Sponsoer by :

Khamis, 4 November 2010

Cable subscribers flee, but is Internet to blame? (AP) : Technet

Sponsored

Cable subscribers flee, but is Internet to blame? (AP) : Technet

Cable subscribers flee, but is Internet to blame? (AP)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 05:27 PM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Thu Nov 4, 8:27 pm ET

NEW YORK – Cable companies have been losing TV subscribers at an ever faster rate in the last few months, and satellite TV isn't picking up the slack.

That could be a sign that Internet TV services such as Netflix and Hulu are finally starting to entice people to cancel cable, though company executives are pointing to the weak economy and housing market for now.

Third-quarter results reported Thursday by major cable TV companies show major losses, but don't settle the question of what's causing them.

If "cord-cutting" in favor of Internet video is finally taking hold, that has wide-ranging implications. Consumers who use the Internet to get their movies and TV shows bypass not just the cable companies, but the cable networks that produce the content. The move could have the same disruptive effect on the TV and movie industries as digital downloads have already had on music.

A few weeks ago, the CEO of phone company Verizon Communications Inc. likened cord-cutting to what started happening to the local-phone companies five or six years ago, when people started giving up their landlines in favor of relying solely on their cell phones.

"The first thing when that happens is you deny it," Ivan Seidenberg said. "I know the drill. I have been there."

On Thursday, Time Warner Cable Inc.'s chief operating officer, Landel Hobbs, said the company doesn't see evidence of people dropping cable in favor of the Internet. He said the biggest subscriber losses have been among people who don't have cable broadband services; high-speed Internet — from cable or a competitor — is key to watching video online. These people seem to be going to satellite or giving up on pay TV entirely.

On the theory that college students might be among the first to drop cable TV, the company looked at changes in subscriber figures in college towns such as Austin, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio. They weren't out of line with previous years, and they corresponded to the level of student enrollment, he said.

"We'll continue to monitor cord-cutting, but haven't found evidence where you might expect to see it," Hobbs told analysts on a conference call.

Time Warner Cable lost 155,000 video subscribers in the July-September quarter, compared with 64,000 a year ago.

The only larger cable company, Comcast Corp., reported last week that its subscriber loss more than doubled in the third quarter, to 275,000. Comcast said many of those leaving had taken advantage of low introductory rates that the company offered last year when the analog TV broadcast network as shut down.

All together, seven of the country's nine largest pay-TV companies, representing about 75 percent of the subscriber total, had reported their results for the third quarter by Thursday. They showed a combined gain of 95,700 video subscribers, or a 0.6 percent increase at an annualized rate, less than the growth of the population. In the third quarter of last year, they gained 405,800 subscribers.

(Missing from the top nine: the third-largest cable company, Cox Communications, which is privately held and doesn't report subscriber counts publicly; and the second-largest satellite TV company, Dish Network Corp., which reports results Friday.)

Cable companies have been losing video subscribers for some time, but they have been compensating by upgrading basic subscribers to more expensive digital tiers, as well as adding broadband and phone subscribers.

However, both Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems Corp. lost digital video subscribers in the third quarter. Both added record-low number of phone subscribers, as years of growth are coming to an end.

Meanwhile, Netflix Inc.'s streaming service has become so popular that it is now the largest source of U.S. Internet traffic during peak evening hours, according to Sandvine Inc., a Canadian company that supplies traffic-management equipment to Internet service providers.

A variety of gadgets can send Netflix's streams to the living room TV, including game consoles and the $99 Apple TV box. Many high-end TVs now come with the built-in ability to play Internet content.

Thomas Clancy Jr., 35, in Long Beach, N.Y., canceled the family's Cablevision subscription this spring. He said he has been happy with Netflix and other Internet video services since then, even though there isn't a lot of live sports to be had online.

"The amount of sports that I watched certainly didn't justify a hundred-dollar-a-month expense for all this stuff. I mean, that's twelve hundred dollars a year," Clancy said. "Twelve hundred dollars is ... near a vacation."

But Clancy — who has no relation to the thriller writer — is also an example of the hurdles cord cutters face. He uses an Internet-connected Blu-ray player to get Netflix movies to the TV. And he pulls a cable from his computer to the TV for Internet content Netflix doesn't have. Clancy owns a computer consulting firm and is tech-savvy enough to do all that. Most people wouldn't know how.

Cablevision wanted to raise Clancy's Internet bill when he canceled TV service. That would have made cord-cutting less attractive, but he happens to live in an area where Verizon provides Internet service at speeds that are comparable with the best cable has to offer. He got a better deal from Verizon and switched to that provider.

Most people who have the technological skills to take advantage of Internet video find that the selection of movies and shows isn't broad enough to make the jump worth it, Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett said.

On the other hand, poor people have an excellent motive to cut cable and simply replace it with an antenna or nothing at all, he said.

"The price cable TV has risen to the point where it's simply not affordable to lots of lower-income homes. And right now there are an awful lot of lower-income homes," Moffett said. "The evidence suggests that what we're seeing is a poverty problem rather than a technology phenomenon."

In addition, high unemployment means fewer new households, as kids are probably delaying moving out of their parents' houses, or people move in with roommates. That can reduce the number of households that pay for TV.

Cable companies would like to get low-income customers back with cheaper cable packages, but their hands are tied. Content providers such as The Walt Disney Co. and News Corp. won't license their channels one by one, so subscribers have to take big, expensive channel packages, or very basic ones, which offer little beyond what's available with an antenna.

Content providers now get billions of dollars in fees from cable service providers, and they want to make sure that whatever new industry model comes along, they'll get paid. It's not obvious yet that Internet video will let them sustain their profit levels.

Six companies create the content that consumes 85 percent of U.S. viewing hours, Moffett said. "Until they get on board, the train's not leaving the station."

Review: Kinect motion-sensing system impresses (AP)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 02:14 PM PDT

By RON HARRIS, Associated Press Ron Harris, Associated Press – Thu Nov 4, 5:14 pm ET

There are a lot of futuristic things we're still waiting on: jet packs for the entire family, self-driving cars and time-travel, to name a few. But one new, pretty darn amazing bit of technology has finally come to fruition, thanks to the folks at Microsoft.

The Kinect system, on sale beginning Thursday for the Xbox 360 game console, offers controller-free control of living room entertainment and aptly delivers a groundbreaking piece of technology.

It's part game controller, part fitness guru and part "Minority Report," the movie where Tom Cruise famously interacts with a multi-touch interface by making rapid motions with his hands. Instead of gripping a physical controller to play games and movies on your Xbox 360, Kinect allows you to simply move your body — hands, feet, hips — to do everything.

Kinect is a hybrid video camera and motion sensor that sits just above or below your television display. It looks like an extra wide webcam and connects to the Xbox 360 — even older models — through the USB port. Kinect sells for $150 and comes with one game; you can buy it bundled with a low-end Xbox 360 for $300, saving $50 on the package.

Activating and configuring Kinect was easy enough, though it does require a system update.

Kinect calibrated itself by testing the ambient light in my room, the background noise and my own voice. Kinect then asked me to get used to performing my moves in a fairly large rectangular space about 8 feet in front of the television.

The 46-inch LCD display from Sceptre I used for my tests delivered the Kinect experience in tack-sharp high-definition. A larger-than-average display is ideal because it'll help you see the various digital versions of yourself more clearly, as captured by Kinect's camera and motion-sensing voodoo.

At the Xbox 360 main menu screen, a small dark box appeared at the lower right corner. Inside was a live view of my body, with my hands glowing at my sides. A quick wave of my right hand told Kinect I was ready to interact.

To select items on most menu screens, I simply held up my right hand at about shoulder height and guided an on-screen hand to an icon or word. In games, similar control takes place to select people and objects. Simply hover and grab.

Kinect also brings voice control to the Xbox 360, and you can launch movies and social media apps by saying something like "Xbox. Play." I had spotty success with that and found the hand guide technique more dependable.

The game that comes with Kinect is "Kinect Adventures," an outdoorsy jaunt into the world of whitewater rapids and antigravity. As I stood in front of my TV, I looked at my avatar's back, careening down a rushing river in an inflatable raft. As I instinctively stepped and leaned to the left, my character on-screen did so as well, steering the raft around rocks and obstacles.

In "Space Pop," I floated in a low-gravity room and waved my arms and legs to pop bubbles for points. These games were fine for a warm-up, but I was quickly ready for a more stern test.

The Kinect games now available all require the system to play them. Your physical Xbox 360 controller won't suffice. There will be Kinect-enhanced games available later that can be played both ways, but Microsoft Corp. says Kinect will give you a better experience.

I met my match with "Dance Central" ($50, MTV Games, rated "T"). This top-shelf title is essential for Kinect users. I mimicked the on-screen character's dance moves for high scores. I jumped and gyrated to songs from top artists such as Lady Gaga and Audio Push. I learned the moves individually, with a few restarts, then launched into a dance battle to string them together to the music.

A circle beneath my on-screen feet glowed green when I hit the moves correctly. It glowed red when I muffed the moves, indicating I had suddenly sprouted at least two left feet, if not more. The music on this title is fresh, and additional tracks can be purchased through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

One title that was a dud for me was "Kinect Joy Ride," a cartoonish driving game. Driving is one of those game genres that begs for a physical controller. I had trouble keeping my hands in an imaginary grip on an imaginary steering wheel to control my imaginary car. I crashed because I overcorrected my steering. My hands moved too freely because they weren't really holding on to anything.

My wife had better luck when I raced against her. She even found time to lean over and answer a real-world cell phone call while "driving," gently cradling the phone on her shoulder while gripping her nonexistent steering wheel.

There is one title that literally left me breathless, but for all the right reasons. "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved" is a masterpiece. The exercise game talks and walks you through precise movements to improve your cardio and work out your muscles.

I began by standing in front of my TV and letting Kinect measure my body size and structure. I then used a hand-motion menu to enter my age, weight and exercise habits so the game would learn not to overexert me too soon.

Within minutes I was following along with the Tai chi and yoga moves of an on-screen instructor, with my on-screen mat placed just behind and to the right of her. She led me through the movements, and at the end of each routine I was given a score for my performance, based on how well I stayed in rhythm and mimicked her deep knee bends.

I would have never thought that the most impressive game title for Microsoft's foray into motion-sensor gaming would involve me invoking the phrase "Namaste" instead of "activate plasma rifle."

Motion-sensor gaming has now hit all three major gaming platforms. Nintendo Co.'s Wii arrived first. Sony Corp.'s Move for PlayStation 3 added more realistic games, graphics and highly acute player control.

Microsoft Kinect may lack the fine character control of the Move, but it adds the promise of an expanded breadth of activities in front of the gaming console. The possibilities for Kinect are rich, and I will forever more feel a touch guilty while sitting in that well-worn corner of my couch to play a video game.

Four stars out of four.

___

Online: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect

Activision 3Q earnings more than triple (AP)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 02:07 PM PDT

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay, Ap Technology Writer – Thu Nov 4, 5:07 pm ET

NEW YORK – Continued strong demand for the latest "Call of Duty," "StarCraft" and "World of Warcraft" video games helped more than triple Activision Blizzard Inc.'s third-quarter net income and pushed overall results well above Wall Street's expectations.

The company raised its outlook for the full year on Thursday, though its guidance for the current quarter was more cautious than analysts have been predicting.

"We generally like to take a very thoughtful view about the outlooks we provide," CEO Bobby Kotick said in an interview. Activision has a history of providing conservative guidance, then beating expectations.

He added that "Call of Duty: Black Ops," the sequel to the record-shattering "Modern Warfare 2," should be "one of the biggest launches of the year." He would not predict whether it'll outpace its 2009 predecessor. "Black Ops" goes on sale Nov. 9.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, Activision earned $51 million, or 4 cents per share. This is up from $15 million, or 1 cent per share, a year earlier.

Revenue climbed 6 percent to $745 million from $703 million.

The company's adjusted earnings of 12 cents per share handily surpassed Wall Street's estimates of 9 cents per share.

After adjustments to account for deferred revenue and costs related to games with online components, revenue was $857 million. On this basis, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting much lower revenue of $750 million.

For the current quarter, which is the video game industry's most lucrative period of the year, the company forecast adjusted earnings of 47 cents per share on revenue of $2.2 billion. Analysts have been expecting slightly higher results — earnings of 50 cents per share and revenue of $2.31 billion.

Activision, which is based in Santa Monica, Calif., did raise its full year guidance. The company now expects adjusted earnings of 74 cents per share on revenue of $4.45 billion. This is up from its earlier guidance of earnings of 72 cents per share and revenue of $4.4 billion, and roughly the same as what Wall Street has been looking for.

Activision's results came two days after the Supreme Court heard arguments over a California law that seeks to ban ultra-violent video games from being sold to minors. Lower courts have said the law violates minors' constitutional rights, and other states have struck down similar laws. A ruling is expected next year.

Kotick said his view is that video games, like any other form of media, are protected by the First Amendment. He said most of the justices appear to recognize that if you regulate video games, you'll also have to regulate books, movies and music.

Overall, game retail sales have been faltering this year, especially for games aimed at more casual players, such as music titles and the Nintendo Wii. Games on the iPhone and Facebook are also competing for people's attention. But the industry hopes this will change with the help of new motion controllers from Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Microsoft launched its Kinect system Thursday.

Shares of Activision Blizzard climbed 17 cents to $11.80 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed up 18 cents at $11.63 during the regular session before earnings were released.

Using Kinect to watch movies, play tunes on the Xbox 360 (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 04:28 PM PDT

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Thu Nov 4, 7:28 pm ET

Plenty of digital ink has already been spilled about how Microsoft's impressive new motion-sensing camera performs as a game controller — or as a controller without the controller, as it were — but what about when it comes to using your hands and voice to queue up your favorite tunes, or find a specific scene in a movie? Read on.

I have to say, it's the Kinect's "Minority Report"-style capabilities that captured my imagination the most during Microsoft's various demos over the past year or so, which have shown users waving their hands in the air to scan to a specific scene in a movie, or saying commands like "Xbox, Pause" to freeze the image.

The tiled Xbox Dashboard seems like it would be perfect for swiping up and down, or back and forth with a simple wave, and indeed — as soon as I'd plugged my new Kinect into the back of my Xbox 360 console and went through the brief, relatively painless calibration process, I started waving my hand in the hopes of manipulating the Dashboard tiles, just like Tom Cruise did with that ultra-cool computer console in the movie.

Alas ... that's not exactly how Kinect works, although Microsoft is clearly onto something here. When you're at the main Xbox Dashboard screen with Kinect plugged in, you still must use the analog sticks on the Xbox controller to switch from one standard Dashboard tile to another. Oh well.

In the bottom-right corner of the screen, though, you'll see a ghostly black-and-white video image of your living room in a small frame, right next to a microphone icon. Wave your hand, and you'll see your little ghostly image wave back at you, until a hand-shaped icon appears below a curved, pulsing line with arrows on both ends. Wave a little more, in big enough arcs, and you'll slide over to what's called the "Kinect Hub" — a Kinect-friendly interface for controlling some, but not all, of the Xbox 360's media features.

Don't want to wave? You can always just talk. Say "Xbox," and a little menu appears at the bottom of the screen with available voice commands, such as "Kinect," which takes you to the Hub.

What is the Kinect Hub, exactly? It's a series of panels — eight per screen — that you can select by either waving your hand (you move the floating hand icon over the panel you want, then hold it until a circle appears) or using a voice command (like "Xbox, ESPN").

For now, unfortunately, the selection of panels is somewhat limited. On the first page, you can fire up the game disc in your optical drive, watch a trailer for a featured game or movie, start a live video chat with a friend (which I haven't tried yet) or launch the ESPN, Last.fm, or Zune apps. Sorry, folks: no Kinect-controllable Netflix, Facebook, or Twitter, at least not yet.

Still, I had fun with the Kinect-ready Xbox features that were under my control. Launch the Zune app, for example, and say "Xbox, Suggest a movie" to start watching previews of new rentals; if you like what you see, you say "Xbox, Watch this" to start watching, or "Xbox, Next" for another preview. Or you can jump into your library of TV episode purchases, waving your hand to select the series and episode you want to watch.

Even better is scanning within a video for a certain scene. You wave your hand, move the floating hand icon over the little white mitt on the progress bar, and then swipe back and forth to scan the video forward and backward. I have to say, I was surprised by the degree of control I had; I was afraid the video would fly all over the place, but Kinect did a great job of tracking even my most subtle movements, allowing me to move forward or back in steps as small as 15 seconds.

Of course, you can also scan forward or back using your voice; just say "Xbox, Fast Forward," "Xbox, Rewind," or ... well, you get the picture.

Searching for movies or music with Kinect is a little more involved, as you can imagine. Once you select the Search icon, you wave and swipe up to pick your first letter; you can then pick from a list of search results (categorized by movies, TV, music videos, or artists), or you can keep spelling out a search term with more waving. After a little of this, I stopped waving my (increasingly tired) hand and started groping around for my Xbox controller.

Once you finally have a song queued up, you can being playback by saying "Xbox, Play," or skip to the next track by waving and "pressing" the left arrow (or just say "Xbox, Next"). You can't mark a song as a favorite with Kinect, though, and I should also note that Kinect occasionally had trouble hearing my commands when the music was blaring. (Raising my voice a bit usually did the trick.)

Will using Kinect to watch videos or listen to music on the Xbox be easier than fumbling around in the dark for the Xbox controller? Or will pressing a button prove to be easier than waving a hand?

I'll have to use Kinect a bit more before I can say for sure; right now, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around what it means to talk and wave to control a video rather than pushing a stick. It's a heady experience, I'll grant you that, although it's frustrating when Kinect doesn't see your waving hand (hey, I'm right here!) or listen to your voice ("Xbox ... Xbox!") when it should.

For the most part, though, there was something a little bit thrilling about using gestures rather than remotes or controllers — and remember, it doesn't have to be an either/or situation; it's not like you have to trade in the Xbox controller for a Kinect camera.

So yes, it's cool ... but $150 worth of cool? I'll have more on that later, especially once I crack open some Kinect games (I have Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures here at home). I should also point out that the Kinect I have in my living room isn't a review unit; I went ahead and paid for the thing, so I'm sure I'll soon have definite feelings about whether I got my money's worth.

Got any questions about Kinect? Post 'em below and I'll do my best to get back to you.

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

Follow me on Twitter!

Time Warner to debut $30-$50 ‘premium’ VOD movies in summer (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 10:16 AM PDT

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Thu Nov 4, 1:16 pm ET

Would you consider ponying up $30 or even $50 to watch, say, the next "Hangover" movie? Sounds a little nuts, given that you can rent a movie on cable or iTunes for just $4 to $5 a night. But what if you could watch "The Hangover 2" at home just a few weeks or even days after it debuts in theaters?

It's a concept that the big Hollywood studios and pay-TV carriers have been pondering for months, and now Time Warner says it's ready to give the idea a try as soon as this summer.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes told investors and analysts during an earnings call Wednesday that the company is "near agreement with our distributors" on exactly when—and how much—these "premium" video-on-demand offerings will go for, although Variety reports that the movies will probably cost somewhere between $30 and $50.

Umm ... isn't that more than you'd pay for a new-release Blu-ray title? Absolutely. But the suits in Hollywood are hoping you'll pay extra for the privilege of watching a summer blockbuster at home without having to wait four to six months for the DVD or Blu-ray release.

So how early are we talking about here? Time Warner's Bewkes didn't say during Wednesday's earnings call, but the Wrap speculates the first premium VOD titles could arrive "weeks—or even days—after their theatrical release."

Variety figures that the first title would have to be a "high-profile" one that "appeals to early adopters or families who don't want to make the trip to the megaplex"—something like next summer's "The Hangover 2," the Zack Snyder-directed "Sucker Punch," or "Green Lantern" with Ryan Reynolds.

But would it be worth $50 to see "The Hangover 2" at home before it hits DVD?

If it only went on-demand a few weeks before it arrived on disc, I don't imagine there'd be too many takers. But if "Hangover" was available on-demand just a week after it opened in theaters? Well, let's see. Say you've got a family of four, with movie tickets averaging about $10 a pop, and then you've got popcorn and soda pop, parking, gas for the car. ... By the time all is said and done, a family trip to the movies could end up costing you upwards of $50 anyway.

That said, something tells me that the sequel to the original, R-rated "Hangover" won't be suitable for little ones, so maybe a title like "Green Lantern" would make more sense as a $50 on-demand movie—or ideally, perhaps $40 or even $30 for an at-home viewing.

Still, given the glut of cheap options we have for home video—buck-a-night Redbox rentals, streaming Netflix, $5 iTunes rentals—would it really be worth forking over 50 (or 30) bucks to watch "Green Lantern" early and on-demand?

I think we'd have to be talking about a special movie here, something like "Avatar," "Inception" or a new "Batman" movie -- and those might be movies you'd want to see on the big screen, anyway. (Speaking of which, movie exhibitors are hopping mad about the plan. The head of the National Associate of Theater Owners complains in the Variety article that bypassing movie theaters with "premium" VOD offerings "could damage the entire movie industry.")

Are there any circumstances under which you'd pay $30 to $50 to watch a Hollywood movie at home, before it lands on DVD? Does it sound like a potential bargain (compared with a trip to the movie theater) or a ripoff?

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

Follow me on Twitter!

MacBook Air Bugs Are a Reminder of iPhone Woes (PC World)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 05:30 PM PDT

Barbara E. Hernandez Barbara E. Hernandez – Thu Nov 4, 8:30 pm ET

Some users of the new MacBook Air have been reporting frustrations on the screen, such as random flashing, the appearance of horizontal or vertical lines, and in some cases, different colors filling the screen just before the computer crashes.

While Apple is looking into a software fix for the problem that has surfaced in its Support forums and on YouTube, perhaps the problem stems from Apple rushing to get the MacBook Air to market so it could capitalize on its iPad success.

Apple is still finding a way to stop the kernel issues and strobe-light effects, but for now it allows users to exchange an affected MacBook Air for another one. Users have found that only rebooting the computer seems to restore it back to normal, or at least until the screen goes wonky again. So far, Apple hasn't commented publicly on the problem.

However, the MacBook Air's bugginess is such an obvious, visual assault that it's hard to believe that no one at Apple saw it before the machines were shipped to stores. It's not as if the MacBook Air didn't receive a lot of hype. Its commercials are still in heavy rotation, and it was the star of Apple's recent "Back to the Mac" event last month.

Reviews were mostly glowing, and no one seemed to breathe a word about screen problems, so it's likely the bugs will appear only with extended or repeated use--all things that should have been caught in the testing phase.

Don't think it's because Apple skimped on the hardware. The MacBook Air is not a cheap laptop. It owes its thinness to being strategically built--and it was, with a custom solid-state drive by Toshiba. The 11-inch model starts at $999 and its 13.3-inch model starts at $1299, but most people will probably pay at least $200 for more memory, especially since the machine can't be upgraded or modified.

Was Apple under the gun to produce something exciting for its latest publicity blitz? It's likely that without any new iPhone or iPad announcements, Apple pinned its hopes on the MacBook Air. It certainly could become the hottest new laptop, especially now that businesses and consumers have been embracing Apple by buying the iPad in record numbers. But maybe Apple failed to scrutinize the slim computer closely enough.

Not having personal insight into the inner workings of Apple, I can only assume the reasons that made Apple not fix a faulty antenna on its iPhone 4 were probably the same that no one fixed the MacBook Air's screen. Perhaps someone noticed and voiced concern, but either it wasn't considered a dealbreaker, or Apple decided it was more important to push the product out than waste time on a fix.

It's too bad that Apple apparently didn't learn from its previous experience with the iPhone, and didn't wait long enough to put out a quality product that wouldn't hurt its reputation.

New MacBook Air users experiencing problems can contact the nearest Apple Store or call AppleCare for options.

Reach or follow Barbara E. Hernandez on Twitter: @bhern.

Remains of the Day: Nyet, comrade (Macworld)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 05:16 PM PDT

Jason Snell Jason Snell – Thu Nov 4, 8:16 pm ET

You're headed out of town for a long weekend. What do you do? If you're Dan Moren, you don't write the remainders column—you make a sucker do it instead. Hi, folks. I'm the sucker, and this is the Remains of the Day for Thursday, November 4, 2010.

Worldwide Smartphone Market Grows 89.5 percent (IDC)

Research group International Data Corporation (IDC, a member of the IDG family just like Macworld) released a report Thursday that showed the worldwide smartphone market growing by—well, you can read that headline up there as well as I can.

More relevant from the Apple side of things is that Apple came in as the second-largest vendor of smartphones, behind Nokia and ahead of RIM, Samsung, and HTC. Apple's big quarter led to 17.4 percent market share, but the market is growing so rapidly that despite growing sales 90.5 percent when compared to the same quarter a year ago, Apple's market share only grew by one tenth of one percent.

Led by the Galaxy S line of Android phones, Samsung showed growth of a staggering 454 percent. If I've got my math right, at this rate every man, woman, and child on the planet will own three Samsung phones by the end of the year.

iPads on a plane! and iPhones, too… (SugarSync)

Online file-syncing service SugarSync has updated its iOS app ( ) with a nifty new feature: the ability to save files locally on your iOS device so you can access them during those times when you're not on the Internet. Like when you're on a plane, or using an iPod touch while you're away from Wi-Fi, or when you're watching a parade with hundreds of thousands of other people in a city not known for its stellar AT&T coverage. There's also a new security feature that lets you lock the app, preventing people from accessing your synced files.

More Content, More Devices (Hulu Blog)

The $10-a-month Hulu Plus subscription service ( ), which lets you watch all sorts of new TV series on your computer or iOS device, has now left its invitation-only preview period. That's right, folks: if you want to stream full episodes of Raising Hope or The Event on your iPad, you can now give the folks at Hulu money without begging them to take it.

Kinect has problems recognizing dark-skinned users? (Gamespot UK)

We all saw this one coming, didn't we? Following the scandal of HP's racist webcams, Gamespot UK reported that two "dark-skinned GameSpot employees had problems" getting Microsoft's new Xbox Kinect face-tracking software to work right.

This report was quickly debunked by Consumer Reports, which reported that Kinect can see dark-skinned people just fine, and by the way, HP's webcams aren't really racist either.

Now can we get back to the real scandal here? If you don't have a gigantic open play area in front of your TV, you can't use Kinect. For those of us who live in the Bay Area, this is a dealbreaker, ladies.

iPhoto 9.1 update adds additional print product options (Macworld)

Okay, now you're asking yourself, why is the Macworld remainders column linking to a story on Macworld.com itself?

The reason for this tautology, friends, is to call your attention to a Soviet-like act of revisionism by the otherwise upstanding folks at Apple. When we published our first look at iPhoto '11 we pointed out that the original version of iPhoto didn't ship with support for calendar printing, but that Apple planned to add that feature in plenty of time for the end-of-year "calendar shopping season."

And with today's iPhoto 9.1 update, Apple delivered. So what about that Apple tech note explaining that iPhoto 9.0 doesn't print calendars? Is gone, comrades. Like an agricultural minister airbrushed out of a Politburo photo after falling out of favor, it was never there. Fortunately, Google sometimes works just like the bracing winds of glasnost: there's a cached version of the page providing the truth about those dark days when iPhoto '11 couldn't order calendars.

Why delete the tech note, though? What if some people haven't updated to iPhoto 9.1 and are confused about why they can't print? More to the point, what about people who have linked to Apple's explanation? Deleting pages from the Internet as if they had never existed is just bad form, if you ask me. (And if you'd rather ask Dan Moren, sorry—you'll have to wait until Monday.)

MetroPCS boosts coverage area (Investor's Business Daily)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 03:44 PM PDT

– Thu Nov 4, 6:44 pm ET

The low-cost wireless carrier's Q3 EPS edged up 5% to 22 cents, a penny above views, as the number of new subscribers more than tripled. Revenue grew 14% to $1.02 bil, just shy of views. Its churn rate fell to 3.8% from 5.8%. MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS - News) is expanding to cover 90% of the country, and boosted 4G service to 5 cities from 3. It rose 5% to 11.37.

First Look: Facebook Single Sign-on (PC World)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 02:56 PM PDT

Alex Wawro Alex Wawro – Thu Nov 4, 5:56 pm ET

Facebook is getting serious about on-the-go social networking with a suite of new features announced during the Facebook Mobile event on Wednesday. We've already taken a look at how the release of a new Facebook Places API to mobile developers will change the way we shop, but how will the simplified Single Sign-on process change our favorite apps?

PC World editor Mark Sullivan took some time on Wednesday to interview three social networking applications whose users will be affected by the new Single Sign-on feature: Loopt, Flixster, and Booyah.

Loopt is a great example of how the Single Sign-on integration will actually simplify the user experience, as Loopt is available on multiple mobile devices--from simple feature phones to Blackberry devices, Apple's iPhone, and the Android OS. After logging onto Facebook with the Single Sign-on feature, users will be able to see where their friends are and what they're doing via services like Bing, Zagat, and CitySearch.

Loopt co-founder Alok Deshpande tells us how Facebook's new Single Sign-on feature will affect Loopt users:

For the movie geeks among us, Flixster is a social network for film enthusiasts to discuss current and upcoming movies with friends and family. The Android and iPhone "Movies" applications are mobile extensions of the website, and Flixster co-founder Joe Greenstein believes the option to sign into your Flixster account using Facebook's new Single Sign-On feature will significantly improve the user experience.

Joe discusses how the new simplified Single Sign-on process will change mobile development:

Joe also gives us a sneak preview of how the Single Sign-on feature will work:

But what about mobile gaming? A simplified Facebook login coupled with public distribution of the Facebook Places API is sure to entice mobile game developers who want to emulate the financial success of such successful Facebook apps as Farmville.

Jon Parise, senior engineer at Booyah (maker of such social networking games as MyTown and InCrowd), gives us a quick demo of how the new features will affect players of mobile games:

After rampant rumor-mongering about a possible Facebook phone, these software upgrades may seem pedestrian, but the Facebook Places API and Single Sign-on feature combo is a powerful one-two punch for mobile developers looking to take advantage of Zuckerberg's social network. After all, if you can't beat 'em, why not join 'em?

Atty: MN woman can't pay for sharing songs (AP)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 08:22 PM PDT

By AMY FORLITI, Associated Press Writer Amy Forliti, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota woman ordered to pay a recording industry trade group $1.5 million for illegally sharing music online doesn't plan to pay those damages as her attorneys continue to argue the amount is unconstitutional, she said Thursday.

A federal jury found Wednesday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset, of Brainerd, must pay $62,500 per song — for a total of $1.5 million — for illegally violating copyrights on 24 songs. This was the third jury to consider damages in her case, and each has found that she must pay — though different amounts.

And after each time, the mother of four has said she can't pay.

"I can't afford to pay any amount. It's not a matter of won't, it's a matter of 'I can't,'" Thomas-Rasset said Thursday. "Any amount that I pay to them is money that I could use to feed my children. Any amount that I pay to them is money I could use to clothe my kids, and pay my mortgage so my kids have a place to sleep."

The Recording Industry Association of America has said it found Thomas-Rasset shared more than 1,700 songs on the file-sharing site Kazaa, but it sued over 24 of them. RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth said the association made several attempts to settle with Thomas-Rasset, at first for $5,000, but Thomas-Rasset refused.

Duckworth said the RIAA was thankful the jury recognized the severity of Thomas-Rasset's misconduct.

"Three juries have now spoken and each has sent a strong message that she needs to accept responsibility for her actions," Duckworth said. "I'd say, enough is enough."

Under federal law, the recording companies are entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement but the law allows the jury to raise that to as much as $150,000 per track if it finds the infringements were willful.

The vast majority of people targeted by music industry lawsuits have settled for about $3,500 each. The recording industry has said it stopped filing such lawsuits and is instead working with Internet service providers to go after the worst offenders.

Thomas-Rasset, 33, was the first person to go to trial. In 2007, jurors decided she willfully violated the copyrights on all 24 songs, and she was ordered to pay $9,250 per song, or $222,000.

But Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis ordered a new trial, deciding he had erred in giving jury instructions. The case went back to court. Last year, another jury also found that Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights and ordered her to pay $1.92 million in damages, or $80,000 per song.

Davis called that figure "monstrous and shocking" and reduced the penalty to about $54,000. The RIAA rejected the reduced penalty for legal reasons. But the industry group said it would settle for $25,000, with the money going to a charity for struggling musicians.

Thomas-Rasset refused, setting up another trial to deal just with the issue of damages.

Her attorney, Kiwi Camara, said he has 30 days to submit arguments that the statutes allowing for such hefty damages in these cases are unconstitutional. He said even the minimum amount for damages is not reasonably related to the actual harm caused to the recording industry.

He said in Thomas-Rasset's case, the minimum damage amount would be $18,000, but the actual damages are $24 — the amount Thomas-Rasset would have paid if she bought each song for $1 off iTunes.

Camara said he'll take the argument to the appeals court if necessary.

Thomas-Rasset has maintained her innocence from the start, saying she never used Kazaa. She said Thursday that the law allowing for such disproportionate damages needs to be changed, and she's willing to keep fighting.

"It's not a fair law," she said. "In my eyes, it's legalized extortion."

When a reporter pointed out that three juries of her peers had decided that she should pay well above the minimum, she said there's "no rhyme or reason to the numbers" but she respects jurors for doing their jobs.

She said she's not going to worry about damages until the case is finalized and appeals are finished. Even then, she said, she'd probably file for bankruptcy and write off the damages, rather than pay herself.

Duckworth said if the case is appealed, the RIAA is ready to defend the constitutionality of the verdict. She said the issue is still important, even after all this time.

"People forget about all of the individuals who work really hard to make music for a living," she said. "These people are negatively impacted whenever music is stolen and distributed to millions of people."

In another high-profile case in Boston, a federal judge this summer reduced from $675,000 to $67,500 the amount of damages a Boston University graduate student was ordered to pay. In that case, Joel Tenenbaum of Providence admitted downloading songs between 1999 and 2007. The case is currently under appeal.

Mashable Readers Want the Verizon iPhone [POLL] (Mashable)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 04:13 PM PDT

Ben Parr Ben Parr – Thu Nov 4, 7:13 pm ET

If Mashable readers are any indication, the fabled Verizon iPhone is already poised to become one of the most popular smartphones around.

Last week we asked you, the Mashable readers, whether or not you will get the Verizon iPhone, if the rumors about its existence are indeed true. We wanted to gauge whether you'd switch phones or even carriers to get Apple's smartphone on the Verizon network.

After nearly 10,000 votes, the message is clear: you want a Verizon iPhone. A full 58.40% of you said that you get the iPhone if it debuts on the nation's largest wireless carrier. Here's the breakdown:

  • 36.58% of respondents were current Verizon customers that would switch phones.
  • 17.33% of those polled are current AT&T customers that would switch carriers.
  • 4.59% of respondents are customers of other carriers (e.g. Sprint, T-Mobile) that would switch to Verizon.
Not every Mashable reader wants the Verizon iPhone, though; 16% said that they'd stick with AT&T, 20% said they don't want an iPhone, and 5.5% said that they don't live in the U.S. and thus Verizon isn't an option.

We aren't surprised that you want the Verizon iPhone; we are surprised by how many of you want it, though.

Clearly there's demand for the Verizon iPhone. We're going to have to wait until January to find out if Apple and Verizon deliver.

Milo local shopping and other top Android apps of the week (Appolicious)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 12:09 PM PDT

Oracle may aim to claim billions more from SAP (Reuters)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 04:52 PM PDT

By Jim Finkle and Dan Levine Jim Finkle And Dan Levine – Thu Nov 4, 7:52 pm ET

OAKLAND, California (Reuters) – Oracle Corp has laid the groundwork to claim billions of dollars more from SAP AG than previously indicated, raising the stakes in their closely watched legal battle over software theft.

SAP, Europe's largest software firm, has admitted to liability for the theft by a now-defunct subsidiary, TomorrowNow. The two are fighting it out to determine how much the German company should compensate its bigger American rival.

Former Oracle president Charles Phillips told the court on Thursday his ex-employer would have charged SAP at least $4 billion to $5 billion for the rights to use the software that TomorrowNow improperly downloaded.

That far surpasses Oracle's previous damages estimate of about $2 billion. An attorney for SAP said on Tuesday the company believes it owes Oracle about $40 million.

The drama will intensify on Monday when Oracle's outspoken Chief Executive Larry Ellison takes the stand in the most highly anticipated testimony of a trial that has enthralled Silicon Valley.

The richest person in the California high-tech corridor has waited more than three years to bring SAP to court. The flamboyant billionaire is famous for his outbursts, among them no-holds-barred attacks on SAP. Ellison recently shifted his attacks to include Hewlett-Packard Co, which hired ex-SAP CEO Leo Apotheker to be its new chief.

WE DIDN'T KNOW

SAP has admitted TomorrowNow wrongly downloaded millions of software files from Oracle's customer service website, but says its executives did not know of any wrongdoing when they bought the company, in 2005.

SAP shut down TomorrowNow, which provided software maintenance services such as upgrades and bug fixes, after Oracle filed its lawsuit some three and a half years ago.

Ellison, however, has said he has evidence Apotheker was complicit in TomorrowNow's wrongdoing. In a videotaped deposition played in court on Thursday, former SAP executive board member Shai Agassi said Apotheker was one of two SAP executives put in charge of TomorrowNow after SAP acquired it.

He was responsible for sales, Agassi said.

Apotheker's credibility -- and his ability to effectively lead HP, the world's largest technology company by revenue -- may come under attack if he testifies.

Oracle has sought to subpoena the executive, but said on Wednesday that HP did not accept the papers when it tried to serve the CEO, who started work just this week.

The potential for increased damages comes after a partial settlement agreement struck this week, which sources told Reuters both companies had put in writing.

In a confidential transaction, SAP has already agreed to pay Oracle $120 million toward its legal fees in exchange for Oracle taking punitive damages off the table, according to people familiar with that agreement.

SAP is the world's biggest maker of business management software that companies use to handle tasks such as accounting, human resources and inventory. Oracle is No. 2 in that area, but much larger in overall revenue since it is also the biggest maker of database software.

(Writing by Gabriel Madway and Jim Finkle; Editing by Derek Caney, Steve Orlofsky, Gary Hill)

AP Enterprise: World's oil thirst leads to risks (AP)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 11:58 AM PDT

By JOHN FLESHER and HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press John Flesher And Harry R. Weber, Associated Press – Thu Nov 4, 2:58 pm ET

MIAMI – The world's thirst for crude is leading oil exploration companies into ever deeper waters and ventures fraught with environmental and political peril.

The days when the industry could merely drill on land and wait for the oil — and the profits — to flow are coming to an end. Because of that, companies feel compelled to sink wells at the bottom of deep oceans, inject chemicals into the ground to force oil to the surface, deal with unsavory regimes, or operate in some of the world's most environmentally sensitive and inaccessible spots, far from ports and decent roads. All those factors could make it difficult to move in equipment and clean up a spill.

From the Arctic to Cuba to the coast of Nigeria, avoiding catastrophes like BP's Gulf of Mexico spill is likely to become increasingly difficult and require cooperation among countries that aren't used to working together.

An Associated Press review of oil ventures around the world found plans to punch through layers of salt more than three miles beneath the ocean floor off the coast of Brazil, drill seven exploratory wells off Cuba and extract oil from crude-soaked sands on the Canadian prairie. Drilling is proceeding in countries with extremely weak regulations and a lack of skilled operators, and in geological settings much like the northern Gulf of Mexico, with high pressure and weak rock formations ripe for blowouts.

Companies are seeking the new frontiers amid warnings from some analysts that worldwide oil production will peak and then decline as onshore wells dry up. It's not that oil itself is scarce — global reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion barrels — but getting to it requires large investments in treacherous places.

"It's just getting harder to find this stuff. You're having to go to the end of the Earth or the bottoms of very deep oceans now," said Randy Udall, director of the nonprofit Community Office for Resource Efficiency in Aspen, Colo.

BP CEO Bob Dudley argued last week that deep-water drilling is necessary despite the dangers because the world could be consuming 40 percent more energy by 2030.

BP and other major oil companies say they are preparing for the risks and trying to find common solutions. Also, the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers, a trade group, is talking with other industry organizations in the U.S., Australia, Brazil and Britain about preventing and responding to disasters, said executive director Michael Engell-Jensen.

But so far, little has been done globally to come up with a universally accepted set of standards and response procedures. Diplomatic tensions could prevent effective cooperation among countries, and some projects already under way — such as a deep-water containment system that U.S. oil companies are building in the Gulf — are meant only for a particular area.

In the meantime, the industry is pursuing some audacious projects.

Exploration companies have discovered huge oil fields in the South Atlantic off Brazil, with deposits believed to exceed 8 billion barrels. Reaching them will require drilling not only in waters nearly two miles deep, but through salt layers up to three miles below the ocean floor. The BP well that blew out was in water a mile deep.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic region holds up to one-quarter of the world's undiscovered conventional oil and natural gas, including 90 billion barrels of crude — most of it offshore. Companies in the U.S., Russia, Norway, Denmark and Canada are stepping up preparations to drill there.

Environmental groups have sued to prevent it. Cold and ice would hamper cleanup of a spill, they say, by making it hard to get people and equipment to the scene. And the region lacks the sunlight and abundance of microbes that are helping break down the oil in the Gulf. A major spill could injure or kill whales, polar bears, seals, walruses and many types of fish.

Shell Oil, which plans to drill exploratory wells off Alaska, will have a response fleet constantly on hand with helicopters, boom, skimmers and other equipment for dealing with spills. "In the unlikely event of a discharge, they would be deployed and recovering oil within an hour," spokesman Curtis Smith said.

In the western U.S., companies are targeting what the Energy Department says are billions of barrels of recoverable oil trapped within deposits of shale rock, which is composed of layers of claylike, fine-grain sediments. Mining and processing shale oil are a big source of greenhouse gas emissions. Environmentalists also worry about the huge volumes of water and chemicals pumped deep underground at high pressures to break loose the shale.

Similar issues have arisen in the Canadian province of Alberta, where companies are extracting sticky black bitumen oil from mixtures of sand and clay known as tar sands — a process that consumes vast quantities of water in an arid climate.

In Nigeria, where major oil companies like Royal Dutch Shell and others explore the oil-rich Niger Delta, regulators ostensibly demand adherence to international standards. But enforcement is another matter in a country with a reputation for some of the worst corruption in the world.

Uneven environmental standards are a big concern in developing countries such as Nigeria, Angola and Kazakhstan — places where "a major spill would be an absolute nightmare to manage, politically and logistically," said Matthew Halle, a recruiting manager at the energy consulting firm NES Inc.

Environmentalists estimate as much as 550 million gallons of oil have poured into the Niger Delta and its surrounding waterways during 50 years of crude production. That is roughly comparable to one Exxon Valdez disaster per year.

The pitfalls of doing business with certain regimes were brought into sharp focus when questions were raised about whether BP tried to procure a $900 million exploration agreement with Libya by seeking the release of the man convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The 1988 attack killed 270 people. BP says it urged the British government to sign a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya but did not specify Abdel Baset al-Megrahi's case.

As the Gulf oil spill illustrated, even multinational oil companies with solid experience have their own shortcomings. In the U.S., it could be another year before a better cap-and-siphon containment system is developed to choke off underwater leaks. Experts have said the industry needs better technology and more thorough testing to prevent blowouts from happening in the first place.

Exxon Mobil's Lloyd Guillory, the senior project manager for the U.S. industry containment system initiative, said he is confident that enough attention is being paid to safety. "The starting point one has to understand is that prevention is the predominant focus — safe drilling operations and prevention," he said.

Plans for drilling off the Cuban coast have made many people uneasy in Florida, which depends heavily on tourism to drive its economy.

Jorge Pinon, an oil expert at Florida International University, said a Spanish company and others are expected to drill seven exploratory wells in Cuban waters. The first well — at a depth of 5,600 feet — is to be located 22 miles north of Havana and 65 miles south of Key West, he said. BP's ill-fated well was about 40 miles off Louisiana.

Because of the U.S. trade embargo, U.S. companies could be barred from assisting the Spanish company with equipment and other resources in the event of a blowout in Cuban waters.

Pinon said he was part of a recent delegation that met in Washington to discuss breaking down barriers so that the U.S. and Cuba can work together on prevention and response.

Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., said he worries about drilling off Cuba because of how long it took to stop BP's runaway well from gushing oil into the Gulf. Before it was over, some 200 million gallons of oil spewed from the well.

Just as governments around the world cooperate to keep air travel safe, "there has to be rules and regulations globally to protect our waters because we're all connected by water," Meek said.

___

Flesher reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writers Paul Haven in Havana, Jon Gambrell in Lagos, Nigeria, and Dina Cappiello in Washington contributed to this report.

Researcher to Release Web-based Android Attack (PC World)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 04:50 PM PDT

Robert McMillan Robert Mcmillan – Thu Nov 4, 7:50 pm ET

A computer security researcher says he plans to release code Thursday that could be used to attack some versions of Google's Android phones over the Internet.

The attack targets the browser in older, Android 2.1-and-earlier versions of the phones. It is being disclosed Thursday at the HouSecCon conference in Houston by M.J. Keith, a security researcher with Alert Logic. Keith says he has written code that allows him to run a simple command line shell in Android when the victim visits a website that contains his attack code.

The bug used in Keith's attack lies in the WebKit browser engine used by Android.

Google said it knows about the vulnerability. "We're aware of an issue in WebKit that could potentially impact only old versions of the Android browser," Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow confirmed in an e-mail. "The issue does not affect Android 2.2 or later versions."

Version 2.2 runs on 36.2 percent of Android phones, Google says. Older phones such as the G1 and HTC Droid Eris, which may not get the updated software, could be at risk from this attack. Android 2.2 is found on phones such as the Droid and the HTC EVO 4.

Because Android walls off different components of the operating system from each other, Keith's browser exploit does not give him full, root access to a hacked phone. But he can access anything that the browser can read.

That means that Keith's attack probably couldn't be used to read or send SMS messages or make calls, but it could snatch photographs from the phone or snoop on someone's browsing history. "You have full control of the SD [Secure Digital memory] card, so anything on the SD card is fair game," he said in an interview. "If they use their browser to access anything, you'd be able to get ahold of that stuff."

WebKit is open-source software that's used by the Safari and Chrome browsers, and many other products. The WebKit flaw that Keith exploits had already been publicly disclosed, but Keith has now leveraged it to attack Android.

Keith has submitted the attack to the Exploit Database website, but it had not been posted as of press time.

It's well understood by security professionals that there are many such unpatched bugs in mobile-phone components, but only lately have smartphones started to attract the kind of serious scrutiny that's already been focused on Windows operating systems and programs. That means that more of these issues are becoming a matter of public knowledge.

In 2008, security researcher Charlie Miller won a US$10,000 hacking contest, exploiting a bug in the PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions) library that ships with WebKit on the Mac. A few months later Miller demonstrated an Android attack that also leveraged the very same flaw. It had been patched in WebKit by that time, but not in Android's operating system, Miller said in an e-mail interview.

Last week, Coverity did a security audit of the source code of Android's Linux operating system kernel and found a lot of potential problems. In total, the analysis turned up 359 potential defects. About a quarter of them were high-risk defects that could lead to attacks similar to Keith's.

Keith's attack illustrates a bigger problem with Android's diverse ecosystem of phone makers and service providers. If the iPhone or BlackBerry needs a security fix, Apple or Research in Motion can push it out directly to their users. Not so with Android. Software updates for Google's smartphones come from device makers or network operators. And not all of them are planning to update their phones to the latest 2.2 release.

"Right now the problem with Android is that people don't patch immediately,' said Robert Graham, CEO of Errata Security.

He expects to see more WebKit-type attacks in the future.

Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is robert_mcmillan@idg.com

Is Your Business Compliant with Open Source Licenses? (PC World)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 04:30 PM PDT

Katherine Noyes Katherine Noyes – Thu Nov 4, 7:30 pm ET

There are many ways that vendors of proprietary products try to scare business customers away from open source software, and one of the more commonly heard examples involves vague fears about compliance with open source licenses. There's nothing like the specter of a good lawsuit to scare a company back into a paid vendor's welcoming arms.

Open source software such as Linux does involve licenses, it's true, but complying with those licenses should not impose any significant burden on the company using such software. Nor should it be a reason to use proprietary products instead.

Aiming to help quash such fear, uncertainty and doubt, and to help companies focus their compliance efforts, the Linux Foundation this week unveiled a free self-assessment checklist designed to reduce the cost and complexity involved for the increasing number of companies using Linux.

Open Compliance Program

The Linux Foundation actually runs a full-fledged compliance program aimed at easing the adoption of open source software, and it includes a variety of free tools and education materials, comprehensive professional training, an online compliance community for exchanging compliance best practices, and more.

Founding participants of the program include Adobe, AMD, ARM Limited, Cisco Systems, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Novell, Samsung, the Software Freedom Law Center and Sony Electronics.

The new checklist, meanwhile, is designed to provide a confidential internal tool that companies can use to assess their progress with a rigorous compliance process, and to prioritize their improvement efforts.

A process failure modes effects analysis (FMEA) approach, for example, identifies the ways a compliance attempt can fail, as well as practices that can help prevent that from happening. More than 100 practices are identified in the checklist, all focusing on what needs to be done.

The checklist can help companies prioritize process improvement efforts in the areas of greatest payoff. Plus, it can be used to assess a supplier's compliance practices and gauge the likely reliability of its open source disclosures. Based on practices found in industry-leading compliance programs, the tool will improve the effectiveness of such programs and deliver tangible benefit relative to the cost of those practices, the Linux Foundation says.

A Free Download

While it's not a guarantee of compliance, nor does it provide specific guidance on interpreting the GNU General Public License (GPL)--there are companies for hire that offer such assistance--the checklist does help companies make sure that they have the necessary policies, tools, and resources in place to comply with open source licenses.

"Compliance is essential if companies are to gain the maximum benefit from use of free and open source software while respecting license obligations," as the foundation points out.

How does your company measure up? Find out by downloading the Self-Assessment Checklist (registration required) and trying it out for yourself.

Follow Katherine Noyes on Twitter: @Noyesk.

Japan checking if China collision online video real (Reuters)

Posted: 04 Nov 2010 07:53 PM PDT

By Yoko Kubota Yoko Kubota – 1 hr 12 mins ago

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan on Friday was looking into whether online video clips that appeared to show a Chinese fishing boat colliding with Japanese patrol vessels were authentic, a development that could snarl efforts to mend ties.

Ties between Asia's two biggest economies have chilled since September, when Japan detained a Chinese skipper whose boat collided with its patrol ships near disputed isles in the East China Sea, the site of vast potential gas and oil reserves.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has faced heavy criticism domestically for freeing the captain and tensions remain high, clouding the prospects for bilateral talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao at a Nov 13-14 Asia-Pacific leadership summit.

Relations with Russia have also been snarled after President Dmitry Medvedev visited a disputed island north of Japan.

"We need to look into the authenticity of such clips," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told a news conference.

Japanese TV news programmes also aired the video clips, which showed a blue boat bearing a Chinese name colliding with two patrol boats as sirens blared and Japanese crew shouted "halt."

"Generally speaking, if documents in a criminal suit have been released on YouTube and to the public, then that is a ... grave situation for investigation authorities," he added.

Japanese prosecutors released the captain but are still technically investigating whether to charge him.

Sengoku said China had inquired about the videos through a diplomatic route, and added that he hoped Kan and Hu would meet bilaterally at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Yokohama, near Tokyo, next weekend.

REGIONAL TENSIONS

The government had released the video for viewing by a small number of lawmakers but refused to make it public for fear of inflaming bilateral tensions.

Tokyo, Washington and Southeast Asian nations have grown increasingly wary of a rising China's intentions as it spends heavily to modernize its military, sends its navy further afield and asserts sovereignty over the contested South China Sea.

Beijing sought this week to address those concerns.

Noting that China's ties with its Asian neighbors were undergoing a "historic shift," Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue told the official Xinhua news agency on Thursday:

"China's overall national strength is rising rapidly, and this is making an important contribution to promoting Asia's peace and prosperity, global economic growth, and reform of the international financial system."

Beijing has staunchly asserted its sovereignty over the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, and stressed that the video would not alter its stance in the feud.

"It was illegal for the Japanese coast guard vessels to interfere with, chase, block, surround and seize the Chinese fishing boat in the seas off the Diaoyu islands," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said on Tuesday.

"The so-called video cannot alter the truth of the matter, and cannot disguise the illegality of the Japanese actions."

Kan met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for a brief, informal chat an Asian summit in Hanoi last week in a bid to defuse the territorial dispute, after expectations of a formal meeting were dashed with China blaming Japan for "damaging the atmosphere."

(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg and Chris Buckley; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
di 9:22 PTG

Tiada ulasan:

Catat Ulasan

Langgan: Catat Ulasan (Atom)

My Blog List