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Monday, July 11, 2011

Clear Channel swipes at Pandora with iheart revamp (AP) : Technet

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Clear Channel swipes at Pandora with iheart revamp (AP) : Technet

Clear Channel swipes at Pandora with iheart revamp (AP)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 03:32 PM PDT

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima, Ap Business Writer – Mon Jul 11, 6:32 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Radio station giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. is revamping its website and mobile products to imitate the personalized music offerings at Pandora, an online service that is growing in popularity.

Bob Pittman, chairman of media and entertainment platforms for Clear Channel, said the success of Pandora Media Inc. proves that people like being able to stream songs according to their personal tastes on mobile devices.

Clear Channel plans to add a similar feature over the coming months to its website and mobile application, called iheartradio. The products allow listeners to hear the feeds of stations outside their market and to certain channels that stream music along specific genres.

With the new offering, Pandora gets a strong competitor. Clear Channel, which operates more than 850 radio stations nationwide, said its service will be able to offer listeners access to more songs than Pandora can.

Clear Channel is kicking off the new service with a star-studded two-day concert in Las Vegas on Sept. 23 and 24 featuring acts including Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas and Jennifer Lopez.

Clear Channel will have one advantage over Pandora: It won't need to make money from this new service.

Pittman said the new service will be considered successful if it helps reach audiences in different ways.

"To us it doesn't matter if it ever succeeds as a business," Pittman said in an interview. "We only have to have it succeed as a feature."

Pandora went public with an initial offering of stock last month, but its stock price has seesawed as euphoria among Internet investors gave way to the reality that its ad revenue has not grown fast enough to cover the royalties that it pays to play music. Pandora's stock closed at $19.26 on Monday, about 19 percent above its initial public offering price.

Pandora adopted its current name in 2005 when it morphed into a new type of radio station that streams music over the Internet. What makes Pandora different from broadcast radio is that it can employ computer formulas to learn each of its individual listeners' tastes in order to create personalized song lists.

Pandora has said it has about 94 million registered users and more than 30 million listeners a month.

Pittman said Clear Channel isn't far behind, with about 27 million monthly online visitors, although that figure includes visitors of radio station websites and those who listen to the iheartradio application. Clear Channel, a privately held company that had $5.9 billion in revenue last year, reaches 237 million listeners over traditional radio airwaves every month.

Pittman said that the new iheartradio app will have access to 10 million tracks, millions more than Pandora, and will run without ads for the rest of the year. The company is also offering freebie concert packages to listeners to build buzz around the relaunch.

It will be available on the Web at iheartradio.com and on various devices, including the iPhone, BlackBerry and devices running Google's Android software. Clear Channel acquired streaming music company Thumbplay in March and used its technology as the basis for the new customized radio feature.

Judges in US, Canada approve Nortel patents sale (AP)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:47 AM PDT

By RANDALL CHASE, AP Business Writer Randall Chase, Ap Business Writer – Mon Jul 11, 2:47 pm ET

WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. and Canadian judges on Monday approved a $4.5 billion cash bid from a consortium that includes smartphone makers Apple and Research In Motion for thousands of patents held by bankrupt telecom-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp.

The judges approved the results of Nortel's patent auction at a joint hearing Monday, just over a week after the consortium offered five times more than Google Inc.'s initial bid of $900 million for some 6,000 patents and patent applications.

The purchase _and its approval_ represent a significant win for a consortium of companies that includes Apple Inc., EMC Corp., LM Ericsson AB, Microsoft Corp., Research in Motion Ltd., and Sony Corp. Phones running Google's Android system compete with software and devices made by the new holders of the Nortel patents. The patents cover many technologies, including data networking, semiconductors and wireless systems known as fourth generation, or 4G.

Nortel has said the portfolio "touches nearly every aspect of telecommunications and additional markets ... including Internet search and social networking." They are among the last major assets of Toronto-based Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009. The company has been selling off its operations bit by bit since then.

The sale of the Nortel patents comes as smartphone manufacturers square off in legal battles over such common features as swiping gestures on touch screens. Such lawsuits could allow patent holders to capitalize on their rivals' success in the market through royalty settlements.

Google had said it wanted the patents to defend itself against lawsuits from other companies until Congress enacts broader changes to the patent system to help reduce such litigation. Google gives away its Android software for free, counting on its popularity to drive usage of other Google services, such as search and maps.

Attorneys for Nortel and its official committee of unsecured creditors praised the results of the patent auction. Nortel attorney Lisa Schweitzer said the final price, which came after 19 rounds of bidding, is more than the combined total received from Nortel's previous bankruptcy asset sales. Including the patent sale, Nortel has realized roughly $7.7 billion from its asset sales.

"This truly is a `wow' transaction," said David Botter, an attorney representing Nortel's official creditors committee.

Derrick Tay, an attorney representing Nortel in Canada, said the auction is a "shining example" of what can be achieved in a bankruptcy case.

"I don't believe a dollar was left on the table," Tay told Ontario Superior Court of Justice Judge Geoffrey Morawetz, who conducted the joint hearing with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross in Delaware via videoconference.

Gross described the result of the auction as "quite extraordinary" and said it would be a mistake for the court not to give its approval.

"It's not every day that a judge has an opportunity to make a $4.5 billion mistake," he quipped.

The sale, which includes a good faith deposit of $54 million already delivered to Nortel, is expected to close within 30 days.

Smartphone with a Facebook button makes your wall one click away (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 06:07 PM PDT

New radar can detect suicide bombers from 100 yards away (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 05:51 PM PDT

REVIEW: iPhone App Now Works With Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Mashable)

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:29 PM PDT

Charlie White Charlie White – Sun Jul 10, 8:29 pm ET

You've probably heard of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the speech recognition software for PC and Mac that lets you do the talking, and it types everything you say. Now the new version 11.5 has been released, and it lets you use an iPhone as your microphone. I installed the PC version of the software and downloaded the Nuance remote mic iPhone app to see how well it works. Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 11 for PC (and the Mac version, called Dragon Dictate, with similar features and the same speech recognition engine) was released last September, and its claim to fame was a significant increase in its speech-to-text accuracy. The speech recognition engine in this version 11.5 is the same as in version 11. It requires little training, and can not only transcribe everything you say, but it lets you navigate your computer and bark out commands such as "search Google for rubber baby buggy bumpers," and it immediately opens up your default browser, enters your terms in Google and searches away.

[More from Mashable: How the Private Space Race Has Taken Off]

Until now, you needed to connect a microphone, preferably a wired USB headset mic, to make Dragon achieve its peak accuracy. The main innovation in this new version, which is available for PC now and will be soon for Mac, is the way it lets you use your iPhone's stock earbuds/mic as a microphone, resulting in sound quality that's at least as good as that of a USB mic. This is a good thing, because Bluetooth mics just don't work well enough for speech recognition. But the iPhone app doesn't use Bluetooth -- it communicates with your computer over Wi-Fi, resulting in better mic sound quality -- which ultimately means better accuracy.

Setting up the iPhone 4 to use its mic is simple. After a quick download of the free Nuance iPhone app [iTunes link] from the App Store, I launched the Dragon NaturallySpeaking PC application, and using the connectivity software Bonjour (which is included in iTunes), it automatically paired up with the NaturallySpeaking software on my PC. If you don't wish to install Bonjour, you can enter your computer's IP address, and I tried configuring it that way which worked equally well:

[More from Mashable: Google+ for iOS Awaiting App Store Approval]

Once the software and iPhone were paired, I tapped the icon on the iPhone app and it activated the microphone. After a 5-minute guided training session that amounted to just testing of the microphone, the software was ready to go. I placed the iPhone in my pocket and I could stroll around the room, talking normally as each of my words and commands were immediately typed on the screen. It worked beautifully, with accuracy that was even better than the best wired USB microphone I've been using over the past few years with NaturallySpeaking.

A note about NaturallySpeaking software: It's not for everyone. It works best for people who speak distinctly, and even though it does transcribe quite well even if you utter separate phrases with frequent pauses, it hits its highest accuracy level if you speak in complete sentences. Increasing accuracy further is the ability to train the software by introducing it to documents and emails you've written, and it learns your vocabulary.

While you're training NaturallySpeaking to learn the words and phrases you use most often, the software is training you at the same time. You learn to speak in complete sentences, and even to think in paragraphs. It can even have a profound effect on your writing style, making it more conversational. I use it for everything I write. In fact, I wrote most of an 70,000 word book with Dragon, where I hardly typed a single character. I noticed after I'd used it for a few years that its accuracy is pushing 99%. It's just uncanny.

Beyond that iPhone Microphone trick, version 11.5 is packed with small upgrades throughout the interface, including new commands that work with Facebook and Twitter. For example, you can say "tweet," after which it opens a box on your desktop like this:

Then, whatever you say after that is typed into the box. Say "OK", and NaturallySpeaking sends what you just uttered to your Twitter account. It works similarly for Facebook. It's a kick, and it's a huge productivity enhancer on all fronts.

To use this iPhone remote mic app, you must purchase the premium version (or above, and as I mentioned, the Mac version is not available yet) of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, $179.99 for the software download, or $199.99 for the boxed version. It's worth it -- I think this technology is excellent, bordering on miraculous. If you have an iPhone and can't type as quickly as you can talk, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 might be the best $179.99 you've ever spent.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Amazon wants voters to decide on tax collection (AP)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 08:56 PM PDT

By RACHEL METZ, AP Technology Writer Rachel Metz, Ap Technology Writer – 14 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – Amazon.com Inc. wants California voters to decide whether to overturn a new law that forces online retailers to collect sales taxes there, setting the stage for a potentially high-dollar ballot fight next year that would pit business against business.

A petition for a referendum was filed Friday with the state Attorney General's Office so that voters can decide on the requirement, which was included in a state budget signed into law in late June.

The new law forces online retailers to collect California sales taxes by expanding the definition of having a physical presence in the state. The requirement now kicks in if an online retailer has a related company, such as a marketing or product-development arm, or affiliates in the state — individuals and companies that earn commissions by referring visitors to Amazon from their websites.

Passage of the law, which is projected to help the state collect an additional $200 million annually, adds California to a growing list of states that have turned to such measures in hopes of bringing in more tax revenue. Its legislature passed a similar law in 2009, but then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.

Billions of dollars are at stake as a growing number of states look for ways to generate more revenue without violating a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits them from forcing businesses to collect sales taxes unless the business has a physical presence, such as a store, in that state. When consumers order from out-of-state retailers, they're supposed to pay the tax that is due, but they rarely do and it's difficult to enforce.

States are trying to get around the Supreme Court restriction by passing laws that broaden the definition of a physical presence. Online retailers, meanwhile, are resisting being deputized as tax collectors.

Amazon had thousands of affiliates in California, which received fees varying from 4 percent to 15 percent of each sale they brought to the company. Amazon, which is based in Seattle, cut ties with them after the law's passage.

Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of public policy, said the referendum supports "jobs and investment in California."

"At a time when businesses are leaving California, it is important to enact policies that attract and encourage business, not drive it away," he said.

To bring the measure before Californians in the next statewide vote in February 2012, Amazon must gather more than 500,000 signatures by late September.

Assemblyman Charles Calderon, who introduced one of the bills that was combined into the online tax measure, called Amazon's decision "an odd tactic." The Whittier-based Democrat said the ballot approach also will face opposition from California businesses large and small that are hurt by out-of-state competitors who don't collect the taxes.

"They're willing to go through all of that rather than just collect the state tax and remit it?" Calderon said. "It shows how much they are committed to their business plan, which is centered around tax avoidance, and that's the whole reason for the bills."

Efforts to force online retailers to collect sales tax are supported by traditional retailers and their lobbying arms in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento. They say online companies such as Amazon have an unfair advantage and can lure customers who seek to escape paying state and local sales taxes.

That led to an estimated $4.1 billion in lost sales in California in 2010, the California Retailers Association said Monday in a statement responding to Amazon's planned ballot initiative.

In addition to Amazon, Overstock.com Inc. also has cut ties to California affiliates because of the law.

According to the Performance Marketing Association, there are 200,000 affiliates across the country, 25,000 of which are located in California.

Amazon also has dropped affiliates in Arkansas, Connecticut and Illinois after similar sales-tax collection laws were passed there. Overstock, which is based in Salt Lake City, also has shuttered its affiliate programs in several states due to the laws.

Amazon does collect sales taxes in North Dakota, Kansas, Kentucky and its home state of Washington. It collects in New York, too, as it fights the state over a 2008 law, the first to consider local affiliates enough of an in-state presence to require sales tax collection.

____

Associated Press writer Adam Weintraub in Sacramento contributed to this report

Amazon seeks ballot measure to undo California tax (Reuters)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 06:34 PM PDT

– 2 hrs 35 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc has taken the first step toward asking California voters to repeal a new law requiring websites that forward shoppers to it to collect sales tax, a spokeswoman for the state's attorney general said on Monday.

The attorney general's office received the petition on Friday and will prepare a title and summary for the initiative, which would require nearly 434,000 voters' signatures to qualify for the ballot, the spokeswoman said.

California's leaders approved the law last month as part of a package of budget bills aimed at closing a roughly $10 billion deficit to balance the state government's books.

States governments are seeking new sources of revenue and growing online retail transactions are attracting their attention.

Seattle-based Amazon had warned it would dump California-based websites that are its affiliates if the law, expected to generate $200 million in revenue, was approved.

Supporters of the law said it would put the affiliates, who had not collected sales tax for business they forwarded to Amazon and other online retailers, on a level playing field with brick-and-mortar retailers.

Website operators who had partnered with online retailers and earned a share of sales from customers forwarded to them said the tax would kill their businesses.

Ken Rockwell, who operates the photography site www.kenrockwell.com in La Jolla, Calif., said online retailers cut ties to him after California's law was approved.

"I'm trying to figure out some other payment scheme," said Rockwell, who has operated his website full-time for seven years. "That business model went away. I've got to look for new business models."

Amazon could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Jim Christie, editing by Bernard Orr)

Philly papers offer Android tablets with paid apps (AP)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 06:16 PM PDT

By KATHY MATHESON, Associated Press Kathy Matheson, Associated Press – 2 hrs 53 mins ago

PHILADELPHIA – The city's two major newspapers said Monday that they will give heavily-discounted Android tablet computers to paid digital subscribers as part of a new venture designed to shore up readership and revenue nearly a year after the publications emerged from bankruptcy.

The pilot project slated for launch in late August will provide about 2,000 tablets to customers who buy long-term subscriptions to The Philadelphia Inquirer or Philadelphia Daily News, according to publisher Greg Osberg.

It's the first time a major U.S. media company will bundle its content with a device, said Osberg, who is also the CEO of Philadelphia Media Network, which owns the papers and their joint website philly.com.

"Somebody needed to step forward and stimulate this market," Osberg said. "There's going to be a tablet explosion in terms of consumer adoption and we wanted to be out in front and learn as much as we can as early as we can."

The initiative comes amid widespread declines in the newspaper industry, which for years has battled decreasing advertising and subscription revenue as readers consume more information online.

Industry watchers were intrigued but skeptical. Bill Grueskin, dean of academic affairs at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, wondered how loyal subscribers would be after being given a device with access to every news source in the world.

"That's not to say that it's a terrible idea. It's an untested one," said Grueskin, lead author of a May report titled, "The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism."

Osberg, a former Newsweek executive, has been pledging online innovations since taking the helm of the papers and website last fall. On Monday, he said the "Project Liberty" initiative would turn "a local media company into a local digital media company," though his analog news conference had no demonstrations of the apps, device or content.

The tablet initiative aims to convert young professionals who are active on philly.com into paid subscribers of digital content, Osberg said in a later interview. The newspapers currently have 35,000 subscribers to Web-based digital editions who pay about $155 a year, he said.

Tablets would be given to those who buy the company's four news apps: two that offer replicas of the papers' print editions, one with additional Inquirer content, and one for philly.com.

Osberg wouldn't disclose the tablet manufacturer or information on the pricing packages, which he said are still being determined. Customers would probably need to buy a one- or two-year subscription to get the computer, he said.

The venture's overall cost to the company would be six figures, he told Adweek in a story posted Monday.

Though the iPad dominates the tablet market, Osberg said the company went with Android so it wouldn't have to share its app revenue and customer metrics with Apple. He noted, though, that the Inquirer will soon launch an iPad app.

Osberg said the tablet initiative does not herald the death of the print product, instead calling it a way to "preserve paid content on any platform that we go forward with."

The biggest question will be whether advertisers will support tablet news apps, said Ken Doctor, an industry analyst with Outsell Inc. He also questioned whether platform-specific apps for iPads and Androids will be replaced by next-generation Web apps, which can work on any device with a browser. The Financial Times launched a Web app last month, Doctor noted.

There is only a small chance that the Philadelphia venture would be a game-changer, said John Morton, an industry analyst and president of Morton Research Inc.

"Like most of the digital initiatives, it will bring probably incremental gains, not wholesale gains," Morton said. "If newspapers are dying by a thousand cuts, they're going to be restored by a thousand incremental advances. This is probably going to be one of them."

Also Monday, Osberg announced the company will launch an in-house incubator for tech start-ups beginning around Labor Day. Four companies will take up residence in the newspapers' headquarters and free space, equipment and mentoring to develop and market new media, mobile and e-commerce technology.

Philadelphia Media Network is a consortium of hedge funds and creditors that bought the newspapers for $139 million at a bankruptcy auction in September.

The company has about 1,750 employees.

EA Scrabble lets iPhone play with Android (AFP)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 05:19 PM PDT

– Mon Jul 11, 8:19 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – US videogame titan Electronic Arts (EA) on Monday released a version of word game Scrabble that people can play together whether they are using Apple devices, Android gadgets, or Facebook.

Scrabble Free broke from the pattern of limiting adversaries to folks using similar operating platforms, such as iPhone versus iPad or Android smartphone versus a tablet computer also running on the Google-backed operating software.

Scrabble Free was available as a no-cost download at Android Marketplace.

"We really are kind of obsessed right now about how to tear down boundaries of entry to some of these games," EA Interactive senior vice president Chip Lange said while providing an early glimpse at the game.

"The vision is to get people into games in a quick, easy way," he added.

EA is expanding its Origin game social network into a hub from which users can play with friends regardless of what kind of gadgets they have, according to Lange.

"Origin is the technology at EA that is focused on connecting everything we do," Lange said.

Scrabble Free connects players "cross-platform" through Origin or Facebook, according to EA.

Twitter apps now number more than a million (Digital Trends)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 07:46 PM PDT

Trevor Mogg Trevor Mogg – 1 hr 24 mins ago

If anyone was ever in any doubt about the growing popularity of Twitter and its so-called ecosystem, then they only have to look at the latest blog entry posted by the social networking company on Monday.

According to the post, there are now more than a million third-party Twitter apps in existence, up from only 150,000 a year ago. The apps are the work of some 750,000 developers from around the world.

“A new app is registered every 1.5 seconds, fueling a spike in ecosystem growth in the areas of analytics, curation and publisher tools,â€

The company explains that these apps “help people understand and make the most of Twitter, whether they’re on the web, on mobile, and even watching television.â€

Mass Relevance gets a mention. This "combed through more than 160,000 Tweets to bring the White House's first Twitter Town Hall to life though real-time content curation and visualization."

Another, Poptweets, "created an addictive iPhone trivia game that challenges players to match Tweets with the famous people who said them."

Radian6 is also acknowledged, a company that "turned its brand monitoring tools into a thriving business and was recently acquired by Salesforce for $326 million."

The post points out that in the last seven months, over $500 million has been invested in the companies making these apps, with more than a billion dollars having been forked out in acquisitions. Twitter itself recently bought TweetDeck for a sum estimated to be in the region of $45 million.

And in a move which could have a big impact on the number of Twitter apps coming to fruition (ie. forget every 1.5 seconds – we could soon be looking at every half a second), the company also announced a Twitter Developer site, "where anyone in the ecosystem can start building with Twitter, connect directly with Twitter team members, exchange ideas with fellow developers, and find all the resources they need to create their own product or business."

However, would-be developers should keep in mind the words of Twitter platform chief Ryan Sarver, who in March warned developers not to create any new apps "that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience."

With so many Twitter apps being made, the biggest challenge must surely be coming up with something attractive and original that people will actually want to use.

Rock musician uses cell phone stickup note in robbery (Reuters)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 03:58 PM PDT

By Zach Howard Zach Howard – Mon Jul 11, 6:58 pm ET

CONWAY, Mass (Reuters) – A musician, using a stickup note posted on his cell phone, robbed a Massachusetts pharmacy of prescription pain pills just hours before his scheduled rock concert, authorities said on Monday.

Michael Todd, 30, a bass player and singer with New York rock band Coheed and Cambria, was arrested Sunday at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, several hours before the group was set to open for headliner Soundgarden.

Prosecutors say Todd went to a Walgreens in nearby Attleboro Sunday afternoon and showed a pharmacy employee a text message on his Blackberry saying he had a bomb and demanding prescription painkillers.

"It is somewhat routine that in robberies, the robber gives a note to the clerk, but obviously this was a little bit more high-tech," said Gregg Miliote, spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.

A frightened employee allegedly then handed over a half-dozen bottles of oxycodone pills, and Todd fled the store, taking a taxi to his parked tour bus outside the hall, said Miliote.

Attleboro police managed to track down Todd after piecing together details from surveillance video at the pharmacy and a witness's description of the taxi, he said.

At his arraignment Monday in Attleboro District Court, Todd was charged with armed robbery and drug possession, Miliote said. Judge Dan O'Shea ordered Todd held on $25,000 cash bail.

"Michael Todd was arrested today on what we consider very serious charges and therefore he will not be finishing up the current tour," said a statement from the band on its Facebook page.

Musician Wes Styles will take on bass duties starting Monday for the remaining dates in Poughkeepsie, New York; Quebec City and Halifax, Canada; it added.

"We are surprised, to say the least, and will address the situation with Michael after the tour. For now, we just want to have a great time out here and finish with some killer shows," the band statement said.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)

A quick look at the Google+ Android app (Appolicious)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 01:30 PM PDT

Courts OK Nortel patent sale to Apple/RIM group (Reuters)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:10 PM PDT

By Tom Hals Tom Hals – Mon Jul 11, 5:10 pm ET

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) – Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Research in Motion Ltd and three other leading tech companies received court approval on Monday to buy wireless patents from bankrupt Nortel Networks Corp for $4.5 billion.

Judges in the United States and Canada approved the sale of 6,000 patents and applications, which fetched three times what some analysts expected from the four-day auction in June.

Nortel Networks Corp filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in January 2009 and courts in the two countries are overseeing the disposal of the company's assets as the former telecommunications giant winds down its operations.

The group of six that won the auction, a collection that bid as Rockstar Bidco LP, also included EMC Corp, Ericsson and Sony Corp.

The auction was "record breaking in terms of this case and in the patent industry generally," Lisa Schweitzer of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, which represents Nortel, told a Delaware Bankruptcy Court hearing.

The auction started with a "stalking horse" bid of $900 million by Google Inc, a company with a relatively small pool of wireless patents in a booming industry increasingly fraught with lawsuits over intellectual property.

The price paid after 19 rounds of bidding indicated the lengths the Apple group was willing to go to thwart the mobile ambitions of Google, according to analysts.

The winning group would likely try to maximize their return on the patents by using them to litigate against others, with Google and its Android mobile phone software first on the list, analysts said.

Also bidding were Intel Corp and RPX Corp, which licenses patents to clients for a fee. Apple initially bid on its own, but partnered with the Rockstar group after round five.

The sale spans wireless, data networking, optical, voice, Internet and semiconductor technologies. The most prized relate to emerging 4G standards such as long-term evolution (LTE).

RECOVERY FOR BONDS?

Several large technology companies such as Verizon Communications Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co objected to the sale. Most objections were resolved by reiterating the sale did not negate licensing agreements involving the patents included in the sale.

Delaware bankruptcy judge Kevin Gross said it would be a "$4.5 billion mistake" not to approve the sale.

The money will become part of the Nortel estate and will eventually be distributed to creditors that range from suppliers to investors holding the company's bonds.

"This is truly a 'wow' transaction," said David Botter of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer Feld LLP, which represents the official committee of creditors.

The transaction is expected to close in about a month, according to Schweitzer.

The Rockstar group got antitrust clearance on June 23 for the transaction. However, the American Antitrust Institute has asked the Justice Department for "an in-depth investigation" into the consortium's patent portfolio purchase.

This sale fetched a higher price than all of Nortel's other asset sales combined. Nortel has now raised almost $8 billion from asset sales.

The July 1 announcement of the auction outcome pushed some of Nortel's bonds above par, indicating traders are speculating the money from the sale could lead to certain bonds being paid in full.

The hearing was held simultaneously by way of a telecast with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, where it was approved by Judge Geoffrey Morawetz. Nortel is based in Mississauga, Ontario.

The case is In re: Nortel Networks Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, No. 09-10138.

(Reporting by Tom Hals; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Mila Kunis accepts Marin's YouTube date request (Reuters)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 04:07 PM PDT

By Tim Kenneally Tim Kenneally – Mon Jul 11, 7:07 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) – Actress Mila Kunis will be joining the Marines in November -- at least for an evening of dinner, dancing and merrymaking.

The "Friends With Benefits" and "Black Swan" star has accepted Sgt. Scott Moore's invitation to attend the Marine Corps Ball in Greenville, North Carolina, on November 18.

Moore is stationed in Afghanistan, but he recently posted a clip on YouTube asking the former "That '70s Show" beauty to attend the soiree with him.

"Hi Mila, I just want to take a moment out of my day to invite you to the Marine Corps Ball with yours truly," Moore's Internet come-on states. "So take a second to think about it and get back to me. All right, bye now."

Kunis' acceptance came by way of an interview with Fox 411, during which her "Friends With Benefits" co-star, Justin Timberlake, mentioned the invite to her.

"Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? You need to do it for your country," Timberlake implored. He then sent a direct message to Moore via YouTube, announcing, "I'm going to work on this, man. This needs to go down."

"I'll go, I'll do it for you," Kunis told Timberlake. "I'll do it."

Verizon Updates Thunderbolt, But LTE iPhone Seen As Far Off (NewsFactor)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 01:37 PM PDT

Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com – Mon Jul 11, 4:37 pm ET

Days after setting new price plans for data, Verizon Wireless announced the first software update for the flagship of its 4G-capable smartphones, HTC's Thunderbolt.

The power-packed Android-powered Thunderbolt, with a 4.3-inch display and one-gigahertz processor, will receive improvements to data connectivity, call history view, power cycling, Bluetooth discovery and app menu. The smartphone, which uses Verizon's new long-term evolution network, will also gain people search as well as backup assistant in the All Apps menu, among other improvements.

Hold All Calls

The over-the-air update takes 12 to 15 minutes to download once users receive a notification from Verizon, followed by another seven to 10 minutes for installation, during which time the phone won't be able to send or receive calls. The update won't be available while a Thunderbolt is roaming, unless it is switched to wi-fi mode.

The Thunderbolt was Verizon Wireless's first LTE smartphone, launched in March at a steep price of $249.99, with two added incentives: Unlimited data for $29.99 and free free wi-fi tethering of up to eight other devices. But both those promotional perks have now been phased out.

Last week Verizon announced that the data plan rates for new customers using both 3G or LTE phones will be $30 for two gigabytes, $50 for five gigabytes and $80 for 10 gigabytes, with $20 added on for two gigabytes of tethering, and $10 per gigabyte of overage.

But don't expect an LTE-ready iPhone from Apple soon, if researcher's at IHS iSuppli Market Research estimates are correct.

LTE iPhone Seen Costing More

The firm's teardown of the Thunderbolt suggests that, based on the price of components like the 4G baseband, 4G frequency transceiver and 4G power amplifier module, an LTE iPhone would cost 23 percent more to build than the current CDMA version of the iPhone 4, estimated at $171.35 based on a prior IHS teardown. The basic model iPhone sells for $199.

The teardown suggests that the Thunderbolt cost $39.75 more per unit to build than would a comparable 3G device, and the bill of materials of $262 is more than the current subsidized cost of $249. All Verizon's LTE phones cost more than 3G devices, with the Samsung DROID Charge topping the list at $299, followed by the Thunderbolt and LG Revolution for $249. Motorola's DROID Bionic is due next month at an undisclosed price.

However, iSuppli notes that Apple is not likely to take the same design approach to an LTE phone as HTC, since Qualcomm has developed a new version of its Snapdragon processor that was not available when the Thunderbolt was made. That chip is equipped for three different standards: LTE, HSPA or EVDO.

But with Apple focused on making the iPhone thinner, it may well choose to hold off on LTE rather than add the necessary power and frequency components to make the chip work, iSuppli noted.

Current Analysis wireless analyst William Ho said an LTE iPhone isn't likely until 2012 or 2103, but not necessarily because of the cost.

"LTE chip sets need to be more battery efficient and carriers' LTE footprints need to be more substantial," said Ho.

NCR agrees to acquire Radiant Systems for $1.2B (AP)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 05:03 PM PDT

– Mon Jul 11, 8:03 pm ET

DULUTH, Ga. – Technology company NCR Corp. said Monday that it has agreed to buy Radiant Systems Inc., a company that makes hardware and software systems used to manage restaurants and hotels, for $1.2 billion in cash.

NCR will make a cash tender offer of $28 for every share of Radiant Systems. At that price, the tender offer represents a 28 percent premium over the Friday's closing price of Radiant System's stock at $21.95.

Shares of Radiant Systems, based in Alpharetta, Ga., gained $6.52, or 30.4 percent, to $27.97 in aftermarket trading, after slipping 50 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $21.45 during the regular session before the purchase agreement was announced.

NCR, a maker of cash registers, automated teller machines and other technological devices, saw its stock add 41 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $19.50 in aftermarket trading. The shares fell 36 cents to $19.09 earlier.

The Radiant Systems acquisition is part of NCR's strategy to broaden its mix of software and services. The acquisition will give Duluth, Ga.-based NCR a foothold into the $8 billion hospitality and specialty retail markets.

"Radiant Systems is a logical and strategic extension for NCR, moving us into attractive fast-growth adjacent markets," said NCR Chairman and CEO Bill Nuti in a joint statement.

NCR makes Blockbuster Inc.'s self-service DVD kiosks, and self-service stations for the retail, financial services, travel, health care, hospitality, entertainment and gaming industries.

It also sells technology that allows customers in retail locations to check out without the assistance of a cashier.

NCR said it plans to take advantage of Radiant Systems' established position in quick-service and table-service restaurants, specialty and convenience retailers and entertainment venues by combining Radiant's offerings with its own.

The company estimates that the deal will accelerate its revenue growth and contribute to earnings next year.

NCR said it will create a hospitality and specialty retail market segment to be led by Radiant Systems Chief Operating Officer Andrew Heyman.

It said it will raise about $1.1 billion of new funded debt to finance the transaction.

The tender offer is expected to begin on July 25 and the acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter.

IBM's Watson may soon be answering your customer service calls (Digital Trends)

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 06:32 AM PDT

Andrew Couts Andrew Couts – Mon Jul 11, 9:32 am ET

jeopardywatson

IBM's Watson supercomputer successfully stomped out its human competition, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, during a three-round Jeopardy! battle way back in February. Despite the much-talked-about win, however, the high-powered machine still can't land a good job. According to Hemispheres magazine (the one you flip through on Continental Airlines flights), Watson may soon be tasked with answering customer service calls.

Essentially, Watson's most valuable talent lies in its ability to accurately interpret human speech, then search through massive databases of information to return the correct response to a query. And for retailers looking for a solution to their crappy automated customer service systems, Watson-like technology may have the answer.

On one level, Watson could be attached to customer service lines, so that when customers call with a question, Watson can find a solution. So if, say, your new television suddenly stops working, Watson will be able to tell you why, based upon the information you provide through speaking (as opposed to the infuriating and inefficient number-punching that's commonplace today).

In addition, Watson could be used to help marketing departments more accurately target offers for their products based on the supercomputer's data analysis.

"Retailers are going to jump to the top of the queue for Watson-like technologies because of all the data traffic they generate," says Peter Charness, president of analytics software maker Mathan Systems. When a person searches for products online, or posts information about their commercial purchases, wants and desires on Twitter, that person "generates an unbelievable blizzard of data," says Charness. With Watson's data-crunching abilities at their disposal, marketing departments will be able to deliver coupons, advertisements and deals to consumers that they actually want. Or, in other words, Watson is about to spam you.

(Via Engadget)
at 9:39 PM

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