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Friday, July 15, 2011

Zillow raises IPO expected price range (AP) : Technet

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Zillow raises IPO expected price range (AP) : Technet

Zillow raises IPO expected price range (AP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 12:53 PM PDT

– Fri Jul 15, 3:53 pm ET

NEW YORK – Real estate listing and information service Zillow Inc. said Friday it now hopes to raise up to $71.6 million through an initial public offering, up from its original expectation of as much as $55.7 million.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Seattle company said it expects to offer about 3.5 million shares at between $16 and $18 apiece. It's giving underwriters the option to buy up to an additional 519,300 shares to cover any over-allotments. Zillow plans to use the funds for general corporate purposes, including a possible acquisition.

No date has been set for the offering, but the company expects to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "Z."

Zillow was founded in 2004 and launched its website in 2006. It has since also rolled out applications for accessing its content through mobile devices.

The company holds data on more than 100 million U.S. homes and provides listings for homes for sale and rent. It also features a mortgage marketplace where users can solicit mortgage quotes.

But the portal is best known for its "Zestimate," a proprietary home-valuation model it uses to provide an estimate for property values on more than 70 million U.S. homes.

Zillow makes money from real estate and mortgage brokers' subscription fees and advertising.

In the first quarter, Zillow lost narrowed to $826,000 from $2.8 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue doubled to $11.3 million. Zillow lost $6.8 million in 2010, although revenue jumped 74 percent to $30.5 million from 2009.

SKorean lawyer wages privacy fight against Apple (AP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 04:29 AM PDT

By KELLY OLSEN, AP Business Writer Kelly Olsen, Ap Business Writer – Fri Jul 15, 7:29 am ET

SEOUL, South Korea – A South Korean lawyer who is an avid user of the iPhone is waging a privacy battle against Apple Inc. over the device's tracking capabilities.

Kim Hyeong-seok said Friday he has gotten at least 16,000 people in South Korea to join him in a class-action lawsuit he plans to file against the company in a Seoul court in early August.

The 36-year-old international trade and business attorney has already gotten Apple's Korean unit to pay him 1 million won ($945) over a lawsuit he took to a regional South Korean court in April.

His complaint was that the iPhone's tracking of users' locations violated South Korea's constitutional right to privacy and also caused him "mental stress."

That hasn't stopped him from continuing to use his iPhone 4 as well as an iPad.

"I like Apple," Kim said in a phone interview from his office in the city of Changwon, located about 240 miles (380 kilometers) southeast of Seoul.

In fact, Kim says he is afflicted with "Apple mania."

But he adds his legal fight is about "right or wrong."

Apple spokesman Steve Park in Seoul could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kim said that he plans to file the class-action lawsuit in Seoul sometime during the first three days of August and that the targets will be both Apple Korea as well as Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc.

The suit will seek 1 million won in damages for each participant, he said.

Kim's fight comes as the iPhone has shaken up the South Korean mobile phone market since it went on sale in November 2009.

The phone has unleashed a smartphone war and prompted local companies Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. to raise their games. Samsung has challenged the iPhone with its Galaxy line of Android-based smartphones while LG has been pushing its Optimus line.

Kim began his legal fight in April after reading that iPhones could store data which could potentially be used to track the movements of users.

He filed a lawsuit in the local Changwon District Court seeking damages.

Kim said the court ruled in his favor in May and awarded him the monetary damage he sought. The company did not contest the ruling and Apple Korea paid the money on June 27, Kim said.

A Changwon District Court spokesman confirmed the ruling and payment.

Kim said he believes the payment was the first Apple has made anywhere in the world regarding the tracking issue, which surfaced in April. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported it was the first in South Korea.

Apple admitted that iPhones were storing the locations of nearby cellphone towers and Wi-Fi hot spots for up to a year. Such data can be used to create a rough map of the device owner's movements.

Apple also faces another legal challenge in South Korea.

A total of 29 iPhone users filed a class-action lawsuit over the tracking issue in late April, Yonhap news agency reported.

__

Associated Press writer May Cho contributed to this report.

Surgeons use Kinect for smoother, quicker operations (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 07:15 PM PDT

New wristband tracks your every move in the name of health (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 07:10 PM PDT

Google News Now Awards Badges To Voracious Readers [VIDEO] (Mashable)

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 06:26 PM PDT

Charlie White Charlie White – Thu Jul 14, 9:26 pm ET



Now you can get badges for reading Google News. The company is offering a variety of 500 different emblems, each one for a particular topic.

[More from Mashable: What Features Do You Want Google to Add to Google+? [OPEN THREAD]]

As you become more well-read, you'll get a star added to the badge for that topic. There are five different levels of the stars, starting with a bronze star, and as you read more articles you receive a silver, gold, platinum and the coveted blue ultimate star.

Goofy? Maybe, but as you can see in the video, there is a method to this madness. According to the Google Blog, you can keep all this badge mania to yourself by default, or you can brag about it to others, showing off what an newshound you are, and perhaps stimulating social interaction between you and others with like interests around the Google+ sphere.

[More from Mashable: 1 in 10 Pets Have a Social Networking Profile [STUDY]]

The badges are interactive, too -- if you hover over one and click "add section," you'll get more article choices for your chosen topic. Beta-happy Google says that's not all, calling this a "bronze release," and adding that "once we see how badges are used and shared, we look forward to taking this feature to the next level."

To use the new feature, Google News Help shows you how. To make it all work, you must have your web history enabled, and it registers both desktop and mobile clicks.

We can see how it might be helpful for your Google News page to keep track of which types of articles you're reading, making it easier for you to further customize your personal Google News site. We have badges here at Mashable for using our Follow social layer, and we like them.

What about on Google News, though? Does this matter? Is it important to show yourself how much you've read, or have proof of same to lord over others? Or is this just a non-compensated loyalty program that benefits Google the most?

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Oracle targets Larry Page in Google patent lawsuit (AFP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 03:03 PM PDT

– Fri Jul 15, 6:03 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Oracle is asking a US judge to order Google co-founder Larry Page to undergo questioning in a patent suit pitting the business software titan against the Internet giant.

"(Page) reportedly made the decision to acquire Android Inc., and thereby develop and launch the platform that Oracle now contends infringes its patents and copyrights," Oracle lawyers said in a letter to the court.

"Oracle believes that Mr. Page's testimony will likely be relevant with respect to a number of other key issues in this case as well, including the value of the infringement to Google," the letter continued.

Oracle pointed out to US Judge Donna Ryu that Google has asked to depose its chief executive, Larry Ellison, in the case.

Oracle is accusing Google's Android software of infringing on Java computer programming language patents held by Oracle stemming from its recent purchase of Java inventor Sun Microsystems.

Google has denied the patent infringement claims and said it believes mobile phone makers and other users of its open-source Android operating system are entitled to use the Java technology in dispute.

Oracle already deposed Google senior vice president of mobile Andy Rubin, a co-founder of the Android startup that Google bought in 2005.

Google opposes the bid to question Page and three other current or former executives in the final weeks of the discovery process, arguing that Oracle was "gnashing its teeth with an eleventh-hour attempt to cram" in more depositions.

Page could wind up testifying, given a notice by District Court Judge William Alsup that he intends to dig into whether Google opted to infringe on Sun patents to avoid the cost of licensing the technology.

"It appears possible that early on Google recognized that it would infringe patents protecting at least part of Java, entered into negotiations with Sun to obtain a license for use in Android, then abandoned the negotiations as too expensive, and pushed home with Android without any license at all," Alsup said Tuesday in court documents.

Alsup advised Oracle and Google to be prepared to address the issue at a hearing in US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.

Google has maintained that Sun, before it was acquired by Oracle, had declared that Java would be open-source, allowing any software developer to use it, and released some of its source code in 2006 and 2007.

Oracle completed its acquisition of Sun, a one-time Silicon Valley star, in January of 2010 and subsequently filed suit against Google.

Google-backed Android software is used in an array of devices that have been gaining ground in the hotly competitive global smartphone and tablet markets.

U.S., Romania arrest more than 100 for cyber scams (Reuters)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 01:00 PM PDT

– Fri Jul 15, 4:00 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and Romanian police have arrested more than 100 people in a year-long effort to stop Internet fraud schemes that have cost Americans more than $100 million, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.

Romanian police carried out 117 raids on Friday, the Justice Department said. They arrested 90 people in sweeps in nine cities, the BBC reported.

The schemes worked like this: Romanians posing as U.S. citizens would advertise on Craigslist or eBay websites that they were selling a car or boat or other expensive item, and offer delivery if the seller wired money to them.

Once the money was sent, people called "arrows" would retrieve it, often using faked identities.

"They would subsequently wire the funds overseas, typically to individuals in Romania, minus a percentage kept for their commissions," the Justice Department said.

Police have arrested "arrows" or money mules in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas in the past 18 months.

Most are charged with wire fraud or related charges. Several have pleaded guilty.

This type of fraud -- failure to deliver promised merchandise in Internet sales - was the most common form of Internet fraud last year, according to FBI data in the 2010 Internet Crime Report.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Apple wins patent ruling; HTC will fight (Digital Trends)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 07:48 PM PDT

Trevor Mogg Trevor Mogg – 1 hr 54 mins ago

Apple-gavel-antitrust-governement-lawsAn International Trade Commission judge made a preliminary ruling on Friday that HTC, the Taiwanese Android-based handset maker, had infringed on two Apple patents. One relates to data detection technology used in e-mail and text messages. The other concerns a data-transmission system. Ten patents were looked at by the judge.

According to a Bloomberg report, the ruling is not final and will be reviewed by the full commission at a later date.

HTC's Grace Lei was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the company will "vigorously fight these two remaining patents through an appeal before the ITC commissioners who make the final decision."

Apple will be hoping the commission upholds the decision, for it could mean an import ban on several HTC products (including the new Flyer tablet) that run on the Android OS.

Apple's gripe is that its smartphone rivals have been infringing on its technology in areas such as interface, hardware and architecture.

Last year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made the company's feelings regarding possible infringements abundantly clear when he said, "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it."

Since then Apple lawyers have been busy doing something about it, bringing patent-infringement suits against not only HTC, but also other electronics giants such as Samsung and Nokia.

Google's Android operating system for mobile devices is clearly holding its own against Apple's iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad, with a report this week showing it to be the most popular mobile operating system in the US for the seventh month in a row. Apple's iOS was in second place. Regarding actual devices, Apple's iPhone 4 remains the biggest seller.

Sony Ericsson (Investor's Business Daily)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 03:23 PM PDT

– Fri Jul 15, 6:23 pm ET

Sony Ericsson, the mobile phone maker and joint venture of Sony (NYSE:SNE - News) and LM Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC - News), said it lost $71 mil in Q2. Net sales were $1.7 bil. Sony Ericsson said the March 11 Japan quake disrupted its supply chain, with mobile phone shipments falling 31%.

LinkedIn upgrades profiles for recent college graduates (Digital Trends)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 09:04 PM PDT

Mike Flacy Mike Flacy – 37 mins ago

Graduates in Cap and GownIn an official blog post today, LinkedIn announced upgraded profile pages to help college graduates and current students stand out from the crowd of job hunters. The upgrade adds specific sections for accomplishments that hiring managers and recruiters can use to find more targeted employees for entry-level positions. This helps a student without an extensive work history or recommendations from previous employers.

college-student-studyAccomplishments include projects, awards, organizations, test scores and courses.  Projects could contain anything from recent group projects to extensive research that's related to a desired field. Honors and awards comprise accolades like landing on the Dean's list for a semester or graduating summa cum laude. Organizations include on-campus groups, likely academic, and external groups like volunteering for community service. Test scores include an amazing GPA or standardized test scores like the LSAT for students going into law. Course work includes specific courses taken as well as professors. If a hiring  manager can connect with a shared experience, like taking the same course from a specific professor, a potential employee has an advantage on the competition.

Students or recent graduates can also rearrange this new content on the revamped profile page to highlight the strongest qualities first. This revision to profiles by LinkedIn comes at a time of bleak prospects for 2011 graduates. According to a recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor, unemployment rates for recent graduates jumped from 7.1 percent in May 2011 to 12.1 percent in June 2011. While this spike is always attributed to graduation timing, the increase in 2010 was only 3 percent.

One and a half million 2011 graduates are also competing with the jobless graduates of the previous years. More graduates are forced to rely on temporary part-time and freelance work during economic recovery. Over June, only 18,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy, a figure far lower than the 125,000 jobs required to keep up with U.S. population growth.

Apple software update thwarts iPhone-iPad hack (AFP)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 03:13 PM PDT

– Fri Jul 15, 6:13 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Apple on Friday released a software update to patch a vulnerability that hackers could use to break into the company's popular iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch gadgets.

The flaw made it possible for hackers to infiltrate Apple mobile devices by duping users into opening PDF document files booby-trapped with malicious computer code.

Although no attacks have been observed, it was feared that hackers would exploit the weakness.

The update to iOS software running Apple mobile gadgets fortified defenses. The update was available free at Apple's online iTunes shop.

Patience running thin as iOS app developers flock to Android (Appolicious)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:30 PM PDT

Apple taps new chip supplier (Investor's Business Daily)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 03:21 PM PDT

– Fri Jul 15, 6:21 pm ET

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has started making a trial run of chips for new Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - News) mobile devices, a source told Reuters, signaling reduced dependence on longtime supplier and emerging rival Samsung, which is taking on the iPhone and iPad with its own products. Apple and Samsung are also locked in a patent dispute. Apple hasn't placed a formal order with the Taiwanese company, but the contract chipmaker is seen ready to accept one. Apple rose 2% to 364.92.

Apple fixes security flaw in iPhone, iPad software (Reuters)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 12:37 PM PDT

– Fri Jul 15, 3:37 pm ET

BOSTON (Reuters) – Apple Inc has plugged a hole in the software that runs iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch music players that could allow hackers to take remote control of those devices.

The security flaw came to light nine days ago as the website www.jailbreakme.com released code that Apple customers can use to modify the iOS operating system that runs those devices through a process known as "jail breaking."

Some Apple customers choose to jail break their devices so they can download and run applications that are not approved by Apple or use iPhone phones on networks of carriers that are not approved by Apple.

The jailbreaking code exploited a vulnerability in iOS that had not previously been disclosed. Its release gave criminal hackers a blueprint they could use to build malicious software that would exploit the vulnerability.

Now that the security patch has been released, Apple customers will be protected against any such malware as long as they install the software updates on their equipment.

Security flaw in iOS software have the potential to affect millions of devices that are at the core of Apple's business.

Apple has sold 25 million iPads since it launched last year. The company sold over 18 million of its popular iPhones in just the first three months of the year.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle, editing by Bernard Orr)

Fans Wonder if Apple Just Leaked a New Product on Its Own Website (The Atlantic Wire)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:59 PM PDT

Adam Clark Estes Adam Clark Estes – Fri Jul 15, 5:59 pm ET

Everybody got upset a couple of weeks ago when Apple released their fancy new Thunderbolt cable. First of all, people didn't understand why it took the company four months after announcing the new blazing fast connectivity standard just to release a cable. Second, Steve Jobs was charging a whopping $50 for the cable. And third, Apple didn't even make anything you could plug it into! 

Related: 6 Angry Reactions to Apple's Bizarre iPhone 4 Apology

The furrowed-brow Apple fanboys must have cheered when for some odd reason, Apple posted some stray photos of a new display that uses the Thunderbolt technology. MacRumors found the images on Friday morning and pointed out how previous rumors about updates to the MacBook Pro line were apparently false. A tipster found a stray image of a new display model--as evidenced by the OSX Lion background--and quickly found several more that showed a laptop and what may be a new Mac Mini model connected to the display. It's out of character for the company to leak any information, of course.

Related: Apple's Secrecy Comes Back to Bite

In any event, the conversation quickly shifted to a different shiny new product. On Friday afternoon, Apple had updated the online Apple store to include new Thunderbolt-enabled iMacs with new processors, an HD FaceTime camera and faster graphics. There's still no mention of the new display, besides the pictures.

Related: The Fallout from Foxconn's Deadly Explosion

Related: 5 Months Later, I Was Wrong About the iPad

 

Related: Another Apple Leak in Vietnam: New iPod Touch Revealed?

Want to add to this story? Open Wire.

Apple Preps Mobile App Volume Purchasing Program (NewsFactor)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 12:52 PM PDT

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Mark Long, newsfactor.com – Fri Jul 15, 3:52 pm ET

Apple is introducing a new volume purchase program for mobile applications that promises to give IT departments a streamlined method for securely acquiring and deploying business-to-business (B2B) software across the iPhones and iPads throughout their organizations. Though Apple's mobile app sales only currently account for about one percent of revenue, the new program is expected to help boost Apple's app sales right across large U.S. enterprises, government agencies and organizations.

Moreover, Apple's new bulk app strategy may help the company quickly build the same level of brand loyalty within the U.S. enterprise space that the iconic device maker already enjoys among consumers. According to a recent survey conducted by Futuresource Consulting, 54 percent of iPhone owners in the U.S. and U.K. indicated their commitment to the Apple brand because of their desire to retain the mobile apps they have come to depend upon.

There are about 425,000 apps currently available from the Apple App Store versus about 200,000 in the Android Market, according to Piper Jaffray. "The App Store brings new features to Apple's iOS devices and creates a virtuous cycle driving sales of iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches," Piper Jaffray analysts Gene Munster and Andrew Murphy explained.

Secure Purchasing and Management

To help boost enterprise adoption, Apple plans to offer business-to-business apps that are customized to meet the individual needs of enterprise-class customers. For example, Apple said it intends to work with its third-party developers and business partners to address the individual interface and business process requirements of large organizations, as well as offer full compatibility with their unique back-office environments.

What's more, IT departments will be able to control which workers become activated by providing app redemption codes in an e-mail or from an internally hosted web site. And Apple noted that 19 third-party mobile device management (MDM) platforms are currently available to assist IT administrators with redemption code management.

The available MDM offerings will give IT administrators the ability to wirelessly configure and update device settings, as well as monitor device compliance with corporate policies. Additionally, IT departments will be able to remotely wipe or lock any managed device from a single centralized location.

To enroll in the new program -- which Apple said is "coming soon" -- companies will need to submit their Dun & Bradstreet number, together with their main office address and contact information. Thereafter, approved clients will be able to purchase mobile apps in bulk by completing their secure transactions through the use of a corporate credit card.

A Steep Climb for Rivals

Piper Jaffray estimates that the number of mobile app downloads per iOS device will increase 61 percent this year, versus the five percent annual increase that Apple recorded in 2010. "We see this as evidence of the increasing importance of the App Store in the device-buying decision," Munster and Murphy explained.

Apple's immense number of iOS apps will make it that much harder for mobile rivals such as Research In Motion to make any headway once the BlackBerry maker finally introduces a new mobile OS next year. The BlackBerry maker's growth has already stalled -- even as the sale of mobile devices based on iOS and Android soared in the first half of this year, according to Piper Jaffray.

RIM's Torch and Storm touchscreen offerings currently lack the same key features of the iPhone and Android, but these hardware shortcomings aren't the only reason why RIM's sales have stalled. "I think it could equally be attributed to hardware features as well as the weaker app ecosystem," Murphy said.

OpenOffice Gets IBM Boost (PC Magazine)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 08:56 AM PDT

John C. Dvorak - PC Magazine John C. Dvorak - Pc Magazine – Fri Jul 15, 11:56 am ET

It's curious how the recent OpenOffice saga has been downplayed by much of the media covering technology, but it seems pretty important to me. OpenOffice and LibreOffice are the two primary office suites available today that are both free and complete. There are others, too, but OpenOffice is the dominant suite, and LibreOffice is a fork of the OpenOffice code.

The fork, which is a common phenomenon in open-source projects, was expected by many to supersede OpenOffice, but two things happened. First Oracle, who owned OpenOffice as part of the Sun takeover, wasn't interested in maintaining what is essentially a labor of love, so it gave the whole thing to the Apache Foundation. Then this week IBM decided it wanted OpenOffice to stick around, so it handed over its entire Lotus Symphony Suite to the group and told them to use whatever they wanted.

The Lotus Symphony Suite is a nice product, although it was marketed and sold in a haphazard manner, leaving the market for commercial office suites to Microsoft. This new development changes everything, especially for Microsoft.

Then again, it doesn't really change much if nobody knows about any of this. The way I see it: Within the next 12 months, OpenOffice should be every bit as good as Microsoft Office and cost nothing to download and implement.

While I doubt that OpenOffice will ever get better than Microsoft Office, I cannot imagine OpenOffice not being at the top of the list for consideration within cash-strapped government agencies and corporations looking to save money.

I think it is going to be difficult for agencies that are spending a fortune to use Microsoft Office to forever rationalize spending any money at all for a word processor or spreadsheet program. The big gotcha with Microsoft Word seems to be backward compatibility with marked-up documents that need to maintain an audit trail of changes. I'm not sure how this will shake-out with OpenOffice Writer, but if that can be resolved somehow, then Microsoft Office is dead.

This also goes for Google Docs. Google has been trying to penetrate government and corporations with various deals for them to drop Microsoft and use Google Docs while paying for some sort of service contract. The corporate IT guys should be able to easily support OpenOffice, utilizing IRC assets and other mechanisms. OpenOffice has got to be one of the greatest money-savers of all time.

To make matters worse for the competition, IBM says it will do further development work on its Symphony code to bolster OpenOffice in the future. This is a huge benefit.

The big winners in all this are the users, especially the ones who cannot afford the Microsoft products and do not want to use an online, "cloud" clone and its associated hassles.

If IBM would release code that could be used to develop a Windows clone or could further bolster Linux, that would be great, too. But what would be even more outstanding would be if IBM started working with one of the major distribution companies, such as Ubuntu, and blew in all the OS/2 code with its superior multitasking algorithms.

I've been a big advocate of turning OS/2 into open source for years, and the time is now. In fact, IBM has a lot of code that's getting stale, and it should give it away while it still has value.
at 9:54 PM

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