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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Review: Motorola revives Razr name with smartphone (AP) : Technet

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Review: Motorola revives Razr name with smartphone (AP) : Technet

Review: Motorola revives Razr name with smartphone (AP)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 03:01 PM PST

By RACHEL METZ, AP Technology Writer Rachel Metz, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Nov 9, 6:01 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – With its super-slim, stylish frame, Motorola's Razr phone became incredibly popular in 2004 — a smash hit that Motorola hasn't been able to replicate. Now, many years later, the company is trying to recapture some of that magic by ushering the Razr into the smartphone age.

The new Droid Razr, available Friday through Verizon Wireless for $300 with a two-year service contract, echoes the svelte form and good looks of its ancestor.

It has many great features, including a big touch screen and the ability to use Verizon's high-speed 4G LTE network for zippy Web surfing. It also has Motorola's MotoCast service for wirelessly streaming and downloading content stored on your computer.

Yet I couldn't get much time to enjoy the phone because using it with LTE quickly wore down the battery.

And while the phone runs the latest version of Google Inc.'s Android software that is available for smartphones, shoppers may be tempted to wait. Verizon will soon offer Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, which will come with an even newer version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich. The Droid Razr is expected to get that update, too, but not until next year.

Don't get me wrong, though: The Droid Razr is a hot phone.

Gazing at it for the first time, I had the same thought as I did when I first laid eyes on the now-ancient Razr phone: How the heck did Motorola make the phone that thin? Except for a chunk at the top that houses the rear camera, flash and an external speaker, the Droid Razr is slimmer than any other smartphone. It's just a third of an inch thick. It's light, too, at 4.5 ounces.

It makes other smartphones — Apple's iPhone included — look chubby by comparison.

Its back is covered in diagonal gray and black lines composed of Kevlar fiber, which is meant to increase the phone's strength. Another perk, though one that's not visible: The phone has a water-repellent coating both inside and outside that is meant to shield it from damage caused by the occasional spill.

The Droid Razr boasts a 4.3-inch display, which is too big to fit too comfortably in my hand, but plenty large for watching videos and checking out websites. It isn't the highest-resolution screen you'll find on a smartphone, but colors looked bright and images were crisp.

The screen also works well as a viewfinder for the Razr's 8-megapixel camera. The camera snaps photos pretty quickly. I was able to capture sharp shots in bright and low light.

The phone is speedy overall, owing to its dual-core processor and 1 gigabyte of memory. I had no problem streaming tunes while I bounced between IM'ing friends, checking up on gossip sites and using Google Maps to find a good restaurant near my office.

The phone has a big battery that promises 12.5 hours of talk time. To keep the phone slim, the battery is built-in and cannot be easily replaced.

And, as expected, it won't last long if you're on Verizon's faster data network: Using a combination of LTE and Verizon's slower 3G network to surf the Web, stream an episode of "The Office," download apps and stream music from Pandora, I only had 15 percent battery life left after two-and-a-half hours.

That seemed lame. Of course you can lengthen the battery life by not using the LTE network, or by severely limiting how much you use it. But access to this high-speed network is one of the phone's best features, improving all sorts of Web-related tasks, including video streaming and Web surfing.

Fortunately, Motorola included a very neat app called Smart Actions that can alleviate a bit of the battery drain. Smart Actions can be set to automatically alter the Razr's settings at a certain time, either by using built-in "rules" that you can modify or by using ones you determine.

For example, you can set a low battery saver rule to dim your screen, turn off the phone's GPS and stop content from syncing in the background when the phone's battery reaches a certain level or when you get home. You can also set rules to support your own laziness. I instituted one that makes the phone launch its music app whenever I plug in a pair of headphones.

The phone also includes a service called MotoCast, which comes across as Motorola Mobility Holding Inc.'s answer to Apple Inc.'s iCloud content streaming service. With MotoCast, you can wirelessly access and download documents, music, videos and photos stored on your Mac or PC on your Razr.

Unfortunately, because content you stream with MotoCast is housed on your computer — not on remote computer servers as it is with iCloud — that computer must be on and connected to the Internet for you listen to The Beatles or watch old episodes of "The Simpsons." I don't know about you, but I don't leave my home or work computer online all the time.

You can download files to the phone for use at any time, but even with the phone's 32 gigabytes of storage space you can't possibly store as much content as you could on your computer.

Still, MotoCast is free. The software, which works with a number of Motorola smartphones, was easy to set up on my home computer. On the Razr, streaming songs show up in the phone's music app, denoted by a tiny icon, and they played flawlessly. Videos are less obvious: I found them in the phone's file manager and gallery apps. They didn't seem to stream as well, looking pixelated despite my connection to LTE.

Beyond the strengths and weaknesses of its hardware and software, though, I couldn't forget about the Razr's $300 price tag. This is higher than most other Android smartphones offered by the major wireless carriers. Even the cheapest iPhone 4S can be had for $200. It's sure to make some potential buyers balk.

The Droid Razr is as impressively skinny and stylish as its namesake. But shortcomings like its brief battery life when using LTE will likely make it hard for this smartphone to become as popular as its predecessor.

Cisco's latest results show signs of turnaround (AP)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 03:49 PM PST

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Nov 9, 6:49 pm ET

NEW YORK – Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest maker of computer networking gear, is showing signs of pulling a turnaround, exceeding analyst sales expectations for the second quarter in a row.

"We made very solid progress," CEO John Chambers told investors and analysts on a conference call Wednesday.

The San Jose, Calif., company posted net income of $1.8 billion, or 33 cents per share, in the fiscal first quarter, which ended in October. That was down 8 percent from $1.9 billion, or 34 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding the cost of share-based compensation, tax effects and other items, earnings for the latest quarter were 43 cents per share, 3 cents above the average projection of analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue grew nearly 5 percent from last year to $11.3 billion. That was about $230 million above analyst estimates.

Sales growth was broad and included a recovery in orders from U.S. government customers that had held off during the debt standoff this summer.

"It looks like things are slightly better in almost every important place," said analyst Tal Liani of Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

Because of Cisco's broad base of customers and its focus on capital equipment, the company's results are sometimes seen as a barometer of business investment. But in the last year, problems specific to Cisco have muddied the picture. It's been slashing jobs and culling divisions this year in an effort to revive growth amid a slow economy and tough competition. For instance, it killed its Flip Video business less than two years after buying it.

For many years, Cisco's goal was sales growth of 12 percent to 17 percent per year. But it's had to adjust to a different market, and in September, it said the goal is now 5 percent to 7 percent growth for the next three years.

For the quarter that just started, Chambers said he expects a slightly better rate: revenue growth of 7 percent to 8 percent over last year. Analysts were expecting 7 percent rate.

Cisco shares rose 41 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $18.02 in extended trading Wednesday after the results came out. Earlier, the stock fell 70 cents, or 3.8 percent, to close at $17.61.

Chambers said orders grew through the quarter, just as it had in previous years, hinting at an economic environment that was relatively healthy. As for competitors, he indicated that they were the ones getting the worst of the matchup.

"You are seeing some aggressive acts, maybe even some acts of desperation, by some people to try to get orders. We have seen complete offers for a network to be given away," Chambers said.

Instead of Silicon Valley competitors like Juniper Networks Inc., Chambers singled out China's Huawei as "our toughest competitor four to five years out."

Huawei competes on price, and has been trying to break into the U.S. market for years. Chambers said his goal is to make things "hard" for Huawei in the U.S. while tackling them in their home market.

Adobe backs off on Flash for mobile browsers (AP)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 02:29 PM PST

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Nov 9, 5:29 pm ET

NEW YORK – Adobe Systems Inc. is pulling its Flash software for Web video and games from the browsers of mobile devices, though Flash will still work on mobile apps and on the Web browsers of regular computers.

The move is a win for Apple Inc., which has famously banned Flash from working on the iPhone and the iPad. Adobe said Wednesday, however, that the about-face is about giving people what they want.

"I wouldn't say we lost to Apple. I'd say we listened to customers," Adobe's chief financial officer, Mark Garrett, said in an interview at the company's meeting with analysts in New York.

The popularity of Apple's mobile devices and its steadfast opposition to Flash has pushed into the public eye what has been a largely technical conversation about the behind-the-scenes workings of Web displays and apps.

In April 2010, Apple founder Steve Jobs wrote a lengthy diatribe criticizing Flash for being too buggy, battery-draining and PC-focused to work on the iPhone and the iPad. It was an explanation of the company's long-standing ban of the technology from its mobile operating systems.

"Flash was created during the PC era _for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards — all areas where Flash falls short," Jobs wrote in his essay.

In a blog post Wednesday, an Adobe vice president, Danny Winokur, said that Adobe will increase investment in HTML5, the latest version of the programming standard that websites are built on.

"HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively," Winokur said in the blog post. "This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms."

Less than two months ago, Winokur, who serves as vice president and general manager of interactive development, told The Associated Press that Adobe was equally focused on both Flash and HTML5. But even with Wednesday's retreat, Adobe stressed that the technology is not going away, and that it'll continue to be available on PCs and on mobile apps.

Still, it seems that Jobs was on to something. Adobe is shifting resources to HTML5, a technology that its engineers have been active in developing.

Flash, though, is just one of Adobe's many product offerings. The company does not break out how much business the technology brings in.

Overshadowed by the Flash concession, Adobe also outlined a big realignment of its business model to focus on digital content and marketing. Until now, Adobe has been best known for its software tools for creating digital content — Photoshop for photo editing, Illustrator for illustrations and the Web design software Dreamweaver. Now, Adobe says it wants to help businesses not just create content but market it and make money from it.

The company is also shifting its software offerings to a subscription model. Instead of charging $1,300 to $2,600 upfront for its Creative Suite software package, Adobe will offer it for a monthly subscription fee starting at $49. The idea is that a lower upfront cost will make the products more appealing to a wider group of designers, Web developers and others who use them.

As part of its business realignment, Adobe said Tuesday that it is laying off 750 workers, or about 7 percent of its work force. The San Jose, Calif.-based company wouldn't break out how many of the job cuts, if any, are related to Flash.

Adobe's stock fell $2.34, or 7.7 percent, to close Wednesday at $28.08 as investors seemed to focus on the Adobe's lowered revenue forecast for 2012 as a result of the business model shift.

___

Online:

http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2011/11/flash-focus.html

Just Show Me: How to use your Game Center profile on your iPhone or iPad (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 05:00 PM PST

How to spot the web’s top 3 biggest scams (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 04:49 PM PST

HP Buys More Time to Determine the Future of WebOS (Mashable)

Posted: 08 Nov 2011 06:00 PM PST

Ben Parr Ben Parr – Tue Nov 8, 9:00 pm ET

HP CEO Meg Whitman has told employees that the company still hasn't decided what to do with webOS, the mobile operating system it gained from its acquisition of Palm. On Tuesday, Whitman held an all-hands meeting of HP employees to deliver the "news" that the company will be making its decision on webOS in the next few weeks. If HP decides to keep the division, she claims that the company is "going to do it in a very significant way over a multi-year period," reports The Verge. A source confirms that HP didn't announce a decision at the meeting.

[More from Mashable: HP Announces It'll Stay in the Tablet Business, One Way or Another]

HP acquired Palm for $1.2 billion last year in an attempt to become more relevant in an increasingly mobile world. The company doubled down on its investment with the HP TouchPad and the Palm Pre 3. However, both devices underperformed and former HP CEO Léo Apotheker decided to shut down the division.

After a series of missteps, Apotheker was forced out and replaced with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who quickly announced that the company would reevaluate the decision of whether to sell webOS.

[More from Mashable: Amazon Looking to Buy Palm [REPORT]]

The meeting seems designed to buy HP more time to shop Palm's assets around. If HP can find a suitor that is willing to pay the price it wants, then the company will sell the division. If nobody is willing to do that, then Whitman seems to be prepared to give webOS and the TouchPad a second chance. She told employees at the meeting that the company would focus on tablets instead of smartphones if it decides to keep webOS.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Walmart.com test stores hint at Web shopping fight (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 06:25 PM PST

By Lisa Baertlein Lisa Baertlein – 2 hrs 47 mins ago

CANOGA PARK, Calif (Reuters) – Two tiny Walmart.com stores are making Southern California malls their home for the holidays, launching the latest salvo in the war for online retail dominance.

The temporary stores are a first for Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which experiments with store concepts in various markets hoping they will drive shoppers to its website.

"The Walmart.com stores are just a small test we're conducting during the holiday season to offer local customers easier, more convenient access to products," Wal-Mart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez told Reuters.

"There are no plans to expand these stores at this time," said Lopez, who added that the stores are not a way to sneak into urban markets that have not welcomed the retailer.

The world's biggest retailer already operates stores within miles of the temporary Walmart.com locations, where shoppers can purchase items from the shelves or sit down with a laptop and shop a vast array of products on the chain's website.

Wal-Mart and online retail giant Amazon.com Inc are heading toward an eventual face-off, said Bill Smead, chief investment offer at Smead Capital Management.

"This is the battle of the titans," said Smead.

Wal-Mart has prowess compared to other brick-and-mortar retailers when it comes to pricing, while Amazon has great technical know-how and is seen as a low-cost leader online, said Smead, who holds Wal-Mart in his firm's Smead Value Fund.

TESTING THE WATERS

Both Walmart.com stores will be open from November 1 until December 31. They are located in malls operated by Australia's Westfield Group, which counts Wal-Mart as a full-time tenant in two other shopping centers.

The test store in Westfield's Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego is about 3,000 square feet, roughly 1/60th of the size of a typical Walmart supercenter.

An even smaller 1,000 square-foot shop at Westfield Topanga mall in the Los Angeles suburb of Canoga Park is sandwiched between a Macy's and a GameStop.

The brightly lit Canoga Park shop has a limited assortment of potential holiday gifts, including tech gadgets and toys.

Richard Kadeg, 40, bought Activision Blizzard Inc's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" at the Walmart.com store to avoid Tuesday's long, release-day line at GameStop.

"I still would have preferred to get it at GameStop," said Kadeg, who gets loyalty points with each GameStop purchase.

While he wasn't convinced to check out Wal-Mart's website, Kadeg did say the shop might appeal to others -- like Robin Duran, who lives in the small town of Sweet Home, Oregon.

"It's kind of hard to order online unless you know exactly what you want," said Duran, 51, who likes the Walmart.com store idea.

The single mom -- who also shops Amazon.com -- has bought everything from car tires to toys from Walmart.com. She's a frequent user of the "site to store" service, which lets her order items online and have them shipped for free to a Walmart store 20 minutes from her home.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Castro's daughter, blogger in Twitter spat (AP)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 03:13 PM PST

By PETER ORSI, Associated Press Peter Orsi, Associated Press – Wed Nov 9, 6:13 pm ET

HAVANA – Raul Castro's daughter and an anti-government Cuban blogger have engaged in a prickly back-and-forth on Twitter, which has a small but growing presence on the island despite scarce Internet connectivity.

Mariela Castro's debut on the social media service began smoothly enough when she sent her first tweets Tuesday talking about a visit to the Netherlands and her work as the country's leading gay rights activist.

Then dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez fired the first salvo.

"They tell me Mariela Castro opened a Twitter account," Sanchez wrote. "A question for her, `When will we Cubans be able to come out of other closets?'"

Two more tweets directed at the first daughter quickly followed: "Welcome to the plurality of Twitter ... here nobody can shut me up, deny me permission to travel or impede entrance," and "How can one ask for acceptance only in one area? Is tolerance total or not?"

Castro, who is the head the National Sex Education Center, shot back at Sanchez by name, saying, "Your approach to tolerance reproduces the old mechanisms of power. To improve your `services' you should study."

Later, she grumbled about "despicable parasites" criticizing her on Twitter: "Were you ordered by your employers to respond to me in unison and with the same predetermined script? Be creative."

Cuba accuses dissidents like Sanchez of being mercenaries in the hire of Washington.

On Wednesday Sanchez tweeted, "I would love it if everyone on the (Communist Party's) Central Committee got on Twitter. We would tell them in the virtual world what they don't let us in the real one."

"Good for them to get practice with plurality starting now on Twitter, soon the day will arrive when they will have to deal with it in reality," read a second missive.

Their exchange is unlikely to be noticed by many in Cuba, where the decades-old U.S. economic embargo has left the island without a hardwired Internet connection to the rest of the world.

Cuba relies on plodding, expensive satellite service and Internet access is rare and costly, though hopes for faster service arrived earlier this year along with an undersea fiber-optic cable from Venezuela.

Authorities previously said the cable could be operational as early as July, but there has been no official word since and no noticeable improvement in Internet speeds.

Freeallmusic.com offering music downloads via Facebook (Digital Trends)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 07:51 PM PST

Jeff Hughes Jeff Hughes – 1 hr 22 mins ago

free all musicA start-up called Free All Media says its offering free music downloads through Facebook—no monetary cost, legal, iPod compatible, high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Artists get paid; you get their music free, and even the Free All Media company supposedly turns a profit.

Free is a nice word but usually its a marketing trapcard, so its only natural for you to be a little skeptical. There is always a catch, and in this case users get their free music downloads in exchange for watching one Online ad through Facebook, or by performing an action such as liking a brand's Facebook fanpage–basically interacting with a brand somehow. To access the FreeAllMusic.com portal, you also need to be comfortable with allowing basic access to your FB info.

All Things Digital points out that Free All Media's business model is a combination of two marketing tactics: "Marketers who buy music and give it away for promotions, and marketers who reward Facebook users for 'Liking' them."

The company buys songs wholesale—at 70 cents a song—from the EMI and Universal music labels, and is working on a deal with Sony and Warner. Free All Media then partners with brand such as Coca-Cola or Budwiser, charging them per views and grabbing a profit. Recently appointed CEO Habib Khoury said the company is "en route" to a Series A after $1.7 million raised.

Is FAM "en route" to taking down streaming services like Spotify and Pandora? Probably not since its music isn't convenient and is such a limited selection; but its a nice wholesome feeling to know you own a free song and didn't have to steal it. Free All Music is currently only available on Facebook but will soon be branching out to other social network sites like Google Plus.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Neil Young of ngmoco goes unplugged with feelings on Android, Papaya Networks (Appolicious)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 12:00 PM PST

Facebook brings back the old news feed (Digital Trends)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 07:45 PM PST

Mike Flacy Mike Flacy – 1 hr 28 mins ago

facebooksign

After changes during September 2011 altered how stories and updates appear within the Facebook news feed, the company is now offering a sorting method to bring back the previous organization of content. Announced on the official vocal and disappointed about the reorganization of the news feed.

facebook_sort_storiesWhile the option to change back to chronological order is somewhat difficult to spot on the page, administrators of brand pages may end up benefiting from this change as more eyes are likely to see brand page updates in the recently posted news feed rather than within the highlighted stories. Facebook users are still waiting on the complete launch of the new Timeline design to profile pages. The Timeline design was supposed to go live for all users several weeks ago, but appears to be in limbo while Facebook developers continue to work on the project. Facebook officials haven't set a date for the launch of Timeline and the company hasn't publicly identified what issue is holding back the new redesign.

Facebook also announced that sharing blog content to the Facebook Notes application will no longer be supported after November 22. Facebook is cutting off the automatic feeding feature to encourage more people to directly post content to the Timeline. While Facebook allowed users to import a blog through a first-party tool under the settings menu, it's possible that any third-party tool used to import content to the Notes application will also become useless.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Want the Facebook Timeline now? Here’s how

RIM investigates reports of BlackBerry delays (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 04:33 PM PST

– Wed Nov 9, 7:33 pm ET

(Reuters) – BlackBerry maker Research In Motion was investigating reports some users experienced delays, but said on Wednesday it was not fighting an outage similar to the one that took down its service for four days last month.

"We're getting reports that some users are experiencing delays. We're investigating and will update you ASAP," the company said on its official Twitter account.

A company spokeswoman added: "There is no system-wide outage. However we are investigating reports that some users in EMEIA have experienced delays," referring to Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa.

Later on Wednesday, the company said BlackBerry services "are currently operating normally" in those regions.

Last month, a failure in RIM's unique server architecture, which compresses and encrypts mobile data, cut off email, Internet and messaging service for millions of BlackBerry users across five continents for up to four days.

That fault occurred in a facility in England, initially affecting Europe and surrounding regions before spreading to North and South America.

RIM's stock fell more than 4 percent to close at $18.05 in regular Nasdaq trade, its lowest close since August 2004. Stock markets generally had sharp declines on Wednesday.

The stock has lost two-thirds of its value so far this year.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; editing by Peter Galloway)

iPhone apps that can help serve special needs kids (Appolicious)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 03:00 PM PST

AT&T, U.S. argue over witnesses in antitrust trial (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 04:41 PM PST

– Wed Nov 9, 7:41 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – AT&T Inc complained on Wednesday that the Justice Department was too slow in telling who its witnesses would be as the government seeks to block the telecommunications giant's acquisition of rival T-Mobile USA.

The government, in a court filing Wednesday, proposed giving AT&T an initial list of up to 15 witnesses on November 18 and additional lists in December and January. The trial begins on February 13.

This did not please AT&T, which noted that the court had initially urged witness lists be exchanged "at the earliest possible time."

"More than six weeks after the court's order, defendants are still no closer to receiving a witness list. Yet plaintiffs seek to push the date back still further," AT&T said in its filing.

Instead, AT&T suggested Special Master Richard Levie consider giving each side a specific amount of time during the trial to be used as each side wishes.

"Plaintiff's (the government) case is likely to focus on the few competitors that plaintiffs claim matter in the market. Defendants' (AT&T) case will broaden that focus to show the much broader array of market participants competing fiercely for customers," AT&T said.

The government, for its part, argued that AT&T's desire for a quick trial would be undermined by its failure to cap its witness list.

"Defendants' proposal presages well over 100 depositions in December and early January. That is unreasonable, and court intervention now is necessary to stop it," the Justice Department said.

The Justice Department's antitrust division filed its lawsuit on August 31 to stop AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG, a $39 billion deal.

The deal would vault No. 2 ranked AT&T into the leading position in the U.S. wireless market. The current industry leader is Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc. Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. carrier, has also sued to stop the deal. T-Mobile is the No. 4 operator.

In addition to concerns about market concentration, the government believes that the loss of T-Mobile could push up wireless prices since T-Mobile generally costs less than other carriers.

AT&T argues the deal will accelerate its expansion of high-speed wireless service to nearly all Americans.

Other wireless carriers have also filed suit to stop the deal.

The cases are USA v. AT&T, T-Mobile USA Inc and Deutsche Telekom AG, case No. 11-1560; Sprint Nextel Corp v. AT&T Inc et al, No. 11-1600; and Cellular South v. AT&T, No. 11-1690. The three challenges are all before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

Brit's musical marriage proposal on train becomes Internet hit (Digital Trends)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 12:25 AM PST

Trevor Mogg Trevor Mogg – Wed Nov 9, 3:25 am ET

Getting down on one knee to propose to your girlfriend is certainly a romantic gesture, but doing it on a commuter train while a choir in the train carriage sings Bill Withers' Lovely Day is something else altogether – especially when the woman being proposed to isn't expecting it (the proposal or the choir).

But that's exactly how Brit Adam King proposed to girlfriend Lucy Rogers last week, and a video of the event has quickly become an Internet sensation, getting nearly 800,000 views on YouTube in just a few days.

Thanks to some meticulous planning by 35-year-old Adam, as well as the help of his choir, the Adam Street Singers, Lucy had absolutely no idea what was about to happen as she travelled home from work last week on a north London train.

The start of the video shows a familiar enough train scene – passengers are reading newspapers or lost in their phones. Then someone starts to sing. And then someone else joins in. Within a short time, the entire Adam Street Singers choir is in full flow, belting out Withers' timeless hit.

It ends with Adam on one knee asking Lucy to marry him. Once she'd stopped crying (or was she laughing?), she said yes. This must have come as a great relief to Adam because for a moment it's hard to tell which way it's going to go.

"It was amazing. When people started singing I didn't realise it was for me," Lucy, 26, told the BBC. "We've been going out for a long time but I didn't realise he was going to propose."

The video (you can watch it below) of the proposal was emailed to friends and quickly became a viral hit.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Analysts See No Signs Of iPhone Sales Slowdown (NewsFactor)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 02:35 PM PST

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Mark Long, newsfactor.com – Wed Nov 9, 5:35 pm ET

Digitimes reported Wednesday that Apple is likely to reduce its supply-chain orders for the components it uses to manufacture the latest versions of the iPhone and iPad. However, many industry observers have raised doubts about the accuracy of the report from the Taiwan-based electronics industry newspaper.

Citing a report from the Chinese language Commercial Times, Digitimes said Apple may reduce component shipments by 10 percent to 15 percent in the current quarter because iPhone 4S sales have not met Apple's expectations. Sources at companies participating in Apple's supply chain also reportedly told Digitimes that the components-order slowdown was due in part to a shortage of key parts for the devices.

The Digitimes article caused Apple's stock price to fall sharply on Wall Street after the opening bell on Wednesday, but some financial analysts called the unconfirmed rumors a "total joke."

"We believe recent chatter around iPhone 4S production cuts is off base," said Piper Jaffray analysts Gene Munster and Andrew Murphy.

Production Cut Unlikely

Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors that the iconic device maker expects the iPhone 4S to set an "all-time record" for handset unit sales in the fourth quarter of 2011. Industry analysts have generally agreed by forecasting iPhone 4S unit sales in the 26 million to 29.4 million range for the final three months of this year.

Piper Jaffray's confidence in Apple's iPhone 4S stems in part from a recent telephone survey conducted by the firm. The availability of the iPhone 4S remains limited, the investment firm's analysts said after contacting 30 Apple retail stores in the United States on Monday.

Munster and Murphy report that Apple's iPhone 4S was completely sold out at 57 percent of the retail outlets contacted by the investment firm. Moreover, of the 43 percent that did have some stock left, none were able to offer customers the entire range of available iPhone 4S models.

"Given the stock outages at U.S. Apple stores nearly one month after the launch, we believe it is unlikely that Apple would cut production, when it clearly cannot build iPhones fast enough to meet demand," Munster and Murphy wrote in an investor note.

Demand for Apple's latest iconic handset model also remains brisk online. "The iPhone 4S lead times at the Apple Store Online (U.S.) indicate limited supply with one to two week shipping delays," Munster and Murphy said.

A Record

RBC Capital said the new Digitimes report "is at odds" with continuing robust sales of the iPhone 4S by carriers around the world, including recent stockouts in some countries. Last Friday in Hong Kong, for example, iPhone units available for pre-order reportedly sold out in 10 minutes. So consumer demand for the new iPhone 4S continues to appear to be robust.

Piper Jaffray also investigated the reports out of Taiwan concerning possible shortages of key components for Apple's latest iPhone and iPad models. After contacting several component makers participating in Apple's iPhone supply chain, the investment firm concluded that the concern expressed in the Digitimes report about a potential shortage of key components had been overblown.

"Based on our conversations with component suppliers, we believe orders from Apple remain on track to meet or slightly exceed our 26 million iPhone unit estimate for the December 2011 quarter and our 112.5 million iPhone unit estimate for calendar year 2012," said Munster and Murphy.

Seven charged in alleged Internet ad fraud scam (Reuters)

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 02:40 PM PST

– Wed Nov 9, 5:40 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. authorities on Wednesday charged seven people living in Estonia and Russia with using malicious software to hijack millions of computers worldwide to redirect Internet searches toward online ads.

Starting in 2007, the suspects created fake companies that contracted with legitimate advertiser websites to drive Internet traffic toward their Internet pages, according to a Manhattan federal court indictment.

About 4 million computers in 100 countries including the United States were infected with malicious software designed by the defendants that would redirect an Internet user's browser toward the online advertisements, the indictment said.

The defendants were paid about $14 million by advertisers based on the amount of "clicks" the ad pages would receive, it said.

Six Estonians were arrested on Tuesday, Manhattan attorney Preet Bharara said, while the seventh person, a Russian citizen, remains at large.

Of the roughly 500,000 infected American computers, about 130 belonged to NASA, Paul Martin, the U.S. space agency's inspector general, told reporters. It was NASA that first discovered the malicious software.

Each of the accused faces five criminal charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and computer intrusion. One defendant faces an additional 22 money laundering counts.

The wire fraud charges carry a maximum 30-year prison sentence.

The announcement of the case came as Estonian Defense Minister Mart Laar left Washington after a series of meetings about cybersecurity with U.S. lawmakers and officials.

Estonia has taken a leading role in pressing for better cybersecurity after it hit by the first massive denial of service attack in April 2007, an attack it blamed on Russia. Russia denies any involvement.

A law enforcement official said some of the defendants also faced criminal charges in Estonia for the suspected scheme.

A spokeswoman for the Estonian Embassy said Estonia officials worked closely with U.S. officials on the investigation that led to the arrests, a case that demonstrated the power of cross-border cooperation.

(Reporting by Basil Katz and Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
at 9:36 PM

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