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CEO Interview: Tim Armstrong on AOL's turnaround (AP) : Technet |
- CEO Interview: Tim Armstrong on AOL's turnaround (AP)
- Yahoo shares sink on worries about Alibaba stake (AP)
- Northern Ireland forms new govt 1 tweet at a time (AP)
- Video: The TechLife special E3 preview edition! (Yahoo! News)
- Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees (Yahoo! News)
- How Open Source Projects Can Prepare Students for Better Careers (Mashable)
- Yahoo! shares sink on Alibaba tensions (AFP)
- Sony yet to fully secure its networks: expert (Reuters)
- 3 teens charged in San Diego Craigslist killing (AP)
- How to turn off location services on your iPhone (Yahoo! News)
- X Finger Regains The Use of Your Fingers Without Robotics (PC World)
- Ice Cream Sandwich: Just how tasty will it be? (Appolicious)
- Is the Cellphone Killing the Honeybee? (PC World)
- NC's Moog Music: increased sales, new building (AP)
- Forget the iPhone 5, Apple's next phone is the iPhone '4S' (Digital Trends)
- New SAP StreamWork Aims To Boost Collaboration (NewsFactor)
- ListenLogic Launches Social CRM To Engage Customers (NewsFactor)
| CEO Interview: Tim Armstrong on AOL's turnaround (AP) Posted: 13 May 2011 10:21 AM PDT NEW YORK – A lot has changed at AOL as it tries to shed the vestiges of its '90s image: the iconic "You've got mail" greeting and the promotional CDs stuffed into mailboxes across the country. The company has engaged in an artsy rebranding, rolled out hundreds of local news sites and bought the online news hub The Huffington Post for $315 million. At the helm is CEO Tim Armstrong, whom AOL hired from Google to stage a turnaround. Armstrong has led AOL since April 2009. He oversaw its separation from Time Warner Inc. and debut as a publicly traded company eight months later. All the while, he has tried to hone AOL's focus on online content and advertising — a tricky task for a company with roots as a dial-up Internet access provider. That transition began well before Armstrong's arrival. Yet despite Armstrong's experience as Google's advertising chief for North and South America, AOL still struggles. Its online ad revenue fell last year and so far this year, despite an improving market. Still, by doing such things as cutting the number of employees, shedding less-profitable websites and purchasing new ones such as The Huffington Post, Armstrong is optimistic that AOL can succeed. The Associated Press recently sat down with Armstrong, 40, at the company's headquarters in New York's East Village. He talked about why he wanted to lead AOL and how it's going so far. Q: Why did you think it would be a good idea to leave Google for AOL? A: AOL, I think, represented an opportunity for a few things. One is I'm a big believer in the AOL brand, and I think AOL as a brand has touched hundreds of millions of people around the world. Reigniting that brand is a very exciting challenge and a big opportunity. Two is I think the Internet is still in the early innings. Especially when we look at content or some things we're investing in, those models are still being figured out, so there's a big opportunity there. And then number three is, having spent a lot of time on search ads and other things, brand advertising (broad marketing campaigns by larger companies) is going to come online, so I think there's a really incredible business opportunity behind brand advertising. Q: Was part of the decision motivated by the desire to run a company? This is the first time you've been in that position. A: I'm a person who likes to tackle challenges. Google was a challenge when I got there. I think AOL's a challenge. The way we run the company is a very team-focused environment. I like to think that this company is all 5,000 people working together. Part of my job is setting the vision and setting where we're going. One of the things that's best about AOL is we get to work in a team-focused environment. Q: How has AOL's content business changed since the acquisition of the Huffington Post? A: The Huffington Post has been a big front door to the Internet and is growing quickly as well, so it also gives us the ability to increase our distribution as a company across the board. And for advertisers, we have two of the most affluent audiences online. So I think bringing in The Huffington Post has allowed us to actually fuel where the future of the company is going in terms of content creation, content distribution and content monetization. And it has allowed us also, frankly, to continue to change the culture here. Probably the biggest thing I've been focused on the last two years is changing the culture here to a culture that's really of the future of the Internet. The Huffington Post is just helping accelerate that. Q: A lot of people have long thought of AOL as the "You've Got Mail" company or as "that company that used to send me those CD-ROMs in the mail back in the `90s." How do you think people on the outside, consumers, think of AOL now? A: That's actually been one of the most interesting things, just personally. When I first got to the company, I heard a few pieces of feedback. One was a lot about the merger with Time Warner and people focused on that. The second thing was that they weren't really sure what AOL did anymore. They kind of knew AOL from the disc days. Q: Yeah, when you mention a website AOL owns like tech blog Engadget some people say, "Oh, they own that?" A: Right. I think a lot of it was just that old perception. If people used our services, they usually had a lot of complaints about them. When I was out and about, just doing things, people would stop me and say, "Oh, you're the AOL person, right? I have this issue with my account." I still get emails from people all the time, users, which I love getting. But about six months ago, something started to change. The difference between the last six months and probably two years ago is when people stop me now, they say, "Oh, I'm addicted to the front page of AOL. I love it. I love the new way the email's been designed." I think if the average person that uses AOL can't physically see the changes in the company, we've failed. Forget about the financial industry and forget about our stock and all that other stuff. Our number-one lead indicator of this company being successful is the people who touch our products and services actually physically seeing the level we care about internally translated externally. I think that's starting to happen, and that's eventually what is going to change the AOL brand. Q: What's one gadget you can't live without? A: My BlackBerry. I've had it for years, but I think it's one of the things I've appreciated most because ... it gives me more time with my family and allows more communication to go around the company. Also, I just had hip surgery, and the other gadget I would suggest for people who have injuries from sports in their knees or hips is an aquatic running suit and aquatic running shoes. I run now in the morning as therapy for my hip. Q: You use this suit to run in a pool? A: Yeah. It's not the most attractive running outfit, but it's pretty amazing for the results. I was a huge runner after college, did some marathons and stuff, but haven't been able to run because of my hip. Getting back into it is exciting. For a lot of the people I know who have joint problems, I've said, "go out and get the aquatic running suit." Q: Maybe you could start a team? A: (Laughs) Yeah! |
| Yahoo shares sink on worries about Alibaba stake (AP) Posted: 13 May 2011 01:35 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo Inc.'s prized investment in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group has abruptly turned into a stock market millstone. The weight drove down Yahoo's stock by 62 cents, or 3.6 percent, to close Friday at $16.55. It marked the third straight session that the stock has fallen because of Alibaba worries. The sell-off has reduced Yahoo's market value by about $2.5 billion, or nearly 11 percent. The reason: a surprise disclosure by Yahoo on Tuesday that Alibaba had spun off its online payment service, Alipay. The split caused investors to re-evaluate the value of Yahoo's 43 percent stake in Alibaba, one of China's most powerful Internet companies. To make matters worse, public bickering over the timing and handling of the Alipay spinoff has brought the rocky relationship between Yahoo and Alibaba into sharper focus. The dispute adds to the uncertainty about whether Yahoo will be able to make as much money from its Alibaba investment as analysts once thought. The dustup also provides another reminder of the difficulties that face U.S. companies as they try to profit from China's Internet market, which promises to be lucrative because it's located in the world's most populous country. Not even Google Inc., the Internet's most powerful company, has been able to overcome the political and regulatory obstacles in China. Frustrated in its own attempts to build its own business in China, Yahoo decided instead to keep a toehold in the country through a $1 billion investment made in Alibaba six years ago. It looked like a smart move as Alibaba thrived through its various divisions, which include e-commerce sites Alibaba.com, Taobao and Yahoo China. Alibaba's success has helped bolster Yahoo's stock as Yahoo's own operations have struggled in recent years. Some analysts believe Yahoo's Alibaba investment and a 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan are worth $8 to $10 per share, accounting for about half of Yahoo's current market value. In a Friday research note, Gleacher & Co. analyst Yun Kim estimated that Yahoo's indirect stake in Alipay was worth about 65 cents per share, or about $850 million. Yahoo said it hopes to be compensated for the loss of Alipay. Alibaba CEO Jack Ma has become more antagonistic since Carol Bartz, a brash Silicon Valley veteran, became Yahoo's CEO in January 2009. Alibaba turned over Alipay to another company controlled by Ma. Alibaba said it wanted to ensure that the payment service complied with laws requiring it to be owned by Chinese. With Alipay under his control, analysts believe Ma could have more negotiating power if Yahoo tries to sell its stake in privately held Alibaba. "This seems to us to be a very disturbing power-play by Jack Ma regarding the ownership structure of Alipay," Macquarie Securities analyst Ben Schachter wrote in a Friday note. Yahoo said that the Alipay transfer occurred last August, but that it wasn't notified about it until March 31. Alibaba disputed the timing in a Friday statement. Alibaba said Yahoo's board, which includes Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, had been informed of the ownership change 13 months earlier during a July 2009 meeting. Even if Yahoo's account of being notified March 31 is accurate, Schachter said it's still troubling that the company didn't let its shareholders know about it for another six weeks. At the very least, Schachter believes Bartz should have mentioned it April 19 when the company announced its first-quarter earnings. Bartz will likely have to address the issue when Yahoo meets with analysts May 25 to discuss the company's turnaround efforts. |
| Northern Ireland forms new govt 1 tweet at a time (AP) Posted: 13 May 2011 02:02 PM PDT DUBLIN – Chalk up another first for Twitter: It's now helped to form a whole government. The five parties in Northern Ireland's government took turns Friday picking the government departments they want to lead for the next four-year term. And they announced their choices to the world and each other live via the social media platform. The major Protestant party, the Democratic Unionists, went first and chose the powerful Finance Department. The Irish nationalist Sinn Fein went second and chose Education. Within a half-hour all 10 government ministries were parceled out. It's reckoned to be the first time that any government has used Twitter as the vehicle for managing its formation. ___ Online: Northern Ireland Executive live picks, http://twitter.com/(number sign/hash)!/niexecutive |
| Video: The TechLife special E3 preview edition! (Yahoo! News) Posted: 13 May 2011 07:13 PM PDT
This time we've got something special up our collective sleeves for you: our Electronic Entertainment Expo sneak preview! The huge gaming show — belovedly known as E3 — is right around the corner, kicking off with major press events here in Los Angeles on June 6. What do we have to look forward to from the likes of the Big 3: Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, as well as all the other developers and publishers big and small in the video gaming industry? We peer into our crystal balls to bring you our top 5 predictions for the show. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Are there topics we've missed? And will Sony show off the NGP handheld or will the company be too busy doing PSN downtime damage control? Inquiring minds wants to know what you think! Toss in your 2 cents or fight it out with us in the comments! What are you most looking forward to from this year's E3? More from Tecca: |
| Your cell phone may be killing the honeybees (Yahoo! News) Posted: 13 May 2011 05:23 PM PDT
The world's population of honeybees is dwindling, and for years scientists have been trying to discover the cause. Bee researcher Dr. Daniel Favre thinks he may have found the problem, and you, dear reader, might be part of it. The doctor believes that mobile phones may be a major factor in bee colony decline, leading to massive population issues within the species. His theory is based on several studies he conducted using cell devices placed under beehives. In the course of testing, the researchers observed how the insects reacted when the phone was off, in standby mode, and active. It was found that when the phone was actively transmitting a signal, the bees behaved wildly, letting off alerts that are normally used during swarming. The bees in the study did not actually create a swarm, and within minutes of the phones being deactivated the hive had calmed down. But Favre believes if cell phone signals are in fact causing the bees to act in a hostile manner, it could lead them to abandon their hives. The evidence, while interesting, doesn't fully explain the growing number of collapsed colonies. For example, many colonies in trouble are located far from any kind of mobile phone activity. There are also other theories on the table as to why the bees are having a hard time, including pesticides and even parasitic mites. But if mobile technology ends up being the culprit, will you be willing to abandon your phone to enjoy some honey? [Image Credit: cygnus921] More from Tecca: |
| How Open Source Projects Can Prepare Students for Better Careers (Mashable) Posted: 13 May 2011 02:20 PM PDT Paula Hunter is the executive director of the Outercurve Foundation. With over two decades of open source experience, she has served in leadership roles at organizations such as Open Source Development Labs and United Linux. Follow her on Twitter @huntermkt. Free and open source software (FOSS) is at the root of the most innovative products, technologies and services of our time. The Social Network may have taken some Hollywood liberties, but there's still a big story to tell about today's colleges as the hotbeds of innovation, much of it driven by FOSS. [More from Mashable: Why Career & Technical Education Should Be a Priority for the U.S. [OPINION]] Today's top entrepreneurs are using FOSS as the building blocks for innovation. Instead of writing an entire solution from scratch, developers can assemble large parts of their solutions from liberally licensed FOSS projects, and focus their creative energies. FOSS also serves as a training ground for new developers. Good developers have always known that the way to improve is by reading well-written programs. Good FOSS projects in dynamic communities provide a wealth of examples for students to read, understand, and work on. [More from Mashable: Time to Tap In: Foursquare Testing NFC At Google Conference] Free and open source software isn't just a good way to program -- it's giving students a leg up in their education and job prospects. Here's how.
Skills |
| Yahoo! shares sink on Alibaba tensions (AFP) Posted: 13 May 2011 03:14 PM PDT NEW YORK (AFP) – Yahoo! shares extended their slide on Friday amid tensions with Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce giant in which the California Internet company holds a large stake. Shares in Yahoo! lost 3.61 percent to close at $16.55 on Wall Street on Friday. Yahoo! stock began sinking on Wednesday on news that Alibaba had spun its online payment business, Alipay, out of the reach of the US-based Internet giant. Yahoo! filed paperwork on Tuesday notifying the US Securities and Exchange Commission that ownership of Alipay had been shifted to a Chinese company owned mostly by Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma. In the filing, Yahoo! said the transfer of ownership of Alipay was done without the knowledge or the approval of Alibaba's board of directors or shareholders. Yahoo! said the move was made in August although Yahoo! and another major Alibaba stakeholder, Japan's Softbank, were only informed of it in March. Alibaba rejected Yahoo!'s claims in a statement on Friday and said that the Chinese legal requirements that necessitated the change in ownership had been discussed at numerous board meetings. Alibaba said the move was made to "comply with Chinese law governing payment companies in order to secure a license to continue operating Alipay." "The Alibaba Group board discussed at numerous board meetings over the past three years the impending imposition of new regulatory requirements on the online payment industry, including ownership structures," Alibaba said. It said the Alibaba board was told in July 2009 that a majority shareholding in Alipay had been transferred to Chinese ownership. The remaining stake was apparently transferred in August. "The actions taken by Alibaba Group management to comply with the licensing regulations and to ensure continuation of operations are in the best interests of the company and its shareholders," Alibaba said. Yahoo! owns a 43 percent stake in Alibaba and an estimated 40 percent share of Alipay. Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang, who stepped down as chief executive two years ago and was replaced by Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz, sits on the Alibaba board. Relations between Yahoo! and Alibaba have been rocky for some time but Bartz gave Alibaba's Ma a vote of confidence in September saying Yahoo! is "very supportive of the operational direction Jack Ma and his team are taking the group." |
| Sony yet to fully secure its networks: expert (Reuters) Posted: 13 May 2011 02:48 PM PDT BOSTON (Reuters) – Sony Corp's computer networks remain vulnerable to attack three weeks after the company learned that it had been victim of one of the biggest data breaches in history, according to an Internet security expert. The expert found a handful of security flaws in Sony's networks while remotely studying its systems via the Internet to see how difficult it would be to penetrate the electronics giant's systems in the wake of the attacks. Security researcher John Bumgarner discovered a potential bonanza for hackers by using little more than a web browser, Google's search engine and a basic understanding of Internet security systems. "Sony still has several external security issues that need to be addressed," said Bumgarner, chief technology officer for the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, a research group funded by government and private sector grants that monitors Internet threats. Bumgarner, a well-regarded Internet security researcher and U.S. military special operations veteran, identified a handful of flaws that would be easy for a hacker to identify and potentially exploit. Sony did not respond directly to Reuters on the security lapses that Bumgarner said he had uncovered, but three of five flaws that Reuters pointed out to the company on Thursday were fixed later in the day. "The first and most important thing to note is that protecting our customers data is a company-wide commitment that we take very seriously," a Sony spokesman said in an email on Thursday. Sony officials did not return calls seeking further comment on Friday. It was not immediately clear if the identified security gaps allowed for access to active or defunct systems. Several flaws remain, according to Bumgarner, who said he had viewed only parts of Sony's network that were visible over the Internet and did not attempt to break in to password-protected sites or exploit any vulnerabilities. He found no evidence of breaches beyond the two Sony has disclosed. But he said he was able to find gateways to internal systems and locate data that would be useful to hackers by using simple techniques that he shared with Reuters. SONY SANTA The techniques uncovered a number of security gaps. Through a series of Google searches, Bumgarner was able to find a software program that Sony developed in 2001 to run a SonyStyle.com Christmas gift registry and sweepstakes program called Sony Santa. That program gathered users' names, addresses and ages. The names and partial addresses of some 2,500 of those sweepstakes contestants were posted on a website. Sony said on Thursday that it learned of the error on May 5. The site has been taken down and Sony is working to remove any residual links to the list, a spokesman said. Bumgarner also found an access point to a server running an identity management system that he said controls access to logins and passwords for employees throughout Sony Pictures Entertainment. He located that system by conducting a Google search using the terms "site:.Sony.com identity." Most companies attempt to hide these servers from the prying eyes of potential hackers because these systems are linked to sensitive employee account data, he said. In a file on Sony's website that alerts search-engine crawlers to which sections of the site that Sony wants a search engine to avoid cataloging, the company provided a link to an internal password-protected software application. Bumgarner said the domain on Sony Corporation of America's network where the application was located was carefully hidden from view, so a web crawler or casual surfer would not have located it. But putting the URL in the file effectively served as a red flag to potential hackers who might see it as a potential weak spot in Sony's armor, Bumgarner said. On May 4, Bumgarner located a server in the Sony network that disclosed the names, Facebook IDs and IP addresses of Sony customers who were playing online games through Facebook. IP addresses allow somebody to track the general location of a player. He Tweeted his discovery on May 4 and Sony plugged the leak two days later. The company installed a security management system from Riverbed Technology on the server that leaked the Facebook data. Bumgarner was able to view an access screen to the Riverbed system that had the login field filled with a user ID through May 10. "No one should be able to point a web browser at Sony and see a security management console or find their identity management system that has been indexed by Google," he said. Sony has fixed some of the flaws after Reuters detailed them in an email. They include removing the file from its website that tells search-engine crawlers which sections of the site to avoid cataloging. Sony disabled access to the password-protected application that the file originally pointed to and eliminated access to the Riverbed security system. WIDESPREAD PROBLEMS Bumgarner's research showed that the problems with Sony's systems are more widespread than the company has acknowledged. Sony has said that only its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment systems were hacked. Most of the flaws that Bumgarner discovered were in other Sony networks -- that of the Sony Corporation of America, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Electronics Corp. Security experts say companies need to be discerning when deciding which servers to expose to the Internet. Many of the flaws that Bumgarner discovered were identified with a tactic known among hackers and security experts as "Google hacking" -- using the search engine's advanced features to find information that would be of use to hackers. He found the Sony Santa program by searching for items on Sony's network written in Microsoft Excel format (site:.sony.com filetype:xls). Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at computer security firm F-Secure, said Sony should have been more careful. "They've been running in circles for the past three weeks," Hypponen said. "The first thing a consultant group or an Internet response group would do is run a basic vulnerability scan and that's what they would find," he said, referring to the lapses found by Bumgarner. Security experts have said they believe the hackers initially gained access to Sony's network through a "spear-phishing" attack that targeted a systems administrator who had broad privileges to access data on Sony's networks. In "spear-phishing" campaigns, hackers craft e-mails with personalized messages so that the recipients let their guard down and click on links or download attachments that launch malicious software programs that take over their computers. Once one PC is corrupted, hackers can use that machine as a base from which to launch sophisticated operations, such as the attacks on Sony's networks. Bumgarner found a page on Sony's website that lists the names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers of IT managers that he said the hackers could have used to launch a spear phishing attack. He found that information through Google searches. (Additional reporting by Liana B. Baker; Editing by Ken Li and Ted Kerr.) |
| 3 teens charged in San Diego Craigslist killing (AP) Posted: 13 May 2011 04:47 PM PDT SAN DIEGO – Three 17-year-old boys have been charged with murder in the death of an 18-year-old San Diego college student who was allegedly robbed of cash and his cell phone after meeting the assailants to buy a $600 computer that was advertised on Craigslist. Rashon Abernathy, Seandell Jones and Shaquille Jordan were charged Friday as adults with murder and robbery. Each faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted of either charge. San Diego Superior Court Judge Joseph Brannigan entered not-guilty pleas on their behalf and set bail at $5 million for each of them. Prosecutors say 18-year-old Garrett Burki died from a bullet wound to the chest. Abernathy allegedly fired the shot from the back seat of a car as Burki cornered him in a cul-de-sac after a chase. |
| How to turn off location services on your iPhone (Yahoo! News) Posted: 13 May 2011 04:11 PM PDT
Stop location data storage Tap on the Location Services menu item and you'll be taken to a screen where you can modify the settings for this feature. The first way you can modify this feature is to turn it off completely, which is the first option at the top. Just swipe the little switch from right to left and the word "off" should appear.
Once you've finished making the changes you want, you can hit the Home button and close out the Settings app. You're all done! Your location will only be shared if you allow it, and only with the apps you've selected. Not only will you become more geographically anonymous, but you'll also benefit from extended battery life as well, since your GPS chip won't be getting as much use. Post by Michael Arcand More from Tecca: |
| X Finger Regains The Use of Your Fingers Without Robotics (PC World) Posted: 13 May 2011 02:24 PM PDT Be honest, when looking at your hands, you probably take your fingers for granted. Without fingers, imagine trying to do everyday chores involving gripping or your touch senses -- this post, typed up on a laptop, wouldn't have been written. Fortunately, a simple artificial limb has been created, which bends just as well as the real thing, only without fancy machinery to control it. X Finger by Didrick Medical Inc uses the movement of an amputees nearby fingers to move, but can also move independently. The design is simply a metal framework with joints similar to an actual finger or thumb, covered by a skin colored silicone sheath. The X Finger can work independently due to lateral and vertical flexing of the device, so typing or gaming can now be done without a problem. Each finger appears to be available and custom made to each person, though in order to get one you'll need your practitioner to take a photo of your hand. Pricing is also only available on request, so get saving. While it's great to see a seemly simple prosthetic on the market for amputees, without the slightly strange-looking silicone sheath it looks very thin, although this is probably why it's so light at less than 10 grams. Plus with the sheath on, it does actually have a good finger-like silhouette to it, making it pretty subtle. Check out Didrick Medical's video on the homepage to see the fake limb in action. What do you think of the X Finger limb? Tell us in the comments below! [Via Didrick Medical Inc] |
| Ice Cream Sandwich: Just how tasty will it be? (Appolicious) Posted: 13 May 2011 03:00 PM PDT |
| Is the Cellphone Killing the Honeybee? (PC World) Posted: 13 May 2011 03:16 PM PDT Pity the poor honeybee. Since 2003, bee colonies around the globe have declining at an alarming rate. And since bees play a vital role in agricultural production, that's bad news for us humans. Scientists suspect many factors may be responsible, including pesticides, viruses, the varroa mite, genetically modified crops, and even exceptionally cold winters. Now we can add cellphones to the list of possible culprits. A study by Swiss researcher Daniel Favre shows that mobile phone-generated electromagnetic fields may contribute to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a condition that causes worker bees to desert the hive. In most cases, the queen bee is left with eggs, immature bees, and a lot of honey. The colony survives for a short time, but soon dies out without its workers. "Recent efforts have been made to study another potential cause responsible for bee losses: manmade electromagnetic fields," Favre writes. And while the results obtained to date have been "highly controversial," they suggest a connection between the growing use of cellphones and a declining bee population. Earlier studies have shown that cordless telephones placed at the bottom of beehives altered the behavior of honeybees that returned to the hive after foraging. However, other reports have failed to find a connection between mobile phones and colony collapse. The Latest Buzz Favre's 2009 study exposed honeybees to active cellphone radiation. "The goal of these experiments was to identify potential effects of mobile phone communications on honeybee behavior," he writes. The researcher recorded sounds produced by bees in five healthy hives in two Switzerland locations between February and June 2009. The study recorded the bees' sounds with active mobile phones in the hive. Two mobile handsets (900MHz GSM) were chosen at random. The bees were also recorded during their normal activities, both with and without inactive mobile phones. With the active devices, the first handset was triggered to call the second phone in the hive. A connection was made after 5 to 10 seconds of ringing. Sound analyst shows the bees weren't disturbed by inactive or standby mobile phones. However, active cellphones confused the bees, creating "worker piping," or a signal to leave the hive. The findings suggest that "the behavior of the bees remained perturbed for up to 12 hours after the end of the prolonged mobile phone communication," Favre writes. "This observation means that honeybees are sensitive to pulsed electromagnetic fields generated by the mobile telephones." More Study Needed In real life, of course, you won't find mobile phones in beehives. And further studies are needed--those that place cellphones at greater distances from the bees--to study the connection between odd honeybee behavior and mobile phone-generated electromagnetic fields. Favre points to a recent experiment suggesting that cellphones and cellphone towers located near beehives hamper honeybee navigation. "In one experiment, it was found that when a mobile phone was kept near a beehive it resulted in a collapse of the colony in 5 to 10 days, with the worker bees failing to return home, leaving the hives with just queens, eggs, and hive-bound immature bees," he writes. Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com. |
| NC's Moog Music: increased sales, new building (AP) Posted: 13 May 2011 01:11 PM PDT RALEIGH, N.C. – In an era when so much music is digital, Moog Music is doing fine with analog, thank you very much. Sales of synthesizers, guitars, effects pedals and Theremins are up 35 percent through April 2011 over the same period last year, says Moog (mohg) President Mike Adams. And the North Carolina-based company is moving next week to renovated buildings in downtown Asheville where passersby will be able to watch the instruments being made and musicians working in the studio space. "If you buy any other keyboard and open the back, you see a chip in there that's sampling sounds or re-creating sounds using a digitized format," Adams said in a phone interview Friday. "In the back of our device, there's a sound board with 897 components," he said. "It's a completely different sound you get. You're really able to hear the subtleties of the sound." The company and its 45 employees will move Friday from their current quarters to the new downtown spot, a renovated automobile dealership that includes an elevator that was used to take cars to the second floor. The warehouse will be located in a former horse stable. The first day in the new factory will be May 23, which would have been founder Robert Moog's 79th birthday. It's a happy coincidence, Adams says, because the company originally was supposed to move in March. In the 1960s, the Moog synthesizer did for electronic music what the desktop did for the huge computer systems that once filled a wall by turning the sound machine into something portable. Lady Gaga's band is buying lots of Moog equipment, Adams says. Others who have used Moog gear, he said, include bands such as Rush, the White Stripes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Sugarland and Weezer and musicians Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Beyonce, Alicia Keyes and Billy Joel. Rascal Flatts recently bought a Moog guitar, Adams said. Reed is touring with Metallica, and turned that band onto Moog, Adams says. "We just got a huge order from Metallica," he said. "They're an older band so you'd think they'd know better." The Monkees were one of the first bands to fall in love with Moog products, he says, adding that drummer Micky Dolenz then introduced Paul McCartney and John Lennon to Moog. R.A. Moog began in 1954 and became Moog Music Inc. in 1972. It became a division of Norlin Music, a large musical instrument aggregator, in 1975. Norlin eventually went bankrupt and Moog moved to Asheville to raise his family. In 1994, he decided to get back into the musical instrument business under the Moog Music name, but the name was legally tied up. He regained the rights in May 2002, which is Adams became company president. Moog died in 2005. Prices range from $700 to $5,000 for synthesizers, while guitars start at about $2,000. Theremins — the eerie-sounding musical instrument you play without touching it — cost $375, while effects pedals range from $275 to $700. "Kids have grown up with the iPod," Adams said, and even Moog Music has an iPhone app, the Filtraton. "But when musicians get introduced to the analog sound, it makes a big difference to them. It may not make a difference when it comes out of the iPod, but it makes a difference to them in the studio from an inspiration standpoint." ___(equals) Martha Waggoner can be reached at http://twitter.com/mjwaggonernc |
| Forget the iPhone 5, Apple's next phone is the iPhone '4S' (Digital Trends) Posted: 13 May 2011 05:40 PM PDT
Why yet another delay? Apparently the Qualcomm LTE chipset the iPhone 5 is supposed to have isn't performing up to Apple's standards. Apple planned to release both the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5 this fall, with the major difference being the 4S would not have the 4G/LTE service the 5 did. Disappointing news for Apple fanboys and iPhone 4 users ready for a real upgrade, we know. But what might be even bigger news is the fact the Apple plans to announce partnerships with Sprint, T-Mobile, and China Mobile in time for the holiday shopping season. Exclusivity be damned: Apple's ready to distribute its brand to all four major U.S. carriers while also expanding its business in China. A wise move, considering the country is home to the iPhone's fastest growing customer base. Misek also noted that demand for the iPhone has somewhat leveled off: The long-awaited launch of the White iPhone and partnerships with new (foreign) carriers were “offset†Sprint and T-Mobile customers are likely excited by the idea of an iPhone option, but the idea of such a minor upgrade is deflating. The iPhone 5 should have been announced this summer, going off of Apple's general product launch roadmap, and seeing a slightly beefed up version of the iPhone 4 would be a bit of a letdown. We heard about larger screens and a possible new design with tapered edges, and of course we also caught wind of the LTE and world phone rumors – but it's sounding like it was all talk, or that these loftier plans were abandoned by Apple and its manufacturers (possibly just for the time being). Honestly, at this point, if the thing is actually announced in September with the alleged A5 processor and 8-megapixel camera, we'll be satisfied. There are enough Apple fanatics that an iOS launch, regardless of the upgrades or lack thereof, is sure to be a success, but we wonder how many less loyal consumers will be convinced to pay for an iPhone 4S when they could get the suddenly discounted iPhone 4. Is a heightened processor and camera worth the money for the average smartphone consumer? We'll have to see in September. Hopefully. |
| New SAP StreamWork Aims To Boost Collaboration (NewsFactor) Posted: 13 May 2011 10:58 AM PDT SAP is amping up the competition against rival Salesforce.com with its latest release of StreamWork. The cloud-based collaborative application integrates with SAP business software. Simply stated, SAP lets employees, teams and entire organizations collectively problem solve, brainstorm and make decisions within business applications using information they know and use every day -- without switching to another disconnected collaboration solution or having to rely on mountains of e-mail to drive projects forward. "We are trying to solve a much bigger problem for companies than what a lot of the existing solutions in the market are doing," said Holly Simmons, senior director of marketing at SAP BusinessObjects. "Our customers have complex landscapes and are running many different types of applications. We are trying to address bringing social within the company and allowing them to work across all of the different software they are using internally." No Islands of Collaboration Simmons said the new integration capabilities expand StreamWork's reach so all types of people -- employees, clients, partners and suppliers -- can leverage secure social collaboration. The enterprise edition of StreamWork integrates with several SAP applications, including the SAP Customer Relationship Management application for social CRM. The integration empowers sales managers to close sales more quickly. Sales teams can also collaborate directly with customers. StreamWork also integrates with SAP's Strategy Management application, and the firm is currently planning for the integration of StreamWork with its Business Intelligence platform, which would give customers the ability to deliver collaborative BI throughout their organizations so end users can drive actionable insights. "With some solutions, companies wind up with these little islands of collaboration and they don't want to use the products because they don't want to leave what they are doing and go sign in to a collaboration application and work in a very general way," Simmons says. "We are delivering all of the security and integration capabilities necessary to bridge the gap across applications." Customer Case Study The Toronto chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers is a StreamWork customer. The organization reports increased communication and collaboration among its members. Within the application, board members conduct polls to approve board meeting minutes, vote on new initiatives, and gather feedback on committee work. When meetings run out of time, SAP StreamWork provides an avenue to keep discussions moving along while making sure everyone is informed. "SAP StreamWork is intuitive and easy to use, and it brings structure to what could otherwise be unstructured communication," said Adrian Davis, president of the Toronto chapter. "We can also tie it into any project we're working on, both inside and outside of our organization. The Business Tools Catalog is particularly useful, because it helps give life to more fruitful collaboration and discussion around the decisions we have to make, which allows us to achieve better results and grow." |
| ListenLogic Launches Social CRM To Engage Customers (NewsFactor) Posted: 13 May 2011 10:57 AM PDT ListenLogic is listening to the market. The result is Enterprise Social CRM solutions, which ListenLogic has just announced. ListenLogic doesn't have the customer list of a SAP or Salesforce.com, but the company has built a strong list of global 1000 brands. ListenLogic's secret sauce is a proprietary Integrated Social Intelligence Platform for customer-service engagement and marketing outreach. "Social-media usage is exploding, and companies need to engage with customers, where they participate, in real-time," said Mark Langsfeld, founder and CEO of ListenLogic. "Customers are no longer on the phone with customer-service agents, they're using social media to seek advice and openly share experiences. For large enterprises, our Social CRM solutions make it possible to handle millions of customer interactions through social media." Automatically Identify Issues Langsfeld isn't just blowing smoke. The company has established a track record in the fledgling social CRM space for a highly scalable customer relationship management solution that does several things at once -- automatically. ListenLogic's Social CRM collects, prioritizes and categorizes all social-media conversations -- meaning not just beyond Twitter and Facebook -- in real-time. Once collected, the conversations are delivered to customer-service representatives based on business rules that customer-service departments create with market outreach opportunities in mind. As an example, ListenLogic says Social CRM can collect tens of thousands of relevant posts daily for a brand, sort and find only mentions from very annoyed customers, and send these prioritized cases to specialized customer-service representatives so they can be resolved immediately. Integrated with current CRM solutions, ListenLogic Social CRM can identify brand and future customer opportunities online and send these to marketing and outreach teams. Vertical Expertise "As the social-media boom continues and the social-data fire hose grows, companies are struggling to collect all the conversations and triage the outreach opportunities in a timely manner," said Vincent Schiavone, cofounder and chairman of ListenLogic. "The longer a negative issue remains on the web, the potential for damage increases. At the same time, the longer a company waits to act on an opportunity, the opportunity can go away." ListenLogic Social CRM works to help large enterprises get the right information to the right people at the right time -- and it integrates with traditional customer-service and marketing operations. Although unverified, ListenLogic says its Social CRM is 10 times more efficient than manual social-media sifting and data triaging. ListenLogic is unique in the social CRM, not because it offers reputation monitoring and response to manage corporate threats through social media -- several competitors do that. ListenLogic is unique in that the company is developing vertical expertise. The firm already offers ListenLogic Health, for example, to help gather social-media intelligence for pharmaceutical, health and wellness companies. |
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