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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Comcast 1Q earnings climb 9 pct to beat Street (AP) : Technet

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Comcast 1Q earnings climb 9 pct to beat Street (AP) : Technet

Comcast 1Q earnings climb 9 pct to beat Street (AP)

Posted: 03 May 2011 05:17 PM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Tue May 3, 8:17 pm ET

NEW YORK – Comcast Corp., the country's largest cable TV company, on Tuesday said earnings exceeded estimates for the first quarter, helped by healthy results both in its cable operations and the newly acquired NBC Universal business.

Comcast says it lost just 39,000 cable TV customers in the quarter, its lowest attrition in four years. Cable companies have been losing customers to satellite and phone company services.

Even though Comcast did a better job of keeping subscribers, Internet video company Netflix Inc. surpassed Comcast in the quarter. Netflix ended March with 22.8 million U.S. subscribers, about 34,000 more than Comcast.

But Comcast is benefiting from the growing popularity of Netflix and other Internet services that require high-speed Internet connections. In the first quarter, it added ten broadband Internet customers for every TV customer it lost. That indicated Comcast is picking up market share from phone companies and other Internet service providers.

The Philadelphia-based company reported net income of $943 million, or 34 cents per share, for the first three months of the year. That's up 9 percent from $866 million, or 31 cents, a year ago.

Excluding costs related to the NBC deal, which closed in January, earnings came to 36 cents per share. That topped the 34 cents average expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 32 percent to $12.1 billion. That also beat the $11.45 billion expected by analysts. Revenue from last year's quarter didn't include NBC Universal.

At NBC Universal, revenue fell because last year's figure was boosted by the Winter Olympics. Excluding the Olympics, revenue rose 5 percent, helped chiefly by its cable networks, which include Bravo, E! and USA. Advertising revenue climbed 14 percent at the cable networks, continuing a post-recession recovery that has been lifting the results of most TV station owners.

Comcast paid General Electric Co. $13.75 billion in cash and assets for 51 percent of NBC Universal in a deal that closed in January. Comcast's first-quarter results include two months of NBC Universal's.

Comcast shares rose 50 cents, or nearly 2 percent, to $27.11 in extended trading, after the release of the results. In Tuesday's regular trading, the shares hit $26.92, the highest level since 2007.

Is Amazon readying its own tablet for the second half of 2011? (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 03 May 2011 07:08 PM PDT

By Taylor Hatmaker taylor Hatmaker – 1 hr 55 mins ago

Amazon may be preparing to launch its own tablet, according to a source known for leaking tidbits of news about upcoming gadgets in the works overseas. The source, Taiwan's tech newspaper DigiTimes, claims that Amazon has placed orders for the device with Quanta Computer, the Taiwanese manufacturer supposedly tapped to crank out the tablets.

Quanta estimated that production of the forthcoming Amazon tablets would peak at 700,000 to 800,000 units a month and that the devices would begin shipping in the second half of 2011. The report also indicated that Amazon would be working with the company behind the Kindle's E Ink display, suggesting that a colorful screen readable in bright light could be in the cards.

While news that trickles out from Asian component product lines isn't historically the most reliable, these aren't the first murmurings of a tablet from the web retail giant. Amazon may be a name synonymous with online shopping, but it's also an aggressively innovative company that already has a gadget success story with its own e-reader, the Kindle.

The retailer has been expanding its horizons as of late and it appears that Amazon wants to get a foot in every door, from storage in the cloud with Amazon Cloud Drive to its own Android app store. Readying an Amazon-branded tablet would mean one more experiment, this time in the white-hot tablet market.

(Source)

Read more about tablets

Xbox 360 gamers targeted in phishing attack (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 03 May 2011 03:50 PM PDT

By Tecca tecca – Tue May 3, 6:50 pm ET

While everybody is focusing on the extensive outage that hit 77 million PlayStation Network customers all over the globe, it looks like the Xbox Live network hasn't escaped security controversy, either.

Late last week, reports started popping up that a potential phishing scheme had been launched on the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The Microsoft issue is not as widespread as Sony's drama (the gaming network is still running, which is an obvious clue), but it is serious enough for the company to issue a Service Alert to warn all Xbox Live users of the potential security risk.

Be alert, not alarmed
According to the alert:

"Users may receive potential phishing attempts via title specific messaging while playing Modern Warfare 2.

We are aware of the problem and are working to resolve the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience."

Robert Bowling, creative strategist at the game's development company, Infinity Ward, has also spoken out. "We have a patch in the process of testing for release that should be out soon," he said in a written statement.

A timely reminder
Of course, as we've covered previously, hacking and phishing schemes relating to video games are nothing new. This is a timely reminder to remain vigilant when connected to the internet, regardless of whether you're surfing, using email, chatting in an instant messenger program, or just playing a game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released back in 2009, but it's certainly still going strong. For at least one week in April, it was the second-most played game on Xbox Live. (The only game with more unique players online? The next game in the franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops.)

The alert does not mean that you should stop playing your favorite titles, of course... far from it! Instead, simply be mindful of any messages you receive while playing.

Keep your eyes on the prize
While phishing messages on other services might be fairly straightforward (saying your computer has "a virus," or you need to contact the IRS, perhaps), video game spammers often get a little more creative. As we saw in Fraud of Warcraft, these fraudsters hit gamers where it hurts: their online accounts.

By simply posting a message in bright colors and ALL CAPS, the hackers have your attention, so it's easy to convince you that your account has been "hacked by SHARK at sharkshackingwebsite.com." Whether the link promises to un-hack your account or simply to give you more information on SHARK, chances are that it's a hoax wrapped in a smokescreen.

If you do choose to visit the website (obviously, we suggest you don't!), you will probably be asked for your user information to "verify" your account. Don't hand over the details! Instead of "validating" your account, the scammer will steal it, potentially running up huge bills on your online accounts (which is why you should think twice before linking a credit card to your gaming network).

At the very least, some scoundrel with your user credentials could end up running amok in several online games and earning you a permanent ban for their efforts. Even if you do get your account back, it may no longer be in good standing and you may be unable to connect to many online services.

Real companies don't ask
Remember, neither Microsoft nor Xbox will ask you for your Windows Live ID password via email, instant messenger, or the phone. Remember to only ever enter that password on secure, known Microsoft websites or through your Xbox 360 console.

Microsoft and Xbox have reminded gamers how to protect their online information and point out that if your Xbox Live account has been compromised, you should contact Xbox Support immediately.

[Image credits: Jamie McCall, Charlie NZ, Josh Olin, Josh McConnell]

Post by Jessica Citizen

how-to avoid scams and spam

Sony Admits Another Hacker Attack, 24.6 Million User Accounts Compromised (Mashable)

Posted: 02 May 2011 10:08 PM PDT

Stan Schroeder Stan Schroeder – Tue May 3, 1:08 am ET

After a recent hacker attack, which took down the Sony PlayStation Network for an extended period of time, Sony has admitted that hackers have broken into its servers on April 16th and 17th, 2011 and may have stolen personal user data. This time, hackers targeted the accounts of Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) users; according to Sony, they may have stolen personal data from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts, as well as some of the data from an outdated database from 2007. This database includes approximately "12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes), and about 10,700 direct debit records of certain customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain."

[More from Mashable: Sony to Resume PlayStation Network Services, Says "No Evidence" Credit Card Info Stolen]

The personal data from the SOE accounts includes name, address, e-mail address, birth date, gender, phone number, login name and hashed password. The data from the 10,700 debit card records that may have been stolen by hackers includes bank account number, customer name, account name and customer address.

While its investigating this newly discovered attacks, SOE has shut down all servers related to SOE services. Sony has apologized to its customers for any inconvenience and promised to send emails to all costumers whose data may have been stolen. The company will also compensate customers one day for each day its service has been down, and grant them 30 days of additional time on their subscriptions.

[More from Mashable: PlayStation Network Still Down; Sony Says it Will Return By May 4]

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Comcast profit up on Internet, NBCU ad sales (Reuters)

Posted: 03 May 2011 03:24 PM PDT

By Yinka Adegoke Yinka Adegoke – Tue May 3, 6:24 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Comcast Corp posted stronger quarterly earnings on Tuesday as its benefited from healthy ad sales at its newly consolidated NBC Universal joint venture and added more Internet and phone subscribers.

The No. 1 U.S. cable operator said net income rose to $943 million, or 34 cents a share, up from $866 million, or 31 cents a share. Excluding costs related to the NBC Universal transaction profit came in at 36 cents.

Comcast added more than 418,000 high speed Internet subscribers during the quarter and 260,000 phone subscribers.

Analysts at Collins Stewart had estimated that Comcast would add 300,000 Internet subscribers and 207,000 phone subscribers.

Comcast lost just 39,000 video subscribers, the lowest number of video subscribers in four years since it started facing stiff competition for video customers from phone companies' digital video services including Verizon Communications' FiOS and AT&T Inc's U-verse.

Collins Stewart had forecast Comcast would lose 95,000 video subscribers.

"The cable numbers were strong and the financials were in line or better than expected," said Craig Moffett analyst at Bernstein Research. "For all the attention around NBC Universal, it's still a cable story."

Philadelphia-based Comcast, which has about 23 million subscribers, struck a deal with General Electric Co in December 2009 to take a 51 percent in a newly created $30 billion NBC Universal joint venture. The deal closed on Jan 28 this year.

Comcast's first quarter pro forma revenue rose by 6.1 percent to $13.3 billion including a full quarter of NBC Universal earnings but excluding the impact of last year's Winter Olympics.

Comcast's reported revenue was $12.13 billion for the first quarter as the cable company took control of NBCU on January 28.

NBC Universal pro forma revenue was up 5 percent to $4.35 billion, excluding the impact of last year's Winter Olympics.

Advertising revenue for the first three months of the year grew 14 percent at NBCU's cable networks to $769 million while NBC Entertainment saw its advertising revenue rise by 8 percent to $910 million.

Comcast shares, which closed at $26.61, rose slightly by 1 percent in after-market trading.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Phil Berlowitz, Bernard Orr)

BlackBerry drops Google as preferred search service, Android apps from new OS (Appolicious)

Posted: 03 May 2011 12:49 PM PDT

Parts Suppliers Say Amazon Tablet Is Coming This Year (NewsFactor)

Posted: 03 May 2011 02:02 PM PDT

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Mark Long, newsfactor.com – Tue May 3, 5:02 pm ET

Amazon.com has tapped Taiwan-based notebook maker Quanta Computer to manufacture an Amazon-branded tablet computer, according to a DigiTimes report citing unnamed sources at key parts suppliers. The electronics industry newspaper also reported Tuesday that the anonymous component makers expect Amazon to take delivery of 700,000-800,000 units per month during this year's holiday shopping season.

According to Forrester Research Vice President James McQuivey, a move into the tablet space by Amazon would be no surprise now that rival Barnes & Noble has taken the plunge by releasing a software upgrade for the nook color that gives the e-reader tablet capabilities such as Flash video playback and e-mail access.

"Amazon will work hard to show that its digital-media offerings -- including cloud-based music and digital video streaming -- make its tablet uniquely powerful," McQuivey wrote in a blog.

Laying the Foundation

The new Amazon Cloud Drive that rolled out in March enables users to archive their most frequently accessed music, videos, photos and documents on Amazon's servers in the cloud. The service should prove especially attractive to tablet users with limited storage space.

Providing anytime, anywhere access from browser-equipped computing platforms with a broadband connection, Amazon Cloud Drive comes with 5GB of free storage. Larger capacities are available at prices cheaper than what a user would pay for a USB drive -- all the way to one terabyte.

Even better, Amazon Cloud Drive users don't have to worry about losing the data stored on physical drives. Additionally, songs purchased from Amazon MP3 are stored in the buyer's Cloud Drive free, and MP3 album purchasers receive 20GB of storage free for a year.

Amazon also unleashed an update to its Kindle for Android software in April that adds support for Android-based tablets running Honeycomb. The software upgrade also sports an integrated immersive shopping experience tailored for tablets, together with a new Honeycomb-optimized layout for newspapers and magazines.

Meanwhile, Amazon hopes to continue to grow its customer base by cutting the prices of its latest e-reading devices, which began shipping Tuesday at prices ranging from $114 for the sponsor-supported Kindle with Special Offers to $189 for the Kindle 3G. What's more, Amazon is building its own Android app store, which suggests its forthcoming tablet will be running Honeycomb.

The Content Endgame

As major online retailers of digital content, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have a vested interest in offering their customers e-reading-optimized devices that also integrate many of the capabilities found on today's web tablets.

"The nook color software upgrades make the [device] look more and more like a tablet, [and] at $249, the nook color makes those of us obsessed with books think twice before buying a Kindle," McQuivey said. "If Amazon's smart, it will use the new sponsorship model it is currently testing for the Kindle with Special Offers as a way to offer a larger, more powerful tablet than the nook color but at a price below $400."

Moreover, McQuivey thinks content relationship is the real endgame behind the latest moves by both e-reader vendors because having tablet capabilities on their devices means the content they sell can be books, magazines, newspapers, music, videos or anything else that can be generated in a digital format.

"Whichever company can meet more of your content needs, on a more regular basis, will end up selling you multiple devices and locking you into a digital relationship -- exactly the way Netflix has done on its path to world video domination," McQuivey wrote.

Army's Android OS will assist U.S. soldiers during battle (Appolicious)

Posted: 03 May 2011 03:00 PM PDT

Social media, smartphones and how the world learned about the death of Osama bin Laden (Appolicious)

Posted: 03 May 2011 03:05 PM PDT

RIM using Microsoft's Bing on new BlackBerrys (AP)

Posted: 03 May 2011 01:13 PM PDT

– Tue May 3, 4:13 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Research In Motion will use Microsoft's Bing services on new BlackBerry smartphones.

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer made the announcement Tuesday at RIM's annual BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, Fla. Bing director Matt Dahlin outlined the plans on the Bing Search Blog.

Dahlin says BlackBerrys shipped to wireless carriers will use Bing as its default search and map services. Bing will be the BlackBerry browser's preferred search engine. RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook tablet already uses Bing for search and maps.

According to comScore Inc., Microsoft had about 14 percent of the U.S. search market in March, while Google had about 66 percent. But the growth of smartphones could present opportunities for search engines such as Bing to catch up.

Time Inc. and Apple magazine deal could open the door for other publishers (Appolicious)

Posted: 03 May 2011 03:15 PM PDT

MetroPCS rings up customers (Investor's Business Daily)

Posted: 03 May 2011 03:30 PM PDT

– Tue May 3, 6:30 pm ET

The low-cost wireless carrier's Q1 EPS jumped 150% to 15 cents, missing views by 4 cents, but the profit shortfall was overshadowed by a bigger-than-expected increase in customers. Revenue grew 23% to $1.19 bil, easily topping forecasts. MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS - News) said net customers surged 72% to 725,945, trouncing expectations of 422,500. Average revenue per user topped $40 for the first time since Q4 2009. MetroPCS sees finishing most of its next-generation LTE rollout by the end of 2011. Shares surged 10% to 18.15.

Disney sues Dish Network over free Starz offer (Reuters)

Posted: 03 May 2011 03:03 PM PDT

By Yinka Adegoke Yinka Adegoke – Tue May 3, 6:03 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp has been sued by Walt Disney and Starz Entertainment for giving away popular movies, including "Disney's "Toy Story 3" and "Alice in Wonderland."

Disney filed a copyright suit against Dish, while Starz is suing Dish -- the second largest U.S. satellite TV provider with more than 14 million subscribers -- for breach of contract.

Disney distributes many of its top movies to cable and satellite providers under an agreement with Starz Entertainment's premium cable network.

The giant media company and theme park operator says it only gave Starz permission to air the movies with the understanding Starz would be on a premium tier with distributors.

Disney claims in the suit that, in February, Dish began providing millions of subscribers free access to Starz through to January 2012 in violation of its agreements with both Disney and Starz. Both companies said they wrote to Dish in March requesting it cease and desist its Starz giveaway, but Dish refused to do so.

Starz said it received notices of breach of contracts from several of its movie studio partners due to Dish's actions. Starz said it "pleaded" with Dish for months to stop the free offer to help Starz placate its studio partners.

The majority of Hollywood movie content on Starz is from Disney and Sony Pictures. Sony is currently not a plaintiff in the lawsuits against Dish.

Disney said Dish's actions devalue its movies and undermine its "windowing" strategy. Hollywood studios and TV show makers use windowing to try to maximize the value of their content by offering it to consumers through differently timed "windows" such as theater, DVD rentals and premium pay-TV.

Dish said it will vigorously defend its rights to offer Starz for free.

"Dish Network pays hundreds of millions of dollars for the right to distribute Starz content to our customers, which includes the rights to a number of Disney movies," the company said in a statement."

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Andre Grenon)

Apple upgrades iMacs with quad-core processors (AP)

Posted: 03 May 2011 06:00 PM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Tue May 3, 9:00 pm ET

NEW YORK – Apple Inc. on Tuesday released an upgraded line of iMac desktop computers with faster processors, higher-resolution cameras and a new type of data port.

The new iMacs all have Intel quad-core processors, which had been available as an upgrade to the standard dual-core processors of the previous generation. Apple said the new models are up to 70 percent faster.

The new 21.5-inch iMac has a single Thunderbolt port, which can carry data at speeds 20 times faster than most current USB ports. It can also connect to additional monitors. The 27-inch iMac has two Thunderbolt ports.

Apple introduced Thunderbolt on MacBook Pro laptops in February. The port was developed by Intel Corp.

The 21-inch iMac starts at $1,199, the larger model at $1,699.

Apple last revamped its iMacs in July 2010.

Novell wins appeal in Microsoft antitrust lawsuit (Reuters)

Posted: 03 May 2011 05:10 PM PDT

– Tue May 3, 8:10 pm ET

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Software maker Novell Inc can proceed with a long-running antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp after an appeals court reversed a lower court's summary judgment in favor of Microsoft.

Novell, which was bought by Attachmate Corp earlier this year, claimed that its operating system products and several of its software applications were unfairly squeezed out of the market by Microsoft in the 1990s.

In 1996 Novell made a deal assigning rights to sue Microsoft to a separate company called Caldera, which sued Microsoft over competition in the operating system market, receiving a $280 million settlement four years later.

In 2004, Novell sued Microsoft in its own right, claiming its WordPerfect word processing application was the victim of unfair competition by Microsoft, chiefly through its arrangements with computer makers.

Last year, Microsoft won a summary judgment against Novell on the grounds that Novell's claims were subject to the 1996 agreement with Caldera, which relinquished the right to sue Microsoft.

The appeals court reversed that judgment in a ruling on Tuesday, in a 2-1 majority decision, saying that the previous agreement with Caldera covered a different set of products.

The ruling means Novell can proceed with one remaining antitrust claim against Microsoft.

A representative for Novell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Microsoft played down Novell's claims and said it was considering its next move.

"We are disappointed with the Fourth's Circuit's decision ... although we are pleased that at this point only one part of one of Novell's claims remains," said a Microsoft spokeswoman. "We still are convinced that this lingering claim does not have any merit, and we are considering our next steps."

The case is Novell Inc v Microsoft Corp, number 10-1482 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Richard Chang)

Study Sees 243 Percent ROI on Microsoft Dynamics CRM (NewsFactor)

Posted: 03 May 2011 10:33 AM PDT

Barry Levine, newsfactor.com Barry Levine, newsfactor.com – Tue May 3, 1:33 pm ET

A new study released Tuesday says Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 provides a three-year, risk-adjusted ROI of 243 percent over a payback period of 4.1 months. The study was commissioned by Microsoft and conducted by Forrester Consulting.

The study projected the ROI for an initial deployment of 50 users in a 2,000-employee organization.

'Measurable Benefits'

Forrester found "several measurable benefits" in personal and process productivity from implementing Dynamics CRM 2011. They include an increased sales productivity of five percent resulting from ease of use and interoperability with such applications as Microsoft Outlook, and improved cross-sell collaboration inside sales and customer-service teams because of better access to reporting tools and such collaboration software as Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

The study also said an organization using Dynamics CRM 2011 could avoid hiring 1.5 full-time equivalent positions for a 10-person customer-service team because of improved issue resolution.

Other benefits were lowered costs of sales because of streamlined processes and operations, a 50 percent acceleration of sales conversion, and a resulting revenue gain because of improved collaboration. The report also found a productivity savings of 16 man-hours per month because of better reporting tools, data consolidation, reporting automation, and richer dashboard capabilities, and lower costs to customize CRM 2011 to a customer's needs.

The study said CRM 2011 could achieve marketing cost savings of more than $200,000, risk-adjusted over three years, because of more real-time insights and improved campaign management due to improved analytics. It noted that the solution offers multiple deployment options with cloud, on-premises, and partner-hosted models.

'Very Aggressive' Payback Period

Forrester said 55 percent of 455 large North American and European organizations the company surveyed in the latter part of last year had implemented a CRM solution, with many considering upgrading. Another 19 percent planned to buy a CRM solution for the first time within the next 12 to 24 months. For this study, the research firm conducted in-depth interviews with executives from nine companies who were CRM 2011 customers, and who were in the early stages of implementation.

Laura DiDio, an analyst with Information Technology Intelligence Corp., said the potential ROI "seems about right," although she noted a payback period of 4.1 months is "very, very aggressive."

DiDio added that the study assumes a company is "fairly up to date in its infrastructure," and that a key edge Microsoft has on competitors is in the integration of its CRM with other infrastructure components, most notably those from Microsoft. For instance, Microsoft hasn't been shy about pointing out the integration of Dynamic CRM Online with its own Outlook and Office software.

Microsoft has been very aggressively pushing its CRM 2011 solution against those of its competitors, notably Salesforce and Oracle. At the end of last year, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant announced it would rebate customers up to $200 for each Salesforce.com or Oracle customer who switched to Dynamics CRM Online.
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