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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

BET Awards App Wields Fun Social Gaming Mechanics [VIDEO]

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[More from Mashable: 5 Free iPhone Gardening Apps for Your Green Thumb]

The 12th Annual BET Awards ceremony airs July 1, and fans and celebrities are already preparing for the broadcast with the show’s first-ever mobile app. The app for Android and iPhone was released this month and features gaming elements tied to voting for the show’s nominees and predicting the order of performers.

[More from Mashable: 7 Apps You Don’t Want to Miss]

One game lets users vote with the slide of a finger, by shooting disks into a moving goal. The more disks a user makes in 15 seconds, the more votes he or she will tally for a specific nominee. The high scorers for each nominee will have their Twitter avatars and handles featured in the game's top-left corner for all users to see.

"Our audience really loves the prospect of being famous, so that's a theme we think about a lot when we develop new products," Brandon Lucas, BET’s VP of mobile, told Mashable ahead of the app's launch.

The Line-Up, is a fantasy sports-style game. Users can predict the order of the award show’s performers, compare their lists with friends and celebrities as well as look at it during the broadcast to see if they've won any prizes. Both games allow players to share their scores and line-ups to Facebook and Twitter.

The app also includes a clickable timeline of every BET Awards, videos of memorable moments, in-depth artist profiles and curated tweets.

"Our main goals in doing this app were to deepen our viewers’ connection to the show and to give them more reasons to tune into the live broadcast," Lucas says.

SEE ALSO: App Lets Rappers Record Songs, Put Them Up for Public Vote

The Black Entertainment Television Awards honors African-Americans in music, movies and sports.

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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A battle for Internet freedom as UN meeting nears

WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after the Internet helped fuel the Arab Spring uprisings, the role cyberspace plays in launching revolutions is being threatened by proposed changes to a United Nations telecommunications treaty that could allow countries to clamp down on the free flow of information.

For months, dozens of countries have been meeting behind closed doors to debate changes to the 24-year-old treaty. The U.S. delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications to be held in Dubai this December has vowed to block any proposals that could permit online censorship or undercut the Internet's current governing structure.

Yet those assurances have failed to ease fears that bureaucratic tinkering with the treaty could imperil Internet freedom and diminish its role in economic growth, according to legal experts and civil liberties advocates who have been tracking the discussions.

Russia, for example, has proposed language that requires member states to ensure the public has unrestricted access and use of international telecommunication services, "except in cases where international telecommunication services are used for the purpose of interfering in the internal affairs or undermining the sovereignty, national security, territorial integrity and public safety of other states, or to divulge information of a sensitive nature," according to a May 3 U.N. document that details the various proposals for amending the treaty.

The wording of this provision could allow a country to cite a U.N. treaty as the basis for repressing political opposition. The provision also appears to contradict Article 19 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says people shall have the right to access information "through any media and regardless of frontiers."

A senior U.N. official said Friday the amended treaty will not create any barriers to information online, but acknowledged that the Russian proposal has not yet been rejected. Any proposals that cannot be agreed to by all member states will not be included in the final document, said Hamadoun Toure, secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union, the U.N. agency that oversees the treaty.

An amended treaty would be binding on the United States if it is ratified by the Senate. But approval is not automatic. The treaty, known formally as the International Telecommunications Regulations, is sure to be scrutinized by lawmakers wary of its potential impact.

The ITU does not operate like the U.N. Security Council, where the United States has the power to veto resolutions to which it objects. The ITU works on a consensus basis. Proposals can be stopped from serious consideration if enough countries voice their objections. More than 190 nations will attend the Dubai conference and the U.S. delegation is seeking support for its positions at the preparatory meetings that will continue until the conference convenes.

"It is important that when we have values, as we do in the area of free speech and the free flow of information, that we do everything that we can to articulate and sustain those values," Philip Verveer, deputy assistant secretary of state and U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy, said in an interview.

The drafting and debating of proposals in preparation for the Dubai conference have taken place largely in secret. Public interest groups have criticized the process and said it runs counter to development of sound public policy. In response to calls for transparency, two research fellows at George Mason University's Mercatus Center launched the website WCITLeaks.org earlier this month as a way to make leaked documents available publicly.

The secretive nature of the talks has sparked rumors the U.N. is plotting to take control of the Internet. Toure has called the takeover rumors "ridiculous."

Independent, nongovernmental organizations including the Internet Society, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and the Worldwide Web Consortium have for years served as the Internet's governing bodies. They handle core tasks like network and domain name administration and establish Internet policies, standards and rules based on input from the public and private sectors. This system allows the Internet to evolve organically and react rapidly to changes in technology, business practices and consumer behavior, according to open Internet advocates.

Yet for countries still grappling with how communications have been transformed by the Internet, ITU and the treaty are viewed as the best avenues for plugging themselves into the global information economy. For developing nations that don't have an effective broadband infrastructure, bureaucratic and regulatory measures can allow them to benefit financially from the Internet traffic that electronically crosses their borders.

But treaties are static instruments that often are unable to adapt and adjust to the fast pace of Internet innovation, said Sally Shipman Wentworth, senior manager for public policy at the nonprofit Internet Society. "Further, we do not believe that we should simply take the 1988 regulatory model that applied to the old telephone system and apply it to the Internet," she said.

A proposal offered by a European association of telecommunications network operators would put pressure on content providers such as Google, Facebook and Netflix to offset the costs of delivering Internet traffic to end-users. That traffic increasingly includes bandwidth-hungry video, and the proposal from the European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association essentially argues that the investment needed to expand and improve data delivery should be borne by the operators and the content providers.

Verveer called the proposal unworkable and said it would have unintended consequences, such as blocking Harvard, MIT and other universities from putting courses online at no cost to users in places where access to education is already limited. "If it became necessary to pay in order to make these courses available, they would predictably become less available, which would be very unfortunate," he said.

Even what appear to be minor alterations to the treaty can have far-reaching consequences. A coalition of Arab states has proposed expanding the treaty's definition of telecommunications by adding the word "processing." The change, if made, would expand the treaty's reach and "essentially swallow the Internet's functions with only a tiny edit to existing rules," Robert McDowell, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, said late last month at a congressional hearing.

___

Online:

International Telecommunication Union: http://www.itu.int/en/Pages/default.asp

WCITLeaks: http://wcitleaks.org


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New York City's Getting a Tech Upgrade

New York City is looking to double down on its status as a technology-first metropolis as city officials announced this week five new initiatives with the goal of expanding New York's booming tech sector.

The initiatives, introduced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and developed in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, include a variety of plans to further develop broadband access and incorporate technology into the City's public policy:

[More from Mashable: Judge Dismisses Apple vs. Google Smartphone Patent Case]

1. ConnectNYC: Small and medium-sized companies in buildings with poor broadband wiring will compete with one another to win free "fast-track wiring" from the City. The competitions will be based on need -- those businesses that can prove they need faster, more reliable broadband connectivity in order to keep growing will get fast-tracked. The City is ironing out a partnership with Time Warner Cable to do the actual wiring.

2. WiredNYC: A building certification program that will grade and record broadband infrastructure in more than 300 office buildings over the next two years, which the city believes will make the commercial real estate market more transparent. You can think of it as the city's restaurant health grading system for high-speed enterprise broadband.

[More from Mashable: Insane Electric Superbus Goes 150MPH in Exquisite Luxury [VIDEO]]

3. NYC Broadband Connect Map: The City will collect data from various sources to develop a "crowd-sourced, dynamic map" that will show the availability and speed of broadband throughout the five boroughs. The idea? To clearly show Internet providers where the demand for better services exists.

4. Broadband Express: The City will reduce "regulatory hurdles" (read: bureaucratic red tape) to make life easier for Internet Service Providers seeking permits for street operations and other expansion projects. The City believes the program could "facilitate nearly 25,000 broadband-related permits" over the next two years.

5. CitizenConnect: A public-private partnership to spur mobile app developers to create new software to help New Yorkers access job listings and other "worker support programs" by setting up development competitions. Many of those services are already available online, but the City believes that mobile apps will increase their use as mobile devices have "much higher penetration" in New York City than other Internet-capable devices, such as computers at public libraries.

SEE ALSO: New York City Now Fastest-Growing Tech Hub [INFOGRAPHIC]

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg framed the five initiatives in terms of economic development.

“The growing technology industry is diversifying the City’s economy and creating the jobs of the future,” said Mayor Bloomberg in a press release.

“To support those jobs, we need to help the industry get the resources it needs – whether that means more qualified engineers or broadband connections. But encouraging investment in broadband will help more than just the tech sector – it will make sure more businesses and more New Yorkers can get connected.”

Rachel Sterne, the City's chief digital officer, told Mashable that New York City has been working closely with leaders in other cities to share ideas on integrating technology into public policy.

"I think it's a testament to the enormous momentum in the technology sector here that many cities do look to New York City for guidance," said Sterne.

"We find that the exchange of ideas is always very helpful. We've realized we have a shared goal of realizing our digital potential. We've shared our lessons learned and our plans - access to technology, bridging the digital divide, opening up data sets, education measures such as Cornell NYCTech as well as how we use digital media to engage with the public."

How else can technology change cities? Share your ideas in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Nikada

This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Sony, Panasonic to cooperate on OLED televisions

TOKYO (Reuters) - Rival Japanese television makers Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp said Monday they will cooperate to make OLED (organic light emitting diode) sets as they battle Korean rivals Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics for pole position in the next-generation TV market.

The race to garner a lead in OLED, widely touted as the successor to liquid-crystal displays, will depend on which company is able to mass produce screens at a price that will attract consumers to the new technology.

Sony and Panasonic said in a statement they will develop technologies to fabricate the screens and aim to establish a mass-production process in 2013.

Both Samsung and LG Electronics have displayed 55-inch OLED prototypes, with the sets expected to go on sale this year at a rumored price tag of as much as $10,000, or about four times the cost of an equivalent LCD model.

An executive at LG Display, a flat-screen maker 38 percent owned by LG Electronics, told Reuters earlier an internal study indicated consumers would start buying OLED TVs once the price falls to 1.3 to 1.4 times that of an LCD set.

Shipments of OLED TVs may reach 2.1 million sets in 2015 from just 34,000 this year, according to research firm IHS Inc.

Hammered by their Korean competitors in LCD TVs, Sony and Panasonic stand a better chance of competing in the next generation market by combining their OLED technologies and development budgets. Losses on TVs at Sony have mounted to around $12 billion in the past decade.

Sony pioneered OLED technology, which boast sharper images and do not need backlighting, selling the world's first OLED TV in 2007. It halted production of the $2,000 screens three years later amid the post-Lehman global downturn. Sony still makes OLED screens costing as much as $26,000 for high-end customers.

Panasonic plans to invest about 30 billion yen ($373 million) in its Himeji plant in western Japan for a test production line of OLED panels, an industry source told Reuters last month.

Shares in Sony, which makes Bravia TVs, and Panasonic, which sells TVs under the Viera brand, fell in Tokyo on Monday. Sony dipped 2.4 percent with Panasonic down 0.6 percent.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Matt Driskill)


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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Samsung sees higher Q2 handset earnings; U.S. supply crunch to ease

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co expects sales of its new Galaxy S III, launched at the end of last month as a main rival to Apple's iPhone, to top 10 million during July, making it the South Korean group's fastest selling smartphone.

It also predicted earnings from its handset division would be higher in the current second quarter than in January-March, countering market concerns that tight supplies of the new Galaxy model and the weak global economy would pressure earnings at Asia's most valuable technology firm.

Shares in Samsung dropped 4.2 percent on Monday to a four-and-a-half month low, after more brokers cut their quarterly profit outlook, citing concerns over its chip and telecoms businesses. The benchmark KOSPI stock index was down 1.2 percent.

"The overall market condition was challenging due to euro zone issues and tight supply of components ... but (our) second-quarter results will be better than the first quarter," JK Shin, head of Samsung's mobile division, told reporters.

Profit from Samsung's mobile division nearly trebled in January-March to $3.6 billion, accounting for 73 percent of group operating profit.

"Looking beyond its current weakness in the chip sector, it appears investors are also worried that global macroeconomic woes may eat into handset sales in the second half," said Han Seung-hoon, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities.

OUT OF STOCK

Samsung kicked off global sales of its Galaxy S III on May 29, but shipments have been affected by the tight supply of parts such as the handset casing for the pebble-blue model.

In the United States, where sales were launched last Thursday, major carriers including Sprint Nextel Corp, T-Mobile and AT&T have not been able to offer the Galaxy with 32 gigabytes of memory, partly due to tight supply.

"Due to overwhelming demand for the Galaxy S III worldwide, Samsung has informed us they will not be able to deliver enough inventory of Galaxy S III for Sprint to begin selling the device on June 21. We are working closely with Samsung on a delivery schedule to support our launch," Sprint said on its web site. It has yet to start shipping pre-orders for the 32 GB version.

"We're getting far better reviews on S III than we did with its predecessors globally ... and supply simply can't meet soaring demand. We've sent executives and staff to almost all our (component) suppliers to ensure a smooth offering and hopefully things will get better from next week," Shin said.

Samsung launched its first Galaxy model two years ago in a rush to counter Apple's iPhone success. Then, Samsung's smartphone market share was below 10 percent. It has since overtaken Apple, and the company said in late April that new Galaxy smartphones would "substantially contribute" to second-quarter results.

Analysts have downgraded estimates for Samsung's second-quarter smartphone shipments in recent weeks, predicting that sales of the latest Galaxy model have triggered a steeper than expected drop-off in sales of earlier products. They also cited tight supply of the S III model and growing competition from low-end manufacturers such as Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp.

Shin said Samsung was also doing well in the low-end segment of the smartphone market.

JPMorgan cut its forecast for Samsung's second-quarter smartphone shipments by a tenth to 50 million units.

Samsung sold 44.5 million smartphones in January-March - equal to nearly 21,000 every hour - giving it 30.6 percent market share. Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones, taking 24.1 percent market share.

(Additional reporting by Joonhee Yu; Editing by Richard Pullin and Ian Geoghegan)


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Galaxy S III sales to hit 10 million next month

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. expects worldwide sales of the latest Galaxy smartphone to surpass 10 million in July.

Samsung's mobile business president Shin Jong-kyun said on Monday that the Galaxy S III will reach the milestone two months after its launch.

The estimate reflects robust demands from mobile operators. Unlike Apple Inc., Samsung does not disclose sales figures to consumers.

The Korean company says the S III will be released by nearly 300 mobile carriers around the world by the end of July.

Samsung overtook Nokia as the world's biggest mobile-phone maker in 2011 and competes with Apple for the top smartphone maker position. It aims to double its smartphone sales this year to nearly 200 million phones.


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Neuroshima Hex tops Android Games of the Week

This was another wonderfully varied week of releases. There is something for everyone in this excellent line-up of very different titles, from board games to physics puzzlers, from stylish platformers to quirky endless runners. Topping off this list is the fantastic strategic game of Neuroshima Hex. We’ve also got the latest from Kairosoft, Noodlecake Studios, and even a rather uncharacteristically cool game from MTV Networks. What are you waiting for? Dive right in! Here are this week’s top Android games.

Well, here is an unusual choice to top off this list. Neuroshima Hex, from Big Daddy’s Creations, is simply the digital version of the tactical board game of the same name. It’s been on iOS for a while now, and it’s finally been released for Android. The game is played with hexagonal tiles on a hexagonal board, and it involves strategically battling things out with up to four other players between four different armies. This game oozes style, and is one of the coolest strategy games around. Definitely don’t judge this game before you play it, even if board games aren’t your thing. At least check out the lite version first.

This adorable little physics puzzler is the latest to be ported to Android via Noodlecake Studios and their “Game a Week Project.” The foozles are simply fuzzy little creatures who can take the shape of a circle or a square – a change which you affect with a simple tap. All you have to do is get all the meanie red foozles off the screen while making sure that all the yellow ones survive. You do this through rolling and using the environment to your advantage, and good timing is key. The art style and other aesthetics are chock-full of whimsy, and there’s no reason not to give this one a shot.

This is a fascinating and stylistic new platformer, brought to us (shockingly) by MTV Networks of all places. You play as Oscura, and your duty is to protect a very important lighthouse which keeps dark forces at bay. When the lighthouse shatters, it’s up to you to collect all the light again. Objects in the foreground are silhouetted against very colorful backdrops, keeping with the light vs. shadows motif. All of the jumping and movement controls are mapped to simple, mostly intuitive gestures, keeping the interface nice and clean to avoid distracting from the great visuals. Anyone looking for a cool platformer should look no further.

This is the latest and greatest Android release from simulation masters Kairosoft. Like Game Dev Story and the rest, it’s up to you to run a specific business, this time focusing on a clothing shop. It’s up to you to grow your business from a small store to a mega popular brand, as usual. Your duties will include running employment, positioning mannequins, and even watching the fashion trends of the world. The usual incredibly colorful and appealing pixel art style of Kairosoft is present, and this is another solid entry in their game library. It’s a bit on the expensive side, but there’s always the lite version of the game to give you a good demo.

This is a very amusing new endless runner type title from GameResort. In it, you fly your alien saucer over rural America, abducting animals and farmers from their homes. As you abduct specimens and collect coins with your tractor beam, you’ll have to avoid buildings and structures, which would cause your ship damage. You do this by swiping around to aim the beam. On smaller devices, your finger can get in the way of this and make things frustrating, but on a tablet, it’s great. There is a huge focus on the in-game currency, used to unlock an absurd amount of things. In-app purchase coins are supported of course, but the game is wacky, fun and free, so definitely check it out.

This is a rather interesting title from developer Inaya Team. It’s not necessarily well designed, per se, but it is a very cool concept. Essentially, this is a gauntlet of completely unconnected random puzzles and riddles. There is little to no instruction available to you as each puzzle/riddle is presented, and it’s up to you to find patterns or type out answers using only one single hint. This game will probably be frustrating to you unless you’re a big time puzzle aficionado who just loves a good challenge. I thought it was pretty awesome, if a bit ungraceful, but I recognize it will not be for everyone. There is a lite version to check out first though, so have at it!

Find more great Android games here


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Smartphones put writing on the wall for paid texts

Text messaging, the simple telecoms service that turned into a global phenomenon, is under threat from free smartphone services and operators need to find alternative revenue streams, analysts say.

The short message service, or SMS, started as a way to use spare telecoms capacity but has become a key cash generator for operators, while offering users a cheap way to keep in touch with friends and family and avoid the expense of voice calls.

But the surge in Internet-enabled smartphones in recent years has led to the rise of free voice, video and text messaging applications that are threatening to send SMS into oblivion.

According to technology research firm Ovum, SMS contributed about 57 percent of non-voice revenues for telecom companies globally in 2009 but this is projected to fall to 47 percent this year.

Ovum estimates the rise of alternative messaging services has slashed $8.7 billion from the revenues of telecom operators worldwide in 2010 and $13.9 billion in 2011.

"SMS in the next few years will contribute less and less to non-voice revenue for operators," said Neha Dharia, a consumer telecoms analyst at Ovum.

"Consumers now have the ability to send text messaging through a variety of ways, such as IM (instant messaging), messaging apps, social networks and so on," she told AFP.

"These products offer greater features and are competitively priced or even free. SMS is a more expensive option in certain markets and the interface is not as user friendly or intuitive as other messaging products in the market."

The surge in mobile Internet, driven by the explosion in smartphones and tablet computers, was a major topic at the four-day CommunicAsia fair that ended in Singapore on Friday.

Mobile devices are on track to replace conventional computers as the primary means to connect to the Internet, speakers said, and offer access to the likes of Yahoo!, Google and Facebook, among others, with their own instant messaging features.

At the same time applications such as WhatsApp, Viber, Tango and the iPhone's Facetime offer free voice and video calls and message services when there is wireless connection.

The changeover has already begun.

Data from Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority showed users in the tech-savvy city-state sent and received a record 2.46 billion SMSs in September 2011 but the number has since been falling and was down to 2.21 billion in March.

"I use it (SMS) a lot less these days," said Joscelyn Tan, 35, a corporate marketing specialist for an electronics company in the city-state.

"WhatsApp is so convenient. Plus it's free and a lot more fun with all the 'emoticons'. I used to have to pay for extra SMS, not anymore," she added.

But it remains a slow process in some of Asia's biggest telecommunications markets.

In a Pew Research Centre survey of mobile phone users in 21 countries last year, Indonesians reported the heaviest SMS usage, with 96 percent saying they regularly send texts.

The vast majority of Indonesia's 240 million people cannot afford smartphones and buy old-model Nokia handsets, which can cost as little as $15, making text messaging a primary means of communications.

But even so the country is also one of the world's biggest BlackBerry markets -- in large part because of its wildly popular instant messaging services.

With a mobile phone penetration rate of nearly one handset for every Filipino, SMS messaging has become an important part of Philippine culture and politics.

Official data shows an average of 15 text messages -- a mix of jokes, chain messages, political or showbiz rumours, uplifting quotes and invitations -- are sent each day by each user, making Filipinos among the world's biggest users.

As well as being harnessed to organise "people power" political protests, text messaging also allows Filipinos to communicate cheaply with relatives who are part of the nine million-strong work force abroad.

Maurie Dobbin, managing director at TeleResources Engineering, said SMS is likely to decline as people increasingly switch to smartphones.

"When the smartphone penetration in these Asian markets comes up... we will see a dramatic impact on SMS traffic," Dobbin told AFP on the sidelines of CommunicAsia.

Smartphones represented only 12 percent of all mobile phones in use globally last year, but accounted for 82 percent of data traffic, said Dobbin, adding that telecom operators needed to adjust as revenues from SMS decline.

"They do need to be more than a dumb pipe," Dobbin said. "They need to be providing value to their customers... their business model needs to change and they need to introduce new products into that."


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IT security problems shift as data moves to 'cloud'

The Internet "cloud" has become the hottest topic in computing, but the trend has created a new range of security issues that need to be addressed.

The cloud is associated with things like personal emails and music which can be accessed on computers and a range of mobile devices.

But the US military and government agencies from the CIA to the Federal Aviation Administration also use cloud systems to allow data to be accessed anywhere in the world and save money -- and, ostensibly, to enhance security.

Microsoft, Google, Amazon and others are major players in the cloud, which seeks to transfer some of the data storage issues to more sophisticated data centers. Firms like Oracle, SAP and Salesforce.com offer cloud services for business.

Strategy Analytics forecasts US spending on cloud services to grow from $31 billion in 2011 to $82 billion by 2016.

But some experts say security implications of the cloud have not been fully analyzed, and that the cloud may open up new vulnerabilities and problems.

"If past is prologue I don't think any system is absolutely secure," said Stelios Sidiroglou-Douskos, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

"The analogy most people give is having a lock on your door. It's not a guarantee no one will break in, but it's a question of how much time it will take, and if your lock is better than your neighbor's."

In a cloud environment, "this makes the job of the attacker so much harder, which means the amateur hacker might be obsolete," said Sidiroglou-Douskos, who is working on a US government-funded research project to develop "self-healing" clouds.

-- POTENTIAL GOLD MINE FOR CYBERCRIMINALS --

But if a system is breached, analysts say, the amount of information lost could be far greater than what is in a single computer or cluster.

"You can have better defenses" in the cloud, "but if an attack happens, it's highly amplified," says Sidiroglou-Douskos.

The four-year MIT project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency seeks to develop systems that automatically fix data breaches in a manner similar to "human immunology," says the researcher.

A number of cloud security breaches have raised concerns, including attacks on the Sony PlayStation Network, LinkedIn and Google's Gmail service. One hacker recently claimed to have stolen credit card numbers from 79 major banks.

"Crimes target sources of value. Large company networks offer more targets to hackers," says Nir Kshetri, a professor of economics who studies cybercrime at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

"Information stored in clouds is a potential gold mine for cybercriminals."

Kshetri said in a paper submitted to the journal Telecommunications Policy that when questions come up, "the cloud industry's response has been: Clouds are more secure than whatever you're using now. But many users do not agree."

-- 'FAKE CLOUDS' --

Marcus Sachs, former director of the Sans Technology Institute's Internet Storm Center, said the cloud may be more secure but also opens up new questions.

"In the cloud, you don't necessarily know where your data sits," Sachs told AFP.

"That doesn't make it less vulnerable to attack, but there are questions when it comes to (an) audit, or if you want to take the data back or destroy it, how do you know you've erased it?"

Sachs said that analysts have also discovered "fake clouds" which are offered as low-cost alternatives but are in fact operated by "criminal groups which monitor and steal the data."

"We have seen instances of this not in the US, but in the former Soviet Union and in China," he said.

Still, the cloud market is burgeoning, with companies and government agencies moving to either "public" clouds that are easily accessed or so-called "private clouds" that are segregated from the Internet.

Some analysts say other issues need to be resolved about cloud computing, such as who is liable if data is lost, and how data can be accessed for government investigations.

Outages have recently affected Apple's and Amazon's cloud services, causing some websites to be affected.

"Privacy, security and ownership issues in the cloud fall into legally gray areas," Kshetri says.

Sidiroglou-Douskos said there is no single answer for people or companies choosing between cloud systems and holding the data themselves.

"If you are trying to protect yourself from the government, then having it in the public cloud makes it easier for them to get it," he said.

"If your main worry is a hacker in Russia, maybe (cloud) infrastructure is better for your own security."


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Internet life in spotlight at global TED gathering

The TED conference, known for taking an innovative look at cutting-edge issues, will delve into whether the Internet is making the world more open or closed at a gathering in Scotland on Monday.

The theme of this year's TED Global will be "radical openness" as talks on and off stage in Edinburgh explore the implications of crowd sourcing, blogs, smartphones and other culture-changing features of the Internet Age.

"Is the world more open or not?" TED Global curator Bruno Giussani asked rhetorically while discussing the concept-shaping presentations and discussions at the coming event.

"You have forces going in both directions; what are the implications for society, governance and us as individuals?"

Specifics of talks at the five-day gathering were kept secret, but the eclectic line-up of speakers ran a gamut from US Navy Admiral and NATO Supreme Commander James Stavridis to Chinese blogger Zhao Jing and singer Macy Gray.

In trademark TED style, each speaker is challenged to give "the talk of their lives" in 18 minutes.

Those slated to take the stage include a bio-fuel guru, the founder of a startup that lets people rent their vehicles to neighbors, a film visual effects maestro, and a musician who became a sensation by turning the Google+ social network video "hangout" sessions into interactive concert venues.

"People who are pushing the boundaries will be looking at the impact of technology and what it changes," Giussani said.

The talks will cover "anything from designing for the bottom of the pyramid -- poor people in developing countries -- to how technology is used by (hacker group) Anonymous or governments," he said.

Talk topics will include a criminologist's study of "future crimes" -- offenses that haven't happened yet -- and the invention of a camera that can see around corners.

Organizers of the prestigious annual conference in California in 2005 launched a global version of the event imbued with a more international mindset and attention to world affairs.

"While the TED conference in California represents the roots and core of TED, TED Global represents the expansion of the wealth of ideas around the world and bringing that community into the conversation," Giussani said.

TED's long-stated catchphrase is "Ideas worth spreading."

Issues in play at the conference are expected to include how best to get Internet technologies into the hands of "the next billion people" and whether governments have what it takes to keep pace with Internet-driven change.

"We are certainly not the ones to tell you how the future is going to be," Giussani said with a smile.

"This is about creating the space for collective, creative and constant brainstorming about how we are going to get there."

Along with political figures, scientists, technologists, dancers, authors and scholars, TED Global promised to include surprise presentations focused on "digitally driven openness."

Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conferences started 28 years ago in California as annual enclaves where elite thinkers got together to explore life from challenging or unusual perspectives.

The nonprofit Sapling Foundation behind the conferences began making recordings of talks available online as podcasts in 2006, then began streaming videos free at a TED.com website the following year to reach a global audience.

TED talks have legions of followers on the Internet and have been broadcast on television stations around the world.


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US judge dismisses Apple, Motorola patent suits

An American judge has dismissed lawsuits lodged by Apple and Motorola against each other for copyright infringement.

"To suggest that (Apple) has suffered loss of market share, brand recognition, or customer goodwill as a result of Motorola's alleged infringement of the patent claims still in play in this case is wild conjecture," Judge Richard Posner wrote in a 38-page ruling issued from a federal appeals court in Chicago.

"The parties have failed to present enough evidence to create a triable issue," added the judge, who also threw out a similar suit against Apple by Motorola Mobility unit, now a Google subsidiary.

The cross-firing complaints were filed in October 2010.

Apple -- the manufacturer behind the iPhone -- accused Motorola of violating patents related to multifunction phones, particularly with regard to touchscreen technology.

Motorola's suit addressed Apple's iPhone, the iPad tablet, iPod Touch and select computers of violating 18 patents, targeting in particular the Apple Store, an application vendor, and the service MobileMe, which allows Apple product users to synchronize calendars, address books, email and more across various gadgets.

Posner's decision is likely to end similar suits the companies have lodged against each other in other American courts, but the legal battle continues in various other countries.


View the original article here

Monday, June 25, 2012

Google Celebrates Gay Pride With Easter Egg

Google is celebrating Gay Pride with a charming Easter egg. A rainbow ribbon appears below the search bar when you Google Gay Pride, LGBT, gay, lesbian, NYC Gay Pride and SF Gay Pride.

[More from Mashable: Google Announces Sharp Price Cuts for Google Maps [VIDEO]]

The Mountain View, Calif. based company has a history of creating whimsical Easter eggs, often hidden in its search function. You can find 10 examples of its hidden gems in the below gallery.

[More from Mashable: Is This the Smartest Google Doodle Yet?]

Google is also known for its pro-gay rights stance. In a rare expression of political opinion, Google publicly expressed its opposition to California's Prop. 8, a constitutional amendment that took away the right of same-sex couples to marry, in a 2008 blog post written by co-founder Sergey Brin.

"While there are many objections to this proposition -- further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love."

SEE ALSO: 28 Joyful Gay Pride Instagram Photos

What's your favorite Google Easter egg?

Enter "Google Gravity" in the search bar. Hit "I'm feeling lucky" (if you have Google Instant enabled, it's on the right hand side of the suggested searches). Then watch your world fall down.

Click here to view this gallery.

Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, rhythmbehavior

This story originally published on Mashable here.


View the original article here

Young Entrepreneur Council Building Network of Youth Startup Founders

Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, was hard at work founding his second company when he realized something was missing that could help him achieve his dream.

[More from Mashable: 60 Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed]

"I made every possible mistake one could make as a rookie entrepreneur," said Gerber of his first company. "After it failed, my mom said it was time to go get a real job, but to me that wasn't possible. I wanted to take the lessons I learned from my first company and put them into a new business. Soon, I figured out what would help move me forward -- a group of like-minded peers."

That's when the idea for the Young Entrepreneur Council, an invite-only non-profit that brings together some of the sharpest young minds in the startup and entrepreneur world, was born.

[More from Mashable: Judge Dismisses Apple vs. Google Smartphone Patent Case]

The YEC is a club wherein the membership consists of some the most well-respected young minds in entrepreneurship. The YEC is no snobbish country club of elite upper-class startup owners (membership dues are only a few hundred dollars every year to "keep the lights on," said Gerber); it's a place where ideas are exchanged, connections are made and, possibly most importantly, mentorship happens.

"I finally said 'Wow, wouldn't it be great, what if we could give back and get from one another in a way that makes the community at large realize entrepreneurship as a viable career path,'" said Gerber.

The YEC's main goal is making entrepreneurship, considered a too-risky career choice by many parents of Generation Y youth, seem like less of a dangerous leap. The YEC is also behind #FixYoungAmerica, a drive to bring Congress's attention to entrepreneurship issues, and other partnerships designed to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice.

SEE ALSO: Can We Fix Young America With Technology and Entrepreneurship?

When Gerber was starting to build the YEC, he met Ryan Paugh, who's something of a cult legend in the online community-building world. Paugh founded Brazen Careerist, where he served as community manager and built a vibrant network for Gen Y youth to share career and job-seeking advice.

Gerber and Paugh immediately hit it off, and Paugh began helping Gerber build the YEC network on the side while pulling full-time duty at Brazen. Now, Paugh is switching gears -- he'll be joining the team full-time as chief of staff and co-founder while still serving in an advisory role at Brazen.

"I graduated and took the first job I could get because I just wanted to get out of parents' basement and pay back my student loans," said Paugh, who worked for a pharmaceutical company before building Brazen.

"It just so happened that I was wrong that corporate jobs are stable. Maybe they were 10 years ago, and maybe that's why we're seeing a shift, but as I'm looking now at people who graduate and can't find work, I think entrepreneurship is just as unsteady as the corporate world and hopefully that's pushing people back towards it."

Gerber echoed Paugh's comments.

"Automatization, globalization and the recession have changed everything," said Gerber. "I believe that means entrepreneurship, which some people equate with 'risk-taking' even though a good entrepreneur mitigates risk, is becoming a more popular career choice again. The playing field has changed."

The YEC is all about "making entrepreneurship less of a lonely place," said Paugh, while pointing to a private online message board where members can brainstorm, swap ideas and support one another through stressful events, such as startup launches. The YEC also organizes special networking events and offers members one another's contact information "on speed dial," as Gerber put it, a service which he believes adds a "concierge feel" to membership.

"One of the most amazing and robust communities I've been a part of is the private forum for YEC," said Paugh.

"It's open and honest, and it doesn't allow preaching and selling," said Gerber of the YEC community. "It's about helping, it's about learning from others. What we offer is a peer-to-peer group for younger entrepreneurs."

The YEC has accepted just a hair more than 400 members out of more than 10,000 requests to join. Once inside the YEC, members are often immediately sold on the value. Several have donated $10,000 or more -- many times the annual dues.

"Most people say they get value of [their annual dues] within 30 days or less," said Gerber. "We keep it reasonable because it's a non-profit, and we're not overcharging the young and the collegiate. We refer to the YEC as a family, we want members that were actively going to be participating in the big picture of this."

"We want members who feel invested," added Paugh. "And a small price tag does make people feel more invested. We have people in the community that love the organization enough to own it."

How does one get access to this Justice League of young entrepreneurs? That's the "secret sauce" of the organization, said Gerber.

"How do you define a successful entrepreneur?" asked Gerber. "That's now our proprietary [code], an algorithm if you will. Are they seeded? Funded? Have they exited? There are so many different ways to look at it. Our standards of exclusivity are not a barrier to say 'You're not good enough,' but rather, the power of giving knowledge to others should come with a sense of responsibility."

Up next for the Gerber, Paugh and the YEC? They're developing a platform that aims to become the go-to spot for crowdsourced entrepreneurial know-how by connecting youth who aspire to become entrepreneurs with well-established startup owners for mentoring opportunities.

"Our goal is to be the center of it in the sense that we want to aggregate the best of the best," said Gerber.

"Every program we do with the YEC is meant to fulfill social need and promote free enterprise. I think you can do well and do good at the same time. Unemployment is a disaster, and if we can create a series of programs that are free and create a level of access never seen before from a variety of people that have done well before, I think we can create something pretty powerful."

This story originally published on Mashable here.


View the original article here

8 major features to look forward to in Windows Phone 8

Smartphone owners have a lot to get excited about in 2012.
Microsoft has just announced its next-generation mobile phone operating system Windows Phone 8, Apple is working on brand new voice recognition and mapping features for iOS 6, and Google is gearing up for some big mobile platform announcements at its I/O developers conference on June 27.
Apple and Google are caught up in a cutthroat race to outdo each other in the mobile software platform. The launch of Windows Phone 8 will finally see Microsoft coming to the party with devices and operating systems that can finally compete.

More Travelers Take Their Tech With Them [STUDY]

World travelers are changing their technology-totting ways, an Intel survey says. Today, more travelers are carrying their laptops, smartphones and devices with them to the airport despite hefty security and baggage fees.
About 44% of the Intel-commissioned survey's 2,500 participants said they feel anxious traveling without their devices. Can social media and Internet access improve a vacation? Around 87% of the young adults surveyed said "yes" -- they were "happier" on tech-connected trips.

VA looking to technology to reduce suicide risks

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Veterans Affairs Department hopes to reduce the risk of suicide among veterans by making greater use of video conferences between patients and doctors and by gradually integrating its electronic health records with those maintained by the Defense Department, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told mental health professionals Wednesday.
Among active-duty troops, there has been an uptick in suicides this year — about one a day, compared with one every 36 hours in previous years, The Associated Press reported earlier this month. Among veterans from all of the nation's wars, about 18 each day commit suicide.

College president 'prostitution' site ruled legal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A website that authorities say two aging professors used to run a multistate prostitution ring is legal, a state judge has ruled, highlighting the difficulties that prosecutors face in using decades-old laws to combat a modern phenomenon.
The ruling comes as prosecutors were scheduled to present to a grand jury their case against former University of New Mexico President F. Chris Garcia, who is accused of helping a physics professor from New Jersey oversee a prostitution website called "Southwest Companions."
State District Judge Stan Whitaker ruled that the website, an online message board and Garcia's computer account did not constitute a "house of prostitution," the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Whitaker also said the website wasn't "a place where prostitution is practiced, encouraged or allowed."
The ruling means that prosecutors will now have to decide how to proceed with a case involving Garcia, retired Fairleigh Dickinson University physics professor David C. Flory and others.
They were arrested last June on a criminal complaint charging them with promoting prostitution. Flory, a retired physics professor at the New Jersey school and has a home in Santa Fe, is accused of buying the site in 2009.

Score big with these Android soccer games

Soccer has become one of my family’s favorite sports. All the boys play and we try to catch as many matches on TV as we can. With Euro 2012 at the knockout stage, soccer is on everyone’s mind. Here are some cool soccer games for Android, so get on your cleats, pull out your Android, and let’s see if we can score.
This was one of the first games I purchased for my Android. Soccer Superstars is packed with lots of soccer action. You select your team and then decide what you want to play. Your options are exhibition game, league play, season mode, cup mode, and dramatic mode. There are six groupings of teams based on location. Also, on each team you can have one “super player.”

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Federal Signal to sell technology business to 3M for $110 million

(Reuters) - 3M Co will expand its traffic safety division by paying $110 million for the electronic tolling business of Federal Signal Corp, a safety and transportation systems maker, sending Federal Signal shares up 18 percent in early trading.
Federal Signal, which had outstanding debt of $235.6 million as of March 2012, said it would use the proceeds to reduce debt.

Samsung’s Galaxy S III launches today in the U.S. – sort of [updated]

Samsung‘s highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone is now finally available in the United States — sort of. Samsung announced on Thursday morning that its new flagship smartphone is available on T-Mobile’s website starting today, and in select T-Mobile retails stores as well. Though Sprint announced earlier this month that it would launch the Galaxy S III on June 21st, supply constraints have delayed the carrier’s plans. Samsung notes that the phone will come to AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular in the “next several weeks.” The company also said that it intends to donate $1.5 million to the World Wildlife Fund to celebrate the launch of the Galaxy S III, which it pitches as having a design inspired by nature. Samsung’s press release follows below.

Google sets out to save dying languages

Google has set out to save the world's dying languages.
In an alliance with scholars and linguists, the Internet powerhouse on Wednesday introduced an Endangered Languages Project website where people can find, share, and store information about dialects in danger of disappearing.
"People can share their knowledge and research directly through the site and help keep the content up-to-date," project managers Clara Rivera Rodriguez and Jason Rissman said in a Google blog post.
"A diverse group of collaborators have already begun to contribute content ranging from 18th-century manuscripts to modern teaching tools like video and audio language samples and knowledge-sharing articles."

Fresh iPhone Apps for June 21: Fish Heroes, Centipede Origins, Trivial

It was another big game night in the iTunes App Store, with a new set of interesting titles for your consideration going into the weekend. Leading the haul is Fish Heroes, a 3-D take on the popular Angry Birds formula, followed by a re-imagining of the classic arcade title Centipede, Centipede Origins. Finally, there’s a Trivial, a trivia game that integrates with Facebook to allow players to take on their friends and families.

Okay, it’s another Angry Birds-alike title in which you fling animals at other animals and structures. Let’s go ahead and get the similarities out of the way. Where Fish Heroes is different, and worth a look, is that it places players in a 3-D world. Your goal is to use various kinds of fish with different powers to take down sharks, and the goal is to use the fewest fish to beat each level.

SKorea sees big demand for fastest mobile network

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is forecasting blistering growth in the use of a network technology that gives the fastest speeds for connecting to the Internet from a mobile device.
South Korea, already known for having the world's speediest fixed-line broadband Internet, was not the first to use the fourth generation mobile technology known as Long Term Evolution. The United States already eclipses South Korea in the number of LTE smartphone users.
But the proportion of the population using it is higher and rising faster in South Korea than in any other part of the world as mobile operators are making a big push to attract subscribers.
Some 7 million South Koreans, or about 14 percent of the population, are already using LTE smartphones. That is forecast to jump to about 30 percent of South Koreans within a few months. The proportion in the U.S. is less than 5 percent.

Struggling BlackBerry maker begins job cuts

TORONTO (AP) — Struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion said Wednesday it has started laying off employees as part of a restructuring plan aimed at saving about $1 billion this year.
RIM said in May that there would be "significant layoffs" this year. On Wednesday, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company said it has "reduced some positions as part of its program and may continue to do so as the company methodically works through a review of the business."
RIM declined to provide numbers, but will offer an update when it reports quarterly financial results on June 28. RIM had about 16,500 employees in early May. The company cut 2,000 jobs last July.
The once iconic BlackBerry company is facing the most difficult period in its history. RIM is preparing to launch a new operating system —Blackberry 10— later this year, just as North Americans are abandoning BlackBerrys for iPhones and Android phones.

Xbox Live to translate in-game rewards to real-life rewards this fall

Details are virtually non-existant, but the possibilities go on for miles (and are awesome)
Once a novelty, in-game achievements are now pretty much a part of every major video game. They're a different way to play, a new way to reward players who accomplish impressive in-game feats. All an achievement (or trophy, as they're often called) offers is an in-game toast to celebrate the accomplishment and bragging rights with your friends.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Invention takes a Quirky turn

Even after raising $40 million as a tech entrepreneur, Ben Kaufman, 25, still says his first round of funding was the most difficult.
It wasn't just because he was fresh out of high school, having celebrated only 18 birthdays at that point. It was because he had to convince his parents to raise the $185,000 he needed by remortgaging their Long Island home — not to pay for college, mind you, but to back a kid's dream of producing a really cool pair of headphones.
"I always say it was the hardest convincing I ever had to do with any investor," Kaufman recalls. Before taking that money and heading to China to find a manufacturer, all he had was a prototype concocted out of ribbon and gift wrap.

Study: The U.S. could be powered by 80% green energy in 2050

It will take a lot of work, but the National Renewable Energy Laboratory believes it could be done
According to a study published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), up to 80% of the power needed by the whole country could be supplied by renewable energy sources by 2050. The agency even believes that a large chunk of that — 50%, in fact — could come from wind and solar energy sources, which are sometimes criticized due to their unpredictable output.
This percentage, the NREL said, could be achieved using technologies already available today. Contribution by all 50 states is one of the keys to make it happen, with each state playing to its strengths. A region rich in sunshine, for instance, could concentrate on solar energy, while other regions could work mainly with biomass, hydropower, or something else.

Oracle's Ellison to buy, invest in Hawaii's Lanai

HONOLULU (AP) — Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison is closing in on a purchase even lottery winners can only dream about — 98 percent of Hawaii's pineapple island, Lanai.
Ellison hasn't said what he plans to do with the vast majority of the island's 141 square miles, but the sellers said he plans substantial investments that will create jobs and stimulate tourism to the island once owned in the 1920s by the founder of Dole Foods Co.
Attempts to reach Ellison through Oracle after business hours Wednesday were not successful. Ellison's involvement in the deal was publicly announced by Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
With nearly 50 miles of coastline, two resorts and zero traffic lights, Lanai boasts plenty of unspoiled charm. Tourism officials tout the luxury at its Four Seasons hotels and rugged rural areas that can only be reached by vehicles with four-wheel drive.

Google Fights to Save 3,054 Languages

Will you be any worse off the moment humans cease to speak in Aragonese? How about Navajo or Ojibwa? Or Koro, a language only just discovered in a tiny corner of northeast India?
[More from Mashable: Google.org Donates $14 Million to Prevent the Next Pandemic]
No, you probably wouldn't, not in that moment. But humanity would be. Science, art and culture would be. If, as the phrase goes, another language equals another soul, then some 3,054 souls -- 50% of the world's total languages -- are set to die out by 2100.

Samsung, LG bet on new display to revive TV sales

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean TV manufacturers are making billion-dollar bets on a new display technology that promises an even thinner screen and imagery of eye-popping clarity. It might prove to be a costly last gasp of innovation from an industry finding it harder to excite consumers wowed by smartphones and tablets.
Undeterred by a flop in 3-D TV and a failure of Internet-connected TVs to boost sales, Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are hoping "OLED" technology will keep them ahead. The intensely competitive business has already caused Sony's TV business to lose money for the past eight years.

Apple fined in Australia for misleading iPad advertising

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Apple Inc was fined A$2.25 million ($2.29 million) by an Australian court on Thursday for misleading advertising of its latest iPad.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took legal action against Apple in March, after the computer and gadgets maker rolled out the first wave of new iPad tablets in the Australian market.
The competition watchdog accused Apple of misleading customers with the description of its new iPad, which said it was compatible with a 4G mobile data network when it was not.
The court determined Apple had implied "that an iPad with WiFi + 4G could connect directly to the Telstra LTE mobile data network in Australia, which it could not do," according to the verdict emailed to Reuters by the regulator.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Hawaii Gov.: Oracle's Ellison to buy most of Lanai

HONOLULU (AP) — Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison has reached a deal to buy 98 percent of the island of Lanai from its current owner, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Wednesday.
The land's owner, Castle & Cooke Inc., filed a transfer application with the state's public utilities commission, which regulates utilities on the island that serve its two resorts.
The sale price for the property, which comprises the vast majority of the island's 141 square miles, was not immediately clear. Lawyers for the seller redacted a copy of the sale agreement signed May 2, saying it includes confidential information that would competitively hurt Ellison and the seller if disclosed. The Maui News previously reported the asking price was between $500 million and $600 million.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison buys Hawaii's sixth-largest island

HONOLULU, Hawaii (Reuters) - Billionaire Oracle CEO Larry Ellison bought 98 percent of Hawaii's sixth-largest island, Lanai, the state's governor announced on Wednesday.
Ellison, ranked in 2012 as America's third-richest man, is purchasing the property from fellow billionaire David Murdock. Murdock's Castle and Cooke Inc, which owns all but 2 percent of Lanai's 141 square miles (365 square km), filed a transfer application with Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission.
Previous media reports put the price tag at between $500 million and $600 million, but the price was not revealed in Wednesday's filing.

CD-ROM Favs 'Arthur' and 'Little Monsters' Arrive on the iPad

[More from Mashable: 5 Things to Consider Before Self-Publishing Your Book]
The iPad may be the shiny new toy, but the issue of kids tossing aside old forms of media has been around for some time.
Before mobile devices, the home computer represented the conflict between traditional and interactive media. And while parents then were worried books might get lost, Living Books came along in 1992 and brought them to life on CD-ROM, making them appealing and truly interactive.

Lanai seller to keep rights to build wind farm

HONOLULU (AP) — The billionaire selling 98 percent of the Hawaiian island of Lanai to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison says he plans to keep rights to complete a wind farm project that has caused controversy among the island's 3,200 residents.
Castle & Cooke owner David Murdock said Wednesday afternoon that he'll keep his residence on Lanai and the rights to the farm as part of the deal.

Analysis: With Siri and new alliances, Apple takes on Google search

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When Apple Inc sends out its coveted invitations to major events, one CEO has always been making the guest list of late: Jeremy Stoppelman.
The co-founder and chief executive officer of consumer review website Yelp Inc has never taken the stage at these gatherings, but his company has become an important weapon in Apple's arsenal as it steps up its assault on ally-turned-rival Google Inc.
Yelp and a handful of other major consumer content sites, including movie reviewer Rotten Tomatoes and restaurant reservation service OpenTable, will be helping to power Apple's Siri, the voice-activated iPhone personal assistant, in the new mobile operating system iOS6.

Amazon announces European Appstore, coming this summer

Amazon on Wednesday announced that it has begun to accept app submissions from developers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain for distribution in its Appstore for Android later this year. Amazon’s Appstore in the U.S. is home to “tens of thousands of apps and games” and has seen great success in just one year. “We are thrilled at the success our developers have experienced on the Amazon platform in the last year,” said Jim Adkins, Vice President of the Amazon Appstore. “Some developers have seen revenue double since the launch of In-App Purchasing. We’re excited to open the door to even more opportunity by expanding app sales outside the U.S. We see tremendous potential for current developers in our distribution program to grow with the international expansion. We also encourage new developers to join and participate in the platform’s growth.” The Appstore is expected to launch in select European countries later this summer. Amazon’s press release follows below.

Invention takes a Quirky turn

Even after raising $40 million as a tech entrepreneur, Ben Kaufman, 25, still says his first round of funding was the most difficult.
It wasn't just because he was fresh out of high school, having celebrated only 18 birthdays at that point. It was because he had to convince his parents to raise the $185,000 he needed by remortgaging their Long Island home — not to pay for college, mind you, but to back a kid's dream of producing a really cool pair of headphones.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Struggling BlackBerry maker begins job cuts

TORONTO (AP) — Struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion said Wednesday it has started laying off employees as part of a restructuring plan aimed at saving about $1 billion this year.
RIM said in May that there would be "significant layoffs" this year. On Wednesday, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company said it has "reduced some positions as part of its program and may continue to do so as the company methodically works through a review of the business."

Windows phones to miss out on new software

NEW YORK (AP) — As it struggles to gain a foothold against the iPhone and Android phones, Microsoft Corp. is planning to issue a dramatic update to its phone software, one that won't be available to current Windows Phones.
The new software, Windows Phone 8, will be available on new phones this fall, Microsoft said Wednesday at a presentation in San Francisco. The software will bring Windows phones closer to PCs and tablets running the company's upcoming Windows 8, which is also scheduled to launch later this year.
With its planned software updates —and the Surface tablet computer it introduced earlier this week— Microsoft is taking dramatic steps to ensure that it plays a major role in the increasingly important mobile market.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Touch (TV Series) 2012 Season 1 English Subtitle


Story
Martin Bohm is a widower and single father who is haunted by an inability to connect to his emotionally challenged 11-year-old son Jake. But when Martin discovers that Jake can predict events before they happen, everything changes.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Wake Up Sid (2009) Hindi Movie Review and Sinhala Subtitle


In Mumbai Sid in the words of his father. He lives in Mother and father, his Fathers pay his expenses and credit cards bills. His take his college final exam and he fail it. one day. college Graduation party day. his meet aisha

Sunday, June 10, 2012

You Got Served Beat the World 2011 Review and Sinhala Subtitle


This is the Second Part of You Got Served Movie. Three Dance Groupes prepare the Dance battle in the internationl. this film Direct by Robert Adetuyi, Writer Robert Adetuyi. Nice Hip-Pop Dancing Movie.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Piranha 3DD (2012) Review and Sinhala Subtitles


This Movie is a Horror movie. piranha 3D movie's second part is this film.
It have Adult Only Sceens so don't watch under the age of 18.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Digu Dasa Dutuwama New Video Remake By DT Lakmal


Voice - Romesh Sugathapala
New Actor - Thakshila Nirash
Video Director and Editor - DT Lakmal

Final Destination 5 Review and Sinhala Subtitle


This Movie is the Final Destination Series part 5. realieasd in 2011 August 12 in USA. Director Steven Quale,
Writers - Eric Heisserer, Jeffrey Reddick. Nice movie. Watch And Enjoy it...

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

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