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For computer chip builders, only one way to go: Up (AP) : Technet |
- For computer chip builders, only one way to go: Up (AP)
- Doctored bin Laden corpse photos go viral, global (AP)
- Review: Iconia is dual-screen laptop, but why? (AP)
- Photography Tips: What is aperture? (Yahoo! News)
- Review: HBO Go (Yahoo! News)
- Pandora Adds 10,000 Comedy Clips to Its Archives (Mashable)
- Facebook sued for children 'liking' products (AFP)
- Electronic Arts posts higher 4Q earnings, revenue (AP)
- Hollywood actor Jackie Cooper dead at 88 (Reuters)
- Reports Say Apple Could Delay iPhone 5 Release (NewsFactor)
- Renren's big day, maybe a prelude to Facebook IPO (Reuters)
- iOS 4.3.3 Update Fixes Location-Tracking Problem (NewsFactor)
- Uber’s new transportation app is going places (Appolicious)
- Boingo falls after pricing well (Investor's Business Daily)
- Analyst group says half of all game downloads are mobile (Appolicious)
- Apple update fixes iPhone tracking "bugs" (AFP)
- Apple updates software to fix tracking glitch (Reuters)
- 'Anonymous' file planted on Sony servers (AFP)
| For computer chip builders, only one way to go: Up (AP) Posted: 04 May 2011 04:32 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – In the race to build a faster computer chip, there is literally nowhere to go but up. Today's chip surfaces are packed with the tiniest electronic switches the laws of physics allow, but Intel Corp. says it is blowing past those limits with a breakthrough, three-dimensional transistor design it revealed Wednesday. Analysts call it one of the most significant developments in silicon transistor design since the integrated circuit was invented in the 1950s. It opens the way for faster smartphones, lighter laptops and a new generation of supercomputers — and possibly for powerful new products engineers have yet to dream up. Minuscule fins jutting from the surface of the typically flat transistors improve performance without adding size, just as skyscrapers make the most of a small square of land. "When I looked at it, I did a big, `Wow,'" said Dan Hutcheson, a longtime semiconductor industry watcher and CEO of VLSI Research Inc. "What we've seen for decades now have been evolutionary changes to the technology. This is definitely a revolutionary change." Intel CEO Paul Otellini said that "amazing, world-shaping devices" will be created using the new technology. Computers are already doing things that were almost unimaginable when Intel co-founder Gordon Moore made his famous prediction in 1965 that computers should double in power every two years. The axiom, known as Moore's Law, has held true ever since as computers have gotten cheaper, smaller and more powerful. Engineers believe Intel's new transistors will keep the axiom going for years to come. Chips with the 3-D transistors will be in full production this year and appear in computers in 2012. When Moore's Law was first coined, the most advanced computers were large, mainframe-type machines that took up entire rooms and were best suited for narrow tasks done one at a time. Today we have smartphones that let us carry around the Internet in our pocket, supercomputers that have beaten Jeopardy! and chess champions, and even experimental cars that drive themselves. Technologists entertain visions of even deeper integration of artificial intelligence into our lives as computer technology advances, such as robots performing surgery. Transistors, tiny on/off switches that regulate electric current, are the workhorses of modern electronics. They're to computers what synapses are to the human nervous system. They have become faster over the years thanks to new materials and manufacturing techniques, but Intel's latest advance is a redesign of the transistor itself. A chip can have a billion transistors, all laid out side by side in a single layer, as if they were the streets of a city. Chips have had no "depth" — until now. On Intel's chips, the fins will jut up from that streetscape, sort of like bridges or overpasses. The fins give the transistor three "gates" to control the flow of electric current, instead of just one. That helps prevent current from escaping. There's a limit to how much current a chip can take, and the new design allows more of that power to be spent on computing rather than being wasted. Intel has been talking about 3-D, or "tri-gate," transistors for nearly a decade, and other companies are experimenting with similar technology. Wednesday's announcement is noteworthy because Intel has figured out how to manufacture the transistors cheaply in mass quantities. Other semiconductor companies argue that there's still life to be squeezed from the current design of transistors, but Intel's approach still allows it to advance at least a generation ahead of rivals such as IBM Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Intel's approach carries some risks because the technology is untested on the mass market. But Doug Freedman, an analyst with Gleacher & Co., said Intel's approach might actually reduce chip defects if the multiple gates make the transistors more reliable. "Intel takes big gambles when it knows what it's doing," Freedman said. The reduced power consumption also addresses a key need for Intel, which is the dominant maker of chips for personal computers but has been weak in the growing markets for chips used in smartphones and tablet computers. Intel's current chips use too much power for it to be competitive in those markets, and the 3-D chips could help it become more of a player. Transistors are microscopic, but their performance is felt with every click of a mouse, tap on a smartphone or download from a website. The faster they twitch, the faster a computer "thinks" — and sucks up power. They need to get smaller without leaking too much power, a worrisome issue as the materials reach the atomic scale and get worse at blocking current from escaping. Intel's advance does not add a complete third dimension to chip-making — that is, the company can't add an entire second layer of transistors to a chip, or start stacking layers into a cube. That remains a distant but hotly pursued goal of the industry, as cubic chips could be much faster that flat ones while consuming less power. And the technological advance Intel has achieved won't guarantee success, as Intel has learned in repeated attempts at cracking the mobile market. The performance expectations and power requirements for phones and tablet computers are not as high as those for PCs. Other chip makers such as Qualcomm Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. have entrenched partnerships with cellphone makers that Hutcheson, the industry watcher with VLSI Research, said will be tough to overcome. "When it comes to the mobile market, they have their work cut out for them," he said. But "this gives you the transistors to build the next great system." |
| Doctored bin Laden corpse photos go viral, global (AP) Posted: 04 May 2011 04:12 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – The images are bloody, grotesque and convincing: Osama bin Laden lies dead, the left side of his head blasted away. But the pictures are fakes. Doctored photos purporting to show bin Laden's corpse rocketed around the world on television, online via social media and in print almost as soon as his death was announced. The pictures have spread without regard for their origin or whether the images are real. Meanwhile, scammers have piggybacked on the popularity of the images and spiked supposed online links with computer viruses. Newsrooms and the public have been left in the tough spot of deciding what to believe when software has made doctoring photographs easier than ever. And the hunger for visual evidence of bin Laden's death may only grow now that President Barack Obama has said the government's photos will remain classified. "I don't think society tolerates the invisible anymore," said Fred Ritchin, a professor of photography at New York University who has written about digital technology undermining trust in the veracity of photographs. "Everything has to be imaged." The photos on the Internet did not come from the operation that killed bin Laden, according to a senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the mission was classified. Still, the appetite for images remains. In perhaps the most widely distributed photo, a bloodied bin Laden appears to be missing his left eye, and he is grimacing as if he died in pain. The White House says bin Laden was shot above his left eye. Reuters reported on its photography blog that the mouth, ear and beard in the picture exactly matched a photo the news agency had snapped of bin Laden at a news conference in 1998. The upper half of the face appears to be from a different corpse. Another photo released on the website liveleak.com shows bin Laden lying on his back with a wound over one eye as a soldier with an American flag insignia on his shoulder stands over the body. The photo is in green and black, as if taken with a night vision lens. The website has since retracted the photo, which liveleak.com indicated was made with a photo of bin Laden digitally stitched into a still from the 2001 movie Black Hawk Down. Another picture, by far the most gruesome, shows an extremely bloody face that resembles bin Laden with most of the skull missing and brain visible. The spread of fake photos and the ease of making them have forced news organizations to be more vigilant than ever. "The challenge here is these techniques are quite sophisticated," said Santiago Lyon, director of photography for The Associated Press. "A good Photoshop forger ... can make it very difficult at first glance to detect whether an image has been manipulated or not." Experienced photo editors can often spot telltale inconsistencies such as shifts in color, contrast or light source that signal a fake, Lyon said. For the most newsworthy photos that also raise suspicions, the AP has access to software that can analyze photos down to the level of the pixel, the basic building block of all digital images. At least as important as the image itself is vetting the credibility of its source, Lyon said. The AP did not escape from the lightning spread of doctored photos. The news service pulled from its wires a total of six photos — one of a Pakistani television broadcast, three of an Afghan television broadcast and two of a Bulgarian newspaper — that included the doctored images of bin Laden's corpse. The AP made the decision not to accompany this story with any photos claiming to show a dead bin Laden to avoid any appearance of vouching for their authenticity. The photos have caused headaches for more than just news organizations. Viruses are being spread by links on Facebook pages, which have become home to a brisk trade in conspiracy theories. While some politicians have criticized Obama's decision not to release the actual photos, visitors to a Facebook page called "Osama Bin Laden NOT DEAD" claim the doctored images themselves are evidence of a cover-up. Some commentators on the page, which as of Wednesday had more than 1,300 fans, claimed without evidence that the U.S. government itself released the doctored photos. They claimed the faked photos were proof the Obama administration had fabricated the news of bin Laden's death. "The immediate assumption is that you can fabricate any image," Ritchin said. "The photograph itself doesn't have the legitimacy that it used to have in our society." ___ Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow Marcus Wohlsen at http://twitter.com/marcuswohlsen |
| Review: Iconia is dual-screen laptop, but why? (AP) Posted: 04 May 2011 02:28 PM PDT NEW YORK – There's an amusing trend among gadget makers: They keep trying to improve their products by adding a second screen. All too often, this is less like adding a second patty to a hamburger and more like adding a second neck hole to a sweater. It does more harm than good. The most recent example is Acer Inc. with its $1,200 Iconia laptop. Closed, it looks like a regular laptop. Open it up, and you'll find no keyboard, but two 14-inch, touch-sensitive screens facing each other. If that sounds weird, well, it's no less weird in use. It's a bit of a mystery why this product ever made it from concept to store shelves, though there are some tantalizing hints. On a desktop PC, having multiple screens is almost like having one big screen — more meat in the hamburger. But on the Iconia, the second screen replaces the keyboard and touch pad. You can't use a laptop without those things, so the Iconia has a virtual keyboard and touch pad appear on the lower screen. But if the lower screen is taken up by a keyboard and touch pad, what is it good for? It's not like we've gained any screen space. Only by making the keyboard disappear can you use the screen to display content. There are other ways to use that second screen well. There just aren't that many examples of it on the Iconia. What am I talking about? Imagine that instead of a keyboard that always shows the same keys, there's a surface that changes according to your needs, displaying controls relevant to what you're doing. For instance, the Iconia includes player software that shows video on the top screen and such controls as volume on the lower one. That's smart. In another example, you can change how the virtual keys are labeled on the keyboard if you switch between languages — quite helpful for the bilingual household. The Social Jogger application, which comes pre-installed, contains the germ of a good idea: It can show feeds from Facebook and Flickr on the lower screen while you surf on the upper one. But as soon as you want to type a Facebook entry, Social Jogger has to move to the upper screen to give room for the keyboard. Awkward. It's easy to imagine how better software could take the Iconia a lot further. Leaving aside the difficulty of typing on a flat glass surface, I'd love to be able to customize a keyboard to get rid of the Caps Lock key and rearrange other keys. It would be great to have touch-enabled video editing software designed for the dual-screen setup, with playback on the top screen and controls on the bottom one. That kind of setup works for the Nintendo DS handheld game machine, the only successful dual-screen device that I can think of. Many more have been sunk by the difficulty of adapting software for two screens. In 2010, Microsoft Corp. killed a prototype of a dual-screen device that opened like a book. A startup called Entourage brought out an e-reader device based on the same idea that year, and I found it quite disappointing. The first Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader had two screens, one above the other, and was confusing to use. Barnes & Noble went with one screen for the follow-up model. More recently, Kyocera launched a dual-screen phone, the Echo. In her review, my colleague Rachel Metz found the premise intriguing, but the execution flawed. The same verdict could be passed on the Iconia. Making good use of two screens is hard and places a lot of demands on the software. It has to give predictable answers to questions like: If you click on something, where does it open? Which screen should I be looking at right now? How can I move content or windows between the screens? The Iconia doesn't have those answers. Acer says the Iconia is "ideal for anyone who prefers the familiar computing environment of Microsoft's operating system." The company also recommends it for business use. I'd only recommend it for that very small group of people who are comfortable typing on glass and want to play with something unique. The Iconia costs about $400 more than an equivalent conventional laptop. That's not a lot, if you consider that most models that are as strange as the Iconia never leave the lab, or at most get to grace a display case at a trade show. Acer showed some real guts in putting this one into mass production. |
| Photography Tips: What is aperture? (Yahoo! News) Posted: 04 May 2011 05:15 PM PDT
Size matters Think of it like filling a bowl of water from the faucet. If you turn on the faucet just a little, the bowl fills slowly. If you turn on the faucet full blast, you'll fill up the bowl in no time. That's exactly how aperture relates to shutter speed — a larger aperture means more light gets in quickly, which in turn means you can use a faster shutter speed.
For example, say you have a lens with a 55mm focal length. A small aperture such as 3mm would be written as f/16, because 50 divided by 3 is roughly 16. This is why a smaller number after the f/ means a larger aperture and vice versa. It's confusing, but just remember: A bigger number equals a smaller hole. Each f/number represents approximately a doubling (or halving) of the one on either side, so an f/8 aperture lets in twice as much light as f/16.
What does depth of field have to do with aperture? The physics behind it can get pretty confusing, but here's what you need to know: A smaller aperture allows more of the resulting image to be in focus (a larger depth of field), while a larger aperture gives you a narrower depth of field. Having a large depth of field is important when you're photographing landscapes, for example, or a scene where there's a significant amount of distance between subjects you want to keep in focus. A small depth of field lends beautiful bokeh to portraits and other photographs where you want your viewer's attention focused on one area of the image. Aperture is just one tool in the photographer's arsenal, but understanding how it works is key to moving your photos from "snapshots" to "art." As with all photographic techniques, keep experimenting, and keep practicing! [Image credits: K. Gray, Cbuckley] Post by Katherine Gray More from Tecca: |
| Posted: 04 May 2011 04:55 PM PDT
Stream it as you like Since HBO Go service is dependent on your HBO subscription, it's difficult to compare its price against other streaming providers such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. Both Netflix and Hulu start at around $8 a month, but you can expect an HBO subscription to start at twice that, on top of your existing cable bill. Pricing will vary depending on your current cable provider and subscription plan; if you're interested in HBO, check with your provider for specific price information.
The movies, comedy, and documentaries sections are as well populated as the series list, with over 200 movies listed. However, while the series content has a large availability window (most options show December 31, 2012, under "Available Until"), movies, comedy, and documentaries are not nearly so long-lived within HBO Go. Some items expire within a week of the service's May 2 release. If you're planning on watching something new, doublecheck the date to make certain that you won't miss out by putting it off! One note for parents: There is an age alert on this app. Apple states, "You must be at least 17 years old to download this app" on the app's page in the store. The content available on HBO Go (and HBO in general) is not censored, and there are items in the full range of ratings for TV and movie content. There are separately labeled family sections under both movie genres and series lists, so just be cautious if you're handing your iPad to your child for some fun viewing time.
On the new screen with the reduced video window, you'll find Facebook and Twitter buttons for social network sharing, additional videos associated with the series (previews, outtakes, commentary, and so on), details for the current piece (run time, summary, cast and crew lists, and rating), in addition to the streaming video window. You can easily toggle between this information view and fullscreen streaming, although the method depends on how you are accessing the service.
The website also provides additional bonus information, and for certain series and movies, it'll prompt you to "play the episode with special features." This could could feature anything from maps of the current location to video clips explaining a particular section. The website includes the above-mentioned social sharing buttons, details on the content, and bonus videos. Would you subscribe just to get HBO Go? Post by Liz Patt
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| Pandora Adds 10,000 Comedy Clips to Its Archives (Mashable) Posted: 03 May 2011 06:52 PM PDT Pandora has expanded from music to jokes with the addition of 10,000 comedy clips from more than 700 comedians to its Internet radio service. Like its Music Genome Project, Pandora's Comedy Genome Project analyzes the content of each clip for style, content and deliver in order to figure out which comedians have similar delivers or joke about similar topics. It's this analysis and recommendation system that has turned Pandora into a Internet music powerhouse. [More from Mashable: Zillow Joins LinkedIn, Pandora In Upcoming Tech IPO Boom] "Adding comedians to the mix has been one of the top requests from our listeners," Pandora said in a blog post, "so we've taken the same approach to comedy as we have to music: carefully and deliberately analyzing comedic 'bits' across a very large number of attributes to capture the style, delivery and content of each performance." Some of the comedians that are now available on Pandora include Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, George Carlin, Mitch Hedberg and John Rivers, according to The New York Times. And like its musical counterpart, comedy on Pandora will also come with audio advertisements. Unilever is Pandora's first advertiser and will be promoting its Axe male body products and Klondike bars. [More from Mashable: HANDS ON: Chumby8, a Bigger, Better Networked App Player [PICS]] Once at the brink of destruction preparing for an IPO that is expected to raise at least $100 million for the Internet radio company. Pandora has more than 80 million users and is essentially break even. Will you be listening to comedy clips on Pandora? Image courtesy of Flickr, Bonnie This story originally published on Mashable here. |
| Facebook sued for children 'liking' products (AFP) Posted: 04 May 2011 07:02 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – A father is suing Facebook for not getting permission from parents or guardians before letting members of the online social network know when children "Like" brands. "We believe this suit is completely without merit and we will fight it vigorously," Facebook said in an email response to an AFP inquiry. Lawyers representing Scott Nastro and his son in a US district court in New York want the case to include all Facebook members in the state younger than 18 years old whose names or likenesses have been used in "Social Ads." The civil suit filed on Tuesday accused California-based Facebook of misappropriating names or likenesses of Nastro's child and other minors to promote products or services as well as to expand its ranks of members. "Facebook Inc. appears to be continually seeking new ways to use the names and likenesses of its members, including children, for its own marketing purposes," attorney Lee Squitieri said in court documents. In late 2007, Facebook launched Social Ads that pair related online advertising with members' actions such as writing reviews for restaurants or indicating that they "Like" a brand. The lawsuit argued that such links involving underage Facebook members constitute unauthorized endorsements. The suit also took issue with Facebook for including minors in its "Friend Finder" service that recommends who members might want to connect with in the online community of more than 500 million people. Squitieri called on the judge to ban Facebook from involving underage members with Social Ads or Friend Finder and was seeking damages as well as any money generated from ads involving minors at the social network. The federal suit mirrors one filed in California state court last year accusing Facebook of wrongly using children's names or likenesses by sharing their "likes" at the social network with selected friends. |
| Electronic Arts posts higher 4Q earnings, revenue (AP) Posted: 04 May 2011 03:46 PM PDT NEW YORK – Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. says its quarterly net income rose fivefold on strong revenue from online games and titles such as "Crysis 2" and "Dragon Age 2," sending shares higher in after-hours trading. Investors seemed to excuse a lower-than expected outlook for the current quarter in favor of strong results from EA's digital business, which includes games on Facebook, the iPhone and other gadgets, as well as downloadable add-on content for games sold as discs. The company is working to expand this side of its business as demand for expensive, packaged video game discs slows and more people flock to mobile gadgets and social networks to play games. Electronic Arts said Wednesday that it earned $151 million, or 45 cents per share, in the January-March period. That's up from $30 million, or 9 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. The company's adjusted profit of 25 cents per share handily surpassed Wall Street's expectations. Revenue grew 11 percent to $1.09 billion from $979 million in the fiscal fourth quarter. EA's adjusted revenue, which accounts for deferred revenue from games with online components, was $995 million, up from $850 million a year earlier. On this basis, analysts were expecting revenue of $922.6 million. The company said its digital revenue grew sharply, to $211 million from $144 million a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, digital revenue was up 72 percent for the quarter to $268 million. "I'm particularly proud of EA's rapid growth and scale in digital, and the growth rate almost doubled that of the digital sector overall. We did it in a way no other competitor can," said CEO John Riccitiello in a conference call with analysts. Eric Brown, EA's chief financial officer, said the company continues to weigh more of its business to digital. In fiscal 2011, 22 percent of the company's business came from the non-packaged side. For the current quarter, EA forecast an adjusted loss between 49 cents and 44 cents per share. That compares with analyst expectations of a loss of 34 cents per share. The company forecast adjusted revenue of $460 million to $500 million per share, below the $557.1 million that analysts are expecting. For the full fiscal year, Redwood City, Calif.-based EA forecast adjusted earnings of 70 cents to 90 cents per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of 85 cents. Shares of EA, which is based in Redwood City, Calif., rose 53 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $20.66 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed down 24 cents at $19.92. |
| Hollywood actor Jackie Cooper dead at 88 (Reuters) Posted: 04 May 2011 05:34 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor Jackie Cooper, who survived a tumultuous childhood as an Oscar-nominated star to enjoy a varied career as a TV executive, director and "Superman" sidekick, died near Los Angeles, his attorney said on Wednesday. He was 88. Cooper succumbed to complications of old age at a convalescent home in the coastal city of Santa Monica on Tuesday, attorney Roger Licht told Reuters. He starred in more than 100 movies and TV shows before retiring from Hollywood more than 20 years ago. He retreated to a high-rise condominium with his third wife, Barbara, whom he credited for keeping him on the straight and narrow. Cooper's life outside Hollywood was just as interesting. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War Two, and retired with the rank of captain from the reserves in the early 1980s. He also raced cars and owned racehorses. He never really shed the pug nose and firm chin that endeared him to millions of Americans during the Great Depression, when he starred as a prominent cast member of Hal Roach's "Our Gang" short comedy films. At the twilight of his career, Cooper played grizzled Daily Planet editor Perry White in the 1978 "Superman" movie and its three sequels. Born John Cooper, Jr. in Los Angeles, he was the illegitimate child of a sickly Italian mother who died when he was a teenager and a Jewish father who quickly abandoned the family. He got his start in Hollywood when his much-loathed grandmother dragged him around studio lots for day work as an extra. His "Our Gang" work -- he appeared in such comedy shorts as "Teacher's Pet" and "Love Business" -- led to his starring role in the 1931 film "Skippy," an adaptation of the comic strip about a lively youngster. In order to force him to cry for a scene, his grandmother dragged his dog off set and had it shot by a security guard. The boy duly cried, but remained hysterical even after it was revealed that the dog was not actually dead. Cooper titled his 1981 memoir "Please Don't Shoot My Dog." Aged 9, he made Oscar history by becoming the youngest male performer to be nominated for a lead role. (He lost to Lionel Barrymore.) Later in 1931, he co-starred in "The Champ" as the innocent son of a washed-up boxer played by Wallace Beery. The film was remade in 1979 with Rick Schroder as the tow-headed little boy. Cooper reunited with Beery in such films as "The Bowery" (1933) and "Treasure Island" (1934). Off-screen, he fully enjoyed the fruits of stardom. By 18 he had become the lover of Joan Crawford, who was almost twice his age. But he was an old hand by then. He later recounted that when he was 13 he was having sex two or three times before 9 a.m. with a 20-year-old girl across the street. His career inevitably dried up as he got older, and he had been divorced twice by the time he was in his early 30s. Cooper won an Emmy for his title role as a Navy doctor in the sitcom "Hennesey" before becoming a vice president at Screen Gems during the 1960s, working on such shows as "Bewitched" and "Gidget." He turned to TV directing in the 1970s, winning Emmys for episodes of "M*A*S*H" and "The White Shadow." His third wife, the former Barbara Kraus, died in 2009 after more than 50 years of marriage. He is survived by one of their three children, and by a namesake son from his first marriage. (Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Jill Serjeant) |
| Reports Say Apple Could Delay iPhone 5 Release (NewsFactor) Posted: 04 May 2011 02:25 PM PDT An event that has become as much a staple of summer as ice cream, lawn sprinklers, and the last day of school appears likely to be put off this June, reports say. Apple's regular schedule of iPhone refreshes since 2007 may have been upset by the February release of the CDMA version for Verizon Wireless. In addition, the company may face production problems from component shortages due to both high demand and delays from the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan last month. The new iPhone is traditionally announced at Apple's June Worldwide Developers Conference. No Release Time Given? MacRumors on Wednesday published a statement purportedly from an AT&T employee who told a blog reader that "Apple has informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July time frame, though there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been given a release time for the new phone. We will release this information on our web site when it is available to us." AT&T neither confirmed nor denied the report. Spokesperson David Siegel told us the carrier had no comment. Apple's policy is never to comment on upcoming products or release dates. The MacRumors reader said he contacted AT&T in connection with eligibility for an upgrade of his iPhone being pushed off for five months. Reuters has cited "three people with direct knowledge of the supply chain" as saying the iPhone 5 will not go into production during the summer for a September release. September would coincide with an expected upgrade of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 5, as well as the debut of a new line of iPod media players. Moving Toward But not everyone is convinced Apple will break from its reliable product-release schedule. "I generally pay little attention to rumors," said Craig J. Mathias, principal analyst at the Farpoint Group. "But I personally believe that, yes, there will be a new iPhone this summer, possibly supporting LTE. This makes sense, as both AT&T and Verizon are moving in that direction, and Qualcomm makes some terrific chips these days." The new iPhone is almost certain to have a faster processor (possibly dual core) and improved cameras, and may also have a larger screen. A Long Term Evolution-capable iPhone might substantially increase adoption of Verizon Wireless' new 4G network, for which only two smartphones are now available, with more due this summer. AT&T expects to move to LTE next year. "Apple has been very consistent [with] new releases during the June/July time frame," said Kirk Parsons of J.D. Power and Associates. "Possibly a later launch in the year may coincide with a rumored 4G version for Verizon and/or AT&T." |
| Renren's big day, maybe a prelude to Facebook IPO (Reuters) Posted: 04 May 2011 05:41 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) – Renren's successful IPO could be the curtain raiser for what is to come if the world's No. 1 social networking site, Facebook, goes public next year. Shares of Renren Inc, one of the biggest social networking companies in China, surged 28.6 percent in their debut on Wednesday. Strong demand for the unprofitable company -- which will make money "very soon," according to Chief Executive Joseph Chen -- is the latest sign investors are eager to snap up stock in social media companies. The stock rose as high as $21.93, or almost 56.6 percent above its $14 IPO price, in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange before closing at $18.01. Earlier on Wednesday, Renren raised $743.4 million in its IPO. Renren's offering comes amid a grab for hot social media companies, including Twitter, Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, which are propped up by multibillion-dollar valuations of their shares trading on the secondary markets. "There is no doubt this just adds to the allure to a potential Facebook IPO," said Morningstar IPO strategist Bill Buhr. Facebook has a market value of around $70 billion, based on a share sale currently being contemplated, making it worth more than companies such as Boeing Co. Renren shares are trading at slightly more than 80 times annualized sales for the six months ended December 31, 2010, estimates IPOdesktop.com President Francis Gaskins. That's well above Facebook, valued at 35 times last year's sales in gray market trading. "If you like Renren, you'll love Facebook, Gaskins said. FACEBOOK WITH "FLEAS" High valuations for other social networking companies, combined with the fact China is the world's biggest Internet market, were expected to help Renren attract investors. On Tuesday night, in anticipation of Renren's IPO, Chinese Internet stocks, including search engine Baidu Inc and online media company SINA Corp, traded off in heavy volume. Investors in Renren seemed to brush aside recent concerns dogging the company, including questions about its internal financial controls, the resignation of its audit committee chairman and the tight control and censorship of the Chinese government. If Renren fails to comply with Chinese government Internet regulations, its websites could be shut down, according to the risk factors section of its prospectus. Renren -- whose name means "everyone" in Chinese -- has also faced questions about the number of users it has. The company, in an amended IPO filing on April 27, had to revise the number it said it had in December 2010. According to the revised filing, Renren's monthly unique log-in user base grew by only 5 million, or 19 percent, in the first quarter of 2011 -- not the 7 million, or 29 percent, it previously reported. A spokesperson for the company said the revision corrected a typographical error. Either way, companies in China's red hot tech sector have a history of providing opaque data and statistics. Some brush off concerns, saying the direction of the numbers is more important than specific figures, but others have expressed concern. A handful of research firms -- some associated with short sellers -- have begun issuing reports criticizing the financial reporting of some Chinese companies. One such report led to the resignation of Renren's audit committee chairman and director, Derek Palaschuk. He told Reuters in an interview he resigned to protect Renren from any possible fallout from accusations of accounting fraud at another company where he is an executive. Palaschuk's resignation was for personal reasons, Renren CEO Chen told Reuters Insider. "I'm not personally concerned about it. I'm pleased that the board paid attention to the issues it should be paying attention to and took proper action," said Dixon Doll, co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm DCM, which is an investor in Renren. Renren's IPO gave it a market value of $5.7 billion, according to an underwriter. It closed out its first day of trading with a market value of $7.4 billion. "(Renren) is basically Facebook with a few fleas," said Morningstar's Buhr. Renren had net revenue of $76.5 million in 2010 and about 117 million activated users as of March 31, 2011. It had about 31 million monthly unique log-in users in March 2011. Beijing-based Renren sold 53.1 million American Depositary Shares for $14 each on Wednesday. It had planned to go public for $12 to $14 per share after raising its estimated price range by 30 percent last week from $9 to $11. The IPO was originally expected on Tuesday after the close of U.S. markets, but was delayed until Wednesday morning. Clearance by the Securities and Exchange Commission took longer than expected, Chen said. Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse led underwriters on the IPO. (Additional reporting by Alina Selyukh and Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Dave Zimmerman, Andre Grenon, Richard Chang and Steve Orlofsky) |
| iOS 4.3.3 Update Fixes Location-Tracking Problem (NewsFactor) Posted: 04 May 2011 02:25 PM PDT Apple has released a 4.3.3 update to its iOS operating system with corrections to location tracking on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The changes could take some pressure off the company. One change reduces the time that location information is retained from an indefinite period defined by a size limit to one week. The update also ends the automatic transfer of location information when a mobile device is synced with a Mac or PC. And when the Location Services setting is disabled, the location information is deleted. Congressional Hearing Apple said it will encrypt the information in the next major version of iOS, expected before the end of the year. Version 4.3.3 is designed for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad and iPad 2, and third- and fourth-generation iPod touches. The iPhone 3G and the Verizon Wireless CDMA iPhone 4 cannot accept the update. After the location controversy arose last month, Apple said its tracking was not designed to follow users, but to improve location services by collecting data about cell towers and Wi-Fi hot spots. It said the location data file had mistakenly been made too large, and a bug caused it to continue storing data even if Location Services was disabled. The Wall Street Journal found that, even when an Apple device was turned off, the location tracking continued. The news about secret location tracking wasn't well received. A congressional hearing has been scheduled for May 10, and Apple will participate. Data for Jealous Spouses The fact that the iPhone was tracking locations came to light last month in a report by security researchers that they had discovered a secret file that stored the information. That data includes latitude and longitude coordinates, accompanied by a time stamp. This tracking mechanism, reported at the Where 2.0 conference in San Francisco, apparently began with iOS 4. Pete Warden, one of the researchers, told news media that Apple "has made it possible for almost anybody" who could get access to a smartphone or computer to find out where users had been. The location/time stamp file was copied onto a computer when a mobile device synchronized with iTunes. Warden and fellow researcher Alasdair Allan created an open-source application that maps the location information from the iPhone file, allowing a user to visually follow movements over a period of time. They noted that similar data is collected by cell-phone providers as operational data, but "it's kept behind a firewall" and requires a court order to be seen. By making the file easily available, the researchers pointed out, Apple made it easy for, say, an investigator or a jealous spouse to obtain a user's location history. Interestingly, Apple touted location privacy during iOS 4's launch last year, including a requirement that location-aware apps obtain user permission before obtaining location data. |
| Uber’s new transportation app is going places (Appolicious) Posted: 04 May 2011 03:00 PM PDT |
| Boingo falls after pricing well (Investor's Business Daily) Posted: 04 May 2011 03:42 PM PDT The wireless hot spot provider fell 10.4% to 12.10 after raising $77.9 mil in its public offering. Shares of Boingo Wireless (NASDAQ:WIFI - News) priced at $13.50, the upper end of its expected $12-$14 range. Boingo makes software for mobile Internet access at Wi-Fi locations. Boingo is hoping to profit from continued growth of Wi-Fi. But its paid access model faces a threat from the growth of free Wi-Fi hot spots as well as free access granted as part of telecoms' bundled packages. |
| Analyst group says half of all game downloads are mobile (Appolicious) Posted: 04 May 2011 01:21 PM PDT |
| Apple update fixes iPhone tracking "bugs" (AFP) Posted: 04 May 2011 03:02 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Apple on Wednesday released updated software for iPhones to fix "bugs" that resulted in location data being unencrypted and stored for up to a year. A note included with the update said that the cache of saved data on devices was reduced and that location information would no longer be backed up at iTunes on people's computers. Turning off the location services feature on an Apple gadget will cause location data to be deleted, the update promised. The changes came in an iOS 4.3.3 software update for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices. According to British researchers, iPhones and iPads running iOS 4, the latest operating system, were storing latitude and longitude coordinates in a hidden file along with a time stamp and the data was easily retrievable. "By passively logging your location without your permission, Apple made it possible for anyone from a jealous spouse to a private investigator to get a detailed picture of your movements," they said. The Cupertino, California-based company has staunchly denied tracking iPhone users, maintaining that location data gathered by the smartphones was used for services such as navigation or targeted ads. "Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone," the Apple said last month in its first response to privacy questions raised by the two researchers. "Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so." Apple said the iPhone was not logging a user's location but maintaining a database of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers to "help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested." Apple said the location data the researchers were seeing on the iPhone is "not the past or present location of the iPhone, but rather the locations of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers surrounding the iPhone's location, which can be more than one hundred miles away from the iPhone." |
| Apple updates software to fix tracking glitch (Reuters) Posted: 04 May 2011 03:34 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc on Wednesday released a software update to fix a problem that enabled its mobile devices to collect and store customers' location data, making good on a promise it made last week. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, who is on medical leave, had promised to adjust the company's mobile software to store less location data after a firestorm broke out over whether Apple was monitoring the whereabouts of its customers. The update, which is available through its iTunes stores and automatically pops up when an iPhone or iPad is synced, said it "contains changes to the iOS crowd-sourced location database cache." The company said in the update that the software fix reduces the size of the location storage, ensures that the device no longer backs the location information in iTunes, and enables the iPhone or iPad to stop collecting data when Location Services is turned off. Apple's software update comes ahead of a U.S. senate subcommittee hearing on mobile privacy on May 10. Representatives from both Apple and Google Inc have agreed to testify at the hearing. Concerns about tracking came to a head earlier this month when two computer programmers presented research showing the iPhone was logging locations. Apple has denied that it was tracking the movements of its iPhone customers but has acknowledged that it does keep a database of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers. This has raised concerns from privacy advocates, who say the process would make it possible, for instance, for someone with access to a person's computer to retrieve information about their movements. (Reporting by Poornima Gupta, editing by Bernard Orr) |
| 'Anonymous' file planted on Sony servers (AFP) Posted: 04 May 2011 01:41 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AFP) – Cybercriminals left a file in the name of "hacktivist" group "Anonymous" on the servers of Sony's online entertainment network, the Japanese company said Wednesday, but it stopped short of directly accusing the Internet vigilantes of carrying out the attack. Sony, in a letter to a US congressional committee investigating data theft, provided its most detailed explanation yet of the hacker attacks on Sony Online Entertainment, the PlayStation Network and Qriocity streaming music service. Personal information such as the user names, passwords, addresses and birth dates of more than 100 million people may have been compromised in the attacks and the intruders may also have made off with credit and debit card data. Committee chairman Mary Bono Mack, a Republican from California, criticized Sony for declining to attend the hearing, calling its decision "unacceptable," and said it should have notified customers sooner of the data breach. Mack said Sony claimed it was "too busy" with its ongoing investigation to appear, but Sony Computer Entertainment America chairman Kazuo Hirai did respond to questions from US lawmakers in a letter to the committee. Sony, in the letter to the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, noted that the large-scale data theft came shortly after the PlayStation Network suffered distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks from the loose knit group of "hacktivists" known as Anonymous. Anonymous, which carried out attacks last year against US companies which withdrew services to WikiLeaks, had vowed retribution against Sony for taking legal action against hackers who cracked PlayStation 3 (PS3) defenses to change console operating software. Anonymous argues that PS3 console owners have the right to do what they want with them, including modifying them. In a typical DDoS attack, a large number of computers are commanded to simultaneously visit a website, overwhelming its servers, slowing service or knocking it offline completely. Anonymous took credit for the DDoS attacks but denied involvement in the data theft. Sony's Hirai, in his letter, said "what is becoming more and more evident is that Sony has been the victim of a very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyberattack designed to steal personal and credit card information for illegal purposes." He said intruders who stole data from Sony Online Entertainment servers "had planted a file on one of those servers named 'Anonymous' with the words 'We are Legion,'" the Anonymous motto. "Just weeks before, several Sony companies had been the target of a large-scale, coordinated denial of service attack by the group called Anonymous," Hirai noted. "Almost two weeks ago, one or more cybercriminals gained access to PlayStation Network servers at or around the same time that these servers were experiencing denial of service attacks," he said. "Whether those who participated in the denial of service attacks were conspirators or whether they were simply duped into providing cover for a very clever thief, we may never know," the Sony executive said. "In any case, those who participated in the denial of service attacks should understand that -- whether they knew it or not -- they were aiding in a well planned, well executed, large-scale theft that left not only Sony a victim, but also Sony's many customers around the world," he said. Sony also said it was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and private forensics companies in investigating the data theft, which has led Sony to temporarily shut down the PlayStation Network. The PlayStation Network connects PS3 consoles to online games, films and more. Players are still able to take part in games offline on consoles, but have lost the ability to challenge others on the Internet. The PlayStation Network was launched in November 2006 and boasts about 77 million registered users worldwide. Sony said it discovered the initial breach between April 17 and April 19 and shut down the network on April 20, but has faced criticism for not disclosing it until a week later. |
Aperture is perhaps the most important — and also the most confusing — photographic concept to grasp. Mastering the use of aperture opens up a range of artistic possibilities and brings your photography to the next level. First, though, you have to wrap your head around the idea and understand the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and depth of field.
Aper-what?
Okay, so what's with the F numbers?
Aperture and depth of field
Wide-ranging content
HD quality
Whistles and bells
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