NewsFactor Network

Google Buzz Aims To Social-Network Gmail Users

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:18:05 -0500

Google has watched more or less on the sidelines as social-networking sites -- most notably Facebook and Twitter -- have captured the public's attention. Facebook, especially, has become more than a destination web site. It has become a user-centric world where users communicate via status updates, third-party applications, and shared groups.

While Google has made various attempts to gain traction in the social web, nothing has really worked. So on Tuesday, Google gave notice that it's serious about the social web with its announcement of Google Buzz -- a new feature of its Gmail web-based e-mail system.

Rather than simply adding status updates to Gmail, Google is pouring on the social-networking juice in an attempt to exploit the growing user base of Gmail.

Gmail: Social Network

"Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It's built right into Gmail, so you don't have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch -- it just works," product manager Todd Jackson wrote in an announcement blog post.

Buzz will take advantage of the social network inherent in e-mail by "automatically setting you up to follow the people you e-mail and chat with the most," Jackson said.

How will this impact Facebook and Twitter? Not too much, said Ben Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies, in an e-mail. "It really boils down to Google attempting to get folks to spend more time with their assets," he said. "Time will tell how this works out, but I don't really see this as a threat to Facebook or Twitter, given that neither of those services has been cannibalized by each other."

Buzz is intended to be an "easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don't have...

Intel Launches Quad-Core Itanium 9300 Series Processor

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:51:06 -0500

It may be late, but Intel has launched a new Itanium processor that is expected to double the performance of its predecessor. After two delays, Intel on Monday launched the Itanium 9300 series, a quad-core processor code-named Tukwila.

The chip, a 64-bit processor designed for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems, was slated to be released in early 2009, but Intel delayed the release, saying only that it was undergoing application scalability enhancements. A second delay was announced in May.

Intel may have taken more time than expected, but it said companies, especially Hewlett-Packard, which helped develop the architecture, will benefit from enhancements.

The boost in processing power is what Global 100 companies are seeking, according to Intel. Currently, the Itanium platform is running mission-critical applications for 80 percent of Global 100 businesses. The processor offers 800 percent more system interconnect bandwidth, up to a 500 percent increase in memory bandwidth, and up to 700 percent more memory capacity.

Better Late Than Never

Microsoft, Red Hat, Novell and others praised Intel's new processor.

"Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 support the Itanium architecture," said Ted Kummert, senior vice president of Microsoft's Business Platform Division. "Together with the new features in the Intel Itanium processor 9300 series, Microsoft will provide a platform for businesses to run their mission-critical transaction processing, data warehousing, and business intelligence applications with high levels of reliability and scalability."

Powerful servers will be needed because there will be a 650 percent increase in IT data processing over the next five years, according to a recent Gartner report.

The French Family Allowance Service said it will be able to consolidate multiple data centers into one because of the Itanium 9300's additional throughput and performance.

The processor also handles error corrections across a company's hardware, firmware and operating systems. It improves system...

iPhone OS and Android Gain Market Share in Q4

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:10:43 -0500

Among the 234 million cell-phone users over age 13 in the U.S. in the fourth quarter, Motorola-manufactured hardware dominated the market of all mobile users, according to a comScore survey released Monday. Among operating systems, Research In Motion had the largest smartphone market share.

The survey showed only a slight loss by the two industry leaders from the period ending in September, a 1.4 percent drop for Motorola to 23.4 percent, and a one percent slip by RIM to 41.6 percent.

But the real OS action was with Apple's iPhone operating system and Google's Android OS, which both had slight gains. The iPhone OS rose 1.2 percent, from 24.1 percent of the market to 25.3 percent. Android had a bigger gain of 2.7 percent, from 2.5 in September to 5.2 percent in December, although its share was still the lowest. The survey does not take into account any gains from the Nexus One handset launched by Google in January and sold unlocked from its online store.

Apple's second-place status is impressive since its OS is only available on the iPhone.

Not Necessarily a Trend

The numbers, while interesting, say little at a time of such fluctuation in the smartphone industry, said J.D. Power and Associates senior telecommunications analyst Kirk Parsons.

"One point in time does not make a trend," Parsons said. "RIM is coming out with a couple of their own launches in early spring or summer, so I guess the market-share numbers will rise and fall with the rollout of new devices. I do expect Android to increase its share in 2010 at the expense of Palm, just given the size and scope of Android-based devices set to launch this year."

The second-place hardware ranking went to LG Electronics in the OEM market, with 21.7 percent, followed by Samsung with 20.4 percent, Nokia with 9.6 percent,...

Nvidia Auto-Switches Notebook GPU To Save Battery Life

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:28:05 -0500

Nvidia took the wraps off a new notebook technology Tuesday that chooses the best graphics processor for running any given application and then automatically routes the workload to either a Nvidia discrete graphics processor unit (GPU) or an integrated graphics processor (IGP) offering from Intel. Called Optimus, the technology will soon be available on several next-generation ASUS notebook PCs, Nvidia said.

Optimus enables notebook workloads to become instantly directed through the most efficient graphics processor engine for the job, said Sasha Ostojic, Nvidia's senior director of notebook software. "Consumers no longer have to choose whether they want great graphics performance or sustained battery life," Ostojic wrote in a blog. "Optimus gives them both."

Decreasing Power Consumption

With Optimus, Nvidia's goal is to enable consumers to obtain optimal battery performance when watching a HD movie, surfing the web, or playing 3-D games -- all without having to manually change graphics settings. Ostojic also pointed out that whenever the notebook's discrete GPU isn't in use, it automatically powers off. "It powers back on as soon as an application is launched that requires it," Ostojic added.

Nvidia claims the technology can extend notebook battery life by up to two times in comparison with similarly configured systems equipped with discrete graphics processors without sacrificing graphics performance. Still, it's difficult to say right now whether Optimus is a significant industry development, said Matthew Wilkins, a principal analyst at iSuppli.

"I haven't seen any benchmarks on battery savings when using laptops with this technology," Wilkins said. "Semiconductor suppliers are continually looking for ways to increase performance and yet decrease power consumption."

Though Nvidia is currently focusing on the deployment of Optimus in laptops, it's also possible that the technology will eventually become available in other types of computing devices, according to company spokesperson Brian Burke. "We...

Macworld Focuses on Mobile Apps as Apple Stays Away

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:56:34 -0500

The 2010 rendition of the Macworld Expo kicked off in San Francisco today, although this time without a major Apple presence. The annual five-day event will showcase hundreds of Mac products and services, expert advice, and demonstrations -- but this year mobile apps may steal the show.

According to expo organizers, Macworld 2010 is hosting the largest viewing of applications for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. Attendees can test-drive more than 100 of the hottest apps from companies like TomTom, Tap 11, and BeeJive.

Apple Launches Aperture 3

Although Apple won't be exhibiting at Macworld 2010, the company released a major product update in time to leverage the expo buzz. This announcement comes, in addition of course, to Apple's recent iPad launch, which has been generating buzz for several weeks now.

Today's announcement focuses on Aperture 3, the latest version of Apple's photo-editing and management software. Apple said the new version has more than 200 new features, including Faces, Places and Brushes.

The Faces feature uses face detection and recognition to find and organize photos by the people in them. Consumers can view faces across an entire photo library or just the faces that appear in selected projects. Aperture 3 also displays faces that have been detected but not yet named.

The Places capability lets users explore photos based on where they were taken, and like iPhoto, Places automatically reverse-geocodes GPS data into user-friendly locations. In Aperture 3, consumers can assign locations by dragging and dropping photos onto a map or by using location information from GPS-enabled cameras, tracking devices, or iPhone photos.

Aperture 3 also includes new tools to refine photos, including brushes for painting image adjustments onto parts of a photo and adjustment presets for applying professional photo effects with a single click. A new slideshow function lets consumers share their...

Microsoft Says Battery Woes Not Caused By Windows 7

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:58:09 -0500

Battery problems on Windows 7 machines are not caused by the operating system. That's the position of Stephen Sinofsky, head of the Windows division, in a long posting Monday on the Windows engineering blog.

"At this time," he wrote, "we have no reason to believe there is any issue related to Windows 7 in this context." He acknowledged reports in the press and in forums about faulty battery warnings and batteries failing. "In every case we have been able to identify," Sinofsky added, "the battery being reported on was in fact in need of recommended replacement."

'Accurately Detected a Failing Battery'

Sinofsky said that the company has been contacting customers who report issues in forums, monitoring customer-service communications, keeping in touch with PC makers, and utilizing opt-in, anonymous "telemetry in Windows 7" to keep track of the situation. In all cases investigated, he wrote, "Windows 7 has simply accurately detected a failing battery."

One factor Sinofsky emphasized is that there is a new battery notification in Windows 7 not available in Vista or Windows XP. The notification, with a battery meter icon and the message "Consider replacing your battery," appears when the battery is performing at 40 percent of its designated capacity. He noted that some customers upgrading a PC to Windows 7 did not know the battery was degrading until 7 offered this new level of notification.

He pointed out that PC batteries, through the hardware and the BIOS firmware, offer several read-only fields of information about the battery, including manufacturer, serial number, design capacity, and last full charge capacity. Sinofsky added that this information "is read-only and there is no way for Windows 7 or any other OS to write, set or configure battery status information."

'The Answer Is RIGHT THERE!'

But user complaints continue to populate the Microsoft support forum, where the issue has...

Google's Nexus One 'Support' Mostly Passes the Buck

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:29:27 -0500

Need support for Google's Nexus One smartphone? You can finally call Google directly -- but you might not get all the answers you're looking for.

A month after launching its so-called "superphone," Google on Monday began offering a dedicated phone support line for Nexus One customers. Consumers can call 888-48NEXUS from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. PST to speak with a live support operator, but they may get directed elsewhere.

Google is giving directions on four types of questions via the old-fashioned telephone: Existing order status and shipping queries, technical support, repair and return issues, and T-Mobile service issues.

Customers seeking order status and shipping times need to have their 15-digit order number in hand and Google will dig up the information. However, Google is pointing customers in need of technical support or repairs and returns to phone maker HTC. And customers who have questions about their wireless service are being ushered to T-Mobile. So actually, the only service Google is providing is for status and shipping updates.

Customer Complaints Continue

Google is moving to address the negative publicity around its smartphone. Shortly after launch, customers began complaining about spotty reception and early cancellation fees. After hundreds of complaints on its forum, Google said it was aware of the issues that it said affected a small number of users and planned to fix the problem.

Google later came out with a fix and has lowered early termination fees from $350 to $150. But the memories remain and the complaints about lack of support continued. Google sells the Nexus One via an online store that, until Monday, only offered support through customer forums.

Those forums are still up and running and still show problems ranging from spotty 3G coverage to touchscreen problems to missing audio on Bluetooth pairing to camera problems. The list goes on...

Analysts See iPad Price Drop, with Some Cannibalization

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:27:43 -0500

Just weeks before Apple officially rolls out the iPad, financial analysts are making pricing predictions. But could the analysis itself hinder the initial demand for the pricey tablet computer?

The much-anticipated iPad is priced at $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB model, and $699 for the 64GB model -- all available in March. The 3G models won't be available until April and will sell for $629 for the 16GB model, $729 for the 32GB model and $829 for the 64GB model.

Credit Suisse analysts said Apple will stay "nimble" with its pricing strategy and may even discount the devices if customers aren't buying. Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, sees irony in the reports: The comments could actually cause the result.

The Pricing Graveyard

"We certainly saw people rush out initially and buy the iPhone. When the demand dropped off after the first couple of weeks, Apple dropped the price sharply," Enderle said. "Of course, the iPhone over time has gone from about $600 to around $200, which is a fairly substantial drop in price."

Enderle predicts the iPad will go through a similar price drop, but adds that the coverage of Apple's willingness to stay nimble may actually slow initial sales -- especially among consumers who feel burned by buying the first iPhone too quickly.

"The $600 price range has been a graveyard for products, starting with the original iPod, which had to drop its price point very rapidly, all the way to the Sony PS3, which also died at that price point," Enderle said. "I expect they will drop out of that price area fairly quickly."

The Cannibalization Question

Will the iPad cannibalize Apple's other product lines? In a publicized note, Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope indicated cannibalization is not as large a concern as some may believe because there is...

Top Tips for More Windows 7 Productivity

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:57:16 -0500

Speed, stability, compatibility -- these are the headline features for which Windows 7 has been praised. But Microsoft has also stuffed Windows 7 full of little productivity-enhancing features that few are aware of. Here's a rundown of some of the niftiest.

Access Projector Mode

Work in an office, and sooner or later you're going to need to hook your PC up to a projector. When you do this with older versions of Windows, you invariably end up in the Display Properties dialog box or hunting for key combinations on your notebook computer that allow you send an image to a projector, to your notebook screen, or both. With Windows 7's new Projector Mode, you'll have one less thing to worry about when you head to the conference room.

Just hold down the Windows key and tap the letter P on your keyboard. The Projector Mode window appears, allowing you to make a simple selection about where your monitor image should be projected. Just keep tapping Windows key-P to scroll through the options. Press Enter to activate the one currently selected.

Find the Application You Want

If you regularly end up with dozens of applications open at the same time, finding the one you want can be a real hassle. Say, for example, that you have five Windows Explorer sessions open, three copies of Word, nine Internet Explorer windows, and several instances of your image browser.

How can you get back quickly to the one open application you need? The traditional way is with the Alt-Tab keyboard shortcut, but cycling through dozens of open applications is neither easy nor productive. With Windows 7, you can hold down the Ctrl key and click the taskbar icon representing the open application you want to see. If you have several instances of the application open, each time you click the...

Faster and Greener? Go Online and Save the Planet

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:02:42 -0500

This should make netizens feel better about themselves: being online and saving the environment can go hand in hand.

For example, shopping online, instead of traveling to the stores by car, means cutting back on gas consumption and associated emissions.

But there is a downside. Many online surfers are unaware of the enormous energy consumption that goes with running the Internet. Still, even though end users aren't the biggest consumers, they can still do a lot to keep energy consumption under control and even save a little money for good measure.

Online service providers run the computing centers that serve as the "hotspots of energy consumption," says Siegfried Behrendt of the IZT Institute for Future Studies and Technology Assessment in Berlin. About half the energy consumed goes just to cooling the centers. After all, a room full of mainframe computers needed to run these systems gives off incredible amounts of heat.

On top of that comes the energy consumption of normal consumers. "Altogether, that means that all information and communications technology devices in Germany had a consumption of 55 terawatt hours in 2007," says Behrendt. "That equals 10 per cent of all power consumption."

That also means carbon dioxide emissions linked to computer use rival those associated with the domestic German air travel market. "That is considerable and has some serious climate politics repercussions."

That doesn't make the Internet bad. It's still a good thing. But private users can become a part of the problem if they just surf without a goal, clicking randomly. Every Google search consumes energy, reports the UBA, a German environmental group -- perhaps not much individually, but it adds up.

Experts recommend targeted use of search engines for quicker access to desired information. "It's also a question of time use," says Behrendt.

There is no shortage of intelligent ways to put those computing...

New Zealand Student Auctions Virginity for Tuition

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:04:16 -0500

A New Zealand teenager who says she auctioned her virginity online for $32,000 to raise tuition money did not break any laws but it might be risky for her to follow through on the deal, police warned Wednesday.

The anonymous 19-year-old student offered her virginity to the highest bidder on the Web site http://www.ineed.co.nz under the name "Unigirl," saying she would use the money to pay for her tuition. She said in a post that more than 30,000 people had viewed her ad and more than 1,200 had made bids before she accepted an offer of more than New Zealand dollars 45,000 ($32,000).

Unlike similar New Zealand Web sites, bidding and correspondence between buyers and sellers on the ineed site is private so it is not known what bids Unigirl's offer received.

Web site owner Ross McKenzie said the site's policy was that as long as an ad was legal and did not offend the general standards of society, "it was OK." He confirmed Unigirl was a member on the site.

Prostitution is legal in New Zealand under laws considered more liberal than many countries. Prostitution among consenting adults is allowed in brothels and on the streets, and offering sexual services in print ads and online is also legal.

National police spokesman Jon Neilson said no law appeared to have been breached.

But "we would suggest it's not a safe practice," Neilson told The Associated Press. "There are definitely issues of personal safety" in using chat rooms, social dating networks and other Internet sites that can be used to arrange meetings between strangers.

Unigirl, in her initial post, described herself as attractive, fit and healthy. She did not post a photograph of herself, and bidders did not appear to have a way of confirming any of the details of her posts.

Unigirl said she was desperate for money...

Super Bowl Ads Go for Laughs Amid Product Spotlight

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:05:07 -0500

Betty White plays football, babies talk about "milkaholics" and a house made of Bud Light cans falls slowly apart.

It must be the Super Bowl -- or at least the advertising showcase that entertains amid the gridiron action.

Not every commercial was strictly humorous. Automaker Toyota aired several ads before and after the game to reassure worried owners after its recalls connected with accelerator problems.

A hotly anticipated commercial by conservative Christian group Focus on the Family hinted at a serious subject, although even it had a surprise punchline.

Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother talk about her difficult pregnancy with him -- implying an anti-abortion message, because she had been advised to end the pregnancy for medical reasons. But the ad ended with Tebow tackling his mom and saying the family must be "tough."

Amid the laughs Sunday night on CBS, advertisers such as Anheuser-Busch and Coca-Cola also put the focus on their products, Villanova marketing Professor Charles R. Taylor said. That marks a turn from ads that were heavy on entertainment but light on salesmanship.

Taylor said he had been disappointed for at least the past five Super Bowls in the effectiveness of ads in connecting with products. Advertisers pay dearly for the airtime -- from $2.5 million to more than $3 million per 30 seconds -- and marketers say ads work best when they sell the product, as well as entertain.

He cited a commercial by tiremaker Bridgestone featuring men carrying a whale in the back of their truck, and another by Dove launching its new men's skin-care line. They were winners, he said, because they manage to entertain while telling people about the brands. The ad for Dove tells the story of boy growing into a man and the signal events in a man's life.

"So far from what I've seen I'm...

Microsoft: Russian Pirates Keep Scamming Us

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:05:51 -0500

One-quarter of Russian software outlets sell bootleg Microsoft programs, the company said Monday as it published the results of a survey intended to elbow authorities into taking more action.

Russia is a notoriously lucrative market for unlicensed software, movies and music -- a persistent issue in Moscow's stalled accession to the World Trade Organization.

Microsoft checked 2,500 retailers in 53 Russian cities over the last few months and found 25 percent offered illegally copied software, while 11 percent of stores offered to install the unlicensed programs onto clients' computers.

Microsoft provided evidence for nearly 1,000 prosecutions across Russia over 2009. Central Siberia and the Far East it deemed the worst offenders. Up to 71 percent of retail outlets in those regions vended illicit software, Microsoft said.

Moscow recorded 27 percent.

Microsoft said it was an improvement and praised authorities for what they have done so far.

"A few years ago most computer stores in some form or other offered pirate software," said Denis Guz, head of the company's department that promotes the sale of licensed software, in emailed comments. "Now, as we see, there are significantly fewer sales points of that kind ... and now the majority of retailers offer only licensed programs."

Stiffer penalties and stricter enforcement have rendered the massive illegal markets that sprouted up during the chaotic 1990s transitional economy a thing of the past. But nook-and-cranny peddlers remain popular and trade openly, suppressing market prices for their legitimate competitors.

Russian authorities have sought to make examples of violators. The 2007 conviction of a high-school teacher who was found guilty of using bootleg Microsoft software in classroom machines garnered huge coverage in the state-controlled media. Alexander Ponosov from a Urals Mountains school was fined $190.