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iPads trump oil: Apple is most valuable US company (AP) : Technet |
- iPads trump oil: Apple is most valuable US company (AP)
- Cisco's 4Q results, outlook top analyst views (AP)
- 10 years later, NY responders communicate better (AP)
- Just Show Me: How to use Autosave in Mac OS X Lion (Yahoo! News)
- Learn to cook on Google+ with a virtual, casual culinary class (Yahoo! News)
- How Students Use Technology [INFOGRAPHIC] (Mashable)
- Amazon Rolls Out Browser-Based Kindle Cloud Reader (NewsFactor)
- Hulu to launch subscription video service in Japan (AP)
- Sony, LG Electronics settle bitter patent dispute (Reuters)
- Hands on first impressions of Facebook Messenger (Digital Trends)
- Facebook phone contact list isn't new - but here's how you can remove it (Digital Trends)
- Three Reasons for Regular People to Go Android Instead of iPhone (ContributorNetwork)
- Messaging apps face competition with Facebook Messenger on Android (Appolicious)
- Hulu announces video streaming expansion for Japan (Digital Trends)
- Vudu web streams to iPads to avoid sharing cash with Apple (Digital Trends)
- Apple expands recycle program, receive gift cards for iPhone, iPad and even PC trade-ins (Digital Trends)
- Congresswoman eyes McAfee briefing on cyber attacks (Reuters)
- Pillars of Python: Zope 2 Web framework (InfoWorld)
| iPads trump oil: Apple is most valuable US company (AP) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 04:41 PM PDT NEW YORK – It doesn't take a visit to the Genius Bar to figure out how Apple became the most valuable company in America. Its lineup of sleek phones, computers and iPods, irresistible to customers even in tough economic times, propelled it to the No. 1 position by market value Wednesday, surpassing Exxon Mobil. Apple's stock on the open market is now worth more than any other company's. Apple's stock fell for the day, but Exxon's fell more. Apple finished with a market value of $337 billion, beating Exxon's $331 billion. A single share of Apple stock now costs $363. Apple occupies a rarefied spot once held by General Electric and Apple's own rival Microsoft. Exxon had held the top spot since 2005. The power shift is a substantial milestone for Apple, which has enjoyed a triumphant comeback since the 1990s, when it struggled to stay afloat before its co-founder Steve Jobs returned to take the helm. But it's not just the comeback. Gleacher & Co. analyst Brian Marshall says Apple is giving investors something that has never been seen before. Apple's numbers are huge, with $30 billion in revenue in the latest quarter, for example. Yet Marshall said the 35-year-old company is "growing like a startup." "Even in 2008 and 2009 Apple grew like a weed and the world was coming to an end," Marshall said. Apple grew its net income 70 percent to $14 billion and its revenue 52 percent to $65 billion in the fiscal year that ended last September. A year earlier, even as other companies — though not Exxon — were reeling from the economic meltdown, Apple's earnings grew 35 percent and its revenue 14 percent. Apple wasn't always a tech darling. The company, known as Apple Computer Inc. when it was founded in 1976, was on a steep decline before Jobs returned in 1997. With Jobs as CEO, Apple is known for dreaming up gadgets that people don't think they need until they get their hands on them — or see friends and relatives with them. There were music players, smartphones and tablet computers before Apple introduced the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. But the Apple gadgets' sleek, minimalist design and intuitive software have garnered them a loyal following among tech geeks and everyday consumers alike. "Never underestimate the power of Joe Sixpack relative to expenditures on consumer electronics," Marshall said. People want their gadgets, especially those made by Apple, even in a recession and even as they watch their stock portfolios and retirement funds shrink. Still, Apple commands just a sliver of the overall smartphone and computer market. For that reason, Apple can grow at such a fast pace. "They have just a tremendous runway in front of them," Marshall said. Exxon, which set a record in 2008 for the highest quarterly earnings by any company, will find it hard to compete with Apple's growth because its prospects are tethered to oil prices and new oil discovery. Apple's growth is limited only by innovation. Investors expect it to grow as long as it keeps making products that people want. So investors are betting on Apple's stock even though it currently makes less money than Exxon. In its latest quarterly report, Apple said stronger iPhone and iPad sales helped more than double its net income to $7.3 billion and grow revenue by 82 percent to $29 billion. Exxon Mobil, meanwhile, posted a 41 percent increase in its second-quarter earnings to nearly $11 billion, the largest since it set a record of nearly $15 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Its revenue grew 36 percent to $125 billion. International companies that vie for the most valuable spot include PetroChina Co., the publicly traded unit of China's biggest oil and gas company, and Petrobras, Brazil's state-controlled energy company. In the U.S., Exxon and General Electric had been trading off the No. 1 and No. 2 spots until Microsoft surpassed them both in early 1999, at the height of the dot-com boom. By 2000, though, GE was No. 1 once again. According to data from FactSet, the three were close over the next five years, though Apple was ascending quickly. Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil took the top spot in 2005 and remained there until Wednesday. Apple's ascendance to the top spot is a sign of the times. Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at Standard & Poor's, says the most valued company in the U.S. often reflects the demands of consumers. They also tend to have products that are unmatched by their rivals. In 1986, for example, IBM Corp. was the most valuable company in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. At the time, the company was considered a pioneer in the technology world, having developed the floppy disk drive in 1971 and the personal computer ten years later. AT&T Inc. was the most valuable company in the early 1980s when it was the dominant player in the telecommunications industry. The top companies "tell us something about society, not just the market," Silverblatt said. But, as history has shown, those companies can easily lose out to rivals if they don't keep coming out with products that appeal to consumers. "If in 1999, you told anybody that one day Apple would be bigger than Microsoft, I think they would have laughed at you as if you were nuts," said Jonathan Berk, a professor of finance at Stanford University. Apple generally introduces a new product every three years, which means something new in 2013. Marshall does not expect the company to slow down any time soon. In fact, he expects Apple to pass yet another milestone next year, when it's likely to surpass Hewlett-Packard Co. as the world's largest technology company by revenue. In the most recent quarter, HP reported $31.6 billion in revenue, compared with Apple's $28.6 billion in its latest quarter. ___ AP Business Writer Chip Cutter contributed from New York. |
| Cisco's 4Q results, outlook top analyst views (AP) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 04:12 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO – Cisco Systems Inc. provided a small measure of comfort to the battered stock market late Wednesday with quarterly results that underscored the technology bellwether's resolve to improve its financial performance. The numbers for the latest quarter weren't spectacular, but at least they didn't disappoint analysts. Cisco, the world's largest maker of computer-networking equipment, also predicted that its revenue in the current quarter could rise as much as 4 percent, a growth rate that would be slightly better than what Wall Street had expected. Those positive developments were sorely needed against the current backdrop of market upheaval, especially because Cisco is one of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones industrial average. That widely watched benchmark has plummeted 16 percent during the past three weeks amid concerns about unsustainable government debts in the U.S. and Europe and ongoing worries about the flagging recovery from the Great Recession. Cisco shares rose 97 cents, or 7 percent, to $14.70 in Wednesday's extended trading after the company released its results and forecast. The company has been the biggest laggard in the Dow industrials. At the end of Thursday's regular trading session, Cisco's stock price had fallen 32 percent so far this year compared to a 7 percent decline in the Dow overall. Even before the recent market turbulence, Cisco had fallen out of favor after several years of mostly fruitless expansion into new markets beyond the company's main business of making equipment that powers the Internet. Fed up with the company's slowing revenue growth and thinning profit margins, Cisco CEO John Chambers has vowed to cut costs and focus the remaining resources on the products with the greatest moneymaking potential. In some of his first steps, Chambers shut down its Flip Video camcorder in April. Last month, Cisco laid out a plan to eliminate 6,500 jobs, or 9 percent of the Cisco's work force. The company, which is based in San Jose, ended July with about 71,800 employees, down from about 73,000 when the cuts were announced three weeks ago. Cisco is already ahead of its plan to reduce its expenses by $1 billion annually, Chambers said Wednesday. He also told analysts in a Wednesday conference call that the reshuffling and trimming may continue for a few more years. "It would be very easy to rest upon the changes that we've already made and continue to gradually evolve our company for the future," Chambers said. "That is clearly what we will not do. We will continue to accelerate and drive through the simplification process at an even faster pace." The massive deficits that are straining government budgets around the world have been taking a toll Cisco. The company's total revenue from government deals in the latest quarter fell 7 percent from last year, with the deepest decline occurring on the federal level in the U.S. The government spending slowdown will likely be a problem for the foreseeable future, Chambers said. That shapes up as bad news for other large technology companies that sell their products and services to the government. Cisco absorbed a $772 million charge in its latest quarter to cover some of the severance costs from the job cutting. More charges will be spread over the next few quarters. The company earned $1.2 billion, or 22 cents per share, in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended in July. That represented a 36 percent drop from net income of $1.9 billion, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier. If not for the severance charge, Cisco said it would have earned 40 cents per share. On that basis, Cisco topped the average earnings estimate of 38 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet. Revenue grew 3 percent from last year to $11.2 billion — about $300 million above analyst estimates. Cisco expects its revenue for the current quarter ending in October to increase by 1 percent to 4 percent from the same year. That projection implied revenue of $10.86 billion to nearly $11.2 billion. Analysts had been expecting revenue for $10.94 billion. Chambers indicated the company low-balled its fiscal first-quarter revenue estimates because of the economic uncertainty. "I feel very confident about (the quarter) in terms of what we can control and influence," he said. For its full fiscal year, Cisco earned $6.5 billion, or $1.17 per share, on revenue of $43.2 billion. That compared to net income of$7.8 billion, or $1.33 per share, on revenue of $40 billion in the prior year. |
| 10 years later, NY responders communicate better (AP) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 01:52 PM PDT NEW YORK – On Sept. 11, 2001, as firefighters rushed into the smoldering twin towers, their radios went dead. Police on the scene couldn't hear orders from their superiors. And none of the agencies responding to the nation's deadliest terrorist attack could communicate with one another. "To this day, I have nightmares of police officers calling for help and not being able to answer them," said Bruce Adler, who was a radio dispatcher that day. In the years since, New York City emergency agencies have upgraded equipment to adapt to the unforeseen, built in redundancies and increased training. Historically tense relationships among police and firefighters have eased some: The agencies train together and can now talk via radios in an emergency. But first responders here say it's not good enough and they hope legislation will be passed by the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 authorizing creation of a national network where police and fire departments around the country can talk to each other and share photos, video and other critical data. The recommendations from the 9/11 Commission, a panel assigned to diagnose the failures behind the 2001 attack, included the need for a national communication network. "Federal funding of such units should be given high priority by Congress," its report said. Sept. 11 was a convergence of the worst possible problems in communication technology — a jammed commercial network made cell phone use impossible. Police and firefighter radio networks were not compatible. But the main problem, the FDNY says, was the damage done to infrastructure called repeaters, which made radio signals work at the twin towers. That left many commanders and firefighters unable to talk to each other. Firefighters in the stairwells couldn't hear the evacuation order and as a result, 343 died. On the ground, 23 police were killed and 37 Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officers died. City leaders pledged to fix many of the problems and have done so, starting at the most critical and working down the list — and they continuing to hone skills and refine technology. For the FDNY, the top priority was to build redundancy into its system so their radios would work no matter what was damaged. They built portable repeaters so walkie-talkies can work through a high-rise building or down into the subway, said Edward Kilduff, chief of department. The FDNY built the use of these tools into their emergency drills. "We're better-equipped from a technology point of view, from a personal protective equipment point of view and from a communications point of view, and a training point of view," he said. Though tensions and turf wars still exist, the departments are working better together. Technology was created or modified to allow police helicopters can give information to firefighters on scene. With a click of their radios, FDNY chiefs can contact the NYPD dispatch to start a line of communication on a police frequency. And the departments hold joint drills at high-rise buildings, and in tunnels and prominent locations. Beyond the city, the NYPD operates a radio frequency on a regional airwave that allows different agencies to communicate in an emergency. But it doesn't go far enough, said Deputy Chief Charles Dowd of the NYPD Communications Division. For example, when first responders from New York went to help New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, their radios weren't compatible. Legislation to pay for a national emergency network is being championed by Democratic senators Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican. And no public safety network right now is strong enough for data sharing. "Right now, you are able to share more information on your smartphone than any of our first responders," Dowd said. "It doesn't make sense." The cost has been estimated at $10 billion to $12 billion. Advocates argue it would also benefit rural departments. Steve McClure, the director of Jackson County Emergency Medical Service in West Virginia, said he has to carry two cell phones to communicate in the hills and valleys of his rural county because the networks aren't strong enough. "The plan is to have an infrastructure that's resistant to a terrorist attack, but really is also just plain more reliable than commercial networks," he said. In rural areas, "you don't have the concentration of resources and the concentration of help coming," said Jeff Johnson, former chief of the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue in Tigard, Ore. "It's very important that you are getting whoever your neighbors are into a position where they can be helpful." Waiting is not an option, advocates say. "The longer we wait, the greater the possibility that we encounter another Katrina, or another terrorist incident where the inability to communicate at all levels is going to hamstring us. In this day and age, to not be able to readily share video and other types of data is ridiculous," Dowd said. |
| Just Show Me: How to use Autosave in Mac OS X Lion (Yahoo! News) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 06:10 PM PDT |
| Learn to cook on Google+ with a virtual, casual culinary class (Yahoo! News) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 06:07 PM PDT |
| How Students Use Technology [INFOGRAPHIC] (Mashable) Posted: 09 Aug 2011 05:38 PM PDT |
| Amazon Rolls Out Browser-Based Kindle Cloud Reader (NewsFactor) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 02:29 PM PDT In an extension of its Buy Once, Read Everywhere philosophy, Amazon.com has rolled out what many readers have long been waiting for: Browser-based capabilities with a cloud-based service. The Kindle Cloud Reader is Amazon's latest e-reading innovation, leveraging HTML5 to let consumers read Kindle books online or off-line without installing any apps. Like every other Kindle app, Kindle Cloud Reader automatically synchronizes a reader's Kindle book, regardless of which device or app was last used to access the literature. The reader also offers an integrated touch-optimized Kindle Store. "We have written the application from the ground up in HTML5 so that customers can also access their content off-line directly from their browser," said Dorothy Nicholls, director of the Amazon Kindle group. "The flexibility of HTML5 allows us to build one application that automatically adapts to the platform you're using -- from Chrome to iOS." Riding Apple's Wave With the web-based offering, consumers can read more than 950,000 Kindle books instantly in a browser. Amazon also developed an embedded Kindle Store that works to make it easier to find new books. One of the advantages of a browser-based experience is that consumers will receive automatic software updates without the need to download new software. Despite rumors that Amazon is launching its own tablet computer, the company isn't ignoring the market leader. A new Kindle Store for Apple's iPad was built for iPad's touch interface. A consumer's current book is automatically made available for off-line use, and people can choose to save a book for reading off-line at any time. "This is an important development because it enables you to read the books right through a browser. I find it intriguing also that Amazon targeted the Safari browser," said Phil Leigh, senior analyst at Inside Digital Media. "Of course, the reason for that is because the Safari browser is on the iPad. This could trigger me to buy an iPad because I don't have one yet because I can read anything in the Kindle, including the free books." What About Amazon's Tablet? Kindle Cloud Reader users can choose any book, start reading and customize the page layout to the desired font size, text color, background color, and so on. Consumers can also view all the notes, highlights and bookmarks they've made on other Kindle apps or on a Kindle e-reader. Is this move a precursor to Amazon's rumored tablet? Leigh isn't sure. "I would think that Amazon is probably more interested in selling books than they are hardware. I could be wrong, but I am assuming they make more by selling the books," he said. "At the same time, Amazon may not want to give up the hardware business yet. They would certainly want to avoid being beholden to Apple." |
| Hulu to launch subscription video service in Japan (AP) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 01:59 PM PDT LOS ANGELES – Online streaming site Hulu.com plans to launch a subscription video service in Japan this year. In a blog post Wednesday, Hulu said the new service will provide access to popular television shows and movies on computers, televisions and mobile devices for one monthly price. The company offered no further details, but said it chose Japan for its first international expansion because Japanese audiences are "passionate about premium video content" and because Japan is a "major producer of world-class TV and feature films." The company added that Japan is a particularly attractive market for delivering video over the Internet because of its extensive broadband penetration and the ubiquitous presence of Internet-connected mobile devices. Hulu is owned by The Walt Disney Co., News Corp., Comcast Corp. and Providence Equity Partners. |
| Sony, LG Electronics settle bitter patent dispute (Reuters) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 07:04 PM PDT SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) – LG Electronics and Sony said on Thursday that they have resolved patent disputes between the two firms spanning smartphones, TVs and Blu-ray technology, with LG adding that they have signed a cross-licensing deal. "LG and Sony recently agreed to drop patent infringement lawsuits against each other," a spokeswoman at South Korea's LG Electronics said. Sony confirmed this, but declined to comment further. LG shares were up 1.3 percent, outperforming the Korea Composite Stock Price Index's (KOSPI) 1.7 percent fall, while Sony shares were down 2.7 percent, hitting a 2-1/2 year low, against a 1.5 percent drop in the benchmark Nikkei average. Sony and LG have been embroiled in a string of bitter lawsuits on a wide range of products in Europe and the United States since the two technology giants failed to renew a technology sharing agreement that expired three years ago, a person familiar with the matter said. Sony had filed a complaint against LG with the U.S. International Trade Commission, seeking to block LG from shipping its Rumor Touch and several other smartphones to the United States. LG also told the commission that Sony's PlayStation 3 infringed its Blu-ray video technology. The patent spat culminated in the seizure of PlayStation 3 game consoles by customs officers in the Netherlands following a court injunction by LG in March. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul and Mayumi Negishi in Tokyo; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner and Joseph Radford) |
| Hands on first impressions of Facebook Messenger (Digital Trends) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 05:13 PM PDT
Of course, anyone who wants to use Facebook Messenger must first have a Facebook account. If, miraculously, you aren't already on Facebook, Messenger allows you to sign up directly from the start screen. Registration is actually done through the phone's mobile browser, which opens automatically when you click the sign-up button. The process is straightforward; only name, date of birth, gender and password are required. Once finished, the app sends you confirmation messages via SMS texts. Just re-open the app, enter your info, and you're ready to roll. Anyone who already has a Facebook account, all 750 million of you, can simply enter their credentials and log in, just as you would on Facebook.com. |
| Facebook phone contact list isn't new - but here's how you can remove it (Digital Trends) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 03:25 PM PDT
If you've been on Facebook today, you likely saw this message (or something like it) somewhere (or everywhere) in your News Feed: "OMG this is for real everyone!!!! Warning to ALL …ALL THE PHONE NUMBERS IN YOUR PHONE are now on Facebook! No joke – go to the top right of the screen, click on Account, then click on Edit Friends, go left on the screen and click Contacts. All phone numbers are published!! Please re-post this on your Status, so you r friends can remove their numbers and thus prevent abuse if they do not want them published." The general conclusion was that the new Messenger application had something to do with this Facebook phone book, but that is not the case. Your friends' numbers have been synced to Facebook for awhile–a long while. Either your friends have added their phone numbers to their own profiles or you have one of the Facebook smartphone apps, which automatically syncs with your phone's address book. You are the only one who can see this compilation of your friends' phone numbers. There you have it: Another Facebook freak out over a function that, in this case, was already there. But if it's just being brought to your attention and you're none-too-pleased about it, there is a fix. Like the over-hyped message reads, go to Account and then Edit Friends. Click Contacts, which is on the top left. Read the following message click the "visit this page" link. From there, follow the "Remove Imported Contacts" instructions. |
| Three Reasons for Regular People to Go Android Instead of iPhone (ContributorNetwork) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 04:47 PM PDT Contribute content like this. Start here. There are plenty of reasons to choose any one particular phone over the iPhone. But the people who specifically look for a smartphone powered by Google's Android operating system often do so for hard-to-understand reasons, such as Android's much-vaunted "openness." It's true Android's programming code is open-source and that you can look at it yourself if you want to. For most of us, though, this isn't a feature so much as a curiosity. So here are a few reasons why regular, nontechnical people might want to start looking at Android phones in general: They often have features the iPhone lacks Which is kind of important if you're one of the people who needs, or wants, those features. And I don't just mean "more horsepower," which is the kind of thing techies go for but most of the rest of us meh at. I mean things like a slider keyboard or even a BlackBerry-style vertical keyboard with ridged keys. The iPhone will eventually get a dual-core processor and a 4G connection, but Steve Jobs apparently hates hardware keyboards on smartphones. So if you want one on yours, you need to go Android. Keyboards don't satisfy you? How about a 3D display, or a kickstand for watching movies? Maybe you're more environmentally conscious, and you want a more eco-friendly smartphone made partly out of recycled plastic. Where Apple says "there's an app for that," the Android world says "there's a smartphone for that." They're often cheaper than iPhones Even after more than a year on the market, the iPhone 4 is still going strong at $199 on contract. But Android smartphones, even "superphones" like the Atrix 4G, see discounts and rebates the longer they stay up for sale. You can now buy Android smartphones that are much faster and more powerful than the iPhone 4, for the same price as the iPhone 4. Go a little lower than that, and you'll find some more great devices that are affordable (or even free); no "rooting" or "unlocking" required. They're available off-contract So you want a smartphone, but you don't want to sign up for a two-year data plan for one ... especially in today's economy, where rampant income inequality and unemployment means you don't even know if you'll have a job in two years. In that case, prepaid is the way to go. At my local Kroger, I can pick up a basic low-end Android handset for a little over $100, with a contract-free data, voice and texting plan that uses Sprint's network and costs only $25 a month. Want something a little heftier? Try one of Virgin Mobile's unlimited plans for $35 a month, and a ginormous smartphone like the Motorola Triumph. It'll cost you more up-front than buying a smartphone on-contract will, but it'll pay for itself after less than a year of using it. Needless to say, the iPhone 4 isn't available on prepaid wireless networks ... which is yet another feature it lacks. |
| Messaging apps face competition with Facebook Messenger on Android (Appolicious) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 02:30 PM PDT |
| Hulu announces video streaming expansion for Japan (Digital Trends) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 08:09 PM PDT
Earlier today, Hulu announced intentions to launch its video streaming service in Japan by the end of 2011. Japanese users can visit hulu.jp to sign up for the service and get notified first at launch. Hulu's video service in Japan will be available on computers, mobile devices, tablets, gaming platforms and televisions. Hulu is expected to launch Hulu Plus as well for an unnamed monthly fee. Hulu did not clarify the amount of content that would be available to Japanese audiences or the level of localization on the current library of videos. Hulu intends to announce these details closer to the product launch of Hulu in Japan and have opened up offices in Japan to design and optimize the service. Hulu is also following Netflix's lead in regards to branching out into original content. Hulu recently premiered a cyptic, physchological drama called The Booth At The End that comes from the Michael Eisner company Vuguru. In addition, Hulu has exclusive rights to Morgan Spurlock's A Day in the Life. The Spurlock-produced show puts the Super Size Me star next to famous figures like Richard Branson for a period of 24 hours. Hulu has also been purchasing exclusive distribution rights to British shows like Misfits, a comedic drama that follows the lives of five juvenile delinquents with recently acquired super powers. |
| Vudu web streams to iPads to avoid sharing cash with Apple (Digital Trends) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 07:38 AM PDT
In a key move in its ongoing rumble with Netlflix, streaming-video service Vudu is now available on the iPad. Penetrating the Apple market is a big step for Vudu as it tries to keep up with the market leader. Vudu announced the change in a statement with Wal-Mart, the service's retail giant of a parent. Except, it's not the usual iPad app announcement. In fact, Vudu doesn't even have an app at all. Instead, Vudu reworked its own websites so that it can altogether avoid the legal wrangling and, more importantly, profit sharing of Apple's App Store. Vudu's calling it a new "navigation experience" which seems to be a fancy way of saying its rebuilt its website to allow streaming video directly through a browser. After having previousy rolled out that tech for regular browsers along with TVs, game consoles and other web-connected devices, Vudu has launched a mobile-specific site that's custome tailored for the iPad. The site used Apple's HTTP Live Streaming, an adaptive bit rate streaming tech that guarantees video performance is at the maximum one's network speed allows. Unfortunately, the streaming is only available in standard def. Pointing users towards an iPad URL means Vudu was able to ditch the effort required to produce an App Store app and push it through Apple's approval process. It also means that users don't have to sort through Apple's login interface when trying to access their Vudu account. While that's all a bit of hassle saved, it seems the number one reason Vudu didn't come out with its own App is a reaction to Apple's much-maligned iOS subscription rules. Under the rules implemented earlier this year, content publishers must offer subscriptions through the in-app purchasing system in iOS. The system forces publishers to sign new subscribers through Apple, who then takes a 30 percent cut off the top. Vudu's plan is to avoid the App Store altogether, which is a much cheaper way to get itself onto iPads. What will be interesting to see is if Apple customers embrace the browser-streaming experience or if the lack of an app will make the excursion a failure. |
| Posted: 10 Aug 2011 08:58 PM PDT
Alongside the Apple devices, the Cupertino-based company is allowing people to bring in Macs of all sorts, as well as non-Apple computers and even displays. All recycled for free, regardless of manufacturer. On top of that, if your tech has any trade-in value you could score a modicum of monetary return in the form of an Apple Gift card. The gift card is good for the "fair market value" of your trade-in; so it's possible to obtain a $170 gift card for a perfect 16GB 3G iPad worth, or $80 for a blameless 8GB 3G iPhone. Simply head over to the Reuse and Recycle site and input the defining characteristics of your device. You'll get free packaging and shipping for the run-down tech, and you'll be able to use the trade-in gift card at any Apple retail store or the online store. The previous recycling program rules cost consumers $30 for shipping to trade-in an old PC, unless you were upgrading from a PC to an Apple computer. The company is continuing with the free by-mail iPod and mobile phones (all manufacturers) recycling, and if you bring in an old iPod you'll still get 10 percent off the purchase of a new one. Apple uses PowerOn for all trade-ins, and the company sends valueless items over to WeRecyle. PowerOn will contact you if there are any discrepancies between actual value and the quoted value. If you decide you want to keep your old iPhone after the fact, PowerOn will ship it right back to you for no charge. Via MacRumors |
| Congresswoman eyes McAfee briefing on cyber attacks (Reuters) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 10:49 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A congresswoman on Wednesday requested more information on security company McAfee's report detailing a five-year hacking campaign that breached 72 organizations globally. Representative Mary Bono Mack, chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee with jurisdiction over cybersecurity, said she was alarmed by the report on a slew of cyber attacks that McAfee has dubbed "Operation Shady RAT." In a letter to Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee and author of the report, Bono Mack requested a briefing with his research team and asked how the government and private sector could more effectively mitigate data breaches. McAfee uncovered the biggest hacking campaign discovered to date, a multiyear campaign targeting governments, corporations, the United Nations, defense contractors and others. Its report, released last week, said a single "state actor" -- which the company did not identify -- seeking military, diplomatic and economic advantage was behind the attacks. Intel Corp acquired McAfee, the world's No. 2 maker of security software after Symantec Corp, in a $7.68 billion deal earlier this year to help it offer customers using its chips more safety from hackers. Bono Mack, in the letter, asked McAfee if it believed greater public disclosure of significant, potentially damaging breaches would help or harm efforts to curb cyber crime. The congresswoman introduced legislation in July that would require companies that collect consumers' personal information to implement data security measures and notify consumers of data breaches. Bono Mack also asked about the five-year hacking campaign's financial impact on the United States, and whether the company found evidence that consumers' sensitive or personal information was compromised. The high-profile cyber attacks of recent months, including breaches of Sony Corp and the websites of the U.S. Senate and Central Intelligence Agency, are classified in McAfee's report as unsophisticated and opportunistic compared with the insidious intrusions of Operation Shady RAT. Bono Mack's subcommittee on commerce, manufacturing and trade has held several hearings on data security breaches, and is probing into cyber attacks' effects on consumers, international competitiveness and the U.S. economy. In her letter to McAfee, she also sought a better understanding of what hackers consider to be a greater target: intellectual property and national security information or consumer information linked to identity theft. (Editing by Steve Orlofsky) |
| Pillars of Python: Zope 2 Web framework (InfoWorld) Posted: 10 Aug 2011 03:00 AM PDT San Francisco – Zope 2 is a member of a growing family of Python-based Web development frameworks that began with the original Zope -- Z Object Publishing Environment -- in 1995, an object-based application server originally called Principia. The Zope family tree has grown to include Zope 2, Zope 3, variants such as Grok and BFG, and several well-known Zope-based Web applications such as Plone, Launchpad, and Silva. One of the longest-established Web server frameworks in any language, the original Zope is arguably the application that put Python on the map. Zope 2's proud ancestry sits at the heart of numerous successful Web applications, and some of its technology can be found in other Python-based Web frameworks. For example, the BFG Web framework has become the Pyramid Web framework, now part of the Pylons project. (See the Pylons site for more details.) Zope 2 is compatible with the 2.x version of Python; which precise version depends on the version of Zope 2. The current released version of Zope 2 -- version 2.13, the one I tested -- is compatible with Python 2.6 or 2.7. Zope 2 will run in just about any Web server that supports the proper Python version, though the Zope 2 framework's integrated Web server, ZServer, is recommended by the Zope 2 engineers. |
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