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broadbandreports.com

Memorial Day Weekend Open Thread - Enjoy Your Holiday!

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 6:24pm MDT

Enjoy your holiday, and talk amongst yourselves in the comment section below.
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Friday Evening Links -

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 4:36pm MDT

A win for Sprint: FCC approves 3G and 4G on iDEN spectrum extremetech.
com
Verizon likely to divest wireless spectrum to get cable deal OK cnet.com
Has Google changed its mind about sharing its fiber network? gigaom.com
Senators duel over concerns on Verizon's cable deals fiercewireless.com
LTE doesn't disrupt TV broadcasts, according to Swedish regulator fiercewireless.com
Mobile Video: Bad News And Good News cable360.net
VoIP Call Centers Adapt to a BYOD World heavyreading.com
Minority Groups Ask FCC for USF Lifeline Extension wirelessweek.com
Street Light of the Future Would Provide Wi-Fi, Cell Coverage and More time.com
Facebook to acquire browser maker Opera? thenextweb.com
Absinthe 2.0 Brings Untethered Jailbreak to iOS 5.1.1 Devices Including New iPad macrumors.com
Blackberry 7.1 delivers WiFi calls as well as mobile hotspot capability ubergizmo.com
Is NFC killing Google Wallet? cnet.com
First video sample from Google's Project Glass theverge.com
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Clearwire Promises LTE Network Capable of 168 Mbps - By 2014, LTE Advanced Deployment Should Bear Fast Fruit

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 2:59pm MDT

Hoping not to be forgotten with all the moving and shaking and LTE deployments going on with Sprint, AT&T and Verizon, Clearwire took to the CTIA trade show earlier this month to proclaim that they're building an LTE network they hope will put all of them to shame. According to Clearwire, the company says that by 2014, they'll have a network capable of handling peak downstream speeds of up to 168 Mbps downstream. Clearwire says that while they're spectrum holdings for a nationwide LTE launch aren't ideal, they'll be using an LTE-Advanced technique know as carrier aggregation to deploy wider pipes capable of the faster speeds. You'll of course never actually see anything close to those maximum theoretical speeds, but hopefully the effort keeps Clearwire relevant in a market that desperately needs the added competition.
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Apple Strips '4G' Marketing For International iPad - After Heavy Criticism for Claiming 3G was '4G'

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 1:50pm MDT

Apple's latest iPad supports HSPA+, DC-HSDPA and LTE -- while here in the States even coming in different flavors for AT&T and Verizon's different LTE implementations (with a third likely looming eventually for Sprint LTE). Worldwide however, where the iPad can only operate via 3G GSM, consumers and regulators have been getting annoyed at Apple's generous use of the term "4G" to describe a product that in no way supports anything close. Buckling to growing pressure from regulators in Australia and the UK, Apple has ditched the 4G branding from the iPad in international marketing, calling the devices "iPad WiFi + Cellular" capable in marketing instead of "iPad WiFi + 4G" capable.
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BetaNews.Com

Get organized with WikiPad

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 12:36pm MDT by Mike Williams

Wikis are normally all about group collaboration, but it doesn’t have to be that way. WikidPad is a simple text editor that allows you to construct a custom personal wiki on your own PC, perfect for organizing thoughts, ideas, to-do lists, contacts and more.

How does it work? Suppose you need to buy a few birthday presents for someone. Just enter BirthdayPresents in the start page, and because that’s a mixed-case “wikiword” it’ll be automatically underlined; double-click it and a new page called “BirthdayPresents” will appear in the navigation pane. You can click this and enter new text there; you might add subpages below that one with, perhaps, possible present ideas; and if you type BirthdayPresents on some other page then it’ll automatically act as a link to your new page.

Repeat this process with a few other keywords and you’ll soon have a tree showing how your topics are organized. If you’ve named and organized the tree sensibly then this will be easy enough to browse, although if you still can’t find something then a powerful search tool (with regular expression support) may be able to help.

Of course you also get plenty of text styling options to ensure the pages look as you’d like.

And while this is a personal wiki tool, if you’d like to share your work with others then WikidPad does provide some useful HTML options: in just a click or two you can export and publish the wiki as one, or maybe several HTML files.

Unfortunately, figuring out how to make all this happen isn’t as easy as you might expect. The program does come with a detailed Help file (presented in a wiki itself, of course), but it’s more about explaining individual features in detail than walking beginners through their first steps, and so it might take you a while to figure out what’s going on.

Once you have mastered the basics, though, creating and maintaining a wiki with WikidPad is relatively easy. Just type in a wikiword (such as BirthdayPresents, above) which already has content and it’ll automatically turn blue to indicate a link, no other syntax required. And so you’ll be able to extend your wiki quickly and with the minimum of hassle.

Photo Credit: Anna Chagoika/Shutterstock
Over-allocation kills cloud savings

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 12:20pm MDT by Ed Oswald

When it comes to the cloud and Amazon Web Services, IT administrators often buy far more than they need and fail to adjust to realities once they have a good understanding of their deployment's needs. These are the findings of Cloudyn, a cloud cost management provider.

Cloudyn estimates that some cloud adopters are wasting on average 40 percent of their annual expense on AWS resources they don't use. The reasons why vary: resources are often over-allocated, instances are left running after they are no longer needed, or even failing to take advantage of Amazon's own cost-cutting offerings.

Forrester Research principal analyst James Staten argues long-standing beliefs in IT are what causes us to so dramatically overestimate our needs. "The first rule we learned about capacity planning was that it's more expensive to underestimate resource needs and be wrong than to overestimate, and we always seem to consume more resources eventually", he says.

With the cloud this overplanning isn't as beneficial, and effectively erases one of the platform's biggest advantages, cost savings, if you don't get rid of what you don't need. This seems to indicate most cloud users could be saving a lot more if IT administrators just took a few minutes to review their cloud strategies and usage, Staten suggests.

A common error among AWS users seems to be a general pattern of allocating large or extra large instances when a small or medium instance would do. This led to a 17 percent utilization among the 400,000 instances Cloudyn monitored. Worse yet, among the extra large instances that utilization dropped to four percent, which are eight times as expensive as the small instances.

Cloudyn also found that many instances are left running and unused for days or even months at a time, even worse than underutilization because they aren't being used at all.

One way to fight ballooning cloud costs on AWS for computing power you might not immediately need is the Reserved Instance program. This allows the user to purchase a block of instances ahead of time and at a reduced cost to save money. Cloudyn says that most of the deployments in its study were not taking advantage of this program.

"This one takes longer to assess, but once you know you will be staying in the cloud for a year or more, there's no excuse not to take advantage of this", Staten argues.

To further this point Staten brings up the deceptively low cost of the instances themselves. While a medium instance will cost you 32 cents per hour, over the course of a year that is $2,800. If an IT department is not making full use of that instance, that is a significant amount of money -- especially considering there will be dozens more instances just as equally unused.

"It heavily behooves you to give back what you aren't using," Staten says. "Because you are paying for what you allocated whether you are really using it or not".

Photo Credit: Ovchynnikov Oleksii/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Rural Cell Carriers Focus On 700MHz Interoperability - Give up Exclusive Handset Fight to Focus on 700MHz Battle

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 12:09pm MDT

The The Rural Cellular Association (RCA) has long fought to end to exclusive handset agreements, arguing that the steep prices smaller carriers have to pay for handsets like the iPhone put them on an uneven playing field. Companies like C Spire have paid a steep price in the form of delayed LTE deployments, and most smaller companies can't afford the price of entry at all. However the RCA appears to be picking its battles carefully, announcing they'll stop fighting over exclusive handsets arranagements in order to focus on interoperability in the Lower 700 MHz band.

Verizon's and AT&T's LTE networks are not compatible, with Verizon's network running mostly in the 746-787MHz range, while AT&T's operating primarily in the 704-746MHz range. Verizon's spectrum only slightly overlaps AT&T's, so you can't take devices from one carrier to another.

Smaller carriers including MetroPCS, C Spire, and the Rural Cellular Association have been pushing the FCC to consider new rules that would make the entire 700MHz band interoperable, in order to aid competitor LTE roaming and help the public-safety community. They partially got their wish, with the FCC announcing they'd explore rules that would at least make the lower portion of the 700MHz band interoperable.

In a new filing with the FCC, the RCA says that they're giving up their focus on ending exclusive handset contracts in order to spend more of their time fighting for 700 MHz interoperability. While the group says exclusive handsets continue to "harm competition and impede the ability of wireless carriers to compete with AT&T and Verizon," new interoperability rules would cast a broader problem solving net for smaller, more rural cell carriers.

"Importantly, ensuring interoperability also will have a positive impact on the availability of cutting-edge devices that consumers demand and that competitive carriers require to compete effectively with the largest super-carriers, because the absence of interoperability has been a significant impediment (along with exclusivity) in smaller carriers' ability to obtain access to the latest handsets," the RCA said in their filing.

Handset exclusivity has fallen by the wayside as the consumer issue du jour as AT&T's initial stranglehold on the iPhone was broken. As for allowing LTE handsets to work across carriers to improve roaming and competition, that's an issue you can expect AT&T and Verizon to fight tooth and nail against in order to retain and protect market power. Even with a more focused fight on their plate, the RCA looks to have their hands full, especially if the FCC teeters toward the incompetent with the whole affair.
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BetaNews.Com

Get Serif PagePlus 11 for free while you still can

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 11:41am MDT by Mark Wilson

Serif is a name long associated with powerful yet easy-to-use software, and these are both terms that applyto PagePlus 11. This is an extremely powerful desktop publishing application capable of producing professional looking newsletters, brochures and other documents using a series of design tools.

If you have been put off using DTP software in the past because you have found that it is either too complicated for day-to-day use, or too simplistic for quick projects, this could be the program you have been looking for and you can get a copy for yourself without having to part with any money. Serif PagePlus 11 originally sold for $99.99.

Using a wide range of features, templates and wizard, even potentially complex documents, such as trifold menus, can be put together in a flash. Many of the wizards that are available can be completed in a matter of moments, and you are guided through the entire process. You can keep things very simple and just change the text to reflect your personal requirements, or you can get a little more hands-on and customize the stock images and logos that are used.

A great feature of PagePlus 11 is its support for layers. Just like in an image-editing package, you can store different parts of your document on different layers, showing and hiding them as and when required. A really useful option sadly lacking from many desktop publishing programs is the ability to work with PDF. PagePlus 11 enables you to not only export the documents you create to the popular PDF format, but also to import existing PDF so they can be edited.

While there is a strong set of utilities that are geared towards the graphic side of document creation, the text-editing and layout controls are also very impressive. You’ll also find that there is excellent image support both in terms of the range of different formats that can be imported and the selection of editing tools that are included.

There are just so many features for you to explore in this versatile program that it is difficult to know quite where to begin. You can find out more about this amazing piece of software by paying a visit to the Serif PagePlus 11 review page.

To take advantage of this great giveaway, you’ll have to head over to the Downloadcrew Giveaway page between Friday May 25 and Sunday May 27.

Photo Credit: Adem Demir/Shutterstock

Match technology purchases to your specific needs

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 11:30am MDT by Chris Doig

Second in a series. In part one of this article we covered how to create and manage purchase requirements. In part two, we describe a way to evaluate products against those requirements, to find the one that best matches your needs.

One way of evaluating products is to rate how well they meet the individual requirements, and express that rating as a numerical score. Tally the individual requirement scores to calculate a product score, which is a single number that expresses how close a product is to your requirements. Rank products based on these scores, and the highest scoring product is the one that best matches your specific requirements.

Finding Products

While you usually have a few potential products in mind when starting an evaluation, it is a good idea to find others that may be worth evaluating. Online competitive reviews are a very useful source of product information, and a great place to start. Try doing a Google search on the products you do know about along with words like “review” and “comparison”. This can lead to reviews that include unknown products. Also, look at any reader comments because they can often alert you to new products not mentioned in the reviews.

Asking industry peers is another excellent source of product information. Other useful sources are communities like LinkedIn groups, Spiceworks etc. Again, reader comments below articles in technical publications can provide valuable nuggets of information.

Rating Products

To rate a product you measure how well they meets each particular requirement in turn. Ratings are more than just a simple “yes or no”, and should have something like the fields listed below. Arrange these on the evaluation spreadsheet as columns under each product.

Requirement Rating: Your measure of how well a product meets a particular requirement. See Requirement Rating List below.

Rated by Optional: If there are several people rating products, you can record who rates each requirement. Typically implemented as a drop down list of names.

Rating method: A drop-down list that describes how the product was rated. For example, this could be based on the product’s webpage, you could have seen a demo, or it could be a hands on test of the product.

Requirement Score: The requirements importance has a value associated with it, as does the requirement rating. The requirement score is the product of these two numbers, and is a calculated field.

Rating Comment: This is a field where you can comment on how well the product met a particular rating. This is particularly useful when you are looking closely at the final product candidates.

The Requirement Rating is usually implemented as a drop down list with three columns:

Value: A numerical measure of how well the product meets a particular requirement.

Rating: A textual label attached to the rating value. In practice it is much easier to pick from the rating list than to pick a number.

Description: An explanation of what the rating value means to ensure everybody is on the same page.

Example of Requirements Rating List
Value	Rating	Rating Description
0	Does not meet	Product does not meet the requirement at all, or the feature is completely missing.
1	Slightly meets	Product has the required feature, but serious deficiencies exist in the implementation that can’t easily be worked around.
2	Partly meets	Product has significant deficiencies in the feature, but they can be worked around with some effort.
3	Mostly meets	Meets the requirement to a large extent. Deficiencies can accommodated with minimal effort.
4	Fully meets	Adequately meets the requirement. No compromises are required.
5	Exceeds	Does substantially more than is required. There is room to grow into this requirement, and there is a reasonable possibility of using the extra functionality in the future.
6	Far exceeds	Does an order of magnitude more than is required, and there is very little possibility of that functionality ever being used. Typically this indicates a mismatch between the requirement and the product being considered. Used to flag products where you would be paying for features that will never be used.

As you work through rating different products, you always uncover new requirements. Make sure you add them to your evaluation. This is one way of ensuring you capture all your requirements.

Comparing Products

As you rate products against requirements, they generate requirement scores that are tallied up into product scores. This number is compared to a reference product that “fully meets” every requirement and the product score is expressed as a percentage of the reference product score. If you collected requirements into groups, you can weight those groups and factor this into the product score. Typically, all groups get a default weight of 1.0, and this is adjusted up or down as required.

Properly evaluating products is significant work, and it is useful to have an idea of your progress. You can see this by calculating the number of requirements rated as a percentage of the total requirements. Our experience has been that once you have evaluated over 50 percent of the requirements, the product score tends to be fairly close to the final score. However, for your short list products you should rate at least 90 percent of the requirements to ensure an accurate evaluation.

You can make product scores more useful with a “projected score” that is calculated by comparing the rated product to the reference product using only rated requirements. This estimates the product’s final score, and the accuracy improves as you rate more requirements. The projected score lets you compare products without rating them against every single requirement.

You can think of the product score as its GPA, and it gives you an excellent idea of how close the product is to your specific requirements. As a rough guide you can exclude products that score less than 50 percent as being unsuitable, while products that have an 80 percent to 90 percent score are usually very good candidates.

Occasionally you might find some products that score more than 100 percent; typically these products cost more than you want to pay.

Bear in mind that the primary purpose of product evaluation is to find the product that best matches your specific requirements as fast and easily as possible. While you are unlikely to find the perfect product at the price you want to pay, with this process you can find the best product for the price you do want to pay.

Final Thoughts on Reducing Purchase Risks

Typically, the first version of an evaluation is based on product information from the web. You can improve your evaluation quality by selecting important and higher requirements (see Requirements Importance table in first article), and testing the product against those requirements to verify your initial ratings. Sometimes there are surprising changes. You can manage this with the “Rating Method” column.

Using a structured approach to selecting products speeds up the entire process, and reduces purchasing risks. While speed is always important to your business units, watch out for impossible deadlines. These can force you to take short cuts evaluating products that can later prove disastrous.

Any significant purchase needs several reference customers. If the vendor’s reference customers will not say anything bad about the vendor, that is a warning sign! If vendor is not well known, it may well pay you to visit them in person. Are they what you expect? Even if you do visit them, make sure they are what they appear to be. For example, it is all too easy to get a tour of a data center and come away impressed, when all the vendor has is a small cage inside the data center. Ask to visit their business offices as well. If they resist the effort that is another warning sign.

Conclusion

In these two articles, we have described a structured way to create and manage a comprehensive purchase requirements list, and how to evaluate products against these requirements. The result is a list of product candidates ranked by how well they meet your requirements.

The primary purpose of product evaluations is to find the one that best matches your specific requirements. While you are unlikely to find the perfect product, you will cut through aggressive marketing and sales pitches to find the product that works best for your specific requirements. You will do this much faster than with unstructured methods, and you will be a lot more certain that your final choice was the best. By using a structured approach to evaluate products systematically, you also calibrate your own expectations. When you make the actual purchase you know exactly what you are getting, and there is no buyer’s remorse.

Photo Credit: Dusit/Shutterstock

Chris Doig has personally seen the problems caused by poor technology purchasing in multiple companies. He co-founded Wayferry, a startup that created a free decision support tool for technology purchasing. Wayferry’s mission is to help IT people everywhere make better technology purchasing decisions.

Sorry, you can't mail your iPhone or iPad overseas 'til next year

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 10:39am MDT by Tim Conneally

The United States Postal Service has put a ban the international shipment of lithium-based batteries (Lithium Metal, Lithium Alloy, and Lithium ion.) This ban includes electronic equipment with lithium batteries permanently installed such as mp3 players, tablets and smartphones, and will stay in place until January 1, 2013.

Because of the issues that Lithium batteries have with short circuiting, overheating, and exploding, special regulations have been placed on their transport for the last five years.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration, for example, is especially careful about loose Lithium batteries, and only allows them to be kept in carry-on luggage. The U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority likewise does not allow them to be checked, and batteries over 100Wh in capacity have to receive approval from the airline. Australia's Civil Aviation Organization classifies all Lithium batteries as dangerous goods, and the Australia Post has banned them from air shipment as well.

However, the Universal Postal Union, a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the postal policies of the 192 UN member nations, recently said it will begin to allow international air transport of Lithium-based batteries. The UPU and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have drafted technical instructions that will allow the air transport of devices with lithium-based batteries installed only after January first 2013.

The US Postal Service will keep its ban in place until these international rules are published.

"Until such time that a less restrictive policy can be implemented consistent with international standards, and in accordance with UPU Convention, lithium batteries are not permitted in international mail. The UPU Convention and regulations are consistent with the ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (Technical Instructions). The Technical Instructions concerning the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Post do not permit in international mail “dangerous goods” as defined by the ICAO Technical Instructions. Currently, the only exceptions to this general prohibition relate to certain medical materials, infectious substances, and radioactive materials that are treated in accordance with additional requirements listed in the Technical Instructions. Lithium metal or lithium alloy batteries and lithium-ion cells are listed in the Technical Instructions as Class 9 Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods. The prohibition on mailing lithium batteries and cells internationally also applies to mail sent by commercial air transportation to and from an APO, FPO, or DPO location."

Photo: Concept W/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Fox, CBS & NBC Sue Over Dish Ad Skipping Tech - Fox Insists Tech Will 'Destroy Television Ecosystem'

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 9:33am MDT

As we noted the other day, numerous broadcast executives have been whining about Dish's new DVR technology that will skip ads automatically -- a system that simply streamlines something most DVR users do anyway. It also has a few caveats -- the biggest being that users can only use this technology one day after the recorded programs originally air. It's kind of an obvious tool that could benefit consumers, so not too surprisingly, Fox, CBS, and NBC have quickly run to their lawyers and filed a lawsuit against Dish.

All of the networks are trying to somehow argue that skipping commercials violates copyright law, a claim that would run contrary to the Betamax ruling. According to a statement issued by Fox, the new technology is effectively "destroying the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcast television ecosystem":
"We were given no choice but to file suit against one of our largest distributors, Dish Network, because of their surprising move to market a product with the clear goal of violating copyrights and destroying the fundamental underpinnings of the broadcast television ecosystem. Their wrongheaded decision requires us to take swift action in order to aggressively defend the future of free, over-the-air television."
Dish has filed a countersuit, issuing a statement of their own:
"Consumers should be able to fairly choose for themselves what they do and do not want to watch, Dish senior vp programming David Shull said in a statement. Viewers have been skipping commercials since the advent of the remote control; we are giving them a feature they want and that gives them more control."
Dish is hoping for a relatively-quick declaratory judgement that says their new Adhopper technology doesn't violate copyright law.
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White Space Broadband: Hope for Rural America? - A New Alternative Finally Starting to Emerge

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 8:57am MDT

If you live in a rural area, your only real options for Internet service besides dialup are satellite and if you re lucky, 3G mobile Internet. Both of these have a multitude of negatives associated with them whether it be low data caps, terrible latency, or cost. There is a new technology on the horizon, however, called WhiteSpace broadband.

White Space broadband came about after the switch to digital television from analog opened up new frequencies to use for other things. Most infamous is those frequencies that were auctioned off by the FCC in the 700 MHz spectrum. White Spaces on the other hand are not necessarily exclusive to one specific entity, which could mean, due to the increased competition, that new mobile ISPs could crop up with increased speed and larger caps than traditional wireless carriers.

The name White Space comes from the location of the frequencies that are being used. The frequencies come from the unused white spaces in the 54-698 MHz spectrum (TV Channels 2-51). Because of the frequencies being dispersed in between those that are currently in use by over the air television channels and devices such as wireless audio systems, there was much controversy over the use of them. White Space transmitting devices have the potential to interfere with those other technologies.

The FCC ruled in 2008 to allow the unlicensed use of white space technologies, and included some very strict rules for its use -- including constant monitoring for legacy devices, such as wireless microphones that could be in the area, and yield to said devices. However, in 2010, the FCC revised its decision by removing the strict monitoring requirements, but it also made the ruling that the devices could not be used locally as a Wi-Fi technology.

That decision really was a shame as Microsoft had been testing a white space utilizing wireless access point, and it only took one to cover their entire campus, presumably achieving close to the 400-800 Mbps theoretical rate for local networking. This is also the reason if you search for white spaces, you ll often see articles from years ago claiming this as "Super Wi-Fi." While you won t be seeing so-called "Super Wi-Fi" anytime soon, you might begin to see mobile ISPs pop up that don t completely suck, at least compared to many satellite and wireless carriers.

With fewer barriers to entry than a wireless company and better performance than traditional mobile ISPs, people in underserved areas could finally begin to see some decent broadband. In trials, a UK company was able to deliver 16 Mbps over a distance of 10KM, with presumably more distance at the cost of a little throughput. This is fantastic news as not only is it on par with current 4G but you could opt to purchase service from a local company that treats you like a person and not a cog in an infinitely hungry corporate machine.

There might also be more competition locally, but I m not sure on the specifics of overlapping service areas. It might be that interference issues only allow one person or entity to use the frequencies in each specific service area. That opens a whole other can of worms though with the decision of who actually gets to use those frequencies in a specific area. Municipal mobile ISP anyone? I can dream.

This new technology also raises the question "Can this possibly be used as a replacement for traditional cell service?" Of course, this technology will probably never attain the coverage of the massive wireless carriers, but if it becomes ubiquitous enough and there is some sort of agreement between each mobile ISP that allows roaming on each other s coverage area, it could work well enough. Any non-coverage areas could be solved with a dual SIM phone and a cheap wireless plan or even a cheap prepaid plan.

This article is part of an effort to solicit content from the Broadband Reports community. If you'd like to participate, please contact us.
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BetaNews.Com

Web Page Saver lives up to its name

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 8:54am MDT by Mike Williams

A couple of weeks ago we wrote about wpic, a console tool that could easily save a complete webpage as an image. But while this works well, it seemed a little basic, and is probably best used within scripts if you needed to automate the saving process. If you were also interested in the core idea, but wished wpic had more features, though, Web Page Saver might appeal: it can also save webpages for you, but takes the idea to the next level.

The program’s simple GUI allows you to enter up to five URLs, for instance, which can then all be saved in the same operation. (You need to enter the protocol, though -- [my.domain.com,] not just my.domain.com -- for this to work properly.) And it can also import URLs from text or CSV files, which may be handy if you often need to capture the same groups of sites.

Click Options and you’ll find there’s a good choice of output formats: you’re able to save your specified pages to JPG, PNG, BMP, TIF and even PDF files.

Conveniently, Web Page Saver creates an HTML report which makes it easy to review everything you’ve done. Your specified URLs are on the left-hand pane, and clicking any of these will display the site image or PDF file on the right.

And this report can even be customised with your choice of logo and report title, which could be handy for business use. If you point Web Page Saver at a few of your company’s competitors, say, then you could give the report a sensible title, your company logo, and it’s immediately ready to zip up and share with your colleagues.

It’s not all good news. The interface has some usability irritations -- you enter the URLs in a separate dialog to the main interface, for instance, then can’t see what those addresses are unless you go back to it – and looks horribly basic.

Web Page Saver does work well, though, and if you sometimes need to capture and review images of multiple web pages then the program could be very useful.
Fukushima Daiichi requires a Manhattan Project approach to avoid another nuclear accident

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 8:42am MDT by Robert X. Cringely

This is my sixth column about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident that started last year in Japan following the tsunami. But unlike those previous columns (1,2,3,4,5), this one looks forward to the next Japanese nuclear accident, which will probably take place at the same location.

That accident, involving nuclear fuel rods, is virtually inevitable, most likely preventable, and the fact that it won’t be prevented comes down solely to Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) incompetence and stupidity. Japanese citizens will probably die unnecessarily because the way things are done at the top in Japan is completely screwed up.

Understand that I have some cred in this space having worked three decades ago as an investigator for the Presidential Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island and later wrote a book about that accident. I also ran for 20 years a technology consulting business in Japan.

Too Much Cleanup, Not Enough Time

Here’s the problem: In the damaged Unit 4 at Fukushima Daiichi there are right now 1,535 fuel rods that have yet to be removed from the doomed reactor. The best case estimate of how long it will take to remove those rods is three years. Next to the Unit 4 reactor and in other places on the same site there are more than 9,000 spent fuel rods stored mainly in pools of water but in some spots exposed to the air and cooled by water jets. The total volume of unstable nuclear fuel on the site exceeds 11,000 rods. Again, the best estimate of how long it will take to remove all this fuel and spent fuel is 10 years -- but it may well take longer.

Fukushima has always been a seismically active area. Called the Japan Trench Subduction Zone, it has experienced nine seismic events of magnitude 7 or greater since 1973. There was a 5.8 earthquake in 1993; a 7.1 in 2003; a 7.2 earthquake in 2005; and a 6.2 earthquake offshore of the Fukushima facility just last year, all of which caused shutdowns or damage to nuclear plants. Even small earthquakes can damage nuclear plants: a 6.8 quake on Japan’s west coast in 2007 cost TEPCO $5.62 billion.

But last year’s 9.0 earthquake and tsunami made things far worse, further destabilizing the local geology. According to recently revised estimates by the Japanese government, the probability of an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude or greater in the region during the next three years is now 90 percent. The Unit 4 reactor building that was substantially damaged by the tsunami and subsequent explosions will not survive a 7.0+ earthquake.

An earthquake of 7.0 or greater is likely to disrupt cooling water flow and further damage fuel storage pools possibly making them leak. If this happens the fuel rods will be exposed, will get hotter and eventually melt, puddling in the reactor basement and beneath the former storage ponds. This is a nuclear meltdown, which will lead to catastrophic (though non-nuclear) explosions and the release of radioactive gases, especially Cesium 137.

The amount of Cesium 137 in the fuel rods at Fukushima Daiichi is the equivalent of 85 Chernobyls.

To review, there is a 90 percent chance of a large earthquake in the minimum three years required to remove just the most unstable part of the fuel load at Fukushima Daiichi. The probability of a large earthquake in the 10+ years required to completely defuel the plant is virtually 100 percent. If a big earthquake happens before that fuel is gone there will be global environmental catastrophe with many deaths.

A Cultural Problem

Let me explain how something like this can happen. For 20 years I ran with a partner a consulting business in Japan serving some of that country’s largest companies. Here is how our business worked:

1. A large Japanese company would announce a bold technical goal to be reached in a time frame measured in years, say 5-10. This could be building a supercomputer, going to the Moon, whatever.

2. Time passes and in quarterly meetings team leaders are asked how the project is going. They lie, saying all is well, while the truth is that little progress has been made. Though money is spent, sometimes no work is done at all.

3. The project deadline eventually approaches and a junior team member is selected to take the heat, admitting in a meeting that there has been very little progress, taking responsibility and offering to resign. The goal will not be reached, the company will be embarrassed.

4. In a final attempt to avoid corporate embarrassment, the company reaches out to me: surely Bob knows some Silicon Valley garage startup that can build our supercomputer or take us to the Moon. Money is no object.

5. Sure enough, there often is such a startup and the day is saved.

Fix Now, or Pay Later

It’s my belief that this is exactly what’s going on right now at Fukushima Daiichi. The very logic of time and probability that scares the bejesus out of me is being completely ignored, replaced with magical thinking. Organizations are committing to fix the current disaster and avoid the next disaster when in fact they are probably incapable of doing either. Lies are being told because Japanese government and industry are more afraid of their vulnerabilities being exposed than they are concerned about citizens dying. Afraid of being embarrassed, they press forward doing the best that they can, praying that an earthquake doesn’t happen.

This is no way to approach a nuclear catastrophe. What’s even worse is this approach isn’t unique to Japan but is common in the global nuclear industry.

Time is critical. What’s clearly required in Fukushima is new project leadership and new technical skills. Some think the Japanese military should take over the job, but I believe that would be just another mistake. The same foot dragging takes place in the Japanese military that happens in Japanese industry.

Fukushima Daiichi requires a Manhattan Project approach. The sole role of the Japanese government should be to pay for the job. A single project leader or czar should be selected not from the nuclear industry and that leader should probably not be Japanese. Contracts should be let to organizations from any country on equal merit so only the best people who can move the quickest with safety get the work. Then cut the crap and get it done in a third or half the time.

But that’s not how it will happen. In Japan it almost never is.

Reprinted with permission

Photo Credit: Franck Boston/Shutterstock

Robert X. Cringely has worked in and around the PC business for more than 30 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Forbes, Upside, Success, Worth, and many other magazines and newspapers. Most recently, Cringely was the host and writer of the Maryland Public Television documentary "The Tranformation Age: Surviving a Technology Revolution with Robert X. Cringely".
Google Search gets big iOS makeover

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 7:56am MDT by Mark Wilson

Google is the go-to search engine for most people, so the existence of a dedicated mobile app should come as no surprise. There has been a tool available for iOS for some time but the release of Google Search 2.0 sees the introduction of a completely redesigned app that not only boasts a new interface and new features, at least if you have an iPhone, but also easier access to other Google searches such as Gmail, Docs and Calendar.

As before, it is possible to conduct searches by typing, using your voice or taking a photo with your camera and using Google Goggles. There have been improvements made to the speed of autocomplete suggestions so you should find that results are available faster than ever and you can take advantage of a preview pane that slides in from the side to view individual page results. Switching between search results and pages takes nothing more than a swipe, and this gesture can also be used to switch search modes, such as moving between a standard search and an image search.

To make it easier to find relevant text, there is a magnifying glass icon that can be used to perform a search for text on a page, saving you having to read through endless passages to reach what you’re looking for. When you’re looking for images, there is a great new look to work with. You can switch to a full screen grid view of results that provides a great overview of what Google has found for you. This makes for a much clearer way of browsing through results, but also gives you a better view of individual images you choose to view.

Google Search was already an impressive tool, but the latest update transforms it into something sleek and stylish. If you are an iPad owner, there is far less to look forward to in terms of new features -- nothing more than the ability to save images to the camera roll -- but iPhone users should jump on this update as soon as they can as it is a major advancement.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Google Search 2.0 review page.

broadbandreports.com

Comcast Plans Special Ads for DVR Ad Skippers - At a Premium Cost to Advertisers, of Course

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 7:40am MDT

Comcast is busy working on technology that will deliver ads to DVR ad skippers. According to a new Comcast patent, users who fast forward or pause an existing ad would see another ad displayed in the center of their television screen. Those ads would also have a behavioral intelligence component, changing depending on the "historical choices made by the recipient whether to skip or watch previous alternate content." Comcast hopes they could start a bit of a bidding war by charging a company an extra fee if they wanted a popup ad to show during their skipped ad, and if not sell that pop up space to another advertiser. There's no confirmation from Comcast as to when they hope to have such technology deployed.
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European Commission Slashes Wireless Roaming Costs - Cheaper Data for Those Travelling in Europe

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 7:40am MDT

The European Commission has announced a cap on roaming charges for those using EU networks. From July, 3G providers will only be allowed to charge up to 0.70 ($0.90) for every megabyte of data their customers use away from their home networks. "We have ended the rip-offs familiar to anyone who has used a mobile phone while travelling abroad. I am pleased that year after year the European Union is putting money back in the pockets of citizens," European Commission vice president Neelie Kroes said of the announcement.

We have ended the rip-offs familiar to anyone who has used a mobile phone while travelling abroad
-European Commission VP Neelie Kroes
In 2013 and 2014 the cost of data will decrease even further.

Roaming charges have long exercised the European powers that be: preventing any detriment to moving freely among EU member states is pretty much their rasion d etre and, if that wasn t enough, high roaming charges are undeniably aggravating, especially in the many places throughout Europe where users could cross the border accidentally or their device could accidentally pick up a roaming signal.

These accidental or unwitting charges often resulted in data bills which ran into the thousands of Euros here in the UK, we call the realisation that you owe 2,000 for checking Facebook while you were sunning yourself in Magaluf bill shock - until the EU took action to prevent them.

In February 2010, the commission passed legislation which limited the overall amount networks could charge to 50 ($64.75) a month unless the customer specifically allows them to charge more. In the UK, at least, networks responded to that legislation by releasing pre-paid data packs for their customers to buy before they go away.

Customers that don t pre pay are charged the same old high rates until they get to the limit, although mobile networks are obliged to warn them clearly about the amount they re paying for data. Even so, for simplicity and for those accidental border crossers we mentioned earlier, a per megabyte charge is far preferable.

Ultimately, the EU hopes to make roaming and home charges for data indistinguishable, a move which will not only get rid of so-called bill shock altogether but will allow mobile networks to compete for business across borders. From July 2014, for example, on arrival in another EU country users will be able to choose from a number of local mobile networks rather than being forced to pay the charges of their home provider.

Julia Kukiewicz is Editor of Choose, a price comparison and online publication site that covers industry updates and debates on consumer issues, in both the home and mobile broadband markets. Julia has previously reported on Ofcom s actions against bill shock, and the site offers further guides on mobile broadband use abroad in the media section.
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Bell Hit With $100 Million Suit Over Prepaid Cards - Suit Claims Expiration Dates Violate Consumer Protection Act

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 7:39am MDT

Bell Canada has been slapped with a $100 million lawsuit over the expiration dates for prepaid wireless service cards. According to the suit, Bell is violating Ontario's Consumer Protection Act -- which banned expiration dates from gift cards -- and the company's contracts with its pre-paid wireless customers by seizing credit balances. Bell offers prepaid users a $15 card with a 30 day expiration date, a $25 card with a 60 day expiration date, or for $100 users can avoid losing their balances for a year. Accounts with a zero balance for 120 days are closed. Celia Sankar and DiversityCanada Foundation, who are behind the suit, claim the expiration dates are particularly unfair for "new immigrants, workers on minimum wage, the unemployed, people on disability and seniors on fixed incomes."
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BetaNews.Com

Now available -- CCleaner 3.19 and Defraggler 2.10

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 7:29am MDT by Nick Peers

Piriform Ltd has updated two of its flagship free products for Windows users with the release of CCleaner 3.19 and Defraggler 2.10. CCleaner 3.19, an all-purpose cleaning tool, adds an option for skipping the User Account Control warning in Vista and Windows 7, plus includes new and improved application cleaning options.

Defraggler 2.10 promises to improve defrag speeds by up to 30 per cent, and includes a revamped scheduler and various other optimizations.

CCleaner 3.19’s headline new feature is a new setting, accessible from the Advanced Options section of the program, to skip the User Account Control warning each time the program is launched in Vista or Windows 7. This obviously speeds up loading, but will also please advanced users who configure the application via scripts or to run at boot time.

Application support is extended to Firefox 13 Beta and BitDefender, while Thunderbird is now given its own separate cleaning section.

Improved cleaning and detection options cover Aurora, Google Chrome Saved Passwords, Scheduled Tasks, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, VLC Media Player and Avast! Antivirus 6. The update is rounded off by a slew of unnamed minor bug fixes. A portable build of CCleaner is also available.

Defraggler 2.10, also available as a standaloneportable build, claims to improve defrag times by up to 30 per cent. The new build also optimizes its free space algorithms, improves the calculation of a drive’s fragmentation during the defrag process and introduces a re-architected scheduling manager, which includes a fix for keyboard support. The update is rounded off by unspecified minor UI tweaks.

CCleaner 3.19 and Defraggler 2.10, along with CCleaner 3.19 Portable and Defraggler 2.10 Portable, are all available as a free downloads for PCs running Windows XP or later. Paid-for versions with automatic updates and support are also available through the Piriform website.

Photo Credit: studio online/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Friday Morning Links -

Posted: May 25th, 2012, 5:22am MDT

How to Destroy the Internet gizmodo.com
Senator Demands Access to Text of Secret International Agreements Regulating the Internet eff.org
Senator admits: SOPA "really did pose some risk to the Internet" arstechnica.com
ISPs Refuse to Block New Pirate Bay IP-Address torrentfreak.com
Google takes down 1.2 million search links a month over piracy issues gigaom.com
No, The RIAA Is Not Asking For $72 Trillion From Limewire techdirt.com
Boston Battles Back for Basic Rate Control multichannel.com
China rules the mobile world with 1 billion users cnet.com
Bluetooth "replacement" is 1,000 times faster hexus.net
London picked as test bed for Skynet-like Intel tech theregister.co.uk
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BetaNews.Com

Is Apple right to ban Airfoil Speakers Touch?

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 6:54pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

If you want a gander at one of iOS 6's new features, just ask developer Rogue Amoeba. Apple unceremoniously pulled Airfoil Speakers Touch, which has been in the iOS App Store since 2009. In the past, the company has refused apps or pulled others that compete with Apple repeat functionality iOS offers. The ban hints at streaming capabilities coming in the next version, while raising questions about appropriateness or fairness. Hence the question to you: Is Apple right to ban Airfoil Speakers Touch?

"Today, we’ve been informed that Apple has removed Airfoil Speakers Touch from the iOS App Store", CEO Paul Kafasis says. "We first heard from Apple about this decision two days ago, and we’ve been discussing the pending removal with them since then. However, we still do not yet have a clear answer on why Apple has chosen to remove Airfoil Speakers Touch. Needless to say, we’re quite disappointed with their decision, and we’re working hard to once again make the application available for you, our users." Apple had already approved the removed version.

Rogue Amoeba has been here before, struggling to get the app approved. In November 2009, Kafasis bluntly stated: "The App Store is broken". The developer had to remove functionality for App Store approval, but restored it later on. "Following our post detailing the ordeal we had getting Airfoil Speakers Touch 1.0.1 through the store, we were contacted by Apple", Kafasis explained three years ago. "They indicated that, due in part to our post, they were changing their internal policies and would allow the desired behavior and artwork to be displayed". What was the problem? "Showing the computer artwork and application icons from your sending computer".

The new ban robs Rogue Amoeba of revenue, for which it has few options to recover on iOS. "As far as we can tell, Airfoil Speakers Touch is in full compliance with Apple’s posted rules and developer agreements", Kafasis says. "We’ve already filed an appeal with Apple’s App Review Board, and we’re awaiting further information. Unfortunately, Apple has full control of application distribution on iOS, leaving us with no other recourse here".

An anonymous commenter, responding to Kafasis states surely what many people suspect:

I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Apple is going to include a similar streaming feature in iOS 6 and iTunes 11, so they pulled your app for being too similar to the future feature. Disappointing though for many reasons, but purely from a customer standpoint because not everyone will be able to upgrade to iOS 6 or iTunes 11, or want to.

The app already offers functionality close to Apple's Airplay, but supports streaming from more devices and third-party services. Version 3, which released about a month ago, added support for iPad. The other big change, which just might foreshadow iOS 6 and iTunes 11: Enhanced Audio Receiving, which according to Rogue Amoeba turns an iOS device into a "full-fledged mobile AirPlay receiver. That means you can stream audio from one iOS device to another, or even send from iTunes directly to iOS. Why spend hundreds on a costly third-party AirPlay device, when you can use the iOS device you already have?"

Or in the case of Apple, why let a developer offer this functionality when iOS 6 and iTunes 11 can do so?

Airfoil Speakers Touch user MVeeH reacts: "If Apple is going to pull apps which have been around for years when they make their own version, everyone is in trouble. I love this app and I’m glad I got my copy already. Apple, this is weak sauce!!"

Do you agree? Is Apple simply curating the platform to keep the user experience pure? Is the company sacrificing a developer to avoid competition? Perhaps you see something else. Please respond in comments.

Photo Credit: Pavel K/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Thursday Evening Links -

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 5:10pm MDT

Fox, CBS, NBC sue Dish over AutoHop ad-skipper; Dish also files suit against all four broadcast networks hollywoodreporter.com
Broadband Stimulus Grants Seen as Political Flashpoint cio.com
Three ways to organize the broadband market forbes.com
Broadband Wars: The Battle for New Jersey Has Begun huffingtonpost.com
Broadband In Crisis: Does The US Need Regulation To Force Meaningful Competition? techdirt.com
Android, iOS nab 82 percent of smartphone market in Q1 cnet.com
White House cracks whip on move to mobile cnet.com
Verizon CFO: LTE enables new kinds of data plans fiercewireless.com
Wireless carriers seek to 'offload' customers newsfactor.com
FCC Urged To Avoid Harming Poorest Americans With "Unrealistic And Unworkable Deadline" For Wireless Lifeline Reforms thestreet.com
It's High Time For The Wireless Industry's Smaller Players To Consolidate forbes.com
Lawmakers call on DOJ to reopen investigation into Google Wi-Fi spying computerworld.com
Malware intelligence system enables organizations to share threat information phys.org
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AT&T Stops Selling Xbox 360 Set Top Kits - Says They're Working on 'Enhancements' to Service

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 4:29pm MDT

In late 2010 AT&T announced that users could use the Xbox 360 as an IPTV set top, though originally the telco required that users pay $99 for an "Xbox kit" -- and needed to schedule a technician visit for a software installation, during when existing users would also pay a $50 installation fee. Interestingly, AT&T recently stopped selling these kits to new subscribers, a notice on the AT&T website stating "we apologize, but the AT&T U-verse TV for Xbox 360 Hardware Kit is not currently available for ordering as we work to improve and enhance this functionality." AT&T isn't saying when these enhancements will be finished, or when the service will be offered again.
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BetaNews.Com

Who says Google promotes piracy?

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 3:18pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Perhaps the question should be: Who doesn't? Google search is a powerful tool for finding content of any kind, including copyrighted material posted without permission. Today Google sets the record straight, by releasing the URLs copyright holders request removed from search: 1,246,713 over the last month. These came from more than 1,000 copyright holders directed at about 24,000 domains.

Apparently more details about other copyright areas will come later. For now, search is priority, with Google planning to update requests daily. The report available on Wednesday offers data through yesterday.

"We’re starting with search because we remove more results in response to copyright removal notices than for any other reason", Fred von Lohmann, Google senior copyright counsel, says. "So we’re providing information about who sends us copyright removal notices, how often, on behalf of which copyright owners and for which websites".

The number of requests are increasing, with as many as 250,000 requests per week, or more than the total for all 2009. Does that mean there is more pirated content, or just more effort to take it down?

Top organization: Microsoft, with 543,378 URL requests. Top reporting organization: Marketly LLC, with 461,851 URL requests. Oh? You haven't heard of the company, either? I expected the MPAA or RIAA near the top. NBC Universal is third. But Marketly? The only company of that name I easily Googled is located in Seattle and lists Microsoft as a customer.

Google's von Lohman claims:

Fighting online piracy is very important, and we don’t want our search results to direct people to materials that violate copyright laws. So we’ve always responded to copyright removal requests that meet the standards set out in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). At the same time, we want to be transparent about the process so that users and researchers alike understand what kinds of materials have been removed from our search results and why. To promote that transparency, we have long shared copies of copyright removal requests with Chilling Effects, a nonprofit organization that collects these notices from Internet users and companies. We also include a notice in our search results when items have been removed in response to copyright removal requests.

Publishers have complained for years that Google holds copyright in low regard, since the company profits from searches of all kinds and its "open philosophy" in some ways contradicts long-standing intellectual property ownership tenets.

Given the number of requests, surely some, perhaps many, aren't legitimate:

We try to catch erroneous or abusive removal requests. For example, we recently rejected two requests from an organization representing a major entertainment company, asking us to remove a search result that linked to a major newspaper’s review of a TV show. The requests mistakenly claimed copyright violations of the show, even though there was no infringing content. We’ve also seen baseless copyright removal requests being used for anticompetitive purposes, or to remove content unfavorable to a particular person or company from our search results.

The revamped disclosure policy is rather brilliant, if you ask me (and no one is). Google can show that it honors copyright holders' requests, while also exposing what and whom they are. Now people fighting real and would-be copyright cartels have a weapon, too. Transparency is a two-way street.

Photo Credit: Yuganov Konstantin/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Sprint Plans Update to Airave This Year - Sprint Plans to Continue Support for Femtocell Tech

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 3:14pm MDT

Sprint was the first wireless carrier to embrace femtocell technology, their Airave service debuting back in 2007 and allowing unlimited mobile calls over a user's home broadband connection for an added fee. Most carriers shot femtocell technology in the foot, charging too much for the hardware, then implementing voice pricing that would up eating user voice minutes -- despite the fact the technology saves carriers money by offloading voice traffic to landline broadband networks. Sprint was one of the few that got it, giving away many units to users in poor coverage zones, and now says they've got an update to the Airave that should arrive for Sprint users sometime this year:
Tarazi, VP of Sprint's network development, said the updated devices would be made available sometime this year. Samsung built Sprint's first femtocell product and Airvana currently supplies Sprint's EV-DO Airave femtocell. Sprint began selling the Airave in 2008 (sic) and has said its goal is to distribute 1 million femtocells. Tarazi said Sprint's update to its Airave would allow the gadgets to work together to provide better coverage. He said the update would also increase the femtocell's coverage range and its capacity.
Sprint says the company now has roughly 600,000 femtocells on its network -- up significantly from the 250,000 femtocells the company said they had deployed as of March 2011.
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BetaNews.Com

In-app subscriptions come to Google Play, includes 'bundling' capabilities

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 2:19pm MDT by Tim Conneally

Google announced on Thursday that Android developers can now use in-app Billing to sell monthly or annual subscriptions from inside of apps sold in Google Play. The feature brings Google Play up to speed with Apple's iTunes App Store, which rolled out this feature over one year ago.

With the new feature, developers set the price and billing interval and Google Play manages the purchase transactions for both the seller and the subscriber. Users can view their subscriptions in the "My Apps" screen in the Play Store app, the same place they view their updates, or they can view them in the app's product details page in the Play Store app. This is where users can cancel subscriptions if they choose.

App developers and analysts alike have determined that in-app billing and the "freemium" distribution model are far more profitable strategies for software monetization than upfront billing or ad-subsidization. Today, Ibrahim Elbouchikhi, a Product Manager on the Google Play team said 23 of the 24 top-grossing apps in Google Play use in-app billing, and the total revenue generated from in-app purchases now exceeds revenue from traditional app purchases.

Companies such as video gamemaker Glu Mobile have based their entire business around the freemium model, so Glu will become one of the first companies to unveil an application that uses the in-app subscription API with its title Frontline Commando.

The feature, however, does not have to be limited to a single app, or even to apps at all. Developers can share subscriptions across multiple apps so users can "subscribe to the developer" or they can apply it to multiple products in Google Play such as e-books/magazines, music, and movies for bundled services.

broadbandreports.com

Groups to Bring Gigabit Connectivity to Six U.S. Markets - Blair Levin's University-Centric Approach to Ramping up Connectivity

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 12:45pm MDT

An Ohio startup named Gigabit Squared, in conjunction with Gig U (a consortium of 30 research universities across the country) this week announced that they've launched a new program dedicated to bringing gigabit broadband speeds to six communities across the country. Through a new initiative dubbed The Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program, the groups have secured $200 Million in funding to help improve the connected fortunes of six U.S. communities.

Those six communities are likely be university areas, as both Michigan State and the University of Maine have already been building such networks with the help fo Gig U.

"What makes the Gigabit Squared approach so exciting is that it goes far beyond normal industry business models in how to successfully and creatively improve broadband access speeds for university communities, which is exactly the premise upon which Gig.U was founded," said Blair Levin, Executive Director of Gig.U. "We intuitively knew this, but to see Gigabit Squared emerge so strongly today proves that yes, America needs an upgrade; and that yes, there are innovators and investors willing to step up to get it done."

Levin was the man behind the U.S. broadband plan, which we've criticized for years as being a show-pony-half-effort that utterly failed to address the nation's biggest broadband problem: a lack of serious competition. Levin's focus since has been to use stimulus funding to help improve university areas. In Maine, for example, stimulus funding and help from the University of Maine and Great Works Internet is helping to bring 1 Gbps connectivity to a market where the private sector has largely failed -- consisting primarily of economically-shaky Fairpoint Communications.

What if you're in a market that has no competition and no university to act as a connectivity launching pad? Good question.
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BetaNews.Com

Google+ for Android catches up with iPhone

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 12:19pm MDT by Joe Wilcox
Well, perhaps I should qualify that with "almost", depending on what matters more to you as a user. On Thursday, 15 days after releasing a major Google+ update for iPhone, the Android version arrived. Timing is interesting. According to NPD, considerably more Android users access Google+ from the browser than the app -- 16 percent to 10 percent overall reach, in March, respectively. My question for you quick downloaders, will that be true for you, or is the app now preferred? It's no idle question, because the web experience is now so vastly different from the app.

Like its counterpart, Google+ for Android offers bleeding-edge photos. Pretty much everything about Google+ bleeds the edge of the screen. The effect is immersive. You just want to scroll and scroll -- and you will since so much less content fills the screen now. But the Android version has better visual flow than its iOS counterpart. Stated differently: It's snappier, more alive. "We're building for a mobile future", Google senior veep Vic Gundotra says. That's apparent from just how different the app is from the web experience -- and how immersive.

Immersion is Everything

Immersion is critical in an app of this kind:

1. Engagement. Social networking is all about relationships, meaningfully making connections with others. Google+ distinguishes from Facebook in several key areas, with common interest being one of the most important. The Circle concept allows people to engage with others they might not know based on something important they share, while Facebook is more about extending relationships with people whom they know -- even if just casually. The app's immersive quality pulls you into Google+ and there engaging others. New capabilities, such as inline editing and integrated Hangouts, improve and extend engagement.

2. Discovery. Because Google+ is so much about interests shared in common, discovering them is crucial. Also, there's a Twitter-like quality to the Google+ newsfeed that makes finding things all the more important, and difficult. The immersive, bleed-to-edge UI and tabs like "What's Hot" improve discovery of people, interests, happenings and news -- as well as the "Nearby" tab and easy "check-in" option.

3. Time spent online. Immersive web services/apps hold peoples' attention. This time is crucial for a cloud provider like Google that deals with lots of transitory traffic, mainly from search. Catching and keeping people is:
- Good for the brand
- Connecting users to ancillary products or services
- Providing the eyeballs for selling and capitalizing ads or other promotional gimmicks
For time spent on mobile, there is dramatic change underway. In March, according to comScore, the average American Facebook user spent more time on the site from smartphone than personal computer -- 441.3 minutes to 339 minutes, respectively. What neither Facebook or Google has done well: Wrap meaningful ads around the content, and that's an area the search giant has much to prove because 1) It's core to revenue; and 2) The bleed-to-edge design doesn't make room for ads the way one with lots more white space would.

What's Google+ 2.6 Like?

I downloaded Google+ for Android v2.6 late morning EDT on Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ and Asus Transformer Pad 300, running Android 4.04 and 4.03, respectively. I can't attest for how the user experience might differ on devices running older operating systems.

My reaction is mixed compared to the iOS version, which in some ways I find superior. Responding to Gundotra, Eric Leslie writes: "I was excited when I saw the iPhone version, but this looks like a rough port. There isn't much polish. If you're looking at a post and start scrolling down, there is a weird gradient that moves over the top that looks odd until you reach the white where the comments are. I don't see any sexy animations like the iPhone has. Come on guys!"

Beyond the visuals and improved discovery, two features stand out: Inline editing and integrated Hangouts. The latter, for video chatting, was one of Ice Cream Sandwich's stand-out features when launched last year. But as the cloud computing giant improved the feature as part of Google+, Hangouts grew clumsy, since users had to initiate them outside the social network. No longer.

"To get started, tap 'Hangout' in the (new) navigation ribbon, add some friends and tap 'Start'", Gundotra explains. "We'll ring their phones (if you want), and if someone misses the hangout, they can ring you back with a single tap".

Inline editing is a "Doh?" feature that Google should have included from day one. Who wants to post while mobile if making a typing mistake he or she can't fix later on?

Search is improved, and I find it to be better than in the browser. Google+ for Android presents options for "Posts" and "People". However, my initial reaction, which might change with further use, is that Google+ for iPhone discovery is better.

In the bullet points in the section above, I noted the value of connecting additional services. Some Google+ users aren't satisfied with how far the service has come. In response to Gundotra, Phil Lott calls the new app a "huge improvement", but then requests: "Please unify Google Talk, Google+ Hangouts and Google Messenger. These services don't interoperate the way the should, although they have very much in common. I' don't understand why I can't text someone on Google Talk via Google+ Messenger etc."

The tablet experience is superior in some ways, lacking in others compared to new iPad. Clearly neither Google+ app is optimized for tablets. On new iPad, the user taps 2X, which expands the size to fill the screen with iPhone border around the app. On the Android tablet, Google+ fills the screen, offering the more visually-appealing edge-to-edge experience. However, text and photos are much sharper on new iPad, which is in part because of the higher resolution display.

Have you used either or both apps? I'm particularly interested in how you think they compare. Important: Please state what device and OS version you use.
Yahoo launches the first Pinterest-integrated mobile Web browser, Yahoo Axis

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 10:33am MDT by Tim Conneally

After a consistent stream of bad news from Yahoo's executive offices, the fading giant search company has finally launched a big new development that takes on its core business challenge: staying relevant. The company on Thursday launched its own Web browser called Yahoo Axis.

Axis is centered around searching, bookmarking, and content syncing across multiple devices. While Yahoo says Axis is both a desktop and mobile browser, it is really just a mobile browser for the iPad and iPhone, and a plug-in for Safari/Chrome/IE/Firefox which amounts to a little more than a "next-gen Yahoo Toolbar."

With that being said, Yahoo in 2012 has moved toward adopting a "mobile first" strategy, and third-party browser share in the mobile realm is still up for grabs, so concentrating on its mobile application is a solid maneuver.

The mobile browser changes a few things about the standard browsing experience by shifting the locations of tools away from their usual habitats. For example, browser tabs are now located in the lower left hand corner of the screen, where nearly every other browser puts them as a button in the upper right. Like other browsers, the top bar includes the URL/search field, back and forward arrows, a "share" button, a bookmark button, and the bookmarks tab. By touching the bottom of this bar and pulling down, the user can expand the search field to perform thumbnail searches or check out trending search topics and scroll through a series of suggested links.

It's worth noting that the "share" button lets users by default send links to their Yahoo email or Pinterest. There's no messing about with Twitter and Facebook straight out of the gate with this browser. Yahoo Axis is clearly the first browser to have chosen default integration with Pinterest, the one-and-a-half billion dollar social network.

When users are logged into their Yahoo ID, they are presented with a customized start page similar to Chrome's which can be loaded with favorite sites, articles to "read later," and links that are open on other devices. The idea is to tie search into the browsing experience across all devices, sort of like Google has done with Android and Chrome, but Yahoo has applied it to iOS and ostensibly all of the popular desktop browsers including Chrome.

"Starting today, search and browsing will never be the same and we’re excited to offer you a better way. Think of this as a sneak peek of what’s to come; we’re planning for Yahoo! Axis in more markets, on mobile devices, and with more killer features in the coming future," the Yahoo Search Team blog said on Thursday.

Download Yahoo Axis at axis.yahoo.com

broadbandreports.com

Senator Kohl Slams Verizon's Forced DSL/Landline Bundling - Urges FCC, DOJ to Scrutinize Cable Deal Carefully

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 10:25am MDT

Senator Herb Kohl is the latest politician to express concerns about the anti-competitive impact of Verizon's massive new bundling and marketing arrangement with the cable industry. In a letter (pdf) from Kohl sent to the Justice Department and the FCC, the Senator expresses concern about confining too much spectrum in the pens of the nation's largest phone companies, while also arguing that having Verizon and the cable industry as BFFs will likely result in less motivation to compete on the landline broadband front.

Kohl's inquiry comes on the heels of a recent letter by Rep. Mike Doyle inquiring about the deal and Verizon's recent decision to again force DSL users to purchase a costly landline in order to get broadband service. As earning reports make very clear, Verizon has essentially given up on millions of their customers on aging DSL lines, and is letting them flee to faster cable alternatives as Verizon focuses on the higher-growth opportunities in wireless.

Verizon has stopped expanding FiOS services to focus on ramping up adoption in those markets. Roughly 40% of Verizon's existing landline broadband subscribers continue to be on DSL services, and Verizon has every indication of either leaving those customers on last-gen technology, or selling them to any number of financially dubious smaller telcos. Verizon's major focus now is LTE wireless, and in particular their HomeFusion fixed LTE service. Verizon has a strong momentum to shift these DSL users to HomeFusion -- where $10 per gigabyte overages await.

Kohl had already written to Verizon to criticize the company's backward momentum in forcing landline and DSL bundling, something consumers and consumer advocates spent years to successfully stop. "The bundling that Verizon now plans could potentially lessen competition, increase rates and lead to less innovation," Kohl said in his letter. "Consumers benefit when one service is competing with another, not when they must buy a package of services."
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PBS Frontline Focuses On Celullar Tower Climbers - 'The Hidden Cost of the Smartphone Revolution'

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 9:37am MDT

We've talked several times over the years about how cellular tower climbing is one of the most dangerous professions in the country, something that received renewed attention back in 2008 when there was a flood of fatalities in the profession. PBS Frontline is running a new documentary on the profession this week which is viewable online here for those interested. An article here is also worth a look, and explores some of the ignored safety practices that resulted in the 2008 flood of fatalities. According to the report, between 2003 and 2011, 50 climbers died working on cell sites, while 100 were killed on communications towers. Research into the deaths found that AT&T had more fatalities on its jobs than Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile combined. As PBS notes, the fatalities came as AT&T was rushing to integrate Cingular equipment and trying to prepare to handle the iPhone.
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Box cozies up to large scale users, debuts new admin tools

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 9:13am MDT by Ed Oswald

Enterprise cloud-based file sharing service Box strengthened its offering on Thursday, announcing new features that will simplify management for IT administrators. The new functionality allows for greater control over security, and the ability to enable enterprise-wide search.

The company also debuted new pricing structures that enable larger companies to adopt its services with more predictable pricing. This is a move away from the traditional per-seat model of the past, and makes cloud storage more cost-effective for large enterprises.

Box counts 11 million users including 120,000 businesses -- 82 percent of the Fortune 500. Box's most recent changes are in direct response to requests by users, and take into account the more widespread use of the cloud in the enterprise versus the isolated deployments of the past.

The changes to search within Box are evidence of this. Searching was previously limited to individual accounts. With the new admin console, administrators now have the capability to search across the entire enterprise, making it much easier to view files and folders and understand how they are being shared both within and outside an organization.

"Enterprises are realizing transformative gains by adopting the cloud, but there is a need for technology that provides deeper visibility, control and data security", Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie says.

Box has improved mobile security, enabling passcode locks for file access on mobile devices and more control over offline file access, and the ability to support more than one domain in a Box enterprise deployment. It is also introducing new logging capabilities to track items comments, tasks and sharing files.

The company says this will be especially useful in industries such as finance and healthcare, where such data must be kept to ensure regulatory compliance.

On the subject of pricing, Box's new Enterprise License Agreement will make large-scale cloud users happy. Instead of a per-seat cost, larger users will be able to enter into multi-year licenses with Box at a fixed rate. This will allow them to plan better for IT costs and will simplify the administration of large contracts.

Photo Credit: Tom Wang/Shutterstock

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Mac Security: Don't Fall Asleep - Keeping Your Mac Protected From Emerging Threats

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 8:11am MDT

It's important not to forget that we are just a month beyond what was the worst week for security in the Macintosh platform's history. It is estimated that at one point over 600,000 Macs were infected. This represented 1% of the Mac user base, however it was reported that most of the infected computers were in the USA and Canada. The 1% figure matches the damage done by the disastrous Conficker virus for Windows that hit a few years ago.

Courtesy of Allison Sheridan, host of the Nosilla Cast - Mac Podcast, and guest Bart Busschots (Mac Security Expert), an overview of the FlashBack Trojan was provided on their April 08 podcast. It started off last fall exploiting Flash on your Mac. If you'll remember, you don't use Flash directly, but it plays video and other media on websites that you visit. At times, the various clickable buttons on a website are also designed using Flash. Many would argue that that represents poor site design. If you regularly use Flash, make sure your Flash player is up to date, so that the old vulnerabilities get patched.

If you are not sure what version of Flash you have you can check in your System Preferences -- by going to the Apple menu >> System Preferences. If you see it there -- please make sure that updates are set to Automatic. If you have purposely removed Flash from your Mac -- please note that you can always visit Flash websites by using the Google Chrome browser, an alternative to Firefox and Safari. Chrome has Flash built in and they keep it updated for you (very safe).

So if you still don't see Flash in your System Preferences and don't remember uninstalling it, then you probably have it installed but an old version (very unsafe). So either uninstall it using the link above (ie. you have no use for it) or do yourself a favor and install version 11. Update: Mac users running Lion 10.7 may want to go ahead and download the Flash 11.3 beta. This release will put you on par with the Windows version which includes automatic background updating.

About the Flashback TrojanWhile it is called the Flashback Trojan -- Flash really isn't the issue anymore. Between last fall and recently, it mutated into giving you fake notifications for Mac Software Updates. Official Mac software updates are very important and when they are available, Apple notifies you weekly. You can also manually check for updates by clicking Apple menu >> Software Update.

The way to spot the fake Software Update is if you never selected any updates to be installed yet you are being asked for your Mac system password with a box that says Software Update. FAKE. However, a real Software Update will show real programs that are checked off for you to update. Do any and all of those. However, this is yesterday's news, because the vulnerability which resulted in those fake updates has been patched. Patched just like a flat tire!

Last months's variation of the Flashback Trojan was unique in that it did not require ANY user interaction. And -- Apple had not updated its software in time to protect you. A lot of the infections occurred through ads encountered on websites, which likely were bad ads on legitimate websites. They came in through Java -- an application that you don't run directly but helps other applications on your Mac.

From my experience, most of you likely HAVE Java on your Macs. I use Java every day and not in specialized programs made for computer pros (Libre Office and Moneydance). Since early April, Apple has updated Java for Mac 3 times and if you have 10.6 or 10.7 version of the Mac OS you should have gotten these updates. If you are unsure: Apple menu >> Software update. Starting with Java 7, Oracle is making their platform for the Mac a stand alone download that can be obtained from and updated by them (just as it is for Windows). It is available now - as Java 7 update 4, but does will not include the Web Start components until update 6.

Protecting YourselfYou should really Anti-Virus software on your Mac. This isn't an option anymore. I predicted there would be a day when this would come. I will give you two options -- free but more self-maintenance required or paid subscription which is managed for you.

Free options (you must routinely check for updates and do scans on your own) include Sophos AntiVirus Mac Home Edition and ClamXav.

As for paid options (updates for you, scans files as they come into your computer, scheduled scans, telephone support), I think one program captures the idea of a Mac-centric AV program very well --- Intego Virus Barrier X6. The service will run you $50 a year ($80 for 2 years) -- and covers 2 Macs. However, it should be noted that industry standards Norton, ESET, F-Secure, and Kaspersky also publish Mac specific products.

We've Been WarnedIn closing -- Mac users can't say that they haven't been warned. Personally, I have been downplaying the security advantages of buying a Mac for a few years, and would honestly not bring this up when discussing a new computer purchase with a client. Ultimately, I think the selling points of a Mac over a Windows computer are A) Easy of use, B) Enjoyment, C) User experience / warranty support. A Windows computer of EQUAL quality to a Mac nearly the same price as a Mac or in some cases more. However, many people can get by with a decent, but not great Windows machine especially when home warranty support is tossed in (a benefit not offered through Apple care).

For the few of you still using OS 10.4 or 10.5 -- the time has really come to buy a new computer (or upgrade to 10.6 and 10.7 if you are on an Intel Mac). There are no more security updates for Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5. You are naked an unprotected. You can always keep your existing Mac running, but not use it on the Internet. You also have the option of installing Linux mint on some PPC Macs. The least expensive Mac desktop with monitor will run you roughly $1000 (ie. Mac Mini with basic DVI monitor) . A "decent" Windows consumer desktop will run you $650 to $750. I am not against anyone buying a Windows computer, if they cannot afford a Mac. Being up to date on software transcends having an attractive paperweight on your desk.

This article is part of an effort to solicit content from the Broadband Reports community. If you'd like to participate, please contact us.
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T-Mobile Finally Getting Tough on Tethering? - For Android Users With Ice Cream Sandwich Updates

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 8:10am MDT

One of the things T-Mobile fans like the company is that the carrier has been traditionally rather lax on enforcing tethering restrictions. While companies like AT&T and Verizon busily charge users a $15 "because we can" fee, T-Mobile "officially" charged users $14.95 to tether, but often wouldn't even talk about the fact they didn't enforce the charge. Unfortunately this appears to be ending for some users. PC Magazine notes that HTC Sensation owners on T-Mobile are getting the phone's Android 4.0 update, but a notice in the "HTC Sensation 4G will be required to add Wi-Fi Mobile Hotspot feature in order to use the service after completing this update." If you're a T-Mobile user, let us know in the comments if anything has changed for you post Android 4.0 update on your device.
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Microsoft Funds Startup Designed to Disrupt BitTorrent - 'Pirate Pay' Says They've Developed Swarm Attacking Technology

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 8:10am MDT

Microsoft is funding a new Russian startup named "Pirate Pay" that is being built to help track and shut down the distribution of copyrighted works on BitTorrent. According to Torrent Freak, they've developed a technology which allows them to attack existing BitTorrent swarms by flooding clients with fake information, masquerading as legitimate peers. "We used a number of servers to make a connection to each and every P2P client that distributed this film," says Pirate Pay's Andrei Klimenko of a successful test. "Then Pirate Pay sent specific traffic to confuse these clients about the real IP-addresses of other clients and to make them disconnect from each other." MediaDefender offered similar services that did little to dent the overall trend of increase content piracy.
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BetaNews.Com

Total Commander 8 goes 64-bit, but old plugins won't work

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 8:03am MDT by Mike Williams

In beta since September 2011, Ghisler Software has finally announced the release of the plainly very thoroughly tested Total Commander 8.0, the company’s flagship file manager.

The big news in this release is the availability of a native 64-bit version of the program, which has a very real impact on functionality. Total Commander has been able to compare files by their content for a very long time, for instance, but version 8.0 x64 is the first release to support this for files greater than 2GB in size.

There’s a temporary disadvantage to the 64-bit option, though: Total Commander has built up lots of useful 32-bit plugins over the years, and these won’t work with the x64 build until they’re converted. If you make major use of plugins then Ghisler Software recommends you continue to use the 32-bit version, just for the moment (although they also point out that you can install both in parallel, even to the same directory, if you’d just like to try out the 64-bit release).

The changes elsewhere in this release are generally small, though still welcome. There’s faster file deletion, for instance; the multi-rename tool has some useful new options; the Lister can automatically rotate JPG images to the angle stored in their metadata, and of course there are plenty of bug fixes. If you’re interested in the full list then the latest History file will tell you more.

Total Commander 8.0 probably won’t win over many new converts, then, but if you’re already a fan and already using 64-bit Windows then it’s going to be an essential upgrade. Downloads are available now.

Photo Credit: S.john/Shutterstock
Panic offers high-calorie Coda 2 for Mac, and low-cal Diet Coda for iPad

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 6:29am MDT by Nick Peers

Oregon developer Panic has released a brand new version of its Mac web-coding tool, Coda 2, plus launched a streamlined iPad version, appropriately titled Diet Coda. Diet Coda is designed as a companion tool to Coda for use on the move.

Coda 2 launches with over 100 new features -- many of which are based on user requests, adds 64-bit compatibility and provides a completely refreshed user interface. It’s billed as a one-stop shop for web developers, incorporating editor, terminal, CSS and files management within a single application.

Coda 2 brings a revamped editor, introducing code folding, autocomplete support for variables and functions, improved workflow including automatic indentation and smarter closing tags, plus a streamlined find and replace tool.

The user interface introduces new smart, scrolling tabs that can be large or small, images or text. A Super Sidebar allows users to place all their most frequently accessed tools on a customizable dock, while users can now go full-screen with Code Focus, which hides the sidebar and allows them to concentrate fully on looking at the code.

File support is improved with the ability to manage source code with Git as well as SVN. Coda 2 also introduces a full file browser that supports FTP, SFTP, WebDAV and S3, and boasts a “Transit Twin-Turbo Engine”, designed to speed up file uploads.

Coda’s clips function has also been improved, with support for multiple placeholders, allowing coders to mark out areas where coding or other elements aren’t yet in place. Users can move between placeholders via the Tab key or customised key shortcut. Placeholders can now also be dynamic, with fill-in dates, selections and URLs among other elements supported.

Sites can now be grouped simply by dragging one on to another, while List View is designed for those who have many sites to work through. Support has also been added for iCloud Sync of sites and clips, but only if the software is purchased directly through the App Store.

A built-in Web Inspector tool is just one of the improvements to Coda’s CSS editor, while version 2 adds support for MySQL with a new built-in MySQL editor. The Code Navigator has also been revamped to make it easier to find blocks of code, with code hints appearing as the user types and simplified syntax colouring designed to aid navigation. Finally, the validation process has been improved.

It’s now possible to view iPhone and iPad Frames in the Preview app, while Coda 2 is also declared Retina-ready.

Diet Coda introduces a subset of features from Coda 2, allowing developers to edit their sites on the go if required. Diet Coda also links in with Coda 2, providing a live preview option on the iPad from that application.

Coda 2 is available as a 7-day trial download for Macs running OS X. The full version retails for $99.99, although for one day only all users can purchase it for the upgrade price of $49.99. Diet Coda is available for iPad only, and retails for $19.99, although again there’s a discount of 50 per cent for those who purchase the app today.
Symantec releases free iAntivirus for the Mac

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 5:10am MDT by Mark Wilson

While there are still Mac users who will proclaim that their systems are immune to viruses and malware, recent high-profile virus infections show that this is simply not the case. Even for anyone still convinced that their computer is immune to viruses, if a Mac is on the same network as a PC, it can easily be used to pass a virus to a Windows-based machine. This is just one of the reasons that Mac virus protection is much more important than many people believe, and Symantec’s newly released iAntivirus is a free tool that could help to bolster security.

If you have used any of Symantec’s security software for Windows, taking a look at the antivirus tool that has been released for OS X is going to come as a little bit of a shock. Minimal is a word that best describes not only the app’s interface, but also its feature set. Rather than on-going background protection against viruses and other forms of malware, all that is on offer here is on-demand scanning -- although you do have the choice of performing a scan of your entire system, your Home folder or other locations.

In addition to this, you can drag and drop files you are unsure about onto the app window to perform a quick scan of just these files, but there are very few options to work with. This could be viewed as a good or a bad thing as it helps to keep the software simple to use, but it also means that important security features are lacking. Anyone that is more used to antivirus tools sitting quietly in the background taking care of business will need to change their ways of thinking if they install this app as the lack of background checking means that the onus is on the user to start any scans.

Should anything untoward be detected, potentially dangerous files are quarantined so they are unable to cause any damage. You have the option of attempting to repair the files, deleting it, or just restoring it to its original location. There is one intriguing feature to be found in iAntivirus -- the option of scanning your Facebook wall for malicious links that could be harmful to you and your online friends. This is a nice touch, but hardly a deal breaker.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the application by paying a visit to the iAntivirus review page.

Photo Credits: maraga/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Thursday Morning Links -

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 5:06am MDT

New York Legislation Would Ban Anonymous Online Speech wired.com
Deutsche Telekom says complete T-Mobile USA sale unlikely totaltele.com
Will This Be the Death of Netflix? fool.com
Vermont's digital future envisoned at conference burlingtonfreepress.com
Google 7-inch tablet imminent, says report cnet.com
Apple slams US govt's e-book pricing suit totaltele.com
Injunction ordering Verizon to cease infringing ActiveVideo patents goes into effect fiercecable.com
Time Warner CEO: Cable should let consumers 'use the interface they want' fiercecable.com
Is Verizon's Viewdini a hint of what's to come? fiercewireless.com
Browser choice: A thing of the past? cnet.com
Here comes Yahoo's own Web browser -- Axis cnet.com
Everyone wants larger screened tablet-phones reghardware.com
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BetaNews.Com

Rogue Applications Remover finds malware your security software misses

Posted: May 24th, 2012, 4:21am MDT by Mike Williams

ESET has released Rogue Applications Remover, a stand-alone console tool that tries to remove rogue antivirus and similar unwanted malware which regular security tools might miss.

The program is very basic, with minimal options. There’s no real-time protection here, no options beyond a few command line switches, it’s really just about running on-demand scans and watching as your system is checked for threats.

Still, this simplicity does have its plus points. Rogue Applications Remover is very compact, for instance, a single executable under 3MB in size. And it’s most unlikely to conflict with any other security tool: whatever else you’re running, you should be able to use this as well to get a quick second opinion.

Is it worth it, though? We’re not entirely sure yet, but one issue we immediately noticed on our test PC is that Rogue Applications Remover asked if it could delete a file we’re entirely sure is innocent. This came from a trusted developer, and got a clean bill of health at VirusTotal: the only issue is that it’s very new, a brand new version of a small and obscure utility.

This suggests to us that as well as looking for files it knows are malware, Rogue Applications Remover is also scoring applications on their potential risk. And so an unsigned EXE file which it’s never seen before may be incorrectly flagged as a problem.

You shouldn’t take Rogue Applications Remover‘s verdict for granted, then, but don’t let that put you off entirely. Its small size, ease of use and compatibility with other security tools means the program may still be useful in a malware emergency.

Photo Credit: njaj/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Wednesday Evening Links -

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 5:10pm MDT

If Video Sites Could Act Like Cable Companies nytimes.com
Ohio start-up to bring gigabit broadband to six U.S. communities latimes.com
BT Warned Over Super-Fast Broadband Monopoly itproportal.com
First LTE Rollouts Are About Experience, Not $$ cable360.net
UK gov't offers PC with a year's worth of broadband for 159 computerworlduk.com
Doubling spectrum capacity is not enough fiercewireless.com
70% of operators believe now is the right time to launch LTE fiercemobilecontent.com
Android Malware Up 1,200% in Q1 wirelessweek.com
60% of carriers worldwide to deploy LTE by end of 2013 fiercewireless.com
No more subsidies experiment results in Spain: Surprise! Looks like most people can't pay $800 every 1-2 years for a new high-end smartphone wsj.com
AT&T begins refarming 2G spectrum for 3G, 4G purposes in New York City mobileburn.com
Google to Warn 500,000+ of DNS Changer Infections krebsonsecurity.com
IBM Outlaws Siri, Worried She Has Loose Lips wired.com
Jury: Google did not infringe Oracle patents with Android theverge.com
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HP reports better-than-expected quarter, but cuts 27,000 jobs amid restructuring

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 4:11pm MDT by Ed Oswald

HP released better than expected results after the close of the markets Wednesday, and the company overall shows signs of a long-awaited turnaround. But the big story tonight surrounds the 27,000 workers who will lose their jobs as part of a "multi-year" restructuring plan announced by CEO Meg Whitman.

The cuts amount to about eight percent of the workforce and are expected to save HP between $3 and $3.5 billion annually by 2015. It will be phased in gradually though 2014, and involves an early retirement package to be offered by the company. In a conference call with analysts, Whitman described the quarter's results as positive, but added "we have a lot of work to do".

HP employees have been through this before: in June 2010, the computing giant announced cuts over a "multi-year period", which amounted to the loss of 9,000 jobs. In 2008, another restructuring program eliminated about 25,000 jobs, and in 2005, 15,000 workers lost jobs over an 18-month period.

These cuts did little to improve the fortunes of HP, analysts argue. The latest move was already criticized before being announced: a Deutsche Bank analyst questioned the company's efforts in a research note, quipping that HP "has been restructuring for the past decade".

Most of the savings will be reinvested back into the business, the company says. HP plans to invest in its core printing and personal systems business -- a welcome sign considering these two business segments seemed dead just a year ago -- and into emerging businesses including the cloud. That said, a $1.7 billion pre-tax charge will be taken during fiscal 2012 to cover costs associated with the cuts.

"While some of these actions are difficult because they involve the loss of jobs, they are necessary to improve execution and to fund the long term health of the company", Whitman said in a statement. In the call, Whitman said she was "cautiously optimistic" on the company's fortunes coming out of a successful quarter.

That cautious optimism may be smart, evidenced by the troubles of Dell. That company reported as part of its quarterly results after the close of the markets Tuesday that it saw a slowdown in the overall PC industry. That news coupled with disappointing earnings sent Dell's stock tumbling over 17 percent Wednesday, its worst performance in 11 years.

HP reported second-quarter GAAP earnings of $1.6 billion on revenues of $30.7 billion, down three percent from a year ago -- about 80 cents per share. That was above the company's own estimates of 68 to 71 cents per share, and revenues came in above an average of $29.92 billion forecast by analysts polled by Thompson Reuters.

Photo Credit: Stephen VanHorn/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Pirate Bay Makes Bypassing Filters Easier - As More and More Countries Try to Censor Website

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 3:18pm MDT

As a growing number of countries (Iran, UK, India) work to ban the Pirate Bay, the website is making it easier to circumnavigate those filters. In most countries they're blocking the website using domain and IP-address filter, but the website has simply thrown up a new IP at 194.71.107.80 for those users to access without a problem. That will obviously be blocked as well, so the website has made a number of tweaks to the website to make it easier to work with the growing number of proxy users who are bypassing the filters. "It is made so the people who setup proxies can use the new IP-address instead of coming up with complicated rewrites for static content and stuff. Instead of pointing their proxies to thepiratebay.se they should point it to that IP-address," says the website. Let the taxpayer-funded game of whac-a-mole continue...
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BetaNews.Com

Create HTML 5 photo galleries with Juicebox

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 2:59pm MDT by Mark Wilson

Looking for an impressive way to show off your digital photos? Juicebox may be just what the doctor ordered. This free Adobe AIR app can be used on Macs as well as PCs running Windows or Linux and whatever platform you use to create your gallery, you can be sure that it’ll look great on both desktop and mobile platforms. The app has been designed specifically with online photo galleries in mind, and despite the fact that stunning HTML5 galleries can be created, you do not need to know a single line of coding.

One of the problems that faces anyone looking to create an online gallery is finding a way to ensure that your photo slideshows look good on a number of different devices and platforms, particularly taking into account mobile devices with smaller screens. This is not a problem with Juicebox -- you can simply choose a design and layout that you would like to use and it will be automatically scaled to suit different screen sizes. From an end-user’s point of view, navigation is made wonderfully easy thanks to support for not only mouse and keyboard controls, but also touch screen navigation.

The beauty of Juicebox, aside from the fact that it is so easy to create great-looking galleries that can be viewed on countless devices, is the everything is just so simple to get up and running. You do not need to worry about resizing images as this is all taken care of for you. If you have already uploaded images to Flickr, you do not need to spend time downloading them and then re-uploading them: they can be used in their current online form by Juicebox.

There are some gorgeously simple yet effective gallery layouts to choose from, and all of the necessary code is generated for you ready to copy and paste into the code of your web site. If your demands are a little higher – such as the ability to add background music to your galleries or the option of creating a random playback order – you have the option of upgrading to the Pro version, but for all intents and purposes, the free version is perfect for most people.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Juicebox review page.
Geeks rejoice at Google's legal triumph over Oracle

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 2:43pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Google couldn't have asked for better in its intellectual property dispute with Oracle. The judge turned out to be a programmer, and his ongoing guidance to the jury tempered deliberations. Then there were a couple of lucky breaks, the biggest perhaps from former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, who volunteered on the witness stand the company saw no grounds to sue Google. Wherever the luck, and perhaps a tenable defense, Google won big today with the jury finding that Android doesn't violate Oracle patents acquired from Sun.

The reaction, as measured by Google+ posts, is magnanimous for the search giant -- and, well, as for Oracle it's best not to whack the beaten too much more. I chose to take reaction from Google+ because it's such a techie hangout.

Had Oracle triumphed today's patent warfare could easily have become a nuclear nightmare. There's legitimate argument that a win for Google is a win for all those developers without the patent portfolios of the likes of Apple and Microsoft. Still, that scenario is possible. The judge could rule APIs are copyrightable, so Oracle may yet walk away with an industry-swaying ruling.

Perhaps those gleeful about the verdict are more vocal, since I found more of this kind of reaction. "Oracle probably shat themselves when it was revealed that their presiding judge is a programmer", Chris Droste opines.

Linux creator Linus Torvalds:

Prediction: instead of Oracle coming out and admitting they were morons about their idiotic suit against Android, they'll come out posturing and talk about how they'll be vindicated, and pay lawyers to take it to the next level of idiocy. Sometimes I really wish I wasn't always right. It's a curse, I tell you.

Tech blogger Ishaan Garg: "A just verdict :)"

"I'm quite surprised by the verdict being totally dismissive of Oracle claims, as Google somewhat took lightly some pieces of Oracle / Sun IP (albeit definitely not on the scale that Oracle claimed), but I guess that we developers and not only ! can all rejoice about this!" writes software developer Yannis Bres.

Software engineer, and ex-Googler, Cedric Beust calls the verdict: "Fantastic news!"

"Oracle you should have known it would come to this", student Candyce Moore writes. I mean, how much money did you want from Google again? 75 Trillion something like that? Which is, you know, more money than actually exists in the world".

Applications program manager Brett Freeman: "Shocker. Anyone feeling sorry for [Oracle CEO] Larry Ellison? Didn't think so. At least attorneys made $$$".

"Patent suits aren't events any more, they're a new fact of life, possibly even a new standard operating corporate strategy", help desk tech Frank Lazar writes. "Isn't that why Google's buying Motorola?"

PC World writer Katherine Noyes: "Wahoo!" Mohamed Rafiq believes that "Oracle got what they deserved and meanwhile in the process lost some friends".

"Google should give some pocket change -- $100 m-- to Oracle so that they can save face and 'settle'", systems biologist Tau-Mu Yi suggests. "These trials make me nervous. Google should have reached some type of licensing agreement with Sun back in the day".

Computer tech Brian Booher: "VICTORY!!! Now sit down and shut up Oracle!" "Congrats on the win today in court", writes student Jose Rodriguez.

"I'm actually kind of shocked by this one", Brian McClure expresses. "Not because I think Google infringed but rather that the jury had enough understanding and common sense to see through Oracle's lame arguments".

Red Hat evangelist Jan Wildeboer: "Getting myself a bottle of Augustiner Helles. And relax, knowing another babystep towards a better world just occured in the Oracle v Google case".

Photo Credit: William Perugini/Shutterstock
Jury says Android does not violate Oracle's patents, APIs up next in landmark case

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 2:21pm MDT by Tim Conneally

The fight between Oracle and Google over Android's use of Java took a turn in Google's favor, filings from the District Court for the Norther District of California showed on Wednesday. The jury in the patent phase of the case unanimously voted that Oracle did not prove Android had infringed on Oracle's Java patents.

This decision settles only part of the lawsuit, which Groklaw remarked has been the "longest civil trial" they have ever covered. However, it is a big part. Oracle was calling for an injunction on Android plus damages in its suit, and now that the jury has found no patent infringement, the threat of injunction is nullified.

Android, it appears, is safe.

However, there is still the contentious question of whether software APIs can be copyrighted. Two weeks ago, the jury did not conclusively decide whether Android constituted "fair use" of Oracle's 37 Java APIs, and Google and Oracle filed a stack of documents on Wednesday that cover interfaces, exceptions, and interoperability for review.

In these documents, Google includes its arguments for fair use of these APIs, which cite both Apple v. Microsoft from 1994 and a lawsuit Sega weighed against software company Accolade back in the days of the Sega Genesis.

"The Ninth Circuit did not hold that the fair use doctrine allowed Accolade to copy aspects of Sega’s programs that were required for compatibility. Instead, the Ninth Circuit held that functional requirements for compatibility are not protected by the Copyright Act in the first instance. That is, Accolade did not need to rely on the fair use doctrine to establish that it was entitled to copy functional requirements for compatibility. Instead, it relied on the fair use doctrine to establish that it was allowed Accolade to copy and disassemble all of Sega’s code to the extent necessary to determine what was functionally required for compatibility. Because aspects of a computer program that are functionally required for compatibility are not copyrightable, it does not matter what the defendant does with them. Even if the defendant’s product is not compatible with the plaintiff’s product, the plaintiff still cannot assert infringement based only on the copying of unprotected elements."

broadbandreports.com

NY Mayors Lament Lack of NY FiOS - Complain That New York Suburbs Got All the Love

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 11:57am MDT

We've noted repeatedly that Verizon's done with expanding FiOS, and what's more -- they're essentially done worrying about what happens to the millions of DSL users they didn't upgrade, letting them flow freely to cable as the company focuses on more profitable wireless services. Users who remain are seeing prices jacked up through forced landline bundling. Numerous major cities including Boston, Baltimore, Alexandria and Buffalo have lamented for years that Verizon has focused on their outer suburbs, but ignored the entirety of most of these actual cities. Hoping to prompt some additional movement, nine upstate New York mayors have joined forces to issue a statement in the hopes of gaining some collective traction:
"Verizon has not built its all-fiber FiOS network in any of our densely-populated cities. Not in Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, Binghamton, Kingston, Elmira or Troy, the mayors say. Yet, Verizon has expanded its FiOS network to the suburbs ringing Buffalo, Albany, Troy, and Syracuse, as well as many places in the Hudson Valley, and most of downstate New York. As a result, the residents and businesses in our cities are disadvantaged relative to their more affluent suburban neighbors who have access to Verizon s FiOS, providing competitive choice in high-speed broadband and video services."
It's unlikely that a letter from the mayors of several economically-struggling towns will change Verizon's mind, as their calculations were simply made based on their projected return on investment. While it remains possible that a select few of these markets may someday see further upgrades, it's more likely that many of them could be sold to a company like Frontier -- who services Rochester, New York and has their own problems in getting next-generation upgrades to users.
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BetaNews.Com

Free USB Guard leaves no drives behind

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 11:20am MDT by Mike Williams

It’s easily done. You’ve finished working on a friend’s PC, close it down and walk away, completely forgetting about the USB key you plugged in a little earlier. Or maybe you’re at home, closing down your own PC, even though there’s a CD or DVD in the drive that you’ll need later. And then, once you realize, you’re perhaps forced to restart the system before you can eject it.

They’re both common problems, but easy to address with a little help from Free USB Guard. Just launch the program, and if you log off or shut down later then it checks for leftover discs or forgotten external drives, stops the shutdown process if any are found, and displays a suitable warning message to let you know.

Of course this kind of alert might not always be welcome. If you’re working at home on your own PC, for instance, the chances are you won’t care at all if there are external drives connected when you shut down, and the extra dialog will just be a nuisance. But the good news here is that you’re able to customize Free USB Guard to monitor whatever you like, perhaps telling it to check a particular drive, or just look for CDs or DVDs in your optical drive, whatever makes sense for your situation.

We do have one small problem with the program, in that its RAM use seems a little excessive at over 25MB: it’s really not doing anything that complicated (although perhaps the flashy hi-res icons in its warning dialog are contributing to the problem).

That’s not a big deal, though, particularly if you’re only using Free USB Guard occasionally, and on balance the program provides an easy way to avoid some very common PC annoyances.

Photo Credit: chien321/Shutterstock
Who will buy Samsung Galaxy S III?

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 11:10am MDT by Joe Wilcox

Samsung starts selling its third-generation S Series smartphone next week -- May 29, although some locales are expected to get it a day earlier (if not sooner). Our BetaNews poll, "Will you buy Samsung Galaxy S III", has enough responses -- 2,361, as I write -- to report results. Cut to the point: 36.59 percent of you won't buy the S3. At least among our tech community, there is huge interest in the smartphone, which is now available for preorders here, including Amazon.

Some of you have preordered, or will do so: 15.37 percent. Another 32.57 percent plan to order within 3 months and 9.45 percent within 6 months. Those willing to wait are likely to pay less, as national cellular carriers offer Galaxy S 3, albeit locked. The pricier, unlocked models are carrier and contract free. The poll results corroborate last week's report of 9 million preorders. In the United Kingdom, Carphone Warehouse reports strong preorder demand for the S3.

On these shores, preorder prices vary. Last week I reported $649.99 from Expansys-USA. Price today is $694.99. Either I'm dyslexic or the price jumped 50 bucks. Over at Amazon, via reseller Blutekusa, the phone is $799.99, which is more in line with the S2's debut.

A reader going by Lawrence of Arabia comments: "Yes, but I'll wait for the price to drop, just like the Galaxy Nexus". Judging by the S2, those buyers willing to extend cellular carrier contracts can expect to pay around $200. Americans ordering now should note: You won't get LTE on the unlocked phone, which doesn't support T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. You can talk but not get fast data. Those who wait, can expect fast data from whatever carrier offers the S3.

"My plan is to get the S3 upon the condition that the current specs make it into the carrier phone (or at least very similar specs)", writes Neoprimal, who should be satisfied if S2 is example. "If they don't then I'll wait and see what the next Google phone has to offer. I do prefer Google phones because of getting the updates are guaranteed, but things are changing and carrier phones seem to be getting updates on a more consistent basis at the very least".

TomasF won't buy the S3, "because it seems that Samsung and other android makers -- not to mention Google -- have no interest in implementing compliance with some of the Exchange security policies, notably the ones we use at work. Since HTC seem to be more than average interested in this and implement additional support through Sense, I went for the One X".

Reader jfplopes is considering for "right now the S3 -- and even considering the upcoming iPhone 5, I would probably still go S3 or similar Android device. And it's not because I think Android is the best thing in the world. I have both Android and iOS devices".

Will you buy Samsung Galaxy S III?

Jim Hi is simply satisfied with another Samsung Android: "I bought the Galaxy Nexus when it was released. It's still a very impressive phone, and I plan on keeping it for a bit longer. Many of the S3 specs are similar to the Nexus. I can't afford to buy an S3 just because it's new. Maybe I'll catch the S4! :)" Commenter tigerheartbambi's situation is similar: "I'm loving this samsung galaxy S III but too bad I already bought Samsung Galaxy Note a month ago".

"I would love this cool phone or whatever you call it.:-)", Anne Carpenter comments. "The big screen really appeals to me -- this sounds very cool!"

broadbandreports.com

Comcast Offers Free Voice2Go Service - Free Calls From Home Number Via Wi-Fi or Cellular Networks

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 10:20am MDT

Comcast has announced a new voice service for Xfinity subscribers dubbed Voice2go, which will allow Comcast subscribers to use their home phone number to make "free" calls on smartphones and tablets using either Wi-Fi or a customers' 3G or 4G cellular connection. The announcement comes directly on the heels of a new cable industry initiative to offer expanded Wi-Fi service that will provide cross-ISP access to more than 50,000 hotspots. The company has offered this video that explores the service, and according to the company blog post, the service offers the following features:

•WiFi and 4G, 3G Enabled Outbound Calling - customers can make calls and text for free within a WiFi network. Simply use your home phone number and this feature within the newly redesigned Xfinity Connect Mobile app. Calls within the home or on a public WiFi hotspot are free and calls can be made using a 4G or 3G wireless data plan, which don't use wireless minutes. As was announced recently, customers also can send and receive text messages domestically and internationally to more than 40 countries, including Canada, Brazil, China and, soon, Mexico.

•Advanced Call Forwarding - can automatically forward phone calls made to their home phone number to up to four additional phones or devices so they'll never miss a call. The service works with virtually any phone including iPhones and Android-powered devices, and when calls are forwarded to the Xfinity Connect Mobile app, customers can even receive calls on iPads and iPod touches.

•Personal Phone Numbers essentially a virtual number that is not tied to your primary Xfinity Voice number and can be assigned to up to four family members. Personal Phone Numbers work within the Xfinity Connect Mobile app so users can make calls and text for free when on a WiFi network, either in the home or on the go.

Comcast says the service should see a staggered deployment across Comcast markets through the summer.
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BetaNews.Com

Seagate begins its next big takeover: LaCie

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 10:20am MDT by Tim Conneally

American storage company Seagate announced on Wednesday its intention to become majority owner of French storage company LaCie by buying 64.5% of the company's shares from chairman and CEO Phillippe Spruch. Pending government approval of this transaction, Seagate will then buy up the rest of the outstanding stock in cash or commence a squeeze out maneuver of any minority stakeholders.

After he sells his stake, Spruch will become the head of Seagate's consumer storage products organization, above Patrick Connolly, who is currently Seagate's vice president and general manager of retail. Deputy general manager of LaCie Pierre van der Elst will also join the Seagate team. The financial terms of the new position for LaCie's CEO have not yet been determined.

Seagate says the acquisition will help accelerate its growth strategy in "the expanding consumer storage market, particularly in Europe and Japan, and add strong engineering and software development capabilities, as well as relationships with several key retailers."

This acquisition, however, comes amid a declining PC market in France. PC shipments in 2011 were down 12 percent from the previous year in France, and they saw a further 3.9 percent drop in the first quarter of 2012. The majority of this drop (-7.1 percent) took place in the consumer PC space where netbook demand tapered off, and consumers held out for new Ivy Bridge PCs and Windows 8. The only segment of the consumer PC market that is growing, according to Gartner, is Apple.

Historically, LaCie has been a major supporter of Apple's Mac platform, and it is currently one of the major supporters of the Thunderbolt interface. Seagate currently only offers Thunderbolt adaptors for its drives, and doesn't yet sell any drives designed specifically for the next-gen communications protocol. Acquiring LaCie will give Seagate several lines of Thunderbolt drives.
Do you use Gmail and want to know more about your contacts? Try Rapportive

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 10:10am MDT by Mark Wilson

We all now communicate with people through so many channels that it is often difficult to put names to faces. You may know someone on Twitter and Facebook but when you receive an email from them you do not necessary make a connection between the two. This is where Rapportive can help, by providing you with extended information about the contacts you receive emails from in your Gmail inbox.

Rapportive is available as a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Safari and appears as a right-hand side panel whenever you look at individual emails. The extension pulls in information from social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn and more to provide you with a more detailed profile of your contacts, and by connecting the service with your social networking accounts you can build up even more detailed information.

There are a few other extensions that do much the same job as a Rapportive, but none do it quite as neatly and quickly. A wealth of information is made available to you, but the side panel is not in the least bit obtrusive. It’s great to be able to see at a glance what someone looks like, where they are based and get a reminder about what other services you may have used to interact with them.

The very bottom of the side panel gives you the opportunity to save notes about your contacts and this is purely for your benefit -- you do not need to worry that any disparaging thoughts you type are going to be seen by your colleagues. One thing that is definitely worth mentioning is the fact that the Rapportive panel is not only packed with helpful information, it also replaces the advertisements that normally appear to the right of your inbox.

You can find out more by paying a visit to the Rapportive review page.

Photo Credit: Archipoch/Shutterstock
Secure your data with US military-developed Encryption Wizard

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 9:46am MDT by Mike Williams

When you need to carry sensitive data on a USB key then it’s easy to find an encryption tool which will help to keep it safe. But life gets a little more complicated when you need to transfer your files from a PC to a Mac, or maybe a Linux system: now you’ll need a cross-platform solution, and we have the perfect candidate in mind.

Encryption Wizard is an easy-to-use, yet surprisingly powerful Java-based encryption tool. Developed by the US military (a plus point or a problem, depending on your point of view) but available for all, the program provides a straightforward way to protect confidential files on USB keys (or anywhere else, really).

There’s no messing around with installation, for instance. Encryption Wizard runs from a single 1.23MB JAR file that you can use anywhere there’s a JRE 1.5 or later installed.

The program is straightforward in operation, too. Drag and drop in the files or folders you’d like to protect, enter your passphrase and you can encrypt everything (using 128-bit AES) at a click. There’s even a secure delete option to wipe the original files (though if you choose this, be very sure you don’t forget the passphrase or your documents will be lost forever).

But there’s plenty of bonus functionality, if you need it. Encryption Wizard can generate passphrases for you, for instance. If you prefer alternatives then it’s able to encrypt files using a PKI or X509 certificate, or a suitable smart card (CAC/ PIV). There’s also support for compressing files; you can add metadata to the document which won’t be encrypted (handy if you’ve a bunch of encrypted files and want to quickly find the right one); and the program’s operation can be customised in a variety of ways.

We still prefer something like TrueCrypt for, say, providing useful ways to protect the data on a single PC: it’s much more versatile. But if you’re regularly carrying confidential files from one platform to another then Encryption Wizard is a quick and easy way to keep them safe, and it’s definitely worth a few minutes of your time, just to see what the program can do for you.

Pavel Ignatov/Shutterstock
Oracle gains stake in social CRM with $300 million Vitrue buy

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 9:38am MDT by Ed Oswald

A day after competitor SAP acquired Ariba to bolster its cloud portfolio, Oracle announced a significant buy of its own, acquiring cloud-based social, marketing company Vitrue on Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although TechCrunch reports it was worth some $300 million.

Oracle's purchase of Vitrue gives the Redwood Shores, Calif. company a foothold in the social CRM segment, an initiative Gartner says companies will spend some $2.1 billion on this year alone. With the rise of social networks, companies need methods to quantify the results of their social marketing. Virtue's platform allows customers to "centrally create, publish, moderate, manage, measure and report on their social marketing campaigns and activities", Oracle says.

"The proliferation of social media and an increased demand by consumers to engage with brands across multiple social channels is driving chief marketing officers to look for an integrated social marketing platform", Oracle development vice president Thomas Kurian says.

Oracle expects the combination of the two companies to allow its customers to build better relationships with their customers, as well as improve return on investment from these initiatives. Turning back to that Gartner study, ROI was a major concern.

Gartner found that only half of all Fortune 1000 companies participating in some type of social marketing initiative would see positive ROI this year. Worse off, only a fifth of those companies actually have methods to measure their returns.

Such a statistic seems to suggest that Oracle may find itself entering a largely untapped market with a lot of upside potential. Vitrue's offerings will be added into the Oracle Cloud after the completion of the deal, although its products are expected to continue to be available individually according to a FAQ posted by Oracle on the implications of the deal.

In any case, some are arguing that Oracle got a great deal on Virtue, as the company was purchased for only three times its revenues. "I thought the words 'social media' and 'huge valuations' went together like 'Facebook' and 'privacy issues?'", MarketingPilgrim's Andy Beal wrote in response to the deal.

"Vitrue is reported to be 'nearly profitable' which may be the reason for such a low valuation. The $100M in revenue looks like a great number, but $100M without profit simply has me scratching my head", he mused.

Photo Credit: Alexander Kirch/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

FCC Boss Heartily Embraces Caps, Overages - While Ignoring All of the Potential Pitfalls

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 9:10am MDT

While he was of course speaking to his audience at this week's Cable Show in Boston, FCC boss Julius Genachowski gave his full-throated support to the cap and overage pricing model. "Business model innovation is very important," told the Cable Show attendees, adding that "usage-based pricing could be healthy and beneficial." "There was a point of view a couple years ago that there was only one permissible pricing model for broadband," said Genachowski, adding that "I didn't agree."

The problem is that while many people (including us) have argued many things about metered billing, that there should be only one pricing model has never been among them. Most of the conversations have centered around things like the fact the caps and overages imposed aren't fair, aren't tied to economic realities, and have major anti-competitive implications if abused by a broadband duopoly.

One of the larger issues, utterly ignored by Genachowski, is that while ISPs want to bill like utilities -- they refuse to be regulated like utilities -- so nobody, including the FCC, is checking to confirm meter accuracy. As such, it's not that people don't want ISPs to explore new pricing models, they just don't want them to be punitive -- and when you've got a marginally-competitive market, it's more than likely that they ultimately will be.

While the FCC professes to be concerned with "bill shock" and high subscriber prices, they generally brush aside aggressive and anti-consumer pricing as "creative." One prime example: ISPs have been burying below-the-line fees to subscriber bills to jack up the advertised price post sale -- a practice the FCC has never been even-slightly concerned about. New broadband pricing is fine, but not if the FCC's going to ignore anti-competitive abuses, meter accuracy, or aggressive over-billing.
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BetaNews.Com

System Security Guard warns but doesn't protect

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 9:00am MDT by Mike Williams

When you’re manually hunting for malware on a PC then you might start by launching Task Manager, Process Explorer, Process Hacker or a similar tool to see exactly what’s running. But these programs generally won’t directly tell you which processes are safe, and which might be dubious: you’ll have to look at what they’re doing and try to figure this out for yourself.

If this seems a little too much like hard work, though (or you’d just like some pointers to tell you where to look first), then you might be interested in System Security Guard, a very simple tool which can check your running processes for known threats.

The program couldn’t be much more straightforward. Just launch System Security Guard, and it’ll examine your running processes and loaded modules, comparing the files with its cloud-based security database (the same technology that provides the process security ratings in System Explorer). A summary warns you of any threats or suspicious files, and you can view the scan report with a click.

As malware detection systems go, this isn’t exactly sophisticated. There’s no behaviour monitoring, no protection for your system settings, no way for System Security Guard to reveal brand new and previously undiscovered threats. All it can do is compare running processes on your system against those in its database, and flag any problems.

And even if the program does detect something, it can only warn you. There are no virus removal options here.

It’s not all bad news, though. System Security Guard’s simplicity means it’s extremely compatible with other antivirus tools: you shouldn’t see any conflicts at all.

The program can also help with your process research. We saw our trial PC had been running nvscpapisvr.exe, for instance, clicked the Details link in the scan report for more information, and saw that it was NVIDIA’s Stereo Vision Control Panel API Server.

And it’s also portable, lightweight (only 3MB disk space required), and can deliver good results, sometimes at least – we tried it on a system with 3 dangerous executables and it found them all.

We wouldn’t waste resources by running System Security Guard all the time, then – it’s not powerful enough to bother with that.

But, if you suspect a PC is infected by something nasty then the program provides a quick and easy way to look for basic problems. And even if it doesn’t identify any malware, System Security Guard will highlight “unknown” files, those so new that they’re not in its database, perhaps a good indication of where your malware research should begin.

Photo Credit: Phase4Photography/Shutterstock

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4G: Where Does Your Wireless Provider Stand? - Comparing Real Carrier 4G (LTE) Deployment

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 7:15am MDT

4G has the potential to be a completely different animal from 3G in terms of coverage and speed from the various wireless carriers. This article takes a look at current coverage, average speeds across locations, and finally, future plans from the four major wireless telcos in the United States: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the article, I d like to define 4G. 4G, as defined by IMT-2000 standards, has a theoretical max of 100mbps download and 50mbps upload. In the real world, you will never get 100% of those speeds, but it should be possible to get fairly close. The highest I've personally seen is around 70mbps download and around 40mbps upload. Note however that once 4G becomes more mainstream, expect to see speeds much lower than that as there will be more people using it.

Personally, though, as long as I can get around 20mbps download and half that upload, I will be a happy camper as I m not sure what you could possibly need the extra speed for, especially with the pathetic caps most carriers are introducing. The four carriers will be ranked based on speed, coverage, and known future plans for expansion. (Note that these are my opinions only.)

First Place: Verizon
att=2002527
That map says a lot. As of today, Verizon is in 230 markets covering some 2/3rds of the entire US population. Verizon has been extremely aggressive with its 4G rollout, as you ll see when we take a look at where other carriers are currently at. The coverage however, is only part of the story. Coverage is useless if the speed isn t there.

The bad news is that speeds are highly variable and mostly based on your signal strength, or how far away you are from a cell tower. The good news, however, is that as long as you ve got decent signal strength, the average result seems to be around 30mbps down and 8-10mbps up. That is the average of what I have seen in various Post your speed test results threads on various forums, so yours may be higher or it may be lower. According to Speedtest.net however, the average speed is 15mbps download and 5mbps upload. Keep in mind that the results may be skewed to the lower end of what they actually should be due to the fact that people who are experiencing poor speeds are more likely to keep taking multiple speed tests to get faster results.

It will be interesting to see if these speeds are maintained as more people buy 4G enabled devices. The only downside is that Verizon has a 2GB cap. They do have a "promotion" going on that doubles data to 4GB for no extra charge. Hopefully this "promotion" becomes the standard data cap. Verizon is continuing with its aggressive 4G rollout, and by the end of 2012, they expect to be in 400 markets covering 260 million people.

Second Place: AT&T att=2002531 Although AT&T comes in second place, I d say that it is a very distant second. Compared to Verizon s 230 markets, AT&T has a grand total of 32 markets (AT&T dropped us a line to state the company actually serves 38 markets with the recent addition of numerous markets including New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Naples). The good news however is that AT&T seems to be on par, and often a tad bit faster than Verizon. The average seems to be around 40-50mbps download and anywhere from 10-25mbps upload.

Perhaps that is so that they can keep claiming that they're the "fastest network" because they sure as heck can't claim they have more coverage yet anyway. It could also be a consequence of there not being as many people on AT&Ts network as Verizon s. AT&T recently expanded to 11 new markets upon the introduction of the new iPad, and plans to cover a good majority of its network footprint by 2013. If you live in a smaller city, it might be wise to jump to Verizon if you really, really want 4G. Otherwise, you might be waiting a year or more for AT&T to bring it to your city.

Third Place: Sprint att=2002532 Ouch. As you can read above, Sprint currently does not offer true 4G. Instead, they rely on WiMax. WiMax, while better than traditional 3G, does not hold a candle to what Verizon and AT&T are doing. I could show a map of WiMax coverage, but this is an article about 4G, not WiMax and not AT&T s fake 4G which is basically HSPA+. The speed of WiMax is generally less than 10mbps down, and often closer to 5mbps, and 1-2mbps up. A positive point however is that Sprint currently does not have any caps on their WiMax service. We ll see if they re kind enough to carry that over to their 4G offering.

The good news is that Sprint is aggressively planning its 4G rollout, which is expected to debut sometime this month and initially cover 123 million Americans, and completing the rollout by 2013 covering 250 million Americans. Sprint is the one to watch in my opinion. If they can deliver on their rollout promises, offer competitive speeds, and keep unlimited data (or at least offer a more reasonable cap than 2GB), they might come out on top.

Fourth Place: T-Mobile att=2002533
T-Mobile, similar to Sprint, does not currently offer true 4G. T-Mobile s current "4G" is the same as the fake 4G that AT&T tried to introduce to customers before they started their true 4G rollout, which is essentially a beefed up HSPA+. Speeds are similar to Sprint s WiMax, topping out at around 10mbps down and 2mbps up. T-Mobile is expected to rollout its 4G network starting in 2013 and is expected to reach the "vast majority" of the top 50 markets, whatever that means. I think what that means in non-corporate speak is that it will be similar to their 3G coverage. However, if you are in a market the T-Mobile covers well, the price is hard to beat. That is assuming they don t increase price for 4G.

This article is part of an effort to solicit content from the Broadband Reports community. If you'd like to participate, please contact us.
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Verizon Launching Text-to-911 Service - Functionality Should Show up in Early 2013

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 7:15am MDT

Verizon has announced that the carrier will soon be allowing users to send text messages to get emergency help from 911 services. The company's new text-to-911 service will use Verizon's existing CDMA SMS network for 911 text notifications, and the company plans to make the functionality available to 911 center public-service answering points, or PSAPs, starting in early 2013. "While consumers should always first try to contact a 911 center by making a voice call, this enhanced SMS service, when deployed, will offer an alternative for customers on the Verizon Wireless network who are deaf or hard of hearing and cannot make voice calls or who could be placed in additional danger by speaking," says the company.
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Videotron Secretly Recording Techs for Ad Campaign - Tries to Highlight Their Dedication to Quality Service

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 7:14am MDT

Stop the Cap directs our attention to a new ad campaign for Canadian cable operator Videotron, which involves secretly recording the company's installation techs sent on fake service calls, then posting videos of their service on the company's website. "Our conscientious technicians are ambassadors for Vid otron and its values," said Manon Brouillette, president of consumer markets of the campaign. "We are very proud of them. They have achieved an impressive 96% customer satisfaction rate and this campaign is a tip of the hat to their great work." It would probably be safe to guess that any sub-standard installer performance work was left on the cutting room floor.
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Wednesday Morning Links -

Posted: May 23rd, 2012, 4:56am MDT

A new technology called IPS can track your every move - or help you find a departure gate at the airport. Big Brother, or good business? pcadvisor.co.uk
Cable's Still Finding Its Way on Wi-Fi lightreading.com
The Cloud Backlash lightreading.com
FBI quietly forms secretive Net-surveillance unit cnet.com
Cable industry looks to millennials to sustain video business totaltele.com
FCC eyes govt airwaves as answer to US spectrum crunch totaltele.com
ITC Judge: Xbox Should Be Banned From U.S. Over Motorola Patent Violation wired.com
As UK Government Considers Opt-Out Porn Censorship, Report Already Finds Overblocking On Mobile Networks techdirt.com
Cloud access becoming next 'must have' for mobile as online storage requirements expected to grow 7x by 2016 totaltele.com
Likely next-generation iPhone with 3.999-inch display, 1136 x 640 resolution in testing 9to5mac.com
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Tuesday Evening Links -

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 5:02pm MDT

Muni broadband provider files theft-of-service complaint against VoIP service with local police; VoIP provider files Net Neutrality complaint with FCC cio.com
Free Press, Public Knowledge Pan FCC Chair's Usage-Based Pricing Shout-Out broadcastingcable.com
Viewdini: Could this app be Verizon s first pass at toll-free mobile data? gigaom.com
FCC chairman supports broadband data caps amid Netflix protests washingtonpost.com
Comcast Adds Free WiFi Calls For Xfinity Voice Customers forbes.com
U.S. Cellular first carrier to curate Amazon Appstore for subscribers cnet.com
Wi-Fi Looks to Upgrade to Carrier Class mobilitytechzone.com
Kansas City-area task force recommends uses for Google fiber project bizjournals.com
America's Most Innovative Neighborhood: 15 Square Miles In New Mexico, Population: 0 fastcompany.com
TiVo streaming coming to iOS this summer zdnet.com
VIA launches $49 Android PC geek.com
Chelsea Clinton: Is the Internet hurting children? cnn.com
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Cox to Offload Spectrum to AT&T, U.S. Cellular - After Company's Own Wireless Efforts Ran Aground

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 4:19pm MDT

After selling the company's AWS spectrum holdings to Verizon, Cox is looking to offload additional spectrum to AT&T and U.S. Cellular. In 2008's 700 MHz Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum auction, Cox Communications won 14 Block A and 8 Block B licenses for bids totaling $304 million. Unlike Time Warner Cable and Comcast, Cox wasn't content with piggybacking on Clearwire's network to offer the "quadruple play," and originally planned to build their own network. The original plan was to ride on Sprint's EVDO network, with Cox shifting users to their own LTE service as the build proceeded.

However, Cox ultimately found the going rougher than expected, stating that it simply wasn't possible to jump into the existing wireless market and seriously compete with industry juggernauts AT&T and Verizon. As a result, Cox scrapped their "unbelievably fair" service late last year, and began dismantling and selling their partially-completed network.

Last December Cox announced that just like Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House, they planned to sell their spectrum to Verizon Wireless. The company sold spectrum licenses covering 28 million POPs for $315 million in a deal that didn't include Cox's 700 MHz spectrum licenses, Cox Wireless customer accounts or any other assets.

In a new filing with the FCC, Cox says they're now looking to unload the rest of their remaining 700MHz spectrum holdings to AT&T and U.S. Cellular. The filing notes that Cox will sell the company's B Block to AT&T (up to 55MHz below 1GHz in eight markets in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Virginia), and its A Block to U.S. Cellular (up to 61MHz below 1GHz in 30 markets in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma).
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Dish's New Ad-Skipping DVR Making Cable Execs Cry - NBC Exec Calls Natural Tech Evolution an 'Insult' to the Industry

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 2:47pm MDT

Dish recently introduced "Hopper," a new HD DVR system that will automatically skip commercials from the biggest networks. Users watching any recorded prime time content from ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC won't even have to press a button to skip the ads -- provided they watch them a day after they air live. Not too surprisingly, broadcast executives are somewhat miffed about the advancement. After criticizing the Nielsen Company for being "ineffectual in the face of technological advances," NBC Broadcasting chairman Ted Harbert recently called Dish's advancement an "insult" to the industry:
"...just because technology gives you the ability to do something, does that mean you should? Not always.

Here s a good example that popped up late last week. Did you hear about the new Hop initiative from Dish? With their new DVR, you hit a button on the remote and all the commercials in a program just disappear. Gone. You don t even have to fast forward through them. Please refer to my earlier comments about our ecosystem. This is an insult to our joint investment in programming, and I m against it.
Of course you'll note that what consumers want in this equation is nowhere on Harbert's radar, nor is the fact that most users are already skipping the ads for recorded DVR content anyway -- and executives are just kind of pretending that isn't happening. Making ad skipping easier for the consumer is just sort of a natural evolution, and what's insulting is the way technological improvements are stymied to preserve older business models, especially with the prices consumers are paying for cable services.

Update: Meanwhike, Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt has also fired up the waaambulance over the new technology. " I don t think we want to destroy one of those revenue streams," said Britt, who recently has been criticized for being in the TV business -- but having no idea what the Apple Airplay is.
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SAP acquires Ariba for $4.3 billion in bid to challenge Oracle in the cloud

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 2:11pm MDT by Ed Oswald

SAP made a major play for the cloud Tuesday as its American arm announced acquisition of Ariba, a German cloud computing applications maker. The transaction is worth some $4.3 billion, and is expected to close this summer.

Ariba is the world's second largest-cloud vendor by revenue, SAP says. With the addition of the German company, SAP now looks to challenge rival Oracle, which also has made a play for the cloud segment as of late.

"The addition of Ariba will create the business network of the future, deliver immediate value to our customers and provide another solid engine for driving SAP’s growth in the cloud", SAP Co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe say in a statement. Current Ariba CEO Bob Calderoni is expected to be named to SAP's Global Managing Board pending the approval of the company's supervisory board.

SAP expects the combined company to "create new models for business-to-business collaboration in the cloud", and to position the company well in what has become a fast growing segment.

In late day trading, shares of SAP were down slightly at $58.49 per share, but shares of Ariba were up over 19 percent to $44.89 after being halted for the acquisition news.

Photo Credit: Sergey150770/Shutterstock
Anonymous hack of DOJ causes more embarrassment than actual harm

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 1:02pm MDT by Tim Conneally

On Monday, hacktivist group Anonymous announced it will be releasing 1.7 gigabytes of private data it has acquired from the United States Department of Justice, in an event it called "Monday Mail Mayhem." The group claimed the act was being done to "spread information, to allow the people to be heard and to know the corruption in their government. We are releasing it to end the corruption that exists, and truly make those who are being oppressed free."

New York-based security company Identity Finder ran an analysis on the data after it was released on Tuesday, and found the file dump actually contained no sensitive personal information, no secret internal documents, and no internal emails.

It actually was relatively minor, save for the "lulz" that Anonymous said it enjoyed "as [the DOJ] took the website down after being owned, clearly showing they were scared of what inevitably happened."

According to Identity Finder, the uncompressed file was actually 6.5 gigabytes in size, contained a folder named "Mail," which contains only three unique email addresses, two of which are administrative: JUSTSTATS@usdoj.gov, lyris@listmanager.bps-lmit.com, and one personal, d*****@ui.urban.org.

The group did manage to obtain the website components for the Bureau of Justice Statistics [bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov] which included the entire Web server file structure, javascript files, css files, server and error logs and other files common to Web servers. This information could be used to help them perform future attacks, or could be useful to other hackers who want more insight into network topology.

There is also a large amount of crime-related statistical data in graphs and almost 3,000 .csv files. This is not unlike the LulzSec hack of the Arizona Department of Public Safety in 2011 which turned over a large amount of "law enforcement sensitive" data which was not exactly secret.

Identity Finder found no data containing any sensitive identity-tied information such as social security numbers, credit card or bank account information, or driver license information.

Photo Credit: arindambanerjee/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Sprint Changes Smartphone, Tablet Tethering Pricing - $30, 5GB Plan Eliminated, New $20 & $50 Plans Unveiled

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 12:27pm MDT

Sprint has announced that the company is changing their phone-as-hotspot tethering pricing for smartphone and tablet customers. The company says they'll no longer offer their $30 per month, 5GB hotspot plan, but existing users on this plan will be grandfathered. As of last Friday, Sprint says they're now offering users who want to use their devices as a hotspot two options:

•$19.99/per month for 2 GB of combined 3G/4G on-network data
•$49.99/per month for 6 GB of combined 3G/4G on-network data.

The company says they'll also be upgrading the tools available to help users to track their usage:
Sprint now will be able to notify customers with a MHS add-on when they reach 75, 90 and 100 percent of their on-network monthly data limit. Sprint provides data usage notifications to help customers to proactively manage their MHS usage and adjust usage to avoid high overage charges. Customers must enroll to receive usage notifications. At 100 percent of their on-network monthly data allowance, customers will receive a notification with the option to suspend on-network mobile hotspot usage or continue to use it and pay the overage charges. If the customer chooses to accept overage charges, they will continue to receive notifications at 20 percent increments above the monthly data allowance.
Sprint's clearly hoping that they can increase user adoption of their mobile hotspot service, their entry level plan now $10 cheaper -- albeit with a significantly smaller usage allowance.
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Xara Photo & Graphic Designer MX 8.1 review

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 12:26pm MDT by Mike Williams

Equipping your PC for professional graphics work normally involves buying several different applications, learning their various interfaces and hoping they’ll somehow all work together.

Xara’s philosophy is a little different, though: their new Photo & Graphic Designer MX 8.1 can handle photo editing, illustration, vector drawing, DTP, web graphics, even simple Flash animation, and all in a single $89 application.

It’s no surprise that some of the program’s modules aren’t up to the standard of the more specialist competition. Photo & Graphic Designer MX isn’t going to replace Photoshop anytime soon, for instance, and its Flash animation abilities are really just about simple images: there’s no scripting or audio involved.

You still get a huge amount of power here for your money, though, and this release also benefits from some worthwhile new features. So whether you’re new to Photo & Graphic Designer MX, or thinking about upgrading, it’s well worth giving the program a closer look.

Getting Started

If you’re a design novice (or just uninspired) then you might start exploring Photo & Graphic Designer MX at its Design Gallery, where you’ll find plenty of professionally-designed project templates (many new to this version) to help you get started. There are brochures and business cards, calendars, CD covers, greeting cards and more, and while some designs are a little bland there are plenty of quality templates to choose from.

Xara claims Photo & Graphic Designer MX 8 is also better at importing documents from the web, along with SVG, PDF or RAW files. The results still proved variable in our tests, particularly with web pages, but remain useful (they’re at least a simple way to import the text and graphics from a page).

Even if you’re starting with a blank page, the Designs Gallery can assist with clipart, photo objects, frames, a few stock photos, headings, buttons, icons and more. It’s not perfect, we’d like more color clipart, and the gallery search tool is poor, but there’s a lot of useful content here.

Figuring out exactly what to do with it isn’t too difficult, either. There’s a lot of functionality here and it can take a little while to learn where everything is, but the interface is sensibly organized with tabbed panels and flyout toolbars.

And if you’re still confused at any point, then a well-thought-out local help file and some useful tutorial movies will quickly point you in the right direction.

Photo Work

Tweaking digital images is key to many graphics tasks, and Photo & Graphic Designer MX has a reasonable amount to offer here.

The program’s standard toolbar offers buttons to crop or rotate an image, of course, and can adjust brightness, contrast, sharpness, saturation or temperature, either manually or automatically (and at speed: it’s ultra-fast).

More interesting options include “Magic Erase”; which does a generally good job of removing unwanted objects from photos; “Perspective correction” fixes some perspective issues with a click; and “Brightness Levels” enables you to adjust levels by dragging a colour curve.

The red-eye remover isn’t as successful, essentially just manually painting over the affected area. And while the content-aware resizing tool should allow you to resize an image while preserving the proportions of the key content, results range from amazing to utterly useless.

Still, the program’s support for Photoshop plugins is a major plus. You get 46; color tweaks, blurs, deformations and distortions, including an amazing Art filter to transform your images into gorgeous paintings (not exactly a new idea, but a great implementation).

Useful new tools this time include a Color Erase/ Selection option, which allows you to select areas based on their colour alone. A new Hue Adjustment dialog makes it easy to tint your images, the Clone Tool now works more reliably, and there are a few smaller improvements, too.

Put it all together and Photo & Graphic Designer MX 8 will never be our favorite photo editor, then, but it’s more than powerful enough for most purposes, and can easily be extended via an extra Photoshop plugin or two if you need something more.

Graphic design

Move beyond photos and it’s clear that Photo & Graphic Designer MX 8 is an excellent DTP tool. Quality text control makes it easy to set up text to flow smoothly across columns and pages, or have it flow around objects with customisable margins. And new web-like Text Styles allow you to change the look of your project in seconds. Just tweak the font, colour or some other aspect of your “heading” style (for instance), and all the text using that style will be updated immediately.

The program’s illustration abilities are even better, with some very powerful vector drawing tools. You’re able to draw lines, curves and shapes freehand, or use the QuickShape tools to draw assorted pre-set shapes in moments. And if something doesn’t look quite right, just drag and pull on lines to adjust or smooth them, then resize or rotate your design until it’s as you intended.

Of course that’s just the start. If you’d then like to convert your shape or outline to a 3D object, just click the 3D toolbar option, click the shape, and drag: that’s it. It’s just as easy to apply contours, fills, bevels, shadows and other effects. And these can include the Photoshop plugins, too: if you want to, say, turn a vector object of your own into an oil painting (or whatever), it only takes a moment.

And if the design still isn’t quite right, the new Shape Eraser tool allows you to further shift the edge of a shape inwards, or you can effectively paint over it entirely. This isn’t destructive, either, because all you’re doing is making part of the shape transparent: the underlying object is still there, and can be restored if you need it.

Photo & Graphic Designer MX even has some useful web graphic options, with tools to create image maps, simple GIF and Flash animations, even online photo galleries. These seem a little more basic than the rest of the package, but that’s only because the best of the web development tools (full website creation, navbars, e-commerce, widgets, presentations, more) have been saved for Photo & Graphic Designer MX’s big brother, Xara Designer Pro X 8 ($299).

If you’re happy with the web basics, though, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer MX 8 makes an excellent graphics choice, with powerful illustration tools, quality DTP, surprisingly capable photo editing and a host of useful extras. Whether there’s enough in this version to justify an upgrade is tricky -- we’d say yes, but there’s no single killer new feature -- but if you’re new to the package then it looks like a real bargain to us. The $89 package is available for Windows XP, Vista and 7 -- all 32 and 64-bit editions.

Photo Credit: Picsfive/Shutterstock
Protect your accounts with Sticky Password

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 11:03am MDT by Mark Wilson

The ever-present need for security means that every account that you have online, and probably on your computer as well, needs to be protected with a username and password. If you have taken the wise step of ensuring that all of your passwords are different, this will undoubtedly mean that you have an incredible number of passwords to remember.

Sticky Password is a free tool that can store all of your passwords in a secure database and save you having to remember them by automatically filling in login information for you. Sticky Password 6.0 has just been released and there’s a lot to look forward.

To start with, there is a completely overhauled interface and added protection against malware extracting passwords from the clipboard. When you need to come up with a new password for an account you are creating, rather than relying on your own collection of letters, numbers and symbols, you can instead turn to the built in password generator which has now been enhanced with a history option. It is always a good idea to change your passwords from time to time and there is a reminder option built into the app to encourage you to do so.

Sticky Password will highlight potential security problems by pointing out accounts that have weak passwords. To make it easier to store information in the program’s database, it will automatically save usernames and password you use to create new accounts, and it is possible to define a different default web browser that should be used with different accounts -- great if you use different browser for specific tasks.

Not all of the accounts you use require you to use a password and there is now support for accounts that enable you to log in with just a username or email address. There have been plenty of other changes and additions to the latest version of the app including highlighting of login fields, and a new context menu in Internet Explorer that provides access to autofill actions.

The free version of the app does have some limitations to entice you into upgrading to the paid-for Pro version, but they are minor enough that the free version is still well worth taking a look at. The free version only allows you to create a single user account, and there is support for up to 15 online and program accounts. You can install the software as a normal program, but there is also the option of using it as a portable app so you can take it from machine to machine on your USB drive.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Sticky Password 6.0 review page.

Photo Credit: marekuliasz/Shutterstock
Are Facebook bankers backers or backstabbers?

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 10:54am MDT by Joe Wilcox

What's the measure of Facebook's IPO? MBAOnline sent us a couple of infographics explaining just that (see them below the fold). But I must qualify that they don't take into account downward trends and some nasty behind-the-scenes backstabbing. Late yesterday, writing for Reuters, Alistair Barr reports that ahead of Facebook's Friday IPO, lead underwriter Morgan Stanley reduced revenue forecasts during the roadshow promoting the public offering. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs did similarly.

Fallen dot-com stock analyst and risen tech news publisher Henry Blodget adds perspective. "This by itself is highly unusual (I've never seen it during 20 years in and around the tech IPO business)", he observes. "But, just as important, news of the estimate cut was passed on only to a handful of big investor clients, not everyone else who was considering an investment in Facebook". Uh-oh, selective disclosure violates SEC rules.

"Any investor considering an investment in Facebook would consider an estimate cut from the underwriters' analysts 'material information'", Blodget explains. "In other words, during the marketing of the Facebook IPO, investors who did not hear about these underwriter estimate cuts were placed at a meaningful and unfair information disadvantage. They did not know what a lot of other investors knew, and they suffered for it...The SEC should investigate this immediately".

The back-door revenue cuts followed an amendment to Facebook's IPO prospectus and may also have contributed to the market's somewhat cool reception. Facebook shares fell 10 percent yesterday, the first full-day of trading. On Friday, newly-minted Facebook shares closed pennies above the $38 offering price. The stock closed at $34.03 yesterday and is down 4.44 percent to $32.52 in mid-day trading today.

But before the stock's two-day fall, Robert X. Cringely put the IPO in meaningful perspective. "If you are an investment banker, you want IPO shares to go up on their first day, rising in price by at least 10 percent though no more than 20 percent. This shows the IPO is hot, the company is booming", he says. "If you are an IPO company founder and, even more explicitly, you are Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, you want your share price on the first day to go exactly nowhere, which is what Facebook’s did. That means no money was left on the table and the company got the best possible deal".

But if that's true, what were Facebook's lead investment bankers thinking? Surely we'll know soon enough. Update, May 23: Since I posted yesterday,this story exploded. See Business Insider and Wall Street Journal for riveting followups. On Wednesday, investors filed a lawsuit over the IPO.

If you've read this far, your reward -- the two aforementioned infographics -- follows the top-image photo credit.

Photo Credit: Guillaume Paumier
Open source software comes of age

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 10:40am MDT by Ed Oswald

More than half of all software acquired by IT in the next five years will be open source, according to a new study, and open source software (OSS) leads in the areas of cloud, big data, mobile apps and enterprise mobility.

"Taken together with applications like mobile and enabled by cloud, we are entering an exciting new era of 'Open Innovation on Demand,' where not only can OSS innovate faster, it can be deployed immediately and consumed as a service from the cloud", says Michael Skok, general partner at North Bridge Venture Partners, one of the sponsors of the survey.

Respondents to the survey cite the quality of software as one of the three most important reasons why they chose open source, although 43 percent say project maturity plays an equally important role in their software decisions. Nearly half believe that data management will be the market segment most affected by OSS.

The findings suggest that the OSS industry is coming into its own and seeing significant adoption in the enterprise segment, where there once was a good deal of resistance to open source. Given that most OSS projects have matured a good deal in recent years, IT administrators have less concerns about introducing OSS into mission-critical systems.

This relaxing of attitudes is evidenced by the growth in open source: investment in OSS in 2011 reached $675 million, up 49 percent from the previous year.

While OSS is certainly gaining steam, some challenges do remain, the survey finds. Most OSS solutions are unknown among IT professionals, which leads to a lack of skilled workers able to successfully deploy and manage deployments containing open source.

That said, OSS is taking an increasingly bigger role in computer science classes at college institutions, which could lead to an increase in skilled workers in the field in the not too distant future.

Photo Credit: kentoh/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

ISP 'Six Strikes' Plan Delayed? - Still Likely to Be Implemented 'Later This Year'

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 9:44am MDT

Last summer major ISPs including Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and Cablevision signed off on a new plan by the RIAA and MPAA taking aim at copyright infringers on their networks. According to the plan, after four warnings ISPs are to begin taking "mitigation measures," which range from throttling a user connection to filtering access to websites until users acknowledge receipt of "educational material." As you might expect, that educational material's chapter on fair use rights likely won't exist. It had originally appeared that ISPs would begin their job of playing content nanny in earnest starting in July, but according to recent statements by the entertainment industry, it appears the effort may be delayed:
TorrentFreak asked the CCI about the upcoming target date, and their response suggests that things may take longer than expected.... We do not intend to launch until we are confident that the program is consumer friendly and able to be implemented in a manner consistent with all of the goals of the MOU. We expect our implementation to begin later this year." In other words, it s taking more time than expected. That said, the CCI did inform us that they have finally selected a third-party company that will be responsible for monitoring BitTorrent swarms.
Coordinating the effort across not only industries but ISPs is obviously going to be difficult, as is trying to ensure that the plan isn't met with a wave of anti-consumer sentiment given the myriad of potential pitfalls. The plan (as it has been revealed) has been slammed for having numerous problems, including relying on the IP address as proof of guilt, placing the burden of proof on the consumer, while forcing users to pay a $35 fee if they'd like to protest their innocence. Another worry is that while the pan likely won't help stop piracy, it will wind up driving up the costs of broadband for everyone.
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UK ISP Results Q1 2012: The Big Get Bigger - Smaller ISPs, Including the O2/Be Network, Decline

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 9:27am MDT

The UK s biggest ISPs have continued to consolidate their grasp on the market to the detriment of smaller providers, the release of financial results for the beginning of this year show. The three of the UK s big four providers to have released results so far all increased their broadband subscriber numbers:

Around 19 million UK households take a broadband service and, again very roughly, 17 million go to just four ISPs.

•BT: 136,000 new customers (new total: 6.2 million)
•Virgin Media: 30,500 new customers (new total: 4.3 million)
•Sky: 212,000 new customers (new total: 3.8 million)

The vast majority of UK broadband users get their services from the UK s "big four," the three providers above plus TalkTalk broadband. Around 19 million UK households take a broadband service and, again very roughly, 17 million go to just these four. It s likely that many broadband users are coming to BT, Sky, Virgin Media from TalkTalk. As I've written on this site in the past, the provider has suffered from a number of problems over the past few years including high, though falling, levels of complaints especially as a result of billing mix ups.

However, TalkTalk aren t likely to have lost so many customers that they ll lose their place among the largest ISPs. People are also coming from elsewhere and, particularly, from the smaller ISPs including the O2 and Be broadband network which lost another 2,500 customers over the last quarter.

O2, who looked at one point as though they might start to challenge some of the bigger broadband players, also lost customers last quarter, 5,000 of them, and now has just 600,000 subscribers in all. Orange, another ISP who deserve to do better given their huge number of mobile phone customers, had about 700,000 customers in the final quarter of 2011.

Leaving aside the not inconsiderable benefit of the trouble at TalkTalk, what s driving UK consumers towards the market s biggest players? Reassuringly for those that care about the country s broadband infrastructure, the answer to that seems to be, at least partially, new technologies such as fibre.

The O2 and Be network offers some of the fastest ADSL2+ speeds and has always catered to gamers and heavy downloaders with low contention ratios and less restrictive fair use policies. But the users who cared about those things are now the same ones moving to providers where they can get fibre speeds that are ever outstripping the old copper network. O2 put their fibre plans on hold for a second time earlier on in the year and TalkTalk have done little to promote their fibre options.

Sky, on the other hand, not only recently started offering a fibre option but promoted it heavily alongside a hefty discount and sign up bonus. Having said that, fibre take up isn t high enough to account for all the new additions so it s fair to assume that another key driving technology is the digital, cable and satellite TV services the biggest providers are offering.

In terms of ensuring a highly competitive broadband market in the UK, that trend is slightly more worrying. Smaller providers will eventually be able to differentiate themselves in the fibre market as infrastructure begins to mature and the exchanges are unbundled. But it's highly unlikely that they ll be able to compete on the TV side.

Julia Kukiewicz is editor of Choose, a consumer information site covering home broadband as well as other markets. Choose provides industry news and service reviews of the UK s ISPs, including a comparison of TV juggernauts Sky and Virgin, as well as running a home broadband market performance guide.

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Larry Page: 'Motorola is a great American tech company'

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 9:23am MDT by Joe Wilcox

Googorola is now a reality. Today, Google formally completed its Motorola acquisition, after completing the final hurdle, approval from China, over the weekend. The approval came with conditions -- that Google keep Android open for at least 5 years -- but the company had been on that track anyway.

Motorola is a big purchase, $12.5 billion, initiated in August 2011. With Motorola, Google gets an enormous cache of patents -- pending and approved around 24,000; enormous wealth in cellular research and development, manufacturing operations; and a heap load of headaches. Over the weekend, for example, International Trade Commission blocked entry to a majority of Motorola mobile products for violating a single Microsoft patent.

Questions now are many. Where will be the layoffs and how many? What kind of restructuring will there be? How will Google make Android devices without competing with other OEM partners? How will Google handle ongoing Motorola patent concerns -- either as plaintiff or defendant? On that former, Moto aggressively, perhaps too much, pursues other companies.

The first restructuring steps are underway. In a move not unexpected, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha will step down and be replaced by Dennis Woodside.

Full text of Google CEO Larry Page's announcement:

The phones in our pockets have become supercomputers that are changing the way we live. It’s now possible to do things we used to think were magic, or only possible on Star Trek--like get directions right from where we are standing; watch a video on YouTube; or take a picture and share the moment instantly with friends.

It’s why I’m excited to announce today that our Motorola Mobility deal has closed. Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone. We all remember Motorola’s StarTAC, which at the time seemed tiny and showed the real potential of these devices. And as a company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to Google.

Sanjay Jha, who was responsible for building the company and placing that big bet on Android, has stepped down as CEO. I would like to thank him for his efforts and am tremendously pleased that he will be working to ensure a smooth transition as long-time Googler Dennis Woodside takes over as CEO of Motorola Mobility.

I’ve known Dennis for nearly a decade, and he’s been phenomenal at building teams and delivering on some of Google’s biggest bets. One of his first jobs at Google was to put on his backpack and build our businesses across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia. More recently he helped increase our revenue in the U.S. from $10.8 billion to $17.5 billion in under three years as President of the Americas region. Dennis has always been a committed partner to our customers and I know he will be an outstanding leader of Motorola. As an Ironman triathlete, he’s got plenty of energy for the journey ahead -- and he’s already off to great start with some very strong new hires for the Motorola team.

It’s a well known fact that people tend to overestimate the impact technology will have in the short term, but underestimate its significance in the longer term. Many users coming online today may never use a desktop machine, and the impact of that transition will be profound -- as will the ability to just tap and pay with your phone. That’s why it’s a great time to be in the mobile business, and why I’m confident Dennis and the team at Motorola will be creating the next generation of mobile devices that will improve lives for years to come.

Do you think Motorola will be a good fit for Google?
Raspberry Pi not enough for you? How about a $49 Android PC?

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 9:00am MDT by Tim Conneally

Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company Via Technologies on Tuesday unveiled its affordable, low power Android PC system, known simply as APC.

The $49 board uses the Neo-ITX form factor, which at 170 x 85 millimeters is the same length as Mini-ITX, but half as wide. It is powered by the VIA WonderMedia ARM 11 system on a chip, which is equipped with an 800MHz processor, 512 MB of DDR3 RAM, and has integrated GPU capable of video outputs up to 720p in resolution. It also has 2GB of NAND Flash storage, HDMI and VGA ports, four USB 2.0 ports, 1/8" headphone jack and mic input, microSD slot, and 10/100 Ethernet connectivity. The whole thing runs off of a 15 W power supply and is loaded with a version of Android 2.3 optimized for keyboard and mouse input.

Much like the wildly popular Raspberry Pi project PC which debuted last February, the APC is meant to be a "technology enabler" more than a powerhouse for computing. The board gives users with few resources the ability to build a cheap, usable computer without having to roll in the superfluous features associated with full-scale desktop OS computing.

"Expensive, overpowered CPUs and bloated software are no longer relevant," the company says of the new system. APC represents the influence mobile technology has had on fixed computing.

Via has not yet begun taking pre-orders for the board, but says they will begin "soon." The company anticipates APC will ship early July 2012. To get notifications about APC's availability check out apc.io.
Google+ will continue to grow whether people actually use it or not

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 8:17am MDT by Robert X. Cringely

With Facebook now public and sitting on a huge pile of cash, let’s turn the conversation to the social network’s most pressing competitor, Google. Google and Google+ don’t appear to present much of a threat to Facebook, but the game board was reset on Friday and tactics at both companies will change accordingly. Now Facebook has to find a way to grow revenue and users and will increasingly bump up against Google’s huge advantages in search and apps. For Facebook to achieve its goals, the company will have to enter both spaces with gusto.

Google has learned how to leverage its strengths and suddenly one of those strengths is Facebook’s success. Now that Facebook is a $100 billion company, it doesn’t hurt Google to be number two in that space. Who else is? Pinterest? Instagram? Twitter? None of those services offer a full-fledged social network for those who do want a Facebook alternative, and some people will.

There’s nothing that unique at Google+ to cause people to leave Facebook for it. But there are compelling reasons why publishers might decide they need to make use of it, chiefly for search rankings. If the publishers think they’ll get better rankings, they’ll help push it along, which means Google+ will continue to grow whether people actually use it or not.

In January, for example, Google added a new box promoting people who are on Google+. If you’re not on Google+, you can’t appear in the box. Do a search for "music", and someone like Britney Spears was showing up. The following week, Lady Gaga, who ignored Google+ up until that point and so didn’t appear in the box, joined. Search for music today, there’s Lady Gaga.

That’s a game changer. Google has used the attraction of its search page to convince publishers to effectively jump start its social network. It probably won’t overtake Facebook. Google+ might always remain a distant second to Facebook. But it has given Google a much more viable competitor than ever before. And if you’re a publisher, you want to be part of it, because it has a huge impact on your visibility in Google search.

The guy who really gets this is Danny Sullivan over at Search Engine Land.

Google has other apps it can leverage like Gmail, for example, and Google Docs. And of course there’s basic search, itself. Looking at Gmail as an example, it has been in Facebook’s interest to keep users communicating inside the social network rather than extending relationships outward through a mail client where they’d risk escaping from Facebook entirely, talking among themselves. In its new role as a grownup, however, Facebook will ultimately have to face the external mail needs of members if it intends to continue subscriber growth, so I’d look for some sort of FMail service with clever social media hooks.

Of course the most obvious way for Facebook to take it to Google would be in basic search, but that’s where I’d see Facebook playing a similar card to Google and accepting number two status in search by acquiring Bing from Microsoft. This makes sense for both companies since it would probably happen as a stock deal with Microsoft increasing its Facebook holdings (and influence). For Facebook buying Bing this week would cost a lot less than it would have last week, since the social network can pay with bloated stock.

There’s no do-or-die in this, but Facebook and Google are lining-up as each other’s main enemies and in order to compete each will start to look a lot more like the other.

Reprinted with permission

Photo Credit: George Lamson/Shutterstock

Robert X. Cringely has worked in and around the PC business for more than 30 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Forbes, Upside, Success, Worth, and many other magazines and newspapers. Most recently, Cringely was the host and writer of the Maryland Public Television documentary "The Tranformation Age: Surviving a Technology Revolution with Robert X. Cringely".
PSNotes 9 adds spell checking, improves text-to-speech

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 7:52am MDT by Mark Wilson

Sticky notes apps are nowhere near as prevalent as they used to be, but that’s not to say that they aren’t still incredibly useful. There are fully featured PIMs such as Outlook that have somewhat taken over the role of such programs, but when you try out PNotes, you’ll understand once again just how great a simple, dedicated utility can be. The program is available in portable and installable desktop varieties and both offer the same great set of feature and the latest release, version 9, includes some great improvements and new features.

Just because a note is a quick , it doesn't need to be misspelled, and the latest release of the app includes an all-important spell checking feature. While there is support for English by default, it is possible to install others that you want to use. PNotes is the type of app that you are likely to find that you end up using a great deal and if you start to create a lot of notes you will undoubtedly make use of the grouping option to keep related notes together. Another new feature of the app makes it possible to define the default skin and coloring for groups.

A great feature of PNotes is the text-to-speech option that can be used to have notes and reminders voiced aloud to you. PNotes 9 adds the ability to adjust speed, pitch and volume so you can customize the voice to suit your tastes. If you’re using the app as a reminder tool, there is a new option that enables you to silence an alarm if it has been sounding for a certain period of time. This is a program that is packed with features, and a quick right click of the system tray icon and a browse through the preferences dialog will reveal the extent of what is possible.

To make it quicker to perform common actions, it is now possible to define not only an action that should be performed when the system tray icon is double clicked, but also when it is single clicked. If you find that you create a large number of notes, you’ll find that the ability to tag them is very useful, as these tags can then be used in searches. You can use the app to make notes while you make a phone call, or to jot down ideas you think of throughout the day.

Support for formatting and the creation of lists means that this is an ideal app for drawing up shopping lists, to-dos and much more. This is an app that will help you to drop all of the scraps of paper that are littering your desk and could replace other calendar tools that you may be using.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the PNotes 9.0 or PNotes 9.0 Portable review pages.

broadbandreports.com

T-Mobile Says no to Shared Data Plans - Thinks It's a 'One Size Fits All' Solution

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 6:46am MDT

Responding to a slew of recent reports that AT&T and Verizon will soon (and quite belatedly, to some) offer shared data plans aimed at families, T-Mobile took to the company's blog to state they won't be following suit anytime soon. The idea is to provide users with plans that offer pooled data, so households don't need to have a separate data plan for each person and each device. According to Andrew Sherrard, T-Mobile senior vice president of marketing, T-Mobile argues that they don't like this "one size fits all" data model when it comes to family data pricing:
Some of our competitors are backing away from simple, unlimited data and moving to family shared data plans. But would this approach actually deliver a better value to consumers? Do families really want to keep track of each others data consumption? We don t think so. Just imagine mom s email is suddenly unavailable because her teenage son watched an HD movie on his phone, consuming the family s data allotment. T-Mobile believes that consumers today do not want a one size fits all approach to shared family data plans, nor would they benefit from that model.
T-Mobile argues that providing smartphone mobile tethering functionality works just fine -- since you can power multiple devices via Wi-Fi. While shared data does appeal to many, it seems more than likely that both AT&T and Verizon will find a way to suck the value out of the idea. The more devices and users pulling from your monthly data pool, the more quickly both AT&T and Verizon can push a family into $10 per gigabyte overage territory, and you can be certain that whatever tier grades are offered keep that as a central goal.
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Physical DVDs Get Longer, More Annoying Piracy Warnings - Entertainment Industry Hopes You'll Get Educated

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 6:45am MDT

Both Ice and the FBI recently announced that they'd be making the unskippable anti-piracy warning messages at the beginning of DVDs longer and more obnoxious. The two new warnings come with updated, scarier looking logos, last ten seconds each, and won't be skippable by the consumer. The rather obvious irony of course is that only legitimate customers are seeing these warnings; download the same film from any BitTorrent tracker and you'll find those warnings stripped out. The fact that the entertainment industry (and their personal protection forces at the FBI and and ICE) are simply annoying paying customers continues to be an elusive realization.
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Tuesday Morning Links -

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 4:52am MDT

Education Group: Schools Need 100 Mbps per 1,000 Broadband Users pcworld.com
Should telecom rules be upgraded for wireless? politico.com
'Connectivity is Like Oxygen' - Survey Finds Workers' Smartphone Addiction Increasing ibtimes.co.uk
Deregulation Hurts Broadband Development, Former Officials Say nationaljournal.com
Judge In Grooveshark Lawsuit Orders Blog To 'Preserve' Logs That Had Already Been Deleted techdirt.com
America Movil calls on OECD to withdraw 'flawed' telecom report; study claimed Mexico's 'dysfunctional' telco sector cost consumers $129 billion between 2005 and 2009 totaltele.com
Kodak patent declared invalid in case vs Apple, RIM totaltele.com
Slow broadband connection affects 60% of companies based in the countryside thisismoney.co.uk
NetNeutrality It s Baaack! zatznotfunny.com
Verizon HomeFusion: 4G LTE for the home zdnet.com
3D TV fails to excite, gesture UIs to flop: analyst theregister.co.uk
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BetaNews.Com

Six lessons I learned about writing software

Posted: May 22nd, 2012, 12:27am MDT by Chris Boss

From independent software developers to the enterprise, everyone is looking for ways to improve software development, increasing productivity while not sacrificing performance. Software technologies continue to change, but have programmers really found the real keys to faster development cycles, more reliable software and improved performance?

While it is obvious we have more powerful software today, this does not mean we have better software today. As it becomes more complex, there are more things that can go wrong. In the old days, software was often written by a single programmer, while today software often is written by teams. The complexity alone of trying to get a team of programmers to work together is challenging enough, but add to this the size and scope of some applications that can be hundreds of thousands of lines of code, if not possibly in the millions of lines of code, and you can have a veritible nightmare trying to put it all together. Few trades today require so much attention to details at such a large scope as does programming.

End users assume the software they use is reliable, but developers know the truth that all software is likely to have some bugs in it. Bugs! What an interesting term we programmers use to describe "errors" in our code. The term bugs may imply that the problems with software are some how external and not our fault. Those nasty little bugs, just keep sneaking into our software. The reality though is that bugs are errors, errors in logic, errors in typing, errors in passing bad parameters. They are introduced by programmers. Yes, when our software has bugs, it is our fault! We did something wrong and it is our job to fix it.

Education Fails To Teach the Skills We Need

In the years of old, when a skill was learned it was most likely done as an apprentice to a skilled worker or tradesman. The tradesman, didn't teach for a living. The trade was his job. He used it in real life. As the student you learned from a master of a trade who did real work for real people. Imagine seeing the work of a real cabinet maker right before your eyes and hoping to someday be able to do the same thing yourself.

While I am a self-taught programmer, who dates back to the days of CPM even before the IBM PC became popular, I did actually take a college course on programming once. I can remember back in the late 1970s, when I attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and studied Fortran. In those days, one had to enter a program into a main frame computer using punch cards. I can remember sitting in a large hall that could seat hundreds of students and listening to lectures on how to write software. Not what I would call an apprenticeship for sure and definitely no real world training.

I left college for personal reasons, so I do not have a degree, but my interest in computers would later come to the fore, but as a self learner. In many ways, being self taught freed me from some of the problems associated with learning programming from so called "higher education".

One of the popular programming concepts to come out of the educational system is object oriented programming or better known simply as OOP. OOP has some merits, but rather than promote OOP simply as just another tool in a programmers toolbox, it was somehow transformed into the panacea for all programming ills.

But has anyone done any extensive testing to see whether OOP is significantly better than procedural style coding? It appears that little real world research has been done in testing this out, at least that is the opinion of one long time computer expert, Richard Mansfield. In his white paper entitled "Has OOP failed?", he discusses this in length.

I Find It Hard to Argue with a Skilled Tradesman

Richard Mansfield makes a number of interesting points in his white paper, but there is one thing that adds a great deal of weight for me personally. I am a self-taught programmer, but the term "self taught" is actually a misnomer. You have to learn from someone. Everybody needs a teacher. I simply chose to pick my teachers and learn by reading, rather than have my them picked for me (as in college). When choosing a book to learn something as complex as programming I had two criteria. The first, the author must really know the subject and second he or she should be able to explain it to me without all the fancy and big words so called educators like to use, but in simple terms which make sense. I don't want a thousand page thesis on a subject that could be explained in one or two pages.

Back in the 1980s, when the home computer was really taking hold, I learned about programming on a Commodore 64, which was a huge success at the time. While many self-taught, would-be programmers of the time played with interpreted BASIC, I used an actual Basic language compiler (by Abacus) and learning machine language too. Richard Mansfield's book on 6502 machine language taught me 6502 machine language in short order. I was the apprentice and Richard Mansfield was the tradesman. Before long I wrote my own compiler, which I used to create a video game that I sold to Compute Gazette, which earned me about $1,500.

It doesn't take long for me to tell whether the author of a programming book is a real tradesman or not. Does the book waste time with a lot of "educated nonsense" and theories about programming or does it quickly get down to work showing me how it is done in the real world and why? Richard Mansfield proved himself a tradesman. As an apprentice I learned a great deal from what he wrote about programming. I then used what I learned in the real world.

Lessons from Consulting

To make a long story short, I took a hobby and eventually turned it into a real trade, which I got paid for. In the 1990s, I got an opportunity to do some programming for local businesses. Programmers back then were not a dime a dozen like they are today. It was not easy to make an IBM PC (or compatible) do a lot of complex business work, when it was only equipped with a CPU of less than 25 MHz, 640 KB RAM and a couple floppy disk drives (or at most a 20 meg hard drive). I just have to laugh when I hear programmers today complain about the Intel Atom CPU, or a PC with only 2GB of RAM or a lowly onboard Intel GPU (graphics). They have no idea how far computers have come in only a few decades.

In doing work for local businesses, I quickly learned the difference between programming theory and reality. I can remember one early customer who spent about $5,000 on two Tandy IBM compatible PCs. He needed custom software for his manufacturing business, but there was no one available to do what he needed. So he talked to the local community college computer department and asked them if they could provide some help. They told him, be prepared to pay five times what he spent on his computers for the software. The guy just spent $5,000 and now he was told he would have to spend $25,000 just to get the computers to do something useful.

This businessman found me and within a hours time, he knew he found what he needed. I quickly showed him how to get the most from his investment and proceded to write his custom software. I didn't charge a lot in those days, because despite my knowledge of programming I still viewed myself as the apprentice and not the tradesman yet. I wrote a complex software package that handled job estimating, job tracking and invoicing. I even designed my own network using a serial cable between two computers so he could have both computers work together. And I wrote the software using Basic, plus a little machine code added in.

The real test of a programmer is being able to write software that is reliable, within budget and with performance. In those early years I can even remember using a stopwatch and actually testing my database routines for optimal speed. I even would test different buffer sizes for the optimal size that would work best with the mechanics of the hard drive.

So doing real work for real businesses taught me a few important lessons that I doubt I would have learned in college:

1. Development time is critical, especially for custom software. This is one reason I never stopped using Basic. Over the years I checked out other languages, like C, but I never found any languages that had the naturalness of Basic. My code was easy to write and easy to read. Code readability is a must if you want reliable software that can be maintained.

2. Performance is always important. Even when I used interpreted Basic I optimized for performance. When compilers became available I quickly moved to using them. When using assembler was the only way to accomplish something or to get the performance I required, I used it.

3. Productivity depends upon the ability to reuse code, and building quality library code is always important. OOP supposedly is superior for code reusability, but I have found that procedural code can produce just as good reusable code. Code reusability has more to do with the mindset of a programmer, rather than a technology like OOP. A good programmer knows when and how to build a quality library.

4. The less code you have to type the faster it gets done. Quality libraries can decrease the amount of code you have to type in, but also how you code makes a big difference. If speed is not critical for a subroutine or function, then writing it so it uses the least amount of parameters may be more valuable and in the long run will save time.

5. The programmer is the debugger. Debugging is a skill or even an art. Programmers today depend too much on automation to do their debugging. No software debugger, no unit testing application or any other automated tool can replace the programmer's mind. If debugging is an issue, then the programmer is at fault, not the tools.

6. Keep it simple. Yes, the programming language you use, the development environment you use, how you code and even how you build reusable code should all follow the principle of "keep it simple". This is one of the biggest reasons I actually avoid OOP, which demands too much complexity and too much planning and the benefits of so called code reusability are not any better than procedural. Actually procedural coding styles can produce smaller executables, with less code, easier to maintain and most important faster (performance).

Many people will likely want to debate this point, but I can simply point to the obvious bloat in most software today. Remember, I come from a day when a person could write something like a complete accounting package (or any business app) that could run on a computer with only 640 KB RAM and two floppy drives. Today's huge UI frameworks that are 20, 30 or 40 megabytes in size says something. I can remember when some amazing programmers could build a Mac-like (or Windows) environment even with multi-tasking that could run on a Commodore 64 with only 64 KB memory (the software was called Geos). Today, Windows despite having benefits of 2GB memory or more requires a great deal of page swapping with the hard drive, just to keep pace.

Reconsider How You write Code

Now I won't say don't use OOP, which has value, particularly with some UI stuff. All I am saying is at least reconsider whether to always use OOP or not. Just because the majority of programmers have swallowed higher education's view that OOP is superior should not prevent you from considering a more balanced approach of using procedural coding first and then OOP when it really does fit the task at hand. Just for the sake of discussion and an open mind, do a Google search for the words:

Google "software performance productivity OOP procedural" and see what you find. Some of it may be nonsense, but there are a number of good programmers out there who are rethinking how they write code. Even some who use OOP regularly, have issues with it.

Regardless of whether you prefer to use procedural or OOP, take a second look at how you write code and ask yourself whether it really does follow the principle of "keep it simple". Is the code easy to follow? Is the code easy to read? How difficult is it to follow the flow of the code (the actual order the computer will execute it)? If it is difficult to follow the actual flow of the code, then simply put it will be a nightmare to debug.

A Tradesman is a Better Teacher than an Educator

If you have ever worked closely with a real tradesman (or woman) of any sort, like a carpenter, a mechanic or even a computer programmer, who really knows the trade, it is amazing when he (or she) can quickly show you not only how to accomplish a task better but also explain why it works. I can remember when my father, who was a plumber most of his life, showed me how to properly solder a joint in copper water piping. It was a little trick he had learned, and it was quite surprising. He said that some plumbers like to make their solder joints look pretty, so they carefully run the solder around the joint. It sure looked nice, but many a time he had to go to a job to fix pipes that busted just because of this. His technique was to put a little flux on a flux brush and after putting the solder on the joint, while it was still fluid he quickly wiped around the joint with the brush as if he were wiping it off.

The end result was not pretty. Some plumbers would take one look and say it looked terrible and messy. Then my father unsoldered the pipe he just connected and showed me the inside of the joint. He told me the wiping action with the flux brush caused the solder to get sucked deep into the joint and when I saw what it looked like inside I knew he was right. The joint didn't look pretty, but it was much less likely to bust when under pressure.

The point is that the real test of the quality of anything is when it is put under pressure (or used in the real world). Software is no different. No matter how one writes software, the real test is whether the software is good or not. Does it work as intended? Is it easy to use? Was it done under budget or even faster? Is it reliable?

I am amazed at how often programmers will quickly see the word "BASIC" when I refer to how I write software and automatically come to the conclusion that this guy does not know what he is talking about. Who uses Basic anymore they will say. But the real test of any tradesman is what he has built and if it is being used by others successfully. I can honestly look back at much of the software I have written and feel a sense of accomplishment when I see how it benefited the businesses I wrote it for. Some of that software is still in use even after 10 or 15 years, because it works so well.

Today I write programming tools for other programmers and when I see a customer using my tools to build their software and they are successful it means a lot to me. Then I remember what my father said about how others viewed his technique for soldering copper pipe. All I can say is "thanks dad, you were right". If he were alive today, I would venture to say he would be happy to know I still solder pipes the way he taught me all those years ago and if asked why I do it this way, I can easily explain the reason "why" it works, because a tradesman taught me well.

When some people take issue with the white paper by Richard Mansfield about "Has OOP failed?" I tend to feel similarly. Maybe it's how we teach programming today that needs to change if we want to have better programmers.

Photo Credits: kentoh/Shutterstock

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
GitHub for Windows released, developers rejoice

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 10:41pm MDT by Ed Oswald

Code sharing site GitHub announced a client for Windows on Monday, aimed at making it easier to search for code on the platform. The move is an obvious nod to Microsoft's dominance in computing, and done more out of necessity than anything.

GitHub is built on top of the command line Git application, and has quickly begun to change the way software is developed. It makes the process of managing an open-source project a whole lot easier, and allows work on code by many developers versus a few "gatekeepers" who control what gets into daily builds.

More than 1.3 million developers already use Git, and it's fairly likely a good portion of them work with Windows everyday -- in fact 50 percent of all traffic to GitHub is from Windows clients. Microsoft even sees the value of such a client, and offered 150 of its own beta testers to run early builds of GitHub for Windows through its paces.

GitHub's announcement Monday will be welcomed by these folks as it greatly simplifies the process of using Git on the platform.

There has been a GitHub client for Mac for quite awhile now, but Windows users first had to install Git locally and deal with a lot of command line work. Now, Windows developers will have access to a client that works with both GitHub and GitHub enterprise.

"GitHub for Windows is a 100% native application that will run on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and even the pre-release Windows 8", GitHub developer Tim Clem writes in a blog post. "Included in the application is a complete installation of msysGit making this the single best way to start using Git on Windows".

broadbandreports.com

Monday Evening Links -

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 5:23pm MDT

Hard data on the state of the Internet fiercetelecom.com
The Docsis Addendum lightreading.com
Is FaceTime over 3G really a good idea? gigaom.com
Can cable companies keep the dream of municipal WiFi alive? extremetech.com
Carriers Willing to Live With High iPhone Subsidies for Now allthingsd.com
Supreme Court declines to hear $675,000 file-swapping case arstechnica.com
Set-tops will become extinct: Time Warner Cable CEO fiercecable.com
CenturyLink's Prism IPTV service continues to attract new customers fiercetelecom.com
$74 PC on a USB Stick Sold Out (for Now) laptopmag.com
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Comcast Launching New X1 Set Top - Starting First In Boston, Additional Markets Within Weeks

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 3:59pm MDT

Speaking at the Cable Show this week in Boston, Comcast announced that they'll soon be launching their long-rumored "X1" DVR platform starting in Boston within weeks, with additional markets coming shortly thereafter. The revamped GUI and widget-heavy platform will launch alongside a remote-control DVR app for both the iPhone and the iPad. "This cloud-enabled platform, unlike any other video service existing today, delivers the world's largest collection of video and transforms the TV into an entirely new integrated entertainment experience," says Comcast of the launch in a press statement. "These new products will launch in Boston with several major markets planned to follow this year, and will be available to new Xfinity Triple Play with HD/DVR service customers at no additional cost." att=2004307
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BetaNews.Com

Google mind reading comes to Gmail

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 3:45pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

I'm not the biggest Gmail fan. Sure, I use the service, but my inbox fills up too fast, and managing the madness is measured procrastination. Email in general is the problem; Google's service is simply easy to blame. But a new enhancement coming in days has me finally ready to adapt behavior to attitude -- and stop being the email file clerk.

Google is in process of adding nifty contextual, autocomplete capabilities to Gmail -- that is if you find this kind of soothsaying useful. I confess to making more typing errors when Google search autocomplete tries to anticipate my thoughts. Mind reader it is not enough, so what good is all that information Google supposedly collects about us all? :) As for Gmail, the new autocomplete starts with what you've got.

Isaac Elias, Google software engineer, explains:

Now when you type something into the Gmail search box, the autocomplete predictions will be tailored to the content in your email, so you can save time and get the information you want faster than ever before. For example, you might now get lax reservation or lax united as predictions after typing 'lax' if you have received an email with a flight confirmation for your trip to Los Angeles in your inbox recently.

I shutter to think how Apple's Siri might respond if I asked for lax. Constipation cure perhaps? I sold my iPhone, so it's all snarky speculation, since I can't ask Siri.

The Gmail feature will be slow coming. "We will be rolling out improved autocomplete in English over the next few days and will follow with more languages over the next few months. While initially improved autocomplete will not be available for Google Apps customers, we plan to bring this feature to Apps domains in the future", Elias says.

Why do these enhancements all seem to come to Apps last? This isn't the first time. Is it one of those businesses aren't early adopters things?

Anyway, the change means that I'll stop filing away email. I'll clear out my inbox to "personal" and "work" folders and sort everything by search. Gmail search already is quite efficient, but contextual autocomplete is enough for me to change my wicked ways -- well, some of them.

What does this mean for anyone emailing me. I might respond within days now. ;-)

Photo Credit: SOMATUSCAN/Shutterstock
Leap promises a pocketable, compact 3D user interface

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 2:28pm MDT by Tim Conneally

San Francisco startup Leap Motion today unveiled its killer product, a small USB-attached three dimensional sensor (a la Microsoft's Kinect) which is meant for use in small spaces on small screens. The product is called Leap and is available in limited quantities for just $70.

Leap creates an eight cubic foot interaction space, and Leap Motion says the tiny device is "200 times more sensitive than existing touch-free products and technologies." This is appealing because the current motion control interface of choice, Microsoft's Kinect, is a "living room" experiences which requires users to stand anywhere from six to eight feet away from the sensor. Leap can sit right on your desk and utilize only the space in front of you and around your PC if you so choose. This is one of the next big frontiers in interface design, as Belgium's Softkinetic announced a similar innovation at CES earlier this year, and notebook PC makers are looking to integrate similar features with stereoscopic webcams.

The peripheral is designed to be used on Windows 7 machines, and lets the user click, grab, scroll and use "touchscreen" gestures like swipe and pinch to zoom in 3D space. Leap can also determine when the user's hand is holding an item like a pencil or pen, and can change the input accordingly.

The team says it will be ready to support Mac OS, Windows 8, and Linux machines in the near future, but does not have a release date yet for even the first batch of devices. We're all pretty excited about the possibilities here, but we haven't gotten to see the device first-hand, and all the imagery is mocked up. We're trying to find out if this is worth getting worked up over.

Currently, Leap's launch goal is Winter 2012, but developers will be able to get their hands on one of "thousands" of free developer kits in the next one to three months by applying to participate in the developer program.

Smart technology procurement starts with identifying what you need

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 2:23pm MDT by Chris Doig

First in a series. Many IT professionals know how difficult major technology purchases can be. Projects like picking a new CMS system, selecting a data center or replacing helpdesk software are relatively infrequent. This means employees are not well-practiced with determining and organizing requirements or the product selection process.

They are often biased towards those products they already know, and may not be familiar with some others competing in that market segment. Throw aggressive sales people and tight deadlines into the mix and you have the recipe for a technology purchase that is decidedly not optimized for the business.

Lack of structure in decision-making is a large part of the difficulty. Putting a structure around the decision-making process makes it easier to manage and consistently faster. However, the real payoff is when you make a purchase decision optimized for your specific needs. In other words, you buy something that really works for your organization!

Previously I identified the hidden costs of poor technology purchasing. This followup is the first of a two-part article describing a structured method for making technology purchase decisions. The first part covers creating and managing purchase requirements. The second explores evaluating products against these requirements. This structured approach works best for technology purchases where there are many product features to compare or requirements to consider. Note that in this article the word product is defined very broadly, and includes software, hardware and intangible services that an enterprise might purchase.

Organizing Requirements

Properly defining purchasing requirements is the key to making the best possible purchase. People often begin with a blank page in Microsoft Word when gathering requirements. Initially this works well, but it does not scale up as the number of requirements grows. As the information increases, it gets harder to manage the requirements because there is so little structure. What structure there is, must be manually managed.

The first step to bringing structure to the decision making process is to organize requirements with a spreadsheet. Because there are always far more requirements than products to be evaluated, it is better to organize the spreadsheet with requirements columns down the left and products across the top. Spreadsheets work very well, but they eventually suffer from a scaling problem as the number of requirements increases.

This could be improved by building some sort of database. That usually is too much work for one purchase, but leads to the idea of a general-purpose tool. Since that is the realm of commercial products, this article concentrates on using spreadsheets to make the purchasing decision.

Requirement Details

The second step is to realize that a requirement is more than just a name. Each requirement has several parts, as listed below. Typically, these are arranged as columns on the left of the spreadsheet. Note that requirements can also be expressed as features; it depends how you word them.

Name: A short descriptive tag that uniquely identifies a requirement.

Description: Provides context and amplifies the meaning of the name to ensure everybody knows exactly what is meant by that requirement.

Person: Optional, and only used in larger evaluations involving many people. Describes to whom the requirement is important.

Importance: This describes in words how much the requirement matters to the business (or person). Usually implemented as a drop down box. There should also be a numerical measure associated with the importance (more on this in the second article), and a description of the importance. See table below for an example. Note that the “Importance Description” is vital so that everybody involved has the same understanding of each term in the table.

Reason: Explains why the requirement is important, and provides context for evaluating products against this requirement.

Example of a Requirements Importance Table
Value	Requirement Importance	Importance Description
0	No interest	Do not care if this requirement is satisfied or not. This entry verifies the requirement was considered.
1	Nice to have	Nice to have if the requirement is satisfied, but nothing to worry about if it is not.
2	Useful	Useful if features satisfy this requirement, but if not there would only be a minor inconvenience in working around it.
3	Important	Without satisfying this requirement, there is noticeable inconvenience, but that can be worked around with some effort.
4	Very important	If this requirement is not adequately satisfied, there is a good chance of selecting another product. There would be significant effort expended in working around it.
5	Critical	This requirement is almost essential, almost a must have. There would be major limitations when using the product if this requirement was not adequately satisfied.
6	Show stopper	If this requirement is not adequately satisfied, the product is automatically excluded. Few requirements are true show stoppers, usually most are critical.

Finding Requirements

After using the product in production for a few months, you do not want to find features are missing. That is when you can get buyer’s remorse! Thus, this next step of finding requirements is very important. There are three primary methods, listed below.

Your Knowledge

As an IT professional, you usually have some knowledge of requirements, especially on the technical side. This is a good place to start. Product reviews can be helpful, particularly when the reviewer makes negative comments. Pay particular attention to any reader comments added to on-line reviews because they can highlight real issues, and can alert you to the presence of unknown competitive products.

Reverse Engineering Product Features

When considering a major technology purchase there are usually a few potential products already in mind. Use the features of these products to generate your list of requirements. This is really reverse engineering your requirements from the product features, and is an incredibly powerful technique for rapidly getting a comprehensive requirements list together.

After reverse engineering the first product, you have a great set of requirements and a product that matches up very well. You are tempted to stop right there! But when you repeat the process with a second product, your perspective quickly changes, and you are likely to add quite a few more requirements. It’s a bit like needing to hear both sides of an argument. Ideally, you want to reverse engineer the features of at least three products to ensure you get a broad enough mix of requirements.

User Input

After reverse-engineering requirements, you need other people to tell you how important the requirements are to them, and why they are important. This helps you better understand the problem the proposed purchase is attempting to solve.

When considering software purchases it is useful to examine the flow of work around the system because that can also alert you to new requirements. Pay special attention to the manual workflows of existing processes.

Managing Requirements

As the number of purchase requirements grows, you need to manage them. Do this by collecting related requirements in groups. You can also weight requirement groups, explained in the follow-up article. Broadly speaking, requirements are either technical or business. Under business, you should include things like legal, compliance, etc. and softer things like vendor financial health, product price and contract flexibility. For example:

For any vendor, what is their financial health? What is their cash flow like compared to competitors? You do not want to sign up with a vendor and find they go out of business after a year.
You could look at datacenters. What is the average age of the equipment? Too new and it may suggest an immature vendor. Too old and it may suggest cashflow problems.
You are considering a SaaS product. Does the vendor require a minimum commitment of a year, or will they allow you a monthly contract while you pilot the product?

Even though these softer requirements may be somewhat subjective, it is vital to consider them because they can make a real difference to the vendor relationship and the ultimate success of the purchase.

Requirements Conclusion

Properly defining your purchasing requirements is the key to making the best possible purchase. In this article, we described a structured method for creating and managing purchase requirements using a spreadsheet. In part two we describe how to rate products against the requirements so you can select the product that best meets your specific needs.

Photo Credit: Adchariyaphoto/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Dish: We'll Build an LTE Network in 2016. Maybe. - Analysts Starting to Think Dish is Simply Full of Crap

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 1:49pm MDT

Last Summer Dish Network started insisting that the company was very seriously interested in launching an LTE network, despite previous executive assurances that the company was accumulating spectrum just for fun. Run from a subsidiary, the company is hoping to launch an LTE-Advanced network under the brand "Ollo." Dish is planning to use the spectrum they acquired from DBSD North America and TerreStar Networks, a transaction that just received FCC approval.

But now that Dish has their spectrum they're waffling on a deployment date, telling the FCC they might be able to have such a network up and running by 2016. The company previously claimed that the LTE Advanced equipment for its S-band spectrum they plan to use likely won't even be available until 2015. Dish is now claiming that they'll need four years after the 3GPP validates its S-band satellite spectrum for 4G use -- something expected to happen this December. The delays are only re-enforcing the idea that Dish is just bluffing and stalling so they can flip the spectrum for more money at a later date:
This is another example of an operator making desperate claims about the need for spectrum, and then finding every excuse not to build networks when they finally get it. It s a good indication that Dish chairman Charlie Ergen has no intention of ever building a network and just wants to flip the licenses for a quick and profitable sale. The more leeway there is on a building a network, the more attractive those licenses will be to a potential buyer.
With LightSquared dead and Clearwire continuing to struggle, Dish would be a welcome additional competitive option, but the growing consensus is that the company is simply blowing smoke. Most analysts (and consumer advocates (pdf) are worried that Dish is simply making up intentions, just so they can sell the spectrum at an inflated rate to the nation's duopoly (AT&T, Verizon) at a later date.
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BetaNews.Com

Mark Zuckerberg isn't embarrassed by Facebook's IPO

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 1:29pm MDT by Robert X. Cringely

So Facebook is now a public company but with the shares only one business day old the news is already bad: Facebook shares didn’t pull a Google or a Yahoo or a Microsoft or even a TheGlobe.com and soar out of sight on IPO day. They ended right where they started pretty much after the day traders took their easy profits. And while Wall Street sees this performance as a dud, Facebook itself sees it as a masterful piece of financial engineering.

If you are an investment banker -- and let me re-emphasize that, if you are an investment banker -- you want IPO shares to go up on their first day, rising in price by at least 10 percent though no more than 20 percent. This shows the IPO is hot, the company is booming, yet the offering wasn’t so underpriced that the founders feel cheated. Such IPOs make investors feel happy and happy investors buy and sell more shares and participate in future IPOs.

If you are an IPO company founder and, even more explicitly, you are Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, you want your share price on the first day to go exactly nowhere, which is what Facebook’s did. That means no money was left on the table and the company got the best possible deal. Zuckerberg didn’t and doesn’t care about investors in this scenario, but then neither does he wish them ill. He just doesn’t give a damn.

And there’s the difference because investment bankers do give a damn because they’d like to have another IPO next week or next month and have that go very well, too. Zuckerberg expects Facebook to never issue another share of stock. He’s done raising money thanks, and on his honeymoon.

I’m sure there was a struggle at the end over how to price the offering. The bankers would have preferred $34 or even $32, but Facebook went for $38 and they were correct to do so from their point of view because we now see it was the optimal solution.

Then why don’t we feel better? Because for all its $100+ billion valuation the whole thing feels pretty low rent, like a big sale at K-Mart. Where’s the excitement? There isn’t any.

Editor: Near market close, Facebook shares are down by about 10 percent, at $34.40, on its first full day of trading.

Reprinted with permission

Photo Credit: Guillaume Paumier

Robert X. Cringely has worked in and around the PC business for more than 30 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Forbes, Upside, Success, Worth, and many other magazines and newspapers. Most recently, Cringely was the host and writer of the Maryland Public Television documentary "The Tranformation Age: Surviving a Technology Revolution with Robert X. Cringely".
HTC says some of its blocked phones have passed customs

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 12:22pm MDT by Tim Conneally

Last week, the news broke that some of HTC's new Android smartphones, including the One X and EVO 4G LTE were being held up in U.S. Customs for potentially violating an ITC exclusion order.

HTC last Wednesday confirmed that these two phones were delayed due to "a standard U.S. Customs review of shipments" that was required as a result of the ITC order. The company said "We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with Customs to secure approval." The customs delay caused the launch of the EVO 4G LTE to be postponed.

In a Sunday announcement in its investor portal, HTC provided a further update on the status of the devices, and confirmed that certain models had cleared customs.

"Each imported HTC model must be reviewed by Customs and will be released once Customs officials have completed the inspection. Some models have gone through inspection and been released to our carriers customers. We don't have the status of each specific device model at this time, but we are working closely with Customs. We remain confident that this issue will be resolved soon."

While the statement does not clarify which models have been approved for U.S. distribution, it should provide at least some peace of mind for customers looking to purchase the new devices that they will, in fact, make it into the market.
Can Google and Europe settle their differences?

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 11:30am MDT by Ed Oswald
Today, the European Union's Competition Commission set the stage for an antitrust showdown with Google by offering settlement ahead of four pending violations. Proposal would come from the search giant, which initial response suggests resolution won't be easy.

The case revolves around a nearly two-year old effort to determine if Google abuses its dominant position in search. Some of these concerns involve the Mountain View, Calif. company's near-stranglehold of the web advertising market, of which the European Commission received several complaints.

EC competition policy vice president Joaquín Almunia says that he has been in contact with Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, offering the company "a matter of weeks" to address the four primary concerns

"If Google comes up with an outline of remedies which are capable of addressing our concerns, I will instruct my staff to initiate the discussions in order to finalize a remedies package", Alumnia says. He notes that similar offers to settle prior to formal action have been successful in the past, most recently with IBM last year.

Should the two sides fail to agree, the Commission will then issue what is called a Statement of Objections. That document will offer a preliminary judgement based on what the Commission sees as infractions of EU law. Following the responses to that Statement, the Commission can then issue a formal decision with fines and remedies.

Google has the right at that time to appeal the decision to the European Court of First Instance and then the European Court of Justice, which would be the formal start of actual court proceedings for antitrust violations.

Specifically, the Commission is concerned about the following four points, for which it seeks remedy:
- "Vertical" search: The EU believes that Google's method of linking to its own specialized search services (such as news, shopping, etc.) amounts to preferential treatment, and gives the company's services unfair advantage over competitors.
- Stealing of content: Regulators say that Google lifts content from other vertical services and treats it as its own without prior authorization, such as travel sites or restaurant guides. There is worry that such actional will "reduce competitors' incentives to invest in the creation of original content for the benefit of Internet users".
- Search ad "exclusivity": The EU is concerned with the structure of Google's ad agreements. "The agreements result in de facto exclusivity requiring them to obtain all or most of their requirements of search advertisements from Google, thus shutting out competing providers of search advertising intermediation services", it argues.
- AdWords restrictions: Google does not offer portability of search advertising campaigns to competitors, making it difficult for website owners to easily port ads created in AdWords to other services. We are concerned that Google imposes contractual restrictions on software developers which prevent them from offering tools that allow the seamless transfer of search advertising campaigns across AdWords and other platforms for search advertising.
Almunia says that those complainants who have petitioned the EU for some type of relief will be included in any settlement process. Additionally, Google's proposed remedies are subject to "market testing" before final approval.

"Should this process fail to deliver a satisfactory set of remedies, the on-going formal proceedings will of course continue, including the possible sending of a Statement of Objections", he continued.

The question now is whether or not Google is willing (or able) to make the changes necessary in order to comply with the European Commission's request. In a statement, the company says it disagrees with the agency's positon.

"Competition on the Web has increased dramatically in the last two years since the Commission started looking at this and the competitive pressures Google faces are tremendous. Innovation online has never been greater", it argues.

That certainly suggests that the company is not willing to substantially alter its business model in order to address the Commission's issues. In that case, Monday's announcement will only be one step in the march towards antitrust charges against the world's largest search company.

Photo Credit: Minerva Studio/Shutterstock
Microsoft Socl opens to all, the social network where search queries = status updates

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 9:37am MDT by Tim Conneally

Microsoft on Monday opened its experimental social search service called So.cl, which lets users socially broadcast their search queries and attached results. Socl is the product of Microsoft's Fuse labs, and has been open to limited user groups at the University of Washington, Syracuse University, and New York University, for the last five months.

Unlike the recent revamp of Bing, which integrates a user's social graph into their search base, Socl is something entirely different. The new service combines the "social broadcasting" aspect of Twitter and applies it to search queries and research.

Imagine Twitter's 140 character field was a search field. When you type in a new query, it becomes the main heading of the "tweet." Then, when the results are returned, you can pick the ones that best apply to the heading and attach them. Then, you can add contextual tags, and other users can comment or "like" your search, or start "riffs," which are sub-conversations which may be tangentially linked to your original search or post.

Posts on Socl don't necessarily have to originate with searches, and the service includes the ability to have traditional social media style pure text updates.

Though the service was designed with college research in mind, it can really be used in any way the user likes, and users can simply post and tag images, videos, and links as they would on any other social site. Design-wise, Socl seems to have taken a big cue from Google+, especially in the upper right hand corner notification menu, the dropdown menu in the upper right hand corner of each post, and with its inclusion of "video parties."

broadbandreports.com

Cable Industry Provides Cross-Carrier Wi-Fi - 'CableWi-Fi' Initiative Involves 50,000 Hotspots

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 9:18am MDT

Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable this week announced they'll be partnering further on offering Wi-Fi for free to the companies' subscribers, allowing users of any of the cable operators the ability to access hotspots owned by any other participating ISP. According to the combined company press statement, the initiative will be called "CableWifi" (that will also be the SSID) and involve over 50,000 hotspots that users can access with credentials from any participating cable ISP.

Over the last few years, Cablevision has taken the lead over the last few years when it comes to offering subscribers free Wi-Fi as an added perk, an initiative Comcast and Time Warner Cable grew more involved in starting in 2010 -- in some instances actually sharing physical infrastructure.

"We believe that WiFi is a superior approach to mobile data, and that cable providers are best positioned to build the highest-capacity national network offering customers fast and reliable Internet connections when away from their home or business broadband service," said Kristin Dolan, Cablevision s senior executive vice president of product management and marketing. "We've built an extensive WiFi network in our own service area, and see real value and potential in other leading providers joining with us to extend that connectivity to major markets across the country."

Numerous cable companies claim they had originally planned to build their own cellular networks to offer wireless service, but all of them found that competing in wireless (particularly thanks to the Verizon/AT&T duopoly) was a steeper climb than they had anticipated. Most of the companies have since offloaded their acquired spectrum to Verizon Wireless -- and recently announced a cross-marketing deal that involves them bundling Verizon Wireless services.
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BetaNews.Com

Tell me, in what alternative universe does Chrome usage surpass Internet Explorer?

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 9:07am MDT by Joe Wilcox

Surely it can't be this one, but that's what StatCounter's weekly report would have you believe. Can it be true? Has IE really fallen so low and Chrome come so far? That's my question for you, as we revive our browser usage poll.

For the week May 14-20, IE global usage share is 31.94 percent compared to 32.76 percent for Chrome. This change in leadership comes after a May 1 methodology adjustment that should penalize Chrome. Google's browser pre-renders pages to speed up search, but not all are viewed. StatCounter now adjusts for them. I must say that StatCounter's data dramatically differs from Net Applications', which on May 1 put Chrome third to Firefox and IE usage about three times more.

Regionally, huge variances appear, according to StatCounter. For example, for the same week, in the United States, IE share is 37.81 percent, while Chrome is 23.83 percent, just ahead of Firefox (22.51 percent). In China, where Windows piracy is rampant, IE gets a big boost over Chrome: 72.81 percent to 12.79 percent usage share. United Kingdom: 36.81 percent to 28.95 percent, respectively. In Kenya Chrome is 19.85 percent to IE's 18.69 percent. However, Firefox is overwhelming usage share leader: 55.25 percent. In the other three countries, Chrome ranks higher than Firefox.

About eight months ago, I polled BetaNews readers about browser usage. I long ago closed the poll, which after 4,594 votes put Chrome ahead of IE as your "primary web browser": 40.01 percent and 22.12 percent, respectively. It's time for a new one, but so I can keep it open longer browser versions are excluded. Firefox and Google release new versions about every six weeks, which doesn't give any poll of this kind much shelf life.

I'll fess up before you do. Chrome is my primary web browser, and it has been since late 2010. The reasons aren't rocket science. Google rapidly innovates Chrome, improving features and increasing benefits. Absolutely I use other browsers and should when writing about technology. But superior sync capabilities, satisfying performance, security hardiness and ongoing improvements keep me hooked.

However, I find Chrome to be a memory hog, particularly on Windows, where it poorly cleans up after closing. I typically must use Task Manager to manually close open Chrome processes.

Firefox would be my preferred second choice, followed by Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari. Apple, which should set the standard for WebKit browsers, cedes innovation leadership to Google. That's too bad, since hundreds of millions of iOS users don't have much choice. Mobile Safari is their default choice, and Apple doesn't allow truly competitive browsers in the App Store.

But what about you? Which is your "preferred" primary web browser -- that is how I rephrase the question for the new poll. I want to know the primary browser when you can choose, not when dictated by say school or workplace.

Which is your preferred primary web browser, meaning when you can choose it? (For personal computer, not phone or other device.)

Another question: Do you believe that IE usage share exceeds Chrome? I don't, and that's no disrespect to StatCounter. The data doesn't jive with NetApps, which I must admit to favoring for reporting browser usage. I think of NetApps as old reliable measuring this data. But perhaps StatCounter's methodology is superior or offers a different perspective about browsers. Certainly the weekly data caught my attention.

Is it this universe or another that Chrome is king? Please answer below and take the poll above.

broadbandreports.com

Google Fiber Delayed Further - Google's Vague Launch Window Gets Even More Vague

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 9:06am MDT

User uid://1487606 writes in to direct our attention to the fact that Google will be delaying their deployment of 1 Gbps fiber to the home service in Kansas City. Originally stating the service would be available in late 2011, then sometime in June this year -- the Kansas City Star notes that Google appears to be balking on the June launch and now hints at an even later deployment. "We ll have an announcement about Google Fiber this summer," a company spokeswoman said when asked about the schedule on Friday. Earlier this year Google faced some delays in negotiating pole attachment fees for fiber deployment, apparently thinking they could float over some of the more bureaucratic annoyances of building a network.
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Cogeco Raising Prices Starting in July - TV, Internet and Voice Services All Seeing Hikes

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 6:36am MDT

Canadian cable operator Cogeco has been on an anti-competitive tear the last few years, foisting metered billing on the back of their customers, and applying caps as low as 10GB per month with overages as high as $2.50 a gigabyte. Users in our Cogeco forum say they're being e-mailed by the carrier to note that the price of most Cogeco services will be going up again in July. A Cogeco website details most of the changes, which illustrate hikes to nearly every TV, broadband and VoIP package available. Cogeco CEO Louis Audet recently proclaimed that customers looking for value and better deals were "undesireable; fortunately for him it looks like he'll soon have fewer of those types of users to worry about.
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U.S. Cellular Eyes Verizon's 700 MHz Spectrum - Meets With FCC to Insist Sale Could be a Good Thing

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 6:36am MDT

As a bit of a regulatory carrot to get their spectrum and co-marketing deal with the cable industry approved, Verizon Wireless recently stated they'd be holding an auction to sell off the excess spectrum that won't fit into the company's LTE plans. Most of those airwaves, acquired in 2008's AWS auction, exist in the 700 MHz Lower A and B Block spectrum, while Verizon's LTE network uses 700 MHz upper C spectrum. A new FCC filing by U.S. Cellular indicates the wireless operator is very much interested in the spectrum, and notes that the carrier met with the FCC to argue the sale could be good for the wireless market. U.S. Cellular executives say they also support the idea of AT&T purchasing the spectrum (a much more likely scenario), as long as AT&T supports the Band Class 12 ecosystem. U.S. Cellular has been pushing for 700 MHz interoperability, something the FCC is considering new rules for but which AT&T and Verizon oppose.
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Average Global Mobile Download Speeds Reach 14 Mbps - Deployment of HSPA+ and LTE Technology Surges

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 6:34am MDT

According to new data from Strategy Analytics, average maximum mobile global download speeds saw their biggest gain in the first quarter since the firm started tracking such metrics in 2009. Current average download speeds exceed 14 Megabytes per second (Mbps) and are expected to approach 20 Mbps by the end 2012, says the firm. "Since December there has been a 20 percent increase in the number of plans that advertise maximum download speeds in excess of 21 Mbps," says report author Pawel Kmiec. Data allowance, which now averages just over 8 Gigabytes per month worldwide (you'll note we're a little behind the curve), will average over 10 Gigabytes per month by the end of the year.
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Monday Morning Links -

Posted: May 21st, 2012, 4:34am MDT

Voyager Mobile Launches After DDoS-Induced Delay allthingsd.com
US Six Strikes Anti-Piracy Scheme Delayed torrentfreak.com
Verizon's and Comcast's data caps: Who wins and who loses? cnet.com
The Great Verizon FiOS Ripoff huffingtonpost.com
Cable companies expand free Wi-Fi cnet.com
Google Chrome overtakes Internet Explorer as the Web s most used browser thenextweb.com
$12.5 billion Google, Motorola merger to close 'within days' cnet.com
Adaptive radio may upend wireless spectrum system sfgate.com
Wireless Tech Makes Health Care Security a 'Major Concern' pcworld.com
Carmakers add Wi-Fi, Facebook, other tech features sfgate.com
IEEE Introduces Groundbreaking Standard for Body Area Networking businesswire.com
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BetaNews.Com

Security dominates mid-May's 27 software downloads

Posted: May 20th, 2012, 11:11am MDT by Mark Wilson

Halfway through May and the software release schedule shows no sign of abating, and beta releases stand out over the past week. Some of the biggest releases come from security experts Norton, which updated 2013 public betas. Norton AntiVirus 2013 v20.0.0.106 beta, Norton Internet Security 2013 v20.0.0.106 beta and Norton 360 2013 v20.0.0.106 beta provide an early look at what to expect from the upcoming security line, and all of these tools are free during the beta testing period.

But Norton is far from the only name in the security world, and ESET Smart Security 6 Beta (32-bit) includes not only antivirus protection but a firewall and interesting anti-theft features for laptop users; there’s also a 64-bit version of the program available -- ESET Smart Security 6 Beta (64-bit).

From the same company also comes ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 Beta (32-bit), which focuses on the key security areas of checking for viruses, malware and rootkits. Again, there are anti-theft features built in and there is a 64-bit version of the program available -- ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 Beta (64-bit).

For computers that are already infected with viruses or malware, Emsisoft Emergency Kit 2.0 Beta is a great tool to have in your software collection, and the latest version of the program is faster than ever at cleaning up machines.EraserDrop Portable 2.1.1 is a different type of security tool that enables you to securely delete files so that they cannot be recovered, all using a program that runs from a USB drive.

Cloudfogger 1.1.1349 is a free tool that enables you to encrypt your data including both local files and those held in cloud storage accounts such as Dropbox.

As well as security tools, a number of interesting utilities released this week. Auslogics Disk Defrag 3.4.3.0 is a fantastic free way to keep your hard drive in great shape, while Auslogics BoostSpeed 5 is a low-cost tool that helps to boost the performance of almost any computer in a few easy steps. Cloud System Booster 1.0.0 FINAL takes something of a different approach to system optimization, using shared, cloud-based information to provide fixes and tweaks for any situation.

Life online would be difficult without a web browser, and Google Chrome 19 was one of the biggest releases last week. The latest version of the browser to reach the stable channel features new synchronization options that can be used to sync tabs, extensions and more between computers -- there is also a USB drive friendly version available in the form of Google Chrome Portable 19.

If you’re looking to improve your security online, HTTPS">[https_everywhere_for_firefox">HTTPS] Everywhere for Firefox and HTTPS">[https_everywhere_for_chrome">HTTPS] Everywhere for Chrome are tools that will ensure that you use the secure [HTTPS] version of a web site whenever one is available. If you are happy to take a hands-on approach to security and want a quick and easy way to change your DNS settings, DNS Jumper 1.0.4 could be just what you’ve been looking for.

Moving onto the selection of new creative releases: Xara Photo and Graphic Designer MX 8.1 is your one-stop-shop for photo editing, desktop publishing, illustration, web graphics and much more, while Xara Designer Pro X 8.1 builds on this theme with the added ability to create web sites. Any Video Converter Free 3.3.8 is a useful tool to have installed whether you are preparing video for use online, or just want to ensure that videos can be viewed on any given device, enabling you to convert between formats quickly, easily and for free.

Three others are a bit of a mixed bag. Toolwiz FlipBook 1.4.0.0 continues the creative theme to some degree by enabling you to convert any text file into a self-executing, three dimensional ebook. For programmer, web developer, or anyone just looking for a more advanced text editor than Windows’ Notepad, PilotEdit Lite 5.6.0 is well worth a look, while Producteev 1.0.1.0 is a great little task management tool that is available for a variety of platforms so you can keep on top of your to-do list from a range of devices.

That’s it for this week. Join us in another seven days to catch up on the latest software releases.

Photo Credit: Kheng Guan Toh/Shutterstock
Is Google+ gaining against Facebook on Android?

Posted: May 20th, 2012, 10:55am MDT by Joe Wilcox
Ahead of Facebook's Friday IPO, NPD released usage data for Android smartphones. Unsurprisingly, user reach is quite high. In looking over the data, I honed in on Google+, which makes a surprising showing for a social network not even a year old. But behind early adoption is a lesson for Google and Android developers about the app vs browser.

First, the data NPD highlights: Nearly 75 percent of Android users accessed Facebook, via app or browser, in March. But, separately for both, reach declined from February to March. However, the overall trend for the app is up. By comparison, Twitter: 23 percent web, 16 percent app. Google+ reach is 16 percent web, with the app swinging between 10 percent and 15 percent. For all three social networks, web reach exceeds the app.

"While the app may offer a more optimized/richer experience, what we do find in our research is that some mobile users just prefer relying on the mobile website for some activities", Linda Barrabee, NPD research director, says, responding to my question about app versus web usage.

Yes, but there is such preference for social networks, where apps tend to offer more features and ways to interact than mobile sites? Among the considerations I see:
- User experience of Android apps versus iOS ones
- Android web browser, or Chrome, experience versus apps
- Habits -- on the desktop, people generally consume Google services in the browser
Barrabee doesn't answer the first. "We currently do not meter smartphone behaviors on iOS, but will be adding those capabilities in the near-term". I asked because comScore data shows Americans largely favoring apps over the browser. The second says much about developers' mobile sites as Android browsers or apps. The third needs little explanation.

Behind reach there is something more important: Time spent online -- 470 minutes average in March using the Facebook app. NPD didn't release Google+ time online data.

Surprising Reach

But is reach high, considering Google+ opened in limited beta end of June and to the public in late September? I asked Barrabee: "The Google+ number, while lower than the others, strikes me as quite high for a social network not even a year old. Would you agree or characterize it differently?"

She replies: "In looking at the relative figures overall for Google+ compared to Facebook, Google+ app reach, which was around 10 percent in March, although trending down, is higher than what may be anticipated. Website use (reach) for Google+ has been more resilient -- 16 percent reach in March, similar level as seen a few months ago -- December".

As previously mentioned, Android smartphone Facebook app and website reach declined during the same time period Google+ web reach rose. Could it be -- and I don't have data from NPD -- that more Android users are choosing Google+ favoring or replacing it over Facebook?

Social networks have a timeless quantity in that something old becomes new when shared, as is case with February blog post "I 'get' Google+ Now and Apparently so do Others (Facebook May Have a Problem)" Plusing around this week. From the text:

How many people do I know in my friends list on FB. All of them. How many of them post content that I actually find interesting? Hardly any of them. Why? Because the list is built almost solely on physical contact from some point and time in life. None of it is based on interest in the content that they are posting or that I am posting. My stream is therefore a bunch of random noise about peoples lives. Sometimes there’s something interesting in there but most of it I could do without. I don’t exactly want to remove these people because it gives me a general idea of where they are in life and an easy way to contact them. But on a day to day basis I don’t care to see what they are saying...

Now contrast that to Google+. How many people do I know in reality on G+? Very few. How many of them post content that I actually find interesting? Almost all of them. This is because I have added people and have had people add me based on what they/I have to share rather than knowing me personally. I find chains of like minded and interesting people, NEW people, through conversations in comments. I add them and they add me without feeling awkward because there is no imposing idea of “friends” or any other association outside of sheer interest in content.

His experience mirrors my own. Does it yours? Certainly, there are Plusers who agree. Manny Otero posts: "Perfectly explains why I left Facebook and why I love Google+".

Still, any Google+ gains little diminish Facebook's huge presence: The larger social network accounted for 10 percent of all pageviews on Android smartphones in March, according to NPD. That's a stunning number.

The broader lesson is more than Google+ gains or even Facebook losses. For all three social networks, web reach exceeds apps -- for highly-engaged services. Cloud service developers targeting Android users should make mobile websites at least as compelling as apps.

broadbandreports.com

Weekend Open Thread - Welcome Back Edition

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 4:43pm MDT

The weekend has arrived, so empty your head into the comment section below.
read comment(s)
Friday Evening Links -

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 4:24pm MDT

Facebook Suit Over Subscriber Tracking Seeks $15 Billion bloomberg.com
Dish won't launch its LTE Advanced network until 2016 - or later fiercewireless.com
150 communities are doing broadband on their own terms smartplanet.com
North America Set To Lose LTE Sub Leadership By 2014 cable360.net
4G Report Card: Which Carriers Make the Grade? lightreading.com
LTE Will Suck as Long as Backhaul Does lightreading.com
Verizon, MetroPCS Spar on LTE Roaming Claims wirelessweek.com
Airline Wi-Fi provider GoGo to partner with AeroSat to bring satellite services to commercial flights beyond US dailyherald.com
Is white space the next frontier for mobile operators? fiercewireless.com
T-Mobile isn't jumping on the shared-data plan bandwagon fiercewireless.com
Why Verizon Phasing Out Unlimited Data Is a Step Backwards mashable.com
T-Mobile, MetroPCS Lobby FCC to Limit Dish to 20 MHz wirelessweek.com
ITC orders import ban against Motorola Android devices that infringe a Microsoft patent fosspatents.com
ZTE confirms security hole in U.S. phone reuters.com
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BetaNews.Com

IT embraces bring your own device in corporate deployment, despite risks

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 3:41pm MDT by Ed Oswald

While the bring-your-own-device phenomenon in IT presents a fair amount of risk to enterprise security, most companies are warming up to the idea anyway. A Cisco-sponsored survey of 600 IT and business leaders found that 95 percent of their companies allow employee-owned devices on the corporate network.

Of all companies surveyed, 36 percent support all BYOD devices, while 48 percent support a select list of devices. An additional 11 percent tolerate employee-owned devices on enterprise networks, but will offer no IT support.

The overwhelming number of corporations giving some type of support to BYOD is due to a large majority of IT executives themselves seeing the initiative as positive to their companies. Cisco says 76 percent of respondents called BYOD either somewhat or extremely positive, citing higher employee job satisfaction and increased productivity as reasons for their support. The benefits outweigh the risks, the data suggests, and it's better to keep your employees happy.

While employees may appreciate device choice, there's a much more personal reason behind the push for BYOD. Employees cite personal freedom as a major reason for wanting their own devices in the workplace. Corporate-owned hardware typically comes with usage policies that prevents personal use. That means checking Facebook or instant messaging is a no-no. Cisco says it found that 69 percent of BYOD users were using unapproved applications on these devices.

Simply put? It's much more difficult to track what your employees are doing when they're using their own devices. BYOD gives the employee the freedom to do as they wish.

This personal component seems to really be driving the BYOD phenomenon, but the need for mobile connectivity is also a factor. Cisco found that four in five white-collar employees use a mobile device in the course of their workday, with 65 percent of all white-collar workers requiring mobile connectivity in order to perform their jobs.

"As the number of devices being brought into work increases, organizations need a comprehensive mobility strategy", Cisco chief technology officer Padmasree Warrior says. Undoubtedly, this strategy needs to include some type of security component, as respondents listed security concerns as a top challenge in dealing with BYOD.

Photo Credit: CLIPAREA l Custom media/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Verizon Clarifies Death of Grandfathered Unlimited Plans - Grandrathered Users Won't Get Subsidized Devices

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 2:37pm MDT

Verizon Wireless CFO Fran Shammo earlier this week stated that the company would be killing off unlimited data plans for users who were grandfathered after the company stopped selling unlimited data back in 2010. According to Shammo, the company is going to force many of those users on 3G to move to upcoming shared data plans if they want to migrate to LTE. After the negative press Shammo's comments generated, Verizon circulated a statement to the press promising that the phase out of these grandfathered unlimited plans will be a slow affair, and largely dependent on when and if these users wan't to upgrade to new subsidized LTE devices. According to Verizon Wireless:

•Customers will not be automatically moved to new shared data plans. If a 3G or 4G smartphone customer is on an unlimited plan now and they do not want to change their plan, they will not have to do so.
•When we introduce our new shared data plans, Unlimited Data will no longer be available to customers when purchasing handsets at discounted pricing.
•Customers who purchase phones at full retail price and are on an unlimited smartphone data plan will be able to keep that plan.
•The same pricing and policies will be applied to all 3G and 4GLTE smartphones.
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BetaNews.Com

iPhone meets its match

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 12:10pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Finally, initial sales of another smartphone smoke iPhone -- that is if leaked numbers prove true. Samsung Galaxy S III goes on sale in 11 days, but preorders reportedly already top 9 million. By comparison, the much-lauded iPhone 4S sold 4 million units, including preorders, during its first three days of availability. At this pace, Galaxy S III is poised to be the biggest smartphone launch to date.

Samsung announced the smartphone on May 3, when I asked: "Is iPhone 4S obsolete?" Surely someone thinks so, and their answer should chill the hearts of Apple apologists and investors. Samsung, not Apple, is the rising star in the cloud-connected device firmament. Perhaps iPhone 5 will change matters. But for now, Samsung, propelled by the Galaxy S brand, broad channel distribution and smart software innovation, is brightest star.

Samsung Sales eclipse Apple's

Many of you are among those early buyers. Four days ago I asked: "Will you buy Samsung Galaxy S III?" Among the 1,195 responses so far, 18.16 percent have preordered or plan to. Another 41.59 percent plan to buy within 3 months. Less than one-quarter, 24.02 percent, won't buy the S3. Granted, the responses represent more of a gadget audience and are unqualified -- meaning I don't know who you are.

But the numbers jive with other trends. Based on sales to end users, rather than shipments into the channel, Samsung snatched overall phone leadership from Nokia and smartphone top-ranking from Apple during first quarter. Samsung sold 38 million smartphones -- 86.6 million for all handsets -- to Apple's 35.1 million, according to Gartner. Something else: Samsung accounted for 40 percent of Android sales. That's right, four out of every 10 recent Android smartphone buyers got a Samsung.

Several factors work in Samsung's favor -- and that of Galaxy S III. While the handset will initially launch in Europe, Samsung plans to rapidly reach 296 carriers in 145 countries. Apple offers iPhone 4S through 230 carriers in 100 countries. Samsung marketing, particularly its make-fun-of iPhone users campaign, is effective. For example, the first two "Next Big Thing Commercials", which first aired November 22 and December 2, affected "iPhone’s consumer perception, sending it into decline around the time the first ad appeared and continuing now," Ted Marzilli, YouGov BrandIndex managing director, said then. "At the same time, Samsung’s perception has crept up gradually and just surpassed iPhone last week".

But it's Samsung's innovation in the absence of Apple's that makes the difference. Remember, iPhone 4S wasn't the big upgrade everyone expected. In some respects, neither is Galaxy S III. Sure there's a quad-core processor, LTE and larger display (4.8 inches to Galaxy S II's 4.3 inch or 4.5 inch). But Samsung chose to pack in the big benefits elsewhere.

Apple's Luck runs Out

For that, Apple execs should consider themselves lucky that Samsung doesn't have a marketing personality like Steve Jobs and worry there's no "reality distortion field" peddler for iPhone 5. Galaxy S III promises some truly innovative software features supporting the hardware, most of which would have received "My God, Apple has done it again" blog, news and social media response if introduced by Jobs. Much of Samsung's innovation extends from the foundation that Google laid with Android 4 "Ice Cream Sandwich". Meaning: Other Android licensees can do it, too.

Will you buy Samsung Galaxy S III?

Rather than blow out the hardware specs, Samsung focused on benefits that make the phone more responsive to the user. The original iPhone stood apart from all other handsets, not just smart ones, for its humanness. Touch, and its intimacy, and the way the handset responded to your proximity gave it a human quality. Suddenly the phone wasn't an inanimate object but more living thing.

Samsung seeks to bring this quality to Galaxy S III, and it's centerpiece to the product marketing. For example, the front camera detects whether the user is looking at the phone and keeps the screen lit. How many times has your display gone dark while reading a website or ebook? The phone also can automatically turn on, if recognizing your face. The feature, called "Smart Stay", is real innovation, not Samsung copying Apple. It's also stark example of Samsung out-Appling Apple by focusing on features that offer real benefits. This and other new features match responsive capabilities to hardware sensors.

Still, hardware-wise, Galaxy S III is no slouch: 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display (306 ppi) with 1280 x 720 resolution; 1.4GHz quad-core processor; 1GB RAM; 16GB or 32GB storage (64GB in future), expandable with microSD card; HSPA＋ 21Mbps (850/900/1900/2100), 4G LTE, GSM/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900); 8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.9MP front-facing cameras; LED flash; zero shutter-lag; 1080p video recording; accelerometer; ambient-light sensor; gyroscope; GPS; proximity sensor; digital compass; NFC, Bluetooth 3.0; WiFi N; 2100 mAh battery; carrier locked; Android 4.0 and TouchWiz "nature" UI. Measurements: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm, 133 grams.

The entire package definitely entices many of you. "The iPhone is a great phone to look at but looking at a phone quickly becomes boring", Roger Seabrook comments. "I have an S3 on preorder". Dallas Twiford: "I'll be buying this phone, it's a freaking beast".

I ask again: Will you buy Galaxy S III? Please answer in comments below and take the poll above, if you haven't already.

Photo Credit: Samsung
Facebook's IPO is a jackpot for some, despite dark shadow of mobile

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 11:49am MDT by Tim Conneally

Today is Facebook Day, the day when the most-successful-social-network-so-far opened up to public investment and outshone all other American IPOs up to this point.

With shares initially priced at $38, Facebook (FB) opened at $42.99 on the Nasdaq at 11:30am EST on Friday. After a brief delay in trading on Friday, a reported 82 million shares (of 421.2 million) were traded in the first 30 seconds of availability, totaling $116 billion.

This surge and retreat in price is thought to have been the result of a communication lag for traders an anonymous Wall Street source told Business Insider on Friday.

But the high initial valuation, reportedly buoyed by 33 different investment banks underwriting the IPO does nothing to quash doubts about the long-term value of the popular social network in the face of shifting user behaviors.

Facebook, as we learned in the company's IPO amendment last week, has not proven its value in the mobile world at all.

"We do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered. If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected."

With today's Facebook IPO, the recent valuation of Pinterest at $1.5 billion, and the misfire of a Groupon IPO, skeptical onlookers are crying "bubble!" while a handful of small groups and individuals rake in the millions, and in some cases, billions.

Yahoo! Finance
Quote for FB/

broadbandreports.com

Exclusive: FiOS Speed Hikes Coming Soon - 25/25 to Become 50/25, 35/35 to Become 75/35

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 10:58am MDT

We've been nudged by a reliable source with supporting evidence who tells us Verizon will be raising the speed of several of their FiOS broadband tiers very soon. According to the source, Verizon's symmetrical 25 Mbps tier will soon be changed to 50 Mbps downstream and 25 Mbps upstream. The company's current symmetrical 35 Mbps tier will soon see a dramatic bump to 75 Mbps downstream and 35 Mbps upstream. "As far as I know, it will be like old upgrades where everyone will remain on the same plan and I'm assuming pay more for the increase," says the source. These changes should be arriving somewhere around June 18.

Verizon's pricing for these options vary slightly by market and bundle, and can be found at the Verizon website once you've plugged in your address details.

Despite market differences, the source notes that these new 50/25 and 75/35 tiers should be available in all markets, regardless of whether or not the market is on GPON or BPON. One interesting extra the source noted is that there has been talk of a 300 Mbps tier for GPON markets -- but it's not yet clear if that speed is going to be directed at residential accounts or enterprise users, and our source wasn't sure what the upload would be.

Needless to say, 300 Mbps would be a new high watermark for residential service and quite a marketing boon for a company that once called 100 Mbps service marketing gimmick. Verizon's fastest current offering is their 150/35 Mbps Ultimate tier. One of our more speed-hungry users recently bonded two Ultimate lines together in order to attain 300 Mbps connectivity. Again though, 75/35 will be the new highest tier for users still in BPON markets.
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Critics Speak Out on Comcast's Plan to Charge Overages - 'Comcast Never Had a Legitimate Reason to Cap Users'

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 9:37am MDT

As we noted yesterday, Comcast has announced the company is raising their universal 250GB usage cap to 300 GB -- while announcing that they'll be experimenting with a variety of usage-based surcharges over the coming months. Not too surprisingly, competitors and consumer advocates aren't too impressed with the changes -- Free Press arguing that the company's usage caps are not necessary and should be eliminated entirely. From a statement posted to the organization's website:
"Comcast has never had any legitimate reason to cap its Internet customers, and today's announcement of new overage charges is just another example of the cable giant's efforts to discriminate against and thwart online video competition. Data caps are not a reasonable or effective way to manage capacity problems, which are virtually non-existent for Comcast.

"While the move to increase its caps is overdue, the notion that Comcast would charge an exorbitant rate for additional bandwidth while continuing to exempt its own traffic under its Xbox deal -- illustrates that Comcast is really trying to discourage subscribers from experimenting with online video alternatives. We call on Comcast to drop the caps and these exorbitant overage fees entirely."
Netflix, who for obvious reasons has been highly critical of usage limits, also had plenty to say about the changes:
Increasing the data cap is a small step in the right direction, but unfortunately Comcast continues to treat its own Internet delivered video different under the cap than other Internet delivered video. We continue to stand by the principle that ISPs should treat all providers of video services equally."
Adding fuel to the fire, Level3 has posted analysis claiming they've looked at the data and that Comcast does appear to be giving their own streaming video traffic preferential treatment. You'll recall that Level3 and Comcast have had several years of disputes over network neutrality and additional connectivity surcharges. Meanwhile, Canadians, who deal with some of the most draconian caps and usage caps anywhere, say they'd love it if their ISPs raised their caps to 300 GB.
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BetaNews.Com

Now in beta, ESET Smart Security 6 and NOD32 Antivirus 6

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 9:36am MDT by Mike Williams

ESET has released NOD32 Antivirus 6 and Smart Security 6 to public beta, and is attempting to lure early adopters by offering a chance to win one of 500 one-year licences for Smart Security.

Top of the new feature list must be Anti-Theft, a web service which aims to help you locate missing devices. If you’ve enabled anything similar on your phone or tablet then you’ll know what to expect – you can log on with a browser, perhaps see the position of your device on a map, view grabs of the laptop’s screen, and so on but it’s still a welcome addition to the packages. (Although it’s in NOD32 solely for the beta: normally Anti-Theft will be in Smart Security only.)

And even if you don’t plan on making use of Anti-Theft, protect at least one device with it and you’ll automatically be entered in a prize draw to win a full one-year licence of Smart Security 6. The contest runs between May 17 and June 17, 2012, and there will be 100 winners every week, with the company notifying the lucky ones via email.

Elsewhere, the program’s new idle detection means it’s able to scan your system when you’re not around. Update rollback means you can easily revert to a previous edition of your database. And Smart Security’s firewall, along with the antivirus heuristics and cloud-based file reputation system have all seen notable improvements.

As ever, it’s important to keep in mind that these are betas, with some significant bugs. ESET report that the programs may current crash when restoring an object from quarantine, for instance, which could prove fatal if it’s a system-critical file that’s been tagged in error. Make sure you’ve a full system backup available before you install either package.

If that’s not a problem, though, first builds of Smart Security 6 and NOD32 Antivirus 6 are available now. Don’t forget to protect something with Anti-Theft right away to give yourself the maximum chance of winning a Smart Security licence.

Photo Credit: Andrea Danti/Shutterstock
LastPass Wallet secures your iPad and iPhone information

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 9:27am MDT by Nick Peers

LastPass.com, developer of the LastPass family of password-storage products, has released a new free app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. LastPass Wallet is designed to give iOS users a taster of the LastPass feature set by providing a tool for viewing, creating and managing secure notes, one of the service’s lesser known features.

The app provides templates for users to quickly create notes for sensitive personal information often found in the user’s wallet or purse, such as credit card details, passport number and wireless passwords.

On logging into the app for the first time using an existing free or premium LastPass account, you’ll see LastPass Wallet sync with their account and bring over any existing secure notes, which can be edited if required. The app also allows new notes to be created, providing a number of templates for common types of personal information, plus a catch-all “Generic” option for other types of information.

These templates basically steer you towards filling in specific fields. Once complete, the note can be saved or additional media items, notably photos and audio clips, can be attached to it. The note can also be organised into groups, making it easier to spot in an ever-growing list.

The big question, of course, is how secure is all this data? LastPass points out that all your data is always stored encrypted in the cloud -- the actual decryption and encryption takes place locally on your computer or device. That means your data is as safe as your master password makes it, which is why we don’t recommend ticking the box to save your logon information when prompted, and setting up a four-digit passcode via the Settings section to ensure you have to provide a pin code when switching back from another app.

Of course, if you have no specific need to use LastPass Wallet, we’d preach against using it for the sake of using it, but if you want a new means of securely storing the contents of your wallet in digital format on your iPad or iPhone, then LastPass Wallet is a good choice, for new as well as existing LastPass users.

LastPast Wallet is a free download for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users. A LastPass account – free or premium – is required to use the service.

broadbandreports.com

Verizon Raises DVR Prices By $2 Per Month - DVR Service Will Now Cost $17 a Month

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 8:40am MDT

As we noted yesterday, Verizon says they're cuing up a number of new price hikes for their FiOS service -- because they can. Users in our forums note that one of the increases is already here: a $2 set top hike that is set to go into effect starting July 15. Some users are complaining that the prices are even steeper and they never got a notice about the hike, while others were informed about it as early as March. A user over at the Consumerist complains that the hikes come while they're still under contract (though the user likely didn't read the contract specifics).
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BetaNews.Com

Turns text files into 3D-animated ebooks

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 8:10am MDT by Mike Williams

Plain, ordinary text files aren’t normally the most interesting ways to convey information, but if you’d like to change that then Toolwiz FlipBook may be able to help.

Just point the program at a particular TXT file, and in a click it’ll be converted into an executable file. And launching this on any Windows PC will display your file’s contents in a 3D book. Readers can navigate the book via keyboard or mouse, and will see an animated flipping effect as the pages turn.

Exactly how useful this might be is open to question. FlipBook only imports text files, for instance, so your books can never include any graphics (the program doesn’t even allow you to customize the image on the book’s cover). If you want to produce a more engaging document then it might be better to author a PDF file, instead, which will provide far greater scope for creativity than you have here.

FlipBook’s final creations aren’t too impressive, either. The books only have a marginal 3D effect. And the page flipping animation is poorly implemented: run a book on a high-end PC and pages flip so quickly you can barely see it happen.

Toolwiz FlipBook also suffers from a total absence of documentation. What happens if you check the builder’s “Find the chapter automatically” option? Hold down the left mouse button while dragging over a book’s page and you can scribble on it, but is there a way to save these annotations? And is that connected with the mysterious “Comment Mode” menu link, which didn’t seem to do anything when we clicked on it? We’ve no idea.

If you already have a bunch of text files, though, stories you’ve written for your kids, say, then Toolwiz FlipBook does provide a quick and easy way to make them look at least a little more appealing. And who knows? When the Help file finally arrives in some future update you may discover even more useful features just waiting to be accessed.

Photo Credit: Photosani/Shutterstock
Will you make Mark Zuckerberg rich?

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 7:21am MDT by Joe Wilcox

Stated differently: Will you invest in Facebook? The third-largest IPO in history begins today. Facebook set a price of $38 share, which values the social network at about $104 billion. Twenty-eight year-old cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be super wealthy, if Facebook gets its price (and likely much more) as I post ahead of the market's open.

Facebook makes available 421.2 million shares. Zuckerberg maintains voting majority, 503.6 million, which at $38 is $19.1 billion, making him the 29th richest person -- wealthier than Google's cofounders.

I wouldn't buy Facebook, even if I could. I can't for conflict-of-interest reasons. Investing in companies we cover is taboo. I go further, owning no stocks whatsoever. Too bad, as Apple looked like a real bargain to me in 2003. Will you buy Facebook? The stock symbol is "FB", by the way, as trading opens.

Facebook is one of the most profound success stories of the Internet era, along with Google. College students founded companies that transformed societies all without the typical barriers that often stifle innovation. Facebook shows the Web can be the great equalizer.

Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig makes the point in his review of movie "The Social Network". He uses Nantucket Nectars, founded by Tom First and Tom Scott, as vehicle for comparing the old and new worlds of starting a business in Massachusetts:

After graduating from Brown in 1989, they started a delivery service to boats on Nantucket Sound. During their first winter, they invented a juice drink. People liked their juice. Slowly, it dawned on First and Scott that maybe there was a business here. Nantucket Nectars was born. The two Toms started the long slog of getting distribution. Ocean Spray bought the company. It later sold the business to Cadbury Schweppes.

At each step after the first, along the way to giving their customers what they wanted, the two Toms had to ask permission from someone. They needed permission from a manufacturer to get into his plant. Permission from a distributor to get into her network. And permission from stores to get before the customer…

Zuckerberg faced no such barrier. For less than $1,000, he could get his idea onto the Internet. He needed no permission from the network provider. He needed no clearance from Harvard to offer it to Harvard students. Neither with Yale, or Princeton, or Stanford. Nor with every other community he invited in. Because the platform of the Internet is open and free, or in the language of the day, because it is a ‘neutral network,’ a billion Mark Zuckerbergs have the opportunity to invent for the platform.

Zuckerberg still isn't asking permission, as he seeks to rewrite societal attitudes about privacy. This not asking defines the social network and its disruptive nature.

Facebook is just eight years old, not even six open to anyone. I joined on Sept. 30, 2006 -- not that I have used it that much over the years. How about you? When did you join? But the most recent redesigns, including the Timeline, have me more interested in the social network, even as I spend much more time on Google+. Facebook is growing, maturing, and from that perspective is ripe for today's IPO.

But as Facebook is a disruptive force, it faces another. The IPO will change Facebook. Zuckerberg will no longer be able to do what he wants -- to act without asking permission. Even with controlling share, Facebook is a public company with all the pressures (and regulations) that brings. The social network is beholden to investors now and the quarterly pressures that come with it.

That's the price Zuckerberg pays for going public -- the risk he takes for the rewards.

broadbandreports.com

AT&T, Verizon Have the Best LTE, Depending Who You Ask - Though Neither Network is Bearing Much of a Load Yet

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 6:15am MDT

Early tests have suggested that AT&T's network actually outperforms Verizon's LTE network, though with neither network supporting much of a subscriber load at the moment that might not mean all that much. While we were recently somewhat...indisposed, PC World offered up a new wireless speedtest rundown showing that AT&T's implementation of LTE is currently offering the fastest speeds -- topping Verizon in every market they both offer LTE in except New Orleans.

Of course AT&T's currently only offering LTE in around 31 markets compared to more than 200 for Verizon, though AT&T hopes to ramp up availability quickly this year and have most of their markets covered by the end of 2013. Which network offers the fastest speeds seems to vary depending on which study you're looking at. While PC World found AT&T to be the fastest, a Rootmetrics study from mid-April claimed that Verizon's LTE network offers better overall performance:
While AT&T appears to have the edge in average LTE download speeds, Verizon owned the battlefield when we compared how often we could actually access each carrier s LTE networks. Verizon offers the more mature LTE network and it shows in the ability to access LTE. We found LTE service much more often with Verizon than we did with AT&T. Taking into consideration all 15 markets (where both companies offered LTE, we found LTE during 92 percent of our download tests with Verizon and only 66 percent of the time with AT&T.
A more recent Rootmetrics study takes things further, exploring overall speed comparisons when factoring in HSPA+.

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Virgin Atlantic Allows In-Flight Phone Calls - But Only for O2 and Vodafone Customers...

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 6:13am MDT

Bad news for folks who think flying is already annoying and also hate loudmouths -- Virgin Atlantic says that the company will soon be offering users the ability to make phone calls on the company's London to New York City routes. About twenty of the company's planes will be outfitted to offer the phone service by the end of the year. The service comes with a few caveats, the biggest one being you can't be an American. The service is currently only available to customers of UK carriers O2 and Vodafone -- and even then only six to ten users will be allowed to make calls at any one time. Here in the States, the government is only just debating whether to allow e-readers to remain on during taxi and landing.
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Friday Morning Links -

Posted: May 18th, 2012, 5:05am MDT

Former FCC Chairman: Cable is on cusp of innovation that will revolutionize the industry fiercecable.com
Should angry Verizon subscribers drop Big Red over ditched unlimited caps? cnet.com
'Adaptive Radio': The Next Big Thing in Wireless? businessweek.com
Clash in US on mobile privacy protection: Civil liberties welcomes proposed location privacy law, law enforcement disagrees totaltele.com
4G Americas calls for collaboration to deal with dearth of U.S. spectrum fiercebroadbandwireless.com
AT&T's de la Vega: We want to minimize phone subsidies fiercewireless.com
Verizon-Cable Deal Poses Big Threat to Internet Access, Competition eweek.com
DoD, U.S. Navy to Deploy First 4G Wireless System Mobile Enterprise
Jawa settles lawsuit with Verizon bizjournals.com
NY City 911 system being flooded by butt dialing due to proliferation of cellphones devicemag.com
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Thursday Evening Links -

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 5:07pm MDT

Verizon: You can have unlimited data... just no device subsidies cnet.com
Netflix to Comcast: Raising the cap is not enough gigaom.com
Verizon ends standalone DSL service, requires landline bundle CNN Money
T-Mobile s no-contract data plans get lower per GB pricing gigaom.com
Clearwire CTO: We'll offer VoLTE when we launch TD-LTE network fiercewireless.com
Dish says FCC timeline for wireless network unrealistic yahoo.com
AT&T lights up 4G LTE in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Chicago; Network now available in 38 cities, AT&T promises more LTE implementations by summer networkworld.com
Verizon Clarifies: Unlimited Data Plans to Die Slow Death nytimes.com
MetroPCS Mulls Unlocked LTE iPhone wirelessweek.com
Should You Upgrade to an 802.11ac Router? maclife.com
Seeing ads on Wikipedia? Then you're infected theregister.co.uk
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BetaNews.Com

Comcast ditches data caps, but charges heavy users overage fees

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 4:32pm MDT by Ed Oswald

Comcast said Thursday it plans to make changes to its pricing structure to start billing for the amount of data customers use, versus the capped method in place today. The cable company will test two different pricing structures in some markets, while hard enforcement of the 250GB cap put into place in 2008 would end.

Both piloted pricing structures give users 300GB of data at a flat rate. Where they differ is in how this allotment is treated: one solution places this cap across all of Comcast's tiers, while the other carries the 300GB allotment for the Internet Essentials, Economy, and Performance tier and higher allotments for faster tiers above that.

In all cases, users are charged a flat rate for additional bandwidth beyond that initial allotment -- for example, $10 for 50GB, and so forth. The company says that while an overwhelming majority of its users still remain far below its set caps (some using as little as 2GB or 3GB a month), the cap itself cast a shadow over some of Comcast's recent announcements.

"Over the last several years, we have periodically reviewed [the capping] policy, and for the last six months we have been analyzing the market and our process and think that now is the time to begin to move to a new plan", Communications and Data Services head Cathy Avgirls writes in a post to the company's blog.

"This conclusion was only reinforced when, in recent weeks, some of the conversation around our new product introductions focused on our data usage threshold, rather than on the exciting opportunities we are offering our customers", she continues. One of those "conversations" could have been its move to allow Xfinity movie streaming to the Xbox to not count against a subscriber's cap.

That prompted Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to accuse the company of favoring its own traffic over competitors, an accusation Comcast executives did not address in a conference call on Thursday announcing the move.

Instead they focused on marketing the new plans as a way to force heavy users to pay up for data they use, while giving users worried about hitting the cap more flexibility. Seems like Comcast finally realized that caps are bad for business, but their reasoning is not the answer Hastings or other industry watchers were looking for.

Comcast has found itself in trouble before over traffic favoritism, and accusations it throttles specific types of traffic such as BitTorrent. While the end of the cap is surely welcome news, it still does not answer the deeper questions of whether the cable and Internet provider's forays into the businesses of its competitors mean its own traffic gets prioritized over others.

That in essence is the whole argument for net neutrality, and Comcast's move Thursday is sure to bring that debate back to the forefront, regardless of whether the caps are there or not.

Photo Credit: krimar/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Netflix Outrage Over Pricing Didn't Last - Customers Who Left are Coming Back, Says Company

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 4:18pm MDT

You might recall that Netflix went through a stretch last summer when a lot of analysts proclaimed the company was imploding. The dire prognostications were caused by the company's bumbled and scrapped attempt to split off their DVD business (remember Qwickster?), compounded by a number of rather significant price hikes. You'll recall a lot of customers screamed about the hikes proclaiming they were leaving the service -- and while some did -- Netflix says they're now coming back. While there's no doubt the PR hit was massive, the company says about a third of added subscribers last quarter were customers who are returning to the service. Netflix added 3 million streaming subscribers in the first quarter for a total of 26 million global streaming accounts.
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BetaNews.Com

Windows Phone reaches for the bottom

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 4:11pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Sometimes, BetaNews readers really amaze me. Three days ago I posted "The measure of Windows Phone failure is..." based on comScore US smartphone OS market share data. To me, it was a trivial story, because I was days late writing about the numbers and posted it more as filler, being short writers (because of holidays and emergencies). More than 220 comments later, Windows Phone is hot-topic of debate among you.

Yesterday, Gartner released first-quarter global phone sales data that puts to end any real debate about Windows Phone's present: Combined smartphone OS share with Windows Mobile was 1.9 percent, down from 2.6 a year earlier but flat sequentially. The quarter-on-quarter data suggests, in context of Nokia Lumia launches, that Microsoft's mobile operating systems have finally hit bottom -- that perhaps the things won't get much worse and could finally improve.

Glimmer of Hope

Day after I posted the, ah, "failure" story, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech released data downright hopeful for Windows Phone. During the first three months of the year, market share rose to between 3 percent and 4 percent in Britain, France, Italy and the United States and to 6 percent in Germany. That's up from about 2 percent in nine countries, sequentially. Problem: Kantar Wordpanel doesn't exactly measure sales, but uses consistent panels of users to calculate market share. The approach is still much more accurate than shipments, which is the measure most analyst firms use.

Today, I asked Gartner for clarification on Microsoft share: Is it Windows Phone only or combined with Windows Mobile? "Windows Phone makes up around 85 percent of the overall Microsoft numbers you see", Carolina Milanesi, research vice president, says. She adds: "With Nokia accounting for around 60 percent".

What about Windows Phone's future? She wouldn't be specific, but says: "We will see a lift from Nokia, coming from the products being available in China from April and then later in the year with the new version of the OS and new products at different price points".

America and China

China is linchpin, because of the market's size, smartphone sales delayed from Chinese New Year and Nokia's already large presence in the country. All work to Windows Phone's benefit. But the second reason is unexpected opportunity. Sales for all manufacturers fell year over year and sequentially, and China is one reason.

"Global sales of mobile devices declined more than expected due to a slowdown in demand from the Asia/Pacific region", Anshul Gupta, Gartner principal research analyst, says. "The first quarter, traditionally the strongest quarter for Asia, which is driven by Chinese New Year, saw a lack of new product launches from leading manufacturers, and users delayed upgrades in the hope of better smartphone deals arriving later in the year".

Those delays could be good for Windows Phone, as Nokia ships Lumias in volume to China and a well-regarded brand seeks revival. Meanwhile, Lumia 900 is now available in the United States, backed by big marketing campaigns.

Gartner's sales data won't reflect the smartphone in the United States, since AT&T didn't start selling Lumia 900 until April. However, shipments should show up in first quarter data from other analyst firms -- reflecting stock shipped for store shelves. Side note: Numerous commenters faulted my referring to Lumia March sales in an earlier post; that was deliberate since reported data was for shipments (and preorders started in first quarter). However, I should have made that point clearer, which is reason for clarifying now. For Windows Phone's future, second quarter will reveal more, particularly in the countries where, according to Kantar Worldpanel, share rose in Q1.

Is There Room for Three?

The larger question about Windows Phone: Can it be No. 3? Analyst Mike Feibus thinks so, writing for BetaNews: "Windows Phone will gain serious market share this year". He believes that Verizon supporting Windows Phone will hugely impact sales. I'm skeptical.

Gartner's phone sales data suggests otherwise. Apple and Samsung accounted for 49.3 percent of smartphone sales during Q1, sign that the market is consolidating around them. While Samsung sells home-grown Bada and Windows Phone devices the majority are Android. In fact, Samsung accounts for 40 percent of all Android sales. Conceptually, that should allow room for a third major operating system, but the market is heading elsewhere, as more Asian manufacturers adopt Android. More likely scenario at this juncture: Samsung accounting for most Android sales and the rest splitting among smaller manufacturers, particularly from Asia, leading to fragmentation for most of the remaining market not consumed by Apple and Samsung.

Nokia still stands in the way of that scenario, and much depends on its continued smartphone and Windows Phone transition. However, Nokia market share slumped from 25.1 percent year over year to 19.8 percent in the broader handset market, or a 22.7 percent decline. Meanwhile, smartphones languish.

"Smartphone sales are becoming of paramount importance at a worldwide level", Gupta says "Smartphone volumes contributed to approximately 43.9 percent of overall sales for Samsung as opposed to 16 percent for Nokia".

Remember, Nokia accounted 60 percent of Windows Phone sales during first quarter.

It's hard to imagine that Windows Phone can go anywhere but up. How far is the question.
Trackerbird launches, lets you collect user analytics in your .NET apps

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 12:48pm MDT by Tim Conneally

Cloud-based desktop software analytics platform Trackerbird completed its beta phase and launched to general availability on Thursday. The platform lets .NET software developers and vendors embed tracking mechanisms in their software to watch installations, trends in feature usage, user behaviour, demographics, and license conversions.

It's similar in concept to Concerity Analytics, which we launched here on BetaNews two years ago. By integrating Trackerbird's SDK into a desktop application, developers can collect anonymized reports and detailed conversion funnel analysis in real time. All software usage metrics collected by Trackerbird are totally anonymous and no IP addresses are stored. Developers can make Trackerbird analytics collection an option that the end user can choose to run.

In addition to the metrics, the Trackerbird platform includes a direct-to-desktop messaging service called ReachOut, which lets software vendors send out messages and surveys directly to the desktops of users who match certain behavioral or demographic profiles. This includes country and language, operating system, product version/edition/build, license type and license status. This lets software vendors strengthen marketing relationships with customers without encroaching on the end user's privacy.

"Trackerbird is not just another statistics collection tool. With Trackerbird we went a step further and developed a scalable analytics engine that can provide real-time answers to practical product management questions", Keith Fenech, CEO of Trackerbird said in a statement on Thursday. "We believe software companies have a lot to gain from using Software Analytics tools, however they should be very careful in choosing the right tools so as not to waste resources collecting vanity metrics. Data is only useful when it can be directly applied to business decisions."

Trackerbird Software Analytics is free for software with fewer than 400 installations. Premium plans for larger install bases begin at $49 per month.
4G LTE: 1 billion served by 2017

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 12:23pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Unsurprisingly, 4G LTE is the fastest growing cellular network technology, in part for what it delivers and deployment's timing. Strategy Analytics forecasts that 4G LTE will reach 1 billion connections, or 15 percent of all, by 2017. That compares to 12 years for GSM and about 11 years for WCDMA to reach as many.

But LTE isn't gain without pain. In the United States, Verizon by far and large has the most expansive 4G network, reaching 250 metro areas and 200 million Americans compared to 38 metros and 75 million people for AT&T. Adoption still is fairly low, perhaps because phone subscribers don't understand the value. Meanwhile, Verizon will axe grandfathered unlimited plans when subscribers upgrade to LTE. There's pain for the gain.

Attitudes are changing, particularly among carriers. "It has taken some time to warm up, but operator sentiment toward LTE has improved significantly over the last year," Phil Kendall, Strategy Analytics director, says. "The LTE smartphone market is providing this sudden lift, with LTE’s medium-term potential boosted by the much greater scale in today’s mobile market: WCDMA launched into a world of fewer than one billion mobile connections, whereas we have over six billion connections today".

Here in the States, more carriers offer LTE smartphones -- the majority Androids, a few Windows Phones and none iPhones. AT&T started with the HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket in November. Since, the carrier added nearly a half-dozen more. Verizon offers about 12 LTE smartphones, while, Sprint, which is in early-stage network deployment offers two, while US Customs bars a third, the HTC EVO 4G LTE, because of a patent dispute with Apple.

"The race is on for mobile operators to reduce cost per Gigabyte (GB) to match the rate at which revenue per GB is falling, Sue Rudd, Strategy Analytics director, says. "LTE is one of the key tools to deliver this improvement, with the early volume in LTE devices an encouraging sign for operators looking to maximize return on their LTE investments".

While carriers invest in LTE, one of the most popular smartphones doesn't support the technology. Apple fakes out iPhone users, after updating iOS to version 5.1 and changing the 3G to 4G, which satisfies AT&T marketing but not what is 4G. Fake 4G marketing -- from Apple, AT&T, T-Mobile and others leads consumers to believe they have something they do not, which dulls LTE benefits.

That's good for existing HSPA+ handsets, iPhone among them, but fosters confusion, as this Saturday Night Live parody so aptly illustrates.

broadbandreports.com

Comcast Says They're Eliminating Usage Cap - Replaced With New System of Overage Fees

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 11:42am MDT

After years of complaints from users who claimed they were being booted from the Comcast network for excessive use (without Comcast saying what they deemed "excessive") Comcast in 2008 implemented a 250 usage cap for all of the company's residential service tiers. Comcast today posted a statement to the company's Comcast Voices blog stating that the company will be eliminating their universal 250 GB usage cap, instead replacing it with "improved data management approaches." What are those changes going to be? From the horse's mouth:
The first new approach will offer multi-tier usage allowances that incrementally increase usage allotments for each tier of high-speed data service from the current threshold. Thus, we'd start with a 300 GB usage allotment for our Internet Essentials, Economy, and Performance Tiers, and then we would have increasing data allotments for each successive tier of high speed data service (e.g., Blast and Extreme). The very few customers who use more data at each tier can buy additional gigabytes in increments/blocks (e.g., $10 for 50 GB).

The second new approach will increase our data usage thresholds for all tiers to 300 GB per month and also offer additional gigabytes in increments/blocks (e.g., $10 per 50 GB).

In both approaches, we'll be increasing the initial data usage threshold for our customers from today's 250 GB per month to at least 300 GB per month.

In markets where we are not trialing a new data usage management approach, we will suspend enforcement of our current usage cap as we transition to a new data usage management approach, although we will continue to contact the very small number of excessive users about their usage.
Just last December Comcast had expressed concerns that they didn't want to "nickel and dime customers." Your thoughts?
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Comcast to Raise Caps, Start Charging Overage Fees - Starting Trial of Two Different new Cap & Overage Systems

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 11:42am MDT

After years of complaints from users who claimed they were being booted from the Comcast network for excessive use (without Comcast saying what they deemed "excessive") Comcast in 2008 implemented a 250 gigabyte usage cap for all of the company's residential service tiers. Comcast today posted a statement to the company's Comcast Voices blog stating that the company will be eliminating their universal 250 GB usage cap, instead replacing it with "improved data management approaches." What are those changes going to be? Overage fees.

Comcast says they're exploring two options:
The first new approach will offer multi-tier usage allowances that incrementally increase usage allotments for each tier of high-speed data service from the current threshold. Thus, we'd start with a 300 GB usage allotment for our Internet Essentials, Economy, and Performance Tiers, and then we would have increasing data allotments for each successive tier of high speed data service (e.g., Blast and Extreme). The very few customers who use more data at each tier can buy additional gigabytes in increments/blocks (e.g., $10 for 50 GB).

The second new approach will increase our data usage thresholds for all tiers to 300 GB per month and also offer additional gigabytes in increments/blocks (e.g., $10 per 50 GB). In both approaches, we'll be increasing the initial data usage threshold for our customers from today's 250 GB per month to at least 300 GB per month. In markets where we are not trialing a new data usage management approach, we will suspend enforcement of our current usage cap as we transition to a new data usage management approach, although we will continue to contact the very small number of excessive users about their usage.
Though they've likely been itching to impose overages for some time, Comcast claims the company was influenced, in part, by the recent coverage exploring how the company's Xfinity content on the Xbox 360 doesn't count against the usage cap:
"...For the last six months we have been analyzing the market and our process and think that now is the time to begin to move to a new plan. This conclusion was only reinforced when, in recent weeks, some of the conversation around our new product introductions focused on our data usage threshold, rather than on the exciting opportunities we are offering our customers.
So the good news is that your caps are going up, but the bad news is that the company is now joining the growing list of U.S. ISPs that are charging overages, despite the fact that just last December Comcast had expressed concerns that they didn't want to "nickel and dime customers" or "disrupt the consumer experience" by imposing usage fees. Your thoughts?
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FCC Boss: No Network Neutrality Complaints - May Push for Title II ISP Reclassification if Rules Overturned

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 10:38am MDT

Speaking to Congress this week, FCC Boss Julius Genachowski stated that the agency hasn't received a single net neutrality complaint since the FCC's neutrality rules went into effect late last year. Part of that is because the rules don't do very much, failing to cover wireless in any meaningful way, while allowing pretty much any network behavior so long as it can be defended as an action that's necessary to protect network integrity. Another reason because the mere threat of being watched by regulators and the press has kept carriers on their best behavior since Comcast was yelled at for throttling all upstream traffic.

Despite being utterly toothless, the rules are still being assaulted by partisans and Verizon, who prefer their regulators utterly powerless (while fearing the rules could be expanded someday to oh -- actually do something). Genachowski informed the Senate Appropriations subcommittee (which was meeting to approve an FCC budget request) that if the rules are overturned, he may push to codify them into law:
Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski told a Senate Commerce Committee hearing audience Wednesday that the agency had not received a single complaint in the six months since its Open Internet order went into effect, but also said that if a court overturns it, he would urge Congress to codify it. He would not rule out classifying ISPs as a Title II service if the court overturned, but said he is on the record as saying "that it not the best idea."
Despite being rather empty, data clearly shows that the mere threat of a regulator doing its job has had an impact on heavy-handed throttling and other practices. It seems likely that Genachowski's threat is an empty one, as the agency has long had the opportunity to classify ISPs as Title II service providers, but has avoided the option because of the even more significant legal bloodshed that would be involved. Either direction the FCC heads they face lawsuits as ISPs work tirelelessly to ensure there's nobody other than themselves busily watching the nations over-priced broadband duopoly henhouse.
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BetaNews.Com

Earthlink debuts hosted desktop services, adds cloud expert to executive team

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 10:03am MDT by Ed Oswald

Earthlink this week strengthened its cloud services offerings, debuting a hosted desktop solution that allows customers access regardless of device and via both the Internet and secure MPLS connections. Over 250 applications are supported, and customers may also install their own custom applications.

Since the middle of last year, EarthLink has been transforming its business from an ISP to cloud services provider. In July, the company promoted Brian Fink to executive vice president of managed and cloud services. Fink brought with him two decades of experience in managed services. Since then, the company has continued to make some high profile cloud hires, including the appointment Thursday of former Concentric Cloud president Michael Toplisek to vice president of IT services.

In late April, the company announced partnerships with Microsoft, VMware, and Zimbra on virtualization solutions for customers, and products aimed at bringing businesses into the cloud. The hosted desktop offering builds upon that announcement.

Cloud Workspace will offer redundant data storage and routine back-up and disaster recovery protection, and the infrastructure is SSAE 16 compliant, a standard developed for the protection of corporate accounting data.

"Cloud Workspace simplifies manageability, increases protection and delivers data and applications securely from the cloud, allowing users the convenience of using any device to access and run applications and data as if local to them, even while moving between devices", managed services product management vice president Mike Fuqua says.
FeedDemon 4.1 drops Google Reader sharing features

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 9:45am MDT by Mark Wilson

It’s a strange day when some of the biggest news about the latest release of an application is a feature's removal, but this is the case with the latest version of FeedDemon. Some months ago, Google announced plans to make changes to its Reader service and this has ultimately led to FeedDemon removing the sharing features that relied on this particular service, but Google+ mostly been picks up the slack. The most recent version of FeedDemon also has a number of other changes and additions that are worth mentioning.

The program has long featured a recommendation engine that can point you in the direction of stories, articles and feed that you might well find interesting, and this has been improved to ensure greater relevance. When you use the built in browser to view web pages, a new Ctrl+0 keyboard shortcut is available that can be used to revert to a 100 percent zoom level. If you have the Pro version of the program – as opposed to the free Lite version – you also have a new newspaper style Photo Strip view to make use of.

If you have found the program has been slow to start you should now find that things are slightly faster, and there are a number of other bug and problem fixes that are worth mentioning. When you opt to hide all of the buttons on a toolbar, that toolbar now becomes hidden itself rather than remaining visible with no buttons, and the new tab page now includes handy Most Visited and Recently Closed options.

Other issues that have been addressed include problems with an incorrectly displayed system tray icon, problems with using the Send to Twitter and Send to Delicious options and more. To overcome compatibility problems with Internet Explorer 9, transition effects have now been removed, and there are the usual range of spit and polish changes that you would expect to find in any release.

You can find out more and download a copy of the app by paying a visit to the FeedDemon review page.

Photo Credit: nasirkhan/Shutterstock
Blackbaud CRM for nonprofits gets major feature upgrade, Web interface

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 9:35am MDT by Tim Conneally

Catering to the special marketing needs of nonprofit organizations, Blackbaud Inc. on Thursday released a new version of its Blackbaud CRM software which expands the software's functionality with a new browser-based dashboard, new fundraising and membership management functionality, and improved overall data management.

The major addition to Blackbaud CRM 2.93 is its Web dashboard. Previously, the software was only available as a Windows application, but now it can be accessed through Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, Safari for iOS, and Android. The dashboard features a new, streamlined user interface and new batch commit functionality.

The membership processing functionality has also been redesigned, to allow quicker configuration of new member profiles and processing of dues, two functions essential to many nonprofit groups. Additionally, the software's treatment of duplicate data and merging of multiple records has been improved to streamline the all-important constituent database for direct marketing and solicitation.

For a full list of feature upgrades, check out the Blackbaud CRM 2.93 walkthrough.
Flipboard 1.9 for iOS lets you listen while you look

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 9:20am MDT by Mark Wilson

iOS app Flipboard has already earned itself something of a name as a great way to aggregate multiple social networks and news media into a single, more easily managed stream. The latest version of the iPhone and iPad app sees the introduction of support for audio as well as the more usual text and image based content. Audio content can be scanned through just as you would the rest of your feeds, but it can also be played in the background while you continue with your browsing.

There is support for SoundCloud, NPR (National Public Radio) and PRI (Public Radio International), which gives you the opportunity to listen to a wide variety of podcasts, radio broadcasts and more. By connecting Flipboard with SoundCloud you can listen to sounds that have been created or shared by your friends. There is a whole new audio category for you to explore and this interesting change in direction for the social networking tool.

Just as with anything else you consume through Flipboard, the sounds you encounter through the app can be shared through the likes of Facebook, Twitter and other services. Just where the audio addition will lead remains to be seen. There is almost undoubtedly be online radio stations that are designed specifically for a Fliboard audience, and it won’t be long before artist start to use the app as a medium for collaborative or crowd-sourced work. The future looks and sounds exciting.

The latest update also improves accessibility options, and it is now possible to use the VoiceOver feature of iOS to listen to articles rather than having to read them. There is also a new fully localized Japanese version of the app as well as support for Readability. This last addition supplements the existing support for Instapaper and provides users with another option for time-shifting their reading.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app at the Flipboard review page.
Auslogic BoostSpeed 5.3 and Disk Defrag 3.4.3 are big upgrades

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 8:49am MDT by Nick Peers

Australian software developer Auslogics has released major updates for two of its Windows performance tools. Auslogics BoostSpeed 5.3.0.0 is the company’s flagship tool, an all-in-one performance manager, whileAuslogics Disk Defrag 3.4.3.0 - whose functionality is included in BoostSpeed -- provides a free (for personal use) hard drive optimization tool.

The latest build includes numerous feature additions, performance improvements and bug fixes, plus introduces “partial” compatibility with Windows 8, with full compatibility promised for version 5.4.

Both BoostSpeed and Disk Defrag introduce a new free space availability check before the user creates a Rescue Center backup, allowing them to either abort the entire operation or proceed without the safety net of a backup. The Rescue Center is now also capable of creating and restoring backups that are larger than 2GB in size.

Defrag-specific improvements include improved SSD detection, which helps automatically enable a special defrag algorithm for solid-state drives, plus better use of system resources to boost overall stability.

Other changes are specific to BoostSpeed, starting with the integrated launcher (Integrator), which now offers to make a Restore point when first launched and automatically checks for updates. The Both Startup Manager and Uninstall Manager components feature a tweaked user interface that allows the user to get detailed ratings of individual start-up or application entries simply by hovering the mouse over the respective column. The interface also adds a new ‘Google it’ button to the toolbar for those wishing to learn more about the selected item.

The Uninstall Manager also introduces a new Forced Remove option for viewing, and deleting, a program’s files, Registry keys and system components even when the installer is no longer present.

Other modules also receive minor tweaks -- notably the File Recovery tool has an improved search conditions selection wizard to allow the user to jump to a specific part of the wizard using default settings, while the Registry Cleaner has regrouped the categories list to provide a more intuitive presentation.

The latest builds of both BoostSpeed and Disk Defrag also introduce performance improvements via optimized code and algorithms, plus the fixing of various memory leaks. They also claim to fix all known bugs as well as various installer errors.

Auslogic Disk Defrag 3.4.3.0 is a free (for personal) use download, while Auslogic BoostSpeed 5.3.0.0 is also available as a free trial download. Both require PCs running Windows XP or later. A three-PC, 12-month subscription to Auslogic BoostSpeed 5.3.0.0 is currently available for just $14.95 -- a saving of 70 percent on the MSRP -- through the Downloadcrew Software Store.

Photo Credit: Sergey Mironov/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Verizon Says FiOS Rate Hikes Coming - High Satisfaction Rankings Mean Crappier Pricing?

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 8:37am MDT

In addition to announcing new shared data plans and the death of unlimited wireless, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo this week also announced that FiOS customers can expect a new slate of price hikes soon. Speaking at the JP Morgan investor conference this week, Shammo stated that the service's high rankings of late (FiOS recently came out tops in both Consumer Reports and ACSI rankings) means that the company feels it can charge a premium for the service, and start doing away with some of the more aggressive pricing promotions:
"I think you're seeing a little bit of pullback on those promotional-type items and the aggressiveness that we have in the marketplace," he said. He went onto say that strong customer satisfaction for the Fios TV product means that the company can charge more for the service. "Given the Consumer Reports article and the Consumer Index article, I think we can be less aggressive," he said. "Word-of-mouth is the best advertising we can get."

"You'll see us do some price increases here over the next two quarters to offset the content increase," Shammo said. "And that will also contribute more profitability to the bottom line...We are switching around our bundles and the customers that are coming out of the current bundles will be priced up to the newer bundles. So you are going to see really a shift over the next two to three quarters in price-ups coming out of FiOS." Shammo said that the company will increase fees on rental charges for set-top boxes and digital converters.
Granted, the fact that FiOS operates in a duopoly (and barely that sometimes) has more to do with the fact Shammo can hit consumers with new rates than the quality of the company's service. While the FiOS service itself sees high marks, the same Consumer Reports study Shammo cites notes that the company continues to struggle when it comes to billing users accurately.

It's also worth recalling that when Verizon got into the TV business, their lobbyists pushed a lot of state-level franchise laws (some of them awful wishlist laws that eroded consumer protections) with the promise that Verizon's entry into the market would lower television prices.
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BetaNews.Com

Secure your connections with HTTPS Everywhere

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 7:24am MDT by Mark Wilson

When browsing the Internet you may well have noticed that some of sites you visit are secure, while others are not. While [HTTPS] is most often used for secure shopping and banking web sites, there is no reason that connections to other pages should not be encrypted to help improve privacy and security. If this is something that has concerned you, HTTPS">[https_everywhere_for_firefox">HTTPS] Everywhere could be just what you have been looking for.

This free browser extension can be used to ensure that a secure connection is used whenever available. There are a huge number of websites that offer support for encrypted [HTTPS] connections, and yet will default to sending visitors to the regular, unencrypted HTTP version of the sites. [HTTPS] Everywhere uses a series of specially written rules to redirect your browser, provided you are using Chrome or Firefox, to the secure version.

There are number of remade redirection rules included that add support for a number of major web sites, but you can also define your own rules to add support for others that you may make use of. Support is a little hit and miss so you will have to experiment with the XML files used to write rules to see what you can come up with, but this is an easily enough process providing you don’t mind getting a little hands-on.

HTTPS Everywhere is currently available for Google Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers. While Firefox users have a stable version of the extension to work with, the Chrome version is currently in beta but it still a handy tool to have installed. It is not a magic solution that will wipe out all security concerns that are involved in using the web, but it is help additional layer of protection that seems to work well and as compatibility improves, it will only become more useful.

You can find out more and grab yourself free copies of the extension by visiting the HTTPS">[https_everywhere_for_chrome">HTTPS] Everywhere for Chrome or HTTPS">[https_everywhere_for_firefox">HTTPS] Everywhere for Firefox review pages.

Photo Credit: Jimmi/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Japanese Researchers Hit 3 GB With Terahertz Wi-Fi - A New Age in Wi-Fi Technology Dawns?

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 6:56am MDT

Researchers in Japan have smashed the record for wireless data transmission in the terahertz band, showing the ability to transmit speeds up to 3Gb at frequencies up to 542GHz. The researchers used the terahertz, or "T-ray," region of the electromagnetic spectrum between 300 GHz and 3 THz. Previously, this spectrum was used primarily in medical imaging due to its ability to cause less damage, and wireless transmission hadn't been utilized because the equipment to do so would have been too large, too expensive, and too power hungry. Early distance constraints are significant (about 10 meters) and there's no word on when this could evolve into a viable commercial product. The full research results are here, for those who would like to dig into the nitty gritty details of the record-breaking effort.
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New Hughes Satellite Arrives at Launch Area - One Step Closer to June 19 Launch

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 6:46am MDT

Hughes says that the company's new EchoStar XVII satellite has arrived at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle by Arianespace. If the current schedule holds, the satellite should be launched on June 19 -- and made available for consumer use later this year. As we've been exploring, the new Ka-band satellite should dramatically improve capacity for the HughesNet satellite service -- allowing them to offer service tiers up to 20 Mbps downstream. However the primary focus will be on adding additional revenue-generating customers, meaning that those painful daily usage caps won't be getting much better. Currently, HughesNet offers a 1 Mbps tier with a 250 MB cap for $60, a 1.5 Mbps tier with a 350 MB daily cap for $80, or a 2 Mbps tier with a 450 MB cap for $110 (though there are three month promo discounts).
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DirecTV Will Sell ViaSat, HughesNet Broadband - TV, Broadband Bundles Available Later This Year

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 6:36am MDT

Back in February ViaSat announced they were phasing out the WildBlue brand to focus on their Exede satellite broadband service, and DirecTV announced they'd no longer be selling WildBlue. A few months later and it's not too surprising to see DirecTV announce that they'll be offering broadband service bundles through both Hughes and ViaSat. " With greatly improved capacity and speeds, satellite broadband services provided by ViaSat and Hughes will fully support our customers connected home experience, enabling them to access a host of features like YouTube, Pandora, social TV apps, and more than 7,000 VOD titles," insists the company in a press release that's woefully absent of pricing or launch window details. Both ViaSat and HughesNet are offering (or will soon offer) faster speeds made possible by the launches of new Ka-band satellites.
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Ditch Windows Explorer, go retro with XFile

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 6:06am MDT by Mike Williams

If you used PCs back in the 1980s then you’ll probably remember that file management was, well, a little basic. To put it politely. But that all changed in 1985 with the arrival of XTree, a powerful file manager that came packed with functionality: the geeks of the day loved its feature set, speed and extensive list of keyboard shortcuts.

It didn’t last, of course -- the program was essentially killed off by the arrival of Windows Explorer. Which, while nothing like as powerful as XTree, was free and included with every PC. But if you still have fond memories of those early file managers then there could be a way to recapture them, as XTree Gold clone XFile has just been released as freeware.

You’ll have to forget all those Windows and GUI conventions you’ve learned over the past few years, though, because XFile predates them all (and not least in its character-based interface).

You can’t multi-select files with the mouse, for example, or by holding down Ctrl or Shift as you click.

There are no context menus, so don’t waste your time right-clicking things.

And it’s not great at allowing you to work in multiple windows at the same time. If you open the Gallery, say, to display thumbnails of images in the current folder, then you have to close that before you can use the File Manager again.

Still, for all that, even now the program has some plus points. It’s optimized for keyboard use, for instance, with a host of keyboard shortcuts supporting just about every file management task. And there’s support for all the regular XTree Gold commands, so if you remember those (or you’ve used an XTree Gold-like file manager) then you could feel at home right away.

There are handy bonus features, too. Like the hex editor, for instance. The PDF and MDB viewers. And the occasionally useful integration with other tools: the Web menu, for instance, provides easy hotkey access to Ping, Traceroute and IPConfig.

And of course the rather basic technology underlying the program means it’s extremely undemanding. XFile can be run from a USB key, requires under 800KB of drive space and even after running multiple operations on our test PC, was consuming less than 16MB of RAM.

The program still has plenty of annoyances, and isn’t something we’d recommend for the typical PC user. But if you’ve used an XTree Gold-compatible file manager before, and remember the keypresses, then it could still be useful for a few file management tasks (and it’s also interesting as a quick PC history lesson). The 736KB XFile download is available now.

broadbandreports.com

Thursday Morning Links -

Posted: May 17th, 2012, 5:10am MDT

WiMAX vs. LTE: Should You Switch? ecoustics.com
The Rise of Europe's Private Internet Police foreignpolicy.com
Verizon plans price hikes for Fios, wireless users cnet.com
FCC Wants Clarity From Verizon on Proposed Spectrum Deals nytimes.com
Dear Executives, Technological Ignorance Is No Longer Acceptable nyciso.com
Say hello to the real real-time Web arstechnica.com
DNS Changer blackouts inevitable? theregister.co.uk
UK police use 'quick' mobile data extraction system against suspects computerworlduk.com
Startup says there are no problems with recording locations of millions of smartphones (unless their owners opt out) cnet.com
Near Field Communications: More Than Mobile Payments forbes.com
Why Deep Packet Inspection Falls Short cable360.net
Apple gets green light to seek Samsung tablet ban in U.S. cnet.com
Self-adapting computer network to defend itself against hackers computerworld.com
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Wednesday Evening Links -

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 5:42pm MDT

FCC Chairman to Senate: No Network Neutrality Complaints multichannel.com
Netflix: Disgruntled customers rejoining service cnet.com
House Republicans Continue to Question Broadband Grants nationaljournal.com
Japanese scientists develop 20x faster WiFi techspot.com
Sprint: Mergers on Back Burner, Not Off the Table wirelessweek.com
EchoStar XVII will be used to provide HughesNet Gen4 high-speed Internet service in North America spacemart.com
Comcast Flips On Skype TV lightreading.com
Mobile Data could place operators under extreme financial pressure unless they implement ways to provide bandwidth more cost-efficiently fiercewireless.com
Smartphone security is heading for 'apocalypse' networkworld.com
Google to Sell Nexus Smartphones and Tablets Direct pcworld.com
Apple Fires Back in Lawsuit over Siri s Performance wsj.com
NTIA Defends Stand-Down of Public Safety Net Projects;Doesn't Want to Spend $380 Million on Efforts That Might Be Superseded multichannel.com
Comcast Launches Skype Via Xfinity Set Top - $10 Extra, Available Only to Triple Play Users

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 4:36pm MDT

Since last year Comcast has been testing an implementation of Skype to be embedded in the company's Xfinity set top boxes using a high-definition camera. Comcast today announced that the company has finally started the nationwide deployment of the service beginning today in Boston and Seattle, with Atlanta, Augusta, Ga., Chicago, Detroit, Harrisburg, Pa., Indianapolis, Miami and Pittsburgh slated for launch before the end of the week.

According to Comcast's new website for the service, Skype for Xfinity will cost users $10 extra a month -- but only if you subscribe to the Comcast triple play of Digital Starter TV (or above) with HD service, Performance Internet (or above) and Unlimited Voice service. The service comes as a self-installation kit, pictured below: att=2003156
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Samsung accounts for 40% of Android smartphone sales

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 4:26pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

The figure is so important, I'm breaking it out from the long analysis posted mid-afternoon about the smartphone market consolidating around Apple and Samsung. The South Korean electronics giant is doing to Android on smartphones what Amazon does on tablets: Hugely fragment the market around a forked operating system. I warned about this three weeks ago in post "Google has lost control of Android". Now there is sales data to back it up.

Earlier today, Gartner released first quarter sales data for global handsets. Not shipments into the channel, but actual sales to end users. Market leader Samsung accounted for 40 percent of all Android smartphone sales, with no other manufacturer topping 10 percent. Sure Samsung's success lifts overall Android smartphone share -- 56.1 percent up from 36.4 percent a year earlier. But what's good for Samsung isn't necessarily in the best interests of the broader Android ecosystem.

Samsung Rises

Smartphones accounted for 43.9 percent of Samsung handset sales in Q1, according to Gartner -- that's out of 86.6 million handsets. Samsung smartphone sales rose 25.9 percent year over year to 38 million units. One OEM is largely responsible for overall Android sales gains. Based on recent gains, it's no longer a question of if but when one licensee accounts for half of all Android smartphone sales.

That would be great if Samsung shipped pure Android. Instead, the consumer electronics company skins the OS with TouchWiz UI, which customization will be greater on Galaxy S III than any of its companions. Samsung, and not Google, controls the Android user experience and when handset owners move up to the newest version; the majority still have Gingerbread and not Ice Cream Sandwich.

Additionally, Android's continued success largely ties to a single manufacturer whose priorities are broader and in some ways out of sync with Google's and the operating system's other licensees. For example, Samsung also sells smartphones with home-grown Bada and Windows Phone, all while paying Microsoft a patent bounty on every Android. Allegiance to Android isn't assured.

Fractured Android

This fragmenting -- no fracturing -- of Android isn't just confined to smartphones. Amazon started selling Kindle Fire in mid November. By end of December, the tablet already had captured 29.4 percent US share, based on number of unique devices, putting it ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Tab family (23.8 percent). Over the following two months, Kindle Fire took sales from every other Android tablet, ending February with stunning 54.4 percent Android tablet market share. Tab family ranked second followed by Motorola XOOM, with 15.4 percent and 7 percent share, respectively. So for each, Android smart phones and tablets, one manufacturer largely accounts for the majority market share.

That would be better for the larger Android ecosystem, if not for the forking of Android. Amazon more heavily customizes Android on Kindle Fire than anything Samsung does on smartphones. The online retailer attempts to create a curated experience, offering capabilities and extended services similar to Apple's. Samsung is moving that way, too, by bundling digital content stores with its devices, for example. However, should the Note platform succeed on smartphones and tablets, a truly forked Samsung Android would emerge as platform for developers creating apps exploiting pen and touch.

Forrester Research predicts that proprietary Android will surpass the Google Android ecosystem within three years. Frank Gillette writes in report "Tablets Will Rule The Future Personal Computing Landscape": "The popularity of these content-driven devices will cause proprietary Android share to surpass the installed base of Google’s Android ecosystem in 2015. This further fragmentation will challenge Android developers, customers, and especially enterprises, and hamper the creation of a shared ecosystem".

Looked at differently, according to comScore, Apple and Amazon accounted for 71.5 percent of the tablet market at the end of February. In smartphones, according to Gartner, Apple and Samsung had combined 49.3 percent smartphone share at the end of March. In both markets, leadership splits between two companies, Apple is one of them and a single Android-licensee is the other. Something else: All three seek to provide a curated hardware, software services.

Google's Nexus Response

Yesterday, Wall Street Journal reported rumors that Google would work with Android manufacturers to offer several different Nexus smartphones and tablets concurrent with release of Android 5 "Jelly Bean". Samsung produced the last two Nexus smartphones and HTC the first. That's absolutely the right thing to do. Google needs to regain control of Android from both Amazon and Samsung, while taking more leadership over the broader ecosystem and end-user experience.

Updating is where Google's Android control is weakest, and where the company lacks leverage to offer uniform experience across devices or to assure they have the latest OS version. Last month, Google engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru put doubts to rest about who's to blame: "The part that blows my mind is that some variants of the Google-engineered flagship devices still haven't received Ice Cream Sandwich (or are stuck with older versions of Ice Cream Sandwich) because of delays introduced by operator approvals".

The WSJ report claims Google would sell the Nexus devices direct, as it recently started doing with Galaxy Nexus smartphone. These Androids would stay up to date and be pure -- free of skins or other enhancements. Google wouldn't seek to replace cellular carriers but augment buying options -- and in process provide needed competition that might compel carriers to update Android versions faster.

The point: Google is doing the right thing, but took too long about it.

Photo Credit: Samsung
LG actually did some cool stuff with its new Android UI

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 2:26pm MDT by Tim Conneally

There are many manufacturer-created user interfaces for Android, and sadly, most of them are unpleasant.

Some are polluted with unremovable bloatware, some are sluggish performers, and some are just badly designed. For as many different versions of the Android user experience as there are, there are very few major builds that add remarkable innovations on top of the Android platform.

Wednesday, South Korean consumer electronics maker LG officially launched its new Android UI built on the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) framework called LG Optimus UI 3.0. Though LG has not yet established itself as a power player in the Android smartphone world, this branded user interface manages to provide some actual innovation on top of Android that makes it worth checking out.

Optimus UI 3.0 was crafted with quick, on-the-fly usage in mind, so users can unlock the screen by dragging their finger anywhere on screen, or allows them to draw a pattern on the screen to launch directly into an app. This adds a twist to the existent ICS UI, which can be set to launch directly to the homescreen with no lock screen at all. Instead of bypassing the lock screen, LG is offering users the ability to bypass the homescreen.

LG has also given users the ability to fire off their camera with a voice command, making the sometimes tricky act of touch-focusing in the Android camera a bit simpler. Also, this gives users the ability to take their own photograph without having to set a timer, or hold the phone at arm's length.

Another innovative feature of the new UI based around the quick creation of information is called Quick Memo, which adds a sort of transparent layer over the homescreen that lets users draw or jot notes upon the screen and then share the notes via SMS, email, or social networks.

The Optimus UI 3.0 will debut this week on the LG Optimus LTE II in Korea, and then on the quad-core LG Optimus 4X HD worldwide in June.
Enterprise IT turns to cloud storage to fight data loss

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 2:02pm MDT by Ed Oswald

If you're worried about data loss, turn to the cloud. That's what a new survey commissioned by CA suggests. Fifty-five percent of all US businesses expect usage of the cloud to increase to meet continuity objectives. That's an important statistic considering every one of the 300 businesses participating in the study experienced some type of data loss event in the past year.

Among the most common reasons for data loss are IT system failures (76 percent); human error (41 percent); and external threats and attacks (35 percent). An earlier CA study suggests that data loss events cost companies an average $160,000 every year.

Business continuity plans are crucial to ensure critical processes remain available in the event of a crisis. Cloud backup and storage is an attractive option as it provides for a place offsite to store mission-critical data, and in the event of a catastrophic IT failure could be a lifesaver. It is for this reason why IT administrators have increased spending on the cloud.

Nearly half of the 300 businesses will increase cloud spending on data protection measures over the next year, compared to only 14 percent who will cut spending. The results indicate the market for enterprise cloud storage is about to enter a period of rapid growth.

"This survey reveals that one of those benefits is improved data protection—which remains a huge challenge in conventional, non-cloud environments", data management chief Bill Mann says of the study's results.

Once in the cloud, IT administrators seem to be satisfied that their data is protected. Four out of every five (86 percent) companies with data in the private cloud feel that it is adequately protected, while 73 percent of those with data in the public cloud feel their data is safe.

"It is broadly acknowledged that cloud computing can offer many benefits to organizations that require more agile and cost-effective ways of delivering IT services", Mann says.

Photo Credit: Sergej Khakimullin/Shutterstock
Smartphone market consolidates around Apple and Samsung

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 1:47pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Today, Gartner put to end weeks of cellular handset debate. Apple apologists disputed Samsung's smartphone success over iPhone -- the presumption that the South Korean electronics giant benefits from greater shipments vs actual sales. Make no mistake: Samsung is the global leader overall and in the smartphone category, based on actual sales. Apologist arguments be damned.

That said, Apple's position is solid. Together, Apple and Samsung combined smartphone sales market share approaches 50 percent. Contrary to speculation that Windows Phone might appear as a third dominant mobile OS, the market is set to largely split between two vendors. As I explained three weeks ago in post, "Google has lost control of Android", Sasmung's rise isn't necessarily good for the broader ecosystem.

Sales vs Shipments

During first quarter, Samsung sold 38 million smartphones, compared to 33.1 million iPhones, decisively snatching back the top spot, according to Gartner. Meanwhile Samsung represented more than 40 percent of all Android smartphone sales, with no competitor topping 10 percent. Meanwhile, Samsung stole Nokia's crown, by becoming overall global handset sales leader.

Gartner's data is the most revealing, because it represents sales to end users rather than shipments into the channel. Since Samsung first boasted about 3 million Galaxy S II sales during the first 55 days, Apple apologists have disputed the figure, and others that followed. Gartner leaves little room for error. Apple claimed 35.1 million sold, but that's really shipped, given Gartner put actual sales 2 million units lower. Samsung no longer discloses sales data, but IDC reports 42.2 million smartphone shipments during Q1. Assuming Gartner and IDC numbers reconcile, that's 4.2 million more Samsung smartphone shipped into the channel than sold, which is a reasonable number for keeping store shelves stocked.

"Shipments are not sales, and therefore they present only a partial account of the success or failure of a product or an item", Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, says. He makes the distinction regarding Kindle Fire, which unit shipments plunged from 4.7 million to 700,000 between fourth and first quarters, according to IDC.

Baker observes that Amazon filled the retail channel during Kindle Fire's launch quarter. Actual sales: 3.8 million then and 1.8 million during Q1. "If you add up those two sales figures you get a number almost exactly the same as IDC’s shipment number", Baker observes. "Looking at the numbers from that actual sales perspective the concept that Kindle Fire sales collapsed in Q1 becomes absurd". The point: Only actual sales figures are truly reliable.

Market Turbulence

Sales show Samsung rising above all other Android handset manufacturers as well as iPhone. All this before the hotly anticipated Galaxy S III ships in 13 days internationally. Strangely, in Apple, Samsung has a benefactor. US Customs has stopped importation of HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE -- two fearsome Androids -- clearing away two of the S3's biggest competitors available on these shores. Officials halted HTC shipments as they evaluate whether the handsets violate Apple patents.

Samsung's rise to dominance comes during an uncertain period for smartphones, which stands to solidify its position against Android rivals and even iPhone. Overall handset sales declined 2 percent year over year to 419.1 million units -- that's down sequentially from 476.5 million handsets.

"The lower results in the first quarter of 2012 have led us to be cautious about sales for the remainder of the year", Annette Zimmermann, Gartner principal research analyst, says. "As we are starting to update our market forecast we feel a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures, in the range of 20 million units, is unavoidable".

However, smartphone sales continued their strong upward trajectory, rising 44.7 percent year over year to 144.4 million. Though, sales fell from 149 million units sequentially.

The China Syndrome

"Global sales of mobile devices declined more than expected due to a slowdown in demand from the Asia/Pacific region", Anshul Gupta, Gartner principal research analyst, says. "The first quarter, traditionally the strongest quarter for Asia, which is driven by Chinese New Year, saw a lack of new product launches from leading manufacturers, and users delayed upgrades in the hope of better smartphone deals arriving later in the year".

To its credit, Apple capitalized on the Chinese New Year. iPhone 4S went on sale in China 10 days before the January 23rd holiday, leading to a sales surge in the region.

"It was an incredible quarter in China", Apple CEO Tim Cook said during calendar first quarter earnings conference call last month. "Part of this was the pent-up demand for iPhone 4S".

He emphasized: "Revenue was a record, at $7.9 billion in greater China, which is up over three times year over year and brings the first half revenue for greater China to $12.4 billion. That compares to a full year of last year of $13.3 billion". Stated differently, China accounted for 78 percent of Asia-Pacific region revenues during the quarter.

Samsung also makes huge inroads to China, but didn't have something spanking new to sell for the new year celebration. That will come with Galaxy S III, which is expected to reach the Mainland long before Apple ships iPhone 5 (or whatever it's named).

But Apple and Samsung aren't alone. "The continued roll-out of third generation 3G-based smartphones by local and regional manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Yulong and TCL Communication should help spur demand in China", Zimmermann says.

Two Market Leaders

Looking ahead, Samsung and Apple look to sop up Nokia's remains -- and for Android to solidify an already strong position over every rival mobile operating system, including Apple's. Nokia market share slumped from 25.1 percent year over year to 19.8 percent in the broader handset market, or a 22.7 percent decline. Nokia is caught between a rock and a hard place -- declining feature phone sales and Windows Phone transition -- that puts it in worse position: The Apple and Samsung trash compactor.

"Smartphone sales are becoming of paramount importance at a worldwide level", Gupta says. "For example, smartphone volumes contributed to approximately 43.9 percent of overall sales for Samsung as opposed to 16 percent for Nokia". They're 100 percent for Apple.

Samsung global handset market share rose to 20.7 percent from 16.1 percent a year earlier, or 25.9 percent increase. However, Apple sales rose considerably more, up 96.2 percent, bringing market share to 7.9 percent from 3.9 percent a year earlier. While Samsung and Apple rank first and second, respectively, in smartphones, iPhone's maker moved into third place for all handsets. Should Nokia's decline continue, while Apple rises, something quite dramatic could occur within the year: Apple and Sumsung dividing up not just smartphone sales but the entire global handset market.

Samsung's rise pulls Android along. The operating system had 56.1 percent smartphone sales share during Q1 -- that's up from 36.4 percent a year earlier. As aforementioned, Samsung accounts for 40 percent of all Android sales. By comparison, iOS share rose to 22.9 percent from 16.9 percent. However, iOS lost share sequentially -- on overall market shipments, which accentuates the decline more than it appears. iOS share fell nearly 1 point, while Android gained more than 5 points.

However, Android share gains deceive, as commoditization increases. "Most players are finding it hard to break the mould", Gupta says. "At the high end, hardware features coupled with applications and services are helping differentiation, but this is restricted to major players with intellectual property assets".

The point is crucial as patent lawsuits, the most prominent lead by Apple, stifle innovation. Here on BetaNews, I've called Apple a patent bully and troll, accused it of litigating rather than innovating and called the lawsuits hypocritical.

As patent-warfare stifles innovation and Android licensees struggle to stand apart from one another, "price is increasingly becoming the sole differentiator", Gupta says. "This will only worsen with the entry of new players and the dominance of Chinese manufacturers, leading to increased competition, low profitability and scattered market share". That's good for Apple margins and market consolidation around the two leaders.

broadbandreports.com

Verizon to Kill Grandfathered Unlimited Plans - As Carrier Prepares to Launch LTE 'Shared Data' Plans

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 12:04pm MDT

Back in 2010, following in lock step on the heels of AT&T, Verizon imposed cap and overage pricing on wireless data, eliminated their unlimited data plans for smartphones but "grandfathered" existing unlimited users. Speaking on a recent investor webcast, Verizon Wireless CFO Fran Shammo unsurprisingly stated that as those customers switch to LTE, they're going to be forced to give up their unlimited data plans.

Those customers will be pushed toward the company's upcoming "data share" wireless data plan (aka family plans, or pooled data plans) that will allows users to connect multiple household users or devices under one plan. It's an idea that's absurdly overdue, but it may arrive with quite a pricing punch.

As we've discussed, you can expect that these new shared data plans will come with some significant caveats and fees, as the company looks to avoid the revenues gleaned from forcing each user and tablet to have its own data plan. On that same conference call, Shammo stated that he believes they'll make up most of the losses because more people will connect more devices to the network:
Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said he expects the new offering to encourage more customers to connect more devices to its network. As a result, he expects them to sign up for higher-tier data services that come with higher prices. "We're fairly confident we'll start to see people uptick in the tiers, which is where we'll see the revenue accretion." Shammo said in a webcast of an investor conference.
The more people and more devices eating away at your monthly usage allotment, the more quickly users will start to head into overage territory where they'll be forced to pay $10 per gigabyte. Progress? Sort of. Just not for your wallet.
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Get autotext and autocorrect in any app

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 11:35am MDT by Nick Peers

Anyone who’s tapped into Microsoft Word’s autotext and autocorrect features will know how useful they can be, but what happens when you need that kind of automation in another program? The answer lies with a free-for-personal-use tool called PhraseExpress 8.0151.

This clever and powerful text replacement tool, also available as a portable build, gives you Autotext and Autocorrect functionality – plus a heck of a lot more – across your entire desktop, letting you speed up the way you enter and manipulate text in any program you have installed on your computer, not just Microsoft Word.

PhraseExpress’s Autotext feature – the Text Expander – allows you to create shortcuts for frequently entered text in the form of abbreviations, such as “addr” for full-blown, multi-line address. You can even use macros to insert variables such as the date or ask for user input. You can also build up a library of frequently used phrases and snippets, which can be organised into a folder-like structure using the app’s Text Snippets Organizer. These snippets can also contain images, support Unicode and be formatted using RTF or HTML, and are just a few clicks away via the program’s Taskbar icon.

For those who’ve diligently built up a legion of AutoText and AutoCorrect entries in Word, the good news is you can easily import them into PhraseExpress via the program’s File > Import menu. There’s even an option to download free collections of text templates via the File > Download phrases option too.

PhraseExpress also offers to auto-complete sentences based on previously entered text, has built-in spelling correction with a new learning feature that sees which typos are most frequently corrected, adding them to a custom-fit spelling database.

Throw in other time-saving tools such as a clipboard manager handling multiple clipboard items, plus pocket calculator and application launcher that can both be triggered simply by typing in text shortcuts (such as ‘exc’ for Excel) and you’re looking at one powerful and versatile app, which explains why the free edition is strictly limited to personal use only (PhraseExpress can even detect if you’re trying to use it for business use and warn you accordingly).

PhraseExpress 8.0.151 and PhraseExpress 8.0.151 Portable are both available free for personal use for PCs running Windows XP, Vista or 7. Two commercial versions are available: Standard ($49.95) and Professional ($139.95) editions.

Photo Credit: Pixsooz/Shutterstock
Apple patents block HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE from U.S. market

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 11:08am MDT by Tim Conneally

"The US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S. Customs review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order," a boilerplate statement from Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC said on Wednesday.

The company's flagship smartphones are being held up in customs as a result of patent litigation with Apple, and their availability to consumers is currently on hold. Though it only launched on May 6, AT&T currently lists the One X as "sold out," and Sprint's EVO 4G LTE which was slated to launch on Friday, May 18, will be delayed. Pre-orders of the device do not have a guaranteed ship date.

In Sprint's support forum on Wednesday morning, the carrier wrote:

"The U.S. availability of the HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed. HTC is working to resolve this issue and appreciates your patience as they work to get products into Sprint channels. We can’t provide specific timing for product availability at this time and we appreciate your patience as HTC works to get products on store shelves as soon as possible.

Pre-order status/availability
Delivery of products for pre-order are on hold and Sprint will provide a ship date as soon as possible. Sprint will maintain the promise for the preorder customers that they will be among the first to receive their HTC EVO 4G LTE units. While we'd rather you didn't cancel your pre-order, there are instructions provided in the backorder email on how to do so.

According to the exclusion order from the International Trade Commission handed down in December 2011, these devices violate an Apple patent (#5,946,547) which detects patterns in data such as dates, phone numbers, street addresses, and email addresses and makes them actionable variables for other applications.

From the 1999 patent:

"The analyzer server receives data from a document having recognizable structures, and uses patterns to detect the structures. Upon detection of a structure, the analyzer server links actions to the detected structure. Each action is a computer subroutine that causes the CPU to perform a sequence of operations on the particular structure to which it is linked. An action may specify opening another application, loading the identified structure into an appropriate field, and closing the application. An action may further include internal actions, such as storing phone numbers in an electronic phone book, appointments on an electronic calendar, and external actions such as returning phone calls, drafting letters, sending facsimile copies and email, and the like."

To avoid patent infringement and get these devices on U.S. shelves, HTC had to re-engineer its software architecture. This, according to some investigative work by Nilay Patel from The Verge, is what is being reviewed in customs.

This is, of course, not the first time the HTC One X has been re-designed for the United States market.

The global version of the One X features a 1.5 GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, but the version for the United States and a couple of other select markets features a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor instead.

We have inquiries pending with a number of the involved parties and will update as comments arrive.

broadbandreports.com

Google Shakes Up Android OEM Strategy - Expands Direct to Consumer Phone Sales Options

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 10:05am MDT

While Google's Nexus One phone was supposed to rattle the wireless status quo by offering users unsubsidized phones via a Google store, the promised revolution never arrived. That was due to a number of factors, including the fact that the phone came with 3G bugs and annoying fees -- but not with phone support (Google fixed the latter two eventually). But the idea of buying your phone first then shopping for your carrier (more common in Europe) never took off because, well, the phone only worked on T-Mobile.

In a reversal last April, the company started selling unlocked HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus phones direct to consumers again via the company's website. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal today reported that Google plans to give multiple mobile-device makers early access to new releases of Android so they can sell those devices directly to consumers. That's a shift from the previous system, where Google would work with only one OEM at a time to on "lead devices," before releasing the software to other OEMs. Says the Journal of Google's reasons :
The expansion of direct sales marks a bid to exert more control over key features and apps that run on Android-powered phones and tablets, thus reducing the influence of wireless carriers over such devices, these people said. Wireless carriers typically handle marketing and sales of devices and thus can exert some control over the services that run on them. The plan also aims to assuage concerns of smartphone and tablet makers that build devices using Android, many of whom are wary of Google because of its pending acquisition of device-maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., MMI +0.15% these people said.
The source tells the Journal Google will work with as many as five manufacturers at a time to create a portfolio of "Nexus" lead devices, including smartphones and tablets, all directly available to consumers without having to buy it from a carrier.
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Get ready for Commerce-as-a-Service: NetSuite takes selling to the cloud

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 9:25am MDT by Ed Oswald

You've heard of Platform-as-a-Service, and Infrastructure-as-a-Service; maybe even Gaming-as-a-Service, too, from BetaNews' reporting on Tuesday. Get ready for the latest X-as-a-Service, thanks to a new Commerce-as-a-Service (CaaS) initiative from NetSuite.

The company debuted the initiative on Wednesday, saying CaaS will help partners manage both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions regardless of device.

CaaS uses NetSuite's Enterprise Resource Planning as its backbone, built upon a new platform called SuiteCommerce. SuiteCommerce manages all aspects of the sales process from developing the e-commerce site itself to process management. The platform can even run the POS systems in retail stores themselves, which may explain why the company on Wednesday also announced a partnership with payment processing company Square.

"Over the next decade, NetSuite will transform how businesses operate with other businesses and with their customers through NetSuite Commerce as a Service", CEO Zach Nelson says. "By transforming the NetSuite business application into a commerce-aware platform, we enable our customers to extend the richest set of cloud operational capabilities available anywhere directly to their customers, regardless of the device those customers are using".

The rapid rise of e-commerce has caused a disconnect between a company's online and offline presence. Backend applications like SAP and Microsoft Dynamics are cobbled together with e-commerce software. This makes a mess of the supply chain, and the path from supplier to retailer to customer has rarely been a straight one. Obviously, this leads to inefficiency.

SuiteCommerce, and its comprehensive take on all aspects of commerce management, is marketed as a solution to the issue. Connecting to the ERP NetSuite's backend, the process becomes streamlined, and the need for human CRM (client relations management) is significantly lessened. "The human as a CRM system is going to be a thing of the past" thanks to tools like SuiteCommerce and others, Nelson said Tuesday at the SuiteWorld 2012 conference in San Francisco.

Photo Credit: nokhoog_buchachon/Shutterstock

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Comcast Denies Own Traffic Prioritization - Insists They're Fully Adhering to NBC Universal Conditions

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 8:01am MDT

Just when the network neutrality debate appeared to have resigned itself to a dark corner, the revelation that Comcast was exempting Comcast TV content over Xbox 360 traffic from its bandwidth cap rekindled the entire debate. Comcast claims they're simply treating the Xbox 360 as other set top, while competitors like Netflix claim it gives them an unfair advantage in streaming video offerings. "The same device, the same IP address, the same wifi, the same internet connection, but totally different cap treatment -- in what way is this neutral?" recently asked Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Complicating the situation was recent "proof" by several different individuals claiming that Comcast was specifically prioritizing their own streaming services over that of their competitors. You can find the broadest technical exploration of the claim here by MixMedia CTO Bryan Berg, who says he has proven that Comcast is busily playing favorites:
What I ve concluded is that Comcast is using separate DOCSIS service flows to prioritize the traffic to the Xfinity Xbox app (so that I m using consistent terminology, I m going to call this traffic Xfinity traffic in the rest of the post). This separation allows them to exempt that traffic from both bandwidth cap accounting and download speed limits. It s still plain-old HTTP delivering MP4-encoded video files, just like the other streaming services use, but additional priority is granted to the Xfinity traffic at the DOCSIS level.

I still believe that DSCP values I observed in the packet headers of Xfinity traffic is the method by which Comcast signals that traffic is to be prioritized, both in their backbone and regional networks and their DOCSIS network. In addition, contrary to what has been widely speculated, the Xfinity traffic is not delivered via separate, dedicated downstream channel(s) it uses the same downstream channels as regular Internet traffic.
However, as we noted in our original post (and was pointed out by several readers by e-mail), QoS over a cable network is complicated, and it's very difficult to prove prioritization using DSCP (& IP PREC) tags. A week or so later and Comcast CTO Tony Werner has responded to the claims at the company's blog, stating they in no way are giving their own content a leg up:
There's also been some chatter that we might be prioritizing our Xfinity TV content on the Xbox. It's really important to us that we make crystal clear that, in contrast to some other providers, we are not prioritizing our transmission of Xfinity TV content to the Xbox (as some have speculated). While DSCP markings can be used to assign traffic different priority levels, that is not their only application and that is not what they are being used for here.
As for the Xbox 360, Comcast continues to insist that they're using the device as just another set top box, just utilizing IP. Your thoughts? Is Comcast playing favorites or not?
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When WHOIS isn't enough, there's DomainHostingView

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 7:45am MDT by Mike Williams

When you need to know more about a web domain, then your first instinct will probably be to visit your favorite WHOIS site. But while that’s quick and easy, there could be an even more convenient solution in NirSoft’s DomainHostingView.

As ever with NirSoft tools, the program is portable and extremely small (just 219KB including documentation), and it’s very straightforward to use: just type the name in question in the Domain box, click Go, then wait as DomainHostingView uses a variety of DNS and WHOIS queries to assemble the data you need.

The report starts with a detailed summary which covers all the key information: the person who registered the domain, its creation and expiry dates, the domain’s web and mail server hosts, the server’s operating system, and web server and mail server strings. The latter can often tell you a great deal about the system’s setup: as we write, for instance, the Nirsoft.net domain’s web server string is “Apache/2.2.13 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.13 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635 PHP/5.2.10″.

Next up are the DNS records. And not just the name servers, either: DomainHostingView will also retrieve the details for every DNS record type it can find (MX, A, SOA, PTR and so on).

Does the site have any subdomains? If so you’ll find out in the next report section, which may reveal areas of a site which you never realised existed. (Did you know that Nirsoft.net has a Software Store at softwarestore.nirsoft.net, for instance? That’s just one of the many subdomains supported.)

And the report is completed by IP addresses for the web and mail server, more details about the hosting company, and the raw domain information DomainHostingView has used to assemble all of this.

As usual with NirSoft tools, then, DomainHostingView is well designed, straightforward and genuinely useful. And if you currently find it a hassle to get the domain information you need via web services, the program could be a very effective alternative.

Photo Credit: Yuriy Boyko/Shutterstock

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Avira Security Update Crippled PCs - Identified Legitimate Windows Processes as Malware

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 7:29am MDT

Users in our security forums direct our attention to the fact that users of any of the paid versions of Avira's various antivirus and security programs are now dealing with crippled PCs after an update went terribly awry yesterday. The latest update to the software's AntiVirProActiv component -- not included in the free version -- identified critical Windows processes as malware and automatically terminated them. The update also resulted in many legitimate Microsoft and third party applications being blocked, and in some cases updated PCs wouldn't boot at all.

Avira couldn't say how many PCs were impacted, but issued a statement saying the problem has been fixed:
If you had problems with the ProActiv module after updating to the latest Service Pack, then please initiate a product update which will automatically fix the issue, an Avira spokesperson said in a statement. All new users will not experience any issues and are not required to take any action. We deeply regret any difficulties that this may have caused you. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

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The Top Paid CEOs in Telecom - Brian Roberts Tops the List With $26.9 Million

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 6:56am MDT

Fierce Telecom has provided a break down of the highest paid executives in the cable and satellite, telco landline, and wireless markets. Apple's Tim Cook and his $377,996,537 in 2011 compensation aside, the usual folks are about where you'd expect them to be, with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts taking the top spot with $26.9 million in 2011 annual compensation. He's followed by the other usual names in telecom including Verizon's Lowell McAdam ($23.1 million), AT&T's Randall Stephenson ($22.01 million), Charter's Michael Lovett ($20.54 million) and Time Warner Cable's Glenn Britt ($16.43 million).
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Verizon, Cox Co-Market Services in Oklahoma - Cable Industry Quadruple Play Offers Expand

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 6:40am MDT

Not too concerned with the growing consumer advocate opposition to these deals or the fact that they haven't been approved by regulators yet, Verizon and the cable industry continue to expand their co-marketing relationship. Comcast and Verizon now co-market their products in a half a dozen markets, and in early April Time Warner Cable started bundling Verizon services in Kansas City, Raleigh, Cincinnati, and Columbus. Now Cox is getting into the action, joining forces with Verizon in Oklahoma to joint-market and bundle their services in competition against AT&T U-Verse. As it stands, these bundles simply involve unified billing and a gift card, but the companies say it will expand to involve unified video and other services across both landline and wireless networks.
Wednesday Morning Links -

Posted: May 16th, 2012, 5:10am MDT

Verizon in $63 Billion Faceoff With AT&T Over Family Plans bloomberg.com
Comcast Denies It's Prioritizing Xbox Video lightreading.com
Ofcom to Publish UK ISP Internet Piracy Initial Obligations Code in June ispreview.co.uk
Telcos see BYOD demand growing 25% this year totaltele.com
Judge dismisses piracy suits, says IP address doesn't confirm state cnet.com
Admitted file-swapper begs Supreme Court for help, says RIAA sought huge damages to create an "urban legend." arstechnica.com
Billing Error and Fraud could cost Operators nearly $300bn annually by 2016 juniperresearch.com
Are some people addicted to having WiFi access? neowin.net
US judge sentences two to prison over $4.4m VoIP fraud totaltele.com
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MiTeC InfoBar is one of the most versatile, useful desktop tools we’ve ever seen

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 11:27pm MDT by Mike Williams

At first glance, MiTeC InfoBar looks much like a host of other desktop tools. There’s a display of your CPU utilization here, your free RAM there -- not exactly the most interesting or essential of applications. But wait. There’s much more here than you might think, and on closer exploration, InfoBar just might be one of the most versatile and feature-packed desktop accessories we’ve ever seen.

Launch the program, for instance, and a small horizontal toolbar will appear at the top of your screen, displaying the date, time, free memory, CPU utilization, power status (mains/ on battery, if applicable), system up time, current weather conditions and scrolling headlines from Reuters.

That’s not bad, but it’s just the beginning, as you can double-click most of these sections to drill down further. Double-click the weather conditions panel, say, and a pop-up appears with a forecast for the next five days. Double-clicking the free RAM figure displays a breakdown with details for your physical RAM, virtual memory and paging file. And double-clicking the system up-time shows you your system’s network name, IP and MAC addresses, the currently logged-in user, and more.

This is getting to be useful, but we’ve still only mentioned a fraction of what’s available here. If you click the star icon at the far left of the bar then you’ll get easy access to several compact but capable tools.

There’s a smart scientific calculator, for instance. The interface is a little sparse -- just a couple of empty panes – but if you start to type an equation -- 45* , say -- a list appears showing you all the operators, functions and constants you can use.

The Desktop Explorer is a developer’s tool which provides a host of information about your chosen window: class, handle, size, the current mouse cursor position, and the parent process and process ID, and you get a magnifier and color-picker thrown in for good measure.

The Coding Tools window provides a collection of useful developer tools: you can convert shortcut codes to and from text format; select colour codes in Delphi or HTML format; calculate CRC32 or MD5 values for entered text, detect the SID for specific account names, and more.

There’s also a simple text editor (essentially Notepad with line numbers, right-click in the window for the program’s menu); a basic calendar displays day names and astronomical events (no scheduling of your own events, though); and there’s an ACSII table, a weather forecast viewer, and a basic but usable RSS reader.

All this is reasonably configurable. If you find the RSS feed distracting, say, you can turn off the scrolling. If you don’t like toolbars, you can have InfoBar automatically hide so that it only appears when you move your bar to the top-left of the screen. And all the accessories are available via customisable hotkeys, so if you need the weather forecast, say, just press Ctrl+Alt+W.

And if this appeals then the good news is that you can run InfoBar almost anywhere (there’s support for Windows 2000 to 8), and it’s relatively lightweight, using between 8.5-16.5MB of RAM in our tests.

There are also a few problems here, mostly interface irritations. In particular, if you double-click a panel then InfoBar displays a pop-up with more information, but there’s no way to copy and paste this data elsewhere. Worse still, the pop-up automatically disappears in 5 or 6 seconds, a real problem if you’re trying to copy two MAC and 3 IP addresses (for instance) to some other document. MiTeC really need to rethink how they present these details.

Some of the InfoBar accessories could be a little more helpful, too. You have to start typing in the calculator to understand how it works, for instance, and the notepad has no indication that you need to right-click to access the menu: a few more on-screen hints (if only when users press F1 for help) would be welcome.

These problems aren’t critical, though -- the sheer weight of functionality here mean there’s still more than enough useful features to make it worth installing the program, particularly for more technical users. So if you could benefit from this kind of desktop extension, take a look: InfoBar is a surprisingly versatile collection of tools, and we’ll be very interested to see how it develops in future.

broadbandreports.com

Tuesday Evening Links -

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 5:44pm MDT

TV Network Execs Contemplate Going To Court To Say Skipping Commercials Is Illegal techdirt.com
Meet the New US Wireless Operators lightreading.com
Is Comcast prioritizing traffic or not? gigaom.com
Genachowski to Focus On Broadband In Senate Testimony broadcastingcable.com
Verizon LTE expansion continues with 28 more cities networkworld.com
AT&T, U.S. Cellular buying 700 MHz licenses for LTE fiercewireless.com
Sprint planning Direct Connect Android app, promises PTT 'renaissance' fiercewireless.com
Leap to expand LTE coverage to up to 65M POPs by 2014 fiercewireless.com
Android continues to conquer the world cnet.com
Avira Antivirus update cripples millions of Windows PCs zdnet.com
How Yahoo killed Flickr and lost the Internet gizmodo.com
Virgin latest airline to try allowing calls and texting on transatlantic flights cable360.net
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Nvidia's GPUs in the cloud will shake up virtualization, gaming industries

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 5:20pm MDT by Ed Oswald

GPUs first revolutionized visual computing, and now may revolutionize cloud computing as well. Nvidia introduced its GPUs for the cloud Tuesday at the annual GPU Technology Conference, an innovation it calls the third important milestone for the industry since the introduction of the GPU in 1993.

Nvidia's cloud GPUs are based on the company's Kepler architecture and has been in development for the past five years. The virtualization capabilities of Kepler make it ideal for use in large datacenters, and allows it to be shared by multiple users at the same time. Lag is reduced by built-in streaming capabilities, and Nvidia claims power efficiency and processing density enhancements will keep costs down.

"Kepler cloud GPU technologies shifts cloud computing into a new gear. The GPU has become indispensable", president and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang says. "The cloud GPU will deliver amazing experiences to those who work remotely and gamers looking to play untethered from a PC or console". Indeed, these two markets seem to be the most logical fit for Kepler.

For remote computing environments, Kepler allows for the remote virtualization of the most demanding applications. In gaming, a whole new market could be opened up as a result. Modern games require a lot of graphics processing power, and the ability to deliver these games over a streaming connection may revolutionize how they are delivered.

"Using a graphics-optimized cloud GPU eliminates some of the final barriers that stand in the way of a truly immersive, truly exciting cloud-based gaming experience and could change the business model for how games are played and delivered", Gartner analyst Brian Blau argues.

This implementation is being dubbed GeoForce GRID. At the conference, Huang showed off a game that was streamed between two players both using just a television and tablet computer. No tablet was required -- the entire gaming environment was hosted in the cloud.

We've heard about just-about-everything-as-a-service. Nvidia's product could herald the start of Gaming-as-a-Service, and completely disrupt the current video game industry in a way that likely was not envisioned a few short years ago.

Photo Credit: Oleksandr/Shutterstock
SyncBackSE 6.1 is chock full of bug fixes

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 4:35pm MDT by Mark Wilson

SyncBackSE is a solid, reliable backup tool that has fared well in tests and compares very well to expensive alternatives. Version 6.1 of the software has just been released, and besides the addition of a Russian translation and new email options, there are a host of updates and fixes to explore. There are very few new features in the latest release, but the ability to view FTP and email communication messages has been added.

On the problem fixes front, an issue that saw file and folder filtering check boxes unnecessary checked has been addressed. If you found that backups included unnecessary operations such as the creation and subsequent deletion of empty directories, you should find that this is no longer a problem, and when you view the application history you will now find that the list starts with the newest events rather than the oldest.

There are numerous updates featured in this particular release including a redesigned history grid and users who have configured SyncBack to start automatically with Windows will be pleased to find that they are no longer prompted for a password. If you are creating remote backups via FTP, should a 451 error be encountered, the program will try to establish contact again rather than simply timing out.

Other changes and fixes include addressing a problem with copying open or locked files, along with improved detection of junction or mount points that relate to missing or disconnected. If a backup operation will results in the contents of a folder being wiped out, a warning will be displayed in advance to ensure that this is what is meant to happen. With all of these fixes and changes to an already impressive backup tool, this is one utility that is well worth taking a look at.

You can find out more and download a free trial of the app by paying a visit to the SyncBackSE review page.

Photo Credit: Modella/Shutterstock

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Leap: LTE to 65 Million Pops By 2013 or 2014 - CEO Says They Have Enough Spectrum for Three Years

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 4:19pm MDT

Speaking at the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference this week, Leap CEO Doug Hutcheson says the company plans to expand its LTE network coverage from 20-25 million POPs (potential subscribers) by the end of this year to 60-65 million POPs by the end of 2013 or early 2014. Leap says the company expects to have enough spectrum for LTE over the next three years. In 2010 Leap signed off on an MVNO deal with Sprint, and earlier this year struck a new five-year wholesale deal with Clearwire allowing Leap to buy capacity on Clearwire's upcoming LTE network. Rumors recently indicated Leap has been in talks with AT&T about a possible acquisition, though incompatible network technology make the deal anything but certain.
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As Red Hat Enterprise Linux turns 10, focus shifts to the cloud

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 4:18pm MDT by Ed Oswald

Red Hat celebrated the 10th anniversary of its flagship Enterprise Linux product, but reaffirmed the decision to shift focus to cloud computing, pledging that open-source roots would be key to success in the new business venture.

The company plans to release Enterprise Linux 7 in in late 2013, but offered little during a Tuesday press conference on what to expect. What may play a large part in the new release is a focus on the cloud. For all intents and purposes, Red Hat believes Linux is in the past and the cloud is the future.

Intel is a part of this, and in congratulating Red Hat on its milestone noted the two companies' work in datacenter virtualization. "Intel and Red Hat have collaborated for years on Linux and open virtualization, bringing innovative datacenter technologies to market", Intel Systems Software Division vice president Doug Fisher says in a statement. "We look forward to our continuing collaboration and innovation in key areas such as open, trusted, and federated clouds, as well as mission-critical platforms based on open source software and Intel Architecture".

Red Hat believes open-source will help it build a dominant cloud business. Competitors VMware and Microsoft rely heavily on their own proprietary technologies, with little support from the developer community at large. Red Hat's embrace of open source has allowed the company to rely not only on its in-house developers but the ingenuity of the community.

Some may see it as a way of making money off the backs of others, but Red Hat has no regrets on embracing open source. Engineering chief Paul Cormier credits the decision to move to an open-source subscription model in 2002 as the decision that made Red Hat into the Linux powerhouse it is today.

That same concept will be used as RedHat moves to the cloud, and will give the company more mobility in adapting to the needs of developers. While it takes a little bit of hubris to say at such an early stage in cloud computing that your company will lead the industry, Red Hat certainly has its work with Enterprise Linux to back up its words.

broadbandreports.com

T-Mobile Warns Employess of More Layoffs - 'Further Aligning our Costs With our Revenue Realities

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 2:22pm MDT

Already wobbly T-Mobile took a huge financial hit during the AT&T deal, with customers who didn't want to be AT&T customers fleeing the carrier while many business activities were put into neutral. As is usually the case the lower level employees paid for T-Mobile's bad idea, the company last March announcing at least 1,000 layoffs with more in the works.

As promised, T-Mobile CEO Philip Humm is alerting employees to a new round of layoffs this week, though Humm isn't yet getting specific about the totals for this round of layoffs. From the letter:
We are announcing a new structure that further aligns our costs with our revenue realities, enables teams who support our field organization to act and react with greater speed and effectiveness to customer and market opportunities, and better positions us to return to growth. The new organization required difficult decisions that will impact some of our employees. This week, news will be shared personally with employees and teams who are directly affected by the restructuring.
In a recent insensitive blog post, AT&T's top lobbyist Jim Cicconi tried to blame the layoffs on the blocked deal, ignoring that AT&T would have fired even more employees if the deal had gone through -- and that the deal was idiotic and unnecessary in the first place.
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Dell adds secure application data synchronization to cloud portfolio

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 1:47pm MDT by Ed Oswald

Less than a week after announcing a major Desktop-as-a-Service product in Simplified DaaS, Dell said Tuesday it would offer methods to securely sync sensitive data across disparate cloud services. Called Integration Packs, Dell initially is offering synchronization services between Salesforce CRM and the software version of QuickBooks.

An integration pack for synchronization between the online version of QuickBooks and Salesforce CRM and Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce CRM is due in June. All three packs have a $65 monthly service charge, Dell says.

Dell created the services from its in-house Boomi technology, which it acquired from a company of the same name back in 2010. Boomi specialized in data transfer between different cloud applications. The process of setting up synchronization is handled through wizards during the setup process and do not require third-party installation services.

All synchronization is done automatically and without user intervention. Order and invoice creation can be streamlined, as well as productivity and speed in collecting accounts receivable, Dell says.

Much of Dell's cloud portfolio is aimed at the small and medium-sized business segment, and data synchronization between applications is a useful service. With often limited staffing, SMBs benefit most from services like this which save time and manual labor from negating the need to synchronize accounts manually. SMBs turn to the cloud in order to save time and money, and Dell may have a valuable service here to offer these potential customers.

"Our customers tell us integration is a core requirement to successful adoption of cloud applications", cloud business software chief Paulette Altmaier says of Tuesday's announcement.

Photo Credit: sheelamohanachandran2010/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

MVNO Startup DDOS'd to Death on Launch Day - Sprint MVNO Voyager Lands With a Thud

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 12:17pm MDT

Sprint MVNO Voyager Mobile is one of several companies launching this year that hopes to be somewhat disruptive with pricing. The company, a project of a kid that's still in college, promised users unlimited texts and voice calling for $19 a month. For $39 a month, the company promised unlimited texts, voice and data. Interestingly, the phone lineup looks to be a little more robust that what many are used to with these kinds of offerings, with users given the choices of the Motorola Photon 4G, Samsung Galaxy Epic 4G Touch, Motorola XPRT, and a variety of USB modems and hotspots.

Unfortunately, launch day didn't go particularly well for Voyager, with somebody launching a DDOS attack against the company resulting in the company's website being taken offline. The company's website notes that as a result they'll be delaying their launch:
During its Tuesday, May 15 launch, Voyager Mobile experienced a malicious network attack to its primary website: voyagermobile.com. Due to the network outage, Voyager Mobile is postponing its launch to a time and date in the very near future. Our goal of low cost wireless service for all will not be undermined and we strive to continue the voyage for a better wireless world.
It remains unclear who exactly would want to take down the startup, an opportunistic and bored hacker (most likely), or a competitor or friend with a nasty grudge. Most MVNOs of course do a bang up job failing all by themselves, without anybody else's help.
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Chrome 19 arrives with tab syncing -- get it now!

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 11:16am MDT by Mark Wilson

Google just pumped out another stable release of its web browser as Chrome 19 sees the light of day. It seems as though new browser releases are becoming an almost daily occurrence these days, so what can you expect from Google’s latest offering? Well the big new feature to be found in this release is tab syncing -- and this is as self-explanatory and awesome as it sounds.

In many regards Chrome is playing catch-up with Firefox here, as Mozilla’s web browser has featured the ability synchronize tabs for some time now. Chrome 19 takes very much the same approach so that whenever you are signed into your Google account any tabs you have open are automatically synced to the cloud. When you switch computers you can then access any tabs you had open on another machine by accessing the Other devices menu of the new tab page.

The feature works with all flavors of Chrome regardless of whether you are using Linux, Windows, OS X or even Android. You could be working on a project in the office before heading off home to continue working. Rather than remembering the names of the sites you have been looking at, or emailing yourself links, Chrome 19 ensures that you will have the same tabs available on your home computer so you can pick up where you left off.

And while tab syncing is undeniably great, it doesn’t end there. The same sync service is also used to synchronize your browsing history, bookmarks, themes and app settings between devices. It is also possible to synchronize browser extensions, helping you ensure that you have a uniform browsing experience no matter what computer you are using.

If you have followed the development of Chrome through the beta channels, these sync options are nothing new, but it’s great to see such a useful feature making its way out to the stable version. It almost goes without saying that the latest release also includes a bunch of bug fixes so if you have been experiencing problems with your browser, you should find that troublesome issues have been addressed with this release.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Google Chrome 19 review page.
VMware woos developers with Java cloud development platform

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 11:15am MDT by Ed Oswald

VMware is known for its work in virtualization. The company aims to change that, and announced on Tuesday a new product to assist in the automation, deployment and management of complex applications on its cloud infrastructure. vFabric Suite 5.1 is a new product that takes code acquired through VMware's acquisition of SpringSource and adds additional functionality to make it more attractive to developers.

Application deployment automation, PostgreSQL and SQLFire support, and enterprise support have been added to the SpringSource code. VMware says that the service will help provide developers with the core application services they need to run Java Spring applications either on-site or in the cloud.

"The cloud era is driving a transformation in applications", Cloud and Application Services vice president Jerry Chen says. "This is driving a real transition in the type of technologies our customers are using to build, run and manage these new applications". The initial release of vFabric suite last year led to a doubling of VMware's cloud business during 2011.

vFabric suite's new version will be available within the next month or so for $1,500 per virtual machine. SQLFire is available at a rate of $2,500 per VM. The company says that it decided to sell vFabric Suite in this manner so that customers would only pay for what they need, rather than purchase excess licenses that may never be used.

That said, VMware has a large mountain to climb when it comes to actually attracting developers. SpringSource's Java development framework is somewhat popular, it does have competitors in the space from Oracle and the open-source Eclipse project. And then there's Microsoft.

The Redmond, Wash. company's .NET framework remains quite popular among developers, and Amazon recently added .NET support to its Beanstalk Platform-as-a-Service offering. Given AWS' strong position in the market, and .NET's comprehensive set of development tools, VMware has its work cut out for it if it wants to become a true player in the development space.

It's likely going to require a good deal of marketing and cajoling on the company's part to convince that its own tools are on the level of Microsoft's, say analysts.

Photo Credit: Sergej Khakimullin/Shutterstock
HCSS debuts construction ERP apps for iOS, Android devices

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 11:10am MDT by Tim Conneally

Texas-based software company HCSS, which makes solutions for the construction industry, today announced a new suite of mobile applications for iOS and Android that connect construction field personnel with their home base job management and accounting systems.

With the new applications, simply called "HCSS Field Apps," employee and equipment hours can be tracked, production quantities can be managed, truck fleets can be tracked in real time, employee certifications and licenses can be handled, job site diaries and photos can be filed, and costs can be managed on a more granular and fluid level.

HCSS designed these to be standalone applications rather than web-based portals like many enterprise resource planning (ERP) offerings because the target user is going to be in areas where there might not be any data infrastructure. As such, these do not require a constant connection to be usable.

This type of mobile ERP software is not uncommon, with companies like Penta Technologies offering field management and communications software for rugged workplace devices, but HCSS is riding the wave of consumer hardware being used in the workplace, and offering software on the most popular mobile platforms gives the company an advantage in that its software can be installed on a wider variety of hardware.
SAP combines enterprise core with ready-to-use cloud

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 11:01am MDT by Ed Oswald

SAP aims to show that it is a serious player in the cloud computing sector today, announcing several new cloud initiatives under what it calls an "accelerated" strategy. The company's deeper commitment to the cloud stems from its $3.4 billion merger with human capital management service provider SuccessFactors several months back.

Former SuccessFactors CEO Lars Dalgaard is now head of SAP's cloud unit, and he is tasked with turning the company's cloud business around. At the Sapphire Now Conference -- SAP's annual gathering in Orlando -- Dalgaard is showing off a line of solutions arranged around four different themes: people, money, customers and suppliers.

"The cloud is a completely new paradigm", Dalgaard argues. "We will provide integration among the cloud solutions and external content out-of-the-box with on-premise business software. We are passionate about bringing creative and innovative first-in-class applications to market with a beautiful user experience".

On the people and money front, SAP is integrating SuccessFactors' human resources services -- Employee Central -- with its own in-house cloud based payroll solution. Financials OnDemand is now integrated with Employee Central, which allows for companies to better manage cash flow. SAP says its Travel OnDemand service is also slated for integration in the near future.

Sales OnDemand will now receive quarterly updates, an obvious move to bring it more in line with rivals like Salesforce.com. A new application called Social Customer Engagement OnDemand will manage social reach, good news given a large majority of companies these days seem to be wasting money on social CRM initiatives.

For suppliers, SAP is investing in its Sourcing OnDemand and Information Interchange OnDemand solutions that will assist in supply acquisition and invoice management, respectively.

SAP's moves Tuesday are getting good reviews. "Today’s announcements show SAP combining its core strength of large enterprise applications with a ready-to-use cloud strategy for the first time", Forrester analyst Stefan Ried says. "SAP’s long-term cloud strategy needs to be a triple play: SaaS applications, an application-centric platform to extend them, and a new platform for the next generation of social business networks".

While Ried may be correct in saying SAP has finally got it right with the cloud, its track record so far has been pretty poor. The last major foray into cloud software back in 2007 was a major failure. SAP spent $500 million to introduce Business ByDesign, an effort aimed at making its management tools more manageable and affordable to small and medium sized business.

Even after an attempted relaunch in 2010, the service was only able to garner about 1,000 customers, which came nowhere near to recouping its costs.

Photo Credit: Alexander Kirch/Shutterstock
Frak, yeah, I'd use iPad if there was Google Chrome

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 10:48am MDT by Joe Wilcox

What timing. I posted my iPad for sale on Craigslist over the weekend -- and two people are jockeying to get ahead of the other to buy it today. But I'm suddenly unsure about selling, after seeing a Macquarie Capital report claiming that Chrome will come to iOS as early as this quarter. Hot damn!

I rarely make decisions based on rumors, nor should you. Besides, the "timing is unclear, but it could be as soon as Q2 and is very likely to be a 2012 event", according to Macquarie Capital. "Could" be this quarter and "likely" this year stink of pure speculation -- or big back door should there be no Chrome for iOS this year. In the end, I'll likely sell the iPad, but must convey this: Chrome would be a very good reason to buy an iOS device but be akin to Google cutting off one limb to save another.

Shine That Tablet's Chrome

Yesterday, Ian Betteridge and I bantered back and forth about Chrome and iOS on Google Plus. He called Google services on Apple devices a "pretty good experience", to which I responded: "I would agree about the Google ecosystem with iPhone (and iPad) if Chrome was option. That's the deal breaker for me, sadly. I'm seriously thinking about selling my iPad, for that reason -- and another: Galaxy Nexus is tablet enough for me, so far".

As expressed last week, "You can have iPhone 4S, I'll take Galaxy Nexus". But there's more. I find the Google and Samsung branded smartphone good enough replacement for my iPad, too. Chrome for Android is one reason, Galaxy Nexus' super sharp, 4.65-inch, 1280 x 800 resolution screen is the other. Repeating a sentiment from my Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ review: I'd by the phone just for Chrome, which currently is only available for Android 4 "Ice Cream Sandwich", in beta.

Presumably, Chrome would be available for the newest iOS version, which means broader distribution than Android, since Apple doesn't have the same fragmentation problem. Based on number of devices accessing Google Play during the previous 14 days, Ice Cream Sandwich accounted for just 4.9 percent of the Android install base on May 1. Chrome has limited reach at best on Android, while distribution could be enormous on iOS, assuming people using the browser on the desktop go mobile, too. There, Chrome is third-most used browser and closes on Firefox, according to Net Applications.

Chrome is a huge improvement over the stock Android browser. It's fast and flows, but sync capabilities, which include active tabs on the desktop, really stand out. Last week's huge Google+ for iPhone update shows that the search and information giant can deliver exceptional user experiences on iOS. Why shouldn't Chrome be same?

A TACtical Decision

The problem: Chrome for iOS, particularly iPad, removes an important reason to choose Android tablets over Apple's. Google gains in one area, while giving up somewhere else. If Google offered Chrome for iOS right now, I'd keep my iPad. How many other people considering Apple's tablet would choose it over an Android because of Chrome? You can help answer that question by taking our poll.

In April, with considerably smaller install base, iPad took decisive mobile browser usage share lead from iPhone, according to NetApps. More broadly, in the mobile device category, Safari has 63.84 percent usage share, compared to 18.87 percent for Chrome. Google's browser could make usage share leaps competing alongside Safari on iOS devices. The cloud-connected device era is all about mobile. Google should want Chrome on market-leading devices like iPad.

If Google made Chrome available for iPad and iPhone, how likely would you be to use it over Safari?

Then there are traffic acquisitions costs, which eat into Google search margins. Macquarie Capital: "If GOOG gains market share, it could reduce our estimate for Google.com TAC meaningfully". Google pays Apple to compete with Android -- and Chrome, for that matter -- via Safari's search bar. Google's TAC goes down when people use Chrome.

Something else: Google services have a cloudy future on Apple devices. There already are rumors Apple will ditch Google Maps for a home-grown option in iOS 6. I expect to see a Siri search service someday replace Google. Chrome for iOS would be an important anchor for Google services as Apple offers more of its own from the cloud.

Even then, Chrome faces hurdles placed by Apple. Based on the browsers currently available for iOS, Safari is default for mail and other services. So Chrome would be at disadvantage, as long as Apple only allows Safari to be default. However, surely Chrome could be default for Google services -- gulp, right?

From that viewpoint, Chrome will always be better on Android. That said, Chrome on iOS ought to be pretty good, and if Google is going to feed the hand that bites it, better to extend existing services rather than pay TAC to Apple.

My question for you: Would you use Chrome over Safari on iPad or iPhone? Please answer the question below and take our poll above.

broadbandreports.com

ACSI Rankings: FiOS TV Remains Top Ranked TV Service - AT&T Sees Slight Wireless Improvement

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 8:47am MDT

The latest version of the American Consumer Satisfaction Index is now out, the Index ranking everything from the airline industry to the IRS on a one-hundred point scale. For our interests, the latest May ACSI rankings offers insight on customer satisfaction with fixed line phone service, subscription TV services, wireless phone service and cellular phone manufacturers.

On the fixed line phone service front, satisfaction with traditional telco phone service continues to drop, as those companies shift their focus away from DSL and landline and toward wireless services with higher profit margins and growth. Interestingly though, Comcast's VoIP service continues to see a drop in ratings as the last-ranked provider. Cox comes in first place, though the services are grouped very tightly together in terms of satisfaction.

The Wireless rankings see traditionally last-ranked AT&T finally making a promised jump, moving three points to a score of 69 in a last-place tie with T-Mobile. Sprint continues to hold the top spot with a score of 71, continuing to shake off their problematic acquisition of Nextel. Again however, in these wireless rankings carriers are very closely bundled together in mediocrity.

When it comes to subscription TV services, the ACSI rankings continue to put Verizon's FiOS TV service at the top of the heap with a score of 74, while traditional customer satisfaction report cellar dwellers Comcast and Charter saw slight improvements, but continued their last-place showings with scores of 61 and 59, respectively.

For a little context on these ratings, the ACSI most recently scored the public's satisfaction with the Federal government at around 67 points, while Homeland Security ranked a 59.
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BetaNews.Com

Easily change your Windows DNS settings

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 8:44am MDT by Mike Williams

Troubleshooting, security, performance, there are lots of different reasons why you might want to change your PC’s DNS settings. But Windows doesn’t exactly make this easy. And even when you’ve figured out where you need to be (Network and Sharing Center > click the Internet connection > Properties > TCP/IP > Properties) you’ll still need to look up the address of whatever alternative Domain Name Service you’d prefer to use.

DNS Jumper, though, is a free and portable tool which offers a far simpler solution. The program provides a lengthy list of free DNS options, and all you have to do is choose one and click “Apply DNS”. (Although clicking “Flush DNS” to flush your DNS cache might also help, as it’ll allow the new service will take effect right away.)

Unsure which service might be best? Another option is to just click “Fastest DNS”. DNS Jumper will then test each service in turn before recommending the speediest, which you can again apply with a click.

Or, if you know precisely what you’re doing, then you can easily add additional services or edit the existing list (it’s held in an INI file in the program folder), and then use the program to quickly switch to whatever you need.

Playing around with DNS settings can be a risky business, of course. And DNS Jumper recognizes that and does its best to help out, by automatically backing up your original configuration when first run (choose “Restore” from the service list later to recover them). But there are still scenarios here where you could end up with faulty DNS settings and effectively a broken internet connection, so this isn’t a program for the networking novice, or anyone else who doesn’t know precisely what to do to restore their default setup, when necessary.

If you already know how to configure DNS, though, and are just looking for a quicker and easier way to do it, then DNS Jumper is ideal: compact, portable and hassle-free. Grab a copy for yourself and take a closer look.

Photo Credit: Sergej Khakimullin/Shutterstock
Emergency Kit 2 boosts speed by 450%

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 7:22am MDT by Nick Peers

Austrian anti-malware vendor Emsisoft has announced the release of version 2 beta of its free portable malware removal and repair kit.Emsisoft Emergency Kit 2.0.0.4 Beta provides a selection of free tools for detecting and removing malware from an infected PC, including two scanning tools (one GUI, one command-line), a manual investigation and removal tool, plus BlitzBank, which can delete files, drivers and Registry entries at boot time to thwart malware protection.

Version 2 incorporates the scan engine from Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6, plus promises a 450-percent speed improvement on the previous build as well as direct disk access for better rootkit detection and removal.

The new scan engine employs Emsisoft Anti-Malware 6’s “dual scan engine framework”, which is designed to utilise multiple processor cores to boost performance, which is probably the prime driver behind Emsisoft’s claim that Emergency Kit 2 averages a 450-percent speed improvement on its predecessor without a loss in scanning functionality.

There’s a new direct disk scanning option that promises better rootkit detection, and this is reflected in changed scan presets -- in Rootkit scan is added by default, while Cookie scans are excluded.

The application also claims improved false positive handling -- an important improvement seeing as it erroneously claimed a Quicken 2002 DLL on our system was a Trojan. Users also gain greater control over what actions should be taken after a scan is complete -- click Actions on scan end when setting up a scan to choose what happens by default.

Version 2 also sees a new system for storing settings, which means existing settings are lost when updating from version 1 to 2. Like all Emsisoft beta updates, you need to have installed the previous version of Emsisoft Emergency Kit, then update through the Emergency Kit Scanner’s internal update system: on the main screen, click Updater settings, tick “Install beta updates”, then return to the Security Status menu before clicking Update now.

Emsisoft Emergency Kit 2.0.0.4 Beta is available now as a free download for PCs running Windows.

Photo Credit: kentoh/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Time Warner Cable Kills the Roadrunner - And Makes Several Speed and Price Changes

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 6:45am MDT

We've been hearing from sources for a while that the change was near, and now Time Warner Cable appears finally to be eliminating the Roadrunner brand from their product lineup. A source tells us that as of May 19, numerous markets are seeing the logo and branding eliminated by products, with existing tier names simply seeing the addition of the word "Internet." For example, the company's "standard" tier will simply become the Time Warner Cable "standard Internet" tier.

Our source tells us that markets should also see a shakeup in the pricing of some tiers and services. All markets may see different pricing based on regional competition, but this is an example taken from one market:

•$53.95 for Time Warner 10/1 (Downstream/Upstream) Standard Internet
•$20.00 additional for 20/2 Turbo Internet
•$30.00 additional for 30/5 Extreme Internet
•$50.00 additional for 50/5 Ultimate Ineternet
•$29.95 for 1/1 Lite Internet (Usually a retention only offer)
•$42.95 for 3/1 Basic Internet

All levels of service above Standard will require a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. In addition, the source states that Time Warner Cable's RoadRunner Home-Networking services is going to be re-branded as Time Warner Wi-Fi. It will also see a price break, dropping from $10.95 to $4.95 a month. However, all levels of service above standard include Time Warner Wi-Fi for free. Current 15/1 Turbo users will be 'grandfathered' for pricing but speeds will not increase, and Time Warner Wi-Fi won't be included for those customers.
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AT&T LTE Network Slower in Markets Like Chicago - Carrier Needs to Speed up EDGE User Offload

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 6:34am MDT

While AT&T's LTE network is actually clocking in with faster speeds that Verizon's in early deployment markets, users in some markets like Chicago are seeing notably slower speeds. Why? As Kevin Fitchard at GigaOM notes, AT&T has only 10 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum in play in Chicago while it has 20 MHz in most markets. That means slower speeds in what's becoming a heated LTE marketing fight with Verizon, and it could prove to be a particular marketing problem when the LTE iPhone emerges. A quick look at what has been deployed hints that Chicago isn't alone:
Chicago isn t the only market where AT&T is capacity constrained. Root found an even bigger drop off in speeds in Los Angeles earlier this year. GigaOM contributor and spectrum policy wonk Andrew Shepherd looked at AT&T s spectrum holdings in its 2012 launch markets, finding that AT&T also is limited to 10 MHz in Oklahoma City; Athens, Ga.; Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.; San Juan, Puerto Rico, and in a handful of smaller markets in Texas and Indiana.
However, this is more of an engineering and marketing problem than it is a spectrum shortage problem. AT&T hasn't even touched their AWS spectrum yet, and are among the worst cell carriers when it comes to using the spectrum they do have efficiently, being painfully slow at freeing up spectrum currently being used for legacy 2G (EDGE) services. It won't be long before AT&T blames their own engineering sluggishness on the blocked T-Mobile deal. They just got done blaming AT&T prices hikes on the blocked acquisition, while in the same breath stating those hikes would have come anyway.

One also needs to define "slow" here; actual users in markets like Chicago say they still see speeds in excess of 20 Mbps sometimes, so it's not quite something to cry about just yet. Average speeds for many of these users continues to be somewhere around 6 Mbps -- plenty for largely anything you'd like to accomplish on a smartphone (at $10 per additional gigabyte).
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CableLabs Preps DOCSIS's Next Step - DOCSIS 3.1 or 3.x Focuses Heavily on Upstream

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 6:33am MDT

Many cable operators haven't deployed DOCSIS 3.0 yet (especially on the upstream side), but that obviously hasn't stopped the development of the next step in cable broadband technology. CableLabs says they're cooking up a new specification that will succeed Docsis 3.0 with a particular focus on cable's upstream speeds, the spot its weakest when compared to fiber to the home. The next standard, currently just being caleed DOCSIS 3.1 or 3.x, focuses on more effective modulation schemes. Hard technical specs aren't available just yet, but you can expect to hear more at next week's The Cable Show in Boston.
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BetaNews.Com

Xara releases Photo and Graphic Designer MX 8, Designer Pro X 8

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 6:15am MDT by Mike Williams

Xara unveiled the latest versions of the Designer family, Photo and Graphic Designer MX 8 and Designer Pro X 8. (Which, if the names mean nothing to you, are the packages formerly known as Xara Xtreme and Xara Xtreme Pro.)

As usual with these particular applications, Xara aims for maximum versatility. So both programs can handle most photo-editing, illustration, basic Flash animation and web graphics tasks, while Xara Designer Pro X 8 can also create complete websites and online presentations and has support for a stack of high-end design features (PANTONE, colour separation, PDF/X, XPS and more).

While the “What’s New” list this time doesn’t include any particular standout feature, there are still more than enough interesting additions to justify giving the programs a closer look.

New features in both Photo and Graphic Designer MX 8 and Designer Pro X 8, for instance, start with the new Text Styles option. This provides an easy way to modify the look and feel of the text right across your document, in just a few clicks.

Photo-editing improvements include powerful colour selection and hue adjustment tools.

The new Share menu makes it easy to share media files with Flickr, Facebook and other Xara/ MAGIX MX applications, and you get improved image optimisation, enhanced import in many areas (SVG, PDF, RAW, web URLs), faster publishing, and a stack of usability improvements.

Designer Pro X 8 gains various useful web features. These include smart page resizing (objects automatically reposition as you add or remove text); the ability to embed the fonts you need for a website within its pages; an MP3 player, new charting and QR Code widgets, and various web presentation improvements.

Elsewhere, a new Shape Builder tool allows you to paint onto an existing shape to edit and adjust it. Or, if you prefer the easy life, you may be more interested in the new bundled content: clipart, print templates, web themes and more.

As previously, Xara Photo and Graphic Designer MX 8 remains the value offering, delivering a vast amount of functionality for a very reasonable $89. If you need Designer Pro X 8′s web features and extra power, though, the program can be yours for $299, and trial builds of both editions are available now.

broadbandreports.com

Tuesday Morning Links -

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 5:07am MDT

2.6 million join Free Mobile s French revolution in first 80 days gigaom.com
Phone companies even on satisfaction usatoday.com
Finnish court rules open WiFi network owner not liable for infringement arstechnica.com
EchoStar prepares to launch satellite for 'Gen4' broadband Internet service fiercecable.com
Fresh study says Verizon beats AT&T in overall data speed fiercebroadbandwireless.com
BT to offer 330Mbps fiber next month cable.co.uk
Smartphones, Tablets Not Yet Meaningful Portion Of Total Video Viewing multichannel.com
As 17 more states join class action against book publishers and Apple, new details revealed paidcontent.org
Tablets generate triple the data traffic of smartphones fiercewireless.com
Voyager Mobile intros unlimited wireless plans starting at $19 bgr.com
Is live TV already becoming a thing of the past? nytimes.com
Foxand NBC: Dish's commercial-skipping DVR 'a strange thing to do' at best,'an insult' at worst theverge.com
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Monday Morning Links - Now With Comments (Again...)

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 5:00pm MDT

Will Apple or Google Buy Sprint to Break Into the Wireless Network Biz? ecommercetimes.com
Canadian banks issue landmark NFC payments guidelines that focus on open mobile wallets and consumer data protection nfcworld.com
Nationwide wireless emergency text alert system launching this month ubergizmo.com
Why is UK ISP TalkTalk s year-old porn filter suddenly big news? pcpro.co.uk
New Report Lists Top 10 Legitimate Sites Blocked by UK Adult Content Filters ispreview.co.uk
Amped Wireless Unveils the Industry's Most Powerful, Long Range, Indoor Wi-Fi Solution yahoo.com
LightSquared s bankruptcy is Washington s failure too gigaom.com
Bell Mobility hit with $100-million class-action lawsuit alleging that expiry dates on its pre-paid wireless services are illegal cbc.ca
Clearwire: Our LTE Advanced network will be able to hit 168 Mbps fiercewireless.com
FBI Sounds Alarm on Hotel WiFi Caper technewsworld.com
Why Anonymous might well be the most powerful organization on Earth nationalpost.com
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BetaNews.Com

iCloud, iOS 6 and other Apple leaks are all about Facebook's IPO

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 3:29pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Apple execs all follow the same party line: They don't talk about forthcoming products. But somebody often does, perhaps coordinated with public relations folks or even careful disclosure from someone on Apple's board. Whom isn't so much important as someone does. As I've observed for years, leaks' timings are fairly consistent -- either to lift the share price or steal some other company's thunderous announcement. I can't help but see both in several seemingly strategic leaks, starting with today's disclosure about iOS 6 features.

The Wall Street Journal reports that iCloud will get new photo- and video-sharing capabilities, which include comments and availability outside Photo Stream -- meaning people don't have to own a fruit-logo product to view them. Apple reportedly is extending photo capabilities, while adding video-sharing as feature set. Today's leak follows another -- this one from 9to5 Mac, claiming Apple will dump Google Maps for its own service in iOS 6. Both leaks communicate that Apple is serious about social cloud services and search, and I don't believe they're coincidentally timed, given Facebook's imminent IPO.

Apple's Social Network

Apple is successful for many reasons, but hype is among the most important. The company thrives on rumors and speculation about what's coming next, which helps keep the share price high. Now that Apple is an all-star market performer -- a dramatic change from just three years ago -- shares lift themselves fairly easily. That said, it's still a perception stock, regardless of performance merits. An atomic bomb will drop on the stock market later this week, when Facebook goes public. After seeming years of incessant chatter about Apple's next thing or whether or not shares will hit $1,000 or $2,000 (please, someone live in the moment and get a life), all techdom and business blogs and news sites will turn attention to Facebook.

There is no Apple social network. But iCloud could be the makings of one, should Apple take cues from Google and successful upstarts like Instagram. During last month's earnings call, company execs boasted about 125 million iCloud users. That's far below Facebook's 900 million but lots closer to Google+. Today, Apple's service is more about sync and storage, but the leaks suggest social sharing features will debut during next month's Worldwide Developer Conference.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the iCloud features leak comes the same day Facebook announced major mobile sharing photo enhancement -- 3X larger images. If you survey blog and news coverage given to the leak, rumored iCloud photo-sharing plans trump Facebook's real ones.

Facebook's Mobile Problem

As the IPO approaches, chatter about Facebook's mobile strategy increases. According to comScore, in March, US smartphone users spent 441.3 minutes on Facebook, which is more than the greater American Internet population spent from PCs (391 minutes). That's from 78 million unique mobile or about half the total number of unique visitors (159 million).

In an amendent to its IPO, filed last week, Facebook conceded:

We do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered. If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.

The problem should be obvious to any Facebook user: Where would mobile ads go? In the desktop browser they're visible but to the side. On mobile there's little place else other than the newsfeed, although I see promise in contextual ads based on searches or location-based services. But they're not really there today. Mobile isn't an opportunity for Facebook but a liability. For now.

Search, Social, Storage, Sync

That's not the case for Apple, which profits from selling devices. Advertising isn't a necessity. An Apple social network, leveraged from iOS devices potentially is a serious threat to Facebook. Surely the investment community remembers what MySpace looked like in the mid-Noughties, before Facebook opened in 2006 to the public. MySpace is now a phantom of its former social self. Then there's the hype factor behind anything Apple does and presumption it will be better.

But there's something really rotten in Apple social. During the same earnings call, Apple execs said that cumulative iOS device sales reached 365 million at the end of first quarter. Based on both numbers, either a whole lot of those devices are no longer in use or iCloud adoption is fairly modest (just 34 percent) -- likely a combination of both.

Clearly sync and storage isn't good enough, hence the social push that's sure to directly compete with Facebook. Granted, the social network is bigger, but Apple matches Facebook feature-for-feature on key platform aspects, leveraged from iOS and iCloud -- photos and video sharing (soon with comments), messaging/chat, video calling, apps, games and more. Social would make Apple a perceptual competitor with Facebook.

Today's leak shares similarities to Friday's about Apple dumping Google Maps in iOS 6, as the company takes on its two biggest post-PC competitors. There must come a point where Apple places Siri as replacement for Google search. Perhaps iOS 6, or its successor. It's Apple's four Ses of the apocalypse: Search, social, storage and sync.

Apple Manipulates

For the here and now, the leaks communicate Apple plans to take on Facebook and Google -- and artfully done as the social network's IPO approaches. Make no mistake, timing is deliberate. Apple's typically tight-lipped product development approach generally keeps software and services leaks to a minimum. Hardware is harder, because so many third parties are involved in the supply chain. For this reason, rumors about forthcoming software or services -- the latter where no outsiders are involved -- are more suspect at being deliberately leaked.

Apple effectively manipulates bloggers and journalists, particularly at a time when readership -- as measured in pageviews -- means so much more than subscribers did during the news print era. They're willing participants.

Leaks are nothing new. In Washington, D.C., during the late 1960s and 1970s, the Nixon administration crafted leaks into a state of art. It's a wonder that Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward uncovered the Watergate scandal with so many journalists chasing Nixon White House leaks for the next big scoop.

In the 2000s, more tech companies use leaks and special events to grab free marketing and to boost perceptions about their products and even their share price. Apple has effectively used this kind of guerrilla marketing for years. But there was a qualitative change in 2008 and more so in 2009, particularly in managing news about CEO Steve Jobs' medical leave, liver transplant surgery and departure as CEO before his untimely death.

Apple's effective media manipulation -- and bloggers and journalists seem all too willing to be manipulated -- makes anything not officially announced suspect. The more coincidental the timing to something a competitor announces, the more suspicious.

Photo Credit: 1000 Words / Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

LightSquared Files for Bankruptcy - Company Still Thinks They're Building an LTE Network

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 2:04pm MDT

As had been suggested this morning, LightSquared this afternoon officially filed for bankruptcy protection this afternoon. According to a statement posted to the LightSquared website, the company hopes that the bankruptcy proceedings will give them time "to resolve regulatory issues that have prevented it from building its coast-to-coast integrated satellite 4G wireless network."

"The filing was necessary to preserve the value of our business and to ensure continued operations," interim co-CEO Marc Montagner said in a statement. "The voluntary Chapter 11 filing is intended to give LightSquared sufficient breathing room to continue working through the regulatory process that will allow us to build our 4G wireless network," said Montagner.

While some people involved in the company may believe they'll still actually build a network, with no product and no necessary FCC waiver the most likely bet is that this is simply the beginning of the very end and you're just witnessing the post-mortem twitching. The likely outcome is that what actually exists of LightSquared gets chopped up and sold to the highest bidder.

LightSquared's spectrum is of course the most (perhaps only) thing worth much, and Dish is generally seen as the primary suitor for those assets. As a prelude, Dish boss Charlie Ergen recently started gobbling up LightSquared debt. What can Dish do with spectrum that's been nothing but a GPS-interfering hassle?

Tim Farrar at TMF Associates posits that Dish may be one of the few that can do anything with it, potentially repurposing LightSquared's L-band MSS spectrum as uplink-only spectrum, pairing it with Dish's 2GHz S-band spectrum for downlink. However, this could saddle Dish's own LTE plans with new regulatory burdens. Dish hopes to have an LTE Advanced network up and running by 2015.
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Coalition Forms to Block Verizon/Cable deal - As Consumer Groups Argue Deal is Cartel in the Making

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 12:49pm MDT

A coalition of consumer groups and companies -- most of which were instrumental in blocking the AT&T T-Mobile deal, have now joined forces to block Verizon's recent deal with the cable industry.

As we noted last December, Verizon has struck a deal with Comcast, Bright House, Time Warner Cable and Cox to acquire $3.6 billion in 700 MHz spectrum and to bundle and joint market Verizon LTE wireless services. As it stands, the arrangement currently simply involves giving users who bundle Verizon services up to $200 prepaid Visa gift cards, as well as providing unified billing.

However, consumer groups fear the arrangement involves anti-competitive provisions the companies aren't making public. One major concern is that Verizon will lose all incentive to compete with cable users in DSL markets -- though the company has made it very clear they're not interested in upgrading or even keeping those users anyway. This new group, dubbed the "Alliance for Broadband Competition," consists of T-Mobile, Public Knowledge, and RCA-The Competitive Carriers Association. From the release:
Monday marks the formal launch of the Alliance for Broadband Competition, a collection of like-minded businesses, trade associations, and public interest groups who are concerned about the ability for the current marketplace to sustain a competitive broadband landscape. Representatives from T-Mobile, RCA-The Competitive Carriers Association, and Public Knowledge, will host a kick-off event via teleconference, on Monday, May 14....

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BetaNews.Com

Voting for president via Android and iOS debuts

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 12:25pm MDT by Tim Conneally

As the United States approaches its quadrennial general elections, the talk of election tech and voter security is beginning to rise once again. In 2008, during the last general elections, we saw portable, touchscreen voting machines, e-voting security issues, and mandatory paper trails.

Today, election security company Scytl announced it had successfully implemented its voting encryption technology on mobile platforms Android and iOS which could allow people to securely vote on their smartphones and tablets. It looks like this year "m-voting" is going to be a topic of discussion on top of the usual topic of "e-voting."

Scytl's solution encrypts the ballot locally on the voter’s device -be it a PC, smartphone or tablet- before the vote is submitted. The company says it differs from its competitors because they encrypt the ballots after they are received on the digital ballot box server. This technique of submission puts the documents at risk of man-in-the-middle interceptions, and even for system administrators to compromise the security of the ballots.

These types of solutions are important for expatriate voters and soldiers stationed overseas in this year's general election. In 2010, the President signed into law the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, which requires states "establish procedures for transmitting by mail and electronically blank absentee ballots to absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters with respect to general, special, primary, and runoff elections for Federal office," 45 days before the election. Some U.S. States have received funds to broaden their e-voting capabilities.

California, Florida, and Virginia's 2012 Presidental Primaries received some press in December for using LiveBallot from Democracy Live to collect expatriate votes.

Of course, this is still just the "e-voting" category, and remote mobile device-based voting hasn't quite figured into the equation yet. Mobile devices have found their way into polling places, but voting hasn't made it out onto mobile networks, and IT infrastructure company VeriSign predicted in 2009 that widespread use of the mobile channel as one of several unique voting methods wouldn't really take root until 2016.

Images (composited): Jakelv7500 and Laura Gangi Pond/Shutterstock
The measure of Windows Phone's failure is...

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 11:16am MDT by Joe Wilcox

There are many measures, but one piqued my attention last week. According to Nielsen, Windows Mobile US smartphone market share, based on install base not unit shipments, is considerably higher than its successor -- 4.1 percent versus 1.7 percent for newer Windows Phone. Interpret however you like: Windows Mobile is so good, many Americans stick with it; Windows Phone isn't doing well after two version releases and 18 months of sales.

Nielsen's numbers are for first quarter, when Android share reached 48.5 percent, effectively from zero three years ago (the OS debuted on one smartphone from one carrier in Q4 2008). The next two places go to iOS and BlacBerry, with 32 percent and 16 percent share, respectively. In second quarter 2011: Android, 39 percent; iOS, 28 percent; BlackBerry, 20 percent; Windows Mobile/Phone, 9 percent. So Microsoft's overall share measured by both operating systems is down by one-third in just three quarters.

Twelve days ago I asked: "Is there hope for Windows Phone?" based on modestly encouraging data from comScore that showed a brief arrest in declining market share. The analyst firm puts Microsoft's smartphone share at 3.9 percent, based on subscribers, which is flat quarter on quarter. That's actually an improvement.

BetaNews reader Christopher Micallef is puzzled by the negative reporting about Windows Phone: "Why do people always assume that falling sales with Windows Mobile means that Windows Phone is failing? Of course they are going to have falling sales, they cancelled a whole platform".

Analyst Mike Feibus opined for BetaNews last month: "Windows Phone will gain serious market share this year". He believes that Verizon supporting Windows Phone will hugely impact sales. I'm skeptical.

BetaNews reader Brandon Mills follows Feibus' reasoning:

To me, the real story is that the decision of who is going to be the third power in the cellphone wars seems to have been made by the carriers -- it's Windows Phone. Blackberry is pretty much up a creek without a paddle at the moment. They don't have a giant OS monopoly to push their platform forward with...

The writing is on the wall. RIM is gone. With less doubt about who the third power is going to be, along with leveraging Windows 8 itself and taking advantage over Android fragmentation frustration, I think Windows Phone is positioned to at least gain a moderate share in the next two years. I don't think it's going to knock Android or iOS out, but I think it'll gain enough share that it will become the established third power.

Commenter aretzios blames Windows Phone for Microsoft's misfortunes: "Microsoft signed its death warrant in the mobile space since the day it decided to abandon WinMo 6.5 to move to a totally incompatible system...From 25 percent of the market, Microsoft's share declined to 1.5 percent as WinMo users moved en mass to Android. Sometimes, when one breaks backward compatibility, there are consequences".

During the Bill Gates era, and even during Steve Ballmer's early tenure as CEO, Microsoft made backward compatibility a top-design priority. But the company started backing away from that tenet with Office 2007. Where there are dramatic UI changes, like Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Windows RT, backward compatibility isn't assured at all.

Reader Dan Goldberg is a Windows Phone fan: "I have used iPhones, Androids and now Windows Phones. I gotta say my windows phone rocks! It is quick (without having a hundred cores), better battery life, and more stable. Facebook and Twitter is integrated into the phone and is very fast to read and post messages. Don't forget my screen is much larger (4.7 inches ) and easier to read vs the iPhone".

But aretzios disagrees:

There is no or little hope for WinPhone 7/7.5/8. The reason is simple. Humdrum specs, humdrum hardware going against amazing devices such as the HTC One X/S and the Samsung Galaxy SII/SIII. Those who think that WP Phone is better than Android 4 are simply kidding themselves. Android 4 is extremely good and can provide anything that WP7.5 does and much more on top of that. In addition, most of the devices out there offer much more than any Windows Phone. And just wait, the iPhone 5 is not even out!!

Commenter keymaker remains optimistic about Windows Phone: "I think it's too early but one thing is for sure though, almost all customers reviews are all positive and these things being dirt cheap also helps a lot".

Photo Credit: Microsoft

broadbandreports.com

MPAA Argues Censorship is Good for Consumers - Also Good: DRM, High Prices, Limited Competition, Sharp Objects, Beatings...

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 10:38am MDT

Both the UK and Netherlands recently joined a growing list of countries who are being pressured by the entertainment industry to start filtering websites that provide access to copyrighted content. Ignored, as usual, is the fact the filters don't work (simply change your DNS provider), the efforts do nothing to stop piracy, and they very often wind up breaking core Internet functionality.

In defending the recent swath of censorship efforts they themselves have been responsible for, the MPAA recently took to their blog to try and argue that filtering the Internet is good for consumers:
The UK ruling and indeed other recent ones in Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Finland as well as this one are positive developments that support not only the creative community but also consumers. The number of sites that offer legitimate creative content continues to increase dramatically. But to fully enable this growing sector to thrive and provide consumers with content when they want it, where they want it and how they want it, it is imperative that the content not be siphoned off and distributed illegally by those seeking to profit from the work and creativity of others.
Mike Masnick over at Techdirt deftly calls out the high amount of BS in the MPAA's claims, noting quite correctly that the MPAA spends much of its time trying to prevent or delay innovation (remember how much they loved the VCR?), while fighting new services that actually do provide content when and where consumers want it:
...if the industry had its way, it would never have to innovate online at all, preferring greatly to live off of the old system of DVDs with crippling DRM. The only reason they were pushed to start innovating online was because of competition from the likes of The Pirate Bay, which finally caused them to agree to license platforms like Netflix, which has shown that it's actually quite easy to compete with The Pirate Bay if the MPAA and its studios would stop demanding ridiculous restrictions on content (and insanely high prices). Offer a good service at a good price, and The Pirate Bay simply can't compete.
You have to think that these new efforts to censor parts of the Internet will wane a bit once the folks behind the efforts realize they don't work. Or not.
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BetaNews.Com

Will you buy Samsung Galaxy S III?

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 9:45am MDT by Joe Wilcox
Eleven days have passed since Samsung unveiled Galaxy S III, which goes on sale internationally on May 29. Galaxy S III and HTC One X are arguably the hottest Android smartphones currently available, thanks in part to quad-core HSPA+ models. But HTC One X is dual-core for LTE variants hitting these shores, subsidized from carriers; no final word yet on S3. I often ask buying questions like this one right away but waited to see what pricing would pop for Galaxy S III. Expansys-USA is taking preorders in pebble blue or white for $649.99. Pricing isn't available for 32GB or 64GB models.

I call out Expansys USA, because pricing is the best I've seen so far, and it's lower than expected. The $799.99 seen most elsewhere is more in line with unlocked Galaxy S II and Galaxy Nexus when they launched internationally. Through Amazon, Techno Trading House (a new reseller to me) lists the pebble blue model for $824, available June 2, although it's only $744 purchased direct. My simple question: Will you buy? Either unlocked for no-contract price or lower locked price from a carrier with contractual commitment -- the latter an option available in Europe before Stateside?

For anyone thinking of the yet unannounced iPhone 5, Galaxy S III is the alternative to strongly consider. On May 3, I ask: "Is iPhone 4S obsolete?" Hell yeah, if S III lives up to the social software refinements.

BetaNews commenter ctkatz goes further, by comparing iPhone 4S to Galaxy S II: "I thought the iP4S was obsolete when compared to the SGS 2. Apple really hasn't introduced any new game-changing features since the first iPhone was released. It just took time for everyone else to catch up, and when everyone else caught up they have blown apple away in terms of features and enhancements".

Samsung isn't the world's No. 1 handset maker overall and in smartphones by lark. Apple is known for focusing on delivering benefits that matter, sometimes at the expense of hardware capabilities, and truly aspirational marketing. Galaxy S III evokes these qualities, with something more: real benefits without sacrificing hardware capabilities while using software to enrich the human experience.

Battery is one important area of no-compromise. GSMArena has conducted tests, and they do impress:
- 10 hours 20 minutes talk time (iPhone 4S is 7 hours 41 minutes)
- 10 hours 1 minute video playback (iPhone 4S is 9 hours 24 minutes)
- 5 hours 17 minutes web browsing (iPhone 4S is 6 hours 56 minutes)
Standby time also is excellent, according to GSMArena: "You’d need to charge the monstrous smartphone once every 43 hours if you do an hour of 3G talking, video playback and web browsing per day". Of course you'll do more than that.

Galaxy S III specs: 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display (306 ppi) with 1280 x 720 resolution; 1.4GHz quad-core processor; 1GB RAM; 16GB or 32GB storage (64GB in future), expandable with microSD card; HSPA＋ 21Mbps (850/900/1900/2100), 4G LTE, GSM/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900); 8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.9MP front-facing cameras; LED flash; zero shutter-lag; 1080p video recording; accelerometer; ambient-light sensor; gyroscope; GPS; proximity sensor; digital compass; NFC, Bluetooth 3.0; WiFi N; 2100 mAh battery; carrier locked; Android 4.0 and TouchWiz "nature" UI. Measurements: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm, 133 grams.

Will you buy Samsung Galaxy S III?

But the big benefits are software and services. Among them:
- Front camera detects whether the user is looking at the phone and keeps the screen lit. How many times has your display gone dark while reading a website or ebook?
- The phone can automatically turn on, if recognizing your face.
- You're in the middle of texting someone and decide to call instead. Lifting the phone to your face places a call to the recipient.
- Facial recognition identifies friends, tagging their social networking accounts. Right, Facebook and Twitter.
- Voice commands are available in 8 languages.
Redwan Huq: "All these new features sound incredible. It's the first true innovation we've seen in smartphones in ages. But their fidelity remains to be tested once the phone is released".

Reviewing comments to our S3 stories, few of you expressed your buying intentions, which is reason enough to ask.

Reader ctkatz is "not getting the SGS 3...because I still like my SGS 2, and it still does what I want. This phone looks sexy as hell, too bad I'm not in the market for a new device yet".

The whopping 4.8-inch screen is too much for some people. David Jonas: "I wouldn't buy this if you paid me to, so sick of these big phones".

So the question remains: Will you buy Galaxy S III? Please answer in comments below and take the poll above.

Photo Credit: Samsung
Xamarin Designer brings visual Android UX development to C#, .NET

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 9:03am MDT by Tim Conneally

.NET software development tool company Xamarin on Monday launched Xamarin Designer for Android, a drag-and-drop visual environment for creating native user interfaces for Android apps from within Visual Studio or within the Mono for Android IDE.

Xamarin is a young company made up of more than twenty ex-Novell team members who built the Mono open source .NET development framework. So far, the company is responsible for releasing Mono for Android, and MonoTouch for iOS.

Mono for Android lets developers use C# and the .NET Base Class Library (BCL) to write native Android applications. This is accomplished by executing applications in an instance of the Mono runtime VM, which co-exists on devices along with Google’s Dalvik VM. Xamarin Designer for Android, available today, is included with Mono for Android 4.2, and is available immediately to current licensees of the software.

Xamarin Designer for Android follows the conventions of Visual Studio, concentrating on the .NET framework, but including the native APIs and UI toolkits from Android going back to API level 4, which includes all the bells and whistles of Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich. It is composed of a design surface for visual construction of UIs, a toolbox of widgets and layouts, a property pad, and an outline view.

It lets app developers control form widgets, text fields, layouts, layout containers, images and media; it supports dock-specific layout configurations (for webtop, car, or television applications); and view and edit layouts by language, region, country and telephone carrier.

Xamarin Designer for Android is available now as a part of the Mono for Android package, which is available to individuals and companies with fewer than 10 employees for $399, and to larger enterprises beginning at $999.

broadbandreports.com

Buffalo First to Sell New 802.11ac Router - Though You Won't Be Able to Use the Speed Yet

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 8:33am MDT

Buffalo today became the first company to get an early splash in the 802.11ac Wi-Fi- router market, today announcing their first 802.11ac wireless router and wireless media bridge. The devices support the new 802.11ac standard (though it has yet to be ratified by the IEEE) while also being backward compatible with 802.11a, 11b, 11g and 11n Wi-Fi technology.

Buffalo claims the router (the AirStation WZR-D1800H) is theoretically capable of 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, utilizing a 2.4 GHz 3x3 802.11n radio providing backward compatibility and offering speeds up to 450 Mbps. Buffalo says the media bridge (the WLI-H4-D1300) provides a total aggregate wireless throughput up to 1750 Mbps across the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands.

Because there are no 802.11ac capable devices, the hardware will behave like a 802.11n device until there is. Still, you'll have bragging rights, right? Both the AirStation WZR-D1800H and the WLI-H4-D1300 are now available online for $180.
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Verizon Stands up to BitTorrent User Data Subpoena - Cites Privacy Concerns in eBook Piracy Case

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 6:17am MDT

When most large ISPs are subpoenaed by the entertainment industry for trading copyrighted files, they hand that data over without much concern for user privacy. Occasionally you'll see a company like Time Warner Cable protest the subpoenas, albeit simply because they're annoyed by the added labor costs involved. Verizon was one of the few big ISPs to fight with the entertainment industry over their DMCA carpet bombing efforts back in 2003. Apparently Verizon's back at it, this time fighting a book publisher who has been subpoenaing ISPs for the identities of eBook BitTorrent traders.

Verizon's refusing not simply because they're interested in saving a buck (only ten users were targeted for which Verizon would get $45 each), but claims to be concerned about subscriber privacy rights. Primarily though, Verizon's concerned that like so many "settlement-o-matic" efforts, the subpoena isn't about gaining any "relevant" information -- it's about harassing users for a buck:
One of the reasons given by Verizon is that Wiley is demanding the information for improper purposes, namely "to harass, cause unnecessary delay, or needlessly increase the cost of litigation." In addition, the Internet provider doubts whether the subpoena will lead to the discovery of "relevant information."
It's not clear if Verizon's objections would continue were the small book publisher a major broadcaster with which Verizon does business, but it's interesting to see a major carrier fight these kinds of quick-buck copyright settlement efforts all the same.
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Iran Filters Filter Iranian Leader Rant On Bypassing Filters - Are the Problems With Censoring the Internet Apparent Yet?

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 6:05am MDT

Late last year Iranian leaders made it a criminal offense to bypass the country's Internet filters using VPNs or any other technology. The announcement by Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taghipour insisted the move was made to combat a "soft war being waged by Western countries against Iran (read: we want to spy on our own citizens and stifle information exchange among government critics). Amusingly, Iranian leaders recently issued a fatwa about getting around the filters -- a fatwa that was immediately filtered (via Techdirt):
The website Tabnak reports that Khamenei's "fatwa" on the illegality of using antifiltering tools in Iran was itself blocked in the country, some 30 hours after it was published on Iranian websites. The ruling was seemingly filtered because it contained the word "antifiltering," which triggered the country's censorship system to automatically block it.
Meanwhile, Iran has also recently made it illegal for local banks, insurance firms and telephone operators to use foreign-sourced email services like Gmail to communicate with clients.
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LightSquared Bankruptcy Close - No Waiver, No Product, LightSquared Stumbles On

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 5:57am MDT

The Wall Street Journal reports that LightSquared is preparing for a bankruptcy filing that could come sometime today. Last February the FCC denied the company a necessary spectrum waiver, all but killing the company whose LTE network build has struggled with its potential for GPS technology interference. LightSquared and the company's lenders still have until 5 p.m today to decide on a deal that could potentially keep the company out of bankruptcy, though the Journal reports that the sides are "far apart" in negotiations. LightSquared lenders hold more than half of the company's $1.6 billion in senior debt, allowing them the upper hand in blocking reorganization plans that aren't too their liking.
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LightSquared Files for Bankruptcy - No Waiver, No Product, LightSquared Stumbles On

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 5:57am MDT

The Wall Street Journal reports that LightSquared is preparing for a bankruptcy filing that could come sometime today. Last February the FCC denied the company a necessary spectrum waiver, all but killing the company whose LTE network build has struggled with its potential for GPS technology interference. LightSquared and the company's lenders still have until 5 p.m today to decide on a deal that could potentially keep the company out of bankruptcy, though the Journal reports that the sides are "far apart" in negotiations. LightSquared lenders hold more than half of the company's $1.6 billion in senior debt, allowing them the upper hand in blocking reorganization plans that aren't too their liking.Upate: And thar she blows.
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LightSquared Close to Bankruptcy - No Waiver, No Product, LightSquared Stumbles On

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 5:57am MDT

The Wall Street Journal reports that LightSquared is preparing for a bankruptcy filing that could come sometime today. Last February the FCC denied the company a necessary spectrum waiver, all but killing the company whose LTE network build has struggled with its potential for GPS technology interference. LightSquared and the company's lenders still have until 5 p.m today to decide on a deal that could potentially keep the company out of bankruptcy, though the Journal reports that the sides are "far apart" in negotiations. LightSquared lenders hold more than half of the company's $1.6 billion in senior debt, allowing them the upper hand in blocking reorganization plans that aren't too their liking.Upate: And thar she blows.
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Monday Morning Links -

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 5:15am MDT

Largest carriers lost combined 52,000 postpaid subs in Q1 fiercewireless.com
SOPA Supporters Urge White House To Use Secretive TPP Process To Insert Draconian New IP Laws techdirt.com
LightSquared Moves Toward Bankruptcy wsj.com
Study finds 42% gap between actual and headline broadband speeds in UK cable.co.uk
Iran forbids banks and other firms from corresponding with users of Gmail and other foreign email services, moves towards national Internet thenextweb.com
MP3Tunes Declares Bankruptcy Due To 'Withering' Legal Costs techdirt.com
Court Goes Censorship Crazy Against Dutch Pirate Party torrentfreak.com
AT&T Suspends U-verse TV On Xbox Option multichannel.com
Apple Gives In, Drops iPad '4G' Tag To Avoid Lawsuits slashdot.org
US carriers may get tougher with smartphones totaltele.com
Broadband cap doesn't slow Suddenlink's cable modem subscriber growth fiercecable.com
Comcast finds way to deliver ads to subscribers who skip commercials on DVR fiercecable.com

BetaNews.Com

Yahoo ousts CEO Scott Thompson, and I ask: 'What the frak?'

Posted: May 13th, 2012, 4:45pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

So let me see if I understand rightly. It's okay for CEOs to lie, steal, cheat, take ungodly salaries and -- worse -- huge bonuses while companies flounder, commit insider trading and abuse shareholder trust in just about every way possible, but lie on the résumé and it's adios, baby? Somebody wake me from this nightmare -- or perhaps Scott Thompson, who is out as Yahoo chief executive.

Yahoo tacitly confirmed Thompson's exit today, in an announcement about Ross Levinsohn assuming position of interim CEO: "Levinsohn replaces Scott Thompson, former chief executive officer, who has left the company". That is one big middle finger. There is no explanation -- not even a fine he left for personal reasons -- or praise for his short time running Yahoo. Thompson leaves with a big stake in his heart implanted from behind.

A Little Accounting

Before defending Thompson, appropriate disclosure: I've never lied on a résumé, generally because being honest is a personal philosophy and falsehood gives an employer easy grounds for dismal later on -- well for lowly minons like me, and perhaps you, who don't pull in 7-figure incomes (or more) for high-finagle executive positions. I expected Thompson to weather this insignifiant scandal just fine. His ouster for something so petty, when many CEOs do so much worse, is simply outrageous.

So what if Thompson's bachelor degree is in accounting not computer science? Surely, given Yahoo's financials, he should be faulted not for what he claimed, but what he didn't. Yahoo could use a little more accounting right now, and a numbers guy doing it. C`mon, Thompson didn't claim that his degree is from Harvard rather than Stonehill College. It's a little thing.

Some companies would reward such behavior. In the video clip above, Kevin Bacon interviews for an advertising job in John Hughes movie "She's Having a Baby". Bacon lies on his résumé and gets caught doing so: "Aside from your social security number, there isn't one piece of information in there that is true. You have set new standards for lying in the job market". But Bacon's résumé creative writing skills and desperation to work gets him the job anyway. He's hungry, and the employer likes that.

What's wrong with Yahoo shareholders and board of directors? Is Thompson not hungry enough for you? You can't trust him because of a little white lie on his résumé? Get a life! Losing Thompson less than six months on the job, when Yahoo is struggling so much, is disastrous. Someone else thinks so, too. Shares are down nearly 2 percent in after-hours trading. Will it be bloodbath when markets open, or will shares rise in support? Or perhaps no real change whatsoever? No matter what shareholders feel, Thompson's departure -- eh ouster -- is bad by most any measure.

We Can Lie, Just Not You

Now if only there was an example here -- public companies putting CEOs on notice for bad behavior. There's little chance of that. These execs practically get away with murder (surely some do). Sadly perhaps the lesson is something else: Don't get caught, and Thompson did.

So that's really the crime here, not that Thompson lied on his résumé but that Yahoo is embarrassed and made vulnerable by the public disclosure -- that some shareholders wanted Thompson gone. Ties are severed to protect corporate image and deflect liability from shareholder retaliation (you know, lawsuits). Thompson hangs in the wind, so Yahoo can go on.

But it's Yahoo hanging in the wind, beret of leadership. Worse, Yahoo caved to a shareholder group, by granting seats on the board of directors. If there is an example here, it's a bad one: Bully enough and Yahoo caves. Hedge Fund Third Point uncovered Thompson's résumé white lie and used it in a proxy battle for the Internet giant. As part of today's stunning Thompson departure, Roy Bostock is out as chairman of the board (replaced by Fred Amoroso), while four other members depart, too. Joining the board, as part of a settlement to the proxy fight, Third Point CEO Daniel Loeb, joined by Harry Wilson and Michael Wolf.

I'm awestruck. Eleven days ago, Yahoo said in a statement that Loeb was unqualified:

The board continues to believe that Mr. Loeb himself does not bring the relevant skill set and experience to the board, particularly in comparison to the candidates selected by the board. In addition, we believe that, based on the specific qualifications of Third Point's nominees relative to Yahoo!'s business and opportunities, the candidates nominated by the board's Nominating and Governance Committee are significantly superior to those proposed by Third Point.

So, what? It's okay for Yahoo to lie about Loeb's qualifications to serve on the board but Thompson is grossly negligent for fibbing on his résumé?
Don't miss one of the week's exciting 25 software downloads

Posted: May 13th, 2012, 11:57am MDT by Mark Wilson

The second week of May has passed, and it was as busy as ever in the world of software. If you haven’t kept your finger on the pulse, we have put together this roundup to bring you back up to speed.

Windows users looking to bring one of the features of OS X to their PCs will be interested in TweakNow DriveShortcut 1.0.0, which can be used to automatically create desktop shortcuts whenever removable media is inserted. If you’re looking to clean up your hard drive, the release of GeekUninstaller 1.0.0.2 is very timely, while EASEUS Todo Backup Free 4.5 has been updated with support for Windows 8 -- if you want to protect your valuable files. In a similar vein is Acronis True Image Home 2012 (Update 2) v15.0.7119, which has been enhanced with a number of tweaks and new features.

The last week saw fewer web browser updates than usual, but Opera 11.64 FINAL did see the light of day, although there are few noteworthy changes.TweetDeck 1.4 has also received a minor update.

Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 10.1 is a more major release with improvements made to the virus scanning engine, enhancements made to the firewall and changes to the real-time protection feature. Another security tool that has been updated is Bitdefender Total Security 2013 Beta 32-bit and Bitdefender Total Security 2013 Beta 64-bit, which are previous version of the suite that includes a firewall, spam filtering, secure browsing and much more.

If you use work with audio or video, there are some new releases that may interest you, starting with Ultimate Encoder 7 Free, which can be used to rip CDs and convert files between formats. AirServer 0.9.0 is an interesting tool that enables you to stream the output of your iPad to your PC, while SopCast 3.5.0 is a great online media tool that enables you to, amongst other things, create your own online TV station and watch broadcasts from all over the world. To help you to make the most of your media collection, Plex Media Center 0.9.5.2 (beta) is an all-in-one tool that enables you to pull in all your media files from network locations and enjoy them on your PC or TV, and Plex Media Server 0.9.6.1 is available to help you to get everything set up.

This week also saw the release of trial versions of the CS6 range of applications from Adobe. Fireworks CS6 is a staggering powerful image editor designed with web creation in mind, while the latest version of Adobe’s flagship image editor, Photoshop CS6 really needs no introduction. Adobe is famous not only for its image editing tools, but also software for creating content for the web. Dreamweaver CS6 features the same redesigned and refined interface that can be found across the rest of the CS6 range, while Adobe Flash Professional CS6 is available for anyone who doubts the future of HTML5. For video-editing fans, Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 is a staggeringly powerful tool that includes almost everything you could ever imagine using, while Adobe Illustrator CS6 is a versatile vector drawing tool that can be put to countless uses.

But Adobe is far from being the only company producing image editing software, and Pixelitor 1.1.2 is a surprisingly feature-packed editor that is available completely free of charge. Also free is GIMP 2.8.0 FINAL, which has undergone a huge makeover and is now more approachable than ever -- there’s even GIMP Portable 2.8.0 ready to copy onto your USB drive for use on the move. Topping off this week’s roundup is Apache OpenOffice 3.4.0, which is the latest version of the free office suite that has, amongst other enhancements, been given a speed boost for better performance.

That’s it for this week. There’ll be another roundup in seven days’ time, and in the meantime you can keep checking out Downloadcrew for details of all the latest releases.

Photo Credit: yavuzunlu/Shutterstock
Mom is a Google girl

Posted: May 13th, 2012, 11:34am MDT by Joe Wilcox

I never expected my 70 year-old mother to ride the cutting edge of technology, but she's there, living in the cloud, which she embraces enthusiastically. What's that saying about not teaching old dogs new tricks? Perhaps you can.

Mom's daily tech is way out there, and you can blame or credit me for lifting her there. But she's a willing participant, happily adopting new habits, which in the end wasn't so difficult once she recognized the benefits. Perhaps your mother will, too, if you give her the chance. Mom uses Android phone (Samsung Nexus S), Chromebook (Google Cr-48) and Google TV (Logitech Revue). She lives in the cloud via these Google-powered devices and associated services.

Lifestyle Choice

Technology is all about lifestyle, but more highly pronounced in the cloud-connected device era, driven in part by vendors' product philosophies and marketing strategies. Choose any product company at the height of its dominance, and for some even after, there is lifestyle behind them -- Ford, Harley Davidson, IBM, Kodak and Sony, among many, many others. People choosing Linux or Macintosh during the 1990s and early 2000s made lifestyle choices different from the DOS/Windows majority. BlackBerry and Palm Pilot presented connected lifestyles during the past decade. Examples abound.

For mom, the Google cloud lifestyle works well, although it's nowhere near where she started. I bought mom her first computer, a refurbished Gateway laptop, in 1999. She used Windows PCs through 2008, when I shipped her the last iMac G5 produced by Apple (released October 2005). I did this because the Windows lifestyle wasn't working for either of us. She had a terrible experience where in November 2006 Microsoft's "Genuine" tool wrongly flagged her HP PC -- that I had set up and shipped -- as having pirated Windows XP (it most certainly did not). Occasional malware and other problems led me to offer the iMac.

The Apple lifestyle worked well for mom, and she often expressed how much she loved her Mac. It worked for me, too. I received much fewer tech-support calls from her. But in other ways, the Apple lifestyle fit poorly. She didn't own iPhone, iPod or digital camera. The Mac wasn't her hub for digital lifestyle -- as Apple cofounder positioned the platform at the start of the Millennium. Mom played a few games on her Mac, but largely the web browser defined her digital lifestyle.

Shining Chromebook

Last year, the iMac's graphics card started to fail. Mom badly needed a new computer, being in a wheelchair and relying on the Mac for information and connection to others. She gets out most every day during summer months, but she is more apartment-bound during long New England winters. A new Mac didn't fit either of our budgets. Apple demands too much to join the Mac club -- $1,200 starting price for a desktop PC.

I considered the Cr-48 Chromebook, and we discussed it as an option for about two weeks; she was lukewarm. Then my niece visited her grandmother, and to my absolute surprise she had used a Chromebook at work. That sold mom, who proactively asked me to send the Cr-48. Chromebook isn't a perfect fit, in part because mom moved from a 17-inch to 12-inch display.

Mom also had to learn new habits, even though she already spent most of her life in the browser. She also switched from Yahoo to Gmail, which better suited using an Android phone. All in all, she has expressed satisfaction with the change, with one caveat: Netflix streaming is sometimes choppy. That's more a hardware problem than issue with Chrome OS.

I'm considering a new Chromebook for her, which should solve that problem. Acer Chromebooks start at $299. Timing is right, particularly with desktop-like UI motif coming to Chrome OS. Google didn't initially release "Aura" for Cr-48, but it's available now. She must not have the motif, or I would have heard about it. I'll ask today.

Chromebook fits mom's lifestyle -- and mine, too. Google frequently updates Chrome OS, which development closely tracks with the web browser. I've had one tech call from her in 10 months, and neither of us worry about viruses. All her stuff stores in Google's cloud, so there's less concern about losing valuables in the event of hardware failure. Setting up a new Chromebook will be as easy as logging in with Google ID.

Going Google TV

In December, mom got some unexpected Social Security money and used two-thirds of it to buy a 46-inch television. What an opportunity for Christmas: I upgraded her PC with Google TV. Mom's vision isn't so good, and it seemed to me that doing email and the Web on a big-screen would be better. Plus she could stream Netflix to the television -- more sensible locale than the computer. I sent her the discontinued Logitech Revue, because of the PC-like keyboard.

Google TV was easier for mom to grasp than Chromebook for two reasons that I would never have guessed: Apps and Android. Her Android phone experience made Google TV more intuitive than Chrome OS, which surprised me; I reasoned that the browser would be the more familiar interface. Perhaps, but if you're looking for more out of any computing device, apps and customization matter more -- and these attributes made Google TV easier to use and more familiar to her.

Revue instantly appealed, and now mom moves among Google-OS devices -- Android, Chromebook and Google TV -- depending on context. The stuff that matters to her is available on any of them.

Mom lives in the cloud now. She doesn't have a digital camera; Nexus S is it. Unlike iOS, Android presents sharing options with each photo. So she can snap and share to Facebook, which is her primary social network, because that's where her kids and grandkids hang out. Or wherever else. She doesn't use Chrome for Android beta, but I need to change that. Browser sync across devices is another benefit she could use.

Mom embraced something new, and benefits greatly from changing her habits. She was always pretty flexible and adaptable, generous and good natured. She deserves better than I can give her. I remember her for lots of things this Mother's Day, but they're not tech enough for BetaNews. Her Google lifestyle is, though, which is why I write about it.

Now if I could only interest mom in Google+. :)

broadbandreports.com

Friday Evening Links -

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 4:47pm MDT

Fight the Patriot Act and win? Check. Next? Promise privacy and a surveillance-free ISP networkworld.com
Verizon to launch LTE in 29 cities on May 17th ubergizmo.com
Data caps aren't perfect, but that's OK arstechnica.com
Clearwire: You want fast 4G?? How s 168 Mbps? gigaom.com
Verizon Announces Major Infrastructure Upgrades cable360.net
West Virginia buys 1000+ routers designed for 500+ connections at $22000/each with stimulus money, puts them in tiny 4-computer rural libraries and schools wvgazette.com
U.S. Cellular interested in buying Verizon's 700 MHz spectrum fiercewireless.com
Verizon leads industry in customer loyalty tmcnet.com
Verizon Refuses to Identify Alleged BitTorrent Pirates torrentfreak.com
Mobile devices account for nearly 10% of internet traffic theverge.com
Report: 75% of Rural Dwellers Say Broadband Important to Quality of Life telecompetitor.com
Read that Verizon bill very closely wcpo.com
Apple Television Set Confirmed By Foxconn Boss gizmodo.com
NTCA s CEO Not Content with Universal Service Cap telecompetitor.com

BetaNews.Com

Apple is replacing Google maps in iOS 6? You don't say

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 4:04pm MDT by Ed Oswald

The tech blogosphere is abuzz today following a report by Apple news site 9to5Mac claiming "trusted sources" say Google Maps will get the boot in iOS 6, replaced by an in-house solution. It is no secret these two companies have an increasingly strained relationship, and Apple's acquisitions point towards a future in maps.

In the newsroom this afternoon, we chalked this one up to "sourced conjecture": that is, while 9to5Mac may indeed have some kind of inside track to what Apple plans in the next version of iOS, it certainly doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this one out. The writing's been on the wall on this one for three years, at least.

Let's look at Apple's recent acquisitions first; they add up to a company ready to develop its own in-house mapping product.

July 2009 - Placebase. Apple's buy of Placebase gives the Cupertino, Calif. company the basis to form any planned mapping application. Most of the Placebase team moved to Apple's campus, where they've been for three years now, so plenty of time has passed to iron out any bugs and get everything just right. Placebase also has an easy API called Pushpin that allows third parties to easily mesh data with Placebase maps. That makes great sense if Apple plans to push app developers to use its own mapping solution over Google or Bing.

July 2010 - Poly9. Where Placebase provides Apple with maps, Canadian company Poly9 gives Apple access to high-resolution imagery. Like Google Earth, it allows the user to surf around the maps via a virtual 3D globe. This would match Google Maps' satellite view capabilities.

October 2011 - C3 Technologies. Google makes waves with its 3D and Street View capabilities, so Apple needs to match that in a service of its own. Acquisition of C3 does just that, and allows Apple to produce 3D renderings of images without any interaction from humans. This would allow Apple to launch with all the features of Google Maps right from the start, and scale quickly.

Placebase, Poly9, and C3 put together form the components that will make any in-house mapping application as good if not better than what Google currently offers. The fact that it is coming in iOS 6? Probably correct since everything is in place.

Then there's that overarching issue of the ever-increasingly strained relationship between Apple and Google. Look at iPhoto for iOS: the mapping application it uses sure isn't Google Maps. Google chairman Eric Schmidt (at the time CEO) quit the board abruptly back in 2009, and Apple has made no qualms about taking Google's Android OS head-on over patents in the courts.

All this said, whatever is to come out of Apple will "blow your head off", according to All Things Digital's sources. I guess we all just have to sit here and wait, but you can't tell me that this report of no more Google Maps in iOS 6 is in the least bit surprising.

Photo Credit: Vlue/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Verizon Wireless Continues LTE Expansion - Coverage Pushes Past 230 Markets Nationwide

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 2:37pm MDT

Verizon says they're launching their LTE upgrades in portions of Northern Vermont as well as the Cape Cod region starting on May 17. The company's also busy preparing to launch their faster LTE option in a number of summer destinations including Virginia Beach. The company says they've just enabled LTE in Nassau County, Long Island, as well as the Huntington area, south shore, and eastern end of Suffolk County. Verizon says the new network is now available to more than two-thirds of the U.S. population in 230 markets across the country and "offers more than six times the geographic coverage of its nearest competitor s 4G LTE network."

BetaNews.Com

Affixa makes webmail work with your desktop apps

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 1:59pm MDT by Nick Peers

One of the major drawbacks of switching to a web-based email provider like Gmail or Yahoo is that your desktop hasn’t cottoned on to your new way of working. Sure, you can access your email via your web browser, effectively liberating you from a single email program on a single PC, but it seems your desktop hasn’t caught up with progress.

You’ll know what we mean: click an email link on a webpage, or attempt to attach a file to an email directly from another program and you’ll either open an unwanted relic from the past like Outlook, or get some error message. Before throwing your PC out of the window, however, discover how a free software program called Affixa can soothe your furrowed brow.

The problem lies in the fact web-based email has no means of using the Messaging API (MAPI) protocol to communicate with programs like Word that use it to integrate with traditional email programs. Affixa basically acts as the MAPI interface, intercepting calls from programs and redirecting them to supported webmail clients, namely Gmail and Yahoo! for personal users, and Office 365, Google Apps, Outlook Web App and Zimbra for enterprise users.

The free version is limited for non-commercial use only, and only allows you to use it with a single client. However, it includes an attachment basket that allows you to drag and drop multiple files from different sources into a single place before magically attaching them all to a single email. And it also provides a limited drop service where you can store up to 100MB of files online for up to a month should your file attachment exceed the size permitted by your webmail provider.

All of this is good stuff, but should you shell out the princely sum of two British pounds (around $3.20) for an annual subscription, you’ll get even more goodies: that dropbox service jumps to 1GB and is good for a year, multiple accounts are supported (you can even switch between desktop and webmail accounts on a whim), plus you can compress attachments and resize pictures too.

It all adds up to an essential service for anyone looking to wave bye bye to email clients and hello to pure, unadulterated web-based email.

Affixa is available as a free-for-personal-use download for PCs running Windows XP or later. The .NET Framework 2.0 or 3.5 may also be required, while an annual subscription for £2 (around $3.20) can also be purchased for commercial use or to gain additional features.

Photo Credit: Gina Sanders/Shutterstock
You can have iPhone 4S, I'll take Galaxy Nexus

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 1:45pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

During the last six months, I've had the privilege to use three exceptional smartphones: iPhone 4S and two Galaxy Nexus variants -- one LTE and the other HSPA+. You can't go wrong buying either Android or iOS handset, although Galaxy Nexus supports more carrier networks here in the United States. Differences that matter are more than hardware (such as size, appearance or battery life) or software (apps and operating systems). Taking Galaxy Nexus or iPhone 4S is much more. Either is a digital lifestyle choice that many buyers won't grok before paying their hard-earned cash.

I can't emphasize this aspect strongly enough. In the days before Android and iPhone, early smartphone buyers also made digital lifestyle choices, such as BlackBerry users and persistent email or Windows Mobile buyers wanting mobile Office. But today, with differentiated, connected cloud services, digital lifestyle matters more than ever, and both handsets offer similar yet drastically different experiences. You're not just buying a phone but a way of life.

Quick background: Samsung makes Galaxy Nexus for Google, with which it co-designed the smartphone. I bought the Verizon Galaxy Nexus LTE model in December and loved it. But by mid-February, I could see that my regular monthly bill would be half that for four other lines on AT&T. So, I made the hard choice: Sold Galaxy Nexus LTE for two dollars less than Verizon's early-termination, which I paid off. I then bought iPhone 4S from AT&T, as compromise and to test. But late last month, unexpectedly, Google started selling Galaxy Nexus HSPA+, which supports AT&T's network. I bought the phone and received it one week ago. I sold iPhone 4S a few days ago, via Craigslist for $500, which more than covers the new Galaxy Nexus.

I never really wanted to give up Galaxy Nexus and nothing about using iPhone 4S for two months swayed me away from the desire. For me, as it may prove true for you, Galaxy Nexus is as much about digital lifestyle as hardware, operating system, apps or cloud services.

Cloud Lifestyle

Setup. From the moment you set up the smartphones, the digital lifestyle journey begins, signing in with either Apple or Google ID, unless you need to make one. Apple ID sets up sync with iCloud. Same is true for Google cloud services, although there's no fancy name for them. From there the differences manifest, deriving from heritage -- device for Apple and cloud for Google. Apple's legacy is the desktop and extension to iPad, iPhone and iPod. Apple syncs content among your devices -- and quite seamlessly, I should emphasize. Google, which legacy is the cloud, keeps your stuff there, while syncing to the device and offering extended services.

Services. I chose Galaxy Nexus over iPhone 4S for many reasons, with digital lifestyle being among the most important. Google+ is my preferred social network, which greatly increased using Google Talk as chat client. I also use Gmail and YouTube, frequently, and many other Google services -- all which either tightly tie to Android 4.x out of the box or after installing separate apps.

Something, which I can't over-emphasize: Galaxy Nexus feels like an end-to-end product, like any iPhone. Hardware, services and software integration is tight and smooth. Google services seamlessly and broadly extend the user experience -- far beyond anything Apple offers, in part because it relies so much on Google services. Google's cloud services stack is wider and deeper, and tight integration extends them not just from the device but from you.

Sync. People with more than one Apple product are better candidates for iPhone 4S, and they won't be disappointed by iCloud's capability to sync content among devices. Buy an app or song and, poof, it appears on your devices where auto-downloading is enabled. iCloud also can sync content from your computer, such as contents of the documents folder. Google simply keeps documents in the cloud. Both services can sync and store photos, but iCloud makes them immediately available to all devices. Google sync stops with mobile.

Digital lifestyle in the cloud varies in other ways. For example, if you take photos and use any other service but Apple's or Twitter, sharing requires going to a separate app, such as Facebook, Tumblr or WordPress. Android presents sharing options for all supported apps with the photo, which is more convenient and practical, while reflecting an important philosophical difference between the platforms. iPhone is all about Apple's way, while Androids are more about your choice, which also reflects in the desktop, where live-content widgets can be installed on Android.

Surprisingly, browser choice fits in. If you live the Chrome digital lifestyle, Galaxy Nexus is for you. Chrome for Android beta is exclusively available for Ice Cream Sandwich, and sync leads stand-out features. The browser essentially captures the state of desktop Chrome, right down to open tabs. Safari offers nothing comparable and is an inferior browser, even though they share common engine. I'd buy Galaxy Nexus just to get Chrome for Android.

Hardware Lifestyle

Specs. Many hardware differences are immediately apparent, with size and screen most obvious. But others demonstrate deep digital lifestyle differences that won't be obvious to most buyers. Specs are a good starting place. What review would be complete without them?

iPhone 4S: 3.5-inch multitouch display with 960 x 640 resolution (800:1 contrast ratio); 1GHz dual-core processor; 512MB RAM; 16GB, 32GB or 64GB storage (I tested 32GB); GSM/HSPA+; 8MP rear-facing and VGA front-facing cameras; LED flash; image stabilization; 1080p video recording; accelerometer; ambient-light sensor; gyroscope; GPS; proximity sensor; digital compass; Bluetooth; WiFi. Measurements: 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm, 140 grams.

Galaxy Nexus: 4.65-inch multitouch display with 1280 x 720 resolution (100,000:1 contrast ratio); 1.2GHz dual-core processor; 1GB RAM; 16GB (HSPA+) or 32GB (LTE) storage; GSM/HSPA+ or CDMA/4G LTE; 5MP rear-facing and 1.3MP front-facing cameras; LED flash; zero shutter-lag; 1080p video recording; accelerometer; ambient-light sensor; barometer; gyroscope; GPS; proximity sensor; digital compass; Near-Field Communication (NFC); Bluetooth; WiFi. Measurements: 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94 mm, 135 grams.

Size. While Galaxy Nexus is a tad lighter than iPhone 4S, the physical size difference is monstrous. I actually prefer the Apple smartphone's smaller size; the handset is more comfortable to hold, more easily pocketed and more comely held against the ear. Galaxy Nexus looks weird -- bulky placed against the face. iPhone 4S small size works by comparison in part because the screen resolution is so high for the available display real estate.

Size is a digital lifestyle choice. Which matters more to you: Having a more pocketable phone or one with larger display, which granted is better for viewing websites, photos or videos? Do you use handset-to-face rather than wired or Bluetooth earphones and does the appearance against the head matter to you? I find Galaxy Nexus larger size advantages to matter more. However, I would feel differently if screen resolution was lower than 1280 x 720.

Screen. The displays are different in ways that also impact digital lifestyle. Galaxy Nexus and iPhone 4S render pixels differently. There's more pixelation with the Android's PenTile display than the Apple's. But contrast is deeper and colors richer, delivering better visual experience with photos or videos. However, for people on the go who look at the phone outdoors, iPhone 4S display is vastly more viewable in direct sunlight than Galaxy Nexus.

Style. I find iPhone 4S to be the more attractive phone, not that either overly excites or that Galaxy Nexus is unappealing. Style isn't just about physical appearance but extending the hardware. There, I concede, iPhone 4 and 4S have huge advantage over Galaxy Nexus. Handset owners can choose from many more cases or add-ons that extend iPhone 4S utility, such as the iPhone Panorama Lens, Glif Plus holder and the fisheye, macro and wide-angle lens set sold by Photojojo.

This is one of the few areas where iPhone 4S appeals to me more than Galaxy Nexus, but not enough to pull me back. Broader choice of add-ons is something many iPhone 4S buyers won't consider when choosing a handset but that will greatly enrich their lifestyle choice later on.

Shutter. For people living the digital photography lifestyle, the above add-ons favor iPhone 4S. By the specs, so does the camera. But specs are deceiving. While iPhone 4S wins on megapixel count (8 versus 5), Galaxy Nexus is the more convenient shooter. Photos are actually quite comparable. Some differences: iPhone 4S colors are warmer, while Galaxy Nexus occasionally over exposes. When it doesn't, shadows and areas of dark and light are a tad more defined than iPhone 4S.

For me, one difference stands out: Galaxy Nexus zero-lag shutter delivers. I'm more likely to catch that quick shot with Android than the Apple, which surprises me because iPhone 4S smaller size feels better in the hand. However, composition-wise, Galaxy Nexus' larger screen is better -- well, as long as sunlight isn't too strong.

Staying Power. Battery life is exceptional, which is paramount for any mobile digital lifestyle. Galaxy Nexus LTE and iPhone 4S are comparable, in my testing, easily going more than 24 hours with heavy usage. That's actually a knock against iPhone 4S, since there's no extra battery drain from LTE. When Galaxy Nexus launched, pundits circled around pecking about how LTE drains battery faster. I didn't believe them.

Now that I have Galaxy Nexus HSPA+, I must concede it's true. The Verizon LTE phone has 1850 mAh battery and HSPA+ 1750 mAh. On my first full recharge of the HSPA+ phone, with heavy usage, I had 31 percent charge after 20 hours. The phone finally finished somewhere above 38 hours (while I slept). On the second full recharge, Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ got to 55 hours and 7 percent left before I had to plug in -- that's with moderate use. I'm on third recharge now, where I've used the device just for Google+, email and four phone calls. Charge is 71 percent after 44 hours.

So based on this unscientific test, my HSPA+ model gets considerably longer charge than Galaxy Nexus LTE and demolishes iPhone 4S, for which longest charge with moderate-to-light usage was about 42 hours.

Support. What happens if your phone malfunctions or, gasp, you break it, such as a drop that shatters the glass? Verizon charges a hefty monthly fee with deductible to cover damage or theft. I've got nothing at all, buying Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ direct from Google. By contrast, Apple has over 300 retail stores worldnwide, is known for replacing troubled handsets on the spot and offers an extended warranty called AppleCare+. For $99, within 30 days of purchase, Apple will extend standard warranty to 2 years and replace a busted iPhone 4S for $49 -- up to two times. Absolutely, replacement protection is another digital lifestyle choice.

Connected Lifestyle

Galaxy Nexus is gateway to the purest Google lifestyle. The phone comes with the newest Android version, which is 4.04 for HSPA+ models, and there is no carrier bloatware added. These things separate Galaxy Nexus from nearly all other Androids. iPhone 4S already is purest Apple lifestyle.

Speed. As a connected-lifestyle device Galaxy Nexus exceeds iPhone 4S, starting with carrier support. AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and a few regional carriers sell the Apple handset. Verizon and Sprint sell Galaxy Nexus LTE, while the HSPA+ model available from Google works on any GSM carrier, and that includes AT&T and T-Mobile. You can't get iPhone for T-Mobile, but you can use Galaxy Nexus and get big bandwidth for data. By the way, for those people living the contract-free lifestyle, unlocked Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ is the way to go.

Data availability is another lifestyle consideration, particularly for those people frequently on the go with no WiFi access. There, Verizon's Galaxy Nexus is superior choice, because the LTE network is available in most major markets and it delivers. In my neighborhood: 27Mbps. Sprint's LTE is under construction, and its CDMA network slow -- and that applies to iPhone 4S. Sprint offers unlimited data, which doesn't mean much if you can't get it.

In my testing, on AT&T, Galaxy Nexus and iPhone 4S deliver equally disappointing HSPA+ performance. AT&T's HSPA+ network did much better before 4S launched last year. I have yet to top 3.5Mbps on either smartphone, in recent testing.

Search. Apple would have you believe that Siri is the be-all, end-all personal assistant. But in my testing Galaxy Nexus speech and search capabilities consistently outperform iPhone 4S. Siri's presentation is better, Google gets the job done.

Simple example: One of my favorite local restaurants is Bahn Thai. When listening to my request for the phone number, iPhone 4S and Galaxy Nexus equally understand, one doesn't deliver. I've tried different variations using Siri: "Phone number for Bahn Thai"; "Phone number for Bahn Thai, University Heights"; "Bahn Thai, University Heights"; Thai restaurants, University Heights"; among others. The latter used to work, showing two Thai eateries nearby. Now all answers lead to a list of Thai restaurants in San Diego, and none the one I want. By comparison, simply asking Galaxy Nexus for "Bahn Thai, University Heights" brings up Google search page with Yelp review and phone number top result.

From mapping to location services and more, Galaxy Nexus is superior to iPhone 4S. Google services are simply better and better exposed. If getting information is part of your digital lifestyle, the choice is clear. Some people will argue that iOS apps easily fill in the gaps. But tight services ties, the ability to run widgets and get alerts in more real-time fashion give Galaxy Nexus edge.

Social. Two days ago, a new Google+ for iPhone version released, and it's vastly superior to the Android counterpart. Perhaps, but that app also borrows capabilities and fit-and-finish already available on Galaxy Nexus.

For example, recent activity shows up in contacts -- a feature that works best if they're on Google+. Google Hangouts also got its mobile start on Galaxy Nexus. The aforementioned photo-sharing capabilities are superior as are messaging and chat. Then there's option to text an incoming caller. It's all about connecting, staying social, with people.

Overall, I am much more connected to others using Galaxy Nexus than iPhone 4S -- and that hugely fits better with my digital lifestyle. While the design doesn't reach out and grab me, the incredible display gives the appearance edge to Galaxy Nexus. I find Galaxy Nexus to be more responsive than iPhone 4S, while Android 4 visually appeals more than iOS 5. More significantly, the Google phone better fits my digital lifestyle.

Pull it all together and for me, Galaxy Nexus is the superior choice, and that's stopping the comparison short (I never got around to apps, for example). This post is 2,400 words, which is more than long enough. I've come back to the phone I didn't want to give up in the first place (and for anyone asking, I'm not interested in Galaxy S III). You can have iPhone 4S, I'll take Galaxy Nexus.

broadbandreports.com

AT&T, Leap Have Held Acquisition Talks - Leap Has Hired Bank to Advise On Potential Deal

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 12:31pm MDT

Anonymous sources tell Reuters that AT&T and Leap (owner of the Cricket subsidiary) have been engaged in acquisition talks over the last few months. As we noted in February, AT&T had held talks with Leap executives about offloading some subscribers and network assets to make the deal more palatable for skeptical regulators. However, AT&T's historically insatiable acquisition appetite was muzzled by the blocked T-Mobile deal, resulting in them returning to the table for a broader deal with Leap. Just like the recently rumored T-Mobile MetroPCS deal, both Leap and AT&T use incompatible wireless network technologies, meaning both deals could be really ugly technically, if they actually happen at all.

BetaNews.Com

Google prices out cloud SQL services for App Engine customers

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 10:52am MDT by Ed Oswald

Google has set fees for its cloud SQL storage offering, and detailed pricing on both a per-use and per-day model depending on the developer's need. The move is an effort to bolster App Engine, which is a service from Google that allows developers to run cloud applications on the company's infrastructure.

The Mountain View, Calif. company has offered Cloud SQL in a limited free beta since last October. Developers can continue to use Cloud SQL free of charge until June 12, however, after that continued use will require billing information.

"Since launch, we’ve been busy working on improving the performance, and adding features like scheduled backups and multihoming to increase availability and improve performance", Cloud SQL team member Joe Faith says. Faith says that SQL capability is one of the most requested features by App Engine users.

The per-use plans are designed for those who want to test out the service, have lightweight applications or applications where usage may be hard to predict. On a per database instance basis, usage will be charged at between $0.10 and $0.88 per hour depending on database type. In addition, there is a $0.24 charge per gigabyte of storage, and a $0.10 per million I/O request fee.

For those that can plan out their usage, the package plans might be a better option. The smallest package allows for .5GB of RAM, 1GB of storage and 850,000 I/Os per day for $1.46 per day per instance, while the largest package offers 4GB of RAM, 10GB of storage and eight million I/Os per day for $11.71. Any storage or I/O overage is charged at the per-use rate, the company says.

Database in the cloud is a hot-ticket item among cloud service providers. HP's cloud service packages announced Thursday offer MySQL database services. Amazon also made moves on the SQL front this week, adding Microsoft SQL server to its Relational Database Service (RDS) product.

Even with the move to offer SQL services, some are still not convinced the company is serious about the cloud. GigaOM's Barb Darrow actually compared Google App Engine to a "roach motel" over issues with compatibility with other cloud storage providers.

"You can check [cloud apps] in, but not necessarily check them out should you opt for another deployment choice. Developers say once they write for GAE, the application is locked in", she wrote after speaking with some developer's familiar with Google's cloud application service.

Photo Credit: nopporn/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

Verizon, AT&T Investors Unsurprisingly Vote Down Net Neutrality - Being an Anti-Competitive Jerk is Good for (Short Term) Business

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 10:19am MDT

Back in February we noted AT&T was getting some interesting investor pressure from none other than Mike D of the Beastie Boys, who had used SEC rules to force an investor vote on whether the telco should adhere to network neutrality. As we also noted in April, it seemed highly unlikely that the investors would vote for this provision, since anti-competitively screwing the other guy (while professing to love "free markets" out of the other corner of your mouth) is generally the rule of the road.

Throttling or capping a competitor's traffic and generally abusing your gatekeeper position is good for business. Well, at least your business, and at least in the short term.

Not too surprisingly when AT&T investors put the issue up for a vote last month it was overwhelmingly shot down to the tune of 94.1 percent against. Similarly, Verizon investors this week were also forced to vote on the issue, and fared slightly better -- with 92.1 percent voting against the measure.

Open Media and Information Companies Initiative (OpenMIC), the organization behind the initiative, doesn't see it as a complete failure because they got enough votes to have the issue re-appear on the ballot next year:
Open MIC executive director Michael Connor told The Hill that the vote was just the first step in educating shareholders about net neutrality. "These are multi-year efforts. It doesn't happen overnight," he said. He noted that the vote cleared the 3 percent threshold necessary to ensure the issue can appear on the ballot again next year. "For us to get the vote that we did, we found quite gratifying," he said. "We would have been happy with 4 or 5 percent. So to get above that was significant."
While being an anti-competitive jerk may be good for a carrier's short term revenues, Open MIC has argued that it hurts overall innovation on the Internet, stunting potential business opportunities on every front. Still, it seems unlikely that telecom investors are going to change their stripes and develop big picture vision anytime soon. Most sector investors are so myopically short sighted, they whine like schoolchildren when a carrier re-invests in their own network (even if they have the cash) to keep pace with the times.

BetaNews.Com

Revitalize your desktop with My Daily Wallpaper

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 8:13am MDT by Mike Williams

Tired of the same old Windows wallpaper? You’re not alone, which is why there are a host of tools around that promise they’re the perfect choice to revitalize your desktop. My Daily Wallpaper is the latest: does it have what it takes to stand out from the crowd? We took a look.

Setup is extremely straightforward. The program is a tiny 186KB download, and portable, so there are no installation hassles, no browser toolbars or other unwanted extras. You just unzip the file and go.

My Daily Wallpaper sources its images from DeviantART.com, which means there’s plenty of choice on offer (more than 132,000 wallpapers, as we write). Plainly these won’t all appeal, but you can improve your chances of finding images you’ll like by checking only your favorite categories: Landscapes, Animals & Plants, Science Fiction, Minimalistic and so on.

By default the program works as a simple wallpaper browser. Once you’ve chosen your preferred categories, click the Download button, and it’ll grab and display four images. Which maybe isn’t quite enough. Presumably the author is thinking of performance, and certainly downloading 16 (for instance) high-res images might take a while, but we’d at least like to have the option to download and display more.

Anyway, at the moment you’ll see four wallpapers randomly chosen from your categories. If you like one, click its “Set as wallpaper” button to place the image on your desktop. And if you don’t, click Download once more and browse the next batch.

If that sounds like too much hassle, though, you can alternatively check the “Autostart with Windows and download a new wallpaper” box, and the program will then automatically choose and set a new wallpaper for you every time you log on.

If you don’t like this image then you can still download another by choosing the appropriate right-click option from the My Daily Wallpaper system tray icon, though. And in a nice touch, the program doesn’t waste resources by running there indefinitely. The developer has realised that users will really only need it to replace wallpapers they don’t like, and so if you’ve not used the program after a few minutes then it’ll assume you’re happy and automatically close.

There’s nothing too exceptional here, then, but My Daily Wallpaper does provide easy access to lots of images, and is compact, simple to use and makes minimal demand on your system resources. If your desktop could benefit from a new look then the program should definitely be able to help.

Photo Credit: mikie11/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

AT&T Family Data Plans Coming Soon - Though You Wonder How Carriers Will Screw it Up...

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 7:41am MDT

Both AT&T and Verizon have been hinting that they'll offer family data plans eventually -- or plans that allow a household to pull from one bucket of bytes, much like they currently do with voice minutes. The problem for carriers is that they make a lot of money selling individual data plans for each person or device -- so their marketing folk and accountants have been busy trying to figure out how to price these plans as to minimize these losses (read: the addition of obnoxious caveats and surcharges). AT&T's CEO this week at the CTIA Wireless convention that he's finally come to terms with family data plans, which will be offered "soon":
"I'm very comfortable with the plan that will be offered to our customers," de la Vega said on the sidelines of his company's home security and automation event at the CTIA Wireless trade show. The comments mark a reversal of de la Vega's uncertainty over the implementation of family data plans just a few months ago.
In other words, AT&T's math and marketing wizards have finally figured out precisely how to milk some additional revenue out of a pricing option that really should be quite straightforward and involve cost savings to bulk customers. Knowing AT&T's tendency toward "creativity" however, it should be very interesting to see precisely what the plan's fine print has in store.
India Orders ISPs to Ban Vimeo - In Addition to Numerous BitTorrent Websites

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 7:11am MDT

There's fairly clearly an global Internet filtering trend afoot, with countries like the UK and the Netherlands banning access to the Pirate Bay, blissfully unaware that the filters don't work -- and in fact only deliver free advertising to the website. India appears to be taking things one step further, ordering ISPs to ban the Pirate Bay as well as video-sharing service Vimeo. Vimeo of course is a haven for non-pirated legitimate independent work, so the ban appears to be suffering from a bad case of blind ambition.

India hasn't officially announced the move, ISP users are just greeted with the following screen if they try to access restricted websites: att=2001736 As with other such filters, these are usually ISP DNS based, meaning that users simply have to use a VPN or switch to an alternative DNS provider to continue accessing the content.
New Zealand ISP's Regional Video Ban Dodge Lasts 48 Hours - Hollywood Lawyers Likely Didn't Like the Idea...

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 6:48am MDT

A New Zealand ISP this week made headlines by being the first to offer subscribers the ability to beat geographic restrictions on video content, giving them access to the full slate of streaming video offerings made available to U.S. or UK consumers (Netflix, BBC iPlayer, etc.). New Zealand ISP FYX offered what they were calling a "global mode" to local broadband users, in addition to their $34.34 monthly service with 34 cents per GB overages. Not too surprisingly, the offering lasted just over 48 hours before the entertainment industry lawyers got involved.

According to a statement posted by FYX, they've suspended "global mode:"
FYX sincerely apologises to our customers and the New Zealand internet community for putting a halt to global mode, which will happen tonight at 11.59pm. While legal opinions have supported FYX s global mode under New Zealand law, there are matters that require further consideration before continuing the service. FYX customers are currently being contacted. Future and existing customers wishing to continue with FYX will pay a new, lesser price of $30.30 per month, with $0.30 per GB for data. FYX is committed to delivering great internet and will continue to work for the benefit of New Zealand consumers.
Those "matters for further consideration" are likely threats by Hollywood lawyers promising to sue FYX into oblivion.

BetaNews.Com

Save big on these May software bargains

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 6:42am MDT by Mark Wilson

We’re nearly halfway through May, the weather’s getting warmer and there is a bunch of deals in the Downloadcrew Software Store if you’re looking to save on your purchases. Starting off this month’s selection of offers is a series of deals on TuneUp Utilities 2012 that includes everything you need to optimize, fix or customize your computer.

TuneUp Utilities 2012, complete with a 3-PC, lifetime non-expiring license can be yours for just $18.99, saving you 62 percent, while anyone who needs more licenses should take a look at TuneUp Utilities Business Edition 2012 [5-PC, lifetime license] which costs just $22.95 – saving of 73 percent. Looking to secure your PC as well as speed it up? Look no further than the TuneUp Utilities 2012 + AVG Internet Security 2012 bundle which costs just $22.95 (a saving of 80 percent) and the TuneUp Utilities 2012 + avast! Pro Antivirus 7 bundle which at just $19.95 will save you an impressive 78 percent off the MSRP.

There are plenty of utilities to be found in the store that can be used to help improve the performance of your computer, including IObit Advanced SystemCare 5 PRO [3-PC]. This all-in-one system maintenance tool usually costs $39.95, but you could save 70 percent when you buy it for $11.95. Want to take care of your hard drive?Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro 4 is a half price bargain at just $14.95, which ensures that your drives are kept running at peak performance. Another great performance boosting tool is Auslogics BoostSpeed 5. A 70-percent reduction in price means this program can be yours for just $14.95 and you can use it to easily take care of your registry, hard drive, system settings and more.

May also sees plenty of deals for anyone who would like to use their computer for creative ventures. You can save 30 percent off the regular price of CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Ultra when you buy it for just $69.95, and this immensely powerful suite includes everything you need to create your own stunning videos. In addition to saving $30, you will also receive $69 worth of complementary software. The previous version of PowerDirector, PowerDirector 9 Ultra64 is still available and can be snapped up for the bargain price of just $29.95 saving your 70 percent off the MSRP of $99.95.

When you have created a video project, or have other files you want to share, you can burn them to disc using Roxio Creator 2012, which is available to buy for 50% of the MSRP for just $49.99. If you are a little more demanding, upi can also save 50 percent off Roxio Creator 2012 Pro which includes extra audio tracks and video effects, and is availbale for just $64.99. If you feel as though you can live without all of the latest and greatest features, you can make a colossal saving by buying the previous version of the program. Roxio Creator 2011 is available for a staggering $19.99 which represents a massive 80 percent saving off the MSRP. If you want to make a saving, but still want to be able to work with high definition Blu-ray discs, look no further than Roxio Creator 2011 Pro -- and you can save 81% off the MSRP when you buy for just $24.99.

The store features a number of great security tools including Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2011. This includes a firewall, antivirus protection and spyware detection, can be installed n three computer and is available for just $4.95 -- a saving of 92 percent off the MSRP. You can get the option of a free upgrade to SecureAnywhere 2012! From the same company comesWebroot Internet Security Essentials 2011 [5-PC], which can be installed on up to five computers and costs just $6.95 instead of $89.95.

Other handy utilities to be found in the store include two great backup tools.Acronis True Image 2012 is available for just $29.99 (a saving of 40 percent), while an even greater saving of 50% can be made on Genie Timeline Professional 2012 which can be bought for just $29.95 instead of $59.95.

Of course, this is just a selection of some of the great offers you can find in the store. To take a look at the full range of what’s available, head on over to the Downloadcrew Software Store.

Photo Credit: iQoncept/Shutterstock

broadbandreports.com

HBO Boss Thinks This Whole Internet Video Thing is a Fad - That's Apparently Their Justification for Failing to Adapt

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 6:36am MDT

HBO hasn't exactly warmed to the broadband-driven Internet video revolution. Over the years they've been accused of poisoning copies of their TV shows available for download via BitTorrent, petitioned the FCC to make DVR recording of subscription video-on demand illegal, and even hinted at possibly suing Slingbox for allowing the re-transmission of their content. In early 2010 the company finally revealed their Internet video service HBO Go, but hid it behind a paywall, requiring that consumers have both a cable subscription and a subscription to HBO.

Two years later and "Game of Thrones," HBO's adaptation of George R.R. Martin's fantasy series, is officially the most pirated television show -- possibly ever. Season two of the show has been downloaded more than 25 million times from public torrent trackers since it began in early April. Part of the problem is HBO has stubbornly made it difficult for legitimate users to buy their content, the first series notably absent from most online video services -- and only recently showing up on iTunes.

HBO could get with the times and offer HBO Go as a stand alone service, but they're not only apparently terrified of the revenue changes involved, but they're apparently hoping this whole Internet video thing just floats away magically. From a recent piece in Forbes:
For people like me who wish HBO would sever ties with cable television and offer its own streaming service that didn t require a cable subscription, that doesn t look at all likely. HBO GO will remain available only to cable television subscribers rather than as a stand-alone service. HBO co-president Eric Kessler has said he thinks the move away from traditional television to an internet-based model is just a fad that will pass a temporary phenomenon tied to the down economy.
There's a very noticeable streak of denial running right down the center of the cable and broadcast industry, wherein many executives appear to believe that traditional cable is invulnerable to evolutionary competition, and that any shift they're seeing is caused by temporary phenomenon like the economy -- or the weather. Of course these folks' failure to adapt, alongside their stubborn refusal to seriously compete on price, will make the check due for Kessler and other cable industry executives sooner or later.
Friday Morning Links -

Posted: May 11th, 2012, 4:48am MDT

YouTube to pay for your mobile data charges? Carriers betting on it fiercewireless.com
TV Broadcasters Warn of Huge Industry Shakeup If Barry Diller's Aereo Isn't Stopped hollywoodreporter.com
What the airline industry can teach us about broadband caps arstechnica.com
Senator Asks DOJ for Information on its Cellphone Tracking Practices cio.com
U.S. cellphone subscribers hang up on contracts lansingstatejournal.com
T-Mobile marks 10th straight quarter of subscriber loss with 500,000-user exodus totaltele.com
ISP kills off country-ban dodge after just 48 hours theregister.co.uk
British 4G mobile data rollout 'will mean no TV for 2m homes' theregister.co.uk
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Illinois' Eavesdropping Law As Likely Violating The First Amendment techdirt.com
7-Inch iPad with Retina Display Coming in October Priced at $200-$250? macrumors.com
Apple founder Woz admits: 'I don't have broadband' watoday.com.au
Thursday Evening Links -

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 5:20pm MDT

Government asks: When can we shut down wireless service? arstechnica.com
Music streaming comes of age as it gets its own official chart thinkbroadband.com
Netflix Cranks Up the Net Neutrality Heat lightreading.com
China admits plot to conquer the world ... with its own 4G theregister.co.uk
Updated White-Spaces Spec Coming Soon cable360.net
Verizon 4G LTE now available on Long Island libn.com
Am rica M vil's TracFone acquires T-Mobile MVNO Simple Mobile fiercewireless.com
President Clinton: Politicians should learn from wireless industry cnet.com
Dish Sticks It to the Broadcasters lightreading.com
Microsoft s Sneaky Success: The Xbox Is the Most Popular Video Player in the U.S. allthingsd.com
Mobile data roaming is set to become a lot cheaper in Europe as new EU price caps roll out thenextweb.com
FBI Fears Bitcoin s Popularity with Criminals wired.com
Microsoft to bring full Internet Explorer browsing to Xbox360 with Kinect controls theverge.com
Contract Wireless Subscribers Decline for First Time - As Users Flee to Less Expensive Prepaid Offers

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 4:30pm MDT

For the first time in history U.S. wireless carriers saw an overall decline in contract wireless subscriptions as users flock toward prepaid offers. The seven largest U.S. phone companies, who collectively represent roughly 95 percent of the wireless market, lost a combined 52,000 subscribers from contract-based plans during the first quarter. With the wireless market being saturated, more cost-conscious users are ignoring the siren call of newer subsidized devices and are finding cost savings in prepaid offerings. Those prepaid offerings saw a jump of about 2 million, though that total is actually down from the 5 million prepaid subscribers added to the market during the same quarter one year earlier.

BetaNews.Com

Use TweakNow DriveShortcut to display disks on Windows desktop

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 4:15pm MDT by Mark Wilson

Sometimes it is the smallest of things that makes the biggest differences -- it can be little touches that matter the most. Users of OS X and many flavors of Linux will be used to the appearance of a desktop icon when an external drive is plugged in or an optical disc is inserted. This little feature may seem minor, but it is also immensely useful. By installing TweakNow DriveShortcut, you can bring the same feature to Windows.

This is a great alternative, or supplement to Windows’ own built-in AutoPlay feature as it enables you to more easily access drives when you want rather than having the contents automatically displayed after insertion. The most common use for the program would be to create desktop shortcuts for CDs and DVDs as they are inserted, but it can also be used to automatically create shortcuts for USB drives.

TweakNow DriveShortcut runs in the background, constantly monitoring your computer for the appearance of new drives and this also includes removable hard drives and network drives. To make the shortcut icons easier to locate, you can opt to always use the same location for individual icons, and the program can easily set to start with Windows so there is no need to remember to launch it manually.

It is not just removable media that the program can be used with -- it also provides a quick and easy way to enable or disable shortcuts to fixed drives that you have installed. While not quite as useful as the way drives are handled in OSX, this is a handy utility that brings an interesting feature to Windows.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the TweakNow DriveShortcut review page.

Photo Credit: Sergii Korolko/Shutterstock
Unfair maybe, but Microsoft has the right to bar browsers from Windows RT

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 3:29pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Suddenly, the new Microsoft doesn't look all that different from the old one. During court proceedings for the 1998-2001 antitrust trial, government lawyers accused Microsoft of playing favorites by providing its developers access to information not available to third parties -- thus giving Internet Explorer unfair competitive advantage over Netscape. The company's browser policy regarding Windows RT isn't just much the same, it's much more. IE gets hugely exclusive access. The question: Is it anticompetitive?

The answer isn't as simple as some people might think. For example, look at Apple. Is it anticompetitive that the company effectively bars competing browsers from iOS? It's a Safari-only platform, lest browser developers work by proxy, like Opera does. Windows has an acquired monopoly on Intel-based PCs. Apple imposes one in part, by controlling everything on its platform, which is exclusive to its own hardware. Something else to ponder: Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly on ARM as it does on x86. There's no position of market dominance to exert anticompetitive behavior, as could be defined under US antitrust law. Microsoft is within its rights to shut out Chrome, Firefox and other browsers while favoring Internet Explorer. But that doesn't make it right.

'Dark Ages'

"For Windows on X86, Microsoft is giving other browsers basically the same privileges it gives IE", Asa Dotzler, Firefox marketing community coordinator, says. "But on ARM chips, Microsoft gives IE access [to] special APIs absolutely necessary for building a modern browser that it won't give to other browsers so there's no way another browser can possibly compete with IE in terms of features or performance".

Microsoft's Windows RT browser censure isn't something new, but Mozilla general counsel Harvey Anderson brought the plan to the forefront with yesterday's "Windows on ARM Users Need Browser Choice Too" blog post. For good reason. Microsoft's US antitrust oversight ended last year and the company complies with a European order requiring a Windows version without Internet Explorer. Then there is the aforementioned ARM, which is outside the monopoly market defined by the courts. The court of public opinion is Mozilla's only recourse now. Anderson uses it effectively; the topic is easily meme of the day.

Windows RT's main user interface is the tile-like Metro, but there is classic desktop mode, too. Anderson explains:

Windows on ARM prohibits any browser except for Internet Explorer from running in the privileged 'Windows Classic' environment. In practice, this means that only Internet Explorer will be able to perform many of the advanced computing functions vital to modern browsers in terms of speed, stability and security to which users have grown accustomed. Given that IE can run in Windows on ARM, there is no technical reason to conclude other browsers can’t do the same...Quite simply because Windows on ARM, as currently designed, restricts user choice, reduces competition and chills innovation.

Essentially, Microsoft restricts desktop access to its own software. Anderson calls the restriction an "unwelcome return to the digital dark ages where users and developers didn’t have browser choices".

Broken Promises

But is it really? One could argue Apple is there today, by refusing Google, Mozilla and other browser developers admittance to the App Store. Windows RT will emulate much of Apple's iOS strategy: focus on touch and tablets; built-in app store; operating system available on devices only; priority given to the OS developer's apps; and platform curation, among other things. Windows RT is the least partner-friendly Microsoft operating system ever based on what little published information is available (I exclude embedded and smartphone OSes).

Dotzler accuses Microsoft of breaking its promise to developers made with the "Windows Principles" unveiled in July 2006. He has a point, although I didn't think much of them at the time. I wrote for the now defunct Microsoft Monitor blog: "Most of these principles derive from concessions Microsoft made as part of its US antitrust trial". That was then, when Microsoft was subject to government oversight. There is none now and no onus, other than bad publicity that will pass in a few days, to follow them.

Strangely, the link to the 12 principles (organized into three main categories) is dead, although the press conference luncheon transcript still exists. Dotzler provides an off-Microsoft site archive link to the principles. By my reading, Windows RT breaks the first four under the first heading and first under the second heading -- important to developers like Mozilla because it pertains to APIs.

Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said during the July 2006 luncheon:

We're committing today that we will document and disclose all the APIs in Windows that are called by any Microsoft application, whether it's middleware or a standalone application like Microsoft Office or one of our Web services like Windows Live. In effect, this ensures that the rest of our industry is able to use the same technology building blocks in Windows that Microsoft's own developers are able to use.

Microsoft's browser prohibition breaks that promise, but only as applied to Windows. In a citation CNET's Stephen Shankland has, and that I can't corroborate, Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Heiner tells Anderson that Windows RT "isn't Windows anymore". The name surely implies so. But playing Microsoft semantic games, assuming Heiner is properly quoted third hand, those Windows Principles wouldn't apply. Microsoft has an out and not the only one -- the other being no monopoly position on ARM processors.

By the way, I asked Microsoft's legal team for comment, since this all started with "Mozilla's general counsel, who raises customer choice and anticompetitive concerns. I haven't received response yet.

Like a Fox

Moral: Once a fox always a fox (no disrespect to Firefox). Microsoft changed its behavior while caged by the US government. Set free, it's true nature returns. But I see that nature differently than do the Mozilla folks. Microsoft isn't looking to gain advantage over Chrome or Firefox in a new browser war but compete better against iOS devices.

This is all about Apple, and Microsoft preserving its platform's relevancy in the connected-device -- post-PC, if you prefer -- era. There are reasons why so much of Microsoft's approach to Windows RT so resembles iOS. Microsoft is locking down the platform in ways so similar to Apple, with the browsing engine a key component of the strategy.

Earlier I asked if Apple's Safari exclusivity is anticompetitive. Under US law the answer is almost certainly no. I must apply the same conclusion to Microsoft's IE-favoritism. But what a platform vendor has a right to do and what's right to do are very different. Microsoft is wrong to alienate development partners, as is Apple. But Apple shows Microsoft how easily wrong means nothing. App Store and iOS are hugely successful without browser choice and restrictions placed on app approval. Microsoft is more concerned with preserving its platform for all developers rather than negative reactions from a few along the way.

The negative publicity will pass, Mozilla will get no redress and Microsoft will have its way. Should Windows RT be a non-starter -- a total, market flop -- none of this matters, however. Microsoft doesn't restrict Windows 8 the same way, so developers have a huge, and arguably more open, development platform.

RT doesn't matter if Windows 7 entrenches like waning XP.

broadbandreports.com

Netherlands Orders ISPs to Block Pirate Bay - Ignoring Fact That Such Filters Don't Really Work

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 2:39pm MDT

Following on the heels of a similar ruling in the UK, a court in The Hague, Netherlands has ordered ISPs to block the The Pirate Bay website or face new significant fines. According to a report by the Associated Press, ISPs will now face fines of up to $12,750 per day if they fail to keep their users away from the website. Obviously Dutch ISPs, not eager to be saddled with the added costs of playing content nanny, say they plan to appeal the ruling.

It's odd that the AP assumes that if you are stating the obvious, you must be a "digital piracy advocate":
Digital piracy advocates predict users will evade the ban by accessing the site indirectly.
As courts in the UK did, the Netherlands is ignoring (or not understanding) that these DNS-level filters are trivially easy for anyone with even a modicum of technical knowledge to get around, either by simply using a VPN -- or more simply by using a third party DNS provider like Google or Open DNS. There's also the fact that such filters simply act as free advertisements, driving millions of new users to a website they may have never visited otherwise.

If the goal is to block access to BitTorrent websites where pirated files are traded, these filtering efforts aren't working because they're easy for pirates to get around. If the idea is simply to reduce the general, less tech-savvy public's access to the Pirate Bay, filtering is having the opposite effect by drawing people to the website through massive media coverage.

BetaNews.Com

Microsoft overhauls Bing in mission to innovate search

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 2:34pm MDT by Tim Conneally

Microsoft on Thursday announced it will be rolling out the "most significant update" to its Bing search engine since it debuted three years ago.

The new Bing design eschews the decade-old single-page search result design that is a standard, and introduces a three-column interface that combines algorithmic search results (called "Core Web Results") with social network results (called "Sidebar" results) and actionable related services such as location, shopping, and more ("Snapshot" results).

Unlike Google, which integrates its Google+ social search data directly into search results, Bing pairs with Facebook, and then relegates it to its own sidebar to the right of the page. Here, Bing suggests Facebook friends who might be able to help you find an answer to your query based upon their "likes," profile information, and location tags/photos. Furthermore, it suggests public figures who might not be your friends, but who have posted information about subjects related to your query on Twitter, Quora, Linkedin, Blogger, Foursquare, or other social networks.

"People are using the Web to do things in the real world, and that’s a big change from where things were a decade ago," Bing Senior Director Stefan Weitz said in a blog post on Thursday. "And so the ten blue links that search has been predicated on for the last decade no longer makes sense. Simply put, that’s not how you get things done."

Of course, Microsoft has been waging a battle against Google's "ten blue links" since before Bing existed.

In 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer issued an internal memo to Microsoft staffers: "In the coming years, we'll make progress against Google in search first by upping the ante in R&D through organic innovation and strategic acquisitions. Second, we will out-innovate Google in key areas--we're already seeing this in our maps and news search. Third, we are going to reinvent the search category through user experience and business model innovation. We'll introduce new approaches that move beyond a white page with 10 blue links to provide customers with a customized view of their world. This is a long-term battle for our company--and it's one we'll continue to fight with persistence and tenacity."

The new version of Bing will begin rolling out in the coming weeks, and will reach broad availabilty in the U.S. in June, a touch-optimized mobile version is expected at about the same time.
HP pushes OpenStack cloud services into public beta

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 12:50pm MDT by Ed Oswald

Today, HP made OpenStack available in public beta, announcing general availability of three services to customers: Cloud Compute, Cloud Object Storage and Cloud Content Delivery Network; they're available on a pay-as-you-go basis.

In September, the Palo Alto, Calif. company started offering the services to a limited number of customers. HP's move can also be viewed as a strengthened commitment to OpenStack itself. Competitor Citrix is going the opposite direction -- last month relinquishing to open source CloudStack code received as part of the acquisition of Cloud.com last year.

Both HP and Citrix were some of the earliest members of OpenStack.

"We will continue to build, integrate and deploy developer-focused features, designed to support a world-class cloud that enables our customers and partners to run and operate web services at scale, on a global basis", HP Cloud Services chief Zorawar Singh says of Thursday's move.

HP Cloud Compute allows IT administrators to deploy virtual servers on demand, while Cloud Object Storage is the company's data storage in the cloud offering. The Cloud Content Delivery Network is HP's service that allows for fast data transfer by caching data on HP and Akamai's servers worldwide. Like Dell and other companies who have made a business out of selling hardware initially, HP too is focusing on the cloud for additional sources of revenue at a much higher profit margin.

Over 40 companies have already announced their support of HP's cloud service initiative, including CloudOpt and Xeround in databases and Panzura, TwinStrata and Zimanda in storage. The company envisions a virtual marketplace of cloud services in the not too distant future where HP customers will be able to access and purchase both its cloud services and partner applications through a single account.

"Any cloud platform is only as good as the ecosystem and solutions it enables", HP marketing director Karen Reynolds says.

If you're wondering if all this action by HP and others is in response to Amazon's growing clout in cloud services, you're probably right. OpenStack is built to be completely independent of Amazon Web Services, and could be considered one of the true alternatives to Amazon's offering. Citrix in its move to open source CloudStack is touting its AWS support, which has rankled some industry watchers.

"AWS APIs are fine… for Amazon", Sam Johnston, Director, Cloud & IT Services at Equinix tweeted last month. Johnston may be right: supporting AWS may be akin to handing over the keys to a sector that is sure to play a huge role in computing over the next decade.

Photo Credit: Sergey150770/Shutterstock
Acronis True Image Home 2012 Update 2 adds scheduling and archive management

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 11:23am MDT by Nick Peers

Acronis has released Update 2 for its complete backup tool for Windows PCs, Acronis True Image Home 2012. Initially a drive-imaging tool, True Image has evolved into an all-encompassing backup tool covering files and settings, data synchronization and online backup in addition to its partition and drive-imaging capabilities.

Update 2 introduces several new features, including Scheduler Smart Start and Archives Scanning Management, plus fixes a number of bugs present in earlier builds.

The Scheduler Smart Start feature basically allows True Image’s Scheduler service to start when it’s required, while Archives Scanning Management allows users to specify whether or not the program automatically scans TIB image files when True Image starts. Both features should lead to performance improvements.

Also added are unspecified improvements to the disk cloning process for those wishing to duplicate or migrate, plus an updated Linux kernel that should improve support for hardware devices when using the bootable Linux rescue disc and other Linux components.

The update, which is likely to require a system reboot when completed, also fixes a wide number of bugs covering various parts of the program, including error handling, installation, backup and restore. A definitive list can be read here, but notable bugs that have been resolved include the Windows Start button disappearing after a file backup has been made, network storage being unavailable as a location for reserve backup copies and the wrong backup being deleted when the user opts to remove one using the Explore and Backup Wizard.

Acronis True Image 2012 Home Update 2 is available as a free trial download for PCs running Windows XP SP3 or later. The full version can currently be purchased for just $29.99 through the Downloadcrew Software Store, a saving of 40 percent on the MSRP.

Photo Credit: Jakub Pavlinec/Shutterstock
iPhone camera app learns your appearance by your Facebook pics

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 10:59am MDT by Tim Conneally

In the three months ending on March 31, 2012, there were more than 300 million photos uploaded to Facebook every single day. Not only is it a staggering amount of content to organize, but it is also a huge stockpile of graphical data that can actually be put to use.

A new iPhone camera application was released on Thursday to take advantage of this mass of data.

Klik is a camera application based entirely around the concept of face recognition via the Face.com facial recognition platform and your Facebook social graph. The pictures of all your friends act as a photo training set for the application, and it builds profiles of each individual based upon what they look like in their existing Facebook photos.

Then, any time you capture an image in the Klik camera app, faces are compared in real-time to the profiles of your Facebook friends for instant recognition and automatic tagging. Profiles of individuals who aren't your Facebook friends are built entirely within the Klik app.

Klik also incorporates the ever popular photo filters, but these are called "Face Filters," and dynamically picks filters based upon the location, size and number of faces in a photo.

Klik 1.0 can be downloaded in the iTunes app store now and requires iOS 4.3+ and a Facebook account.
Don't be phished by tweet: 'Hey some person is saying horrible things about you'

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 10:58am MDT by Joe Wilcox

Does reputation matter to you? Are you concerned what people say about you when you're not around? Perhaps you want to know what crap anonymous commenters post about you across the InterWebs? If the answer is "Yes" to any of these, you might be vulnerable to this tweet: "Hey some person is saying horrible things about you". Resist the temptation.

I got this one Monday and again yesterday. I started to ignore the tweet, but it came as direct message. So I clicked the shortened link, which brought me to the Twitter home page with message log-in failed. Immediately, I panicked, intuiting this likely was a phishing scam. Sure enough, Chrome revealed the fake URL and I backed off. But some other people haven't been so lucky, as Gartner analyst Mark McDonald confesses today. In reading his post, I realized it would be public service to share a bit about his experience and to warn others.

Most successful phishing attacks are socially engineered. Like an old-time grifter, the phisher tricks you to willingly act on his or her behalf. You give your trust on the belief there will be a benefit or some other gain. Here, the lure is compelling. Who really wouldn't want to know that "some person is saying horrible things about you"? Phishing exploits like this one abuse your trust in someone else. The two direct messages I received came from a George Washington University student; we're mutual followers, so the tweet seemed believable enough.

Something else: URL shortening masks the link's true destination. Matters could have been worse, such as drive-by Trojan planted simply by going to the fake and poisoned website. URL shortening is convenient for keeping to Twitter's 140-character limit, but it's a security liability long overdue for massive exploit. This new attack isn't the first, but surely someone someday will unleash a far-reaching Twitter phishing exploit using URL shortening to mask the destination.

What happened to McDonald could to you, if it hasn't already. Once reaching the fake site and being logged out, he braved ahead:

That should have sent off warning lights as I was already logged into Twitter and the log-in screen I was taken to was a different color than traditional Twitter blue. In the desire to find out what others were saying, I barreled ahead and proved that I was really a bit of a twit, in the UK term of less than normally intelligent person. The hook was set, the virus spread and I was there dangling at the end of the line.

McDonald essentially gave up his Twitter log-in credentials, which were exploited with some cunning and quite differently than email viruses that spread by spamming everyone in the address book:

The virus sent a few messages to a few people out of my Twitter account. The virus sent a similar direct Twitter message to about a dozen people from my follower list. The people selected were randomly distributed and it appeared to be just a few people. This spread the virus through a network of loose and more casual connections rather than processing a list of people...The viral messages did not start right away...Delay not only allowed incubation, but it inoculated itself against instant recognition.

Two hours passed before he realized what happened: "It was only when I saw a tweet saying that I lost 20 lbs by using acai berries that I knew something was up. I hate acai berries".

I received the second tweet from the same person about 12 hours ago, which means that as late as last night he didn't know about the account hack. I'll direct message a link to this story soon as it posts.

How can you easily tell if your account is compromised? Check your direct messages.

Photo Credit: Ivelin Radkov/Shutterstock
Use Blat to set Windows event emails from the command line

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 7:24am MDT by Mike Williams

When you’re not around to monitor a PC then it’s often useful to get notifications of its key events. And so you might like to know when a particular program starts or ends, perhaps, or when the system closes down or restarts.

Some applications understand this already. Many backup programs are able to send email to let you know when a particular job has completed, for instance: very convenient. And Windows Task Scheduler can also send emails for a host of different events. But if that’s not enough then you can always manually extend your system with Blat, a simple command line tool which allows you to send emails as appropriate from your own scripts and batch files.

The process starts by setting up Blat with your core email details. Running the program at the command line will display its various settings and syntax, but in general a minimal setup will look something like this (with the bold text all on one line):

Blat -SaveSettings -f your.address@domain.com -server mail.domain.com -u your.address@domain.com -pw password

(Replace the first “your.address@domain.com” with your sending address, “mail.domain.com” with your SMTP server, the second “your.address@domain.com” with your account user name, and “password” with, well, your password.)

Next, create a plain text file with the text of whatever email you’d like to send. And it really does need to be plain text, as Blat transmits the contents of the file rather than sending it as an attachment. Call it test.txt for now and save it in the same folder as Blat.

With that done you can then probably send an email with a line like this:

Blat test.txt -to recipient@domain.com

Where “recipient@domain.com” is the email address of whoever you’d like to receive the message.

If that doesn’t work then simply enter Blat at the command line for the details of other switches you can apply (there’s the option to decide the port you’ll use to send the message, for instance).

And once your test emails are being sent correctly then you can begin building the program into your scripts, ready to send notifications of whatever events you like.

Photo Credit: Lilya/Shutterstock
Dell looks to the cloud to stay relevant in the enterprise

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 10:25pm MDT by Ed Oswald

Dell continued to expand outside of its traditional PC-based business this week, making two separate announcements that symbolize a larger emphasis on services -- especially for the cloud. The Allen, Texas based company has introduced a Desktop-as-a-Service offering through a partnership with Desktone, as well as a new offering aimed at moving their SAP solutions to the cloud.

The moves signal a bigger business shift for a company that for most of its 26-year history has focused on physical hardware. At the same time, it's a sign of the times in enterprise environments, a move towards virtualization and cloud-based services.

Dell Simplified DaaS will work with both Citrix and VMWare virtual machines, but is different from traditional virtualization in that the instances themselves are provided over the Internet from Dell's own data centers. A web-based console allows IT administrators to manage the desktops employees create. The technology behind this is from Lexington, Mass.-based Desktone.

Simplified DaaS is being marketed towards remote workers, call center staff, seasonal employees, or any other IT environment where there is a need for rapid scaling of a virtualization infrastructure. The fact that it is delivered through the cloud puts much of the administrative requirements on Dell itself, making it an attractive option for small and medium sized businesses.

“Organizations are quickly realizing the value of DaaS, providing a full-featured desktop experience with the security benefits of a virtual desktop, and the scale and cost efficiencies of cloud computing, all in a way that can increase worker productivity", End User Computing Solutions chief Steve Lalla says of the product.

Dell's DaaS product is set to become available beginning in late may here in the US, and in June in Europe. Announcements on availability in other regions will come later in the year, the company says.

In concert with the DaaS announcement, Dell also announced a new effort to entice SAP users to the cloud. Its Cloud Starter Kit will offer 60-day access to Dell's cloud environment, offering computing power of up to 8,000 SAP units of measure and is powered by Dell's VMware-based datacenter service. From there, users can upgrade to the Cloud Development Kit, which offers up to 32,000 SAP units. The package there includes one year of access to Dell's cloud.

Photo Credit: fbmadeira/Shutterstock
Software performance matters

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 5:45pm MDT by Chris Boss

The issue with the soon-to-come generation of Windows mobile computers (tablets) of performance versus productivity, when it comes to software development, looms on all of us programmers who desire to write software for Windows 8. As a longtime Windows API programmer I appear to be in the minority, but I just can't help but ask the question: "Do programmers just not get it?"

I have watched the video of a talk by Microsoft's Herb Sutter entitled "Why C++?" more than once and even though I don't use C++, I just can't help but appreciate his points about the importance of performance, especially when it comes to the next generation of mobile devices.

He discusses the importance of performance from tablet computers to large datacenters. He uses terms like performance per watt , performance per dollar and performance per cycle (how much work can you get from the hardware). He even comments about how in a datacenter, the performance of software can have an effect on up to 80 percent of the total cost to run the datacenter (better software uses less power and requires less hardware).

OK, folks, this guy is an expert in the industry, so don't listen to me. He definitely is on to something here, and I am not convinced that most programmers grasp it fully yet.

The Problem Is Not the Hardware, But the Software

Manufacturers of computer hardware for years have frantically tried to keep pace, pushing each new generation further and further. I can remember developing software for computers, with a 20MB (not a typo) hard drive or just floppy drives and no hard drive at all. Memory counted in kilobytes. A fast CPU ran at 25 MHz.

Let's be honest here. When it comes to computers we have come a long way. Today, CPUs are in the gigahertz range, and they have an onboard cache with more memory than the entire computer had back in those days. Hard drives are now come with terabytes of space. RAM memory is in the gigabytes. So hardware manufacturers, give yourself a pat on the back, because you have done an amazing job of pushing the maximum. It is time programmers stop picking on companies like Intel with their Atom CPU.

The so called "Moore's Law", at some point will reach an end most likely. Even Herb Sutter admits this. At some point performance of software will be what really matters. Programmers just don't seem to get this though. I don't understand it personally. Let me give you an example of how programmers may not fully appreciate how performance is really achieved.

Asynchronous

Read the comments to some of my other articles and more than once you will see someone post how the latest managed (.NET) programming languages solve the problem with slow software, by providing the asynchronous calls to object methods (subroutines or functions). The idea is that because Windows is a multitasking operating system and most CPUs today are multicore, that if some part of the software is too slow or takes too long to run, a programmer can just pass this code on to a separate thread (running asynchronously or at the same time) , which is then simply passed on to another core of the CPU and everything is solved. Now you have "fast and fluid" software.

The truth is that such programming techniques simply pass the buck back to the hardware, expecting it to solve the programmers' problems. The technique of using threads is nothing new. Multi-threading has been in Windows for many, many years and experienced programmers knew how and when to tap into multithreading.

Multithreading does not speed up software. It simply forces a computer to do two tasks at one time, simply by switching between them so fast you don't notice the switch. But no matter how you word it, the computer is trying to do two tasks, rather than just one, which means more work, not less and the switching process has overhead, which means even more work.

To illustrate. Consider someone who is a juggler. It is not easy to juggle two balls. But as the juggler starts adding more balls, things start getting harder and harder. Each new ball added significantly increases the complexity of the task. You see a juggler only has two hands and each hand can only handle one ball at a time. The same holds true with computers. No matter how many cores a CPU has, at some point you are handling more tasks than the number of CPU cores you have. Each core can only handle one task at a time. Now a CPU may be optimized to do some things in parallel within itself, but even there it has limits. The point is that just like the juggler, a computer can do only so much work.

Sutter in his talk tries to tell us that performance still matters and will matter even more in the future. Why? Mobile computers, because of their small form factor, have less power and resources, so they have to be used carefully. Computers where form factor is not an issue, like data centers, do more work today, not less, so hardware is being pushed to the limit.

But look how far computer hardware has come in just a few decades. The problem is not with computer hardware failing to keeping pace, but it is with how we design software and our lack of appreciation for using limited resources effectively. Programmers just don't get it. We can't keep blaming the hardware or just keep passing the buck to the hardware. Performance is our problem to solve, but sadly it is a low priority for many.

A Lesson From Old Timers

Programmers who date back to the days of DOS or earlier are often looked upon as relics in this modern age. Some of them still use command line compilers, rather than the latest studio development environment. Whether businesses or the enterprise realize it or not, there is a great asset there that could and should be tapped into. Such programmers likely know what it means to get every last bit of power out of a computer. They know what it means to work with limited memory. They know what it means to count CPU cycles. They may still use a stop watch to time how long some code takes to run.

Such talent is rare today, in my opinion. Programmers, no matter what development language they use, who know how to write software with performance in mind, are valuable to the industry. When I wrote my article about sending programmers to Walmart to buy their computers, few who commented could appreciate the purpose behind it. They just don't get the point. Some of what I was saying was in jest. I don't expect programmers to use low-power computers. The mindset matters -- that performance is important. Whatever it takes, even making a programmer use a less-powerful computer, to help him or her see the importance of performance can be beneficial.

Get Back to the Basics

The programming world may be just so wrapped up in the latest technologies, the latest frameworks, the latest development studios thinking it all makes us more productive, while forgetting what a computer really is and how it really works. Just mention the word "assembler" or "machine language" and some programmers may just shudder! They may think such terms belong in the Dark Ages. Well, guess what? That is how a computer actually works under the hood. Everything we develop using high-level tools eventually will be executed on a computer at the lowest level, which is machine language. What we design using any high-level tool or language, must some how become machine language.

This is why old timers moved away from interpreted languages in favor of compilers. While a scripting language can be useful in some contexts, remember it takes longer for scripting to run than pure machine language. While I don't expect us all to go back to assembler, nor do I feel that scripting languages have no value, it is still important to remember to always count the cost of how we develop software. Productivity is important too, but not at the cost of all performance. Actually productivity tools designed with performance in mind can be very powerful. Even scripting languages can be optimized for speed and performance.

But programmers have to always keep performance in mind. Just because computers appear to have extra power (or resources) to spare, does not mean that programmers should not care about developing fast software that uses minimal resources. Maybe we just need to get back to the basics. Performance matters.

Photo Credit: Jose Gil/Shutterstock

Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old EZGUI, which is now version 5. He owns The Computer Workshop, which opened for businesses in the late 1980s. He originally developed custom software for local businesses. Now he develops programming tools for use with the PowerBasic compiler.
Google+ puts iOS ahead of Android

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 4:13pm MDT by Joe Wilcox
May 9 is, in a way, a watershed day for Android -- and that's not necessarily a good thing. Many developers I communicate with repeatedly say they confront the same quandary: Android or iOS first? Maybe they choose to develop for iOS, only to ask: Android or iPad next? Google is a software developer, too, and this day put its priorities in order with a stunning iOS-first update. The new iPhone app for social network Google+ is stunning, breathtaking, immersive and makes the already great experience on Ice Cream Sandwich seem outdated -- although some of the best visuals migrate to iOS.

In a way, Google sets the wrong example for its development partners by putting iOS ahead of Android. But why not? The iOS install base is larger than Android (365 million to 300 million at last reveal); countless analyst surveys show that iOS device users are more connected and engaged; and fragmentation isn't a problem since the majority of the iOS install base is on the newest version (versus about 5 percent of Androids). Google wants Plus to succeed in a big way, so improving the experience everywhere should be a priority. But iOS first, for the next big thing, is the priority.

From another perspective, the move is rather genius, even if pricks like me complain as I do above. Google likely will get more free marketing as bloggers and journalists -- and that's not just the Apple Fan Club of apologists -- drum on about the visually stunning iOS app. Buzz would be considerably lower for an Android app. Vic Gundotra, Google senior vice president of engineering, says that "the Android update is coming in a few weeks (with a few extra surprises)". So there's another chance to beat the InterWebs and in doing so generate some more free Google+ buzz. As marketing, the iOS-then-Android approach is brilliant.

Bleeding Edge

The visuals are so strong they're almost overwhelming, and I can't but wonder if Google borrowed a little something from Windows Phone and the Bing mobile app. Google+ for iPhone (version 2.0.0.5888) uses full-bleed photos and then some. Pretty much everything about Google+ bleeds the edge of the screen. The effect is immersive. You just want to scroll and scroll -- and you will since so much less content fills the screen now. It's a trade-off that works best when there is a smaller number of people in the selected circle.

"We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive", Gundotra says.

He emphasizes: "Full-bleed photos and videos are cool. But you know what’s really cool? Content so immersive it remakes your mobile device into a rich carousel of beloved memories and breaking news. That’s the Google+ experience we aspire to, and today’s release helps us get closer".

Companies so overdo the marketing hype, it's startling for an executive to express something seemingly so that actual is not. Gundotra remarks:
Today’s update pays special attention to fun and performance:
- Conversations fall into view as you move forward and backward in time
- Optical cues (like parallax) help the mind linger on individual posts
- Important actions like +1 now float atop the stream, making it easy to endorse all your favorites
The end result -- we hope -- is an app that brings you closer to the people you care about, and the stuff you’re into; an app with sense and soul.
I can't disagree. "Sense and soul" is about right.

A Fool and His Android

The timing has me laughing at myself (although many of you already do; hey, I read comments). In February, I grudgingly gave up Verizon Galaxy Nexus, used since late December. My Verizon bill for the one account turned out to be half that of four other lines on AT&T. I just couldn't justify the expense. So I sold the phone, paid off my Verizon early-termination fee and chocked up the loss on the device to my Christmas money.

I then returned to AT&T by buying a black, 32GB iPhone 4S. Contrary to some BetaNews comments, I'm fairly platform independent. Rather than go Android again, I spent time using Siri and getting up to date with newer iOS apps. Then something unexpected occurred. Two weeks ago today, Google started selling Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ direct. Two months of iPhone 4S was enough for me. I bought another Galaxy Nexus, which I covered by selling the Apple smartphone (yesterday for $500 locally).

I'll be clear: Google+ is my preferred social hangout, and the tight integration, along with other things Google, with Android 4 hugely appeals. I received the phone Friday only to get to Wednesday and this -- Google+ getting a huge, enticing makeover for iOS. But not Android. I'm a klutz for timing.

By the way, I briefly tested the new Google+ app on an iPad late this afternoon. To be clear: It's not native iPad but works as you would expect from any iPhone app. Tiny or 2X.

If you haven't used Google+, the iPhone app is good reason to try. If you Plused and gave up, there's reason to go back. Facebook is suddenly so last century compared to this user experience.

Something else, well two things: Immersive is a word often used to describe using iPad. Google brings it to iPhone, and hopefully soon Android, and in a big way. What app is more appropriately immersive than one where you engage others.

That other thing: Google is betting big on mobile, which it should as a leading cloud-to-device provider. You may have thought you knew this, as did I, but Google+, in context of other recent product and service redesigns, foreshadows much more: Sensors, screen and soul.
Lenovo debuts Ivy Bridge family of ThinkCentre desktops and all-in-one PCs

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 3:47pm MDT by Tim Conneally

PC and Information Technology company Lenovo on Wednesday announced its new lineup of ThinkCentre all-in-one PCs based around the third generation of Intel vPro Core processors (Ivy Bridge), with models targeting consumers, small- to medium- sized businesses, and the public sector.

The flagship ThinkCentre model is the Edge 92z, which has a 21.5 inch in-plane switching (IPS) LED display with 10-point multitouch capability and Wireless Display (WiDi) mode. At 2.5" in thickness, Lenovo says this is the slimmest all-in-one PC Lenovo has created thus far. Processors can be configured up to an Intel Core vPro i7, and the starting price will be approximately $699 when they come out in the U.S. this July.

The affordable model in the ThinkCentre line is the Edge 72, which will start at $439. Like the other members of the ThinkCentre family, it can be configured with a processor up to a Core i7, and it also supports a dual display setup with both VGA and DVI ports.

The ThinkCentre M72z is Lenovo's "small footprint" model, which is designed for use in education, healthcare or government environments. Lenovo claims switching to this type of system could contribute to a 65% size reduction from traditional desktop models. It features Energy Star 5.2 compliance, has an EPEAT Gold rating and compliance with the Cisco EnergyWise energy management architecture. The ThinkCentre M72z will be available in June with models starting at around $599.

Lenovo's ThinkCentre M72e is the model designed for large-scale deployments in business and government, and comes with the most options in terms of configurations. Available with an i3, i5, or i7 Ivy Bridge processor and up to 16 GB of RAM, the M72e can be set up in an all-in-one case, a microtower, or Lenovo's newly-designed "tiny" form factor, which it calls the "one liter desktop." The M72e launches in June with models starting at approximately $499.

Finally, the ThinkCentre M82 is Lenovo's all-in-one for the "mainstream business user." This one is available in microtower, and "small form factor" cases, can be outfitted with Ivy Bridge Core i3, i5, or i7 processors, and can use a "green" 80 Plus Platinum power supply unit (PSU).
The ThinkCentre M82 desktop will be available in June with models starting at approximately $599.
Is Adobe Creative Cloud a good value?

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 12:47pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

It's the question I've asked myself since Adobe unveiled the subscription service in late April; it launches May 11. For me, $49.99 a month is steep. But $29.99 strongly tempts. I'm eligible for that lower pricing, and you might be, too. But to get either price, Adobe requires 12-month commitment -- and gets 50 percent still, if you cancel early. Month-to-month option is $79.99 per 30 days, or $959.88 yearly versus $599.88 for standard annual subscription pricing.

You get a lot regardless of pricing plan -- more than 20 products now and others planned (I'm waiting for Photoshop Lightroom 4.x, Adobe), offering huge savings that surely will appeal to someone. For starters: student, sole-proprietorship or small business. Among the included products and list price, if purchased (rather than subscribed): Acrobat Pro ($499), After Effects ($799), Flash Pro ($599), Illustrator ($599), Photoshop Extended ($699) and Premiere Pro ($799).

Five Questions

There are seven stand-out questions to ask when evaluating Creative Suite's value:

1. Do you qualify for lower, $29.99/month pricing? If a student or licensee of Creative Suite 3, 4 or 5, or one of the individual apps, yes -- as long as the software is registered with Adobe. That works out to $359.88 for the first year, which is an introductory offer.

2. What can you afford now? If you need, or want, lots of Adobe apps, annual subscription -- standard or discounted -- will cost less and monthly payments are easily budgeted. Meanwhile, the additional outlay is much less than buying any single app.

3. Which of your existing applications are eligible for discounted upgrades? For example, Adobe charges $399 for the Photoshop CS6 Extended upgrade from versions 3, 4 or 5 (the older two only through end of this year). If you qualify for the discounted subscription, annual payment would be less than just Photoshop.

4. What more do you need than what you have now, if any, Adobe creative apps? Most major single applications at full price will cost more than paying $49.99 per month, should you want to add something else. Meanwhile, you also get access to the newest versions of the products already purchased.

5. How often would you otherwise upgrade? Buying software gets you a perpetual license. Subscription means the software deactivates after you stop paying. Do the math: Adobe released Creative Suite 5 two years ago, and CS6 went on sale this week. Assuming, new versions every two years, would you upgrade that soon?

Subscription through May 2014 costs $1,199.76 at the standard subscription rate, with annual commitment, assuming Adobe doesn't raise prices. So at the start of the next upgrade cycle your cost commitment would be $1,799.64, spread out in monthly payments over three years but actual investment in CS6 about $600 less. Standard Design is lowest-cost edition, at $1,299. Your two-year cost would be about $100 less than the six-app bundle and you get access to more 20 products total.

Subscription vs. Perpetual License

Creative Cloud is a surprising offering from Adobe. Subscription software is by no means new -- anti-malware providers like Symantec have done this for years. But Adobe offering subscriptions to products of this caliber and pricing, primed for the cloud, is atypical outside of volume-licensing plans. The difference: Your right to use the applications ends when you stop paying, as aforementioned.

From one perspective, Adobe is taking a huge risk, given just how much Creative Suite or individual apps sell for. CS is among the costliest productivity apps that mere mortals -- meaning anyone outside the lords of corporate IT -- can afford. Microsoft Office, which arguably is used differently, sells for considerably less outside of volume-licensing. The point: People choosing subscription over perpetual license will pay less, which could cut into Adobe revenue and even margins.

On the other hand, laws of volume could work greatly to Adobe's advantage if monthly payments open up a huge number of students, sole-proprietorships and small businesses to buy into Creative Suite who otherwise couldn't justify the expense. Or worse: Who would pirate the software. The scheme also stands to woo satisfied customers running older CS versions, who either can't afford or don't see value paying for, to upgrade by taking a subscription. Perhaps most valuable to Adobe: The prospect of perpetual customers among buying segments less likely to pay for a big suite.

It's for these reasons I ask the question the headline poses.

I'm seriously considering signing up for 12 months, perhaps after Adobe adds Lightroom 4.x to Creative Cloud. But if the $29.99/month intro plan disappears in 2013, I likely wouldn't renew. On my budget, $360 is a huge value. Now. In a year, $600 likely won't be, as I look at the impressive, rich touch apps available for smartphones and tablets. Expect sudden maturation of cloud-connected device hardware and apps over the next 12 months -- good enough to displace most of what most people need PCs for today.

Photo Credit: Galushko Sergey/Shutterstock
This is the bubble as we know it

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 11:26am MDT by Robert Leshner

Over the last eighteen months, there has been a lot of public concern about whether we're in the midst of another tech bubble. People outside of Silicon Valley saw the billion-dollar exit for a consumer Internet company that was around for less than two years (Instagram), and couldn't believe such easy money was being made.

Golly Gee Whiz, it must be 1995 all over again!

A company can be formed in two years, raise 7 million dollars, and exit for a billion. Bubble speculators completely fail to see the hard work that went into creating a company which legitimately capitalized on incredibly difficult-to-assemble building blocks. They fail to see how an interesting experience, a value-add to an everyday activity, a viral loop, and damn good management could equal 40 million users, and a billion dollars to a highly motivated buyer.

The damage caused by the dot-com bubble to the investing public was horrific. In response, everyone was put on the lookout to avoid a similar fate. In behavioral finance, we have a term for this called the Similarity Heuristic.

The similarity heuristic leads us to believe that like situations will cause like outcomes. It is used to account for how people make judgments in a new situation based upon its similarity to an old situation. Simply put, it means "Fool me once, shame on me...won't fool me again." The next time home prices and mortgage-backed securities boom, you'll see the exact same hysteria unfold.

Is it the exit? Is it the quickness of it all?

I come from finance, where you can start a hedge fund, put in two years of work, and your company can be worth a billion dollars. It happens all the time, and with a dramatically higher probability for success than with a company like Instagram. But because nobody has been harmed, you don't hear the squeals of panic.

This time it's different. The fundamentals support a massive influx of capital into technology startups. the cost of creating, producing, testing, and scaling an idea has dropped exponentially. Where it used to take $10 million, 20 engineers, and two years to bring an idea to market, now it takes one engineer and a market-conscious founder, $50 thousand and six weeks to bring an idea to market.

Thanks to Amazon, Ruby on Rails, and distribution platforms like Facebook, you can capture three million users in a heartbeat. If you're not investing in capable, driven teams, able to build a product that people want, you're retarded.

Candidly speaking, when I entered the tech world 18 months ago it was in part due to the rising valuations, due to the amazing fundamentals driving innovation. I read about the Bin38 drama, when angels were freaked out by the median seed valuation reaching four million. Four million for a team and an idea!

Given the upside of a scalable Internet company, this wasn't unreasonable at all. It was just a realistic decrease in the risk aversion of technology investors, withering away in the face of damn good risk and return prospects.

In that time, some great companies have been formed, have built products, and have seen early exits.

But now it's getting out of hand. No, not in massive Series B exits for companies with massive traction, and not for the army of founders with ideas, willing to work hard and bring a product to market. It's in a select number of preposterously-sized seed investments, where hype, expectation, greed, and fear of missing out define the investment.

This, my friends, is the definition of a bubble.

Pair and Ark are the bubble. When companies are raising four million dollar seed rounds with limited traction, on two weeks of press hype, that's a bubble. Their success is limited, and driven entirely by press. Startups that still have idea risk, product risk, and business model risk have no business raising four million dollars. There, I said it.

I've seen the power of press and hype. Two weeks of press attention, and my company is receiving inbound investment interest, M&A interest, and partnership interest. That doesn't mean we're worth more than we were two weeks ago, as a company striving to build a userbase for a product that delivers value.

Investors are getting caught up in a cycle of hype. In some situations, a self-fulfilling cycle of hype. Pair and Ark, if and when they fail, will have a support network of investors to bail them out, like Loopt. But does that mean capital is being allocated efficiently? Absolutely not!

There are 60 other YC companies (if you really want to chase the next Airbnb or Dropbox) to invest in, where the unknown variables (idea, traction) can be tested with much less total capital at risk.

It does not take four million dollars to test an idea, those are 1996 numbers. Two years ago, those were series B investments.

Investors, what the hell are you thinking?

Photo Credit: Sergej Khakimullin/Shutterstock

Robert Leshner spent five years in finance and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He now runs a tech startup, Safe Shepherd, part of 500 Startups, which is infinitely more difficult. Follow him @rleshner
Android malware woes look a lot like Windows'

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 9:56am MDT by Ed Oswald

McAfee says that Android malware is taking a worrisome turn, with cybercriminals mimicking popular strategies used against Windows. The latest attacks tap IRC bots, where the malware gets further operating instructions from an Internet chatroom.

Called Android/Multi.dr, the attack masks itself as the game Madden NFL 12. Multi.dr is comprised of three separate components, including a root exploit, an IRC bot, and SMS Trojan.

The first method of attack is the root exploit, which "roots" the device and allows code to be executed as an administrator and allows code to be executed from a remote server. This is vital for the next component, the IRC bot, to do its dirty work. Once the device is rooted, the IRC application is executed, hidden as a PNG image file.

Research specialist Arun Sabapathy says this file is actually an .ELF file, which is Android's version of an executable. Once executed, the IRC channel stays open and receives and executes commands on the device.

Potentially more serious in terms of security is the SMS Trojan. Infected users will find themselves being charged by texts to premium numbers worldwide. That isn't the least of it: there is code within the Trojan that scans all SMS messages received to see if any of these premium numbers are already used. If by chance one of these numbers is used by a legitimate company and the message exists on your phone, it is sent to the attackers.

"This alone tells us how serious this attack can be", Sabpathy says. "However we are not sure, at this point, what purpose they collect and use some of the data for as we are not sure about what their server side code is and does". With attackers increasingly turning to mobile to launch their attacks, Sabpathy all but says these more desktop-like attacks are bound to increase in the not too distant future.

What can be done to protect yourself? Limit downloads of apps from little-known or suspicious app repositories. While the advantage of Android is not being limited to Google Play, the store remains one of the safest places to find new apps.

With the increasing amount of malware appearing on the Android platform, knowing what and from where you're downloading is becoming increasingly important.
Need rich photo editing without the bloat? Try Pixelitor

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 8:28am MDT by Mike Williams

If, like us, you’ve tried more than your share of image editors, then you’ll know many of them are depressingly similar. Especially when it comes to filters. All too many developers seem to think they can get by with a simple sharpen, blur, emboss and so on, when most users now expect far, far more.

Fortunately there are also plenty of image editors that manage to deliver plenty of filtering power, though -- and the Java-based Pixelitor is a particularly interesting example. Its compact size (the entire program is contained within a single 1.04MB JAR file) suggested we shouldn’t expect too much, but the reality proved very different, it’s packed with essential filtering functionality.

Click Filter > Blur/ Sharpen, for instance, and you’re presented with no less than seven blur options (Gaussian, Smart, Box, Fast, Lens, Motion, Spin and Zoom). And each of these in turn can be tweaked in various ways. Choose the Lens blur, say, and you’re able to set the radius, sides of the aperture, bloom factor, bloom threshold, or even enable a “high-pass sharpening” option. (And if you’ve no idea what a particular group of settings mean then you can always just keep clicking the handy Randomize button until the preview window shows you results you like.)

There are some useful distortion filters, too. “Pinch, Bulge, Twirl” presents plenty of creative possibilities; “Fisheye” works well; it’s easy to apply ripple or wave effects to an image, and just as with the blurs, everything is very configurable.

And there are plenty of others, from quality edge detection and noise reduction, to photo collages, kaleidoscopes, fancy lighting effects and more. (If all else fails then you can always enter a custom 3×3 or 5×5 convolution of your own.)

Filters are just the start, of course. Pixelitor also has a host of tools to tweak your color, brightness and levels; you get basic paint tools with various brushes; and the program supports layers, a range of selection tools, and bonus options ranging from a batch image resizer to a simple screen capture utility.

There are also a few issues here. Pixelitor doesn’t have a thumbnail browser to help you locate images; it only supports a few essential formats (BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG); zooming in and out with the mouse could be easier; and the lack of documentation means this isn’t a program for image editing novices.

Still, the program does have plenty of powerful features, and is hard to beat for convenience: it’ll run anywhere Java 6 is available. So if you’re looking for a capable image editor which won’t get in your way then give Pixelitor a try – we think you’ll be impressed.

Photo Credit: Laborant/Shutterstock
Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 10.1 advances, leaves Windows 2000 behind

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 7:15am MDT by Mark Wilson

The jump to version x.1 of a program may not seem like particularly big news, but with the release of Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 10.1 there is a surprising amount to take in. For anyone who has taken the security step of installing more than one antivirus tool, you should now find that, which Norton and AVG at least, Ad-Aware no longer produces a BSOD, but there have also been more important changes to the engine of this antivirus and firewall tool.

A major concern with any antivirus tool is the impact it has on your system and in the latest release there have been tweak made to the scanning engine that mean that schedule scans are performed faster than in the past. The program has already undergone something of a makeover but there have now been additional improvements made so the app as a whole feels generally snappier – this is in addition to faster scan completion.

On the firewall front, programs that have been deemed as trustworthy are now added to the white-list and there is now better support for 64-bit versions of Windows for both the firewall and antivirus side of the application. Users of Windows 2000 will be disappointed to find that their operating system is no longer supported, and this comes as results of changes that have been made to improve the reliability of system drivers.

A problem that meant multi-user systems were plagued with requests for a license key when switching between accounts has been addressed and the program is now able to detect a wider range of tracking cookies. This minor version increase is a great move forward for Lavasoft, as their famous security software makes increasing steps towards catching up with the competition that overtook it in recent years.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the program by paying a visit to the Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 10.1 review page.

Photo Credit: alexskopje/Shutterstock
Apache releases big OpenOffice upgrade -- get it now!

Posted: May 9th, 2012, 6:35am MDT by Nick Peers

The Apache Software Foundation announced the release of Apache OpenOffice 3.4, the first new build of OpenOffice since it was handed to the ASF by Oracle after development stalled when many contributors defected across to The Document Foundation’s LibreOffice, which is also based on OpenOffice.

Version 3.4’s major features can be found under the hood -- vastly improved startup times, improved OLEObject handling, better chart rendering and support for scalable vector graphics are the most notable changes in this new release. Also implemented is ODF 1.2 encryption, while the suite is now licensed under the Apache License 2 engine.

Apache OpenOffice 3.4’s headline new features include faster startup, brought about by the fact the application no longer needs to start each component on launch. Improved ODF 1.2 encryption support means documents encrypted using AES256 standard can now be encrypted and decrypted using the program. Users wishing to have this option available when choosing Save with Password can enable the feature via a macro.

Other notable changes include the renaming of DataPilot to Pivot Table in Spreadsheet to reflect its usage elsewhere. Pivot Tables are also no longer limited to a set number of fields. The CSV export feature has also been improved. Base users will find Mozilla Address Book support has been removed in favour of its successor, SeaMonkey.

All these features were already part of OpenOffice 3.4 Beta, but new features added specifically for this stable release include support for attributes and transformations to OLEObjects, plus support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and enhanced chart visualization. The old Color Picker dialog has also been replaced with a new version offering a wider variety of colour selection.

Having lost ground to LibreOffice since development stalled back in 2010, developers initially concentrated on tidying up the code for this version 3.4 release, which has been described as a “solid and stable codebase” by ASF President Jim Jagielski. Now version 3.4 is out, the next six to eight weeks will be spent on sorting out a maintenance (3.4.1) release.

Once OpenOffice 3.4.1 is released, developers plan to start work on version 4, helped in part by code donated from IBM’s discontinued Lotus Symphony office suite, which is also based on OpenOffice.

While there’s little evidence of a code war developing between The Document Foundation and Apache Software Foundation -- developers contribute code to both suites, for example -- tensions do exist. LibreOffice developer Michael Meeks claims on his blog that the new Apache software license “would break faith with that significant proportion of our large developer community who see enabling non-contribution of core fixes and improvements as anathema, encouraging proprietary software creation”. While conceding LibreOffice’s own licensing model is a “weak-copy-left licensing… compromise” the comments suggest that a future merger of the two projects is unlikely any time soon.

Apache OpenOffice 3.4 is available now as a free, open-source download for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Photo Credit: Dmitriy Shironosov/Shutterstock
Fire all the lawyers

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 3:22pm MDT by Ed Oswald

Could it be true? Are the courts finally tired of the never-ending patent disputes in Silicon Valley? If the statements made by two judges over the past week are an indication, yes.

This frustration was on display Monday in a Seattle court room as Federal Judge James Robart accused both Microsoft and Motorola of "hubris" and "arrogance" in their ongoing patent dispute, and using the courts to gain the upper hand in licensing negotiations, according to GeekWire's Todd Bishop, who was on hand for the proceedings.

Motorola and Microsoft are enaged in a bitter battle over video and wireless patents owned by Motorola. Motorola demands royalties of 2.25 percent on a range of products Microsoft produces, including Windows 7 and the Xbox console, which amounts to a royalty payment of about $4 billion per year. Microsoft sued Motorola over this, claiming the device maker attempted to rake it over the coals on patents that were essential to industry standards, called FRAND -- "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory" licensing.

Sue First, Negotiate Later

Motorola won a judgement in Germany last week regarding two of the video patents it is asserting against Microsoft here, and won an injunction essentially blocking the sales of the Xbox and Windows PCs. That move was blocked by a restraining order here in the US though, with Robart (the same judge accusing Motorola and Microsoft of hubris and arrogance Monday) arguing it would put Microsoft in an unfair negotiating position with the threat of a crippling injunction over its head.

That's the key -- these companies use the courts to negotiate rather than sit down and hammer it out. Robart says it best with this comment during Monday's hearing: "The court is well aware that it is being played as a pawn in a global industry-wide business negotiation". These cases are being used as leverage, and the court of law has become a pawn.

Lawyers now run the process, and are aided by judges who have all but failed to stand up to these companies until now. That seems to be changing and another good example is another case, this time between Motorola and Apple. Both sides are filing motions to gum up the process, and the judge there finally said enough is enough. "I've had my fill of frivolous filings by Apple", US District Judge Richard Posner wrote in a recent ruling.

The way I see it, these continuous patent litigation cases are as good of an argument for judicial restraint that I have ever seen. No one says every single patent case in front of a judge needs to be ruled upon: that judge has the power to dismiss the frivolous cases, of which there seems to be a bunch of lately. The court system bears some responsibility for making this issue worse.

Stop Legitimizing The Strategy

Judges need to start dismissing some of these cases, and remand these folks to the boardroom where the real patent negotiations should happen. Since standard operating practice in defense of patent litigation is a motion to dismiss, that option is there. Allowing these cases to move forward gives the impression that it is a worthwhile effort to push any possible infringement case through the courts for leverage in negotiations. That is an abuse of the courts that cannot stand.

Am I arguing against all patent litigation? Of course not: in some cases these companies have legitimate claims. That said, for whatever reason the courts are taking on increasingly suspect cases and allowing the two sides to hammer out the settlement in court. These days, it's sue first, and negotiate later.

Here's hoping that these two fine federal judges are the start of a broader judicial trend: judges not afraid to question the legitimacy of these arguments, or the reasons behind them. Until the courts stand up and force the industry back to the table, the courtroom will continue to be the venue of choice to get the settlement terms you want, not what you deserve.

That's the sad state we're in now, and it should have never gotten like this. Maybe Shakespeare was right in Henry VI, when he suggests "the first thing we do, let's kill off the lawyers" after all.

Photo Credit: EmiliaUngur/Shutterstock
The personal cloud is all about context

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 3:11pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Gartner is back thumping about how the cloud will replace the PC as personal hub by 2014, and, whoa, that's not exactly so far away. I wrote the "ding dong, the PC's dead" last month. After identifying five trends then, the analyst firm today highlights three things cloud vendors had better watch out for.

Simply stated: "Mobility and location"; "platform independence"; and "seamless synchronization". That aptly describes what the cloud-connected -- oh, post-PC, if you insist -- era is all about: Personal computing anytime, anywhere on anything. However, many cloud offerings fall short of that definition and the three must-have characteristics Gartner defines.

"The personal cloud isn't a single offering, but a reflection of consumers' expectation that their content will flow seamlessly as the result of a combination of services that overlap the consumer, business and government domains", Michael Gartenberg, Gartner research director says. "It encompasses content storage, synchronization, sharing and streaming, as well as context-based access".

Context? That's a fourth attribute, and hugely important. Cloud computing is all about context, if you ask me. Not that you did, but hey. That's topic for after the discussion of the other three attributes.

Mobility and location is by far the easiest for cloud vendors, providing people access to their information -- and stuff that matters most to them -- from anywhere they can connect to the Internet. Gartner views this attribute as foundational, and claims it "will affect how other connected screens fare in a given ecosystem".

Related, many service providers focus on the wrong things, such as providing backups in the sky but not much else. "Consumers are confused about the nature of the personal cloud", Gartenberg says. "This will not be helped by many vendors continuing to equate personal cloud services simply with online storage and neglecting their additional features and potential".

Platform independence is related, and this is where I see lots of vendors coming up short. Again by my longstanding definition of cloud-connected devices, they should provide access to what matters most to you anytime, anywhere and on anything. That's difficult to impossible when vendors build cloud silos around platforms, such as Apple devices and iOS.

Openness is crucial as cloud services come to augment the personal PC and replace it as major personal hub. Again, Gartner predicts by 2014. The PC doesn't go away, but simply becomes one of many devices connected to the cloud rather than being the hub for everything.

Gartner's statement: "The core purchase driver for consumers will shift from the operating system to the nature and function of the personal cloud services available to a platform. Platforms will not be judged solely by number of apps, but also by the availability of core personal cloud services for business and personal needs, for both content creation and content consumption".

This prediction represents a fundamental shift in connected-device perception and presentation today, particularly from Apple and "there's an app for that" marketing of its hardware, software and services. The future Gartner sees is more in line with Google's "open" philosophy, but by no means completely.

While writing this post I got to thinking about a 1965 Rolling Stones song, which chorus fits the approach taken by cloud silo vendors like Apple:

I said, Hey! You! Get off of my cloud
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud
Don't hang around 'cause two's a crowd

Amazon takes similar approach around Kindle Fire, although its cloud services are broadly available among devices. Samsung closes on the Apple model with newer Androids, TouchWiz UI and supporting media services. Facebook is another silo, although of a different kind. Facebook service meets the anytime, anywhere on-anything standard, but it's a private club personal cloud once you're there. As I opined in September 2007: "Facebook is an operating system in the cloud".

Synchronization is what I've repeatedly called the killer app for the connected world, starting in 2006. But I typically refer back to March 2008 post "Do IT simply with sync": "Synchronization is today's killer application. It's either kill or be killed. If Microsoft doesn't strike the deadly blow first, Google will".

Gartner's statement: "Seamless synchronization will be essential for success". Apple has got seamless down but not platform independence. Too bad, because Apple has long been the sync leader, in terms of a meaningfully-implemented technology -- and that goes back to iTunes after iPod shipped in late 2001. Problem: iTunes proved to be the wrong place for sync, particularly businesses and for consumers as cloud adoption escalated late in the last decade. Last year, Apple rightly shifted its sync hub from iTunes to iCloud. Problem: It's a silo syncing content mostly among iOS and OS X devices.

Again, Google stands apart from the cloud, which isn't surprising. Apple and Microsoft, for example, share desktop legacy, which relevance they seek to protect. While Microsoft's cloud approach is less a silo than Apple's, it's nowhere near as platform independent as Google's. That said, Google has started to offer more cloud benefits in Chrome than other web browsers, shifting its cloud more to the silo from open skies.

Context, and not content, is king. How we use devices, access information, consume content or otherwise use technology to entertain or conduct business is all about context. Cloud-connected devices create all kinds of contextual scenarios.

For example, mobile devices make people more available to family, friends, coworkers and (gulp) bosses. You might shift context at the park with the kids to account manager because of one text, email or phone call. Location doesn't change, but context does. You go from parent uploading photos of the kids playing to executive collaborating on a shared document. All in the cloud, from the same device. Use of the cloud and connected device changes with context.

A very different contextual example: You're traveling and decide to rent a movie to watch on your smartphone or tablet. In that context, the smaller screen is acceptable, even though at home you have 55-inch TV. You don't finish the film and want to resume it at home on the television. Context and device change, but content stays the same. Seamless sync allows you to resume where you left off.

"Consumers will define their own sets of personal cloud services with regard to communication, collaboration and media consumption, despite vendors trying to control the digital ecosystem", Gartenberg says. Context defines usage.

The contextual cloud works best when there is access anytime, anywhere and on anything -- or as Gartner puts it: "Mobility and location"; "platform independence"; and "seamless synchronization".

Photo Credit: Digital Storm/Shutterstock
Nokia fragments Windows Phone Marketplace with more exclusive apps

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 1:46pm MDT by Tim Conneally

At a relatively quiet opening day of the CTIA Wireless International 2012 convention on Tuesday, mobile phone maker Nokia announced its Lumia Windows Phones will receive a handful of exclusive applications that other Windows Phones will not, including apps from ESPN, AOL, and Groupon.

When the Lumia line of Nokia Windows Phones launched, Nokia provided a few solid exclusives, including Maps, Drive, and Music to improve usability and desirability of the devices. These apps are still not available on other Windows Phones in the Marketplace.

Today, Nokia announced three more apps that will be available exclusively on Lumia handsets, with the promise of more for the future.

The first of the announced exclusive apps comes from the PGA tour, this app events on the Windows Mobile platform. Developed in conjunction with Nokia, the app will feature enhanced interactive coverage of select PGA Tour events, and will launch in June and will be exclusive to Lumia devices until June 2013.

The second exclusive app for Lumia will be the long-awaited Windows Phone version of the ESPN Fantasy Football app. Coming out in time for the season this Fall, the app will be exclusive to Lumia phones until May 2013.

At some unspecified point this Summer, Groupon will launch a completely revamped version of its current Windows Phone app exclusively on Nokia Lumia devices. The app will include a new augmented reality deal discovery function for users to locate Groupon deals in 3D space. This particular app will only be exclusive to Nokia Lumia customers for the first 6 months of aviailability.

Finally, Angry Birds maker Rovio announced it has partnered with Nokia to develop new products exclusively for Nokia Lumia smartphones. This partnership actually seems quite logical, as both companies are based in Espoo, Finland. This is the first time the two companies have announced an exclusive content partnership.
Plex Server 0.9.6.1 supports DLNA, eliminates need for app

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 11:51am MDT by Nick Peers

If you’re looking for a gorgeous, easy-to-use solution to the problem of sharing and streaming media from your PC or Mac, then Plex will appeal. And with the release of Plex Server 0.9.6.1, it adds another major string to its bow: support for DLNA.

That’s right, from this current release, Plex Server can stream video, photos and music to a host of DLNA-certified devices, from games consoles and media streamers like the WD TV Live to other computers and mobile devices running DNLA media software.

With the release of Plex Server 0.9.6.1, users no longer have to install the free Plex Media Center client on desktop or $4.99 Plex app for iOS, Android or Windows Phone in order to access their media collection. Thanks to its new DLNA capabilities, you’ll be able to access your Plex library from any DLNA-enabled software player, including aVia for Android and Media Link Player Lite for iPhone and iPad.

While it’s fair to say you’ll be missing out on the gorgeous Plex user interface by going down the DLNA route, you will still benefit from one of Plex’s best features -- its unrivalled metadata tools. These allow it to provide a wealth of details about each media file in your library, and often this is added automatically by Plex itself, saving you time and hassle manually tagging your files.

The end result is that browsing a Plex DLNA server is a much easier, quicker and friendlier experience than your current server, with a multitude of different ways to drill through your content, and files displayed according to their title rather than a less intuitive filename, sorted properly where applicable according to episode number.

Plex Server 0.9.6.1 also sees a number of other improvements over the 0.9.6 beta release: this and subsequent OS X releases are signed, ensuring they will be Mountain Lion-friendly when it launches later this year. It also allows iOS users running the latest version of the Plex app (2.3.1) the ability to select higher video quality settings when streaming media over a 3G connection.

Version 0.9.6.1 also sees the first available build of the server for Netgear’s ReadyNAS Duo v2 devices running an ARM processor. Other Network Attached Storage devices are set to follow, which will allow users to install Plex on a NAS drive instead of tying up the main computer.

Fixes include a Webkit crash when playing the Hulu channel, Silverlight channel crashes in OS X and Windows, and incorrect reading of iTunes artist titles by Plex’s DLNA client -- a full list of changes can be found here.

Plex Server 0.9.6.1 is available as a free download for Windows, Mac and Linux. Also available are thePlex Media Center client (free), and Plex 2.3.1 app ($4.99) for Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
Oracle's fight with Google over Android: still no clear winner

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 11:22am MDT by Tim Conneally

In late 2010, information technology company Oracle sued Google for unlawfully using Java to power the Android mobile operating system. Oracle claimed the popular operating system violated seven of its fundamental Java patents, and the two companies began a long courtroom battle which yesterday came to a crossroads over copyrights.

Jurors sitting in on the trial in the District Court of the Northern District of California rendered a partial verdict on Monday, agreeing that Oracle had successfully proven Google's infringement upon the overall structure, sequence and organization of its Java copyrights.

However, the jury could not agree upon whether Google's use of Java constituted "fair use," and it did not think Oracle had proven Google had infringed on the 37 Java application programming interfaces (APIs).

This, it appears, is the central unanswered question of this phase of the case: whether Java APIs are copyrightable.

William H. Alsup, the US District Judge presiding over the case, posed that question in the following way:

"Assuming that a copyright protection does not extend to names, including fully qualified names, and assuming that copyright protection does not bar others from using identical input-output (argument-return) designations, such that Google was free to use the identical names and identical input-output designations, what more did Google allegedly copy from the 37 packages that is allegedly covered by copyright? Put differently, assuming Google was free to do the foregoing, to what extent was Android’s SSO dictated by the rules of the basic programming language?"

Oracle said that Google copied the APIs from the Java core libraries to be Android's, and that it constituted copyright infringement because these APIs were creative works. Google, meanwhile, claimed it had transformed them into something new and that it was fair use.

With the partial verdict on copyright rendered, the next phase of the trial will cover patents.
Android rises over fallen iPhone

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 11:13am MDT by Joe Wilcox

I must really be asleep at the wheel. How could I have possibly missed this nearly week-old sales data: iPhone's fourth-quarter sales surge against Android was a blip on the screen. Chock it up to iPhone 4S launch combined with the saddest of sales motivators: Rock star's death halo, where album sales soar following an artist's death, or in this case iPhone following Apple cofounder Steve Jobs' tragic passing. Perhaps you have another reason. Regardless, sales don't lie.

Android smartphone OS market share, as measured in actual sales to people (and not shipments to stores), reached 61 percent during Q1 compared to a measly 29 percent for iOS/iPhone. That's a dramatic turnabout from fourth quarter when Android led by a narrower margin -- 48 percent to 43 percent. Still, like fourth quarter, the top-three selling smartphones were iPhone, iPhone and iPhone, as in 4S, 4 and 3GS in that order.

"After some release of pent-up demand from customers adopting the iPhone 4S, coupled with the company's strength in the holiday season, Apple's share fell in the first quarter, as we've often see it do in the quarter following its introduction of a new handset", Ross Rubin, NPD executive director, says.

Ah, yeah, but declines were never this steep nor iPhone coming so close to finally catching Android. In fact, historical data contradicts earlier projections that both iPhone 4 launches would bring huge share gains. For example, according to comScore, from August to November 2010, iPhone US subscriber share rose less than one point -- to 25 percent. This was during the post-iPhone 4 launch period. Over the next year, iPhone nudged up to about 27 percent average share, while Android soared, whether measured by install base or new purchasers.

Different now: Distribution, particularly availability of lower-cost older models, to a new market of buyers, combined with broadened carrier availability. "Now that the iPhone is available on Sprint, though, the increased carrier coverage has created a higher baseline for Apple's share than we have seen in the past". Baseline is higher, but so is size of the US smartphone market and strength of Android's resurgence. iPhone sales drop was greater compared to Androids' but didn't fall as far.

Nielsen presents smartphone data differently -- market share based on ownership. By that measure, Android is 48.5 percent to iOS/iPhone's 32 percent. That data point validates Rubin's contention about baseline.

Historical perspective: Android share was 39 percent in June 2011 compared to 28 percent for iPhone, says Nielsen. Android share reached 40 percent in July, compared to 28 percent for iPhone. At end of third quarter, 43 percent for Android and 28 percent for iPhone. At the end of December: Android 44.5 percent to iPhone's 25.1 percent share.

Android sales may have crushed iOS smartphones during first quarter, but as measure of install base iPhone is stronger than it has ever been. Meanwhile, Android no longer gains share like Pac-Man. But neither is iPhone nearly as strong as the Apple Fan Club boasts.

For more perspective there is Samsung's continued gains against Apple. During first quarter Apple was top-selling smartphone maker, according to NPD, with 29 percent sales share. But Samsung closes in, at 25 percent share.

"Samsung is the only market leader from the feature phone era to transition to market leadership in the smartphone era in the US", Rubins observes. "Its broad carrier support and advertising, particularly in the ascendant pre-paid segment, have helped it achieve the highest market share among Android handset providers".

Samsung has a three-operating system strategy, which includes home-grown Bada and Windows Phone, but Android is flagship. Samsung's rise counterweights iPhone's increased baseline. Samsung also benefits from far greater distribution and choice of handsets. Then there is Galaxy S III, which launches internationally on May 29 with features eclipsing iPhone 4S.

No matter who rises above whom, competition is good for consumer choice.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox
Kindle Fire sales are still hot

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 9:04am MDT by Mike Feibus

Wow, what a swirl of good-news/bad-news last week for the media tablets aimed at the ereader market. As it turns out, the roller-coaster ride continues this week.

comScore reported that the Kindle Fire from Amazon generated far more Internet activity in February than any other Android media tablet. Then a few days later, Microsoft dumped $300 million into a Barnes & Noble ebook venture, a move spurred in part by the success of the bookseller’s media tablet, the Nook Tablet.

I wrote a column explaining why the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet, the first- and third-highest selling Android tablets in 2011, respectfully are so successful -- and what that means for hardware vendors who want to make it in the tablet market.

And then the roller coaster began hurtling earthward.

Target confirmed rumors that it is tossing Amazon’s Kindle line-up out of its chain of department stores. Target was coy as to exactly why, though fellow writer Ed Oswald offered up a few possible explanations.

I suspect it has to do with Target’s new pilot program that will put Apple boutiques in 25 of its stores. (That’s possibility #2 in Ed’s article if you’re scoring at home.) Apple knows what powerful draw its products generate and exploits that in its relationships up and down the supply chain. It's why Verizon invested millions two-and-a-half years ago to elevate Android: to level the playing field in the smartphone market by giving iPhone a legitimate competitor. It’s also why Verizon is looking to prop up Windows Phone during this year’s selling season.

And then late last week, Joe Wilcox raised another possible reason: that Target dumped the Kindle Fire because it’s no longer selling. He pointed to first-quarter data from IDC that estimated sharply lower shipments of the Kindle Fire in the year’s first quarter -- 700,000 units down from 4.7 million.

I find it difficult to believe that Target, a retailer well accustomed to consumer buying patterns, would toss Amazon due to a seasonal letdown in sales. As it turns out, the IDC report, while technically accurate, is a bit misleading.

Kindle Fire shipments, or deliveries by Amazon to thousands of stores as well as to Amazon’s own warehouses, fell off a cliff, not actual sales. That’s normal for the year’s first quarter -- Apple’s quarter-on-quarter shipments also dipped, as did total tablet shipments, according to IDC. You would expect Kindle Fire shipments to fall far faster than the industry during that time, because the fourth quarter was the Kindle Fire’s inaugural quarter, so retailers had to build up their holiday stock from scratch.

Sales, actual purchases of Kindle Fires by consumers, were seasonally strong in the first quarter, according to NPD. Consumers bought about 1.8 million Kindle Fires in the first quarter, compared to 3.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. That’s seasonally down, yes. But the Kindle Fire still sold “pretty darn well” in the first quarter, says NPD’s Stephen Baker.

So let’s see if we can’t get Kindle Fire news back on an even keel. One thing’s for sure: all this perceptual yo-yo’ing doesn’t change the fact that the Kindle Fire is a well-designed and well-positioned tablet that is successful because it sidesteps the iPad rather than challenging it head-on, like so many other wannabe’s in this market.

On the other hand, the Kindle Fire’s success may be why Apple has painted a target on its back -- and why it isn’t welcome back at Target.

Mike Feibus is principal analyst at TechKnowledge Strategies, a Scottsdale, Ariz., market research firm focusing on client technologies. You can reach him at mike at techknowledge-group dot com.
Do you need to capture a webpage bigger than your screen? Try wpic

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 7:49am MDT by Mike Williams

Capturing an image of a small webpage is easy. Open it in a browser, press Alt+PrtSc, paste the results into your graphics tool of choice, edit and save the results: it’s all over in a moment. Of course, if the page is too large to view on your display then all that scrolling means capturing it all becomes a little more challenging. But wpic, a new tool from woanware, may be able to help.

We say “may” because wpic is a console tool, with no concessions whatsoever to interactivity. If you launch the program then it won’t ask you for a URL or output file; instead you must specify them on the command line, very precisely (make the slightest error and it’ll complain with an unhelpful message), something like this.

wpic.exe -u [www.site.com] -o pic.png

And so this isn’t exactly the most convenient solution for ad-hoc screen grabbing.

If you need to regularly capture an image of the same page, though, it’s a very different story. It’s easy to automate wpic, to run it in scripts, scheduled tasks, when your PC boots and so on. And unlike regular screen capture tools, the program only runs when necessary, so it’s not wasting RAM, cluttering your system with icons or otherwise getting in your way.

But best of all, wpic is based on the Chromium project, and that means you can be confident that your target page will be rendered accurately, if perhaps a little slowly. We ran the above command on a fast PC with a speedy SSD and 10Mbps Internet connection and it still took 22 seconds to launch, fetch the page and convert it to an image.

Wpic isn’t exactly a beacon of user-friendliness, then. But it’s free, portable, and proved reliable when rendering our test pages, so if you frequently need to capture the same page (or pages) then the program could prove very useful.

Photo Credit: Alberto Zornetta/Shutterstock
EaseUS ToDo Backup 4.5 Free supports Windows 8

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 6:36am MDT by Nick Peers

Chengdu, China software developer EaseUS has updated its Windows all-in-one backup tool, EaseUS ToDo Backup 4.5 Free. The software, which is free for personal use only (paid-for editions are also available), combines both data and image-based backup within a single application.

Version 4.5 introduces a revamped backup management interface, designed to simplify the task of editing and deleting backups. It also adds support for Windows 8 Consumer Preview as well as interconverting backup tasks with plans (and vice versa).

The biggest change in EaseUS ToDo Backup 4.5 Free is the revamped backup management section, which is designed to make editing existing plans more flexible. Users can now quickly rename plans or tweak scheduling options direct from the management interface, plus open the backup location and view the backup’s current status.

Users can also switch between full and incremental backups, delete individual backup images or entire plans, plus tweak backup settings via the Advanced > Edit plan menu.

Another new feature is that backup plans and tasks can now be interconverted simply by ticking or unticking the Schedule box on the management interface page.

Aside from extending compatibility to Windows 8, other improvements in version 4.5 are restricted to paid-for products only -- these include a new option for backing up and restoring Exchange mailboxes, plus the ability to restore images to dynamic volumes.

Version 4.5 also sees EaseUS suspend all technical support for EaseUS ToDo Backup Free. Online tutorials are still available via the program’s help button, but EaseUS no longer provides any form of technical support for users of the free version. Instead, it’s promoting the WorkStation edition of the program for home users, which costs $39.

EaseUS ToDo Backup 4.5 Free is available now as a free-for-personal-use download for PCs running Windows 2000 or later.

Balazs Justin/Shutterstock
Bitdefender Total Security 2013 beta brings flashy, new interface

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 5:16am MDT by Mike Williams

Bitdefender has released the first public beta of its Total Security 2013 suite. And while the “New Features” list this time doesn’t exactly reveal much in the way of innovation (you’ll probably have some across many similar ideas before), there are still some welcome additions to what’s becoming a very powerful security suite.

Safepay, for instance, is an isolated browser that runs in a secure desktop, with a virtual keyboard. It automatically launches when it detects you’re visiting banking, payment or other sensitive sites to help ensure your transaction details stay safe.

Anti-Theft is Bitdefender’s take on a computer location service. If your laptop is stolen, say, you can log in to a web console, display its whereabouts on a map (maybe), then try to lock it remotely or wipe all the data it contains.

The USB Immunizer aims to make your USB flash keys “immune to autorun malware”. We’ve yet to test this -- and most similar tools aren’t quite as powerful as they claim -- but any level of protection here is welcome.

If this kind of ultra-comprehensive suite always seems too complex, then you may appreciate Bitdefender’s new Autopilot: essentially it’s a “leave me alone” mode where the program doesn’t hassle you with popups and alerts, instead managing your system entirely automatically.

All of this is presented in a flashy new interface, which works well with a few exceptions (there’s a desktop gadget which feels like a waste of time). And of course all this comes on top of the core features you’d expect from any security suite: on-demand and real-time antivirus protection, a spam filter, firewall, privacy tools, browsing protection, online backup, file encryption and more.

Is it worth taking the trial for a spin? If you’re interested in Bitdefender in particular, or this kind of do-everything suite, then we’d say yes: there are bugs and omissions, but in the main it seemed fairly stable and reliable during our tests.

And by way of encouragement, Bitdefender offers a few prizes to the beta testers who provide the most feedback. You could win an Asus B121 12.1 inch Tablet, an Acer Aspire S3 13.3 inch Ultrabook, a Nokia Lumia 900, and 100x Bitdefender Internet Security 2013 licenses for 6 months.

One point to remember, though, is that Bitdefender Total Security 2013 really isn’t designed to run alongside other security suites. These will generally be detected at installation, with the program refusing to proceed until your existing solution has been removed.

And keep in mind also that this is a first public beta. And bugs in this kind of low-level application could have very serious effects on your system, so don’t even think of installing the suite on a PC unless you have a full and recent backup available.

But if that’s not a problem, then grab a copy of the beta and take a look for yourself: there are 32-bit and 64-bit flavors available.

Andrea Danti/Shutterstock
Today's IBM, rotten to the core

Posted: May 7th, 2012, 2:39pm MDT by Robert X. Cringely
Six in a series. So after five parts, one question remains: What will IBM look like by the end of 2015? It will look like Oracle.

With earnings per share meaning everything and a headcount mandate that can’t be achieved without totally transforming the company, IBM is turning itself into something very different. Gerstner’s service business that saved the company 20 years ago will be jettisoned, probably to a combination of US and international buyers.

Look for the Global Services business to be sold to one or more Indian companies while the current federal business will be sold to one of IBM’s US competitors.

Meanwhile, IBM will move its business toward hardware and applications delivered by partners who carry the Service Level Agreement penalty risk.

Before we move on let’s examine that SLA penalty issue because I think there’s an aspect of this that’s misunderstood in the marketplace. A decade ago in one of those Aha! moments that transform corporations, IBM figured out that it was better to ask forgiveness from its customers than to ask permission. Specifically, IBM modeled two competing scenarios:
- Follow service agreements to the letter
- Ignore service agreements thus saving money and expect to pay penalties as a result
IBM decided it could make more money, a lot more money, by paying penalties than by actually doing what it was being paid to do.

One individual was rewarded for this stroke of genius, by the way, sanctifying what could be one heck of a class-action lawsuit.

Just like Ford deciding it was cheaper for a few customers to die than to improve Pinto fuel tank safety, IBM decided to deliberately cheat its customers. The result is today’s IBM, rotten to the core.

Good riddance.

Meanwhile, IBM has spent lots of money on software product applications and on self-managing hardware. They want to own (not manage) infrastructure that is now hardware and software, not bodies.

Services profit margins are terrible in comparison with combined software and hardware. This two-sided business model has both customers and partners paying. So in Big Data and Enterprise analytics IBM hopes to own analysis and value-added reporting.

It doesn’t even require squinting to see this as emulating Oracle. Both companies will have big hardware, big data, big applications, but not big numbers of people required by the services model. It’s a transformation of the business that IBM will have no trouble spinning as positive for everyone. Everyone, that is, except the thousands of workers about to be let go.

I wonder how they’ll spin that?

Also in this series: "The downfall of IBM"; "Why is IBM sneaking around?"; "It's a race to the bottom, and IBM is winning"; "How do we just fix IBM?"; "IBM as at a tipping point".

Reprinted with permission.

Photo Credits: Alfred Lui (top); wendelit teodoro/360Fashion (Cringley -- below)

Robert X. Cringely has worked in and around the PC business for more than 30 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Forbes, Upside, Success, Worth, and many other magazines and newspapers. Most recently, Cringely was the host and writer of the Maryland Public Television documentary "The Tranformation Age: Surviving a Technology Revolution with Robert X. Cringely".
Intel, McAfee protect the enterprise cloud

Posted: May 7th, 2012, 1:52pm MDT by Ed Oswald

Intel and McAfee aim to address growing cloud concerns through a comprehensive and holistic approach to security. The two companies hope to make data in the cloud as secure as, if not more than, data in the traditional deployment, combining their collective hardware expertise and software know-how to address these concerns.

A recent study commissioned by Intel showed that 56 percent of IT managers are concerned with the inability of public cloud service providers to adequately measure security, and 61 percent worry over the lack of visibility in the private cloud. This leads to delays in adoption in the enterprise by IT managers who could otherwise deliver cost and productivity efficiencies from the cloud, the data suggests.

"This calls for a tectonic shift in the way that enterprises and service providers alike think about security, because old tools and practices are not suitable or efficient for the new cloud architectures", McAfee vice president and chief technology officer Greg Brown says. Brown argues that IT managers need the same security assurances (like real-time monitoring) that they currently enjoy in traditional IT deployments.

McAfee's ePolicy Orchestrator, which allows IT administrators to set security policies across physical, virtual and cloud environments is combined with products from Intel, such as Trusted Execution Technology (TXT), which is hardware-based solution to protect servers from software-based attacks.

Intel and McAfee also focus on securing data while in transit over the cloud, as well as securing devices that may be using the cloud to access corporate data. One of the biggest threats to corporate security right now is the growing bring-your-own-device trend. These devices are typically owned by the employee him or herself, and the IT administrator has little control over whether or not these devices have been properly secured. It's a multi-faceted effort.

"The integrity assessments are at multiple enforcement points to establish confidence in private and public cloud infrastructure and ultimately, a hybrid model which most organizations seek to adopt", Brown explains.

Both Intel and McAfee also plan to advocate for cloud security standards to two industry bodies, including the Cloud Security Alliance and Open Data Center Alliance. In additon, the companies say they are working with software and hardware providers to ensure open and interoperable cloud security platforms to make deployment easier.

"Cloud service providers and enterprises alike would benefit from this model, which proposes consistent standards and interoperability as well as third party digital certificates and strong collaboration with the industry ecosystem", Brown says.

Photo Credit: Jirsak/Shutterstock
Adobe releases Creative Suite 6

Posted: May 7th, 2012, 1:31pm MDT by Mike Williams

Adobe today released Creative Suite 6, a powerful and professional bundle of some of the best creative applications around: Photoshop,Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects and more. While some of the new features lists are a little on the short side (step forward, Fireworks), there are still plenty of interesting additions and enhancements in the new package.

It’s now considerably easier to create designs that will display properly across many different devices, for instance: Dreamweaver’s “Fluid Grid Layouts” and InDesign’s “liquid page rules” can both automatically reorganise your content to suit a new layout size or orientation.

Photoshop CS6 is a useful upgrade, with a new Content Aware Move feature helping you move an object from one part of an image to the other, powerful new blur tools, smarter image autocorrections, and a far more powerful video engine.

Although of course if you need to carry out serious editing then you’ll turn to Premiere Pro CS6. Which in this version includes more powerful multicam editing (there’s no longer any 4-camera limit), better video stabilisation, three-way colour correction, even adjustment layers to help you apply effects to multiple clips.

More generally, most of the applications have seen their interface optimised to improve usability (Illustrator CS6 has had more than 40 tweaks all on its own). And just about every application here sees a significant performance boost through the Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine and Performance Systems, native 64-bit support and a host of code optimisations.

As usual, each application can be purchased individually. You can save up to 60% on the list price by buying one of the suites, though, which range from Design Standard (Photoshop/ Illustrator/ InDesign/ Acrobat X Pro/ Bridge/ Media Encoder, $1,299) through Design & Web Premium and Production Premium to CS6 Master Collection ($2,599 for everything).

And Adobe has also introduced Creative Cloud, which essentially gives you CS6 Master Collection plus a little more (such as Adobe Muse) for a monthly subscription of $49.99 (assuming you make an annual commitment). Creative Cloud is live from May 11.

But if you’re not quite ready for that level of commitment, no problem: there are 30-day trial versions of all the major CS6 available now, so you can try before you buy.
The mobile web is dead

Posted: May 7th, 2012, 1:24pm MDT by Joe Wilcox

Today, comScore released startling data about the mobile web, which bodes poorly for the browser. In March, the web browser accounted for just 18.5 percent of time spent online among US smartphone users. Mobile apps accounted for the rest. Now we know why Safari for iOS capabilities advance so sparingly: Apple sees it as irrelevant. Stated differently: Safari is to mobile what Internet Explorer 6 was to the desktop 10 years ago. Apps matter more to both developers.

Qualifying that one country does not the whole world make, the US data nevertheless foreshadows future trends and illuminates the past, demonstrating the wisdom of Apple's 2008 turnabout. When iPhone launched in June 2007, cofounder Steve Jobs couldn't say enough about Safari as a key user benefit. But by early 2008, Jobs and company shifted emphasis to the App Store, which launched in July of that year. In essence, Apple bet against the web after foaming at the mouth about open standards. Apps better fit Apple's "our way or the highway" approach to end-to-end hardware, software and supporting services. Only Google can save the mobile web now.

Apple and Microsoft singing in a Tree

Apple and Microsoft command the dominate web browsers in their respective platform markets. Following IE6's release more than a decade ago, Internet Explorer usage share exceeded 90 percent. Microsoft won the browser wars only to abandon browser development, presenting a barrier to the web competing with Windows as a platform for applications. Microsoft only reinvigorated browser development after Mozilla started earnestly working on Firefox, which released in December 2004. Microsoft's choice letting IE lay fallow proved costly, following the start of a new browser war supported by search profits. By April 2012, Internet Explorer usage share had fallen to 54.1 percent, according to Net Applications.

Apple's situation is somewhat different, but it's reasons for Safari's sorry state aren't far removed from Microsoft protecting its core platform. Apple sees more direct benefits, particularly hardware sales, from apps tied to its platform. Jobs' short Safari lovefest ended quickly. Open isn't in Apple's DNA -- that despite releasing WebKit to open source. The company thrives where it contrives.

But Apple's app-centric push, like Microsoft's, succeeds largely in part because of browser success. Safari overwhelmingly leads the mobile browser market, with 63.8 percent usage share in April, according to NetApps. Android is distant second, with 18.9 percent usage share. Stale Safari offers capable-enough browsing, holding the mobile web at bay, while apps advance.

iOS Apps gape Safari

The strategy is overwhelmingly successful. For example, visitors to Apple sites from smartphones spend 99.7 percent of their time there in an app, according to comScore. That's right, almost no one uses the browser. The number hugely validates Apple's app approach over Safari, since there is no real alternative on iOS. Apple doesn't approve competing browsers for the App Store, lest, like Opera Mini, they use a proxy method to function.

In an April 2010 analysis, I explained how "Apple, Google battle for the mobile Web". The post offers context relevant to what has happened two years later; give it a refresher read. This paragraph sums up the main point:

In approaching the mobile Web, Apple leverages its strengths as an end-to-end hardware/software developer. By comparison, Google already offers services in the cloud via the browser. Apple's worldview is more applications-centric while Google's is more Web-centric. Apple wants to pull computational and informational relevance to applications, while Google seeks to shift relevance to the Web.

Apple's lackluster Safari development persists on the desktop, too, where the emphasis is keeping apps more relevant. Google revs a new Chrome version every six weeks. And Safari? Apple generally only makes major, new features available when releasing new operating systems -- as does Microsoft.

Google pushes apps and the browser on mobiles, with increasing emphasis on its services. In February, Google extended its Chrome commitment to mobile, by releasing a compelling beta for Android 4. It's a superb mobile browser, and I'd buy an Android phone just to get Chrome.

Google bets on Both

But Google isn't betting a one-horse race. I observed two years ago: "There also are hints Google is directionally changing towards Apple. Google is unifying applications and services and offering more mobile apps for different mobile platforms. Google also is integrating apps and services around Android handsets". That's exactly the situation today, as comScore reveals.

In March, US smartphone users spent 81.1 percent of their time on Google sites in an app. While considerably lower than Apple, browser still accounted for less than 20 percent of the time. Google's hybrid approach, of apps and browser, closely tied to its services pays off in time spent online. Including top-ranked Google Play, the top four Android apps go to Google services and six out of the top 10. By comparison, top-ranked iTunes (which includes apps) is the only Apple app to make the top 10. Apple doesn't offer the same breadth of disparate cloud services as Google, but I find the data unbelievable. Surely Apple's mail app ranks highly, as Gmail does on Android.

What I wonder, how much do Wikimedia sites account for all smartphone browser engagements, since 99.8 percent of the time spent there in March was in a browser. That despite dedicated Wikipedia apps for Android and iOS as alternatives.

So outside Wikipedia, the mobile web is dead. It's mostly apps now. That said, Google continues aggressive browser development despite Apple's lackluster Safari commitment. Imagine if Chrome came to iOS how the mobile web's fortune might change. Surely in some, wayward alternate universe it has, but here.

Photo Credit: Jannis Tobias Werner/Shutterstock
Microsoft's $99 Xbox 360 bundle: what a rip-off!

Posted: May 7th, 2012, 11:40am MDT by Tim Conneally

Last week, we heard rumors that Microsoft would be releasing a Xbox 360 console with Kinect for $99, subsidized by a two-year Gold subscription commitment to the Xbox Live service, in a fashion similar to mobile phone subsidies.

Monday, the offer went live on the Microsoft Store site, and the plan, which got us excited here in the BetaNews news room, turns out to be no deal at all.

To get your hands on the subsidized console, you have to commit to a two-year Xbox Live Gold subscription at $14.99 per month, a rate jacked up from the normal one-year Gold subscription rate of $5.00 per month.

So this subsidy deal includes a $99 console and a $360 Gold subscription, bringing the total to $459, which is over a hundred dollars more expensive than standard rates.

At the regular prices, the 4GB Xbox 360/Kinect bundle would cost $229, and the two-year commitment to Xbox Live Gold would cost $120, bringing the total to just $349.
Google+ gets a killer app

Posted: May 7th, 2012, 9:59am MDT by Joe Wilcox
What do you get when Google+ and YouTube reproduce? Hangouts on Air, which today is available globally -- well, if that's how you view 20 countries (or so it looks from the list I see). My question: What does this mean for the future of services like USTREAM? Given Google's reach with search and video services, and the growing social network, coupled with Google Plus Your World, my answer is "uh-oh".

Google+ debuted nearly 11 months ago in beta, with the Hangouts video-sharing service being one of its stand-out, and stand-apart-from-Facebook, features. Hangouts lets Google+ users video chat with up to 10 people. In September 2011, Google+ opened to the public, with big upgrades to Hangouts: "On Air", which allows watching beyond the 10 participants; mobile broadcasting for Android 2.3 and above; and collaboration, which reached beyond YouTube to shared screens, sketchpads and Docs. Today's broadened availability is all about enabling millions of self-broadcasters to reach wide audiences at low cost.

The concept isn't by any means new. Services like BlogTV, Livestream, Qik, USTREAM and even YouTube, among others, enabled anyone to self-broadcast, long before Hangouts on Air. Professionals use these services but also many individuals to reach broader audiences. Now anyone with a cell phone can broadcast live from major events, as we saw from protests during the Arab Spring, or hold concerts in their living room. Hangouts on Air evolves the concept by combing social context with Google's massive reach.

Google+ has many differentiating features going for it, like Circles, compared to Facebook and other social networks. What it doesn't have is a killer app, until now. Facebook's compelling appeal is size, not any one feature or even many. With more than 850 million users, most anyone knows someone who's there. Google+ has over 100 million users, commendable for a social network not even a year old, but hardly proven success.

Over the weekend my daughter told me: "Me and my friends all tried out Google+. It just didn't stick". Her word usage surprised me, because "sticky" is industry lingo used to describe certain products or services. The stickier, the more likely people are to adopt and stay. Facebook and Tumblr are sticky to my daughter, because that's where her friends hangout. What? Do you go to a new, fancy restaurant to eat alone or do you march down to the greasy spoon where your friends go? Google+ is that new eatery.

Less than two weeks after Google+ private beta launched, in early July 2011, Facebook added video calling capabilities -- but one-to-one rather than Hangouts' up to 10 people. Skype provides the video capability to Facebook. Social distinguishes Hangouts from Facebook's service and now the ability to self-broadcast. Sure, Skype standalone allows video chatting among groups, but there's no broader social network context. Still, established services like USTREAM or startups like Spreecast make social video or self-broadcasting available to Facebookers.

But Hangouts on Air is slicker, integrated with the social network and leverages YouTube's enormous reach coupled with Google search. What good is any self-broadcast if no one can find it? YouTube's pull cannot be understated. Continuing a longstanding trend, Google sites, largely because of YouTube, topped the US online video rankings in March by the three criteria comScore measures: unique viewers (146.1 million); number of videos (15.7 billion); and, most importantly, average time online per viewer (7.1 hours). No other site or service comes close. Self-broadcasting tied to Google+ adds social context (e.g. hanging out together) and big reason for people to go there.

Google+ isn't the only place to consume or present On Air broadcasts, but it anchors the service -- and you'll need related Profile. Chee Chew, Google engineering director, explains:
With just a few clicks, you’ll be able to:
- Broadcast publicly. By checking "Enable Hangouts On Air", you can broadcast your live hangout—from the Google+ stream, your YouTube channel or your website -- to the entire world.
- See how many viewers you’ve got. During your broadcast, you can look inside the hangout to see how many people are watching live.
- Record and re-share. Once you're off the air, we’ll upload a public recording to your YouTube channel, and to your original Google+ post. This way it's easy to share and discuss your broadcast after it's over.
If you're planning an upcoming public broadcast using Hangouts on Air, please link in comments. Only safe for work or school content, please.
HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE picks up where its predecessor left off

Posted: May 7th, 2012, 9:38am MDT by Tim Conneally

In the continuing stream of "sequels" to popular Android smartphones, HTC and Verizon Wireless on Monday announced the Droid Incredible 4G LTE, the follow-up to the popular Droid Incredible, which launched at this time two years ago.

Part of what made the first Droid Incredible a hit was its price-to-performance ratio. For $199, the phone offered a high megapixel camera, a good processor speed, and an acceptable screen. HTC appears to have stuck to this balance with the Droid Icredible 4G LTE, while adding the namesake LTE radio.

The screen has been bumped up a third of an inch to an even 4", and the resolution has been bumped up to qHD (960 x 540.) It has the same 8 megapixel LED flash as its predecessor, but it has also been equipped with a forward-facing chat camera. The processor is still a Qualcomm Snapdragon, but this version is the dual-core 1.2 GHz S4. In addition to the LTE radio, the Droid Incredible 4G LTE also includes NFC to take advantage of the near-field communications support present in Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich.)

Verizon and HTC have not announced the launch date for the sequel device, but it is expected to be available across the U.S. at $299.99 with a two-year contract.
eBay 2.0 for iPad is a big upgrade

Posted: May 7th, 2012, 7:38am MDT by Mark Wilson

Anyone using eBay for buying and selling need no longer battle with the mobile version of the website on their iPad or use a low-resolution iPhone app to keep track of their auctions thanks to the release of the massively updated eBay for iPad 2.0.0. As you would expect, following the release of the new iPad there is support for the high resolution retina display and this means that it is now possible to view higher quality images for the auctions you are browsing, but there’s much more to look forward to in this app that has been completely redesigned from scratch.

As this is a complete overhauled version of the app, there is a great deal to explore in the latest release. The starting point for any app is its home screen, and eBay for iPad has a highly customizable one that houses your buying, selling and watching activity by default. However, you can choose the order in which things are displayed, so if you are only interested in selling, you can hide anything that relates to buying, If buying is more your thing, you can add saved searches to the home screen for easy access.

Many of the changes in the app have come as a result of user feedback and one of the most requested features from eBay sellers has been the ability to make changes to listings. This feature is now available in the app so if you spot a mistake in a description, you can make quick changes without the need to fire up your Mac or PC. There is now support for more notifications than ever before, so even if you are not actively using the app it will keep you informed about what is happening in your account.

In addition to the option to add saved searches to the home screen, there have also been changes to the way in which search results are shown, with a total of three different views to choose from. The move to version 2.0 sees the iPad eBay app evolving into something that is genuinely impressive, and it is now a tool that is a far cry from the original release which is easier and faster to use than the mobile version of the auction web site.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the eBay for iPad 2.0.0 review page.
Gimp 2.8 gets a whole new look

Posted: May 6th, 2012, 1:56pm MDT by Mark Wilson

In terms of version numbering the release of GIMP 2.8 might seem like a minor one, but in reality it is very big news. The cross-platform image editor has been available for Windows, OS X and Linux for many years now and one thing that Windows’ user have often struggled with is the abnormal interface that comprises multiple windows; in this latest version there is now the option of working in a single window mode.

The great thing here is that there is a choice, so if you have become used to the way GIMP has worked in the past you can stick with this interface but if you have found this is the one thing that prevent you from using the image editor, you have a new option available to you.

While the interface does a lot to improve the usability of the program, this update has much more to offer. Dock windows are now much more customizable as you now have the option of creating new columns to house tools and shortcuts that you need access to. Individual dock elements have also been redesigned to help them to make better use of space.

The saving and exporting of image has been reimagined into two distinct tasks, partly to avoid messages about layered images becoming flattened, and there have also be changes to the ways layers work -- you can now group related layers together to make them easier to work with.

When you are incorporating text into your images it is now possible to edit text directly on the canvas without the need to turn to a separate window, and in addition to the pop-up toolbar controls, you can also use keyboard shortcuts to format text. But there have been many other changes and additions besides what has been done to the interface, including greater customization of brushes and the ability to save the state of any tool as a preset so that it can be quickly accessed in future.

A new cage transformation tool has been added to allow for image warping and wrapping, and there have also been a number of interesting developments for anyone using a tablet device. A great timesaver comes thanks to the fact that tools, patterns, brushes and other program resources can be tagged with custom keywords that can later be used to filter, so you can very quickly track down what you need to perform a particular task.

Of course there are the usual nips, tucks and tweaks, but this is such a big change to the previous version of the program that even if you have been put off using GIMP in the past, now may just be the time to give it a second chance. If you are already a convert, you have a great deal to explore in this latest release.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the program by paying a visit to the GIMP 2.8 review page.