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Sunday, July 3, 2011

Police in Belarus use tear gas to disperse protest (AP) : Technet

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Police in Belarus use tear gas to disperse protest (AP) : Technet

Police in Belarus use tear gas to disperse protest (AP)

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 11:14 AM PDT

By YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press Yuras Karmanau, Associated Press – Sun Jul 3, 2:14 pm ET

MINSK, Belarus – Police used tear gas to break up an anti-government protest in Belarus and forcefully detained dozens of demonstrators Sunday in the capital.

The authoritarian government had tried to thwart the protest by blocking access to Facebook, Twitter and a major Russian social networking site used by the organizers. The government also deployed thousands of police and secret service agents in central Minsk as an additional deterrent.

But about 700 or 800 people gathered anyway on a central square. Using a new tactic introduced by young activists this summer, they did not hold signs or chant, but instead clapped their hands in unison to show their opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko.

Public discontent is swelling as Belarus experiences its worst financial crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union.

"The U.S.S.R has come back," said Tatyana Segalskaya, a 30-year-old demonstrator. "It is dictatorship in the middle of Europe. People are detained for nothing. The worse the economic concerns are, the tougher repressions become."

Rights group Vesna said more than 200 demonstrators were detained in Minsk, while similar protests were held in at least six other cities.

Lukashenko, appearing earlier Sunday in full military dress, warned that "an escalation of information intervention is under way" in Belarus as part of plans drawn up in "the capitals of separate countries" to bring about a popular revolution.

"We understand that the goal of these attacks is to sow uncertainty and alarm, to destroy social harmony, and in the end to bring us to our knees and bring to naught the achievements of our independence," Lukashenko said in opening a military parade on Independence Day, the anniversary of the end of Nazi occupation in 1944. He wore a military uniform, as did his 6-year-old son.

Belarus is under pressure from Russia and the West. Moscow has been pushing for greater control over the Belarusian economy in exchange for loans to help Lukashenko's government weather the financial turmoil, while the European Union has threatened to expand sanctions imposed on Lukashenko as punishment for his crackdown on the opposition.

For the first time, Russian troops took part in the annual military parade. Russian state television, which broadcasts in Belarus, has supported the Belarusian protesters by showing their rough treatment at the hands of police.

A new opposition group called "Revolution by Social Networks" has held a series of Internet-organized rallies on Wednesday evenings for the past month. The rallies have been held in about 30 cities and have drawn thousands of protesters.

Eager to avoid protests on the national holiday, the government on Saturday began blocking access to the social media sites, including VKontakte, a Russian version of Facebook.

The opposition group appealed to Russian authorities on Sunday to respond to the Belarusian government's interference, activist Vyacheslav Dianov said.

Could an iPad 3 really be on the way this year? (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 01 Jul 2011 06:19 PM PDT

NBA faces $1 million fine for using Facebook or Twitter during lockout (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 01 Jul 2011 06:11 PM PDT

42 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed (Mashable)

Posted: 02 Jul 2011 11:02 AM PDT

Stephanie Buck Stephanie Buck – Sat Jul 2, 2:02 pm ET

No doubt your summer celebrations this weekend will leave you little time to catch up on reading. To help you out, we've compiled a handy roundup of this week's most helpful, informative and inspiring stories. We've celebrated iPhone's birthday, we've pondered celebrity impact on social good, and we've laughed over geeky gadgets. This week Mashable overflowed with engaging content. Find out what you missed!

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Why newspaper publishers embrace Ongo as their iPad app of choice (Appolicious)

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 10:00 AM PDT

Questions over alleged early close of Sony's Welcome Back offer (Digital Trends)

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 08:58 PM PDT

Adam Rosenberg Adam Rosenberg – 24 mins ago

sony-psn-playstation-network

For the past 30 days, PlayStation Network users have had an opportunity to take advantage of the Welcome Back program offered by Sony to thank everyone for their patience during the network downtime following April's security breach. That offer ended today, as the package details originally stated it would. Unfortunately for Sony, some fans are feel that the window closed a little prematurely.

Senior social media manager Jeff Rubenstein fielded some questions on the subject from Gamefly's Garnett Lee over Twitter today (via Joystiq). The language used in the original PlayStation Blog post running through the Welcome Back details apparently gave fans the impression that the deal would be expiring at the end of today.

The FAQ says that "the content offered as part of the Welcome Back Program is available for download [starting June 3] and will be available through July 3." Further down, it goes on to read, "access to the Welcome Back content will be expiring on July 3. Once the date has passed, the Welcome Back section in the PlayStation Store will be removed." (emphasis added)

It's that pesky "once this date has passed" thing that is getting some people riled up. Rubenstein confirmed over Twitter that he's sent queries out for more information, but he makes the not entirely invalid point that the offer has been there, ready and waiting, for a month now. Of course, disgruntled users also rightly point out that "once the date has passed" sets a clear end point for the offer at midnight on July 4, and that Sony hasn't honored its commitment in pulling the content offline before then.

Apple the big winner in consortium's acquisition of Nortel (Digital Trends)

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 08:37 PM PDT

Adam Rosenberg Adam Rosenberg – 25 mins ago

Nortel headquarters Ottowa

The acquisition of Nortel went through last week, with a group of companies that includes Apple, RIM, Microsoft and others paying a total of $4.5 billion for more than 6,000 patents and patent applications covering wireless, 4G, data networking, Internet, voice, optical and semiconductor technologies. Some additional details have emerged from I, Cringely which, if accurate (no source is credited), breaks down exactly who gets what in the patent feeding frenzy.

RIM and Ericsson together put up $1.1 billion, which gets them both "paid up" licenses to the patent portfolio. Microsoft and Sony pitched in another $1 billion, though Cringely makes no mention of what that money paid for specifically. $400 million more came from information storage company EMC, which gets "an unspecificied subset of the Nortel patents."

The biggest contributor is Apple, which put up the remaining $2 billion in exchange for "outright ownership" of Nortel's 4G LTE patents along with a number of other patents that are meant to "hobble" Android. Cringely takes care to note that this acquisition will likely held up in the courts, as Google will almost certainly be filing an anti-trust suit.

Facebook rumored to launch Skype-powered video chat (Digital Trends)

Posted: 02 Jul 2011 09:22 PM PDT

Andrew Couts Andrew Couts – Sun Jul 3, 12:22 am ET

Facebook eventAmidst the intoxicated love-fest over Google+, Facebook is trying to steal back a ray of spotlight with an "awesome" mystery announcement on Wednesday. There is understandably a great deal of speculation surrounding what it might be (check out our round-up here), but there's one possibility that seems to have struck a chord: Skype-powered video chat built directly into Facebook.

That rumor comes from a report by Michael Arrington at TechCrunch, who spoke with "a source with knowledge of the partnership."

"Facebook will launch a new video chat product, powered by Skype, that works in browser," writes Arrington.

On top of the "in browser" aspect, the new video chat service will also have a "desktop component," according to the source, though it's not entirely clear what that means. Though Arrington says that one thing is for certain: "there's very deep integration between the products, and from the user's perspective, the product will be an in browser experience."

The timing of this release is curious, as a big part of Google+, Google's new Facebook competitor, is "Hangout," a built-in group video chat feature that works excellently. If video chat is Facebook's big news, it better hope that whatever it releases blows the pants off Hangouts, otherwise it'll only be a matter of moments before people start declaring Facebook behind-the-times.

That said, there's a good chance such a service would work excellently — Skype and Facebook are at the top of their games, with 170 million people on Skype and 750 million on Facebook. Google+ can't compete with those numbers — even if it were to open the floodgates of its walled social network city right now, and let everybody who wants to join come in.

Regardless of what Facebook plans to announce, its even will take place on Wednesday at 10am PST/1pm EST. Watch the "Product Announcement" event live here.

P.S. If it seems as though the only things happening in the world of tech this weekend are related to either grilling and fireworks or Google and Facebook, it's because they are. And we're sorry.

Case for Sprint shares weakens: Barron's (Reuters)

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 08:52 AM PDT

– Sun Jul 3, 11:52 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The case for buying shares of wireless company Sprint Nextel Corp is weakening as the company faces tough choices about upgrading its network, Barron's reported in its latest issue.

The magazine said investors were anxious about what path Sprint would choose to upgrade its network to next-generation speeds -- either spending more on an existing deal with Clearwire Corp or entering into a deal with someone like privately held LightSquared.

Investors may get out of the stock, Barron's said, if the company takes on much more debt or chooses an upgrade path that eats into future profitability.

Sprint shares closed at $5.43 on Friday. They are down about 8 percent over the last month, but still up more than 28 percent this year.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

IVONA takes the robotic voice out of Android’s speaking apps (Appolicious)

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 12:00 PM PDT

HTC myTouch, Samsung Conquer and Galaxy Tab 10.1 lead Android 4G devices (Appolicious)

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 08:00 AM PDT

Tiny Camcorder Takes Wild Rides Aboard Exploding Fireworks [VIDEO] (Mashable)

Posted: 02 Jul 2011 05:43 AM PDT

Charlie White Charlie White – Sat Jul 2, 8:43 am ET




You'll probably be seeing lots of fireworks this weekend, but you won't be experiencing them from this perspective, shot with a tiny spy camera strapped onto the fireworks themselves. Videographer Jeremiah Warren used an 808 #11 spy camera similar to the one pictured below. Despite its small stature (it's a mere 2.6 inches long and 1.4 inches wide), the $120 camcorder can shoot and record HD in 720p:

[More from Mashable: GoDaddy Sold for $2.25 Billion]

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The 19-year-old Jeremiah's only regret? "I was going to mount fins on the [rockets] to stabilize them, but by the time I got the idea I already shot through my supply, and when I went to get more they had put a ban on fireworks sales," he says.

This is not all Jeremiah does with his video and special effects talent. Check out his YouTube channel here.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

at 9:40 PM

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