Survey: Most Haiti text donors have given since (AP) : Technet

Survey: Most Haiti text donors have given since (AP)
Gadget Watch: HP Envy 14 PC has smart-tag sensor (AP)
Microsoft eclipses Yahoo in US search for 1st time (AP)
Celebtronics: Bieber, Snooki, and 50 Cent hawk gadgets in Vegas (Yahoo! News)
CES 2012: Polaroid announces an Android-powered Smart Camera (Yahoo! News)
How Humans Copy Animals on Facebook and Twitter [VIDEO] (Mashable)
Stratfor back online after cyberhack (AP)
Amazon creates iPad Kindle Store for iOS users (Appolicious)
Apple has bought Israeli flash-memory co. Anobit (AP)
BuddyTV Guide Android app makes watching TV smart again (Appolicious)
A Newbie's Guide to Pinterest (The Atlantic Wire)
Which Android Tablets Are Getting Ice Cream Sandwich Upgrades? (ContributorNetwork)
MicroSD card will give any Android device near-field communications capabilities (Appolicious)
FCC sees support for incentive auctions of wireless spectrum (Reuters)
Dutch court orders block on Pirate Bay website (Reuters)
Apple to hold event in New York on Jan 19, hardware launch not expected (Digital Trends)
Suit claims Symantec scares consumers on PC health (Reuters)
Paul Ryan, Target of Reddit Campaign, Won't Support SOPA (Mashable)

Survey: Most Haiti text donors have given since (AP)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 09:06 PM PST

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay, Ap Technology Writer – 40 mins ago

NEW YORK – The massive earthquake that devastated Haiti two years ago prompted an outpouring of charitable donations and propelled a new way of giving — through text messages — into the public eye.

A new study shows that text messages are becoming a viable avenue to give and receive charitable donations, even though the amounts people give are smaller.

A nationwide campaign after the January 2010 disaster encouraged people to donate $10 to recovery efforts by texting the word "Haiti" to a number, such as 90999 for the Red Cross. The donation would be added to their monthly cellphone bill.

A survey released Thursday by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project asked the people who sent those text donations why they gave, who they are and whether they have contributed to charity since.

Only donors who agreed in advance to be contacted were included in the survey. This amounted to only about 13 percent of those who contributed to the Haiti relief effort via text, so it's possible that the people who were excluded have different attitudes.

With that caveat, here are some of the findings:

• Eighty percent of the Haiti donors did not contribute money to the relief efforts through any means other than texting.

• Most donations were the product of impulse-giving. Eighty-nine percent of the donors heard about the "Text to Haiti" campaign on TV and half of them donated right away.

• Three-quarters of the donors said they don't do a lot of extra research when donating via text message.

• The majority of those surveyed — 56 percent — have contributed to more recent disaster recovery efforts via text since the Haiti quake. These include the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last March and the Gulf oil spill in 2010.

• Text donors tend to be younger and more racially diverse than the people who give to charity through more traditional means.

The survey conducted in September and October by Princeton Survey Research Associates International on behalf of Pew, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the mGive Foundation, a mobile-giving nonprofit. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The results of 863 donors randomly selected from those who agreed to participate were included in the study.

Gadget Watch: HP Envy 14 PC has smart-tag sensor (AP)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 01:47 PM PST

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Jan 11, 4:47 pm ET

LAS VEGAS – Thin, light laptops _known as "ultrabooks"_ are a much-hyped category at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show, an annual showcase for the latest smartphones, tablet computers and other consumer-electronic devices.

Deep-pocketed chipmaker Intel Corp. created the term to push PC makers to make laptops that are more like Apple's Macbook Air, and help them market them. Practically every PC maker is showing off at least one ultrabook at the show. Hewlett-Packard Co. is talking up its own ultrabook, dubbed the HP Envy 14 Spectre, this week. The HP model has a few features that set it apart.

WHY IT'S HOT: HP's Envy includes a sensor for Near-Field Communications, the radio standard used by security cards and so-called "smart tags," which are small chips with flat, stamp-sized radio antennas. That means that it can read information from NFC tags and upcoming smartphone models when they're bumped against the laptop. For instance, a promotional flyer might include a tag with a special Web address that appears on-screen when touched to the laptop.

THE UPSIDE: There's a movement to make NFC the basis for tomorrow's payment cards, and to build NFC into smartphones. That means someone with an NFC-enabled laptop could, in the future, pay securely for an online purchase by tapping a payment card to the computer. Intel Corp. demonstrated this procedure at a press conference at the show, with a prototype laptop.

THE DOWNSIDE: The Envy's NFC capability may never progress beyond the ability to grab Web addresses from phones and promotional materials. The business relationships and networks needed to make NFC-enabled payments ubiquitous have been slow to emerge, as many different players are jockeying for position.

IDC analyst Williams Stofega said NFC has a lot of potential as part of the trend of "tangible computing" — getting the things around us to talk to each other intelligently, to make our lives easier. But the lack of standards is a big obstacle.

"If NFC is not integrated with everything else, it's going to die," Stofega said.

WHAT ELSE MAKES IT HOT: The Envy 14 comes with super-fast "solid state" hard drives. It includes a chip that can communicate wirelessly with some stereo headphones, with an audio quality that's much better than Bluetooth. The Envy is also covered in scratch-resistant glass.

AVAILABILITY: Starting Feb. 8 in the U.S., at $1,400 and up.

Microsoft eclipses Yahoo in US search for 1st time (AP)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 03:23 PM PST

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – Wed Jan 11, 6:23 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft Corp. has finally reached a long-sought and expensive goal — its Bing search engine now ranks second behind Google in the Internet's most lucrative market.

Bing and Microsoft's other websites fielded 2.75 billion search requests in the U.S. during December, catapulting in front of Yahoo Inc. for the first time in the jockeying for runner up to Google Inc., according to statistics released Wednesday by comScore Inc.

Bing's December volume translated into a 15.1 percent share of the U.S. search traffic, comScore said. Yahoo processed 2.65 billion search requests, representing 14.5 percent of the U.S. market.

Google remained Internet's go-to place for information, with 12 billion U.S. requests in December. That works out to a 65.9 percent market share.

Other research firms track the Internet search market. But comScore's numbers matter the most to industry analysts and the companies trying to attract queries so they can make more money from the ads that appear alongside the results. Google's dominance of online search is the main reason it has established itself as the Internet's most profitable company.

Analysts have expected Microsoft and Yahoo to flip-flop their positions in Internet search since they announced a partnership in July 2009. The 10-year agreement has enabled Yahoo to save money by relying on Microsoft to provide the bulk of its search technology.

Microsoft wanted the deal so it would have billions more search requests to analyze each year, giving it a better chance to learn about people's tendencies and preferences.

Pursuing Google has come at a huge cost for Microsoft, which still makes most of its money from the Windows operating software and other software it sells for personal computers. Microsoft's online division, which is anchored by Bing, has suffered operating losses of about $7 billion since June 2008.

Even though it leans heavily on Microsoft's technology, Yahoo hasn't totally abandoned search. It still offers some unique features within its results in hopes of persuading more people to search on its website instead of going directly to Bing. The main reason: Yahoo still gets 88 percent of the ad revenue from searches conducted on its website and receives nothing from queries entered on Bing.

The efforts haven't been enough to prevent a steady slide in searches at Yahoo. The company's share of the U.S. search market stood at about 19 percent when it joined forces with Microsoft, according to comScore. Meanwhile, Microsoft's market share has climbed from roughly 9 percent.

Yahoo's eroding search share is one of the reasons that its revenue has been falling during the past three years, causing a downturn in its stock price, too. The company just hired Scott Thompson to become the fourth CEO in the past five years to attempt a turnaround at Yahoo.

"Scott Thompson has his work cut out for him," Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney wrote in a research note breaking down comScore's latest search statistics.

Celebtronics: Bieber, Snooki, and 50 Cent hawk gadgets in Vegas (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 07:12 PM PST

CES 2012: Polaroid announces an Android-powered Smart Camera (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 12:49 PM PST

How Humans Copy Animals on Facebook and Twitter [VIDEO] (Mashable)

Posted: 10 Jan 2012 03:41 PM PST

Sam Laird Sam Laird – Tue Jan 10, 6:41 pm ET

[brightcove video="1381271876001" /] Forget the Winklevoss twins. The next suit accusing Mark Zuckerberg of stealing the Facebook idea might just come from Flipper.

A study by scientists in the United Kingdom says that human use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter mimics the ways animals including dolphins and monkeys have long shared information about their own lives and worlds.

"Social networks are the same across all species and, whilst details of their structure may differ, some properties remain the same whether we are looking at killer whales, spider monkeys or, indeed, humans," University of Aberdeen biological sciences lecturer David Lusseau tells The Press Association.

[More from Mashable: The Biggest Stories From Day One at CES [VIDEO]]

Lusseau, who led the 10-year study on animal behavior, will present his findings next Wednesday in Aberdeen in a talk called, "Did Animals Invent Twitter?"

Lusseau's project found that dolphins, whales, primates and hoofed animals all form groups to help make decisions efficiently and effectively to benefit the individual animals involved. Researchers liken this to the ways in which humans interact socially on Facebook and Twitter to exchange information and tailor group discussions to individual needs. And, just like when humans plan a party or outing via Facebook, certain animals tend to guide the conversations about where to locate food or avoid predators.

"Schools of dolphins provide an example of this," Lusseau says. "As individuals, dolphins have their own daily needs to fulfill, such as resting and eating, but they are also concerned with what they should do next as a group. We find that group leaders can emerge simply in particular cases because they might know the current context better than the other members of the group."

Lusseau's research also found that all animals are linked to one another by shared sets of connections -- much like humans are in the real world or on Facebook -- and that the same six-degrees-of-separation concept even applies in the animal kingdom.

But, while human behavior on social networks may reflect that of mammals in the wild, as Lusseau says, there is still no evidence of a parallel Internet where animals giggle at photos of cuddly humans.

What do you think? Do Lusseau's theories hold water? Or are they much ado about very little? Let us know in the comments.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Stratfor back online after cyberhack (AP)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 02:17 PM PST

By CASSANDRA VINOGRAD, Associated Press Cassandra Vinograd, Associated Press – Wed Jan 11, 5:17 pm ET

LONDON – Global intelligence analysis firm Stratfor has relaunched its website after hackers brought down its servers and stole thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to its customers.

Chief Executive George Friedman acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that the company had not encrypted customer information and said this decision had embarrassed the company.

Loose-knit hacking collective Anonymous, which claimed responsibility for the attack over the Christmas holidays, had said it was able to get the details in part because Stratfor didn't bother encrypting them.

"It was a truly unforgivable failure and I feel awful about it," Friedman told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Sometimes in rapid growth, you make a mistake. That's not an excuse, that's not a justification ... It's an explanation."

Stratfor had previously declined to say if the information was left unencrypted. Members of Anonymous have said it was targeting companies "that play fast and loose with their customers' private and sensitive information."

The company said Wednesday that it was moving its entire e-commerce process to a third-party system, which will eliminate the need to store credit information. It said it has contracted with CSID, a top-ranked provider of identity protection, to provide its services to all customers at Stratfor's expense, and that it has hired Internet security firm Sec Theory to rebuild its website, email system and internal infrastructure.

Verizon Business also was hired to conduct a forensic review of the attacks, Stratfor added.

Friedman also revealed that the company was targeted more than once by hackers and had known for some time about a data breach.

He said he was first alerted to a website hack in early December — weeks before Anonymous took to Twitter to boast of bringing down the website and stealing a stash of credit card numbers, emails and other data from the company.

The hackers said then that their goal was to use the stolen credit information to donate to charities at Christmas, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions were made from their credit accounts.

Austin, Texas-based Stratfor is a subscription-based publisher providing political, economic and military analysis to help customers reduce risk. It charges subscribers for its reports and analysis, delivered through the web, emails and videos.

On Tuesday, Friedman said he had met with an FBI agent in early December after being informed by the company's vice president of intelligence that customers' credit card numbers had been stolen.

He said he had felt torn over the need to protect and personally inform customers at the time, but that the FBI was setting the rules and wanted to conduct its investigation without tipping the hackers off.

"It was very important to them that the criminals not know the extent to which we had knowledge of the damage," Friedman explained, saying the FBI had assured him that it had informed credit card companies about compromised cards.

"We were caught between a very difficult situation where the FBI had control of the investigation and expected certain care in that investigation — and the need to protect our customers," said Friedman. "What little we could do, we did."

Still, he said he was under "no illusion" that the breach would be exposed.

"We knew our reputation would be damaged by the revelation, all the more so because we had not encrypted the credit card files," Friedman said in a note to subscribers announcing the website's relaunch.

But he told the AP that subscribers have stood by the company and subscriptions have held up in light of the attack.

"Our customers are primarily focused on the criminals," he said. "Some customers have been critical, but the primary theme isn't that 'you didn't know how to lock the door,' but 'locked or not, what are these people doing coming in?'"

While dismayed over stolen emails in the previous breach, Friedman said he was "stunned" to learn that the company's servers were "effectively destroyed" in another hack on Dec. 24.

"I was absolutely unprepared for their attempt to destroy us," Friedman said, describing how hackers took full control of the servers, overrode the systems and made recovery "just about impossible."

"Our systems were shredded," he explained. "The destruction of our servers and our backups... was clearly intended to take us offline and silence us."

Stratfor said it was continuing to cooperate with an FBI investigation into the attack.

__________

Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at: http://twitter.com/CassVinograd

Amazon creates iPad Kindle Store for iOS users (Appolicious)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 11:54 AM PST

Apple has bought Israeli flash-memory co. Anobit (AP)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 12:14 PM PST

By The Associated Press The Associated Press – Wed Jan 11, 3:14 pm ET

NEW YORK – Apple confirmed Wednesday that it has bought Anobit Technologies, an Israeli maker of flash memory technology already used in many of Apple's gadgets.

Apple Inc. spokesman Steve Dowling said that Apple buys smaller tech companies from time to time, but generally does not give a reason why or say what it plans to do with them. The company did not say how much it paid for Anobit.

Flash memory is used in digital devices such as cameras and music players. It's lighter and more durable than memory used in computer hard drives, though it stores less information. Apple's iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air, which don't have hard drives, rely on flash memory.

Owning the manufacturer guards Apple against supply constraints in the industry and allows the company to customize the technology so it works more smoothly with the iPhone and other devices.

Israeli publication Calcalist reported in December that Apple was in talks to buy Anobit. Apple made the acquisition to secure intellectual property and for a competitive edge in flash products and pricing, said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek in a research note last month.

Apple doesn't often announce acquisitions. It bought mobile advertising company Quattro Wireless in 2010, among other recent deals.

Anobit could not be reached for comment after business hours in Jerusalem Wednesday.

Bloomberg reported earlier that Apple had confirmed the deal.

Shares of Apple, which is based in Cupertino, Calif., fell $1.83 to $421.41 in late afternoon trading.

BuddyTV Guide Android app makes watching TV smart again (Appolicious)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 01:30 PM PST

A Newbie's Guide to Pinterest (The Atlantic Wire)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 04:12 PM PST

Rebecca Greenfield Rebecca Greenfield – Wed Jan 11, 7:12 pm ET

As Pinterest positions itself to be the new Tumblr -- or better yet, Facebook -- it's about time we figured out what exactly this new-ish social network does. We say -ish because the network debuted around Thanksgiving 2009. Yet, it didn't gain relevance until it went "viral," as TechCrunch put it, and jumped from 40,000 unique visitors a month to 3.2 million in one year. The site's still invite-only -- even with the buzz. But we snagged ourselves an invite and took a look around.

What Is Pinterest?

The site has a similar function to Tumblr, providing a venue to showcase neat found-items from around the web. Though, Pinterest is all about curation, whereas Tumblr encourages original content creation -- Pinterest doesn't have any "Text" boxes, really. And unlike Tumblr's chronological blogroll format, Pinterest displays the photos, videos, products and other "beautiful things" on a virtual pinboard, as you can see below. Here we have the Pinboard of all the "Pinners" we follow -- a list of people Pinterest selected for us upon signing up for the site -- kind of like a prettier, easier to read Tumblr homepage.

Related: Facebook and Yahoo's 'Six Degrees' Experiment Has a Catch

This homepage board (above) is just an amalgamation of personal Pinboards from individual users. The user Pinboards have themes and look like ours below, for which we chose the default theme "Products I Love."

Related: Facebook Co-Founder Reflects on 'The Social Network'

Users can have multiple Pinboards and each would theoretically have a different theme. The site is all about showcasing one's taste. Pinterest suggests users use these e-cork boards for planning weddings and saving favorite recipes. We came across more abstract ones, too, like funny things and words. No matter what the theme, this is a venue to prove one's Internet prowess. But isn't that what all Internet socializing is about?

How to Use Pinterest

Pinterest also reminds us of Tumblr in the way users interact with each other on the site. If a Pinner -- that sounds much more goth than we'd like -- comes across a post they like, they can either "like" or "repin" it on one of their Pinboards -- just like on Tumblr. The icons, which show up by hovering over the item, even have the same font and look.

The way users post from outside sites, however, is much easier than Tumbling, however. Upon signing up for the site, Pinners add a "pin it" button to their toolbar and simply click it when they want to Pin a cool Internet thing, like we did with our Tea Cup Pig, below.

Here's where the original content making part comes in. When adding baby pigs, or whatever, to the Pinboard, Pinterest prompts users to describe the item in that box above where we wrote "baby!" After using the "pin it" button, the item will show up on the Pinner's Pinboard of choice.

This video below describes how to install the "Pin it" button, though it's as easy as dragging it to the browser toolbar.

How to Get Pinterest

Like we said, for now it's invite-only. Those eager to get Pinning can request an invite from Pinterest. Or, if you know a hip, ahead-of-the-game Pinner, that person can send an invite. Happy Pinning.

Which Android Tablets Are Getting Ice Cream Sandwich Upgrades? (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 11:08 AM PST

Jared Spurbeck Jared Spurbeck – Wed Jan 11, 2:08 pm ET

Contribute content like this. Start here.

Most tablets that aren't made by Apple are powered by Android, Google's open-source operating system for smartphones and tablets. And for most of last year, that meant the Honeycomb version of Android, which was considered by many to be difficult to use and to have lots of bugs.

But at the end of 2011, Google released Ice Cream Sandwich, the newest version of Android, which adds new features and fixes many of Honeycomb's problems. Many tablets introduced at or before CES 2012 come with Ice Cream Sandwich, but many of the tablets sold last year are able to run it as well.

So, which of last year's tablets are (and aren't) getting the upgrade?

The Asus Transformer Prime

The Transformer Prime is Asus' sequel to its critically acclaimed Transformer ... and yes, there is a lawsuit from Hasbro about its name, even though it has nothing to do with the Transformers toy line or the Optimus Prime character.

When the Transformer Prime was announced, Asus wasn't specific about when it would receive the upgrade but did indicate that it would be soon. Now in NVIDIA's CES 2012 keynote, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced the Transformer Prime would get its upgrade immediately. It is now available for download.

Aaron Gingrich of Android Police reports a few people are having trouble with the update, and that it is locking up and rebooting their tablet. Asus' customer support representatives appear to be stumped by the issue.

The Sony Tablet S

Sony's Android-powered tablet has limited PlayStation Network compatibility, and is able to play certain PlayStation games. It has a teardrop profile from the side and is shaped like a magazine that's being folded open. The Tablet P, another Android device that was announced but hasn't been released yet, has a Nintendo DS-style clamshell design.

Last month, Sony representative "StartTheCar" announced "an update to Android 4.0 will be available" for the Tablet S, with details to be given "in due course."

7-inch tablets not getting an upgrade

The 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab is not receiving an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, according to Andy Boxall of Digital Trends. Meanwhile, there's been no announcement from Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com about whether the Nook or the Kindle Fire will be upgraded. Even if they did get the upgrade, it would look very different from Ice Cream Sandwich on other devices, as both companies use their own custom (and simplified) interface.

Richard Gutierrez of Android Authority has summed up instructions posted on the XDA Developers forum for how to put Ice Cream Sandwich on your Nook Color. With a ROM name like "sneakpeek1-fullofbugs," however, it's clear that the developers have some work to do before Ice Cream Sandwich receives a stable, if unofficial, port.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

MicroSD card will give any Android device near-field communications capabilities (Appolicious)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 12:08 PM PST

FCC sees support for incentive auctions of wireless spectrum (Reuters)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 04:59 PM PST

By Sinead Carew Sinead Carew – Wed Jan 11, 7:59 pm ET

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Julius Genachowski, the top U.S. telecommunications regulator, said on Wednesday that he has received bi-partisan support from a group of U.S. senators for so-called "incentive" auctions of wireless spectrum without legislative restrictions.

Genachowski, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, is looking for approval to give broadcasters a financial incentive to return unused spectrum licenses to the FCC so it can then auction off the spectrum to companies offering mobile data services.

"There's broad bi-partisan agreement we need incentive auctions," Genachowski said in a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show.

He cited a letter of support that a bi-partisan group of senators had sent in the last few days advocating for votes in favor of the auction.

"I'm hopeful the message in that letter will be heard more widely," he told Reuters in an interview after the speech.

Genachowski told the audience that "as we get down to the wire on incentive auctions the sticking points are proposals" restricting how the auctions should be run.

One proposed restriction is around the FCCs ability to allow a portion of the spectrum to be used for services similar to Wi-Fi, a hugely popular short-range radio technology that does not require a spectrum license.

Another proposal is to prevent the FCC from deciding whether it needs to put restrictions on who can bid in the auction in order to protect competition in the wireless industry.

Approving an auction without giving the FCC the flexibility to run it as it sees fit would not make sense. He noted that the FCC has successfully managed about 80 wireless spectrum auctions in the last 20 years that raised about $50 billion.

He also noted that the FCC's method for spectrum auctions had been so successful that it had been adopted in other countries.

"It would not be wise to prejudge or micro-manage FCC auctions," he said.

For example, Genachowski noted that the FCC's allowing unlicensed spectrum use generates about $30 billion worth of economic value every year.

Genachowski warned that the United States was in danger of falling behind in the global wireless industry if the FCC is not able to provide wireless providers with the chance to buy more airwaves as soon as possible.

"I'm hoping Congress will make a decision on incentive auctions by March first," Genachowski said referring to the deadline by which lawmakers need to vote on payroll tax legislation in which the incentive auction proposal would be included.

The regulator also appealed to directly the technology audience by stressing the importance of Internet access to consumer electronics devices.

"If you shut off the internet virtually nothing on the CES floor would work," Genachowski said.

(Reporting By Sinead Carew; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

Dutch court orders block on Pirate Bay website (Reuters)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 07:48 AM PST

– Wed Jan 11, 10:48 am ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Two Dutch cable companies were ordered by a court on Wednesday to block access to the website The Pirate Bay to prevent the illegal downloading of free music, films and games in case brought on behalf of the entertainment industry.

In Sweden, where the website was founded, Pirate Bay's owners have been prosecuted and the website has been banned, but the popular site is still available online around the world.

The website, run by an unknown group, has become a popular site where users can share music and films and it has become the subject of repeated attempts by the entertainment industry to shut it down.

In 2010, a Swedish appeals court backed a ruling fining and jailing three men then behind the site in a case brought by firms including Sony Universal Music and EMI.

The website's users were violating copyright laws, the court in The Hague said on Wednesday, ruling on a case brought by Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN, which represents major entertainment companies.

Cable company Ziggo, which is owned by private equity firm Cinven and U.S. fund Warburg Pincus, and a second cable provider, KPN-owned XS4ALL, must block access to The Pirate Bay or risk a fine of up to 250,000 euros ($320,000), the court said.

Last year, another Dutch court ruled that The Pirate Bay must block users in the Netherlands in another case brought by BREIN, but this order was ignored, the court said. ($1 = 0.7826 euros)

(Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Sara Webb and Ben Harding)

Apple to hold event in New York on Jan 19, hardware launch not expected (Digital Trends)

Posted: 11 Jan 2012 05:47 PM PST

Trevor Mogg Trevor Mogg – Wed Jan 11, 8:47 pm ET

Apple has sent out invitations for a media event to be held in New York City on January 19. But banish from your mind images of CEO Tim Cook strutting around a stage holding aloft the iPad 2 successor or iPhone 5—the tagline on the invitation reads, "Join us for an education announcement in the Big Apple."

According to ApppleInsider, the event is rumored to involve the announcement of improvements to the iBooks platform, possibly connected to education and digital book publishing. The launch of some piece of new hardware is not expected.

Unnamed sources have told All Things Digital's John Paczkowski that the Cupertino company will be using the event "to talk about a textbook initiative" that could be "related to iBooks in education, presumably with some sort of tie-in to iTunes U." iTunes U is part of Apple's iTunes store and features more than 150,000 free educational media files from universities and cultural institutions around the world.

However, All Things Digital also reports that none of the major textbook publishers are known to be working with Apple's iBooks platform or iOS at this time.

The New York Times seems in little doubt as to the purpose of the event, running with the headline, "Apple aims to take on the textbook market." Its report states that the January 19 announcement will "showcase a new push by Apple into the digital textbook business," saying its information came from a person close to the company.

It's not known who will be heading the event, though it's thought that Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue could have a role. The gathering will take place at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan next Thursday, when all will be revealed.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

Technet

Thursday, January 12, 2012