Rumor says Google rolling out music service with the honeycomb (Appolicious)

Google (GOOG) has its own subscription service, is about to roll out in-app purchases and has a web-based store app for Android: now only need one service selling music and mirroring of Apple (AAPL) will be completed.

Rumor has it and is working on such a service, which will roll out with Android 3.0 honeycomb, the operating system version is specifically geared towards Tablet devices. At least, that is according to Mashable.

The guardian has caught the list like Motorola, mobility (MMI) CEO Sanjay JHA accidentally revealed Google plans for a music service as he was touting Xoom Tablet of his company. Here's the citation: JHA

"If you look at Google Mobile Services [via Android] today, there is a service of video, there is a music service — that is, there will be a music service."

Whoops. While this is not the first we've heard about Google's music service. Honeycomb has a music Google app included with it, and Google has also showed off an online music service without name back in May. There were other committed, too, but the indication is that Android is going to get their own version of iTunes.

Powerful Tablet Xoom Motorola is going to be among the first machines enabled honeycomb and JHA said Google Music (if this is what is called) "will be based on honeycomb," according to The Guardian.

Like the rest of the efforts of Google's online service, Google Music will likely be cloud-based, allowing users to stream or download songs from wherever they are, provided they have access to the Internet. Is the system itself that the online version of the Android market uses to navigate content and applications for Android devices users, whatever they are. Mashable says that the service would offer a Google Music sort of digital locker, which stores your purchases in the cloud to access every time.

But it seems that Google has a long way to go as far as a music service and not on a technological front. The record companies are reluctant to jump in with Google on the whole "digital locker" idea, according to the New York Post, and while Google is trying to get licensing issues clarified, could be a big obstacle going forward. It could stop the whole music service, but may well kill or slow the cloud-based component.

Yet, the assumption is that especially compressed and Android devices in general are going to have access to your music store in the near future--probably not too long after the honeycomb starts to become widely available, starting with Xoom launch later this month.

Plan quickly by reducing the number of key differences between iOS and Google Android seems to make pretty good, though. Provided that the company can convince the music industry to go with the flow, Google will be removing another important point of sale from the line-up of iOS and leveling the field further.

30% Cut from Subs Rhapsody blasts Apple's in-app

Music streaming service Rhapsody today blasted the decision of Apple taking a 30% reduction for all subscriptions in-app and content revenues, saying that the move makes it unsustainable business model of the iPhone.

The Seattle-based company was the first to publicly express his displeasure with Apple announced rules changes, which not only reflected the 30% cut of revenue, but also require content sellers delete links to sites selling out-app and offer equal or lower prices for in-app purchases as they do for subscriptions or content purchased elsewhere.

In a statement yesterday, Jon Irwin, President of the Rhapsody subscription plan, called Apple "economically unsustainable". Elaborated that in an interview today.

"We have to pay the rightholders, publishers and music labels, of our content," said Irwin. "With all taxes that go off, [added] Apple 30% will exceed revenue on our product. Is not a matter of making less money, it would be zero profit. "

Although Rhapsody could continue to rely on his current business model--not solicit subscriptions within its iPhone app, but instead adds members through your own website--Irwin said that the purchase of a single click to in-app proposed subs gives Apple a big edge with clients.

"If, as a result our marketing, a customer is our app, then uses the single-click subscription option within the application, Apple Gets 30%. This is what just doesn't make sense, "said Irwin.

"Our position is that Apple does not deserve a take, they provide a valuable service [App Store], but there is a fair value that they should receive for this," said Irwin. "What's under discussion here is what it is."

Irwin refused to specify a percentage that would embrace Rhapsody, but when asked about Google One Pass, the subscription payment model just announced Android-based creators, Irwin said, "that is much better than 30%. That is sustainable for us. "

Google has not announced what it would be off the top for purchases-app subscription, but several sources including the Wall Street Journal, said Commission of Google will be equal to 10%.

Currently, Irwin said that Rhapsody is charged between 2.5 and 3.5% in transaction fees by credit card when it bills monthly subscribers.

Irwin seemed to applaud the subscription model of a click, in application of Apple, but continued to hammer the impracticability of the size of the piece of cake, that the company of Cupertino, California, is demanding.

"One-click subscription is the App Store is to bring value, but the content and app providers are what adds value to the iPhone and iPad," said Irwin. "Is a cooperative relationship. But the content and the costs of distribution channel of Apple product that we sell is lower. So the question is: ' how can we work together? ' "

Irwin not commenting if Rhapsody is considering pulling her iPhone and iPad apps from the App Store and refused to comment on whether he thought that Apple was changing the rules of the game.

Rhapsody has launched its iPhone app in September 2009 and updated in April 2010 to allow subscribers to listen to their playlists when your smartphone is not connected to a cellular network or Wi-Fi. Although the application is not designed for big screen of the iPad, runs also on Apple Tablet PC, as well as on the iPod Touch.

In its statement yesterday, said Irwin, "we will collaborate with our peers in the market to determine a proper legal and working on this latest evolution," a comment that some interpreted as a threat to sue Apple.

Today Irwin has refused to comment further on possible legal action. "But I am responsible for delivering value for shareholders, so I need to look at all options," he said.

An antitrust lawyer said today that a move to the judges probably would fail.

He was in contact with other subscription music services, including U.K.-based Spotify, to discuss a response to the new rules of Apple, Irwin confirmed. "Each of us is in the same boat," he said.

Irwin also said that he hopes to have further discussions with Apple or even music labels, their rates. "We want our customers to access their music everywhere they want, when they want," said Irwin. "But Apple's new rules make it very difficult, not impossible to do business".

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and General technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @ gkeizer or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed. His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

To learn more about mobile applications and services in Computerworld Mobile Apps and services topic Center.

For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright © 2010 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved.

Amazon S3 offers complete Website Hosting

Since Amazon launched its storage service simple storage service (S3) cloud in 2006, people are using it to support Web sites hosted with other service providers.

S3 was initially used to host large files like movies, in which case the S3 is both cheaper and faster than most Web hosting providers. Other files, such as hosting images was initially challenging due to latency problems (i.e. a delay between when a browser requests a file that receives it). This has been addressed when S3 introduced additional datacenters throughout the world and better load balancing.

However, until now has been impossible to host entire Web sites to S3, because there was no way to define the root and the error documents within an S3 "bucket" (a bucket is the name given to individual storage configurations).

In other words, there was no way to configure S3 to serve index.HTML when visitors were directed to an S3 bucket and no way to serve something like error .html, if something went wrong.

This has now changed. Error documents and root can be defined for each segment, although there are a handful of important notices.

First, since S3 storage is just stupid, hosts a whole site is possible only for static content entirely--i.e. nothing more than an HTML file, images and so on. Someone who wants to use PHP or similar will be required to use Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) or a standard hosting provider. This means that couldn't fit something like a WordPress blog to S3, for example.

Secondly, you cannot host a domain root to S3 because S3 is accessible only via redirection CNAME DNS record (S3 has no IP address static endpoint, so that it cannot be configured for the record-). In other words, host www.example.com is possible, but not example.com. A separate hosting service configured for DNS-records would direct visitors arriving at example.com to www.example.com. (Incidentally, many experts consider adding www as a CNAME record to be bad practice, although it works fine.)

Setting up full website hosting with S3 is easy. Start visiting the S3 Control Panel and create a new bucket in your AWS, named the Web address that will direct us. For example, should I hope visitors www.keirthomas.com to be redirected to a bucket, name it www.keirthomas.com.

Then upload all files of your website using the Upload button on the console or via S3, a separate client application, if you use one. Don't forget to set all files as accessible to the public, you can perform from the Upload window.

Next, right click the new bucket, listed to the left of the console and select Properties. In the new Panel at the bottom of the window, click the Web site tab and make sure that Enabled is checked, first type the filename of your documents and the index. Note that you cannot specify 4xx specific documents, such as 404, 403, and so on; all errors should be directed to the error page. Click the Save button when done.

Configuring S3 to host an entire Web site is as easy as clicking a checkbox. (Click for full image).Note the address that is listed next to the Endpoint, which is under the names of document index and the error in the Panel itself. Now head over to the configuration of your domain registrar (s) of the Panel and configures a new CNAME record for www, specifying the endpoint address of S3 (remove the http://prefix from the endpoint address, and any trailing slash at the end).

How it's done configuring CNAME varies from vendor to vendor. You will probably need to delete the record-for www, too.

And you're done! Once the DNS changes have propagated, which could take a couple of hours, your visitors will be directed straight to the S3 bucket containing your site and you will see the file index.html.

As a further step, it's a good idea to choose the address for a-records (i.e. the address without the www prefix) a simple Web hosting service where you can set an automatic redirection to www.

If yours is a high traffic site, might also make sense to use Amazon's CloudFront service to ensure traffic is directed to the nearest server, that will avoid any latency problems. This will add to the cost, though.

As well as using S3 compares in terms of costs for a standard provider? I use Dreamhost Web hosting basic package for sites that I run, which costs $ 119 per year and offers storage and unlimited bandwidth (while sharing a server with others, that may limit the speed at which my site is served).

However, unlike S3, the price of Dreamhost also includes PHP, databases, and various useful extras such as one-click installs of popular software site.

A static site that runs by Dreamhost sees about 300 visitors a day and offers a 2 MB file for download. From the configuration panel of Dreamhost, I see that the site burns through about 350 MB of bandwidth per day, including weekends.

Using a quick rough calculation, I see that is 10.65 GB per month, that if served via S3 would cost me nothing if I signed up for the free use of Amazon Web Services. This allows up to 15 GB of data transfer per month, although I might run into a couple of dollars throughout the year due to GET requests. Free usage level allows you to GET 20,000 requests per month, and my 300 daily visitors typically visit many pages and download many images, each of which involves a GET separated.

While a comparison with Dreamhost is simply unfair because Dreamhost offers much more than simple storage to S3, the price is very interesting if you are paying a fee for each GB or TB with your existing provider. Plus, S3 will be always fast and will never run out of storage space.

Keir Thomas has made known his opinion on matters of calculation from the last century and more recently has written several best-selling books. You can read more about him at http://keirthomas.com. His Twitter feed is @ keirthomas.

iPad 2 event 2 March: what to expect

Apple iPad will officially 2 on March 2, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, put an end to a series of entries and a whole new range of sparks.

Tech (sort of) invitations mysterious giant print not-so-mysterious that have a date 2 March iCal and the words "come and see what will be the year of 2011." The iCal date is peeled Back on the top right corner to reveal an iPad.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Apple thinks the second generation of its iPad-iPad 2--is what 2011 "will be the year of".

That pretty much puts an end to the rumors and speculation when it announced iPad 2; Now is the time to speculate on what, exactly, are we going to see the 2 March.

Here's what we know about iPad 2:

It has a camera (or maybe two)

People have been speculating on an iPad with a camera, because the device debuted last year. In December, Chinese-made iPad 2 cases began showing on the Internet — some with holes in rear-facing camera. Cases had a cut in the bottom left, suggesting that maybe iPad 2 will have a rear-mounted speaker.

At the end of January, Mac iPad Rumors discovered a screenshot with three new standard app icons hidden in the developer version of iOS 4.3 Beta 2. The new icons were FaceTime, camera and PhotoBooth, suggesting some sort of camera will make an appearance on iPad 2.

My take: iPad 2 will have cameras and rear-front, even if a rear facing camera wouldn't make much sense.

It will have a better view

In January, we heard rumors of a graphics chip improved dual core landing in iPad 2--reportedly to power a high resolution display (1.536 800 pixels). Rumors (reported by AppleInsider) suggested that these specifications would put the HD 1080p video playback on the table.

Less than a week later, more items popped iPad screen 2. First, that iPad 2 would have a screen resolution of 2048 by 1.536 pixels (thanks, Digitimes) and then it wouldn't. IDC Research Director Tom Mainelli suggested that report of Digitimes wrong resolution of law, but the iPad--iPad version 2 does not have a screen 2.048-from-1.536 pixels, but could iPad 3. Later in the month of February, we have also seen some leaked photo of a repair shop China who showed no display of the retina.

My take: I'm pretty sure iPad 2 is going to have a better screen and "best graphics", but 1080p video will work only in theory.

After all this, good thing the fix was free

Sysadmin pilot fish Gets a call from one of his one-level support techs. Fish, "says that a PC is the only boot on a screen that displays a series of zeros that flash in sequence and then move the screen every few seconds," he says.

"I suggest that it is probably a problem with the hard and suggest running a Linux boot disk to repair it".

Tech invokes a little later: the hard disk and memory, then check out the video must be integrated on the motherboard, you say.

It takes the emails from different vendors to find the part to this ageing PC, but the motherboard is finally ordered, delivered and installed by tech--and doesn't solve the problem.

Probably the processor, so tech suggests; have had some peaks in this site.

The processor is ordered and installed--and the problem is not resolved yet.

Maybe you should double check the hard disk, suggest fish. A few hours later, he receives a call back from tech: "you know what, I think there is something wrong with this hard drive".

Fish sighs, "technology checks the disk with a Linux boot disk and an XP repair installation finally solves the problem. The technology is calling me back and forwards its success.

"I replied," A Linux boot disk? You don't say. Which Linux boot disk you try, initially, rental or Ultimate? ' "Oh, well, it doesn't look like the hard drive to me so that I didn't think I had to run it. '"

first things first: Sharky needs your true tale of life in IT. Send it to me at sharky@computerworld.com. You'll score a shark shirt strong if you use it. Add your comments below, and read some great old Sharkives stories in.

The Best of Shark Tank includes more than 70 tales of it woe inserted by you, our readers, since 1999. Which all goes to show, conclusively, that users and hapless idiot boss are phenomena in the world. Free registration is all that is required Download for the best of Shark Tank (PDF).

Vimpelcom comes West: genius or madness? (Reuters)

Barcelona (Reuters) – as the cream of the best way to make money from mobile data telecommunications industry debates Alexander Izosimov to Vimpelcom only in betting its balance sheet over it in Western Europe outside fashion.

Vimpelcom Izosimov aims to make mobile phone company in the world, Fifth in competition with the likes of Vodafone and Telefonica after buying telecom assets of Egyptian Tycoon Naguib Sawiris for about $ 6 billion.

Company phone number two of Russia is bidding to buy emerging markets control focused Orascom Telecom and check of 100% of Italy's wind, although Egypt is not included in the transaction.

Izosimov, speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, was unrepentant about the annual strategy.

"Actually we will create a platform different to riding the wave of data growth starting from the West to emerging markets," said Izosimov.

The Italian market with its high smartphone penetration and margins close to 50% is perfectly positioned for growth data, said and added that she made her mind to pursue the deal with Sawiris mobile fair last year.

SOLO TRAILBLAZER

Buyers in emerging markets has fuelled telecom mergers and acquisitions in recent years as their own markets have become more competitive and growth has slowed to high single digits.

Not many leaders from developing economies are expected to follow Izosimov in Western Europe, where growth is much lower still, though.

"Vimpelcom is brave, going West, but Western Europe has a history of managing margins ... on a good day, you have 2-3 percent growth," said Mark Newman, chief research officer at Informa Telecoms & Media.

While other executives share the belief in the potential of mobile broadband--AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson described as the biggest transformation in his 28 years in the industry--most companies are still deciding on the business model to address it.

MTS, the largest mobile phone companies of Russia, thinks that obstacles such as the high cost of international roaming will be cap application for the mobile internet in the coming years.

"I'm not seeing big money going after again, mobile data," said MTS Mikhail Shamolin chief executive.

"Remember, people who have invested in the internet in 1998 have lost everything. What you expected to happen in 2000, did not happen until 2008. Vimpelcom may prove to be right (by moving quickly), but we are taking a more conservative approach. "

Rich cash Turkcell is planning on staying close to home, if makes acquisitions.

"We love our neighborhood and the North Africa, we realize in those regions," said Executive Director Sureyya Ciliv.

UAE Etisalat, also a profiteer prolific with the ambition of becoming a global top 10, it's cool on the Western Europe.

Jamal al Jarwan, head of international investments to Etisalat, is trying to take a stake in Kuwait's Zain for $ 12 billion, said companies need to approach M & A in a selective way to be successful at it.

"We've got serious in 2006, but to be honest at first we were shooting in all directions ... We looked at the Portugal Telecom, active in mature markets ... but decided that we needed a more focused strategy, "he said.

"M & A is sexy, but it is difficult to get your ABCs collection".

Etisalat's portfolio includes assets in 18 countries ranging from West Africa to Indonesia.

(Editing by David Cowell)

British court approves extradition Assange of WikiLeaks

A judge Thursday approved the request of British Sweden extradition Julian Assange, even if the founder of WikiLeaks crenellations of appeal.

District judge Howard Riddle rejected arguments that not having Assange a fair trial in Sweden due to the custom of the country of printing and the public from sexual assault trials. Riddle also said this is a "reasonable assumption" that Assange "was deliberately avoid interrogation" before the period left Sweden when prosecutors were in talks with his lawyer in questioning him ...

Assange has seven days to appeal the judgment. If he does call, extradition could proceed in 10 days, said Riddle while reading of the judgment in Belmarsh security unit Magistrates ' Court in the South-East London.

The Australian 39-year-old is accused of illegal coercion, sexual harassment and rape incidents with two women last August that were consensual Assange supports. He still has not been charged by the Swedish prosecutor, a fact its lawyers used to argue against extradition. If he is convicted and sentenced, Assange could face a maximum of four years in prison.

Assange attorneys suggest even during the two-day-a-half extradition hearing earlier this month that Sweden's pursuit of continuous Assange is connected to the release of some diplomatic cables WikiLeaks 250,000 for U.S. secret.

Assange was free on bail since December on condition that he surrender his passport, wear an electronic monitoring device and regularly check in with the police. Assange was staying a manor in the East of England possessed by Vaughan Smith, founder of Frontline Club journalism organization.

The Attorney General of the United States said that assange was under investigation to determine if he played a role in illegally obtaining U.S. classified material, but no charge has been filed. Cable release of WikiLeaks has provoked strong statements from some U.S. politicians on the right: former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee called for the death penalty for those who have published the cables, while the former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told Assange should be driven with the same urgency as al-sina'a ida and Q a Taliban leaders.

Assange's legal Team seized on comments, saying that if Assange was extradited, Sweden would face intense pressure from the United States. However, if the United States filed a request for extradition by Sweden, the UK Government should give its approval to extradition.

Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com

Lenovo intros new ThinkPad T, L and w series laptops

After the inauguration of a couple of Sandy Bridge equipped ThinkPad Edge at CES, Lenovo is refreshing the rest of its business-oriented lineup with new Core i5 processors 2011 and i7, integrated and discrete graphics options, new video and voice call functionality, better power management, and new features for better management.

The company claims that the new laptops incorporating "technologies self-aware and adaptive components is not used for certain tasks is turned off. So, for example, when someone is watching a movie, Lenovo is capable of reducing the power draw on port E-SATA, SD card or different places where the power is not required. This, combined with the characteristics of on-chip power-efficiency of Intel Sandy Bridge, is likely to increase the battery life of up to 30% compared to previous models.

Line of laptop Lenovo's entry-level business saw the addition of 14-inch and 15.6-inch L420 L520 starting from $ 719. Both models can be configured with up to 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU 2620M and a maximum of 8 GB of DDR3 memory, and sports four USB 2.0 ports, 1 x eSATA, ExpressCard 54 slot/34 mm, a media card reader and DisplayPort.

New models in the series of performance ThinkPad T include the 14 inch T420 printer and leaner version of T420s with 15 inch T520 printer. The first two are priced at $ 779 or $ 1329, respectively and will be available with Nvidia Optimus. The slim T420s, four-pound reportedly will start 30% faster than the previous model, and the slightly thicker T420 printer and heavier will last up to 30 hours on a charge with his share of nine-cell extended battery.

Finally, Lenovo has also updated W520 workstation with a range of Core i5 and i7 processors, up to a whopping 32 GB of RAM, and a dedicated Framework 100 M 2000M graphics or Nvidia featuring up to 2 GB of graphics memory. Also hosts two USB 3.0 ports and can be configured with up to 160 GB SSD. The W520 starts at $ 1329 and comes with ISV certification for DSS CATIA, SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD, Adobe, and Maya.

Lenovo updates the voice calling functions on its new range of Thinkpads with dual array microphones, a LED-lit microphone mute key and keyboard noise reduction technology, and some models are also bundled with Intel VPro Core platform hardware and software for IT managers to manage and protect portable computers remotely. All computers are laptops will be available in March from Lenovo business partners and www.lenovo.com.

Google search makes use of social network photos

If you're out in public, you are fair game, but as you want if a foreigner has taken the image and then ran a search to find out your name, alias online and any information about yourself through this image? We're almost there with face-recognition technology and social media aggregation. Although several companies are exploring that Kingdom, Google recently released a patent in Europe to use facial recognition and social networking combine to give visual search results.

Google Googles is a recognition of image search for mobile phones that allows users curious to take a picture of anything as a reference point, and then do a search for information about the item in question.  A user does not need to type or speak to start searching; It is as easy as opening the app, take a picture and then waiting for search results.

Although in December 2009, Google has decided not to immediately begin using facial recognition technology for Google Goggles visual search in August 2010, Google has acquired Like.com, which is a Visual search engine currently used for shopping. First Like.com helped buyers online, was a Visual search site called Riya that uses facial recognition technology to search images that users have uploaded and tagged. Way back in 2005, Google bought almost Riya. So with the acquisition of Like.com, Google has acquired technology of Riya too. Other patent filings has recently become public, suggesting that Google has worked together to apply the technology visual query to search for faces.

Recent Google patent filing for user interface for the presentation of search results for multiple areas of a Query Visual suggests that it may be evolving Visual search in Google for smartphones. When you lock a photo, often includes many things, such as buildings in the background, road signs or even people. When you run a query that the picture, Google can penetrate the picture all those different pieces and research for each object within the image--including facial recognition search.

Another Google patent, face recognition with Social Network facilitation, was recently published in Europe, even if it was made around the time that Google bought Like.com. The abstract patent describes research of facial recognition to "one or more probably names" of the people in the picture. After this query "potentially" found one or more personal identification numbers for each person, it will scour "communications applications, social networking applications, applications, calendar, and collaborative applications" to create a list of possible identity for each person. The patent description, shows that if the photo has been marked with the name of a person, "that picture could be queries used facial recognition in future to recognize the person".

As regards privacy, Google has several possible scenarios: to send just one "identifiers" to the person; optionally allowing only the subject identified to make public the photos, or to send a request, after which a person is positively identified, wondering if the image can be a result of research aimed to visual query other persons from within their social network.

InformationWeek found that the inventors listed in the patent application shall include "David Petrou, Andrew Rabinovich and Adam Hartwig" who worked also on Google Googles. It seems as if Google is close to reaching its goal of integrating facial recognition in visual search, but Google is certainly not the only company with big plans to use facial recognition search.

The interpreter has suggested other applications such as Viewdlw, with floating facial recognition on the fly could help "stalkers Government." Viewdle allows users label and save "faceprints" of people and then share the "faceprint them with other users of Viewdle so that they can recognize that the person too!" Privacy settings photosharing are integrated with the Facebook privacy settings.

Some people may not have privacy concerns with visual searches that use facial recognition, but there are a lot of people worried about protecting your privacy. For example, when you leave your home and go walking, wearing a badge in public or at the Mall as a visual aide constant for anyone and everyone to identify the user? That seems a little above me, but isn't that similar to tag a picture with the name of a person and then that image search face becoming fodder? Wear a name tag with the name at all times in public is a personal choice, but there isn't much choice, if someone decides to tag in an image.

Dictators and Governments are already identify people based on real names and photos posted in social media. CNN has posted an interview with examples of when the Internet could help a dictator like Facebook people who need to use their real name instead of aliases. Another example was after the Iranian protests were over in 2009, the Government has gone through Flickr and collected pictures of protestors, posted those pictures on the websites of the Government and then unknown faces circled in red ink.

Access time is concerned mainly with the Facebook policy requiring real names, complete and launched the online petition called, "unfriend the Dictators." Yet how much easier it is to identify dissidents when facial recognition software allows a Government to search and compare the faces photographed with their database, or even millions of photos stored on Facebook or other social networking sites?

I'm not saying that all Visual search technology of facial recognition is bad. It might be cool or it could be a dream stalkers. We all have good and bad days, so the ability to use face research could be used accordingly. It could be used for something wonderful like love at first sight and help track down that first alien visa in a crowded public place. Or it could be used for some time irascible as I take a photo to try and track down that jerk that is cut off in traffic. In the case of dissidents, do research could be a death sentence.

Baidu accused China of bias research in the complaint of monopoly

Biggest search engine in China, Baidu, is facing a potential antitrust investigation after the company was accused of blocking and degrading the search query results to a Chinese website online encyclopedia.

The company behind the website of Wikipedia as Hudong.com, said it has filed its complaint successfully with China's State administration for industry and Commerce (SAIC). The complaint requests SAIC to begin an investigation in anti-trust against Baidu and eventually the search giant 790 million yuan (120 million).

Hudong, however, does not know if or when it will begin an investigation of Baidu. SAIC can not be reached for comment.

Hudong began operations in 2005, a year before Baidu has launched its own online encyclopedia. Hudong said that his articles on popular topics are ranked low in the query results when searched on Baidu. Other search engines like Google and Microsoft Bing, rank, however, Hudong articles at the top.

"We are convinced that Baidu has used its dominant position to bully and block competitors," said Pan Haidong, CEO of Hudong.

A representative of Baidu said that the company did not want to comment on why the spokesperson was not available.

Baidu is the dominant search engine in the country, with a market share of 75.5% according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.

Baidu has faced similar accusations from Chinese websites alleging that the company has a deliberate distortion, said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting. "None of the above allegations of this nature have had a significant impact on Baidu," he said.

In his defense, Baidu could always argue that the company uses a different search algorithm of a query result ranking over its competitors, Natkin added. "I don't think that will make a difference," said complaint of Hudong. "There has been no case in which (Baidu) lost millions of dollars or has had to significantly alter its business."

Baidu's dominance in the search market, however, has no doubt given advantages over small businesses Internet hoping to remain visible in the market, said Xu Dong, an analyst with Analysys International. "Small businesses want a level playing field, and this is very important to them," he said. "Believe that the Government should take measures to make more profitable the Internet market to them."

Brilliance EN podium (is not a contradiction in terms)

23 February 2011-11: 00 A.M.

Opportunities for public speaking can be builders of career or career killers.  You've probably heard the statistics that say people are more afraid of public speaking than death, and could be one of them.  But did you realize that the non-technical audience members can be even more afraid of what they are.  Often they are bombarded with technical information are encouraged to understand, but they cannot feel competent to grasp.  As technologists, we are in a unique position to exceed expectations of our audience when we step on the podium.  Imagine the delight of the audience when our presentation is polished, professional and understandable.

The next time you're asked to give a presentation to a board, a group of users, a Manager, or a club or a Church event, use these 10 tips to ensure success when you are called to the podium:

1) Prepare a lot.

To continue reading, please register here and become an Insider. You will have free access to premium content from Network World, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld and CIO. See more Insider content or access.

An IPhone makes Disneyland a place even happier

Translate Request has too much data
Parameter name: request
Translate Request has too much data
Parameter name: request

The last time my wife and I went to Disneyland, around a dozen years ago, navigating the sprawling Southern California theme parked involved grabbing a paper map at the entrance, noting the attractions we wanted to see, and then walking in the general direction of each of those rides. When we came upon a busy ride--anything with a line of, say, over an hour--we debated whether it made sense to wait the wait right then, or to come back later...knowing full well that the next ride we walked to might have an even longer line.

When it was time to eat, we stepped into the nearest restaurant; if nothing on the menu tickled our fancy--or if it was too pricey for our budget--we moved on to the next one, and then the next one, and so on. Sometimes we'd visit five or six restaurants before deciding that the first one was actually the best option.

That's probably a familiar scenario to anyone who's been to a major amusement park. On a busy day, you might wind up enjoying six or seven rides (if you're lucky) and spending quite a bit of money on food you don't even particularly like.

Today's amusement park experience, however, is quite different from what I went through 12 years ago. And the iPhone is a major reason why. From planning your trip to finding your way from Adventureland to Tomorrowland, a number of iOS apps can help you squeeze every last minute of enjoyment out of a trip to the Magic Kingdom. I discovered as much the other week when my family--which includes two young children this time around--visited Disneyland armed with an iPhone and a few relevant apps.

Planning the visit

Before we even left for the trip, we used the $4 Disneyland iGuide - Walkee to decide which attractions we wanted to see and ride. Although the app's interface is a bit cluttered, Walkee is a great way to plan your day--or days--at the Magic Kingdom. Its map shows an icon for each attraction; a tap on an icon shows that attraction's name. Tap the more-info arrow, and you see a brief description of the attraction and its history; for rides, this screen also inclues a Tummy Tester advisory (for those with weak stomachs), any height requirements, the length of the ride, and a section on typical wait times for the ride (based on historical data). There's also a Schedule feature that shows hours, events, and closures for the days you'll be at the park.

Using this information, you can mark as favorites each of those things you want to see or ride. The app was also useful for helping us figure out which rides would be appropriate for our toddler and which ones should probably wait until the kids are older. For example, at first glance, the Snow White ride seemed like a good option, but the description noted that it's a bit scary for small children.

What's especially useful is that Walkee lets you customize its map to display only the info you want to see. We opted to show favorites, character meets, and restrooms; once we got to the park, we could easily see which attractions we wanted to visit without being distracted by everything else on the map. (I wish the app provided an option to remove items from the map once I marked them as completed, however.) We also knew where to go for the kids to take photos with Disney characters, and where to quickly find the nearest restroom--which, as any parent with small children can tell you, was a welcome option, as kids at Disneyland have a tendency to claim they don't need to use the facilities until about 30 seconds before it's too late.

My biggest complaint about Walkee was that its map, while pretty, is cartoonish and not great for actually navigating the park. And while the app can give you almost-live updates of ride wait times, the interface for this feature isn't very helpful: You can see all wait times in a single list, sorted alphabetically, or you can tap a ride on the main map to view just that ride's wait time.

Navigating the park

A better park-navigation option is the $2 Disneyland Maps (also available in a free-with-ads version). This app provides a detailed, accurate map of the park; zoom in, and you see every attraction (in red), restaurant (in green), and restroom. But unlike Walkee, Disneyland Maps displays the name of each attraction and restaurant. Tapping an item displays a photo of it, and a More Info button gives you a quick description, although you won't find nearly as much info in this app as you will in Walkee.

The best feature in Disneyland Maps is that its excellent map also displays nearly-live wait times for every applicable ride without having to go to a different screen. As with every other wait-time app, the times in Disneyland Maps aren't sanctioned by Disney, but I found them to be accurate within five or ten minutes, which made the wait-times feature indispensable during our visit. A casual glance at my iPhone's screen showed us which nearby rides had the shortest waits, and let us avoid the most-popular rides until their lines got shorter. (If an estimate is dramatically off, you can submit your actual wait time to improve the app's accuracy.) Thanks to the app, we never waited more than 15 minutes for a ride, and we made it onto many rides in under five minutes.

Granted, February may be a relatively uncrowded time at Disneyland, but many rides still had long waits at various times. For example, on the second day of our trip, we ended up waiting only 10 minutes to ride Indiana Jones, despite hour-long waits most of the day, and we jumped right on the temporarily-closed Jungle Cruise when it re-opened. Because we often took detours to catch short lines, our route through the park wasn't a smooth loop, but we ended up doing less walking than if we'd blindly cycled through the park looking for short waits. (What would make Disneyland Maps even more efficient would be a notification option that let you know when a particular ride's wait drops below a duration you choose--for example, when the Space Mountain line drops below 20 minutes.)

Both Walkee and Disneyland Maps are GPS-enabled, so you can quickly see exactly where you are in the park. We never had to wonder where, exactly, we were or how to get to a particular attraction.

Dining directory

The final app that made our visit better was the free (ad-supported) Disneyland Dining, which shows a list of all park restaurants, sorted either alphabetically or--more useful--by distance from your current location. Tap any restaurant and you get a quick description, a photo, and a list of the restaurant's vitals: the price range, whether it's quick or sit-down, whether reservations are needed, and the type of food (American, Cajun-Creole, Italian, and so on). Best of all, you can view each restaurant's complete menu, including prices.

For a family with small children, this proved invaluable. Wherever we were in the park, we could stop and browse the menus of every nearby restaurant, making it easy to find a nearby eatery--or a couple close to each other--with reasonably-priced offerings to satisfy everyone. Over two days, we avoided half a dozen restaurant-hopping episodes thanks to the app.

Disneyland Dining also lets you mark particular restaurants as favorites and then restrict the list to just those places. If a restaurant requires reservations, or if you plan to meet up with others at a particular time, you can enter that information (including reservation number) and then view your entire dining schedule on a single screen. You can also call Disney's dining-reservation line directly from the app.

Other options

The main goal of my recent Disneyland trip was to spend time with my family, not test a slew of iPhone apps. Nevertheless, a quick search of the App Store will turn up a lot of offerings geared toward visits to Disney's assorted theme parks, and a few of these apps have tickled the fancy of other Macworld reviewers.

UPinPoint.com has a mobile box set of maps for the assorted Disney World parks that's won rave reviews; the developer's Disneyland California Mini Guide contains maps of both Disneyland and the California Adventure park, and it won't cost you a dime. Likewise, our reviewers have praised TimeStream Software's mobile Walt Disney World Guide for the Florida theme parks; the developer also offers a version for Disneyland.

As I mentioned above, I found Disneyland Maps' wait times feature perfectly suited to my family's needs. But the free Disneyland MouseWait Social Wait Times app received a glowing assessment from one of Macworld's reviewers, though personally, the app's a little too difficult to navigate for my tastes and it lacks a map of the park. Still, it does give you access to some good info, and you can sort the wait-times list by time.

If you're a fan of the Toy Story Mania game--and my colleague Philip Michaels insists you should be--you can unlock what Disney bills as a "special surprise" if you fire up the app at the Toy Story Mania attraction in the California Adventure park.

Tomorrowland, indeed

Of course, using these apps meant I had my iPhone in my hand, or within easy reach, most of our visit. (Which, sadly, meant I fit right in with all the folks texting and checking e-mail while they walked around, while they waited in line, or even while on the rides--appropriately enough for Southern California, people were even talking on their phones while driving the Autopia cars.) But thanks to my iPhone, in the approximately 13 hours we were in the park, we were able to enjoy 31 rides. Even during low season, 10 rides in an eight-hour day is often considered outstanding.

For my family, this was a prime example of how a handheld computer with a live Internet connection and some clever apps can add to the family vacation, rather than take away from it. After planning our visit and navigating the park using iPhone apps, we'll never go back to the "old fashioned" way. While some might bemoan the technological approach, with Disneyland ticket prices getting ever higher--it cost us $220 per day, and that was with free admission for our toddler--I welcome any way to get more bang for my buck. And our kids had a blast, going on ride after short-line ride.

In fact, nothing we saw in Tomorrowland held a candle to the "We're in the future!" feeling we got from our app-enhanced experience in the Magic Kingdom.

Dan Frakes is a senior editor for Macworld.

For more Macintosh computing news, visit Macworld. Story copyright © 2010 Mac Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Swedish Pirate lucks, a fine of $ 7 for each song

It seems that the Sweden plans to punish filesharers sentenced with fines more reasonable that we are accustomed to seeing in the United States. TorrentFreak reports that a court in Sweden has found a man of Uppsala 26-year-old guilty of illegally sharing 37 songs online and face a fine of 2000 kronor, which equates to about $ 311 or $ 7 for each song.

In comparison, a U.S. Court ordered Jammie Thomas-Rasset to pay $ 1.5 million in damages in 2010 for illegally sharing 24 songs or an absurd $ 62,500 per file. In one case, lesser known, Joel Tenenbaum was slammed with a fee of $ 67,500 for sharing 24 songs, and that sum was reduced from the jury's assessment of damages of $ 675,000.

It is said that the Swedish court initially requested the man with no name pay around $ 45 for every song that would work in approx. $ 1980, but in the end was lowered. "Swedish courts may be coming slowly their directions regarding non-commercial infringements of the copyright monopoly," said the founder of the Pirate Party Rick Falkvinge.

"The verdict is in sharp contrast to the political judgment in the Pirate Bay trial, where four people were sentenced to long prison sentences and paying 3, 500, 000 for aiding simply sharing possibly 33 works," he continued. Do you think that the judgment of Sweden will set the precedence for the future of filesharing cases across Europe and in the United States?

Dell Optiplex 780 Minitower PC, $ 509

When the Dell Optiplex 780 was released last year, we were somewhat conflicting. There is a lot to like about this class business minitower PC, but the odd monitor all-in-one that was bundled with your PC and the high price $ 1339 left us cold. (Read "Dell Optiplex 780 USFF: Business-class performance at a price that's Hard to Swallow" for more information.) Now, however, Dell has the Optiplex 780 sale for only $ 509--and you can choose your monitor.

For hot tech deals in your inbox every week, Subscribe to PCWorld Bargain Bulletin.

Watson as you pass the danger, but shows weakness (NewsFactor)

On the second day of his appearance in TV SHOW Jeopardy, IBM Watson supercomputer devastated its human opponents. But even Watson, with 90 IBM Power 750 servers, have weak points.

On Tuesday, the world's smartest Computer blew past his opponents based on carbon, Ken Jennings samples and Brad Rutter. At the conclusion of the evening, the computer has racked up $ 35,734 while Rutter had $ 10,400 $ 4800 and Jennings. At the end of Monday's game, Watson was linked with Rutter $ 5,000 each, with Jennings in 2000 dollars. The game ends Wednesday.

Is fundamentally different from humans

The winner gets $ 1 million. As Watson is not designed for shopping, IBM will donate the prize to charity if he wins his creation. The two men said they'll donate half if they manage to pull off on Wednesday.

Eric Nyberg, Carnegie Mellon University Professor of computer science who led a CMU team that helped IBM, commented that Watson's answers "fundamentally different" from human beings. For example, a competitor can buzz and takes few seconds to respond, while Watson will buzz only when you have a high degree of confidence that the answer is correct. Watson may develop and evaluate two million pages of information in three seconds. But if the question is short, Watson is a disadvantage, because it takes three seconds to complete on every issue.

Most difficult questions can throw out Watson. In a brief moment of happiness for human whiffed badly partisans, Watson on final Jeopardy Tuesday. The category was the city of United States, and the symptom response was: "largest airport of the city is named after a hero of World War II; the second largest, for a battle of World War II. " The correct answer was "what is Chicago?" Both humans responded correctly. Watson, who never spent much time in airports, much less U.S. ones, replied "what is the Toronto?"

On his blog smarter planet, IBM David Ferruci, project manager, Watson was quoted as saying that the computer had learned the names of the category "only weakly suggest the type of answer that is expected and, therefore, the machine would despise their meanings." Furthermore, he noted, there are cities in the United States called Toronto and Toronto, Canada has an American League baseball team.

Career Post-Jeopardy Watson

But the good news for Terminator-wannabes is that Watson is continuously learning how categories work in danger. He also learned to be wary of betting. As his level of confidence for the final Jeopardy question of Tuesday was low, it only bet $ 947 gain riled.

On the blog of IBM, IBM Steven Hamm noticed some of the uses for intelligence Watson after calm from the fame of danger. In medicine, he predicted, "a patient a doctor can describe a certain symptom or a high level of pain, which on the surface it may seem like an important clue to the cause of the noise." But could discover Watson, sifting through and its huge repository of data, another symptom might be the real key for diagnosis of weighing.

Other applications might include sifting through case law relevant to find previous, helping governments examine the requests from clients or social services, help intelligence agencies in the analysis of information flows, or reach out to the call center.

Adobe ideas App now features Premium levels, more

Adobe has apparently some new ideas for ideas, iOS vector drawing app. A new update adds a feature to premium levels, improved panning and zoom, and support for the Apple VGA adapter.

Most significant is the adding of layers, which is available as an in-app purchase for $ 5 (ideas itself is free). Users can have 10 levels, as well as one additional layer of photos for each sketch. The move tool makes it easy to check, resize, and rotate a layer, and users can specify the order of opacity and layer as they wish.

Another significant new feature is the inclusion of support for external displays and projectors, sketches of meaning can be demonstrated in real time on a big screen. However, in order to benefit, you need Apple Dock Connector to VGA Adapter.

Are also included in the update more reactive pan and zoom, the ability to move the toolbar to the left or right of the screen and improved smoothing for drawing tool of the program that should help prevent unsightly edges.

Ideas is a free download and requires any iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running iOS 3.1 or later.

For other Macintosh computing news, visit Macworld. Story copyright © 2010 Mac Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Microsoft CIO: before you go to Google, ask questions

The mounting pressure to move resources EN the cloud has added a level of complexity to an already complex work of CIO.

To tackle the difficult cloud migration, Microsoft has posted a blog listing five key themes that society is heard from IT leaders consider parts of their business on the move to a cloud platform. Two standout themes are the desire for a long-term commitment by a provider of cloud and the guarantee of security and privacy.

Yet another theme in the minds of CIOS, according to the blog writer Ron Markezich, corporate VP of Microsoft Online, is the definition of what should be a provider of cloud: a service provider or a business partner?

Businesses want to overwhelming majority a partner with a proven track record in enterprise which can establish a roadmap to long-term, writes Markezich. In a separate post for this week, Markezich goes a step further by calling out Google rival Microsoft cloud as a wannabe enterprise with commitment problems.

Microsoft is clearly feeling the footsteps of Google. Last fall the search giant announced that it has 3 million Google Apps customers.

Latest blog Post Microsoft wants to remind buyers that is "all in" for cloud and decades more business acumen than this Internet research company called Google feisty.

Microsoft apprehension is understandable. The software giant was winning cloud deals with government agencies and organizations to use its BPOS suite of cloud services for email, collaboration and productivity apps (now called Office 365). But in December, Google beat Microsoft to a whopper with GSA contract for 6.7 million in five years for the migration of 17,000 employees of Government out different versions of IBM Lotus Notes and Domino software to Google Apps.

In addition, Google has landed contracts with agencies of State Government, as the State of Wyoming and in November, Google has filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior, arguing that DOI bidding process for a contract worth € 49.3 million in five years benefited, unjustly, Microsoft.

So needless to say, there is a cloud of war going on between these giants tech and Google is winning a surprising amount of offers of Government. Undertakings may be far behind?

Blog Post deliberately targets Google Markezich as he lists five questions that CIOs should ask when negotiating with Google over its own cloud services.

You have a proven track record?

"Microsoft believes that the best approach is to help organizations move the cloud on their terms, not ours. Our track record in assisting corporate clients to achieve their goals speaks for itself. Does Google? "

How much it cost to get my people productive?

"Why firms resist fully deploying Google Apps? Because it means that users who are accustomed to Microsoft Office, accepting limited interoperability with other line of business applications, retraining and dealing with limited functionality of Google is expensive.

What are your privacy policies?

"Do a careful review of the privacy policy; You will always know where your data? Microsoft designs its solutions from the ground up for security and privacy and are supported by two decades of business needs.

What is your roadmap to long term?

"Google and others often surprise their clients unexpectedly by removing important features or adding new-which increases both headache and cost. We understand that you operate a business, not a laboratory for our newest experiment. "

You can support all of my people with what they need?

"Not everyone in a company is located on the campus of Silicon Valley with high speed Internet and not all of them don't even have a dedicated computer. What they need is access to business resources. Microsoft provides a variety of options for the different roles people play in your company. "

Click here for the full blog post from Microsoft.

Shane O'Neill covers Microsoft Windows, operating systems, productivity applications and Online services for CIO.com. Follow Shane on Twitter @ smoneill. Follow everything from CIO.com on Facebook and Twitter @ CIOonline. Shane email to soneill@idgenterprise.com

Read more about cloud computing in the Cloud Computing drill-down of the IOC.

Four attitudes of key IT leadership

Sun Tzu observed that "strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory", and "tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." Today, IT managers must pay as much attention to the business strategy as they do to technical solutions. Need to find a balance in their approach to IT projects that allows them to spend at least as much time to consider the best ways to conduct business as they spend taking the best technology to achieve their goals.

Listening

He needs to listen to the needs of business and technology trends. This is clear. But what can not be more clear is where new developments are emerging that it will have an impact. It must listen more than only on market trends for enterprise solutions.  You must also pay attention to consumer trends, especially in the field of mobile computing. Disruptive technologies--technologies that offer greater advantages, but require major adjustments in the way of doing things--can be observed and should be carefully considered so that organizations can achieve the right balance between functionality and proven solutions. An attitude of listening will allow you to discover the needs of business users, and the right mix of technology to serve those needs.

Innovation

My company invests in innovation, as do many IT vendors.  Recent investment of 100 million Intel in academic research are only the last piece of evidence that shows that the era of innovation is far from over. However, innovation is as much about culture as it is technology. Innovation is not simply the responsibility of IT vendors and software companies. Enterprise IT departments must be constantly looking for the best way. An attitude of innovation will allow the IT organization, finding a balance between current needs and anticipate future needs. An IT Department shouldn't try to be the foundation that cements an organization in place, but rather the wheels that allow you to keep moving forward.

Service

The purpose of listening and innovation in the IT organization is to achieve a higher level of service. Technologists in my company, and at most IT vendors are proud about the efficiency of their solutions. After all, is automated machine manipulation of information. But to be transformative enterprise today must focus on efficiency.real Transformation that has more to do with business change that elevates the level of service, than with the simple reduction of the costs of existing services. Find the right balance between efficiency and the level of service must be a fundamental concern among IT leaders. An attitude of service enables an IT organization to focus on producing business value, rather than just by reducing operating costs. To be clear, reduce operating costs is one of the key values that an IT Department can offer such a business, but where does his best work, it also improves the processes in a way that leads to better results.

Excellence

Finally, an attitude of excellence is essential to become a world-class IT organization. Learn more about the IT team in organisations such as Allstate, UPS and the United Nations, plus see how these organizations are guided by an attitude of excellence. Excellent organisations have excellent managers and excellent leaders focus on building excellent relations.

Leaders seek improved productivity and improvement of results. Leaders seek to understand what is possible and what should be done.

Regev Yativ is President and CEO of Magic Software enterprises Americas (www.magicsoftware.com).

Smartphone: the next big security headache (PC World)

2011 is the year that mobile security is mainstream. Here at the 2011 RSA Conference in San Francisco many of security software companies I've spoken to have issued--or are planning to release an app mobile security of some kind.

And while the Smartphone is not yet an important goal in the United States, malware, there are reasons to be concerned about the future of mobile security.

One of Android is its openness. Just about anyone can write one application and deploy it without having to go through a review process long sometimes. But as is the case on the PC, this sort of openness makes it possible for malware writers to infiltrate smartphone. Security companies seem to think that Android is the next big target for malware, thanks to this opening and the fact that it runs on so many devices.

Some of the vendors I spoke also seemed concerned that the paranoia that users often make when it comes to downloading and installing the software on a PC may not carry forward to when they use a smartphone, even if there are threats.

Mobile Malware is already a problem in parts of the world. This past week, company of mobile security software that mobile Lookout found a Trojan that circulates through repackaged versions of Android apps and app deployed on alternative markets in China.

Raimund genes, Chief Technology Officer, Trend Micro, notes that malware authors are creating their own mobile shopping app to distribute malware in China. He predicts that in the United States see additional tests-concept malware mobile this year, and that it can become a serious problem in 2012.

Smartphone carrying additional information that we cannot keep on your PC, such as phone numbers of your contacts, photos, you've taken with your smartphone and so on. And unlike a PC, a smartphone that can be easily lost: you probably take your laptop with you if you get up and leave the Starbucks you're browsing the Web, but it is much easier to leave behind a smartphone.

In fact, Patrick Kennedy, Senior Director of Product Marketing with Webroot, sees this as the greatest threat to Smartphone now. And not surprising, many security smartphone applications that we have seen so far put great emphasis on the protection of your personal information if your smartphone gets lost or stolen.

Smartphone malware is in its infancy and is difficult to say what will happen next, but all signs point toward some serious problems in the not too distant future. In the meantime, keep the guard, remain vigilant and think before you install the next app.

Windows Phone 7 upgrade FAIL: C101002E 81080080 error restoration

By Richi Jennings. February 24, 2011.

The first Windows Phone 7 upgrade failed for some users, with 81080080 update error and the error code C101002E restoration. There is a fix suggested below. Is Microsoft's fault, or Samsung? In IT Blogwatch, bloggers cannot decide where to point the finger.

Your humble blogwatcher curated by these bits bloggy for your entertainment. Not to mention how to marry in s. Korea ...
(MSFT) (SOJA TL 6.51)

Jeremy Kirk is stunned: [You're fired-Ed.]

Microsoft ... He pulled a software update for Samsung mobile phones running Windows Phone 7 after the operating system has caused problems. ... The update is delivered when a user connects to a mobile phone to a computer via a USB cable.
...
Microsoft addresses the highly competitive smartphone market ... iPhone ... BlackBerry and devices that use ... Android. ... Technical problems like this will not help.

Preston Gralla calls update "botched":

It has botched a minor update for Samsung phones that devices "brick". ... Then compounded the error apparently not pulling the update after it said it had. ... Many sites ... reports that the update has not yet been extracted.
...
This is just the latest of the comedy of errors that has become the mobile strategy at Microsoft. Has released a smartphone OS well before Apple or Google and then let it rot. ... The ill-fated Kin [was] one of the worst phone ever designed. The launch of Windows Phone 7 ... It was just exciting at best. And now you can manage to release a minor update correctly---or resolve the issue, when he finds out.

describes Microsoft Michael Stroh:

Contrary to some of the titles dark out there, our preliminary internal data paint a very different picture. ... 90 percent of people that you have received an update notification successfully installed the new software patches. ... 10 per cent of those who did experience a problem, almost half failed ... [from] a bad Internet connection or computer storage space insufficient.
...
Given what we've learned so far, the best way to prepare for the upgrade is to make sure that your computer has an Internet connection and plenty of disk space before you begin.
...
The smartphone world is complex and even a small update as this requires a coordinated effort from multiple companies to pull off.

StefanConijn suggests an unofficial fix:

Here are the steps i followed. ... Follow these steps at your own risk! ... As stubborn as I am that I tried to apply the update again, and it worked! :-)

However,Mary Jo Foley heard different advice from Microsoft:

[I] what could/should do those users whose phones were bricked. ... The word: "Contact your mobile operator or device manufacturer regarding options to repair the device".

Words by Nicholas Kolakowski return to haunt him:

In the past not so far away ... I suggested that implementing smartphone platform had to be near-faultless in order to have the slightest chance of success against Google Android and Apple iPhone. ... One flub of high profile with the Windows Phone 7 hardware or software be liable to any effort spent touting as a viable alternative.
...
I'm not sure that this problem with the update counts as a disaster for the platform, but it's certainly give Windows Phone 7 a burst of negative publicity, which is not necessary.

And finally ...
Not just a wedding, a marriage of Samsung

Don't miss out on IT Blogwatch:

You can also read Richi full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

Shaping up samples for browser battles (AFP)

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Google on Friday released a version of chrome as revved rivals Microsoft and Mozilla strengthened their samples to the arena of competitive Internet navigation software.

In line with the arrival of the lunar year of the rabbit, Google product manager Jeff Chang and Li Chan promoted the latest trial version of Chrome "as quick as a Bunny."

The latest version of chrome came a week after Microsoft has deployed an Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) release candidate Featuring improvements in speed, security, privacy and Web site graphics functionality.

IE9 has been downloaded over two million times as of Friday, according to Ryan Gavin, senior director of the IE team.

"We are particularly happy to see the number of partners and developers embracing and exploiting the IE9 performance capabilities," Gavin said in a blog post.

Mozilla last week released a test version of its Firefox web browser with 4 improvements that included a people of "Do not track" feature may use to report Web sites that do not want their online activities.

"We have continued our work to improve the performance and stability, while also implementing a privacy feature ' Do not Track ' to provide more control over online behavioral tracking," said Mozilla.

Firefox debuted in 2004 as an open source browser, innovative individuals predisposed released as an option for Internet Explorer.

Google released last month extension of the software for its Chrome browser that allows users to opt-out of being tracked by a growing collection of companies adopting privacy industry regarding online advertising.

"Keep My Opt-out" allows users to choose not to have code snippets, called "cookies" are installed on your computer to monitor your online conduct for the purpose of targeting ads.

Microsoft "Security Tracking" was built in IE9, but users must be savvy enough to enable the feature and create lists of third-party Web sites that do not want to track their behavior.

Internet Explorer is the most popular Web browser in the United States followed by Firefox, Chrome and Apple Safari.

MSI to release three 10.1-inch Touchscreen tablet in June

Taiwanese PC maker Micro-Star International (MSI) said Thursday that would target corporate users with the release of three new 10.1-inch touchscreen tablet PC on 1 June, of which two with Windows 7 and a Honeycomb with Google Android OS.

The WindPad tablet running on Android Honeycomb uses an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. The second Tablet has Brazos AMD plus a chipset enhanced viewing and the third is equipped with an Intel Atom processor for handhelds.

The Android device will go on sale for US $ 399, while the Windows 7 WindPad with Intel will start at $ 549, says MSI marketing manager Luc Liao. A price has not yet been set for the model of Windows 7 with the AMD, but said it will likely be among the prices of other WindPads the two.

The WindPad is the Android tablets first honeycomb to cost less than an iPad, which starts at $ 499. Motorola Xoom, carries a price tag of $ 800.

MSI, a manufacturer of 25 years that makes also notebook computer, announced performances for WindPads of 10.1 inches at the Computex Taipei electronics show last year.

MSI claims battery life for six hours to Windows tablets and eight on the Android system. All models are fitted with accelerometers to detect the orientation of the device and rotate images on the screen depending on how it is being held, as well as an automatic light sensor to adjust the brightness of the screen to better match the user's lighting situation and Wi-Fi, according to the MSI.

The Android Tablet weighs 800 grams and just 13 mm at its thinnest point.

When all three tablets are released, MSI expects to attract business users who prefer Windows on an Apple, said Liao.

"If you like Mac OS, you will choose iPad, but if you prefer Windows 7 or Android, you will choose our own," said Liao. "Business people who use Windows already will find that these tablets work with what you did before."

Helen Chiang, research manager at IDC in Taipei said that the new MSI WindPads prices were in line with other tablets not Apple. And MSI will meet resistance if it distributes tablets as a replacement for laptops, because the three models are too small for easy use of the software, such as spreadsheets, she said.

"Consumers would see it more as a secondary device," said Chiang.

Other companies like Sony, Acer and Asustek computer, are preparing this year to take on iPad, which was the dominant tablet PC maker last year with approximately 90 percent of the global market 17 million units, according to IDC.

Market research firm DisplaySearch estimates that 56 million tablets will be produced in 2011, more than 200 percent in 2010 shipments.

Top 10 Twitter trends this week [CHART] (Mashable)

The first rule of Twitter trends: never underestimate the power of American Awards shows. While we have seen steady international sports, entertainment and beat out the cultural policy trends bigger than U.S. on Twitter, American broadcasts like Grammys last weekend will almost always be pie. Powered by surprise win of Esperanza Spalding as Best New Artist (a powerful sub-trend in itself), the Grammys were number one this week the Twitterverse.

Holidays always accumulate enough power in the trend to make the chart, and it's not a surprise to see the Valentines day pop in number two (Muslim observance of the birth of Muhammad, Maulid Nabi, will appear at number eight). In addition, consider the trends top entertainment last week, shuffle them around a bit and you have the most chart this week.

For a complete list of key trends, check the chart below, compiled by our friends at what the trend. Because this is a list of current events, games and hashtag memes were omitted from the graph.

You can check Twitter trends in our Top Twitter topic section and read more about this past trends of the week on what the trend of the past.

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, 123render

Dell XPS Update 15, 17 with Sandy Bridge, GT500M series

Dell has revamped its XPS 15 and 17 notebook, adding the latest Silicon from Intel and Nvidia. The smallest machine can be equipped with one of three Sandy Bridge Core i7 processors up to 2.7 GHz, as well as a 1 GB Nvidia GeForce GT525M or 2 GB GT540M.

The basic package comes with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM which maxes out at 8 GB, while peak storage 750 GB to 256 GB or mechanics for flash. For a premium, 15.6-inch display can be updated from 720 p to 1080p, with or without facial recognition technology.

The largest system adds a Core i7 and Core i5 chips the two mix and increments the graphics to a 1 GB GeForce GT550M or 3 GB GT555M. It is also with the Nvidia 3D vision kit and a 3D-ready display, while max RAM and storage are increased to 16 GB and 1.2.

Both come with your choice of DVD or Blu-Ray, six-or nine-drums, as well as a 9-in-1 card reader, a 2MP camera, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 1.4, Bluetooth 3.0, and optional WWAN modules and Wireless Display alongside the usual connectivity.

the XPS 15 starts at $ 1,050 while 17 XPS kicks off at $ 900, and both have currently a estimated ship date of March 15. Dell simultaneously stopped the 14 XPS Core processors based on Intel's first-gen, although it has not been introduced yet another new model.

What future could mean features of your MacBook Pro for OS X

Apple [AAPL] should introduce its super powerful all-new MacBook Pro and his iPad tomorrow 2 March (below) and leaked information as its new feature raises even more interesting ideas for what we hope to see inside Mac OS X Lion when it ships later this year.

Websites usually there are hitting with usual grainy images to show elements of these new Macs, presumably like who is leaking using mail Mac to prepare the mill to maximize advertising once the products actually appear.

What is known today?

Among other things, the new Mac Professional will offer large trackpads and supporting Intel LightPeak, (which provides for the transfer of data 10Gbits speed per second) is christened in typical Apple fashion as "Thunderbolt" and placed where the DisplayPort to be used.

Fscklog.com German site Apple claims the following features:

2.3 GHz Dual core Intel i5 processor with 3 MB L3 cache (as expected, Apple is going through the Sandy Bridge) 4 GB DDR SDRAM 1, 333MHz320GB, 5,400 rpm drive13.3 inch, processor 1.280-x-800 screenIntel 3000 HD graphics with its 384 MB of DDR memoryA SuperDrive (optical is still not so dead) Thunderbolt, Mini-display port, Firewire 800, USB 2.0, output, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth optical digital audio

A report yesterday, let us know that the new Mac will ship with 16 GB SSD drives on all models to store the operating system. While this statement has not been confirmed losses later by French sites usually accurate, is food for thought.

What is interesting, other than introduction are not wholly unexpected support LightPeak, here's the move to embrace SSD so greedily. Here's where speculation regarding the future of the operating system.

Leo is slim, trim and dangerous to know

What the movement teaches us is that Apple is now working to ensure the core of Mac OS is able to work comfortably when taking on a drive of 20 GB.

This means that Apple continues to implement the technologies to reduce the code needed to manage the Mac, debt supposedly from projects of miniaturization of code within the iOS team.

Switching to seize the operating system on a separate disk SSD will make for instant start up your Mac, which is nice. Of course, also hints at enormous improvements in security, as the operating system is kept in a place other than the data.

[This story was from Computerworld Holic Apple blog. Follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS to make sure you don't miss a beat].

This last point is important because it means that, in theory, you'll be able to launch any Mac without necessarily being able to access data of another user. Which is both good security and opens another possibility.

Apple's alleged plans for an architecture of cloud based OS claimed to include improvements to MobileMe. These improvements include the ability to store the user's Home Directory in the cloud.

Now imagine that when you start a Mac you are presented with the choice of access to any of the all user identities held the same Mac hardware, along with a new MobileMe option that allows you to log in to your account.

How this might work: the launch of a Mac, you may be able to access at home account system would launch quietly, while the content of the Mac are actually using would remain inaccessible and untouchedAs a user would be presented with a simulacrum of the desktop Mac on your machine, as it was last time synchronized with the Work on its MobileMe. projects without affecting data bit better MacThe? Work synchronizes with your own machines. Even better: you can access your Mac from any media device

This is speculation that came to mind on those claims of impending Apple division between the Church of the operating system and the maintenance of user data. It is not so far-fetched, or--PatentlyApple has confirmed that Apple has a plan for a cloud-based iteration of its technology FileVault, which can be called SafetyDeposit.

Public Lion course

We have to wait too long until we learn more about the new operating system. Presumably now in wide use within Apple itself, the company should begin broader distribution alpha software development in the coming weeks. This is likely to be limited to a selection of hand picked developers, rather than any broader distribution, but it is inevitable that you'll learn more about future OS.

After all, Apple wants to tease the market with speculation about the release, in order to maximize adoption once the software launches at the end of the summer.

Apple is eating lunch at the time of the PC industry. HP consumer PC revenues decreased by 12 percent in latest quarter. Dell slipped 8%. Apple sold 23 percent more Mac and iPad 7.3 million. Windows sales grew just 3%, mainly due to the sale of corporate PCs. This has a broader impact supply chain, Apple probably rising influence among producers.

With figures like these industry must be hoping that OS X Lion is an upgrade too far. Even as Apple modestly declares himself "King of the jungle".

Learn more about the MacBook tomorrow when Intel "will host briefing to ... press to discuss a new technology that is going to appear on the market." Apple is expected to roll out the new MacBook Pro on the same day.

Far from being delayed, news of Tablet PC, iPad 2.0 now should make an appearance (although somewhat limited quantities, implying that the now traditional U.S.-first launch Apple loves so much) on 2 March. DigiTimes sources claim that there were about "worth 1-1.5 million units of inventory iPad in channel in January, and since Apple ordered only approximately 1.8-2 million iPad in January, indicates that Apple is already set to phase out iPad first generation iPad 2 and let it take its place."

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. I was also very much like to invite you to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when I post new relationships here before on Computerworld. And feel free to send me suggestions to jonnyATjonnyevans.com.

New targets nonprofit Tech cooperation, social change

A new non-profit Wednesday launched an advocacy group for tech and co-founder of Twitter will focus on using technology to drive improvements in the U.S. education system and other social changes.

One of the goals of ConvergeUS, the brainchild of TechNet, CEO and co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone, is to convene various groups working on a "technology innovation blueprint," a plan for the use of technology and social media to drive social change, said its founders. ConvergeUS will work with three other groups every year to work on social issues, with a Summit each year, where the top thinkers in technology and social issues will gather in Silicon Valley, said Rey Ramsey, CEO of TechNet.

"We have some things really left to do for America," Ramsey said during an event kick-off. "Everybody in this room understands the transformative power of technology. There is almost no area untouched by technology in our lives. But there is still work to do in the social sector. "

A relatively slow pace of technological innovation in the social sector, relation to other areas of growth, "gnaws at me," Ramsey said.

ConvergeUS is based on a philosophy at Twitter that "doing good" is important, Stone said. "You can really have a positive global impact, it is possible to make money, and you can have a lot of fun along the way," he said. "This is a new definition of success for your business. You have all these three things together, or you don't. "

Julius Genachowski [cq], President of the u.s. Federal Communications Commission has appreciated the effort. "All we can do to support this effort to bring our best minds, our talent, our best technology platforms in space, the space of business and social space will pay tremendous dividends, mutually for the country," he said.

The new group will host an annual Summit at the end of this year, social innovators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, problem solvers and subject experts invited to address social issues. The group will work on other social projects as well as three identified as main focuses each year, the founders, he said.

ConvergeUS Wednesday, announced a partnership with two groups focused on improvement of parts of the U.S. education system, elementary reading campaign, a coalition focused on improving reading competence and the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, focused on improving student performance in math and science education.

ConvergeUS has also appointed Babson College as an academic partner. The University of Massachusetts has been rated the # 1 College for entrepreneurship for 14 years running by U.S. News & World Report.

Another non-profit partnership will be announced in a few weeks.

Grant Gross covers technology and telecommunications policy in the Government of the United States for the IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. E-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com of Grant.

' As a ': new book explores models for collaboration

Error deserializing body of reply message for operation ' Translate '. The maximum string content length quota (8192) has been exceeded while reading XML data. This percentage may be increased by changing the MaxStringContentLength property on the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object used when creating the XML reader. Line 1, position 8690.

A couple of years ago, business consultant Mehrdad Baghai and James Quigley, the global CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, were chatting about Quigley's formidable challenge of getting all 170,000 of his company's employees "on the same page," working for the collective good of the organization.

"So we started with that question--what does it take to get large numbers of people to work as one," Baghai says stop during an interview in Boston while on a recent book promotion tour. One of the things they found was that management books tended to lay out broad advice about how leadership should work to build collaboration. "Every leader does this--one, two, three, four--and everyone should build an internal market, everyone should do this in innovation."

They knew that the one-size-fits-all approach wasn't what they had in mind to help groups of people develop a shared organizational identity as they worked together. "It just seemed to us that you should think about collaboration as a general good," Baghai says.

Armed with the notion that "collaboration" is a means to an end, not an end in itself, and that because the purposes might be different you might need different styles "of collaboration for different situations, they set forth to find out what had been written and what analyses already existed. What they came up with were some "notable efforts," particularly among academics, but "we wanted to find one that in a pragmatic way would help leaders act differently, so it has to be a framework" that would identify ways of collaborating, says Baghai, who lives in Sydney and also is managing director of Alchemy Growth Partners.

Because what they were searching for didn't exist in quite the way they envisioned it, they created a method to identify collaborative archetypes and the characteristics of each, which they detail in their new book, "As One: Individual Action, Collective Power," published by Penguin. Their approach also has been a springboard for the Deloitte Center for Collective Leadership, which is now open in London, as well as related apps for Apple's iPhone and iPad.

Their pragmatic approach started with reviewing hundreds of perspectives on collective action taken from a variety of academic disciplines, including science, economics and psychology. They also pulled together 60 detailed case studies to analyze successful collaborative efforts, asking a set of questions for more than 100 factors about those organizations, such as their structure, systems and processes, leadership, and how they communicate.

They took that date and used on self-organizing map (SOM), to sophisticated forensic data analytic method to "identify distinct modes of behavior As One," as the book explains. The SOM helped them identify recognizable models of collaboration. For instance, some organizations operate akin to a "conductor and orchestra," with "highly scripted and clearly defined roles that focus on precision and efficiency in execution as defined by the conductor." The archetype "community organizer and volunteers" works from a bottom-up model, while "captain and sports team" has "minimal hierarchy" and is highly adaptable to a rapidly changing situation, as would be found on a playing field.

Each archetype is examined in-depth in individual chapters in the book, which reads like a combination of a management book, textbook and a how-to primer. Each archetype is bolstered by explanatory case studies--Apple's App Store, for instance, is highlighted as a case study for the "landlord and tenants" model of collaboration; Linux is a case study in the "community organizer and volunteers" approach (along with Gandhi); and Cirque du Soleil is a study for the "producer and creative team" method.

Part of the idea behind establishing such easily recognizable and understandable models of collaboration was to then provide "language around the archetypes." In other words, "how do you make a group conscious about what you need to do to succeed. If you give them language around the archetypes, they can focus on them. " Baghai uses a recent real-life example from the sports world, recalling how the Miami Heat basketball team got off to a rough start this season, despite all of the hope--and hype--after LeBron James and Chris Bosh signed with the team. Their fellow superstar Dwyane Wade already played for Miami. But superstars do not necessarily make a team.

Asked if he'd seen the press conference where James said after the team started to gel that it just took him a while to figure out Wade's style of play, Baghai says he hadn't, but his eyes light with recognition--that, too, feeds directly into the model of coaches and a team working together. "The key to being on a team is knowing what the other guys are going to do," he says, adding that it's also crucial to not go into games with a set playbook, but to be flexible depending on what the other team does as well. "You have to be reacting to the field of play--one of the things they had to do was change their mode of play."

Other collaborative archetypes outlined in the book are more rigid and, as Baghai notes, it's often the case in work environments (and other interactions with people, in fact) that the best model for working together as one will shift now and again depending on the task or situation. For instance, even within organizations that aren't heavily hierarchical or rigid, there are times when a supervisor just has to tell someone how something is going to be done a particular way and that's that. The book offers guidance on moving fluidly from one archetype to another collaboration, lists and examines characteristics of each, and provides questions to ask to determine the archetype an organization most fits with and how to tell if a particular archetype might not be a good fit.

Establishing what archetype is in play in an organization, remaining conscious of how people interact in that model and seeking ways to support its use can help to overcome the "false sense of commitment" that can stymie attempts to get people to work for the collective good, he says. "Say you need to lift this conference table," Baghai says, gesturing to the table in front of him. "There will be those who circle around it and get at lifting it. There will also be those who say, ' it's a great idea to raise the table, but it's not my job to lift the table, ' "and those are the people whose commitment is false.

While Deloitte has moved forward to put the "As One" approach globally into place internally and with its clients, and opened the center to support those efforts, research into collaborative archetypes continues. Baghai and Quigley--who were assisted with the book by Ainar Aijala, Sabri Challah and Gerhard Vorster--believe that eight archetypes just scratches the surface. They're now at work to establish a taxonomy around collaboration, which has in many respects been left to management intuition rather than being clearly established with identifying characteristics and behaviors.

He likens the continuing process to one of discovering an animal, naming it and then identifying its genus and species as part of the taxonomy. He expects that as they explore a taxonomy structure around the archetypes, they'll find subcategories within each and undoubtedly other archetypes, each with its own genus and species.

"These forms of ' as one ' behavior exist out there--it's just that we've never rigorously put a taxonomy around them," he says. "We see it As One ' as the first listing of this."

(A video of part of the interview with Baghai has been posted online.)