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Alibaba CEO: Yahoo knew of plan to divest pay unit (AP) : Technet |
- Alibaba CEO: Yahoo knew of plan to divest pay unit (AP)
- Google hoping other sites like recommendation tool (AP)
- Photos from stolen laptop lead to man's arrest (AP)
- Just Show Me: How to update your iPhone apps (Yahoo! News)
- Google Offers goes live, tests the waters with local deals (Yahoo! News)
- King Camera Is a Dark Room For Your iPhone Photos (Mashable)
- Alibaba chief claims 'good guy' role in Yahoo! rift (AFP)
- Google reveals Gmail hacking, likely from China (Reuters)
- WHO says cell phone use "possibly carcinogenic" (Reuters)
- Find a great spot (in select cities) with Android app Parker by Streetline, Inc. (Appolicious)
- LinkedIn shares were a bubble: academic model (Reuters)
- Cellphone study raises profile on safety lawsuits (Reuters)
- Considering iCloud -- does audio quality still matter? (Appolicious)
- Nokia dismisses Microsoft takeover report (AFP)
- Home of Country Music clamps down on entertainment piracy (Reuters)
- HP sets sights on rivals with webOS software (AP)
- Microsoft gives sneak preview of 'Windows 8' (AFP)
- Apple Updates Mac OS X To Battle Malware Threats (NewsFactor)
| Alibaba CEO: Yahoo knew of plan to divest pay unit (AP) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:42 PM PDT RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. – The head of the Chinese Internet company that has become tangled in a boardroom battle with major stakeholder Yahoo Inc. said his decision to split off a key online payment service into a separate entity controlled only by Chinese citizens should not have come as a surprise. Jack Ma, the chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, said at the D: All Things Digital conference that the option — deemed necessary to ensure it was licensed by Chinese regulators — had been discussed for three years and the board was well aware of the possibility. Yahoo owns 43 percent of Alibaba Group. Since Yahoo informed investors of the spinoff of the Alipay online payment system in a May 10 securities filing, Yahoo shares have dropped about 15 percent, wiping $3.5 billion off its market value. Ma said he had to take responsibility for the decision because otherwise the payment system, called Alipay, would have been destroyed and Alibaba along with it. Ma now controls the Alipay payment system. "We've been discussing that for over three years, so it's impossible that the board does not know that," Ma said. "Somebody has to take responsibility. Somebody has to take the leadership to move things ahead. ... If we do not get the license, Alipay's gone, Alibaba's gone." Yahoo has been pressing Alibaba to compensate it for losing the asset. Last week, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz reassured stock market analysts that Yahoo will be "appropriately compensated" for the loss of Alipay from its investment portfolio. Ma said settlement talks between Alibaba, Yahoo and another Alibaba investor, Japan's Softbank Corp. are complicated, "like peace talks at the United Nations," but said he was optimistic they would reach a deal. He said all parties had agreed that Alipay should get a license. He denied accusations that he had essentially stolen the asset for his own benefit. He said that he would prefer to balance the ownership of the company, suggesting it ought to be more Chinese, especially since he disagrees with major shareholders on the direction of the company. He said he wanted to take back some shares to make sure the company is "getting healthy." "Alibaba is such a huge company and the management and the co-Chinese partners are only very small," he said. "Japan's big, and the U.S. is big. So if we can do something to adjust that, I would be very happy." |
| Google hoping other sites like recommendation tool (AP) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:16 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – Google Inc. is hoping other websites will like its recently introduced system for recommending online content and ads. The Internet search leader has been using a "+1" recommendation button on its own site for two months. It became available to other publishers Wednesday. The +1 feature is similar to the Facebook "Like" button that has become a staple at thousands of websites. Pressing the +1 or Like button enables people to recommend an article, photo, product, video, song or some other kind of material to their online connections. The personal endorsement also says something about an individual's interests and preferences. That's something both Google and Facebook want to know more about so they can do a better job placing the online ads that generate most of their revenue. Facebook is gaining valuable insights as people increasingly spend more of their time on its website sharing their thoughts, photos and links. It's a troubling trend for Google because much of the information posted by Facebook's more than 500 million users can't be indexed by Google's search engine. The growing popularity of Facebook haunts Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt. In a late Tuesday appearance at the D: All Things Digital conference, Schmidt described his inability to counter the threat posed by Facebook four years ago as the biggest regret of his decade-long stint as Google's CEO. He now serves as Google's executive chairman and an adviser to company co-founder Larry Page, who replaced Schmidt as CEO nearly two months ago. Page has made the development of more social networking features one of Google's top priorities. Google is hoping people will latch on to the +1 button as a way of highlighting their recommendations in Google's influential search engine. The endorsements would only show up in the results of people who have told Google they share a common bond. Personal recommendations also can be seen in the results of Microsoft Corp.'s Bing search engine. Bing is picking up the information for Facebook's Like button as part of a partnership. Microsoft has grown closer to Facebook since it paid $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in the social networking service in 2007. |
| Photos from stolen laptop lead to man's arrest (AP) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:04 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – The images began arriving in Joshua Kaufman's inbox. The grainy photos are low-lit and intimate: a man curled up on a couch, sound asleep; the same man propped up against pillows on a bed, shirtless. Who was this stranger sitting with Kaufman's stolen laptop? Kaufman collected the images and took them to police, who did not help him. So he went online, publishing the pictures on Twitter and in a blog titled "This Guy Has My MacBook." "People who followed me on Twitter retweeted it. It got picked up by social media and the press. It went super viral," he said. On the same day that he posted his website on Twitter, police came calling. Police on Tuesday arrested a 27-year-old cab driver, Muthanna Aldebashi. On Wednesday, Kaufman picked up his laptop from the police. Kaufman said he was "surprised and amazed" when he began receiving images of the man using his laptop. Kaufman's case is the latest example of people, not police, using technological tools to help find their own stolen property such as cars, cell phones and digital cameras. Kaufman had just moved to a new apartment in Oakland when a burglar broke in, taking the laptop, a bag, an electronic book reader, and a bottle of gin on March 21. He activated theft-tracking software he had installed, which began sending photos taken by the computer's built-in camera of the unauthorized user three days later. "I wasn't sure if it would work because I never tested it before," he said. Most of the images "were honestly really boring photos — people staring into the screen. But some were definitely more humorous." Among them was a screenshot of the man logging onto his Gmail account, which showed an email that appeared to include the name of a business, Kaufman said. A quick Internet search revealed it was a cab company in nearby Berkeley, which Kaufman assumed was the man's workplace. Kaufman submitted the information to police, but said they were unwilling to help and didn't respond to numerous follow-up emails. "I know a stolen computer is small in the larger scheme but it would be nice to feel like you actually cared," he tweeted three days after the break-in. Kaufman said he turned to the Internet because he became "frustrated and thought I should try and get some attention from the media." He posted some of the photos, including captions such as "I really don't want to know what this guy is doing with my MacBook" for the image of the shirtless man in bed. Kaufman said he received a call from Oakland police spokeswoman Holly Joshi on the day he included a link to his blog. Joshi said she first heard about the case after receiving calls from media outlets Tuesday. "From that point on, they seemed to be on my side completely," he said of police. "They were apologetic, and they continually told me that they would be doing something about it immediately." Joshi blamed the large volume of theft reports Oakland police receive — about 2,400 a month for three theft investigators — and human oversight for the department's failure to follow up on Kaufman's leads. "It was filed away," Joshi said. "It had leads, so it shouldn't have been filed away." Police arranged a cab ride from Aldebashi and nabbed him when they recognized his face, according to Kaufman. Aldebashi was being held in an Oakland jail on $20,000 bail, according to the Alameda County sheriff's office. The laptop's return was the culmination of a one-man crusade of online sleuthing, social networking and moments of voyeuristic creepiness aided by the software called Hidden. The software — part LoJack, part nanny cam — is equipped with location positioning software. A representative for the product's London-based developer, Flipcode Ltd., did not immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press on Wednesday. Many portable electronics, including some digital cameras, are now equipped with wireless Internet capability and automatic geographic tagging on any photo taken — a helpful tool when trying to see where a thief has been hanging out. It's a step beyond the LoJack system invented two decades earlier that emitted a signal from a stolen vehicle. Joshi said investigators did not know whether Aldebashi burglarized Kaufman's apartment, noting that stolen merchandise often changes hands. Aldebashi was scheduled to be arraigned Friday. ___ Associated Press writer Robin Hindery contributed to this report. |
| Just Show Me: How to update your iPhone apps (Yahoo! News) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:17 PM PDT
Welcome one and all to Just Show Me, where we give you short tips and tricks for getting the most out of your gadgets. In our last episode we showed you how to find out what version of Android your phone is running, and today we've got an episode especially for new iPhone users. Check out the video above for a walkthrough of how to update all your iPhone apps at once when new versions of your favorites become available. If you already know all about updating your iPhone apps, why not pass this on to the new iPhone owner in your life (be sure to send them our beginner's guide to the iPhone too!)? And if you have any requests for something you'd like Just Show Me to cover, please don't hesitate to let us know in the comments!
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| Google Offers goes live, tests the waters with local deals (Yahoo! News) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 04:55 PM PDT
What could set Offers apart from the slew of other deal peddlers is not the service itself, but Google Wallet — the company's nascent near field communication (NFC) payment system, which ambitiously intends to transform your smartphone into a virtual billfold. While it's far too early to tell if Google Wallet will catch on, you can opt in for Google Offers as soon as the deals make a stop by your city — keep an eye out, Manhattan and the Bay Area are next in line. [Via: SearchEngineLand] More from Tecca: |
| King Camera Is a Dark Room For Your iPhone Photos (Mashable) Posted: 31 May 2011 07:05 PM PDT The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: King Camera [More from Mashable: Organize An Offline Class With Skillshare] Quick Pitch: King Camera is an iPhone app for enhancing photos with instant looks or custom photo effects. Genius Idea: Giving iPhone photographers their own personal dark room. [More from Mashable: Android App Indexes Your Life & Augments Your Memory [INVITES]]
Instagram has championed the instantness of the mobile photo-sharing movement with a selection of filters users can apply for fast iPhone photo styling. Camera+ traffics in a seemingly never-ending selection of photo effects. Now King Camera, an iPhone application released by Saycheezzz late last week, offers iPhone photographers the best of both worlds. The $2.99 application [iTunes link], which will go on sale Wednesday for a launch sale price of $0.99, is meant to be a personal dark room for mobile photographers. It includes an array of features housed within its four primary modules: Camera, Photodesk, Quickmatik and Promatik. The application user snaps or selects library photos with the Camera module. For each shot, the Camera module automatically adjusts the focus and tries to properly expose the photo, though users can manually adjust the focus and exposure settings. In fact, King Camera users who wish to expand beyond the simple default point-and-shoot settings can choose from four different trigger modifiers, take time-lapse shots and enable the big button to tap anywhere on the screen to take a photo.
The Photodesk is where all Camera captures and altered shots are saved in photo stacks. Here users can tap to edit a photo in Quickmatik to apply one of 45 different prefabricated looks (like filters in other apps) or choose Promatik to make and apply their own effects. "The app is for anyone who loves taking photos," says Saycheezzz co-founder Yanik Chauvin. "Beginners will enjoy the simplicity of the Quickmatik, and more advanced users with love making their own Looks in the Photoshop-like Promatik." On a test run, I found the 45 available Quickmatik instant looks to be a tad disappointing in comparison to Instagram filters. Still, having the ability to scale each effect up or down with a slider is certainly a nice touch, and the selection of borders and cropping options are plentiful.
More impressive is the limitless creativity that the Promatik module allows. This iPhone photo editing dark room is a feature-rich module that is best suited for more advanced photo editors but still accessible to novices. Users can crop, rotate and adjust white balance and coloring in photos, as well add textures, vignettes and borders. They can also save a collection of applied effects as their own look. King Camera has the obligatory photo-sharing options built in as well -- one-tap sharing to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Dropbox and email is available for all photos saved to the Photodesk. We've still barely scratched the surface in terms of King Camera's features; the application will not disappoint those with a penchant for both creativity and control in the photo editing process. King Camera is the first photography application by Saycheezzz, a self-funded startup started by professional photographers Chauvin and Martin Perreault.
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. This story originally published on Mashable here. |
| Alibaba chief claims 'good guy' role in Yahoo! rift (AFP) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 09:28 PM PDT RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California (AFP) – Alibaba chief Jack Ma portrayed himself as the good guy in a rift with major stakeholder Yahoo! and suggested the faded Internet star get its own house in order. During an onstage chat at a premier All Things Digital conference in the California resort town of Rancho Palos Verdes, Ma likened meetings with Yahoo! to "peace talks in the United Nations" slowly moving toward an accord. "I'm the good guy," Ma said. "I think I do the right things. Somebody has to take the responsibility to be the leader to make decisions to move things ahead." Yahoo! notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission in May that ownership of Alipay, Alibaba's payment platform, had been shifted to a Chinese firm owned mostly by Alibaba chief executive Ma. Yahoo! said the transfer was done without the knowledge or approval of Alibaba's board of directors or shareholders, which also include Japan's Softbank. But Ma has insisted that investors Yahoo! and Softbank were informed of the transfer of ownership and it was done to comply with Chinese licensing regulations. "We have been discussing that for more than three years so it is impossible that Yahoo! didn't know," he said. "I heard a lot of words like I am stealing something from investors into my pocket," he continued. "How could I do that?" Without the license for Alipay "everything else is just a zero," Ma said of the imperative he felt to make a command decision that some saw as a message he was intent on parting ways with Yahoo! and Softbank. "Interest (in the company) to me is not that important," Ma said. "We are setting examples for Chinese companies that doing business in China or anywhere in the world we have to be 100 percent legal, 100 percent transparent and make sure the company can grow," he said. Yahoo! chief executive Carol Bartz said last week that progress is being made in resolving the dispute over Alipay and Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant. Yahoo! owns a 43 percent stake in Alibaba and an estimated 40 percent share of Alipay. Ma described himself as the single largest shareholder in Alibaba. He sidestepped answering how much foreign ownership he thought best for Alibaba, saying that he wanted stock holdings to be more diversified. Ma said his impression at his first meeting with Bartz was that she was unhappy about Yahoo! not having much success in China and that she wasn't necessarily fond of him. "I don't want to be liked," Ma said. "I want to be respected." "She's not happy Yahoo! was not that successful in China," Ma said of Bartz. "It I was the CEO I would not be happy; but I would be happy if Yahoo! America came back." Interviewer Kara Swisher likened his comment to the US phrase of "minding one's own knitting," drawing a smile from Ma. Ma said he envisioned Alibaba becoming the main platform for online commerce in China. "E-commerce in the United States is dessert because everything else is so good," Ma said. "I think e-commerce in China will be the main course." He responded to questions about Internet censorship in China by noting that the nation's economy is booming and saying that he preferred to look at matters through the optimistic eyes of an entrepreneur. Working with governments anywhere in the world is essentially the same, Ma contended. "Love them, respect them, just don't do business together," he said. When asked, Ma quipped that he would love to buy Yahoo! if someone would lend him the money but noted that "making something happen is more fun." "I think it is not easy to turn a company around," Ma said. "I have a great deal of respect for the people still fighting for Yahoo!." High among the hot Internet trends in China now are commerce, search, games, and social networking, according to Ma. He suggested that Yahoo! be more "open minded" when it comes to new ideas and suggested making the company smaller if it is difficult to run. "What I believe is not important," Ma concluded. "What Carol believes is very important." |
| Google reveals Gmail hacking, likely from China (Reuters) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 08:33 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO/BEIJING (Reuters) – Hackers likely based in China tried to break into hundreds of Google mail accounts, including those of senior U.S. government officials, Chinese activists and journalists, the Internet company said on Wednesday. The unknown perpetrators, who appeared to originate from the city of Jinan in Shandong province, recently tried to crack and monitor email accounts by stealing passwords, but Google detected and "disrupted" their campaign, the world's largest Web search company said on its official blog. The revelation comes more than a year after Google disclosed a cyberattack on its systems that it said it traced to China, and could further strain an already tense relationship between the Web giant and Beijing. Google eventually all but pulled out of the world's largest Internet market by users. "We recently uncovered a campaign to collect user passwords, likely through phishing," Google said in a post on its corporate blog, referring to the practice where computer users are tricked into giving up sensitive information. "The goal of this effort seems to have been to monitor the contents of these users' emails." It "affected what seem to be the personal Gmail accounts of hundreds of users, including among others, senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries (predominantly South Korea), military personnel and journalists." Google did not say the Chinese government was behind the attacks or say what might have motivated the intrusions. But cyberattacks originating in China have become common in recent years, said Bruce Schneier, chief security technology officer at telecommunications company BT. "It's not just the Chinese government. It's independent actors within China who are working with the tacit approval of the government," he said. The events leading to Google's withdrawal from China exacerbated an often difficult relationship between Washington and Beijing, with disputes ranging from human rights to trade. The attacks revealed on Wednesday were also the latest computer-based invasions directed at western companies. The United States has warned that a cyberattack -- presumably if it is devastating enough -- could result in real-world military retaliation, although analysts say it could be difficult to detect its origin with full accuracy. Lockheed Martin Corp, the U.S. government's top information technology provider, said last week it had thwarted "a significant and tenacious attack" on its information systems network, though the company and government officials have not yet said where they think the attack originated. The White House said it was investigating Google's claims. "We have no reason to believe that any official U.S. government email accounts were accessed," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. The FBI said it was working with Google on the matter. A spokesman at South Korea's presidential office said the Blue House had not been affected, but added they did not use Gmail. South Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it had warned all staff "not to use send or receive any official information through private emails such as Gmail." TECHNICAL RECONNAISSANCE Jinan, the capital of eastern Shandong province, is the location of one of six technical reconnaissance bureaus belonging to the People's Liberation Army, which oversees China's electronic eavesdropping, according to an October 2009 report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission, a panel created by Congress to monitor potential national security issues related to U.S- China relations. The bureaus "are likely focused on defense or exploitation of foreign networks," the commission report states. Last year, U.S. investigators said there was evidence suggesting a link between the Lanxiang Vocational School in Jinan and the hacking attacks on Google and over 20 other firms, the New York Times reported. The school denied the report. China's foreign ministry and its state council information office did not respond to faxed inquiries. China has said repeatedly it does not condone hacking, which remains a popular hobby in the country, with numerous websites offering cheap courses to learn the basics. Chinese human rights activists say they are increasingly worried about Gmail's security. "Two years ago, when we were using Gmail for our organization, there were a few incidents when our accounts were hacked into by people pretending to be us and sending attachments to colleagues with viruses in them," said Wang Songlian, research coordinator for rights group Chinese Human Rights Defenders. After that, the organization started relying less on Gmail, Wang said, "because of the belief that even though Gmail has good security, it's not good enough for our purposes. It's still a concern for us." While Google said last year's attack was aimed at its corporate infrastructure, the latest incident appears to have relied on tricking email users into revealing passwords, based on Google's description in its blog post. It said the perpetrators changed the victims' email forwarding settings, presumably secretly sending the victims' personal emails to other recipients. Schneier said the details that Google has released about the email hijacking do not appear that unusual. "For the past five years we've known that the Chinese conduct a lot of espionage over the Internet," he said. In January 2010, Google announced it was the target of a sophisticated cyberattack using malicious code dubbed "Aurora," which compromised the Gmail accounts of human rights activists and succeeded in accessing Google source code repositories. The company, and subsequent public reports, blamed the attack on the Chinese government. "Investors would like to see Google figure out a way to operate in China, and capitalize on the growth of the country," said Cowen and Co analyst Jim Friedland. "It's been a tough relationship. And this highlights that it continues to be a tough relationship," he said. Google said it had notified the victims and relevant governments in the recent attacks. "It's important to stress that our internal systems have not been affected -- these account hijackings were not the result of a security problem with Gmail itself," Google said. The company's shares finished 0.7 percent lower at $525.60. Google has lost share to rival Baidu Inc in China's Internet market, the world's largest with more than 450 million users. (Additional reporting by Alister Bull in Washington D.C and Jeremy Laurence in Seoul; Editing by Andre Grenon, Phil Berlowitz and Dean Yates) |
| WHO says cell phone use "possibly carcinogenic" (Reuters) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:10 PM PDT LONDON (Reuters) – Using a mobile phone might increase the risk of developing certain types of brain tumors and consumers should consider ways of reducing their exposure, World Health Organization (WHO) cancer experts said on Tuesday. A working group of 31 scientists from 14 countries meeting at the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said a review of all the available scientific evidence suggested cell phone use should be classified as "possibly carcinogenic." The classification, which puts mobile phone use in the same broad IARC cancer risk category as lead, chloroform and coffee, could spur the United Nations health body to look again at its guidelines on mobile phones, the scientists said. But more lengthy and detailed research is needed before a more definitive answer on any link can be given. The WHO had previously said there was no established evidence for a link between cell phone use and cancer. "After reviewing essentially all the evidence that is relevant ... the working group classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans," Jonathan Samet, chair of the IARC group, said in a telebriefing. He said some evidence suggested a link between an increased risk for glioma, a type of brain cancer, and mobile phone use. Cellphone use has risen hugely since they were introduced in the early 1980s, with 5 billion in use today. And since phones have become such an key part of daily life -- used by many for Web surfing as well as talking -- industry experts say a health threat will not stop people using them. Instead, concerned consumers might opt to buy more accessories such as headsets to reduce the risks, Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton said. "It's going to take some compelling argument to change behavior," he said. The WHO's position has been keenly awaited by mobile phone companies and by campaign groups who have raised concerns about whether cell phones might be harmful to health. Industry groups immediately sought to play down the decision, stressing the "possibly carcinogenic" category also includes substances such as pickled vegetables and coffee. "This IARC classification does not mean that cell phones cause cancer," said John Walls, vice president of public affairs for the United States-based wireless association CTIA. He noted the IARC working group did not conduct any new research, but reviewed published studies, and said other regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have stated that "the weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell phones with any health problems." John Cooke, executive director of the British-based Mobile Operators Association, said IARC had only found the possibility of a hazard. "Whether or not this represents a risk requires further scientific investigation," he said in a statement. PREVIOUS STUDIES INCONCLUSIVE The IARC remarks follow a study published last year that looked at almost 13,000 cell phone users over 10 years and found no clear answer on whether the mobile devices cause brain tumors. Many previous studies have also failed to establish any clear cancer link, but a U.S. study in February found that using a mobile phone can change brain cell activity. IARC director Christopher Wild said it was important that more research be conducted, particularly into long-term and heavy use of mobile phones. "Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands-free devices or texting," he said. Malcolm Sperrin, director of medical physics and clinical engineering at Britain's Royal Berkshire Hospital, said he thought the IARC move was appropriate because it reflected the "anecdotal evidence that cancers may be associated with phone usage." But he added: "It is vitally important to fully understand that there is no definitive correlation." (Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York and Diane Bartz in Washington DC; editing by Mark Heinrich and Andre Grenon) |
| Find a great spot (in select cities) with Android app Parker by Streetline, Inc. (Appolicious) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:15 PM PDT |
| LinkedIn shares were a bubble: academic model (Reuters) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 09:32 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) – Three academics say there was a bubble in LinkedIn Corp's (LNKD.N) shares during the first four days of its trading, which they have determined definitively using a model they designed. The three have devised a model they say can establish in real time whether prices in a market are doomed to collapse. If investors can spot speculative excess in short order, they can avoid overheated markets and better allocate their capital, said Cornell University finance professor Robert Jarrow, who wrote the paper along with Ecole Polytechnique's Younes Kchia and Columbia University's Philip Protter, both mathematicians. "If enough people think there is a bubble and not enough people want to hold it, maybe the bubbles will disappear before they get too large," Jarrow told Reuters. The model, described in a paper currently being peer-reviewed for publication, compares the size of price fluctuations, known as "volatility," with the volatility of a normal stock, which is a stock whose price is what you would pay if you held it forever. If the volatility in the stock you are testing is higher than that of a normal stock, there is a bubble. Take social networking company LinkedIn Corp, (LNKD.N) for example. The company's shares more than doubled on their first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange and closed on May 24 -- the fourth and final day of trade run through the model -- at still more than double their IPO price. The shares have since given up some of their gains, but closed on Wednesday, after just 9 days of trading, at more than 70 percent above their IPO price. Some people would intuitively argue that the speedy share gains indicate a bubble. But the model can prove it: it shows that as LinkedIn's stock price increased, the rate of increase of volatility was abnormally large. The model has been successfully tested against some of the stocks believed to have been bubbles in the 2000 to 2002 dot-com era, according to the paper. HELP FOR THE FED Investors aren't the only ones who stand to benefit from knowing when bubbles are arising. The Federal Reserve could use its regulatory power to tighten rules for lending in markets that seem to be overheating. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke noted in Congressional testimony in 2009 that it is extraordinarily difficult to tell in real time when a bubble is arising, echoing statements from former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. The issue even came up, recently, in relation to LinkedIn. When LinkedIn shares jumped 109.4 percent on their first day of trade, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said he was withholding judgment over whether a new dot-com bubble was under way. "I have no way of knowing that those aren't just exactly the right valuations," Evans told reporters after a speech in Chicago. (Additional reporting by Jennifer Saba; Editing by Dan Wilchins and Muralikumar Anantharaman) |
| Cellphone study raises profile on safety lawsuits (Reuters) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 02:22 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The Supreme Court is considering the fate of litigation against cellphone makers over safety risks, just as the industry comes under more scrutiny in the wake of a health report from the World Health Organization. A working group of WHO cancer experts suggested on Tuesday that cellphone use should be classified as "possibly carcinogenic" after reviewing of all the available scientific evidence. The classification puts mobile phone use in the same broad cancer risk category as lead, chloroform and coffee, and it garnered extensive media coverage. Industry groups immediately sought to play down the announcement, saying it does not mean that cellphones cause cancer. The report comes as a proposed class action lawsuit against 19 defendants, mostly cellphone manufacturers and telecommunications companies, has landed at the Supreme Court. The defendants -- which include Nokia, AT&T Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd -- are accused of misrepresenting that their cellphones are safe, when they in fact knew of potential dangers. A lower appeals court dismissed the lawsuit, saying the plaintiffs' claims were preempted by federal law. But on Tuesday, the Supreme Court formally asked the Justice Department to weigh in on whether the high court should hear the plaintiffs' appeal. Allison Zieve, who represents the plaintiffs, said people often dismiss allegations about the harm of common products as "silly." The WHO report could change that perception, said Zieve, director of Public Citizen Litigation Group, a consumer advocacy organization. "I hope that it signals to the Justice Department ... that it's a potentially significant case and they should take it seriously," she said. An AT&T spokesman declined to answer questions about the case and representatives from Nokia and Samsung did not respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit seeks damages and an injunction, including a requirement that the companies provide headsets to customers. Joanne Suder, a Baltimore-based plaintiff attorney, said she had "hundreds" of cellphone cases on hold pending the Supreme Court's actions in the coming months. Her clients are seeking monetary damages, Suder said. Paul Freehling, who represents the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, said he does not know of any cases where a court has found sufficient scientific evidence of a link between cellphones and cancer. In one case, a U.S. appeals court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against Motorola in 2003, finding that the plaintiffs could not demonstrate that cellphones caused malignant brain tumors. "Based on previous assessments of the scientific evidence, the Federal Communications Commission has concluded that 'here's no scientific evidence that proves that wireless phone usage can lead to cancer,'" said CTIA vice president John Walls on Tuesday. But Suder forecast that, after this week, reports about the dangers of cellphone will only increase. "I think at this point the genie is finally out of the bottle," she added. (Reporting by Dan Levine; editing by Andre Grenon) |
| Considering iCloud -- does audio quality still matter? (Appolicious) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:00 PM PDT |
| Nokia dismisses Microsoft takeover report (AFP) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:03 PM PDT RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California (AFP) – Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop on Wednesday dismissed as "baseless" a report that Microsoft had agreed to purchase the Finnish company's mobile business. "There are absolutely no discussions," Elop said at the D9 technology conference here hosted by All Things Digital. "The rumors are baseless." The website Boy Genius, or BGR.com, reported on Wednesday that according to industry insider Eldar Murtazin, Microsoft has struck a deal to buy Nokia's mobile phone business for $19 billion. Nokia hired Elop, a former Microsoft executive, to be its chief executive in September and in February the Finnish company announced that it was abandoning its smartphone platform to adopt Microsoft's mobile operating system. Elop said the first Nokia smartphone using the Windows Phone 7 software would be released in the fourth quarter of the year. He briefly took a prototype out of his pocket but quickly put it back without providing so much as a glimpse of the screen. |
| Home of Country Music clamps down on entertainment piracy (Reuters) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 04:55 PM PDT NASHVILLE (Reuters) – Tennessee, home to the capital of Country Music, passed a law to crack down on the use of someone else's name and password to get online entertainment, drawing praise from the recording industry. The new law was passed by both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly May 19 and signed into law by Governor Bill Haslam on Memorial Day. The bill was pushed by Nashville's recording industry and adds theft of online entertainment user names and passwords on services such as Rhapsody and Netflix, to existing law. "Given the significant economic contributions of the music industry to the state (Tennessee), it's important to ensure that the hard work of artists, musicians and labels is protected against emerging ways to steal music," said Mitch Glazier, D.C.-based executive vice president for public policy and industry relations for the Recording Industry Association of America. It was a closely followed measure in Nashville, the long-time home of the country music industry which increasingly has become the recording center for many major rock acts. It is not necessarily targeted at college students who share their passwords with other students, but it does not let them off the hook. "It's technically against the law to give your user name and password out to people not in your household," said Stephanie Jarnagin, research analyst for Senate sponsor Jim Tracy, a Republican. The biggest offenders and targets of the law are those who deal in the black market of passwords, she said. "What happens is people will hack into the system and steal thousands of user names and passwords and sell them for 50 cents a pop," said Jarnagin. The penalty remains the same as the prior statute, $500 or less if it is a misdemeanor, and over $500 if it is a felony. The class of the felony and the punishment escalates with the value of the services stolen. The way Tennessee is targeting this piracy is unique, Glazier said on Wednesday. "While some states may already include subscription services in the scope of their theft of services laws, this is the first time a state has reviewed its cable theft law on the books in a forward-thinking manner to assure it is updated to address how entertainment is delivered today," he said. (Editing by Greg McCune) |
| HP sets sights on rivals with webOS software (AP) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 08:17 PM PDT RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. – Hewlett-Packard Co. will soon include its webOS system for smartphones on all its PCs, upcoming tablet computers and higher-end printers, putting it in competition with operating software from Apple, Google and Microsoft. HP's intentions, laid out at a prominent technology conference Wednesday, represented a particular challenge to longtime partner Microsoft Corp., whose Windows operating system runs on all of the 65 million PCs that HP shipped last year. CEO Leo Apotheker said the company should have put webOS further into the marketplace sooner. HP acquired webOS when it bought struggling cellphone maker Palm Inc. last year. At first, webOS will sit on top of Windows in personal computers, Apotheker said. He said webOS could run on its own and that it will be licensed to other hardware makers over time. But he said Windows will continue to have a presence for years to come. "I don't believe that Windows will fade into irrelevance," he said. Apotheker's statements came at the D: All Things Digital conference, an annual event hosted by News Corp.'s Dow Jones & Co., which also owns The Wall Street Journal. It has become a well-attended forum for executives to talk about strategy on the southern California coastline. Nokia Corp. CEO Stephen Elop also waded into the operating system battle — further explaining the cellphone maker's decision in February to ditch its Symbian software in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone. He said it was to help Windows compete in the format war with Apple Inc.'s iOS and Google Inc.'s Android and help Nokia stand out from competitors. Such operating systems could one day make transitions between mobile devices, PCs and other connected gadgets seamless. "It's no longer a battle of devices. It is a war of ecosystems," Elop said. Microsoft also showed off its upcoming operating system, for now called "Windows 8," which will work on both tablets and PCs. Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows division, said the system would work equally well on tablets as PCs since mobile devices have gotten powerful enough to use a full computer operating system. "It's important not to throw the baby out with the bath water," he said. The battle over such all-encompassing platforms threatened to overshadow other speakers' news. Micro-blog service Twitter's CEO, Dick Costolo, announced a new photo uploading service and more relevant searches that would show photos and videos without having to click through to links. Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings elaborated on the online video company's ambitious content-buying and expansion plans. Group discount company Groupon Inc. CEO Andrew Mason kept mum on the possibility of an initial public offering of shares. HP's interest in spreading webOS lies in making sure phones and PCs work well together like Apple's Macs and iPhones. HP also wants to make sure it has a foothold in the fast-changing mobile software market, a market that is being fought over fiercely as the computer industry adjusts to the mobile Internet frenzy. Apotheker said HP aimed to make webOS the No. 3 mobile platform after Apple's iOS, which runs iPads and iPhones, and Google's Android. He said that many people would become attracted by webOS' unique ability to connect with Web-based services. "Once we are the third alternative, I think the race is wide open," Apotheker said. "This is a marathon, not a sprint." HP plans to install webOS on more than 100 million devices a year — all of HP's personal computers, printers that sell for more than $100 and the TouchPad, a tablet computer HP plans to launch this summer. The move further into software should also help HP improve its profit margins, he said. Apotheker has helped shape HP strategy since becoming CEO in November. "You'll see a completely different HP emerging over the next three to four years," Apotheker said. Twitter's Costolo said the explosive micro-blogging site will now allow users to upload photos easily with their tweets, a function intended to "remove the friction from adding photos into Twitter." Searches will now show photos and videos and rank results depending on the number of times the message has been "re-tweeted" and replied to. The authority of the tweeter and whether users follow the tweeter will also affect the results. Deal-a-day coupon company Groupon and online travel company Expedia Inc. said Wednesday they will launch a new travel website together to offer discounts on hotels, airline tickets, car rentals, cruises and vacation activities. Netflix's Hastings said the subscription video company would continue paying more to Hollywood studios for movies and TV shows to show on its Internet streaming service, adding that paying more than $200 million a year for shows from the Starz pay TV channel "wouldn't be shocking" when their current deal expires in 2012. As the company continues to add subscribers and expands globally, it can maintain its profit margins even as the price tag for content goes up, he said. |
| Microsoft gives sneak preview of 'Windows 8' (AFP) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 08:54 PM PDT RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California (AFP) – Microsoft gave a sneak preview of Windows 8, a next-generation operating system designed to work on both personal computers and touchscreen tablets. Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows Division, demonstrated some of the features of the operating system code-named "Windows 8" at the D9 technology conference here hosted by All Things Digital. "Laptops, slates, desktops -- all can run one operating system," Sinofsky said. "Things that people see work... on an iPad, I think we can do that and then bring with it all of the benefits that you have with Windows," he said. "We have an approach that is different but builds on the value of an operating system that sells 400 million or so units a year," he said. "Windows 8" builds upon many of the features in Microsoft's latest mobile operating system for smartphones, Windows Phone 7, including the use of touch "tiles" instead of icons to launch and navigate between applications. In a blog post, Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president of Windows Experience, said Windows 8 is a "reimagining of Windows, from the chip to the interface. "A Windows 8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse," Larson-Green said. "Although the new user interface is designed and optimized for touch, it works equally well with a mouse and keyboard," she added. Larson-Green said Microsoft would reveal more features of Windows 8, which uses Internet Explorer 10 as a Web browser, at its developers conference in Anaheim, California, opening on September 13. Windows powers most of the world's personal computers but the Redmond, Washington-based software giant has been slow to enter a fast-growing tablet market dominated for the moment by Apple's iPad. Many other tablet makers have opted to use Google's Android software and Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said a "well-formed Windows 8 will pose serious problems to Android." The iPad was expected to remain the tablet market leader but "Microsoft will be a contender," she said. "What's more, they'll have a product that can compete across devices, and a foothold in the post-PC future." |
| Apple Updates Mac OS X To Battle Malware Threats (NewsFactor) Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:24 AM PDT Responding to a widespread fake antivirus program targeted at Macs, Apple released Tuesday an update that will warn users and remove the threat. The update is available for Macs running Snow Leopard Mac OS X 10.6, as well as Mac OS X Server 10.6. In its Security Update 2011-003, Apple said the update, available via Software Update or from Apple Downloads, refreshes the malware definition on File Quarantine to include MAC Defender, the fake antivirus malware, and provides for automatic, daily updating of known definitions. Automatic updating can be disabled by the user. The update also removes MAC Defender and known variants if the malware has already been installed, and an alert will notify the user of that action. Reports on the web Wednesday indicated that malware makers have already circumvented Apple's update by changing the name of the malware file to mdinstall.pkg. The move could be short-lived if Apple adds the file name to its new daily update of malware definitions. 'Give Apple Credit' Apple said files downloaded via Safari, iChat or Mail are checked against a list of known malware that includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other malicious software. If a file is found to be on the list, the Mac OS X update displays a dialog prompting the user to move it to the trash. The list is stored on the computer and, with the update, refreshed daily. For years, Macs have enjoyed the reputation that they weren't susceptible to the many kinds of malicious software that have plagued Windows machines, because of the inherent strength of Mac OS X. Many observers have also argued that, because the installed base of Macs was so small, it wasn't worth the effort for a self-respecting hacker. Chris Christensen, an analyst with IDC, said the myth of the Mac's invulnerability to hacking attacks "still largely stands in public perception," although they were "never technically invulnerable." Rather, he said, it was because their installed base was too small, but now the Mac's usage, transactional functions, and larger installed base present a tempting target to attackers. Christensen added that he has to "give Apple credit" for its quick response to this vulnerability. According to Mac security firm Intego, MAC Defender targets Mac users primarily through "SEO poisoning attacks," in which web sites with malicious code use search-optimization tricks to rank at the top of search results. A user who clicks on a malicious search result is sent to a web site that shows a fake screen and a fake malware scan, after which it tells the user that the computer is infected. A Variant: MacGuard JavaScript on the page automatically downloads a compressed ZIP file. If the user has been using Safari and the "open safe after downloading" option in Safari is enabled, the file is unzipped and the user is presented with an installer window for which the user's administrative password is required. If the user proceeds with installation, MAC Defender launches. Intego describes the application as "very well designed," with a professional look, a number of different screens, attractive buttons, and correct spelling. Once installed, MAC Defender indicates the computer is infected and opens web pages for pornographic sites every few minutes. To counter the "virus," the user is prompted to buy MAC Defender's "antivirus" protection service. After a credit-card number has been entered into a license-purchasing page, the virus warnings stop. But there is no service, and the user has just given the malware authors his or her credit-card information. Intego recommends not installing the application to begin with, of course, and to uncheck the "open safe" option in Safari or other browsers. A variant of MAC Defender, called MacGuard, has also been reported. It's placed in a user's Applications folder -- which doesn't require an administrator's password -- instead of the normal location in the system-level folder. If a user has set Safari to automatically launch downloaded files -- the "open safe after downloading" option -- the malware's installer will launch. If not, users will see a downloaded ZIP archive and may double-click on it to find what's in it, which leads to the installer. Mike Kent also contributed to this story. |
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