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Friday, September 16, 2011

NASA: Satellite pieces to hit Earth in a week (AP) : Technet

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NASA: Satellite pieces to hit Earth in a week (AP) : Technet

NASA: Satellite pieces to hit Earth in a week (AP)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 01:10 PM PDT

– Fri Sep 16, 4:10 pm ET

WASHINGTON – U.S. space officials say they expect a dead satellite to fall to Earth in about a week.

NASA has been watching the 6-ton satellite closely. On Friday officials moved up their prediction for its arrival to Sept. 23, give or take a day.

NASA scientists have calculated the satellite will break into 26 pieces as it gets closer to Earth. The odds of it hitting someone anywhere on the planet are 1 in 3,200. The heaviest piece to hit the ground will be about 350 pounds, but no one has ever been hit by falling space junk in the past.

NASA expects to give the public more detailed information early next week. For now, all continents except Antarctica could be hit by satellite debris.

___

UARS satellite: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/uars-concept.html

AT&T takes wraps off wireless data network (AP)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 11:53 AM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Fri Sep 16, 2:53 pm ET

NEW YORK – Unbeknownst to most customers, AT&T Inc. has fired up a new wireless data network in five cities in the last few months, offering roughly double the speeds of its older network for a handful of devices.

On Sunday, the phone company will start marketing the network in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. It won't be selling a new data plan — use of the new "4G LTE" network will be a perk thrown in with existing plans, AT&T Inc. network architecture and planning executive Kris Rinne said Friday.

Rinne said the network will provide downloads speeds of 5 megabits to 12 megabits per second. That's enough to download a DVD-quality two-hour movie in 15 minutes. It's in line with the speeds on Verizon's LTE network, which launched late last year with separate data plans. AT&T's older "4G" network provides top download speeds around 6 megabits per second.

Upload speeds on the LTE network are also significantly higher than on regular "4G," clocking in at 2 megabits to 5 megabits per second, Rinne said. That's fast enough to send one minute of high-definition video from a tablet to Facebook in three minutes.

The LTE-capable devices AT&T sells are a tablet — the HTC Jetstream — two USB data sticks and a "mobile Wi-Fi hotspot." They're sold with the standard AT&T non-phone data plan, which provides 5 gigabytes of data for $50 per month, except for the tablet, which comes with a $35 plan with 3 gigabytes of data.

At top LTE download speeds, it takes about an hour to exhaust the monthly allotment of 5 gigabytes. Like Verizon, AT&T charges $10 per gigabyte used above that.

Rinne said the company will have an LTE-capable phone by the end of the year.

Analysts don't expect the next iPhone to be LTE-capable at its launch, which they think could be within a month. Apple Inc. and AT&T haven't said when the phone will launch or if it will be LTE-capable.

AT&T plans to light up the LTE network in ten more cities by the end of the year, but hasn't said which ones.

AT&T's LTE plans have figured in the company's bid to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion. AT&T says it originally planned to build out LTE to cover 80 percent of the U.S. population, but if regulators let it buy T-Mobile, it will upgrade cell sites in rural areas as well, to cover 97 percent of the population. AT&T has less radio spectrum available for LTE than Verizon does, so it wants to take some of the spectrum T-Mobile uses for 3G and convert it to LTE.

The initial five LTE cities are all areas in which AT&T is the landline phone company. That makes it easier for the company to provide the LTE-enabled cell towers with high-speed wired connections to the Internet. The company's headquarters is in Dallas, one of the launch cities.

Nintendo 3DS has extra controller-button device (AP)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 02:42 AM PDT

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama, Ap Business Writer – Fri Sep 16, 5:42 am ET

TOKYO – Nintendo's add-on button device for its 3DS video game machine is facing criticism as a possible design flaw and a detraction for the already struggling portable.

Some critics say Nintendo Co. is embarrassed about the 1,500 yen ($20) "slide pad," noting President Satoru Iwata didn't mention a word about the gadget at his presentation earlier this week.

The device, which goes on sale in Japan on Dec. 10, works as another controller. It's handy to have for more complex games from outside software makers like the "Monster Hunter" series from Capcom Co., set to go on sale in Japan on the same day.

Five other games, including "Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D" from Konami Corp., also can use the extra device. More games may be added to the list.

Nintendo, the Japanese manufacturer of the Wii home console and Super Mario and Pokemon games, says the peripheral part isn't necessary, just a matter of preference.

Adding it helps deliver a gaming experience more similar to a home console in remote-controlling.

Hiroshi Kamide, analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., believes Nintendo is displaying a surprising lack of confidence.

"It's a bit of a shame. Only six months after releasing a new platform they're having to come out with an attachment to make it more attractive for some people," he said.

Game fans were disappointed.

The part, although not massive, makes 3DS bulky and harder to carry around in your pocket, important for a portable.

No wonder the device was quietly introduced on the company website this week.

Iwata said nothing about the device during his presentation, although he delivered praise about the upcoming "Monster Hunter" and other games to a packed crowd at a Tokyo event.

The device has also been witnessed, but not displayed prominently, at the Capcom booth at the Tokyo Game Show exhibition, which previewed to media Thursday and opens to the public this weekend.

"I think it feels like too little too late, and it also confuses consumers," Jean Snow, a gaming expert, who writes about Japanese pop culture. "I do believe it was a design flaw not to include it."

Snow said having the additional controller makes a big difference in shooting games, and he expects the feature to be later included in a 3DS upgrade.

Competition in portable gaming is heating up with the arrival of Japanese rival Sony Corp.'s latest portable offering, PlayStation Vita, which already comes with buttons that work in a similar way as the 3DS new device.

PlayStation Vita goes on sale in Japan on Dec. 17, and early next year in the U.S. and Europe.

Both 3DS and PlayStation Vita face a threat from smartphones and tablet devices that also offer on-the-go games and other entertainment.

Nintendo has already slashed the price of the 3DS in a move analysts say is a sure sign it's worried about wooing consumers.

Kamide says Nintendo is likely to fall short of its sales target of 16 million 3DS by the end of the fiscal year through March 2012.

So far, Nintendo has sold just 4.32 million 3DS machines around the world.

Nintendo has ruled in portable gaming for years. It sold nearly 150 million DS machines since they went on sale in 2004, outpacing the Sony PlayStation Portable, whose cumulative global sales total 71 million.

But the gaming industry may be rapidly changing.

"It's a bit of a hard sell," Kamide said of the 3DS attachment.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Astronaut on the ISS snaps photo of the Southern Lights (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 05:56 PM PDT

Just Show Me: How to pin a program to your taskbar in Windows 7 (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 05:29 PM PDT

Google Propeller Social News Sharing App to Compete Against Flipboard [REPORT] (Mashable)

Posted: 15 Sep 2011 03:02 PM PDT

Charlie White Charlie White – Thu Sep 15, 6:02 pm ET

Google is creating a social news sharing app for iPad and Android that will compete directly with Flipboard, named 2010 iPad App of the Year by Apple. The first word of Google's rumored app that turns social media and news content into magazine-like articles was from Google+ about what he's heard from "someone working with Google" about the news-sharing reader:

[More from Mashable: Google Launches First Google+ APIs]

"Google is working on a Flipboard competitor for both Android and iPad. My source says that the versions he's seen so far are mind-blowing good."

All Things D's Kara Swisher adds fuel to that fire, saying that her sources have told her the new iPad and Android app is called Propeller, which she calls a "souped-up version of similar reading apps such as Flipboard, AOL's Editions, Yahoo's Livestand, Zite and Pulse."

[More from Mashable: Google+ Allows You to Share Maps]

Given Google's search prowess and ability to categorize and search various content as well as posts within Google+, Propeller could be the news-reading app of the year.

Let us know in the comments what you think Google Propeller will be like.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Hulu sale at risk even as new bids are due (Reuters)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 07:40 PM PDT

By Yinka Adegoke Yinka Adegoke – 1 hr 47 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The auction of online video site Hulu has been slowed by recent developments which could derail it completely, according to sources familiar with the process.

Among the issues are conflicts over complicated digital rights, a wide bid-ask gap, and Yahoo being sidelined as a potential buyer by its own issues. Moreover, NBC Universal's hiring of Morgan Stanley banker Stuart Epstein, who was involved in the sale process for the bank, as its chief financial officer complicates a potential deal.

And then there is the lack of commitment to sell by Hulu's owners -- News Corp, Walt Disney Co, Comcast Corp's NBC Universal and Providence Equity Partners.

News Corp Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey even acknowledged during the company's third-quarter earnings call last month that a Hulu sale might not happen.

A new round of bids are due next week and price will be in a key issue in whether the auction moves forward, according to a source close to the situation.

Other sources with knowledge of the talks said an unusually wide gap has developed in recent weeks between the price bidders are offering and what the Hulu owners are willing to accept. Hulu's owners are becoming more steadfast about the price and feel enough strategic alternatives are available to reject low-ball offers, sources said.

Bids have ranged from as low as $500 million to as much as $2 billion. The most serious suitors include Google Inc, Amazon.com Inc, DirecTV Group Inc and DISH Network Corp.

Yahoo Inc had been viewed as one of the most enthusiastic likely bidders, but that was before its leadership imploded last week with the firing of CEO Carol Bartz. The company is likely to be too preoccupied with its own issues to digest a multibillion dollar deal. Moreover, Hulu's owners would be reluctant to sell to a company undergoing an internal upheaval.

As with any sale, the situation is fluid and there remains a chance Google or another party could swoop in with a rich offer. Reports have suggested Google was planning an offer, but company insiders are uncertain Hulu's media owners would sanction a sale to the search engine giant -- at least not without caveats such as blocking piracy searches, for example.

After intense initial interest due to Hulu's huge and growing popularity, the sale has stalled as bidders questioned what they would get for their money.

One senior media executive said the nature of Hulu's content deals is key to whether a deal happens or not.

"I guess the brand and technology are worth something, but probably not for that asking price because digital companies could develop a site on their own," the executive said, who asked not to be identified speaking about a partner company.

CBS Corp boss Les Moonves openly questioned Hulu's value during an interview at a Paley Media Center event on Thursday.

"What are they getting and how long are they getting it?" asked Moonves, whose company is not a Hulu owner or content provider. "Are they buying two years of programs for $2 billion? I don't know. I shouldn't say more, I'll get in trouble."

The issue of rights, particularly on newer platforms such as the Web and mobile, are both unclear and complicated, adding to the potential deal's complexity.

BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said a recent decision by NBC Universal to offer programs for free via an iPhone and iPad app without requiring a cable subscription effectively undermines the value of the rights Hulu's owners are trying to sell. The move also potentially conflicts with News Corp unit Fox TV's strategy of allowing Hulu users to access only the latest TV shows if they are a pay-TV subscriber.

"It gets more challenging to push through the Hulu sale, given what NBC just did," said Greenfield.

Comcast agreed, as part of the regulatory restrictions attached to its takeover of NBCU, that NBCU would abstain from key management decisions at Hulu.

If the sale falls apart, it will mark the second time its owners have fashioned a full or partial exit strategy that has failed. After nearly six months of planning, the owners ditched an initial public offering last December to raise up to $300 million. Such an IPO would have valued the company at about $2 billion.

But the decision to ditch the IPO in favor of a sale prompted industry observers to wonder whether media companies should risk handing over their future online to digital rivals such as Google and Amazon. Greenfield has described the plan to sell Hulu as a mistake of "epic proportions."

"Hulu appears to be the perfect weapon for networks and content creators to embrace so they can grow revenues and profits, even if the current multichannel ecosystem becomes unglued over the next decade," said Greenfield in his client-targeted blog.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Peter Lauria and Richard Chang)

PE firms circling AOL turn attention to Yahoo (Reuters)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 06:17 PM PDT

By Jennifer Saba Jennifer Saba – Fri Sep 16, 9:17 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The troubles at Yahoo Inc are proving to be a headache for AOL, that other deeply challenged Internet company trying to turn around its fortunes.

Interest in AOL from private equity firms ramped up after the company's stock plummeted about 30 percent on dismal earnings results last month. Allen & Co and Bank of America Securities are advising AOL on strategic alternatives, including a possible sale, sources said.

Problem is, the private equity firms have now turned their attention to Yahoo, which is reportedly seeking its own sale after firing Chief Executive Carol Bartz on September 6 and attracting the ire of activist investor Daniel Loeb.

AOL declined to comment for this story.

Sources said the top-tier private equity firms that were looking at AOL are now setting their sights on the company famous for its purple logo and peppy exclamation point, viewing it as more valuable and housing more attractive assets than AOL.

"Yahoo has jumped to the forefront," said one industry source familiar with the situation.

Indeed, according to this industry source and one other source, several PE firms have lines out to at least two media companies to see if they are willing to partner on a bid for all or pieces of Yahoo. Both sources declined to name the PE firms or media companies.

AOL and Yahoo are two vastly different business in terms of market value -- roughly $1.6 billion and $19 billion respectively -- meaning that there are different pools of potential buyers for each asset. The big private equity firms with massive amounts of money under management are able to go after Yahoo on their own or with a strategic partner. The smaller private equity firms are better equipped to digest AOL and likely couldn't pursue Yahoo absent being part of a consortia of buyers.

Or, to put it another way, AOL's second-class assets are now only attracting the interest of second-tier buyers.

Indeed, only when compared to AOL does Yahoo come out the winner.

"They are both in rough shape, but AOL has more structural challenges than Yahoo," said Ross Sandler an analyst with RBC Capital Markets.

Compounding AOL's problems is the fact that its lucrative subscriber dial-up business is also one of greatest liabilities. Sandler said dial-up is partly responsible for a 25 percent year-on-year decline in AOL's free cash flow.

"At Yahoo you don't have those issues," he said.

To make up for the loss of subscription revenue, AOL is training its sights on advertising sales. But even that is having set backs. Its launch last September of a more expensive large ad-format with interactive panels that dominate a Web called Project Devil is still trying to gain traction on Madison Avenue.

Under Armstrong, AOL has also developed a penchant for investing in projects that have yet to pay out.

Case in point: Patch.com. AOL has shoveled roughly $160 million into the network of more than 800 neighborhood-oriented websites dedicated to local news, many of which are less than a year old. Yet Patch is on track to lose $140 million to $150 million this year, estimates Sandler.

Though expensive, at least AOL's attention-grabbing acquisition of the Huffington Post for $315 million is delivering returns since the business is profitable.

Yahoo's coming on the block couldn't have come at a worse time for Armstrong. The former Google Inc ad sales executive has seen his reputation dented since taking over AOL. According to one of the industry sources, Armstrong' reputation has taken as much of a hit as Bartz's, even before he bungled the dust-up that resulted in TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington's ouster.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba; Editing by Peter Lauria and Richard Chang)

Police: Roommates argued over iPod before stabbing (AP)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 03:17 PM PDT

Android App Tablet Review: Dual Screen Browser (Appolicious)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 05:00 PM PDT

Facebook Unveils Ability To 'Subscribe To Non-Friends (NewsFactor)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 03:28 PM PDT

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Jennifer Leclaire, newsfactor.com – Fri Sep 16, 6:28 pm ET

Facebook just got a little bit more like Twitter. The social-media giant this week launched a subscription feature that lets non-friends follow you, a move that may once again draw the ire of privacy watchdogs.

Zach Rait at Facebook set up the introduction by posing what the company sees as a frustrating problem for its members: It hasn't been easy to choose exactly what you see in your News Feed.

Facebook aims to change all that with its new Subscribe button. In the coming days, you'll start seeing the Subscribe button in Facebook profiles. You can use it in one of three ways: to choose what you see from people in News Feed, to hear from people, even if you're not friends, and to let people hear from you, even if you're not friends.

"The subscribe feature is like the follow button in Twitter. It's part of a larger effort to accelerate feature upgrades or address complaints in response to competition and specifically Google Plus," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "They're trying to address any and all reasons users might have for finding fault or deficiency with Facebook. Some of the recent changes are long-standing 'white board' issues. Others are more direct responses to features in Google Plus."

Decluttering Facebook

The first option lets you declutter your News Feed. You can choose to see everything your friend posts, most updates, or only important updates, like a new job or a move. You can also decide what types of updates you see.

"Maybe you don't want to see every time your brother plays a game on Facebook, for example. Or maybe you'd like to see more stories from your best friends, and fewer from your coworkers," Rait said. "You also couldn't hear directly from people you're interested in but don't know personally -- like journalists, artists and political figures."

Maybe one of your friends has the funniest photos but boring status updates. Choose to see their photos only. Maybe another friend is a Mafia Wars fanatic and it clutters up your News Feed. Choose to go block out the social-game updates. You can even choose to see nothing at all from some friends.

Subscribing To Strangers

This next part is where the new Facebook tool gets interesting. You can Subscribe to people who you've never met, never talked to, and don't even know anyone you know -- complete strangers -- like rock stars, politicians and journalists.

"If you see a Subscribe button on your favorite blogger's profile, this means you can subscribe. Just click the button to get their public updates right in your News Feed," Rait said. "Just like with friends, you can choose how many and what types of updates you see after you've subscribed."

Build a Subscriber Base

If you wan to become a Facebook celebrity in your own right, you can get a Subscribe button on your profile. Rait explained that people who subscribe to you will get posts you set as "Public" in their News Feeds. Rather than opting you in automatically and forcing you to opt out, like Facebook often does, this time you have to opt in.

"Once you allow subscribers, you can decide who can comment and what notifications you get," Rait said. "You'll also see a Subscribers tab on your profile, where you can see who subscribes to you."

RIM Says Phones Doing Well, but Clouds Loom overPlayBook (NewsFactor)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 02:10 PM PDT

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Mark Long, newsfactor.com – Fri Sep 16, 5:10 pm ET

Research In Motion said it shipped approximately 10.6 million smartphones in the company's second quarter, and told investors that shipments of the company's new BlackBerry 7 models in their first three weeks of availability had exceeded the company's expectations.

"We believe we are well positioned to take advantage of the coming holiday season," Research In Motion Co-CEO James Balsillie told financial analysts on a conference call Thursday.

"We anticipate acceleration of the uptake of BlackBerry devices for the remainder of the fiscal year and into 2012 as reflected in our guidance for the sequential unit shipment increase of 27 percent to 37 percent in the third quarter," Balsillie said.

Still, several investment firms continue to anticipate that mobile devices based on Apple's iOS and Google's Android platform will continue to grab market share from RIM during the remainder of this year.

Among other things, the coming global launch of Apple's next iPhone model -- including its rumored availability on Sprint Nextel's network beginning next month -- is likely to affect RIM's BlackBerry sales among mobile subscribers considering a smartphone upgrade through the remainder of this year.

A Tablet Platform Upgrade

RIM only shipped 200,000 PlayBooks during the business quarter that ended on Aug. 27. To help reinvigorate its tablet sales, the BlackBerry maker says it will launch a major software upgrade for the PlayBook in advance of this year's holiday shopping season.

"We recognize that the current availability of content and applications for PlayBook has limited the near-term uptake of the device in the market," explained Research In Motion Co-CEO Michael Lazaridis during Thursday's conference call. "And we are actively working with key partners to deliver the most desired applications and content to our targeted market segments."

The new PlayBook platform upgrade will be demonstrated at DevCon next month and released thereafter, Lazaridis said. The software update will feature built-in native email, calendar and contacts as well as web browsing enhancements, new enterprise-friendly features and the previously announced Android app player, he said.

Given that the primary goal for RIM is to increase share for its devices, the application development strategy has to support this goal, said Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC.

"Aligning with major application platforms like Android is certain one way to accomplish that goal, provided the mobile platform as a whole offers other differentiation that will drive users or companies to purchase these devices," Hilwa said.

Awaiting Clarification

The big question is whether the PlayBook's new Android app player will discourage developers from taking the extra time to create PlayBook-specific offerings since the Android apps they are already building may also be able to run on RIM's tablet.

"We have to wait and see what they announce, but I certainly agree that offering too many ways to do things dilutes the commitment to any one of them," Hilwa said.

RIM devices have only recently started featuring larger screens that support touch in a standardized way, Hilwa said. This is one of the factors, he said, that "attract developers, who typically feel that they have to have a big enough canvass to allow their creations to shine."

What hasn't been clarified is whether the PlayBook's Android player is intended to run stock apps just as a user feature, or will offer more of a development environment where Android apps and assets can be easily ported, Hilwa said.

"I am worried that a straight player of stock apps may not provide an optimal experience," Hilwa said. "They might instead provide ways to leverage Android application code and assets but require the developer to optimize for BlackBerry to ensure that apps are highly usable."

Go global with Android, from Voice Actions to PlayStation games (Appolicious)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 08:35 AM PDT

Irish startup sells translation for app developers (Reuters)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 09:10 AM PDT

– Fri Sep 16, 12:10 pm ET

(Reuters) – Irish startup Tethras on Friday rolled out a translation service aimed at helping mobile application developers target non-English speaking users.

The service will initially be launched in the United States for Apple's applications but will later be expanded for other mobile platforms and geographies, Tethras said.

Wireless application sales, which have surged since Apple entered the mobile industry, are expected to reach $9 billion this year, compared with just $249 million three years ago, according to research firm Gartner.

With the growth coming increasingly from non-English speaking countries, and with services of leading companies like Lionbridge focused on large companies, Tethras aims to find a market niche attracting smaller development firms.

Tethras' software platform grabs text needed to be translated straight from the application, allowing developers to focus on software.

Tethras co-founder Brendan Clavin said he plans to expand the service to other countries, and to work with Google's Android software, Microsoft's Windows Phone and Research In Motion's Blackberry platform.

"We are heading east. Our plan is to follow the smartphones," he said. "It started in the United States, it's moving to Europe, and then to Asia," he said.

Clavin and Brian Farrell, who founded the firm last year, have financed the development work themselves so far, but they are now in the middle of a funding round to raise external capital for further growth.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki in Helsinki; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

Myanmar lifts bans on foreign news websites (Reuters)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 07:16 AM PDT

By Aung Hla Tun Aung Hla Tun – Fri Sep 16, 10:16 am ET

YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar lifted bans on prominent news websites on Thursday, including some run by critics of the army-dominated government, and unblocked online video portal YouTube, the latest signs of possible reforms in one of Asia's most reclusive states.

Bans were lifted on websites for several news organizations including Reuters, along with The Bangkok Post, Singapore Straits Times and other regional newspapers, and the Burmese language services of the Voice of America, British Broadcasting Corp and the exiled-run Democratic Voice of Burma.

Reuters and several other news websites were blocked at the peak of an army crackdown on monk-led protests in 2007. Since then, those sites displayed a common message from state telecoms group Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT).

"This website is blocked by the MPT," it said.

That disappeared on Thursday, a day after a U.S. special envoy ended his first trip to the country. It also coincided with the United Nations' "International Day of Democracy," an event celebrated by Nobel laureate and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the commercial capital Yangon.

"Changes are on the horizon in Myanmar," she told supporters outside her party's headquarters.

However, television remains strictly controlled by the government and foreign journalists are still mostly barred from legally reporting in the country. Most expect Western sanctions to remain in place until an estimated 2,100 political prisoners are released.

Every song, book, cartoon and planned piece of art still requires approval by censors rooting out political messages and criticisms of Myanmar's authoritarian system.

One editor of a weekly newspaper described the reopening of the websites as "a big improvement in the media policy of the new government.

"We can have access to these websites, but the connection is still rather slow most of the time," he said, declining to be identified by name. "Let's wait to see how long it will last."

Rare overtures by Myanmar's rulers toward liberalization have stirred speculation of possible reforms in the resource-rich country, blighted by 49 years of military rule and starved of capital.

Myanmar last year held its first elections in two decades after which the military nominally handed power to civilians -- a process widely criticized as a sham by the West.

Other overtures include calls for peace with armed ethnic separatists, presidential meetings with foreign delegations, some tolerance of criticism and more communication with Suu Kyi, who was freed last year from 15 years of house arrest.

In one gesture, Myanmar's state-run newspapers last month dropped back-page banners attacking Western media.

(Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Ron popeski)

It's Never Worth Fighting with Fanboys (The Atlantic Wire)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 10:28 AM PDT

Rebecca Greenfield Rebecca Greenfield – Fri Sep 16, 1:28 pm ET

When Windows released the developers version of Windows 8, the blogger masses were excited about the slick preview, we at The Atlantic Wire even speculated that Windows 8 might be the next it thing, and possibly lure Apple-philes away from their iThings. That was enough to bring out the Apple fanboys who were quick dismiss anything with Microsoft in front of it by spewing their feelings in comment threads (including ours) across the blogosphere. But such passion is to be expected when you rain on a Mac parade. But maybe it shouldn't work like that, argues Gizmodo's Mat Honan, who decries the Windows 8 haterade: "I don't really get those who treat brands like sports teams, offering blind allegiance over self-interest. That's just zealotry." Fanboy hate is unwarranted, but does a blog takedown do anything to solve the problem? 

Related: Here's Why You'll Ditch Your iPad for Windows 8

It's not that a case against fanboys doesn't make sense, a blogger or developer's opinion shouldn't anger readers so much. There's something about fanboy passion that takes discussions into a dark place, explains Infoworld's Galen Gruman. "I do get the joy and allegiance one can form with technology.... But sometimes, that stimulation stirs up a hornet's nest, especially among the many fanboys whose attachment to specific technologies crosses into unnaturally personal territory. Often, that takes the form of online trash talk."  And not only do these remarks create a community of hate, but they certainly won't convert anyone who disagrees. Fanboys have no credibility, explains Honan:

If you're not intrigued by Windows 8 and Metro, if you can't recognize that it's a big leap forward, if you're not excited about what it means for you, personally then you don't really care about technology; you care about brands. You care about platforms. You care about politics. You're a fanboy.

And really, even if you do utterly hate the latest gadgetmacallit, you don't have to be so rude about it, argues  The Loop's Peter Cohen. "Use what you want to use--Windows, Android, OS X, iOS, whatever. Just stop being such a dick about it." 

Related: Hold Your Excitement for Microsoft's New Blue Screen of Death

All of this makes a lot of sense, but pointing it out to a fanboy won't change his behavior. Fanboys will be fanboys, no matter what, as you can see from Honan's comment thread. His post generated many thoughtful points, but every so often out came an evil remark. Like commenter das7002: "No it isn't. Metro is awful and needs to die in a fire." Or, the one that began "Here's why I hate Windows 8," from commenter BlaqkAudio. Honan's post only provided yet another platform; haters gonna hate. 

Related: Windows 8 Just Might Be the Next It Thing

But maybe those writing fanboy takedowns know the efforts are mostly futile and are just trying to bait fanboys to further prove a point. Or, perhaps as fans themselves, they just want to express their disappointment in their fellow technophiles. Sure, Honan and others get the message across to a calm audience, but in the end, there will always be that one nasty hater, filled with passion, that will let you know just how much Microsoft, or Apple, or Google, or whatever sucks. 

Software helps government track recovery funds (Reuters)

Posted: 16 Sep 2011 12:30 PM PDT

By Andrea Shalal-Esa Andrea Shalal-esa – Fri Sep 16, 3:30 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Inexpensive software and technology used mainly by intelligence agencies and law enforcement have helped limit fraud linked with $840 billion in federal recovery funds, a senior U.S. official said.

Earl Devaney, the former Interior Department inspector general whose probe led to the conviction of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, helped set up the federal government's Recovery Transparency and Accountability Board in 2009 to oversee how the billions of dollars were spent and used.

"There hasn't been a whole lot of recovery fraud, and what there has been -- has been vigorously prosecuted," Devaney told Reuters at his office just two blocks from the White House.

Devaney said the agency's focus on transparency and accountability -- with reams of data posted on cloud-computing infrastructure -- could be a model for keeping tabs on all government spending.

Charts showing current government spending and collection data looked like "spaghetti thrown on a white wall," but simplifying the data and putting it on the "cloud" would save taxpayers money and eliminate redundancy in the long run, Devaney said.

He said he was keeping close watch on a bill introduced by Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, and Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, to do just that.

Thus far, Devaney said contracts valued at just $2 million of the 270,000 awards made under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 have resulted in fraud convictions. That is a tiny fraction of what government observers had feared, and amounted to far less than the typical amount of abuse seen in government contracts, he said.

After brainstorming with inspectors general from the 28 other agencies that administer recovery funding, Devaney spent about $5 million to set up a "Recovery Operations Center" where 17 analysts track recovery funds and their recipients using technology typically used by intelligence and law enforcement.

The agency also set up two websites: www.recovery.gov and www.federalreporting.gov. The former allows citizens to see easily where recovery funding is going, and report any cases of waste, fraud or abuse.

Recipients of funds must report in great detail on their use of the federal money on the second website, www.federalreporting.gov, instead of providing the data to the government agency that provided the funding.

Devaney said he was initially skeptical about the new approach to reporting, but was surprised and pleased to see how well it worked. "It turns out that with all these eyeballs on their money, people were very interested in getting it right."

ANALYSTS MINING FOR 'RED FLAGS'

Mining dozens of databases -- some open only to law enforcement, others open source -- has allowed analysts to alert state and local officials about fraud risks, often before contracts are ever awarded. New mapping software let them graphically depict where fraud cases are most likely to occur.

One case now being investigated involves several individuals who used credentials from elderly doctors in other states to file Medicare claims, according to agency officials.

The companies were suspicious because the fake doctors were so young, all shared one storefront office, and had no fax numbers or patient reviews, an analyst said.

In another case, Google maps showed the Indiana business address given by a businessman for over 14 separate firms was a parking lot that housed only a dozen tractor-trailers.

As of July 31, the recovery board and federal inspectors general have received nearly 7,300 complaints of possible wrongdoing. Of those, 1,583 had triggered open investigations, and 410 cases were closed without action.

One Senate investigator said it was too soon to judge the board's overall effectiveness given that it will continue its work through October 2013, but said the use of unique computer tools had clearly proven useful in averting more fraud.

"They're referred hundreds of cases for investigation; they've clearly made a difference," said the investigator.

Vice President Joe Biden and officials from many federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services, have come to visit the agency's "Recovery Operations Center," where a small team of 17 analysts monitors funding flows around the country.

Five agencies are also participating in a pilot program that allows them to run potential awardees through the combined database before contracts are made, Devaney said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa, editing by Matthew Lewis)
at 9:53 PM

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