Can Kodak rescue itself via a patent bonanza? (AP) : Technet

Can Kodak rescue itself via a patent bonanza? (AP)
New Cain Internet ad shines focus on viral videos (AP)
3 Startups Bring New Angles to Social Buying (Mashable)
Cablecom head eyes "all options" regarding Swiss Orange: report (Reuters)
China arrests 12,000 in online drug sale sweep (Reuters)
South Korea smart phone subscribers exceed 20 million (Reuters)
Apple begins investigation into iPhone 4S battery life (Digital Trends)
Forget Facebook -- Google Could Change Television (ContributorNetwork)
Technology gone bad: 10 horror movies to make you afraid of your toaster (Digital Trends)
Battery problem draining patience of some iPhone 4S owners (Appolicious)
YouTube mounts TV challenge with original programming (Reuters)
Insight: Dreaded "Brazil cost" may dim Foxconn's iPad dreams (Reuters)

Can Kodak rescue itself via a patent bonanza? (AP)

Posted: 30 Oct 2011 09:30 AM PDT

By BEN DOBBIN, AP Business Writer Ben Dobbin, Ap Business Writer – Sun Oct 30, 12:30 pm ET

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Picture this: Kodak — the company that invented the first digital camera in 1975, and developed the photo technology inside most cellphones and digital devices — is in the midst of the worst crisis in its 131-year history.

Now, caught between ruin and revival, Eastman Kodak Co. is reaching ever more deeply into its intellectual treasure chest, betting that a big cash infusion from the sale of 1,100 digital-imaging inventions will see it through a transition that has raised the specter of bankruptcy.

Kodak popularized photography over a century ago. It marketed the world's first flexible roll film in 1888 and transformed picture-taking into a mass commodity with the $1 Brownie camera in 1900. But for too long the world's biggest film manufacturer stayed firmly focused on its 20th-century cash cow, and failed to capitalize quickly on its new-wave know-how in digital photography.

As a result, Kodak has been playing catch-up. Pummeled by Wall Street over its dwindling cash reserves — and its stumbling attempts to reinvent itself as a profitable player in digital imaging and printing — Kodak has been hawking the digital patents since July. Many financial analysts foresee the portfolio fetching $2 billion to $3 billion.

But others think Kodak can haul in far more than that — and carry it off within a few months. That's because patents have become highly valuable to digital device makers who want to protect themselves from intellectual property lawsuits. In July, an alliance made up of Apple and Microsoft purchased a raft of patents from Nortel Networks for $4.5 billion. A month later, Google bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, in part, to gain hold of the company's 17,000 patents.

"The size of the (Kodak) deal could blow your socks off," predicts Los Angeles money manager Ken Luskin, whose Intrinsic Value Asset Management owns 3.8 million Kodak shares.

"It's pocket change for Google and Apple to go pay $3-or-$4-or-$5 billion for these patents," concurs Christopher Marlett, chief executive of MDB Capital, an investment bank based in Santa Monica, Calif., that specializes in intellectual property. "There is an all-out nuclear war right now for global dominance in smartphones, tablets and mobile devices, and Kodak has one of the largest cache of weapons sitting there." Marlett says he owns Kodak stock, but wouldn't disclose how much.

Even a hefty return, skeptics counter, won't solve Kodak's struggle to close out a nearly decade-long transformation and return to profitability in 2012 after running up losses in six of the last seven years.

"All the extra cash does is give you a lifeline for a short period. And then, poof, you're back in the same position without the assets to sell," says analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research in Livingston, N.J. "If you're burning cash and not finding a way to generate recurring earnings, it doesn't matter."

Kodak's grim financial picture should become clearer when it reports third-quarter results Thursday.

Agitated investors will likely focus on the company's latest borrowing activities and cash woes — it had $957 million in cash in June, down from $1.6 billion in January. They will also want to know what kind of progress Kodak made in the July-September period in building up a high-margin ink business to replace shriveling film sales.

Kodak has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into new lines of inkjet printers that are finally on the verge of turning a profit. Home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging are viewed as the company's new core. Kodak projects that sales from those four businesses will double to nearly $2 billion in revenue in 2013, accounting for 25 percent of all sales.

In the meantime, Kodak needs to tap other sources of revenue before those areas have time to pay off — and mining its inventions has become indispensable.

Kodak's chief executive, Antonio Perez, has signed confidentiality agreements with potential buyers but hasn't given a time frame for a deal. The patents for capturing, storing, organizing, editing and sharing digital images do not apply to the four core businesses, Kodak spokesman Gerard Meuchner says.

"One thing I would stress is: It is our intention to retain a license to any of the intellectual property we sell," Meuchner says. "It's like you sell the property but still get to live in the house."

A sale represents a sharp tactical shift. Kodak picked up just $27 million in patent-licensing fees in the first half of 2011 after amassing nearly $2 billion in the previous three years.

In the heated environment for patents, "it makes more sense for us to sell the portfolio than it does to license it company by company, which takes lots of time and expense and can involve litigation," Meuchner says.

Michael Fitzgerald, chief executive of Next Techs Technologies, a patent buying-and-selling intermediary in Houston, says that while the portfolio is valuable, "I just don't view it necessarily as a `strategic' acquisition that multiple players will fall all over themselves on."

Investor fears sent Kodak stock tumbling to an all-time closing low of 78 cents a share on Sept. 30 after it hired Jones Day, a major restructuring law firm, as an adviser. Kodak insisted it had no intention of filing for bankruptcy protection.

Kodak is also involved in a royalty dispute with iPhone behemoth Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. The case centers on a 2001 patent now on the auction block — a method that enables a camera to preview low-resolution versions of a moving image while recording still images at higher resolutions.

The 21-month-old battle before the U.S. International Trade Commission, a trade-dispute arbiter in Washington, D.C., was due to be revisited on Monday, but was recently shelved until December 30.

Chief Executive Antonio Perez thinks a favorable ruling could enable Kodak to draw up to $1 billion in fees from its deep-pocketed rivals. In 2009, the commission ruled that South Korean mobile phone makers Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics infringed the same patent, resulting in $964 million in payouts.

New Cain Internet ad shines focus on viral videos (AP)

Posted: 30 Oct 2011 05:18 AM PDT

By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Beth Fouhy, Associated Press – Sun Oct 30, 8:18 am ET

NEW YORK – Before Smoking Man, there was Obama Girl. And who can forget Jib Jab?

A new ad featuring Herman Cain's smoking campaign manager Mark Block is the latest political video to become an overnight web sensation. The ad, with Block taking a deep drag on a cigarette while Cain flashes a Cheshire cat grin, has had close to 1 million clicks on Cain's website since its debut last week. It's also aired repeatedly on cable news shows and become the subject of countless parodies.

Online viral videos have become a staple of American politics. Not long ago, pricey paid television ads were the only way for candidates to be noticed. Now, anyone with a good idea and an Internet connection can generate buzz in the presidential contest.

"The most important thing to appreciate about viral videos is they really reduce the power of traditional media gatekeepers," said Stephen Farnsworth, an associate professor of communications at George Mason University in Virginia. "The decisions of what the public could see used to be in the control of TV executives. The Web gives people the ability to send messages horizontally. You see something you like, you put it on YouTube."

Some widely disseminated videos have been harmless fun such as the ad produced by digital studio Jib Jab in 2004 showing rivals George W. Bush and John Kerry singing a hilarious rendition of "This Land."

Others have had a deeper impact, including Tina Fey's scathing depiction of 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin as an ill-informed lightweight. Those sketches first appeared on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" but were widely shared online.

Cain, a little-known former Godfather's Pizza executive before joining the 2012 GOP race, has seen his popularity spike recently after a series of debates and his much-discussed 9-9-9 tax plan. The smoking man ad, with its low production values and quirky imagery, has added to the sense of novelty about Cain's candidacy and was distributed almost for free.

In an interview with CNN on Friday, Block said Cain had raised $3 million in October in part because of the video's popularity.

"That's what we're seeing in our grassroots activism growth and obviously in the YouTube thing," Block said.

President Barack Obama, cast as the innovative newcomer when he joined the Democratic field in 2008, has experienced the upside and downside of being a Web video sensation.

The Obama Girl video, in which a fetching young woman sang about her crush on the then-Illinois senator, went viral early in the campaign and reinforced the notion of Obama as the cool and sexy alternative to his more established Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Clinton briefly reclaimed the online spotlight when news footage of her welling up at a New Hampshire coffee shop was widely circulated. She narrowly beat Obama in that state's first-in-the-nation primary.

Obama fans struck back with the "Yes We Can" video, produced by the Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am and featuring celebrities such as actress Scarlett Johansson. It was an online hit and revived Obama's image as the hip and trendy candidate after he lost New Hampshire.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, Obama's general election rival in 2008, sought to turn such gushing testimonials back on the Democrat. Strapped for cash that summer as a confident Obama toured Europe, McCain's campaign released a video comparing Obama to starlets Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

"He's the biggest celebrity in the world," the ad said mockingly. It quickly went viral and became the talk of cable news.

Obama's campaign also experienced a crisis when videos surfaced of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, shouting anti-American slogans from the pulpit. The videos generated questions about Obama's faith and status as the first major black presidential candidate, forcing him to deliver a major speech on race relations.

The campaign later found itself on the defensive again after news clips of Obama fist-bumping with his wife, Michelle, were widely distributed, as well as a sound bite from Michelle Obama saying her husband's candidacy made her proud of the United State "for the first time in my adult life." Critics seized on the videos as evidence of the Obamas' "otherness" or lack of patriotism.

Ken Goldstein, whose Campaign Media Analysis Group tracks political advertising, said that while online videos had the power to influence a race, paid television advertising still carried much more overall impact.

"The Internet preaches to the choir," Goldstein said. "It's a great way to raise money and mobilize supporters to work harder, which are not trivial things. But viral videos are not a way to mobilize passive and undecided voters, which television ads do."

___

Find Beth Fouhy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bfouhy

3 Startups Bring New Angles to Social Buying (Mashable)

Posted: 29 Oct 2011 09:44 AM PDT

Sarah Kessler Sarah Kessler – Sat Oct 29, 12:44 pm ET

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Each weekend, Mashable selects startups we think are building interesting, unique or niche products.

[More from Mashable: Create & Publish a Web Page in Seconds with Pen.io]

This week we've focused on three startups with innovative takes on social buying.

OpenSky is a Twitter-style personalized shopping site. LikeBids motivates users to distribute coupons for brands, and MyTab helps users fund trips through their social networks.

OpenSky: Twitter for Curated Shopping

Quick Pitch: OpenSky is a shopping site that is curated by the tastemakers that individual users "follow."

Genius Idea: A customizable online shopping experience.

Mashable's Take: OpenSky has cleverly blended recommendations, editorial endorsements and flash sales.

When users sign up, they can chose from a list of about 60 tastemakers to "follow," including celebrities such as Molly Sims, Padma Lakshmi, Kristin Cavallari, Bobby Flay and Tom Colicchio. Each tastemaker chooses products to recommend to followers and writes a short explanation of why each item was chosen. He or she runs a special on about one item a week that gives followers a 20% to 60% discount on the item.

Since launching in April, OpenSky says that it has grown 50% month over month. The site has about 600,000 users, and its CEO John Caplan, the former president of About.com, seems to be thinking big.

The startup announced a $30 million round of funding this week, bringing its total amount to $49 million.

LikeBids: Group Buying Unlocked by Facebook "Likes"

Quick Pitch: LikeBids distributes coupons through Facebook.

Genius Idea: A built-in motivation for word-of-mouth marketing.

Mashable's Take: LikeBids users win coupons by Liking them and encouraging others to do so. When a threshold number of Likes are reached, a coupon is emailed to everyone who clicked.

The advantage of distributing coupons this way is that even participants who aren't particularly excited to spread the word about a discount end up doing so anyway. When they Like the coupon, it's automatically posted on their wall and friends' feeds.

LikeBids has also built in a motivation for users who are excited to spread the word. Each coupon has a price attached to it for the person who motivates the most people to Like it by sharing a unique URL.

Right now LikeBids' offerings are pretty sparse (there are exactly three coupons available: Papa John's, Kohl's and Sephora), but the startup has set up a situation that encourages users to promote brands to their friends. If those users indeed appear, that's an appealing proposition.

myTab: a Social Travel Gift Card

Quick Pitch: myTab aims to make group gifting travel easier.

Genius Idea: A travel search engine that automatically takes into account your budget.

Mashable's Take: Let's say you want to go on a trip and it's your birthday. MyTab hopes you'll set up an account on its site, and share a link that allows your friends to chip in to its cost by purchasing a virtual currency it refers to as "myCash."

You can then use a Kayak-like interface to book a flight and hotel based on how much "myCash" you have. If there are leftovers, you can re-gift them to friends.

Although we understand where myTab is coming from -- group gift buying is a problem pervasive enough that several startups (and eBay) have developed solutions that make it easier. We fear, however, that this travel-focused solution only makes the process more complicated.

Image courtesy of istockphoto, barisonal

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Cablecom head eyes "all options" regarding Swiss Orange: report (Reuters)

Posted: 30 Oct 2011 05:25 AM PDT

– Sun Oct 30, 8:25 am ET

ZURICH (Reuters) – The head of internet, telephone and TV provider Cablecom said he was looking at all options when asked about whether his firm might buy mobile phone provider Orange Switzerland, a unit of France Telecom SA, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Cablecom chief Eric Tveter told the newspaper SonntagsZeitung: "We're looking at all options. I'm not in a position to comment on a possible deal."

When asked whether he was interested, he said: "Yes, but my answer is: We're looking at all options."

France Telecom wants to sell its Swiss and Austrian operations, deals which could bring in some 2 billion euro ($2.83 billion) , according to analysts.

(Reporting by Catherine Bosley; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

China arrests 12,000 in online drug sale sweep (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Oct 2011 07:46 PM PDT

– Sat Oct 29, 10:46 pm ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese police have arrested 12,125 people during a crackdown on the sale of narcotics online and have confiscated more than 300 kg of illegal drugs, state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

Police were tipped off to the scale of the problem after uncovering chatrooms in the two western cities of Lanzhou and Xian that were being used to peddle drugs, it said.

"Newcomers were only allowed to enter the chat room after being introduced by 'acquaintances' and taking drugs live via webcam," Xinhua cited a police officer as saying.

Police began detaining suspects in early September, the report added. The youngest was 14, it said.

"Criminal suspects turned to the Internet as it is harder for them to be detected that way," it said.

Websites must "take responsibility in fighting such illegal activities" and new laws be drafted to cope with this new problem, Xinhua added.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)

South Korea smart phone subscribers exceed 20 million (Reuters)

Posted: 30 Oct 2011 02:57 AM PDT

– Sun Oct 30, 5:57 am ET

SEOUL (Reuters) – The number of smart phone subscribers in South Korea, one of the world's most wired countries, hit 20 million last week, as some 40 percent of the country's citizens signed up to use the mobile device, the state telecoms regulator said on Sunday.

Figures released by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) showed the number of smart phone users slightly exceeded 20 million as of Friday, with 10 million of them subscribing to SK Telecom Co, the country's top mobile service provider, 6.8 million to KT Corp and 3.3 million to LG Uplus Corp.

The 20 million milestone also meant over 80 percent of the country's economically active population of 25 million signed up with wireless service providers using the smart gadget.

Since Apple's iPhone arrived in the country in November 2009, smart phone subscriptions have increased rapidly. The number of smart phone users stood 810,000 at the end of 2009, surging to 7.2 million at the end of last year, according to the KCC.

Industry experts forecast the smart phone market would be the fastest growing sector in the country's already-saturated wireless service market as service carriers focus their efforts on offering much faster and larger data streaming long-term evolution (LTE) services for their early-adopting customers.

(Reporting by Sung-won Shim; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

Apple begins investigation into iPhone 4S battery life (Digital Trends)

Posted: 29 Oct 2011 12:56 PM PDT

Mike Flacy Mike Flacy – Sat Oct 29, 3:56 pm ET

According to a report from The Guardian, Apple engineers have started contacting vocal iPhone 4S owners that have been complaining about the rapidly draining iPhone 4S battery. During the initial iPhone 4S presentation earlier this month, Apple mentioned that standby time for the iPhone 4S battery was rated at about 200 hours or a bit over eight days. This is a large drop from the 300 hour standby time of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, likely due to the upgrades to the internal hardware within the iPhone 4S. One iPhone 4S user reported that standby mode was eating up approximately ten percent of the battery power each hour and eventually draining the battery by the end of the workday.

While Apple engineers haven't specifically identified the problem yet, many iPhone 4S users have collectively pointed to location services as the main culprit for the drain on the battery. Specifically, the "Setting Time Zone" function within iOS 5 that corrects the Time Zone as a user travels to different areas of the world is constantly attempting to check the current Time Zone. iPhone 4S owners who identified this problem see the purple, location arrow icon beside the toggle setting within the menu. This means that the Time Zone has been checked within the last 24 hours. Users that have turned off the Time Zone feature, as well as many other location functions of the phone, have reported vastly improved battery life on the iPhone 4S as well as other iPhones that have upgraded to iOS 5.

The "Setting Time Zone" function can be located within Settings, moving into "Location Services", scrolling down to "System Services" and sliding the toggle on "Setting Time Zone". Apple engineers will likely adjust settings within the next iOS 5 update to modify how often location-based apps are automatically updated to allow for greater battery life for all iPhone 4S users.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

Demon Seed (1977)

The Tech: Home Security System & Computer

The Background: Based on an early novel by Dean Koontz, Demon Seed stars Fritz Weaver as Dr. Alex Harris, a scientist working on an A.I. system called "Proteus IV" that incorporates organic material. After escaping its human controllers, Proteus takes over Harris' home-security system and decides that it wants to have a child, so it artificially inseminates his wife with genetically manipulated cells it took from her. Once it confirms that she's pregnant, Proteus surrenders – leaving the couple to discover the horrifying truth of the their new "baby."

The Lesson: Don't bring your work home. It's not fair to your family.

Poltergeist (1982)

The Tech: Television

The Background: The Freeling family moves into a California suburb, only to be terrorized by malevolent spirits haunting their home. The spirits initially make contact with the youngest daughter late one night via the family television set in the now-famous scene featuring five-year-old actress Heath O'Rourke announcing, "They're here."

The Lesson: Don't let your kids stay up too late watching television.

Christine (1983)

The Tech: Your car

The Story: A 1958 Plymouth Fury becomes eerily possessive of its teenage owner, and goes on a killing spree around town. This early John Carpenter film was based on a Stephen King novel, and while it features a few slight differences from the source material, it retains much of the same terror that will add a new dimension to long road trips when you find yourself talking to your car.

The Lesson: You know that oil change you've been putting off? Get it done. Now.

The Lift (1983)

The Tech: Your building's elevator

The Story: This Dutch film about a killer elevator may sound ridiculous, but it ended up getting an American version made in 2001 titled Down that was directed by the same filmmaker who made the original. On top of all that, the American remake attracted a cast that included Naomi Watts, Michael Ironside, and Ron Perlman. And it was about a killer elevator. Seriously.

The Lesson: No matter how funny you think it is to push all of the buttons in an elevator and make it stop at every floor, it is not funny at all.

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

The Tech: Um, pretty much everything with an engine.

The Story: Stephen King's one and only directorial project was based on one of his earliest short stories, and has the world's machines suddenly becoming sentient after the planet passes through the tail of a comet. Everything from ATMs and lawnmowers to tractor trailers and mobile machine guns develop minds of their own, and a small group of survivors find themselves pinned inside a truck stop while the machines kill them off one by one.

The Lesson: Machines have feelings, too – bloodthirsty, vicious feelings.

The Video Dead (1987)

The Tech: Your television (again)

The Story: This direct-to-video, low-budget film has become a cult classic of sorts, mainly because of its wild premise. In the movie, a mysterious television set holds the power to release a horde of zombies into our world, and its new owners must find a way to stop the undead creatures and close the portal.

The Lesson: Television rots your brain… but that's a delicacy in some zombie dimensions.

Ringu (1998)

The Tech: A VHS tape

The Story: Both the Japanese film Ringu and its 2002 American remake The Ring were filled with impressive scares, but it was the meta-horror of watching a movie about a movie that kills people who watch it that's the real source of terror here. The movie follows the deadly path of a VHS tape that causes a terrifying ghost to climb out of the television and kill the last person who viewed it. The only escape is to make a copy and send it to another unsuspecting victim.

The Lesson: Video piracy is okay when it's used to thwart vengeful ghosts (but that's the only time).

One Missed Call (2004)

The Tech: Your phone

The Story: While the 2008 American remake of this film is entirely forgettable, the Japanese original (titled Chakushin ari) is so terrifying that the "ringtone of death" used in the film has become a frequent element in Japanese haunted-house attractions. The film follows a group of friends who each receive a mysterious message on their phones that appears to come from their own numbers, dated sometime in the future. When they listen to the message, they hear themselves at their moment of grisly death.

The Lesson: Letting your voicemail pick up a call isn't always the best option.

Pulse (2006)

The Tech: The Internet

The Story: Yet another American movie based on a Japanese film, Pulse is a remake of the 2001 Japanese film Kairo, which suggests that with the right amount of coding we can do more than just Skype with the dead – we can let them into our world. As with many of the other Japanese horror films to be remade here in the U.S., the American version of the film was widely panned, while the original is considered a cult classic across the pond. Whichever one you choose to watch, there's a good chance you'll unplug your computer after it's over.

The Lesson: You really can find absolutely anything on the Internet these days.

Stay Alive (2006)

The Tech: Your gaming console

The Story: A group of friends discover that the survival-horror game they've been playing is haunted by a bloodthirsty ghost, and they must get to the end of the game if they're going to live to see the credits. Stay Alive was one of several gaming-themed horror movies to be released around the same time (along with Gamebox 1.0), and though none of the films are actually all that good, they do offer up some silly "technology gone terribly wrong" scares. Still, after watching this film, games like Resident Evil will have a new sense of urgency – so it has that going for it.

The Lesson: There's no such thing as infinite ammo.

And there you have it, folks. Ten films that will have you keeping a wary eye on the technology in your life.

There are a lot more out there, so feel free to mention some of your favorites in the comment section – but remember, if you post the same message three times, the Write Comment ghost just might swallow your soul.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

Technet

Sunday, October 30, 2011