EU data protection reform to replace national laws (AP) : Technet

EU data protection reform to replace national laws (AP)
Toyota taking orders in Japan for Prius plug-in (AP)
Review: iTunes Match wins cloud music war by wisp (AP)
War has never looked cuter than in this Lego Call of Duty spoof (Yahoo! News)
Hack turns your LCD into a privacy monitor you can only see with magic glasses (Yahoo! News)
9 Amazing Amazon Deals for Cyber Monday (Mashable)
Facebook gearing up for 2012 IPO: source (Reuters)
Exclusive: THL eyes buyout of Yahoo's U.S. business (Reuters)
RIM to offer security features on iPhone, Androids (Reuters)
Holiday Cards, Stay.com among best new Android apps (Appolicious)
Facebook looking at spring 2012 IPO (Digital Trends)
Amazon's Black Friday Kindle Sales Quadruple (NewsFactor)
Take advantage of Cyber Monday with a few handy iOS apps (Appolicious)
AT&T's T-Mobile deal could be affected by election (Reuters)
YouTube Could Become the Best Video Streaming Option (ContributorNetwork)
An iPhone spontaneously combusts on an Australian Flight (Digital Trends)
Twitter acquires mobile security start-up company (Reuters)
Did Best Buy pull the PlayBook or did it sell out? (Digital Trends)

EU data protection reform to replace national laws (AP)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 07:38 AM PST

– Mon Nov 28, 10:38 am ET

BRUSSELS – The European Union wants to replace a mishmash of national laws on data protection with one bloc-wide reform, updating laws put in place long before Facebook and other social networking sites even existed.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Monday that social networks must become more open about how they operate. Under her proposals, businesses — including Internet service providers — would have additional responsibilities, such as having to inform users of what data about them is being collected, for what purpose, and how it is stored.

EU regulators have been concerned about how commercial online services use customers' personal data to attract advertisers, saying they want to make sure that citizens' Internet privacy rights are respected.

"All social network service providers active in the EU must fully comply with EU data protection laws," Reding said. "Companies have a specific responsibility when personal data is their main economic asset,"

Existing EU laws date to 1995, long before Facebook and other social networking sites existed. EU officials expect the draft legislation to be ready early next year, and after that, it could take up to 18 months for the bill to become law.

The EU has to iron out differences between its members over privacy issues. Countries like France and Germany favor stronger protections for privacy, while Ireland, Britain and others prefer more market-friendly rules.

A Eurobarometer survey this summer found that 75 percent of Europeans are worried about how companies — including search engines like Google and social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn — use their private information.

The proposed reform also would help businesses by replacing the current patchwork of 27 national regulations, she said.

"They need ... to have a 'one-stop-shop' when it comes to data protection matters, one law and one single data protection authority," Reding told the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU. "I want to drastically cut red tape."

Toyota taking orders in Japan for Prius plug-in (AP)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 09:05 PM PST

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama, Ap Business Writer – 46 mins ago

TOKYO – Toyota will begin taking orders Tuesday for the plug-in version of its hit Prius hybrid, announcing efficient mileage and a relatively affordable starting price of 3.2 million yen ($41,000), which comes down with green vehicle subsidies.

Toyota is targeting Prius plug-in sales of 35,000 to 40,000 a year in Japan, and 60,000 globally. The car is set for delivery in Japan in January. With subsidies the cost comes down to 2.75 million yen ($35,200). It starts at $32,000 in the U.S. and 37,000 euros in Europe, according to Toyota.

Japan's top automaker says the plug-in, which it calls the Prius PHV, is for those who want something more innovative than a regular gasoline-electric hybrid, but are worried about running out of power on the road, as can happen with pure electric vehicles.

When a plug-in runs out of power to keep the electric vehicle going, it becomes a hybrid.

"The plug-in is the premier next-generation ecological car that will follow the hybrid," said Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada, the Toyota Motor Corp. engineer known as the "father of the Prius."

The Prius plug-in has an estimated electric vehicle cruise range per charge of 26.4 kilometers (16 miles), according to Toyota.

Its mileage is estimated at 61 kilometers per liter for Japanese test conditions, which converts to a whopping 143 miles per gallon.

Such numbers are going to vary depending on road conditions so mileage numbers for the U.S. and Europe are still unclear.

Green cars such as the Prius plug-in are expected to take centerstage at the Tokyo Motor Show, which opens to the public this weekend.

Japanese consumers have taken to the Prius, despite a languishing auto market overall, thanks to government-backed subsidies. Nations around the world are offering similar perks, boosting its chance for success.

The Prius plug-in, which seats five people, comes with a new lithium-ion battery that can be charged from a household outlet, much like an electric car. It also recharges itself while driving like a gasoline-electric hybrid. The battery is more powerful and compact so the back trunk fits three golf bags.

Uchiyamada told reporters that the plug-in was the best solution for green cars as most Japanese don't drive more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) a day and Toyota studies showed that most people don't want to use EVs for drives longer than 100 kilometers (60 miles).

How the plug-in fares in coming months will help show whether Toyota can keep riding on its success of the Prius as a global leader in green technology. Toyota said it had collected data from 600 people around the world who had leased the plug-in on a trial basis.

Toyota has sold more than 3.4 million hybrids worldwide so far, including models other than the Prius.

Selling in big numbers is important because it helps cut costs and allows the automaker to offer products at affordable prices.

Honda Motor Co., which has also been aggressive with hybrid technology, has sold 770,000 hybrids worldwide.

Nissan Motor Co., which hasn't released a global hybrid sales number, is banking more on pure electric, selling 17,500 Leaf cars around the world so far.

In Japan, Toyota will work on services with its housing unit to support plug-in owners' charging stations, it said.

___

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

Review: iTunes Match wins cloud music war by wisp (AP)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 11:12 AM PST

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima, Ap Business Writer – Mon Nov 28, 2:12 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – In recent weeks, Apple, Google and Amazon.com have each launched the missing puzzle piece in their wireless mobile music systems.

Apple enabled storage and delivery of your songs over the Internet through iTunes Match. Google started selling music digitally. Amazon shipped an electronic-books device, called the Kindle Fire, that does much more than books.

With those additions, each system now lets you buy songs, store them on faraway computers called the cloud and retrieve them wirelessly on devices connected to the Internet.

But which system do you want to live with? It's a choice you can't make lightly because these companies don't play nice with each other. Once you've adopted one, it's hard to switch.

If this were the Music Cloud Wars, then Apple's iTunes Match would be winning — but not by much.

Here's a quick primer, along with a few ways to get in and around their digital barriers.

___

iTunes Match.

There's a good chance you are familiar with iTunes. The software is on millions of computers, and many of you have iPods, iPhones or iPads that let you consume content bought through the iTunes online store.

ITunes Match is a $25-a-year service on top of that. It sees everything you have in iTunes and matches it to copies Apple already has stored in the cloud. Songs not already there will be uploaded from your computer to a personal locker in the cloud.

It's alone among the three to let you download songs to iPhones and iPads wirelessly. That means a full copy of the song is stored for listening anytime, rather than streamed on demand over wireless networks, which can be spotty. There's nothing more annoying than having your songs stop and start as your connection flutters.

You can have up to 25,000 songs on the service, plus an unlimited number bought through iTunes — great for those with large music collections. Of course, most of you won't fit 25,000 songs on your device, so streaming is an option for songs you haven't downloaded yet.

If there's a tune you want to listen to offline, just tap an icon. It takes only a few seconds, and you can start listening before it's done.

One major caveat: You need an Apple device to use this, and specifically a newer one with Apple's iOS 5 mobile software. You're out of luck if you have a phone running Google's Android system, for instance.

___

Google Music.

Using Google's free Music Manager program, you upload music you own into Google's cloud. Unlike Apple, Google doesn't have songs preloaded, so this can take hours or days.

Google Music works best with an Android phone or tablet computer. You simply download the Google Music app to your device. Voila, your songs will be available for streaming. You can save songs for offline playback by "pinning" them with a digital push pin icon.

The service stores up to 20,000 songs, not including those bought through a companion music store run by Google. That's not as many as iTunes Match, but it's free.

I like Google's music store because it offers plenty of bargains. I found Coldplay's latest album, Mylo Xyloto, for $5 — half the price on iTunes. Google plans to release lots of free music, too.

I also like that if you buy from Google's music store, you can share the songs with friends on its Google Plus social network. They get one full listen for free — that's something not available anywhere else.

One downside: Google's store isn't as extensive as Apple's or Amazon's. For instance, it's missing songs from Warner Music Group, which accounts for about 20 percent of music sold in the U.S.

Google Music also isn't a great option for users of Apple devices.

Google found a way to make the system work on iPhones and iPads through Apple's Safari Web browser. It has a surprising app-like feel because of the way menus respond to touch. But you won't be able to store songs on your phone for offline use.

There's also a trick for Apple users to take advantage of music deals: Download the songs onto a computer, put the music in iTunes and upload the songs into Apple's cloud through iTunes Match. It's not pretty, but it works.

___

Amazon Cloud Drive.

The new Kindle Fire completed Amazon's music system, though it's not required. It works fine on Android devices through the Amazon MP3 app.

Released in March, Amazon's cloud storage system is free for up to 5 gigabytes of storage — roughly 1,250 songs. If you bought Lady Gaga's latest album, "Born This Way," in a 99-cent promotion in May, you'll have 20 GB of space — good for about 5,000 songs.

Amazon's uploader works about the same as Google's. It could take hours or days to get your songs into the cloud. But once there, you can stream or download songs to the Kindle Fire or to Android devices.

Like Google, Amazon sells songs and albums at a discount to iTunes, and its long-running music store has a selection comparable to iTunes.

Amazon has also found a way to make its system work on Apple devices, using Safari as well, but that workaround is clunkier than Google's and doesn't support downloads either.

One other downside to Amazon's service is that you'll likely have to pay for cloud storage, as you do with iTunes Match.

Having 5 GB of storage for free is kind of meaningless because most mobile devices have that already. The Kindle Fire comes with 8 GB on board. For a limited time, you can get 20 GB of storage for $20 a year — and most music files won't count against the total.

___

Although there are things to like about Google's and Amazon's systems, they both favor streaming, which isn't how I want to listen to music when I'm not at a computer.

Apple's iTunes Match is fundamentally more oriented to work with downloading in mind, and it meshes well with your existing song library, either on your device or on your computer.

The iTunes store is also set up better — showing what's new and popular, and acting as a barometer of popular culture. Google promotes what's free and Amazon emphasizes its bargains, but those picks aren't always what I'm looking for.

Ultimately it's great to have cloud services out there. It has helped me organize my music collection and reconnected me with songs stuck in the recesses of my computer.

In the end, though, these services ought to be as free and easy to access over multiple devices as email is. Instead, they come across as tools to get you to buy this or that device. And we shouldn't be made to pay for a song once and then again when we store it.

Music in the cloud has promise, but it hasn't fully delivered just yet.

War has never looked cuter than in this Lego Call of Duty spoof (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 06:48 PM PST

Hack turns your LCD into a privacy monitor you can only see with magic glasses (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 06:36 PM PST

9 Amazing Amazon Deals for Cyber Monday (Mashable)

Posted: 27 Nov 2011 03:48 PM PST

Meghan Peters Meghan Peters – Sun Nov 27, 6:48 pm ET

The Black Friday madness may be over, but the holiday bargains live on -- through Cyber Monday, that is. Mashable combed through Amazon's offerings for Monday deals and put them together in this roundup. You'll find everything from 42-inch LCD HD TVs to digital cameras to DVDs. If you're looking for laptops or bluetooth devices, our list has some of those too.

[More from Mashable: 10 Tips to Avoid Cyber Monday Scams]

Which gadgets are on your list this holiday season? What deals have you found so far, and what websites will you be shopping on Monday? Tell us in the comments below.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Facebook gearing up for 2012 IPO: source (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 06:45 PM PST

By Alexei Oreskovic Alexei Oreskovic – Mon Nov 28, 9:45 pm ET

(Reuters) – Facebook, the world's largest Internet social network, is preparing for a initial public stock offering next year, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Facebook is exploring raising $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday. It hopes the offering will value the company at more than $100 billion, according to WSJ, which first reported the story.

Facebook's Chief Financial Officer, David Ebersman, had discussed a public float with Silicon Valley bankers but founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg had not decided on any terms and his plans could change, the Journal said.

The social network, which now claims more than 800 million members after seven years of explosive growth, has not selected bankers to manage what would be a very closely watched IPO. But it had drafted an internal prospectus and was ready at any moment to pull the IPO trigger, the Journal cited people familiar with the matter as saying.

At $100 billion valuation, the company started by Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room would have double the valuation of Hewlett-Packard, the Journal said.

A formal S-1 filing could come before the end of the year, though nothing was decided, the newspaper added.

A Facebook representative declined to comment.

Silicon Valley start-ups have this year begun to test investor appetite for a new wave of dotcoms. If it does debut in 2012, Facebook's IPO would dwarf that of any other dotcom waiting to go public.

"Farmville" creator Zynga has filed for an IPO of up to $1 billion. In November, daily deals service Groupon debuted with much fanfare, only to plunge below its IPO price within weeks.

LinkedIn and Pandora are now also trading significantly below the levels their stocks reached during their public debuts earlier this year.

Facebook has become one of the world's most popular Web destinations, challenging established companies such as Google Inc and Yahoo Inc for consumers' online time and for advertising dollars.

Facebook does not disclose its financial results, but a source familiar with the situation told Reuters earlier this year that the company's revenue in the first six months of 2011 doubled year-on-year to $1.6 billion.

Eric Feng, a former partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers who now runs social-networking site Erly.com, said that the cash Facebook will get in an IPO would allow them to make more acquisitions and refine or work on new projects, such as a rumored-Facebook phone or a netbook.

Having tradeable stock will also allow Facebook to attract more engineering talent who might have been more attracted to the company in earlier days when it was growing faster but now perhaps might be attracted to other companies. "It'll be a powerful bullet for them," said Feng.

Investors have been increasingly eager to buy shares of Facebook and other fast-growing but privately-held Internet social networking companies on special, secondary-market exchanges.

Facebook said in January that it will exceed 500 shareholders this year, and that in accordance with SEC regulations, it will file public financial reports no later than April 30, 2012.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco, with additional reporting by Sarah McBride and Vidya Loganathan; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Exclusive: THL eyes buyout of Yahoo's U.S. business (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 06:43 PM PST

By Nadia Damouni Nadia Damouni – Mon Nov 28, 9:43 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Thomas H. Lee Partners is interested in buying the U.S. operations of Yahoo Inc, breaking away from other bidders that are for now eyeing either a minority stake or teaming up with the Internet giant's partners in Asia, sources familiar with the matter said.

THL is hoping to do a leveraged buyout of Yahoo's U.S. business - which could be worth $5 billion to $6 billion - and draw on its experience running other media assets such as Nielsen Co, Clear Channel and Univision to turn around the ailing company, the sources said.

In taking this approach, THL is charting a different path than other private equity firms such as Silver Lake, KKR and TPG, which are expected to put in bids for a stake of up to 20 percent in the company on Monday, sources said.

Microsoft Corp is helping to finance a possible Silver Lake investment in Yahoo, which has a market value of about $19 billion, the sources said.

Yahoo's board is expected to meet on Tuesday to assess the possibility of a minority investment, the sources said.

Another group of firms, including Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman, is in talks to team up with China's Alibaba Group and Japan's Softbank Corp, the sources said.

Any deal for Yahoo is still some time away. But THL's interest adds yet another twist in the behind-the-scenes maneuvering as bidders jockey for the best position to eventually forge a deal for Yahoo, betting they can turn around the company's fortunes with better management.

The Internet pioneer has seen growth stagnate in recent years due to competition from the likes of Google Inc and Facebook, and is currently without a permanent CEO as it tries to regain relevance in the new dot-com era.

Yahoo's board fired CEO Carol Bartz in September and started the strategic review, which has been complicated by the different agendas of players with a say in the situation, including its Asian partners, co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, the board and shareholders.

Yahoo, THL, Microsoft, Blackstone, KKR and Silver Lake declined to comment. The other private equity firms were not immediately available for comment.

PIPE DEAL

Several other parties including THL are expected to sign confidentiality agreements later this week which would give them access to Yahoo's financial information, the sources said.

TPG, KKR, Silver Lake and Microsoft have already signed confidentiality agreements with Yahoo over the last few weeks allowing them to prepare offers for a minority investment in Yahoo.

Their investment could come in the form of a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction. PIPE investors typically get stock at a discount to the public market valuation, so price could prove to be a sticking point in a deal, especially when the board might have other options before it, the sources said.

The board "is going to make decisions on how to pursue a PIPE deal," one of the sources said, adding that the company and the suitors had different value expectations.

Keeping the initial investment below 20 percent would allow Yahoo to avoid putting the proposal up for a shareholder vote. "Yahoo has to decide whether they need to cram it down shareholders' throats," the source said.

Several private equity firms are taking the minority investment route with the idea that they could then team up with Yang and Filo, who together own another 9.5 percent of the Internet company, Reuters has previously reported.

That combined stake could further be raised by a large share buyback financed with debt, giving the owners a blocking position in the company and giving them a prime spot for a leveraged buyout sometime in the future.

However, Yahoo's board would have to pursue all possible options as part of the strategic review, the source said.

That means the company will need to see offers by firms in the others' camps as well.

(Reporting by Nadia Damouni; Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis; Editing by Paritosh Bansal, Gary Hill)

RIM to offer security features on iPhone, Androids (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 09:06 PM PST

By Alastair Sharp Alastair Sharp – 46 mins ago

TORONTO (Reuters) – BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is seeking to cash in as companies switch to rival smartphones with a new tool that offers some of its important security features for sexier devices like the iPhone.

The company said on Tuesday that it will launch its new Mobile Fusion device management software in the first quarter, allowing corporate IT staff to set and monitor rules for passwords, apps and software on a range of devices, including Apple's iPad and iPhone, and smartphones using Google's Android operating system.

A company can remotely lock or wipe a lost or stolen device, a key selling point for security-conscious corporations who may have been wary of shifting away from the BlackBerry.

"What our enterprise customers are looking for, and the opportunity for us, is to become the de facto platform," RIM's vice-president for enterprise product management, Alan Panezic, told Reuters in an interview ahead of the announcement.

"We will take full advantage of whatever security capabilities are provided by the core operating system. We're not going to hold that back in any way, shape or form."

RIM's BlackBerry was for years the preferred device for businesses and government agencies, who treasured its encrypted data and distributed the device to millions of workers needing secure, round-the-clock email access.

But many workers now prefer using their own Apple and Android-powered devices to access corporate emails, raising security questions for corporations that RIM hopes to address with the new software.

Mobile Fusion will sit next to existing BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES) behind corporate firewalls.

Panezic said the software will manage RIM's PlayBook independently from a BlackBerry after the tablet - which has yet to gain traction with either business or consumer clients - receives a long-awaiting software upgrade, due in February.

He declined to give any pricing details for the Fusion service, but said it would be "competitive" with rivals.

"It will help stem the tide of those companies that may have considered eliminating their BES but it won't help sell more phones," said Gartner analyst Phillip Redman. "That's what they really need to do."

The new software follows on from RIM's May acquisition of device management company Ubitexx, which RIM announced in May.

Smaller companies such as Good Technology, MobileIron and BoxTone already offer device management as companies fret about leakage of sensitive commercial information.

"This will definitely rattle some cages" among smaller companies, filling a niche by securing and managing iPhones and other non-BlackBerry devices for corporations, Forrester analyst Christian Kane said.

Panezic said customers had requested a solution to handle Apple and Android devices, but RIM would consider adding support for other systems, such as Microsoft's Windows Phone, if there was enough demand.

RIM shares closed 3 percent higher at $16.48 on Nasdaq on Monday. They have fallen more than 70 percent this year.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; editing by Janet Guttsman)

Holiday Cards, Stay.com among best new Android apps (Appolicious)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 02:15 PM PST

Facebook looking at spring 2012 IPO (Digital Trends)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 06:10 PM PST

Trevor Mogg Trevor Mogg – Mon Nov 28, 9:10 pm ET

It started off as will-it won't-it speculation and has since developed into a when-exactly-will-it guessing game.

Facebook's possible initial public offering (IPO) has been the subject of much discussion in recent years with co-founder Mark Zuckerberg saying earlier this month that an IPO was possible "at some point" but that it was important "to build this company so that it's great over the long term." All very vague, then.

A Wall Street Journal report published Monday, however, claims that according to "people familiar with the matter," executives at the social networking giant are now eyeing dates between April 2012 and June 2012 for an IPO.

Facebook is reportedly talking with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding a possible flotation on the stock market and could even file papers before the year's out, although "the date for a filing with the SEC is still in flux," the sources told the WSJ.

The company is currently thinking it may be able to raise as much as $10 billion, which could value Zuckerberg's company at over $100 billion. If things went Facebook's way, it would be the biggest IPO by an Internet company since Google raised $1.7 billion when it went public in 2004.

However, spring 2012 is some time away, and much can change in that time. Indeed, the WSJâ€™s sources said that the financial figures regarding any IPO â€œwill largely be determined by the market and the European economy.â€

No doubt the financial team at Facebook will also be keeping an eye on the last big Internet company to go public, daily deals site Groupon, which did so earlier this month. It raised $700 million in the process though last week saw its share value fall below its launch price of $20. At the time of writing, the shares are worth only $15.24 each. LinkedIn, which went public in May, has also been having a hard time of it on the stock market of late.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Amazon's Black Friday Kindle Sales Quadruple (NewsFactor)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 06:04 PM PST

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Mark Long, newsfactor.com – Mon Nov 28, 9:04 pm ET

Amazon reported its best-ever Black Friday sales for the company's Kindle family of e-readers and media tablets, the online retail giant said Monday. Unit sales quadrupled across the board in comparison with Kindle sales the same day last year.

"Even before the busy holiday shopping weekend, we'd already sold millions of the new Kindle family," said Amazon Kindle Vice President Dave Limp. "And Kindle Fire was the best-selling product across all of Amazon.com" on Black Friday.

However, Apple's iPad also had an outstanding Black Friday, according to the sell-through observations made by investment firm Piper Jaffray. "We observed Apple stores selling 14.8 iPads per hour, up from 8.8 iPads per hour last year on Black Friday," noted Piper Jaffray analysts Gene Munster and Andrew Murphy.

One reason why was that Apple discounted iPads 8 percent to 9 percent for Black Friday this year, compared with 6 percent to 8 percent on Black Friday last year. "Apple stores were selling 68 percent more iPads per hour on a year-on-year basis," Munster and Murphy wrote in a Monday investor note.

Sales Channel Rivalry

Though Apple also sells the iPad via mass-market retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, the $199 price tag sported by the new Kindle Fire clearly helped Amazon beat Apple's iPad unit sales at Target's retail outlets nationwide.

"This was a great Black Friday for Target and for Kindle Fire, which was the best-selling tablet in our stores on Black Friday," said Target Vice President Nik Nayar.

Amazon also benefited from heavy Kindle sales at Best Buy. On the other hand, Apple's iPad is available worldwide and also distinctly appeals to business professionals in ways in which the Kindle Fire cannot -- due to Amazon's design emphasis on delivering multimedia entertainment as well as the limitations induced by the device's Amazon-centric user interface.

The Black Friday results racked up by Apple's iPad were consistent with Piper Jaffray's estimate of 13.5 million unit sales in the fourth quarter of 2011 -- up 84 percent year-over-year. "We remain comfortable with our iPad estimates based on this data," Munster and Murphy wrote.

Nook Competition

Though Kindle Fire has remained the best-selling product across all of Amazon since its unveiling eight weeks ago, the red-hot device faces a new rival in the more-powerful Nook Tablet from Barnes & Noble, which is priced at $249. The book retail giant also has reduced the price of its older Nook Color e-reader/tablet to $199, to match Amazon's Kindle Fire pricing.

The ultimate key to the Nook Tablet's success, however, is the new Nook Boutique recently launched at Barnes & Noble stores nationwide. "It's a fairly radical change, if you think about it -- turning bookstores into consumer electronics stores," said J.P. Gownder, the lead PC analyst at Forrester Research.

Gownder believes Barnes & Noble's new sales-channel effort is off to "a good start" for several reasons, including the development of logical breakouts centered on different usage scenarios, such as Nook Kids, Nook Newsstand and Nook Apps. "These scenarios allow Barnes & Noble to communicate the specific features of the device that shine," Gownder wrote in a blog.

The new Nook Boutique also provides customers with direct on-site product support, an area in which online retailer Amazon cannot compete. "Critical to any channel experience is the ability to have well-trained staff interacting with customers," Gownder wrote.

Take advantage of Cyber Monday with a few handy iOS apps (Appolicious)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 12:20 PM PST

AT&T's T-Mobile deal could be affected by election (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 07:18 PM PST

By Lucas Shaw Lucas Shaw – 2 hrs 34 mins ago

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – The chances of an AT&T-T-Mobile merger grow dimmer by the day, but there may yet be hope on the horizon for the telecommunications giants -- next year's election.

The telecom industry has benefited from a change in administration before: In the 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission opposed SBC's acquisition of AT&T during a Democratic administration, only to later approve it under a Republication administration.

The current FCC administration has already indicated its displeasure with the proposed deal, which would unite AT&T, the country's second largest wireless communications service provider, and T-Mobile, the fourth largest.

That prompted AT&T and Deustche Telekom, which owns T-Mobile, to remove their application.

The two companies may still file with the commission again, and the Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit is slated for February.

While they would need the approval of both the FCC and DOJ to move forward, both of those opponents may change their tune after the election.

If Barack Obama loses to a Republican, who would then make new appointments, rest assured the regulatory environment will become more favorable.

"If the Republicans win, there is a new FCC and a Republican administration will be a lot more positive toward this merger than a democratic one," said longtime telecom analyst Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics.

Each Republican candidate has been outspoken about reducing the government's regulatory enforcement. The most famous example is Rick Perry calling for the abolition of the Environmental Protection Agency -- and then leaving that off his list of three, er, two departments he'd get rid of.

But each candidate has made clear that America needs to be more friendly to business. Herman Cain says America is ready for a businessman as chief executive. As Cain's candidacy continues to shoot itself in the foot, enter multimillionaire Mitt Romney.

Romney's new rival Newt Gingrich has spent the past few years as a lobbyist -- or a public advocate. Either way, he is unlikely to increase oversight of any billionaires.

Cult favorite Ron Paul is more a libertarian than a Republican, so one can only imagine how much deregulation would happen if he were elected.

In this case, the regulatory issue is that only four telecom companies dominate the U.S. market, and the acquisition would reduce that number to three. There would be two giants -- Verizon and AT&T -- and Sprint, large but much smaller than the other two.

The arrival of a Republican president doesn't mean the deal would simply pass through without a fight, but it does mean that AT&T and T-Mobile may be cleverly stalling. By withdrawing their FCC application, they not only prolong the process, but prevent some of the information about the deal's impact from getting out sooner.

Jeff Kagan, an independent tech analyst, said the situation reminded him of SBC's attempted acquisition of AT&T in the late 1990s.

At the time, Reed Hundt, the chairman of the FCC under President Bill Clinton, said such a deal was unthinkable.

In 2004, with a business-friendly Republican administration -- and AT&T weaker than it once was -- the deal got approved.

So could such a shift happen if a Republican is elected?

"That's what happened in the past," Kagan said.

The DOJ case begins in February, and that may come out in AT&T's favor. The FCC has also indicated it needs to approve the withdrawal of the application, but AT&T says it is in the right and can withdraw when it wants.

Either way, many analysts have placed the deal on its deathbed.

"I don't know if it's dead, but it's clearly on life support," said Christopher King, analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. "They have an uphill battle and, quite frankly, even if they win the lawsuit against the DOJ they still need to get FCC approval, which is likely to be even more difficult."

Yes, the FCC seems to be a major impediment.

AT&T and T-Mobile said they removed their application from the FCC to focus on their antitrust case with the Department of Justice -- and that may be true in some respects. However, when FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that the deal was not in the public interest back on November 22, it was clear to everyone that the FCC was against the merger.

Entner said he thinks the FCC has been particularly hostile to the deal.

"If you look at it, the FCC did the press conference on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving," Entner said. "Couldn't that have waited a week and everybody would have had a nice Thanksgiving?"

The FCC has declined to comment further, referring everyone to its comment on November 24, when it said it would consider the two companies' request that the application be withdrawn.

Kagan believes the FCC is doing the right thing because the merger would be bad for the market. But whether you think the deal is a good idea or not, most people seem to agree that this FCC has no intention of approving it.

And that's where the election comes in.

"I'm sure would prefer a different administration with a different head of the FCC and somebody to be more favorable to a merger happening," Kagan said. "But even if it's a Republican administration, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen."

YouTube Could Become the Best Video Streaming Option (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 11:08 AM PST

Jason Gallagher Jason Gallagher – Mon Nov 28, 2:08 pm ET

Contribute content like this. Start here.

COMMENTARY | Television and movie streaming is a popular feature of many tablet computers and smartphones. While streaming movies and watching television over the Internet has proven to be a popular pastime, the particular app or platform used to achieve that varies between a certain number of providers, and many devices are even brand specific most of the time. Apple users like iTunes, and Kindle Fire users like Amazon Video on Demand. However, YouTube is increasingly looking like it should become the video streaming first choice.

YouTube recently signed a deal with Disney allowing movie rentals for many Disney movies, and that particular catalog is going to grow. In addition, YouTube recently announced plans to offer up 100 original channels with made for YouTube content. That combination of unique programming, user generated content, and movie rental ability looks like a winner in the streaming content department.

While Netflix was once a mighty company, it might be a victim of success. As Netflix grew in popularity, studios and networks realized how valuable their content was on the Internet. As licensing fees grew, Netflix began to experience troubles, and eventually ended up with a huge price hike and lost subscribers. Now Netflix is inking new deals left and right, but sooner or later cash is going to be a problem. Netflix also is moving to original programming by reviving "Arrested Development," which is a great idea, but the company does not have the cash in reserve that a cable channel, like Starz or HBO, can throw at a series.

YouTube has some serious cash because it is backed by Internet search giant Google, and tossing $100 million into 100 unique channels is a great way to start expanding the YouTube library. Unlike iTunes and Amazon VOD, YouTube has a pretty intense following on the Internet, and they have an app on just about as many devices as Netflix, which makes them easy to access.

Sure, Google and YouTube seemed late to the dance by offering movie rentals alongside dancing kittens, but it might turn out to be the best thing going as far as streaming movies goes.

An iPhone spontaneously combusts on an Australian Flight (Digital Trends)

Posted: 28 Nov 2011 05:57 PM PST

Mike Dunn Mike Dunn – Mon Nov 28, 8:57 pm ET

It sounds like there is yet another reason power off your cell phone on your next flight. Australian airline Regional Express issued a press release stating an incident involving an exploding iPhone. No one on the flight was harmed during the event that involved lots of smoke and a red glow.

Shortly after the regional flight from Lismore to Sydney landed, a passenger's cell phone started "emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow." The report states that the flight attendant extinguished the red glow successfully, which implies that the glow was actually a fire, but there is no note of an open flame. A picture of the phone has been included, and it is indeed an iPhone 4.

The phone pictured appears to not only have some fire damage, but also had some damage to the back glass. Now it's not clear how much damage was caused by the combustion, or by the flight attendant extinguishing the phone. While there may be a list of problems users of the iPhone 4 have complained about, explosion is not on the list but this isn't the first report of an Apple iDevice exploding.

The phone in question has been given to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau for analysis. While it seems unlikely that an undamaged phone would randomly explode, it is possible, and the fact that the airline issued the press release and it didn't come from a person seeking money from the company helps us believe the story. We have heard about an exploding Motorola Droid 2 before, but no one was hurt.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

Technet

Monday, November 28, 2011

EU data protection reform to replace national laws (AP) : Technet

EU data protection reform to replace national laws (AP) : Technet

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