idaho. "To be actively tracking millions of people without notification? It's beyond unacceptable."

It's easy to tell smartphone users that turning off tracking is as easy as finding their way to the settings menu. But to opt out of GPS service means preventing the software on your phone from using any information about where you are. That means cutting yourself off from the vast array of mobile apps that offer discounts and ads, allow you to connect more easily with friends who use social media, and simplify your life with map directions. Not a great trade-off.

And if you thought there were laws that curbed tracking, think again.

The government prohibits telephone companies from sharing customer data, including location information, with outside parties without first getting the customer's consent. But those rules don't apply to Apple and other phone makers. Nor do they apply to the new ecosystem of mobile services offered through those apps made by third-party developers.

What's more, because those rules were written for old-fashioned telephone service, it's unclear whether they apply to mobile broadband service at all — even for wireless carriers that are also traditional phone companies, like AT&T Inc. and Verizon.

Both the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission have said they are looking into the issue. But for now, it's up to smartphone users to decide: Is it privacy they are most concerned about, or convenience?

___

AP writers Ryan J. Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia and AP Technology Writers Joelle Tessler in Washington and Peter Svensson in New York contributed to this report.

Q-and-A: Smartphone location tracking (AP)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 03:55 PM PDT

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – Sat Apr 23, 6:55 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – The revelation this past week that Apple Inc.'s popular iPhone and iPad devices keep files of users' location data raises legal and ethical questions.

The company has not commented on the controversy, but has said that the only location data the company collects is kept anonymous and not able to be tied back to specific users. Google Inc. has said the same about location data that is stored on smartphones that run its Android software. Both companies have maintained that the practice is clearly outlined in their privacy policies.

Here's a look at what the issue means for you, and what you can do to protect your location data, as well as the trade-offs in convenience that that entails.

Q: What is Apple collecting?

A: Technically, Apple itself is collecting very little. According to a letter that the company sent Congress last year, Apple only collects information on the location of nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi networks. It says that data is anonymized so that it isn't tied to a particular user's phone. However, security researchers have discovered that iPhones and iPads do store individuals' geographic coordinates — and have been for at least a year.

Q: What's happens to that information?

A: The information appears to stay on the devices themselves, but is also transferred to any computers that the devices are synced to. That concerns security experts because the information is transferred in an unencrypted form, which makes it a target for hackers. Those who specialize in breaking in to Apple's products say it would be very difficult to steal the file remotely because of security changes that Apple has recently made to its software. However, anyone with physical access to the phone — including devices lost or stolen — could easily see the data.

Q: What can I do to prevent this information from being collected?

A: Fortunately, it's easy to turn off the tracking capability through the settings menus. The same goes for phones built on Google Inc.'s Android operating software. Unfortunately, doing so cripples a lot of applications that make smartphones "smart" in the first place, such as maps and the Foursquare social media service. Turning off tracking means those applications won't have access to your GPS locations either, making them useless.

Q: What are lawmakers doing about such tracking?

A: For now, few rules apply. The Federal Communications Commission prohibits telephone companies from sharing customer data, including location information, with outside parties without customer consent. Yet those rules do not apply to Apple and other device makers or to the new ecosystem of mobile apps made by third-party developers. What's more, because those rules were written for old-fashioned telephone service, it's unclear whether they apply to mobile broadband service at all — even for wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon. The FCC and the Federal Trade Commission say they are looking into the issue.

Sony chairman credited with developing CDs dies (AP)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 03:53 PM PDT

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama, Ap Business Writer – Sat Apr 23, 6:53 pm ET

TOKYO – As a young man, aspiring opera singer Norio Ohga wrote to Sony to complain about the quality of its tape recorders. That move changed the course of his life, as the company promptly recruited the man whose love of music would shape the development of the compact disc and transform the Japanese electronics maker into a global software and entertainment empire.

Sony's president and chairman from 1982 to 1995, Ohga died Saturday in Tokyo of multiple organ failure, the company said. He was 81.

Ohga's connection to music steered his work. The flamboyant music connoisseur insisted the CD be designed at 12 centimeters (4.8 inches) in diameter to hold 75 minutes worth of music — in order to store Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in its entirety.

From the start, Ohga recognized the potential of the CD's superior sound quality. In the 1970s, when Ohga insisted CDs would eventually replace record albums, skeptics scoffed. Herbert von Karajan, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock spoke up in defense of Sony's digital sound.

Sony sold the world's first CD in 1982 and CDs overtook LP record sales in Japan five years later. The specifications are still used today and fostered the devices developed since.

"It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony's evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and game, and subsequent transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san's foresight and vision," Sony Corp. Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer said Saturday, using the Japanese honorific.

Some decisions made during Ohga's presidency, such as the $3.4 billion purchase of Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures, were criticized as unwise and costly at the time. But Ohga's focus on music, films and video games as a way to enrich the electronics business helped create Sony's success in his era.

"We are always chasing after things that other companies won't touch," Ohga said in a 1998 interview with The Associated Press. "That is a big secret to our success."

Shattering the stereotype of the staid Japanese executive, the debonair Ohga was never shy, his hair neatly slicked back, his boisterous manner exuding the fiery yet naive air of an artist. His persona added a touch of glamour to Sony's image at a time when Japan had global ambitions.

An experienced pilot, Ohga at times flew the plane himself for business trips. A gourmet, he boasted about his roast beef. His hobby was cruising on his yacht.

Joey Carbone, a Los Angeles-based composer and producer of dozens of Japanese pop songs, met Ohga in 1986 after Carbone wrote several hits for commercials for everything from cassette tapes to Honda scooters on Sony's music label.

He remembers Ohga as an outgoing, international-minded executive who could talk about business and a wide variety of music with equal aplomb. Ohga's office was covered with photos of himself with different artists, both Japanese and international.

"He looked like an actor. He was very outgoing," Carbone said Saturday. "He was very, how can I say it — not introverted. He was always talking, always smiling and laughing. He seemed to have a real love of life and music. He seemed to really love what he was doing."

Chairman of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra since 1999, he continued to conduct there a few times a year. In 1993, he conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in a charity event funded by Sony.

Ohga often compared leading a company to conducting an orchestra.

"Just as a conductor must work to bring out the best in the members of his orchestra, a company president must draw on the talents of the people in his organization," Ohga said in a 1996 Sony publication.

Sony started amid the destruction and poverty after World War II and built itself on the popularity of transistor radios, the Walkman, the Trinitron TV, the CD — shaping the history of modern electronics.

Ohga had graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1953 and Berlin University of the Arts in 1957. He was set to pursue a career as a baritone opera singer when Sony co-founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, intrigued by his complaints about the sound quality of Sony tape recorders, recruited him to the company.

He was a Sony executive by his 30s, a rarity in a Japanese company. He was appointed president of CBS Sony Records in 1970, chairman of what later became Sony Corp. of America in 1988, and chief executive of Sony in 1989. He left the day-to-day business in about 2000.

The company says he was key in building the Sony brand, especially working on design, as well as quality, to make products that looked attractive to consumers.

"Norio Ohga was a brilliant and innovative businessman whose visionary leadership had a profound impact on the way people experience entertainment throughout the world," Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton and Co-Chairman Amy Pascal said in a statement.

Ohga had tried to lead a double life of artist and Sony man.

One day, he dozed off from exhaustion in the stage wings while waiting to go on in the "The Marriage of Figaro," rushed in from the wrong direction and watched his embarrassed co-stars stifling giggles.

He gave up his opera career but still promoted classical music in Japan by supporting young musicians and concerts.

Sony has encountered difficulty in recent years, falling behind in flat-panel TVs to rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea, as well as in digital music players to Apple Inc. It remains unique in having a Hollywood studio, a music recording business, and the blockbuster PlayStation video-game unit that Ohga helped create, though critics note it has never fully realized the benefits of owning both electronics and entertainment divisions.

Ohga is survived by his wife, Midori. Sony said a private wake will be held later.

___

AP Technology Writer Ryan Nakashima contributed from Los Angeles.

47 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed (Mashable)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 09:48 AM PDT

Zachary Sniderman Zachary Sniderman – Sat Apr 23, 12:48 pm ET

What a week for Mashable! We recently launched Follow, our social layer to help you create a profile and find and share stories to the public. Despite the good news close to home, this week was also a tough one for the journalism community with the death of two top photojournalists, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, who were hit by an rocket-propelled grenade while working in Libya.

Despite the ups and downs, the good folks at Mashable have come up with another batch of tools and resources to help you follow whatever news and topics interest you. This week we have stories about Obama's visit to Facebook, the evolution of web design, PR pro tips for YouTube, and eight ways to improve live events using social media.

Looking for even more social media resources? This guide appears every weekend, and you can check out all the lists-gone-by here any time.

Editors' Picks

Social Media

For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable's social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tech & Mobile

For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable's tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Business & Marketing

For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable's business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Image courtesy of Webtreats Etc.

Viral video star Antoine "hide your wife" Dodson arrested (Reuters)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 05:39 PM PDT

– Sat Apr 23, 8:39 pm ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Kevin Antoine Dodson, star of a viral Internet song warning neighbors to watch out for a sexual predator, was arrested and charged with marijuana possession after being stopped for speeding, police said on Saturday.

Dodson was charged with second degree marijuana possession, speeding, failure to have liability insurance and other minor charges after police stopped him early Saturday in Huntsville, Huntsville Police spokesman Dr. Harry Hobbs told Reuters.

He was released later on Saturday after posting a $1,340 cash bond, Hobbs said.

"Let me be the first to tell it!!" Dodson tweeted to his 33,000 Twitter followers after his release. "So just got out of jail off a weak charge ... Got pulled over in my Benz and they got me ... I never been in jail except that time in grade school. You remember!!!"

Dodson, who lives in Huntsville, which is about 80 miles north of Birmingham, came to prominence after millions of people watched his response to an NBC television affiliate in summer 2010 after his sister was attacked in their home.

The interview was turned into a song "Bed Intruder" by New York musicians Evan and Michael Gregory that has sold thousands of copies on iTunes and earned Dodson royalties.

"Obviously we have a rapist in Lincoln Park," Dodson told the television station. "He's climbing in your windows. He's snatching your people up trying to rape them, so you all need to hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husband because they are raping everybody out here."

Dodson chastised the sexual predator who attacked his sister in her bed -- an attack he reportedly thwarted.

"You don't have to come and confess that you did it," Dodson told the NBC affiliate. "We are looking for you. We are going to find you. I'm letting you know now."

(Reporting by Eric Johnson; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Amazon still trying to fix computer problems (AP)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 02:47 PM PDT

By The Associated Press The Associated Press – Sat Apr 23, 5:47 pm ET

Amazon.com is still trying to restore computers used by other websites as an outage stretched into a third day.

Besides selling books and DVDs, Amazon.com Inc. rents out space on computers that run other websites and online services. One of its data centers in Virginia began having problems on Thursday morning.

Amazon said Saturday that it is making progress fixing the problem, but more slowly than it had hoped. News-sharing site Reddit appeared to be functioning again. On its website, Amazon said it removed some bottlenecks that prevented connections from its Virginia center, but an additional issue was holding up restoring all remaining connections. The company's so-called "cloud' services in Northern California are operating normally.

No one knows for sure how many people have been inconvenienced, but the services affected are used by millions of people.

Seattle-based Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.

PlayStation Network Enters Third Day of Outage (PC World)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 10:04 AM PDT

Martyn Williams Martyn Williams – Sat Apr 23, 1:04 pm ET

An unexplained outage of Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity services entered its third day Saturday, with no clear details on when the service might be up and running again.

The PlayStation Network is a platform for online gaming and a channel through which Sony sells games and other content to console and handheld owners. Qriocity is an online service for Sony's networked consumer electronics products that offers music and video content.

Problems began at around midday Thursday Japan time (0300 GMT) when users were greeted with error messages when they attempted to sign in. At the time, Sony said it was looking into the problems.

A day later, the company said it would take a day or two for the service to come back online, but it wasn't until Saturday, roughly 48 hours after the initial problems, that the company offered more details of the problem. A posting on its Japanese website blamed "external factors," but its U.S. site was more direct.

"An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services," the notice said. It didn't specify when the services might return.

The biggest impact to customers will likely be the inability to play online games. Networked gaming, in which gamers collaborate with others in real-time battles, challenges and quests, is very popular and relies on the PlayStation Network.

The PlayStation.com website was attacked earlier this month, apparently by the distributed hacking group Anonymous. The group was reportedly angry at Sony after it sued two PlayStation 3 owners for releasing code that allows third-party software and operating systems to run on the console.

Anonymous said it has nothing to do with the current problems.

In a posting titled "For Once We Didn't Do It," the group said its core group had not targeted Sony or the PlayStation Network, but left open the possibility that individuals from the group might be responsible.

"While it could be the case that other Anons have acted by themselves AnonOps was not related to this incident and takes no responsibility for it," the statement said. It accused Sony of taking advantage of previous attacks on its network to explain an internal problem with company servers.

Martyn Williams covers Japan and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com

T-Mobile debuts two new Android devices: LG G2x and Samsung Sidekick 4G (Appolicious)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 07:30 AM PDT

Best Celebrity Twitter Pictures (The Daily Beast)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 06:16 PM PDT

What Would it Take to Get You to Switch to an iPhone? (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 09:06 AM PDT

Jared Spurbeck Jared Spurbeck – Sat Apr 23, 12:06 pm ET
Contribute content like this. Start here.

That's what Business Insider asked, in its "The Truth About Smartphones" survey. It also asked what'd get you to switch to another kind of phone, although it lumped Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 together.

So, how closely did the poll match how you think?

The iPhone is still the benchmark ...

Over half of respondents said they would switch to a non-iPhone, if it was "BETTER than the iPhone in most key ways". Only 6.1 percent would switch if the phone was just equal to an iPhone, which makes sense; customer satisfaction surveys suggest that people aren't champing at the bit to switch from the iPhone to something else.

... but needs to play nice with others

Almost a third of respondents said they'd consider switching to "An iPhone that works better with non-Apple apps and products." (I selected this option myself, although that was mostly because I didn't like the option that said "Nothing: I hate Apple.")

You could interpret that as a condemnation of Apple's "closed" ecosystem, where everything's tightly controlled by the company. On the other hand, it could also be a reflection of how Apple's perceived, simply because of the vague wording. What Android apps do people wish iPhones had? What non-Apple products do they wish they'd work better with?

It's true that Apple's AirPlay streaming technology doesn't use the DLNA standard, and that its FaceTime video chat only works with other Apple products. But on the other hand, both of these things are often fiddly and technical to set up on competing phones. And for a variety of reasons, Android itself has no killer apps, unless you're a diehard fan of customization.

Platforms matter

38.2 percent of respondents said they most cared about a smartphone's underlying platform, whether it was Android or iOS (the iPhone's operating system). I guess more people recognize the Android mascot than I thought. But more than that, they might be able to articulate some reason why they like Android better than iOS ... or vice-versa.

Apps, not so much

What was surprising to me was that less than 10 percent of respondents said that app selection mattered to them, when choosing a new smartphone. Maybe that's because people take it for granted that basic apps -- stuff like Twitter, Pandora, and Facebook -- will be available on every phone. On the other hand, it's possible that iPhone fans wrapped their love of iPhone apps into their love of the iPhone platform itself.

It's also possible that many people don't realize what apps are available for other platforms ... in other words, what they're missing out on. Or in some cases, what they would be missing if they switched.

People do care about features

An interest in new features was nearly neck-and-neck with platform loyalty, at 33.1 percent compared to 38.2 percent, suggesting that people might be tempted to jump ship for a phone with substantially better features. But exactly what features count?

Perhaps if Apple finds a way to market exclusive apps as a feature, it might stem some of Android's market share growth. On the other hand, judging by its commercials it's already been doing so.

Conversely, if some new and exclusive apps show up in the Amazon Appstore for Android, Amazon just might be able to use those as a selling point for its (possible) future Android Kindles.

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.

Google Offers Easier Way to Transfer Video From Google Video to YouTube (Mashable)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 06:56 AM PDT

Charlie White Charlie White – Sat Apr 23, 9:56 am ET

Google's listening. After notifying the world last week that Google Video was shutting down with no videos viewable after April 29, and giving users until May 13 to download them before they would be removed, Google's backed away from that.

Numerous voices spoke out, asking why Google couldn't create a quick way to transfer videos from Google Video to another of its video services, YouTube. Good news: The company's done just that.

Besides eliminating that ominous April 29 deadline, Google says it's "working to automatically migrate your Google Videos to YouTube." In the meantime, Google's added an "Upload Videos to YouTube" option, making it easy to send videos from a Google Video account to an associated YouTube account.

Here are the details from Google, posted on Google's Webmaster Central blog on Friday and sent out to all Google video users early on April 23:

Dear Google Video User,

Last week we sent an email letting you know we would be ending playbacks of Google Videos on April 29 and providing instructions on how to download videos currently hosted on the platform. Since then we've received feedback from you about making the migration off of Google Video easier. We work every day to make sure you have a great user experience and should have done better. Based on your feedback, here's what we're doing to fix things.

Google Video users can rest assured that they won't be losing any of their content and we are eliminating the April 29 deadline. We will be working to automatically migrate your Google Videos to YouTube. In the meantime, your videos hosted on Google Video will remain accessible on the web and existing links to Google Videos will remain accessible. If you want to migrate to YouTube now, here's how you do it:

We've created an "Upload Videos to YouTube" option on the Google Video status page. To do this, you'll need to have a YouTube account associated with your Google Video account (you can create one here). Before doing this you should read YouTube's Terms of Use and Copyright Policies. If you choose this option, we'll do our best to ensure your existing Google Video links continue to function.

If you'd prefer to download your videos from Google Video, that option is still available.

As we said nearly two years ago, the team is now focused on tackling the tough challenge of video search. We want to thank the millions of people around the world who have taken the time to create and share videos on Google Video. We hope today's improvements will help ease your transition to another video hosting service.

Thank you for being a Google Video user.

Sincerely,

Mark Dochtermann Google Video Team

It's great to see Google taking action on this, but we're wondering why the company didn't offer this option in the first place.

Visualizing what the iPhone 5 will look like (Appolicious)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 06:16 AM PDT

By the numbers: The present and future of the mobile app industry (Appolicious)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 06:00 AM PDT

Ex-Sony chief, 'father of the CD', dies (AFP)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 07:05 PM PDT

– 2 hrs 30 mins ago

TOKYO (AFP) – Former Sony president Norio Ohga, who helped transform the music industry with the development of the compact disc format, has died at the age of 81, the company said.

The music school graduate served as president from 1982 to 1995 and led the electronics manufacturer to become an entertainment empire with a portfolio encompassing music, movies and computer games.

He died on Saturday of multiple organ failure, Sony said.

"By redefining Sony as a company encompassing both hardware and software, Ohga-san succeeded where other Japanese companies failed," said Sir Howard Stringer, current Sony chairman, chief executive and president.

"It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony's evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and game, and subsequent transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san's foresight and vision."

Along with development of the CD format, Ohga led Sony's negotiations in 1968 with CBS Corp, which resulted in creation of CBS/Sony Records, now Sony Music Entertainment.

His decision to purchase Columbia Pictures in 1989 cemented Sony's position as an entertainment conglomerate.

He also designed the Sony corporate logo and promoted PlayStation game console.

Ohga's career with Sony began in 1953, when the company's co-founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita made him a consultant while he was still studying music at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

Under Ohga's leadership, Sony revolutionised the music industry with the CD format in 1982, co-developed by Royal Philips Electronics.

During the development, Ohga, a passionate baritone singer, pushed for the 12-centimetre format with 75 minutes of recording capacity to fit Beethoven's Ninth Symphony without interruption.

Mindful of the importance of the brand image, he designed the Sony logo, and had always stressed that the "four letter word" was the company's biggest asset.

Sony said it will conduct a corporate memorial, after a private ceremony.

Mac vs. PC: Stereotypes Confirmed (PC World)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 01:48 PM PDT

Paul Suarez Paul Suarez – Sat Apr 23, 4:48 pm ET

It's unscientifically official. PC users are more lame than their Mac-using counterparts.

An unscientific survey by Hunch, a website that makes custom predictions based on your interests, shows that PC users tend to prefer fitting in with others, are less tech savvy, and prefer Hollywood films over indie films. The same survey suggests Mac users tend to throw more parties, are modern art enthusiasts, and would rather drive a Vespa than a Harley.

Looks like that four-year-long, 66-commercial "Get a Mac" campaign had some truth to its stereotypes.

In case you forgot, the commercials pinned a nerdy-looking, suit-wearing John Hodgman as a PC against a younger and supposedly cooler Justin Long as a Mac. (The irony of that whole campaign for me was that Justin Long played a nerdy, wimpish cheerleader in 2004s Dodgeball and an equally nerdy hacker in 2007's Live Free or Die Hard.)

Hunch was able to arrive at its conclusions by asking its user base if they self identified as a Mac or PC person. It then looked their answers to various other interest-related questions and grouped them with answers from other users that identified themselves the same way.

It's a gold mine of stereotypes.

CNN's Brandon Griggs said of the survey in his article, "The results suggest Mac users can be seen, depending on your perspective, as bolder and more creative -- or elitist and more pretentious."

Couldn't say it better myself.

Before I go any further, I should note that I self identify as a PC person, even though I use a Mac most of the time at work. Like Hunch's data suggests of PC users, I live in the suburbs, seldom throw parties, am not a fan of modern art and enjoy the occasional lolcat.

And don't think the irony is lost that this article is appearing on PC World, not Macworld.

Here are a few other notable differences between Apple and PC fanboys:

  • Apple users are 80 percent more likely to be vegetarian than PC users.
  • PC users' soft drinks of choice are Pepsi, Jolt Cola and Orange Crush. Apple users prefer San Pellegrino Limonata and Boylan's Root Beer.
  • Apple fans get their news from 60 Minutes, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. PC users watch The Rachel Maddow Show, Newshour with Jim Lehrer and 20/20.
Make sure to stop by Hunch's blog to check out the rest of the data packaged in an infographic made by Column Five Media.

Despite Improvements, Data in the Cloud Remains Dirty (PC World)

Posted: 23 Apr 2011 10:00 AM PDT

Ilie Mitaru Ilie Mitaru – Sat Apr 23, 1:00 pm ET

Few parts of our lives remain untouched by software in the cloud. From connecting with friends on Facebook to organizing your finances on Mint, these tools are becoming increasingly embedded into our professional and personal lives.

But the seemingly innocuous act of "liking" this article, for example, uses real power--power mostly derived from burning coal.

This was the conclusion of a new study released by Greenpeace this week. The report--part of Greenpeace's "Cool IT" campaign--found that while leading IT companies have made significant improvements in efficiencies throughout their data centers, they continue to derive their energy through carbon-emitting energy sources, primarily coal.

That's good news for small business, which now have the option to purchase cutting-edge cloud-based business applications from among an increasingly robust group of providers, all fighting to make their services cheaper and more user friendly.

The report examined publicly available information on data centers run by the nation's leading IT companies. The energy use of these data centers is significant, states the report, making up 3 percent of U.S. consumption and 1.5 percent to 2 percent of global electricity consumption, with an average annual growth of 12 percent. Coal accounts for about 20 percent of the nation's energy consumption.

IT companies have been building data centers-which make up "the cloud" the majority of new software is hosted on--in a rush to keep up with demand, as well as the pressure of offering faster, more reliable access to their applications. Though a multitude of factors must be considered when siting a data center, the report says access to cheap power seems to remain the dominant factor. Data centers in North Carolina, for example, were built because of access to cheap electricity, which was freed after textile and furniture manufacturers left the area.

Following are highlights of the percentage of coal electricity used per company. Click the chart, at right, for Greenpeace's full scorecard.

  • Apple: 54.5 percent
  • Facebook: 53.2 percent
  • IBM: 51.6 percent
The Apple iData Center in North Carolina, for example, will consume an estimated 100 Megawatts (MW), equivalent to the electricity usage of approximately 80,000 homes in the United States or more than a quarter million in the European Union. Apple has not yet announced how the data center will be powered.

Just as Greenpeace released the report Thursday, Google announced it would purchase 100MW of wind energy from Next Era. The search giant has said it met its carbon neutrality goal in 2007.

What does this mean for small businesses serving an environmentally conscious demographic that's increasingly aware of their data footprint? If you have the option to host on a greener cloud--Amazon as opposed to Microsoft, for example--make the switch. Though the choice of one cloud service over another may seem arbitrary now, the increasing attention on clean data could lead soon to a significant reputation riff among the large players--and you want to make sure you're on the right side of it.

Whether the pressure of such reports, as well as green initiatives by Google and other tech companies, will be enough to get the rest of the players to switch to cleaner, alternative energy remains to be seen. It's not difficult to imagine, however--in an industry that has proved forward-looking and disruptive in many ways--that these companies could provide the investments and innovation to tip the scale towards permanent normalization of alternative energy.
at 9:55 PM

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