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Cellphones blocked in SF to hinder transit protest (AP) : Technet |
- Cellphones blocked in SF to hinder transit protest (AP)
- Dutch politicians question LinkedIn advertising (AP)
- Tecca TV: TechLife on iPad ninjas, the world’s tallest tower, how we’re all aliens, and more (Yahoo! News)
- Robo roaches dance to Gaga, not born this way (Yahoo! News)
- "GoldenEye Reloaded" Video Game is Nostalgic Fun [Hands-On] (Mashable)
- Google Remains Ahead of Bing, But Relevance Drops (NewsFactor)
- $25 billion Groupon valuation "very high": analyst (Reuters)
- S.F. BART snuffs cell phone service in anticipation of police protests (Digital Trends)
- Sprint pulling 4G BlackBerry Playbook (Digital Trends)
- Netlog violates Facebook's policies and gets banned (Digital Trends)
- EA forcing Origin client on PC gamers that purchase retail copies of Battlefield 3 (Digital Trends)
- The next wave of food-finding apps (Appolicious)
- Security expert warns hackers can attack Android (Reuters)
- YouTube sensation Rebecca Black bullied at school, starts homeschooling (Digital Trends)
- Giant iPhone table features working camera, buttons (Yahoo! News)
- Correction: Digital Life-Tech Test-Camera Phone (AP)
- New iPhone May Cut Costs with iCloud Data Storage (NewsFactor)
| Cellphones blocked in SF to hinder transit protest (AP) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 09:21 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – Transit officials said Friday that they blocked cellphone reception in San Francisco train stations for three hours to disrupt planned demonstrations over a police shooting. Officials with the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, better known as BART, said they turned off electricity to cellular towers in four stations from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. The move was made after BART learned that protesters planned to use mobile devices to coordinate a demonstration on train platforms. "A civil disturbance during commute times at busy downtown San Francisco stations could lead to platform overcrowding and unsafe conditions for BART customers, employees and demonstrators," BART officials said in a prepared statement. The statement noted that it's illegal to demonstrate on the platform or aboard the trains. BART said it has set aside special areas for demonstrations. The American Civil Liberties Union questioned the tactic. "Shutting down access to mobile phones is the wrong response to political protests," the ACLU's Rebecca Farmer said in a blog post. The Electronic Frontier Foundation said on its website that "BART officials are showing themselves to be of a mind with the former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak." Mubarak's regime cut Internet and cellphone services in the country for days early this year while trying to squelch protests demanding an end to his authoritarian rule. BART officials were confident the cellphone disruptions were legal. The demonstration planned Thursday failed to develop. "We had a commute that was safe and without disruption," said BART spokesman Jim Allison. The demonstrators were protesting the July 3 shooting of Charles Blair Hill by BART police who claimed Hill came at them with a knife. A July 11 demonstration disrupted service during the rush-hour commute, prompting the closing of BART's Civic Center station. Several arrests were made. |
| Dutch politicians question LinkedIn advertising (AP) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 12:26 PM PDT AMSTERDAM – Social networking site LinkedIn says it will alter an advertising technique, following criticism and questions in the Netherlands about whether it violated privacy laws. LinkedIn has been testing "social ads" since June. Some attach users' photos to ads for services they have shown an interest in, then broadcast them to other members of their networks. Dutch lawmaker Jeroen Recourt asked the justice minister this week to investigate whether it is legal in the Netherlands. The company said on its website Friday that reaction from users was "loud and clear" and it will stop using user photos in ads. The Dutch are the heaviest users of LinkedIn per capita, though there are more United States users in absolute terms. |
| Posted: 12 Aug 2011 05:42 PM PDT |
| Robo roaches dance to Gaga, not born this way (Yahoo! News) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 05:34 PM PDT |
| "GoldenEye Reloaded" Video Game is Nostalgic Fun [Hands-On] (Mashable) Posted: 11 Aug 2011 06:49 PM PDT James Bond fans jonesing for some suave British espionage will be getting a (sort of) brand new GoldenEye this fall. Mashable got some hands-on time with an alpha build of GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, Activision's new first-person shooter video game based on the historic franchise. Historic? You bet -- the original GoldenEye game for Nintendo 64 is largely credited with defining the modern first-person shooter video game. It's a heck of a title to live up to, and one that Activision did when it released GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo Wii. Reloaded is an update of the Wii game for PS3 and Xbox 360, adding new features and killer graphics. [More from Mashable: Review: Two Blood Pressure Monitors for iPhone & iPad [VIDEO]]
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| Google Remains Ahead of Bing, But Relevance Drops (NewsFactor) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 02:04 PM PDT According to an Experian Hitwise report released Thursday, Google accounted for just more than 66 percent of searches conducted by the 10 million U.S. Internet users sampled during a four-week period last month. Microsoft's Bing-powered searches comprised 28.05 percent of the sample, of which 14.49 percent were from Yahoo Search. More than 81.36 percent of the searches in Yahoo Search resulted in a visit to a web site, with Bing a close second at 80.6 percent. By contrast, Google's success rate was significantly lower at 67.6 percent. "The share of unsuccessful searches highlights the opportunity for both the search engines and marketers to evaluate the search-engine result pages to ensure that searchers are finding relevant information," Experian said. Following False Trails Google's lagging search success rate may be due in part to the massive number of library books in the search giant's database. To scan millions of older works, Google and its library partners used optical character recognition (OCR) programs that are not 100 percent foolproof -- especially when processing old texts typeset in archaic fonts or with foreign-language characters. Due to OCR errors, for example, Google Books contains a huge number of word misidentifications that can lead Internet users down false trails. What makes this a significant issue is the current preference among U.S. Internet users for conducting one-word searches. According to Experian, single-word queries accounted for 25.32 percent of the search totals in July. Short search queries of one to four words declined one percent from June. By contrast, search queries averaging five to eight words or more increased three percent from the previous month, demonstrating that some Internet users have realized the benefits multiple-word queries. The Bing search results from Microsoft and Yahoo are cleaner because they exclude Google's bloated database of library materials. On the downside, Bing and Yahoo users don't benefit from the vast array of resources that Google's search engine can make available. Bing also excludes other materials that are freely available elsewhere on the Internet, such as foreign-language content that may be of interest to some users. Though this makes Bing an all-but-useless search tool for academics and users with highly specialized interests, it does deliver more consistent search results to Microsoft's target audience -- mainstream consumers. Core Search Queries According to comScore, in July Google accounted for 65.1 percent of all U.S.-based explicit core searches -- a category that excludes contextually driven searches that don't reflect specific user intent. Bing-powered searches from Yahoo sites (16.1 percent) and Microsoft sites (14.4 percent) held 30.5 percent share of that category, followed by Ask Network (2.9 percent) and AOL (1.5 percent). Americans conducted 17.1 billion explicit core search queries last month, with Google accounting for 12.5 billion -- up three percent from the previous month, comScore reported Wednesday. Core search queries at Yahoo sites rose five percent to 3.4 billion, while Microsoft sites accounted for 2.6 billion -- down three percent from June. With respect to explicit core searches in July, U.S. search activity rose three percent to more than 17.1 billion. Activity at Google sites rose two percent to 11.15 billion. By contrast, those searches at Yahoo sites increased four percent to 2.76 billion and three percent to 2.47 billion at Microsoft sites. Ask Network searches rose three percent to 494 million, and AOL searches increased five percent to 251 million, comScore said. |
| $25 billion Groupon valuation "very high": analyst (Reuters) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 02:00 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Estimates that Groupon Inc is worth $25 billion are very high because the largest online daily deals company is losing money, Benchmark Co analyst Fred Moran said on Friday. Even based on a forgiving revenue multiple approach, a $25 billion valuation is rich compared to Internet and e-commerce companies including Google Inc, Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc, Moran said in an interview. Moran is one of the few sell-side analysts to have published research on Groupon. The company is working toward an initial public offering later this year and many major investment banks and brokers are underwriters. That prevents them from publishing research opinions on the company. Benchmark is not an underwriter and the company does not deal in the stock, Moran said. Estimating Groupon's valuation is tricky because the company is growing quickly and nobody knows when it might start making money. Benchmark's Moran said he came up with the $25 billion valuation based on media reports. Moran reckons Groupon can generate $3.96 billion in revenue this year. A market value of $25 billion is roughly six times those sales. "Groupon's valuation will likely appear high relative to industry peers and our Internet e-commerce sector," the analyst wrote in a note to investors on Friday. A group of seven publicly-traded Internet and e-commerce companies, including Google, Amazon and eBay, traded below three times estimated 2011 revenue, according to a June 10 report by neXtup Research. NeXtup estimated Groupon was worth about $14 billion in that report, based on multiple of 3.5 times revenue. Moran expects Groupon to have a "successful" IPO. "To go public with losses would normally present a challenge," he said. "But the daily deals industry is so young and growing so fast, and Groupon is so dominant, that it can probably go public based on a revenue multiple." After Groupon disclosed second-quarter results this week, Moran raised his revenue estimate and cut his loss forecasts for the company. That was partly because Groupon spent less money on marketing. (Editing by Robert MacMillan) |
| S.F. BART snuffs cell phone service in anticipation of police protests (Digital Trends) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 08:40 PM PDT The San Francisco Bay Area's mass transit system, known as BART, admitted to temporarily shutting down cell phone service in four of its San Francisco stations last night. The suppression of cell signals was apparently a response to the threat of a possible protest over a man shot by BART police last month. "Organizers planning to disrupt BART service on August 11, 2011 stated they would use mobile devices to coordinate their disruptive activities and communicate about the location and number of BART Police…BART temporarily interrupted service at select BART stations as one of many tactics to ensure the safety of everyone on the platform." Officials for the transit system explained in a statement. Cnet reports that the disruption was planned to protest the death of 45-year-old Charles Blair Hill, a homeless man who was shot by BART police on July 3 for throwing bottles and brandishing a four-inch knife. The protest against BART police failed to actualize itself last night. Cell phone service was not suspended outside of the select BART stations. The cell jamming occurred between 4 p.m. And 7 p.m. PT at the Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell and Civic center stations according BART's deputy communication officer James Allison. The big carriers who provide service in the tube—Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile—were notified after service had been cut. In their statement, BART officials address issues concerning freedom of speech and safety; however, the transit system is drawing criticism for what some consider a heavy handed tactic. The Northern California ACLU said, "Shutting down access to mobile phones is the wrong response to political protests, whether it's halfway around the world or right here in San Francisco. You have the right to speak out." Anonymous activists are calling for retaliation against the cell service snuffing with a flyer describing this event as muBARTek, referring to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak creating an internet blackout earlier this year to quell protests. |
| Sprint pulling 4G BlackBerry Playbook (Digital Trends) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 04:43 PM PDT
RIM has had a difficult time convincing networks to carry the struggling tablet, and the device has been admittedly disappointing for the company. Now that Sprint has abandoned the PlayBook, it will exist without any major US carriers. RIM must be holding out that AT&T or Verizon will be interested in picking up a 4G version, but given poor consumer reaction and the recalls the company has been forced to issue, the odds don't seem likely. This could be hugely devastated to the PlayBook, since 3G and 4G versions were promised. Without carrier support, that's an impossibility, and RIM can only market Wi-Fi versions (unless you have a BlackBerry smartphone, in which case you can access its 3G network via the PlayBook). It's just the latest chapter it was has been a poorly-executed product launch for RIM. The PlayBook initially drew a lot of interest, and it seemed like it had ample potential to compete with the iPad and Android products on the market. But by all accounts, it was like a half-finished product that RIM has been desperately trying to patch up while it sells… or doesn't sell, in this case. Maybe there's a comeback story in here somewhere, but we're struggling to see a light at the end of this tunnel. |
| Netlog violates Facebook's policies and gets banned (Digital Trends) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 03:45 PM PDT
According to a report from TechCruch, European social network Netlog has been banned from Facebook for an unclear violation of Facebook's terms. Massive Media, Netlog's parent company, said that Facebook provided no explanation for the extreme measure. On Tuesday of this week, roughly 1.5 million users that use Facebook Connect to login into their Netlog account found themselves locked out. The first explanation was that Netlog violated a policy that states third party vendors can't link, promote, integrate or redirect to any apps on a competing social network platform. But Netlog, while they considered it, hasn't built any redirecting applications. According to TechCrunch, a Facebook spokesperson said: "Netlog took extensive steps to access internal Facebook APIs and deliberately compromised intended limitations of our platform. We took appropriate and necessary steps to protect people on Facebook." Massive Media still maintains they are aware of no wrongdoing in this department and reportedly considered filing a complaint with the European Commission over "anti-competitive actions." |
| EA forcing Origin client on PC gamers that purchase retail copies of Battlefield 3 (Digital Trends) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 08:10 PM PDT
Confirmed by a DICE community manager, all physical copies of Battlefield 3 for the PC will require consumers to install the Origin client to play the game. Consumers that purchase Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 versions of the game will only need an EA account to play the first-person shooter. This extra step is required for all digital downloads of the game as well, regardless of where the consumer purchases it. EA is already attempting to push the Origin service to the PC community with early beta access to Battlefield 3 as well as other pre-order benefits. This announcement follows the recent confirmation that the anticipated Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG from Bioware will be exclusively available on Origin. This situation is reminiscent of Valve forcing anyone that purchased Half-Life 2 to install Steam to play the game. While PC gamers revolted against the new client initially, Steam has quickly become the most widely used PC game distribution client due to seasonal sales and other promotions. Complete EA games and corresponding DLC content for games such as Crysis 2 and Dragon Age II were removed from Steam when Origin launched. EA claims that Steam imposed a set of terms that wasn't compatible with EA's digital download strategy. It's currently unclear if major EA-branded games will return to the Steam platform this year. |
| The next wave of food-finding apps (Appolicious) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 03:00 PM PDT |
| Security expert warns hackers can attack Android (Reuters) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 03:16 PM PDT BOSTON (Reuters) – A mobile security expert says he has found new ways for hackers to attack phones running Google Inc's Android operating system. Riley Hassell, who caused a stir when he called off an appearance at a hacker's conference last week, told Reuters he and colleague Shane Macaulay decided not to lay out their research at the gathering for fear criminals would use it attack Android phones. He said in an interview he identified more than a dozen widely used Android applications that make the phones vulnerable to attack. "App developers frequently fail to follow security guidelines and write applications properly," he said. "Some apps expose themselves to outside contact. If these apps are vulnerable, then an attacker can remotely compromise that app and potentially the phone using something as simple as a text message." He declined to identify those apps, saying he fears hackers might exploit the vulnerabilities. "When you release a threat and there's no patch ready, then there is mayhem," said Hassell, founder of boutique security firm Privateer Labs. Hassell said he and Macaulay alerted Google to the software shortcomings they unearthed. Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow said Android security experts discussed the research with Hassell and did not believe he had uncovered problems with Android. "The identified bugs are not present in Android," he said, declining to elaborate. It was the first public explanation for the failure of Hassell and Macaulay to make a scheduled presentation at the annual Black Hat hacking conference in Las Vegas, the hacking community's largest annual gathering. They had been scheduled to talk about "Hacking Androids for Profit." Hundreds of people waited for them to show up at a crowded conference room. Hassell said in an interview late on Thursday the pair also learned -- at the last minute -- that some of their work may have replicated previously published research and they wanted to make sure they properly acknowledged that work. "This was a choice we made, to prevent an unacceptable window of risk to consumers worldwide and to guarantee credit where it was due," he said. A mobile security researcher familiar with the work of Hassell and Macaulay said he understood why the pair decided not to disclose their findings. "When something can be used for exploitation and there is no way to fix it, it is very dangerous to go out publicly with that information," the researcher said. "When there is not a lot that people can do to protect themselves, disclosure is sometimes not the best policy." Hassell said he plans to give his talk at the Hack in The Box security conference in Kuala Lumpur in October. (Reporting by Jim Finkle; editing by John Wallace and Andre Grenon) |
| YouTube sensation Rebecca Black bullied at school, starts homeschooling (Digital Trends) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 04:22 PM PDT |
| Giant iPhone table features working camera, buttons (Yahoo! News) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 02:21 PM PDT |
| Correction: Digital Life-Tech Test-Camera Phone (AP) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 12:53 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – In an Aug. 10 review of the myTouch 4G Slide smartphone, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the Android software running the device isn't the latest version for smartphones. The phone does use version 2.3, the most recent release. |
| New iPhone May Cut Costs with iCloud Data Storage (NewsFactor) Posted: 12 Aug 2011 02:06 PM PDT Sept. 7 may be the day the world gets a look at the next member of the iPhone family, and the latest reports suggest the smartphone will take advantage of Apple's iCloud to keep its cost low. By enabling storage of songs, apps, photos and videos on iCloud's servers, the trimmed-down iPhone would require less flash storage. That could mean the device might even be offered free, with a two-year carrier contract from either Verizon Wireless or AT&T. Japanese Sources The latest report comes from a Japanese site, Kodawarisan, which cited sources who named Sept. 7 for an event to not only lift the veil on a new line of iPods (in line with Apple's usual timetable), but also to launch a new iPhone and possibly open the iCloud service to the public. The newest iPhone, which usually arrives in June, was delayed for unstated reasons, likely because Apple released a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 in February and may face component limits. The Apple fan site Apple 'n Apps reported Thursday, "it has come to our attention that Apple is planning to combine iOS 5 and iCloud with a piece of hardware internally referred to as the iCloud iPhone. The iCloud iPhone will rely heavily on Apple's new cloud-based offering, and less on internal storage." Kirk Parsons, a wireless analyst for J.D. Power and Associates, said he hasn't heard much about a cloud iPhone, but noted there have been persistent reports for some time of a low-cost iPhone that runs the latest iOS. Currently, the cheapest iPhone is the 2009-released 3GS, which AT&T sells for $49. "If Apple is worried about gaining share, then a cheaper iPhone version would increase sales/share at the lower end of the market," Parsons said. On the verge of being the most valuable company in the world -- as its share price plays leapfrog with Exxon Mobil -- Apple might not feel as much pressure as its competitors in the smartphone market. But the iPhone is trailing devices powered by Google's Android operating system in worldwide sales, coming in third with 14.1 percent in Gartner Research's second-quarter numbers. Android led with 43.4 percent of the market, compared with 22.1 percent for Nokia's Symbian devices. A new, cheaper iPhone could be the key to adoption in emerging markets. Stay on Top with the Cloud "They want to stay on top," said IDC Research wireless analyst Ramon Llamas. "The question is how to do it." Since the touchscreen and the mobile-app experience the iPhone popularized are no longer unique, the cloud may be the way to go, he said. "That certainly seems to be the way the market is going," said Llamas. "Google may also soon come out with some kind of cloud component [for Android]. But the question is how much content are you going to want to save to your mobile device? There may be some pack rats out there who don't like the cloud unless it's free, and then you still have to put out a 32GB version." He said its unlikely that Apple will want to introduce a wide range of iPhone products as it does with the iPod. "When you only have one or two devices to make, it's a lot easier for the other people involved in the supply chain," he said. |
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