Twitter may censor tweets in individual countries (AP) : Technet

Twitter may censor tweets in individual countries (AP)
Samsung 4Q profit rises 17 pct on smartphone sales (AP)
Facebook, Washington state target online spam (AP)
Just Show Me: How to clear your browser history in Safari (Yahoo! News)
Newt Gingrich promises to build a moon colony by 2020; make it a U.S. state (Yahoo! News)
5 Essential YouTube Channels for Gamers (Mashable)
NZ court bails two associates of Megaupload founder (Reuters)
House lawmakers seek Google answers on privacy policy (Reuters)
Valve ventures into mobile with Steam on iOS and Android (Digital Trends)
Motorola posts loss, awaits Google deal approval (Reuters)
Twitter shoots for the moon with tweets about Newt’s space base (The Ticket)
Nintendo chief promises to do Wii U launch right (AP)
More users watch Netflix movies on tablets than PCs (Appolicious)
Will future Apple iOS devices get rid of the 30-pin connector? (Digital Trends)
DirecTV settles dispute with Sunbeam over blackout (Reuters)
Are tablet ergonomics a pain in the neck? (Digital Trends)
McAfee rejects Symantec claim about market share (Reuters)
European Lawmakers Want "Right to Be Forgotten" on Facebook, Google (Mashable)

Twitter may censor tweets in individual countries (AP)

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 08:18 PM PST

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – 55 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – Twitter has refined its technology so it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis.

The additional flexibility announced Thursday is likely to raise fears that Twitter's commitment to free speech may be weakening as the short-messaging company expands into new countries in an attempt to broaden its audience and make more money.

But Twitter sees the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or "tweets," remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world.

Before, when Twitter erased a tweet it disappeared throughout the world. Now, a tweet containing content breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.

Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed. That's similar to what Internet search leader Google Inc. has been doing for years when a law in a country where its service operates requires a search result to be removed.

Like Google, Twitter also plans to the share the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the chillingeffects.org website.

The similarity to Google's policy isn't coincidental. Twitter's general counsel is Alexander Macgillivray, who helped Google draw up its censorship policies while he was working at that company.

"One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user's voice," Twitter wrote in a blog post. "We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't. The tweets must continue to flow."

Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, is tweaking its approach now that its nearly 6-year-old service has established itself as one of the world's most powerful megaphones. Daisy chains of tweets already have played instrumental roles in political protests throughout the world, most notably in the uprising that overthrew Egypt's government a year ago.

It's a role that Twitter has embraced, but the company came up with the new filtering technology in recognition that it will likely be forced to censor more tweets as it pursues an ambitious agenda. Among other things, Twitter wants to expand its audience from about 100 million active uses now, to more than 1 billion.

Reaching that goal will require expanding into more countries, which will mean Twitter will be more likely to have to submit to laws that run counter to the free-expression protections guaranteed under the First Amendment in the U.S.

If Twitter defies a law in a country where it has employees, those people could be arrested. That's one reason Twitter is unlikely to try to enter China, where its service is currently block. Google for several years agreed to censor its search results in China to gain better access to the country's vast population, but stopped that practice two years after engaging in a high-profile showdown with Chain's government. Google now routes its Chinese search results through Hong Kong, where the censorship rules are less restrictive.

In its Thursday blog post, Twitter said it hadn't yet used its ability to wipe out tweets in an individual country. All the tweets it has previously censored were wiped out throughout the world. Most of those included links to child pornography.

Samsung 4Q profit rises 17 pct on smartphone sales (AP)

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 09:04 PM PST

By SAM KIM, Associated Press Sam Kim, Associated Press – 9 mins ago

SEOUL, South Korea – Samsung Electronics Co. reported a 17 percent jump in fourth quarter profit on the strength of smartphone sales even as the company battled claims it had copied Apple's iPhone.

Samsung said Friday in a regulatory filing that its net profit reached 4 trillion won ($3.5 billion) in the three months that ended in December. The company earned 3.4 trillion won in the same quarter a year earlier.

The Suwon, South Korea-based company said its operating profit jumped 75.8 percent to 5.3 trillion won in the fourth quarter. The figure was closely in line with the company's estimate earlier this month of a 73 percent rise.

"If profit in handsets continues to stream in, this year will also likely be a solid one for Samsung," said Jae Lee, an analyst at Daiwa Securities in Seoul. "The biggest threat would be if the global economy worsens."

Samsung, the world's biggest manufacturer of memory chips and liquid crystal displays, said demand for semiconductors in mobile products and servers remained solid despite weakness in personal computers, which face stiff competition from the rising popularity of tablets.

Samsung has over the decades grown into a key global manufacturer of components that let PCs, digital music players and handsets store data and display it on flat, high-resolution screens. The company has recently been stepping up its challenge against Apple Inc. in the global smartphone business, releasing models such as the Galaxy S II.

Cupertino, California-based Apple, which spurred the smartphone boom with the launch of its iPhone in 2007, has accused Samsung of "slavishly" copying its smartphone and iPad in design, user interface and packaging. Apple sued Samsung in April last year in the United States.

The legal battle has now spilled into 10 countries, according to Samsung officials. Court rulings so far have tended to side with Apple.

Lee said legal battles with Apple would start weighing less on Samsung this year as the South Korean company is expected to release models with new designs.

The quarterly profit brought 2011 net profit to 13.7 trillion won, down 15 percent from the previous year.

Samsung shares rose 0.4 percent to 116,000 won in Seoul.

Facebook, Washington state target online spam (AP)

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 03:13 PM PST

By MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press Manuel Valdes, Associated Press – Thu Jan 26, 6:13 pm ET

SEATTLE – Facebook is partnering with Washington state to combat a type of spam called "clickjacking" that is plaguing the social networking site, company and state officials announced Thursday.

Two separate lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California and Washington state against Delaware-based Adscend Media LLC, which officials say is behind the spamming.

"The way we think about it, security is an arms race," Facebook's general counsel, Ted Ullyot, said alongside Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna at the social media company's Seattle offices. "It's important to stay ahead of spammers and scammers."

In "clickjacking," links on Facebook promising shocking or salacious videos have code embedded in them that spreads the link to the user's page. That makes it seem like the user "liked" the link, with the aim of attracting more clicks from the user's friends. The links eventually lead users to a survey or information from an advertiser.

Adscend Media is spreading spam through misleading and deceptive tactics and has encouraged others to do the same, McKenna's office said.

An email inquiry sent to Adscend was not immediately returned, and an attorney for the company had not yet been listed in federal court records.

Social networking sites are popular targets for spammers because people are more likely to trust and share content that comes from people they know. This makes spam, scams and viruses easy to spread.

Still, Facebook says less than 4 percent of content shared on the site is spam. By comparison, about 74 percent of email is spam, according to security company Symantec Corp., though the bulk of it gets filtered out before reaching someone's inbox.

Facebook has more than 800 million users.

Named in Washington state's lawsuit are Adscend co-owners Jeremy Bash, of West Virginia, and Fehzan Ali, of Texas. The lawsuit says Adscend violated several state laws, as well as the federal CAN-SPAM act, which makes it unlawful to procure or initiate transmission of misleading commercial communication.

McKenna said Adscend has annual revenue of $20 million.

Washington state is the only state partnering with Facebook. The company said it partnered with Washington state because of a history in the state of technology consumer protection.

The attorney general said Washington state has been a leader in technology consumer protection since his predecessor, now Gov. Chris Gregoire, began filing suits against malware and spyware users.

"As spammers adjust their tactics, we adjust ours," McKenna said.

Just Show Me: How to clear your browser history in Safari (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 07:15 PM PST

Newt Gingrich promises to build a moon colony by 2020; make it a U.S. state (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 01:11 PM PST

5 Essential YouTube Channels for Gamers (Mashable)

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:14 PM PST

Lauren Hockenson Lauren Hockenson – Wed Jan 25, 7:14 pm ET

Sure, on YouTube, you've got your IGN and G4 videos that keep you updated with the latest in gaming news and technological eye candy. But what about the deep cuts lurking within the rest of the gaming section? The platform is full of speed runs, time trials, reviews and play-throughs by lifelong gamers who have cult followings. These are the elite of that set. Promoted by some of the best gaming websites, such as ScrewAttack and Machinima, these gamers are known for bringing in-depth knowledge, radical gameplay and a dash of humor for good measure. Some of them are gonzo, some are straight-laced, and still others are so mind-blowingly ridiculous that they can border on NSFW. What you won't see here is the same hot video game everywhere you look: from old-school classics to underground indie games, every platform gets its moment in the spotlight.

[More from Mashable: Jailbreaking Exemption Law Could Expire Soon]

If you're a gamer and you haven't already done so, add these five picks to your channel subscription feed as soon as possible. I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Is there a YouTube gaming star that you love the most? Let us know in the comments.

1. The Angry Video Game Nerd

CineMassacre founder James Rolfe has been subjecting himself to the horrors of the gaming world for the last eight years, first as the Angry Nintendo Nerd and now as the Angry Video Game Nerd. His series, a partner venture with Screw Attack, tackles some of the worst titles in history (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for NES) with a wholehearted rage. The AVGN chugs Rolling Rock and swears heavily, making for great laughs and some horrible flashbacks for childhood gamers.

Click here to view this gallery. This story originally published on Mashable here.

NZ court bails two associates of Megaupload founder (Reuters)

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 12:34 PM PST

– Thu Jan 26, 3:34 pm ET

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A New Zealand court granted bail on Thursday to two associates of the founder of online file-sharing website Megaupload, accused of being involved in a scheme that allegedly made more than $175 million from Internet piracy and illegal file sharing.

Dutchman Bram van der Kolk, 29, and Finn Batato, a 38-year-old German, who were arrested last Friday along with Megaupload's founder, Kim Dotcom, were freed on bail. A decision on another accused, Mathias Ortman, was put off until Friday pending further submissions on his bail application.

"I am satisfied that the risk of flight here is minimal and such risk as remains can be met by the imposition of strict bail conditions including electronic monitoring," Judge David McNaughton said in a written judgment.

A lawyer for the men had argued their role in the company was different from that of Dotcom, and they did not have secret sources of funds or multiple identities.

The United States wants to extradite all four on charges of Internet piracy, copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering.

Dotcom, 38, was refused bail on Wednesday because the judge believed there was a significant risk he could try to flee New Zealand. He will reappear in court on February 22. His lawyer is preparing to appeal that decision, maintaining that Dotcom does not have the means to leave the country.

The defendants have said they are innocent of the piracy and other charges, asserting the company simply offered online storage.

An extradition application must be lodged within 45 days of an arrest, and the U.S. must show the alleged offences would be crimes in New Zealand punishable by at least 12 months in jail.

Legal experts have said the extradition process is likely to be long and complex.

(Reporting by Gyles Beckford)

House lawmakers seek Google answers on privacy policy (Reuters)

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 12:23 PM PST

– Thu Jan 26, 3:23 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked Google Inc on Thursday to provide answers about recent changes to the search engine's privacy policy.

In a letter to Google Chief Executive Larry Page, the lawmakers said the company's announcement "raises questions about whether consumers can opt-out of the new data sharing system either globally or on a product-by-product basis."

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Valve ventures into mobile with Steam on iOS and Android (Digital Trends)

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 08:00 PM PST

Mike Flacy Mike Flacy – 1 hr 13 mins ago

Launched earlier this week and announced on the Steam site, Valve has started a closed beta for Steam Mobile on the iPhone and Android phones. The mobile application brings a vast amount of core functions found within the PC and Mac version of the Steam software, the most notable being the ability to make purchases through the application. This will allow any mobile Steam user to take advantage of the frequent sales that cut popular games up to 90 percent off. Assuming the user agrees to notifications from the application, Steam will also be able to feed mobile alerts to the user when a game on a user's wishlist goes on sale. The interface offers the familiar Steam categories of new, featured, popular and specials. In addition, there's a search interface allowing the user to find games by price, title or genre.

After a user logs into the mobile application, they have the ability to chat with Steam friends, peruse friend activity, read gaming news, check out profiles and groups in addition to looking at screenshots and other gaming media. Within the chat interface, friends are split up into categories such as recent chats, in-game, online and offline. However, group chat is unavailable through this version of the mobile interface. There's also no obvious link between the mobile device and a PC at home that would allow a user to queue up Steam downloads while away from the computer.

While all of Steam's features aren't included within the application, Valve president Gabe Newell believes that this application represents a good start. Newell stated "Seeing which of your friends are online and playing a game, sending quick messages, looking at screenshots for an upcoming game, or catching a sale – these are all features customers have requested. Mobile is changing way people interact, play games and consume media, and the Steam app is part of our commitment to meet customer demands and expand the service functionality of Steam to make it richer and more accessible for everyone." Newell did not indicate if the Steam platform would start to sell mobile games.

While Steam is moving forward with mobile, Electronic Arts still hasn't rolled out a mobile counterpart to the Origin download service. Origin also lags behind Steam in terms of the amount of games offer for sale on the service. While Steam offers more than 1,800 titles for sale, Electronic Arts lists less than 10 percent of that figure. Electronic Arts did announce an additional 11 third-party publishers have been added to the Origin service recently, but did not indicate how many games would be added over the coming months.

As reported at CES 2012, Valve is still prepping Steam's "Big Picture" user interface designed to bring the Steam experience to the television screen. This will allow users to hook a computer to the television and play games on a much larger screen, similar to user experience of console owners. Newell hasn't indicated if Valve will release a set-top box to offer this feature to consumers that don't have a computer hooked into their main television in the living room. Some analysts have also speculated that the "Big Picture" mode could utilize cloud streaming technology similar to OnLive and be delivered through an application on gaming consoles or through Internet-connected televisions. However, Valve has said repeatedly that "Big Picture" mode will include controller support.

While the mobile application is currently in a closed beta, Steam users can download the mobile application onto the iOS platform and log into the application to declare interest in joining the beta. Valve plans to roll out new invites slowly while the application is still being tested over the next few weeks.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

Tableta rasa

The Harvard study is among the first to look at the ergonomics of using a tablet, and its scope is necessarily limited: It only examines the effects of tablet use on the head, neck, and shoulders while seated in a relatively deep lounge-style chair, with a slightly reclined back and no arm rests. A myriad of other parts of the body (like the hands, arms, and the back) weren't considered, nor were a number of other postures and ways people use tablets, such as standing, walking, lying flat, perched on a stool, crammed into an airplane or bus seat, and many more.

To look at the effects of tablet use, researchers wired up subjects with a infrared three-dimensional motion analysis system (think of it as something akin to the motion capture systems used in movies), and asked subjects to perform a range of tasks with tablets in four different positions:

Lap Hand: User holds the tablet in their lap without a case, supported (or not) by their hand
Lap Case: Tablet sits on the lap with its case set to its lowest angle
Lap Table: Tablet rests on a table with its case set to its lowest angle
Table-Movie: Tablet rests on a table with its case set to its highest angle (for media viewing)

The researchers came up with four basic tasks—Internet browsing and reading, playing a game (solitaire), composing short replies to email messages, and watching short videos. Not all tasks were performed in all positions. The video-watching task, for instance, was exclusive to the Table-Movie position. Subjects didn't watch videos in the other positions, nor did they have to surf the Web, play a game, or write email in the Table-Movie position.

So what tablets were used? The researchers picked two: an Apple iPad 2 with a Smart Case running iOS 4.3 and a Motorola Xoom tablet with Motorola's Portfolio Case running Android 3.0.

The tilt angles offered by the cases are quite a bit different: the iPad Smart Cover can handle tilt angles of 15° and 74°, while the Motorola Portfolio case does angles of 45° and 63°. As we'll see, that might make a big difference.

Flex Time

Overall, the researchers found that subjects came closest to generally-accepted neutral ranges of head and neck flexion in the Table-Movie posture, with the neck being well within neutral values and the head falling just inside it. However, for the three other postures, subjects' head and neck flexion fell some 15 to 25 degrees outside the neutral range. Users tend to hold their heads out and look downward when using a tablet on their laps or on a tabletop. That, in turn, puts stress on the neck muscles, far more strain than someone using a traditional computer, who can maintain a more-or-less neutral position where the weight of their head is supported by the bones of the neck and spine, rather than muscles.

Generally speaking, using a tablet on a tabletop (the Table-Case posture) rather than a lap resulted in a lower cranio-cervical angle — meaning their heads tended to be more aligned vertically with their spines.

However, there were significant variations between the iPad and its Smart Cover and the Motorola Xoom and its Portfolio Case, and they don't bode that well for iPad users. Angles of neck and head flexion were significant higher for the iPad 2 with Smart Cover in both the Lap-Case and Table-Case postures when compared with the Xoom and its case. Presumably, the Smart Cover's lower angle (25° compared with 45°) meant users held their heads and necks at at more of an angle. Similarly, the researchers found iPad users had a significantly lower gaze angle in the Lap-Case and Table-Case postures. Researchers also found that iPad users put the iPad significantly lower and closer to them than they put the Xoom in the Lap-Case and Table-Case postures — again, probably influenced by the Smart Case's flatter orientation. Researchers found that subjects consistently positioned the Xoom so their viewing angle of the tablet was nearly perpendicular for all four postures, meaning their view of the tablet's screen was more-or-less flat. However, in the Lap-Case and Table-Case postures, iPad users tended to have a more oblique view of the screen.

Just in case

Although the study only examines a few ergonomic factors associated with tablet use, one result that jumps out is that cases make a big difference if you're going to use a tablet on a table or on your lap. Although Apple's Smart Cover offers two significantly different viewing angles, its shallow 25° tilt intended for typing seems to make users more prone to hunching over their tablet, putting strain on their neck. (That's not to knock Apple's Smart Cover exclusively; the same thing likely applies to other tablet cases that offer shallow use angles.) However, that doesn't necessarily mean a steep tilt is better. It doesn't take much more than a glance at someone using a tablet at a 45° angle on a tabletop to realize trying to use an onscreen keyboard at such a tilt is difficult— and likely hard on the wrists over time.

Another interesting finding is that the only posture in the study where subjects exhibited neutral values for their neck and head angles was the highly-angled, passive Table-Movie posture. Put another way, the least stressful way to interact with a tablet is not to interact with it at all: Just prop it up and look at it.

Safe tableting

As more people rely on tablets for everyday communications and tasks — and are using them to replace things like netbooks, notebooks, and even traditional desktop computers — they're spending more and more time with the devices, increasing their risk of stress and injury from prolonged use. So, the best advice for using a tablet over the long term likely derives from all the ergonomics lessons we've learned from PCs, gaming, and other tasks:

Try to keep your upper body posture neutral and well supported. Keep your neck straight, your shoulders relaxed, and your arms positioned near your sides.
Part of the "tablet hunch" comes from placing them them well below the field of vision when we're in a neutral posture. If you're using a tablet for a long time, consider adjusting your seating or the position of the tablet so it's at or just below your field of vision when you hold your head and back at a neutral angle. That may mean positioning the tablet well above a table or desk surface, just like many people do with notebooks (with or without desktop docking stations).
It may look silly, but for long periods of use, using a separate keyboard rather than on on-screen keyboard is probably a good idea to help maintain good ergonomics. You don't have to take it with you everywhere you go like some 21st century version of a pocket protector, but if you find yourself doing long writing or messaging sessions on a tablet, a keyboard might be a good idea.
Move around. Tablets are inherently portable devices, and people take them everywhere they go, so that means tablet users are more likely to shift position, get up, walk around, and change their posture than a typical desktop PC user who might stay in a chair for hours at a time. Whether using a desktop, notebook, gaming console, or tablet, frequent breaks to stretch, move around, and get blood flowing are critical. Use it or lose it.

What's next

Reports have the Harvard team next looking to examine the effects of tablet use on the arms and wrists, which could be even more interesting. And, just in case folks were wondering, the study was partially funded by Microsoft, which is looking to make a big splash in the tablet market with Windows 8 later this year. (Although two Microsoft researchers helped design the study, they didn't participate in data collection or analysis.)

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

Technet

Thursday, January 26, 2012