Yahoo confirms Mail / Messenger outage, working on a fix

Google Talk and Twitter had their moments last week, and now it's Yahoo's turn. As noted by a flood of readers -- and confirmed by the company itself -- the exclamation marked mail service is currently experiencing some issues. Yahoo Mail is prompting users to accept its terms and then just sort of conking out. We reached out to Yahoo for comment and received the following response:

Yahoo! Mail, Messenger and other areas of Yahoo! may currently be inaccessible or slow to respond to some users in certain locations. We are working to correct the issue and restore all functionality immediately. We know that this may have caused some inconvenience and we apologize to our users who might be affected.

We'll update you when things are back to normal.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Update: Phew, everything seems to be back in working order.

Safari 6 crashing in Mountain Lion

A rare combination of proxy settings and the popular password manager 1Password may result in Safari crashing.
Some Mac users who have upgraded to OS X 10.8 have found that Apple's Safari Web browser is crashing. From the crash reports it appears that the problem is rooted around the use of the password manager 1Password; however, upon further investigation the problem has been found to be on Apple's end.
The crashes only seem to happen for a small number of 1Password users, indicating that the problem is not a major bug in the program but rather a conflict with a specific configuration.

Uncheck these two options in the OS X Proxy configuration for each of your used network ports to prevent the crash from occurring.

After reports surfaced of the crashes, the 1Password development team investigated the issue and found that a bug exists in Mountain Lion's handling of proxy server configurations that can cause a crash for users of its software. Proxy settings are rarely needed for home users, and are instead used by corporations to provide network access to various online services.
If you are experiencing this problem, then there are two routes available that you can take. The first is to disable the automatic proxy discovery option in your network configuration. To do this, go to the Network system preferences and select your active network connection (it should have a green dot next to it). Then click the Advanced button and go to the Proxies tab. In this section, locate the "Auto Proxy Discovery" option and uncheck it. You might also need to uncheck the option for "Automatic Proxy Configuration."
If you do need your proxy settings, then the alternative option is to remove the 1Password extension from Safari until Apple fixes the proxy settings bug, which can be done in the Extensions section of the Safari preferences.

Microsoft warns of critical Oracle code bugs in Exchange

Microsoft last week warned IT administrators that critical vulnerabilities in code licensed from Oracle could give attackers access to Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 systems.
Oracle patched the vulnerabilities in its "Oracle Outside In" code libraries as part of a massive update on July 17 that fixed nearly 90 flaws in its database software.
Exchange, as well as Microsoft's FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint, use the Oracle Outside In libraries to display file attachments in a browser rather than to open them in a locally-stored application, like Microsoft Word. The vulnerabilities are within the code that parses those attachments.
"An attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could run arbitrary code under the process that is performing the parsing of the specially crafted files," said Microsoft in the security advisory it issued a week ago.
A successful exploit of an Exchange server would let hackers "install programs; view, change, or delete data; or take any other action that the server process has access to do."
Microsoft downplayed the threat, saying elsewhere that it was unaware of any active, in-the-wild exploits.
In the absence of an immediate patch -- Microsoft said it is working on an update, but gave no release timetable -- the company's Security Research & Defense blog and the advisory recommended that IT administrators temporarily disable those Exchange Server and FAST Search Server features that relied on the Oracle Outside In libraries.
"You need to evaluate the risk and determine if it's necessary to implement the mitigations," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Security, in an interview last week. "Meanwhile, the security guys sit and watch attack telemetry and hope Microsoft releases a fix soon."
Microsoft rarely issues an emergency update -- dubbed "out-of-band" or "out-of-cycle" -- that departs from its normal once-a-month schedule. Among the criteria it uses: Whether there are attacks circulating that exploit a vulnerability, and if so, whether the volume of those attacks reaches a threshold that Microsoft doesn't disclose.
The last time Microsoft released an out-of-band update was at the end of 2011, when it rushed a fix for a flaw that could have been used by hackers to cripple Web servers.
The company's next regularly-scheduled security updates will ship Tuesday, Aug. 14.

Apple pitches its underdog cred in Samsung trial

Apple made the case that it was an underdog going into the phone biz during its opening statements in the trial between it and Samsung.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Apple began day two of the trial between it and Samsung with opening statements depicting it as an underdog that came into the phone industry and changed the game.
Harold McElhinny, a partner at Morrison Foerster, kicked off the case for Apple by saying the company had bet the farm on the iPhone in 2007, and competitors (though particularly Samsung) proceeded to copy it, leading to big profits and lost sales on Apple's part.
"Apple had absolutely no name in the field, no credibility. (The iPhone) was an entry that had it gone bad, could have ended the company's future," McElhinny said. "On january 9, 2007 when Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller went through that presentation, they were literally betting their company."
Apple's argument involved showing photos of Samsung's phones before and after 2007's iPhone, as well as the company's tablets ahead of 2010's iPad release.
"How did Samsung get to here in 2006 to here in 2011?" McElhinny asked, while showing Samsung products released during those years.
To spell that out, McElhinny walked jurors through what he said were ways Samsung copied some of the software technologies, pointing to internal Samsung documents with side-by-side product comparisons and notes from the company urging to adopt software features -- including the look and feel of icons and built-in gestures.
Some of the ammunition to back that up are a series of patents both for product design, and built-in software Apple was granted beginning in 2005. "We can't do 100 patents in this trial," McElhinny said half-jokingly. Instead, he said the company had selected a "spectrum" of patents to make its case.
Covered in that spectrum are 12 claims, spread out over four design patents that cover the iPhone and iPad, as well as three user interface patents covering user gestures like scrolling, zooming, and a feature that provides a virtual "bounce back" when reaching the end of a page.
Both companies made their initial positions clear in pre-trial briefs filed last week. That included mention by Apple that it was a hugely important customer to Samsung, something McElhinny said would be discussed in more detail as the trial progressed.
During yesterday's trial kickoff, U.S. district court judge Lucy Koh selected the 10-member jury, a process that took the majority of the day due to lengthy questioning that weeded out employees from both companies, as well as those with family connections. Today began with one of those jurors being excused after noting that her employer would not pay all of the trial, which is expected to run about four weeks.
Next up are Samsung's opening statements, where the company will detail its plans for the case.

Gmail for iOS adds option to save photos, becomes a smoother operator

Google's Gmail app for iOS has been docked by some potential adopters for feeling like a poor cousin to other native apps. It may be worth revisiting: the 1.3 update has just arrived with a much-requested ability to save common image attachments to an iOS device's photo collection. Should that not be enough, Google has smoothed out animations and scrolling for iPhone and iPod touch owners. The new version has pushed live for everyone, leaving just a quick download between us and saving our parents' vacation photos for posterity.

Obama Campaign Releases Mobile Voter Engagement App

Obama For America released the iPhone version of a voter engagement app today with the Android version set to be released soon. The app is meant to bolster the campaign’s grassroots efforts, 100 days out from November’s presidential election.
The app synchronizes with Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS, as well as a web app, Dashboard, on the OFA website. The campaign is billing the smartphone app as a tactic that will allow organizers, volunteers and voters to better engage with the campaign.
The app also streams campaign news, provides volunteer opportunities, allows for easy social media sharing, provides information on voting locations and registration information. There’s a function for users to see the latest voter ID laws in their state and a place to report voting problems or abuse. Users can also donate to the campaign using the app.
It shares nuggets of campaign PR for users to utilize in campaigning on behalf of OFA stream via the app, such as how middle class tax relief affected Florida voters, for example.
This allows users of the app to essentially become their own campaign headquarters. They can download the names of voters in their neighborhood from campaign HQ via the app, then share this information using the app back to the campaign.
The Dashboard, a web app users can synch to their smartphone apps, allows users to Connect via Facebook and then engage in campaign actions, such as volunteering or hosting an event.
“We designed our new app to help break down the distinction between online and offline organizing, giving every supporter the same opportunities to get involved that they would find in a field office,” said Deputy Campaign Manager for Obama for America Stephanie Cutter in a statement.

Amazon updates Cloud Player with 256 Kbps matched files, faster import, direct delivery

Amazon's Cloud Player service just scored some major upgrades, including quality and import enhancements. Perhaps most notable is a new 256 Kbps option for matched files, including songs you imported before today. That bitrate, in MP3 format, is available for new tracks and albums added to the cloud -- a process that's been streamlined as well, with Cloud Player scanning your library and automatically offering up matched tracks, rather than requiring manual imports. In addition, music you buy in the Amazon MP3 Store will show up in your Player automatically, including past purchases (in cases where the site has the necessary rights). There's also an option to edit metadata directly, such as artist and album info, along with album art, or you can use the label information already in Amazon's catalog. Cloud Drive will also be less integrated with Player -- previous uploads will be moved to an "Archived Music" folder and won't count against storage caps, but will still be accessible and downloadable, while new imports will be stored in Player directly. You can upload up to 250 songs to Cloud Player for free, or pay a $25 annual fee to bump that cap to 250,000.

Apple vs. Samsung: Every Patent Tells a Story

Apple and Samsung have won battles against one another in the marketplace and in courtrooms but so far, there's been no declared winner in their war. The patent front expands on Monday with $2.2525 billion at stake in a case set to take place in a San Jose, California., federal court.

While tablets and slab phones are certainly nothing new, it's nevertheless come down to a question of design between Samsung and Apple. Apple claims the cluster of Galaxy devices—including the Tab and the Nexus—are too similar in look and feel to the iPad and iPhone, respectively. As a result, the company says it has lost around $500 million in profits, with sales of Samsung phones overtaking iPhone sales worldwide.
The companies have taken their campaigns from courtroom to courtroom and country to country, with cases currently pending in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands. Earlier this month, Apple was ordered to post a notice on the U.K. version of its website declaring that Samsung did not copy the iPad's design. Judge Colin Birss' reassuring words to Samsung in the case didn't come without some sting, though. Behind the decision was Birss' assertion that Samsung's Galaxy tablets are "not as cool" as the iPad. (As for who gave birth to the cool, well, that's something Apple might face competition on, too.)

A flurry of patent filings and other proof-of-design claims will be brought forth in this latest case. Here are some of the ones that will be (and others that should).

Apple Patent 889

The broadest-seeming of Apple's design patents, Apple Patent 889 seems to stakes a claim to any device that's a rectangle with rounded corners. 

Apple Patent 087

The design patent for the iPhone, Apple Patent 087, states that it is for "[t]he ornamental design of an electronic device. Like the iPhone itself, the description is minimalist. 

Apple Patent 790

The familiar Chiclet-shaped app layout is sketched out in Apple Patent 790, the "ornamental design for a graphical user interface for a display screen or portion thereof." 

Spotify brings Pandora-like free streaming to Android

Users can create stations, save songs they like, and personalize the offering by rating tracks.

Spotify is bringing Android users into its Pandora-like free streaming service.
The company announced this morning that Android-based Spotify users can now create stations through its application and listen to "millions of songs" from the program. After creating stations and listening to tracks, users can customize what plays by giving a track a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. In addition, users can save songs they like.
If this sounds familiar, it's because Pandora offers about the same functionality through its own service. And like Pandora, Spotify will play ads to nonpaying subscribers. Those who are Spotify Premium users will be able to listen to songs ad-free.
Spotify's free music service was brought to iOS last month. That application delivers the same functionality as the new Android app.
Spotify's app is available now in the Google Play store, for free.

Apple to shut down iWork.com beta today, iCloud patiently awaits you

In the months leading up to this very moment, we've seen Apple introduce a full set of new MacBook Airs and an extremely high-res Pro of its own -- but today the company's taking a slightly different route, shutting down its doc-sharing iWork.com for good. Not all is lost, however, as this a natural move from the Cupertino outfit to make an expected transition to a more iCloud-heavy ecosystem -- a place where you'll essentially be able to accomplish similar things. The good news is you still have the rest of the day to clean out your invisible locker and save your must-have documents, and in case you need help with that, Apple's support page (linked below) will fill you in on all those step-by-steps.

Apple Is Considering Splitting Its Stock And Joining The Dow

Apple may be considering a stock split in order to finally be listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to a new research note from Bernstein Research.
Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst with Bernstein, writes that the firm views the "timing as ripe" for Apple to join the Dow. He offers several reasons why, including:

• Apple is the only company with a market cap above $215 billion which pays a dividend, but is not included in the Dow.

• There are only five tech companies on the Dow right now and none have "meaningful direct exposure" to the booming smartphone and tablet market. "We are in the midst of an unusually long time before changes [in the Dow's tech landscape], indicating that one is probable over the next 6-12 months."

Here's the relevant bit from Sacconaghi's research note:

We see the timing as ripe for Apple's potential inclusion in the DJIA following a stock split for several reasons: (1) Technology companies are under-represented in Dow (compared to the S&P 500 the Dow is under-weight technology by 370 bps), with IBM accounting for over two-thirds of the current tech weighting; (2) A stock split would enable AAPL to be considered for Dow inclusion, given that is a price based index; (3) Apple's recent introduction of a dividend is consistent with other Dow components, all of whom pay a dividend. Only 5 of the 30 Dow companies are in the Tech sector (Exhibit 5), and outside of IBM, all have been added in the past 15 years. The price weighting of the Dow under-represents Tech companies by 170bps compared to a market cap weighting. Further, IBM has the largest weight in the index at 11.4% (Exhibit 6). Excluding IBM, Tech's weighting in the Dow is only 5.3%. When compared to the larger and broader S&P 500, which is market cap weighted, Tech is underweight by 370 bps (Exhibit 7). Apple alone has a 4.37% weight in the S&P 500. This disparity between Tech weighting in the Dow and S&P 500 leads us to believe the Dow is likely to add more Tech stocks, and that Apple would be a primary candidate if the company split its stock. Apple's initiation of a dividend brings the company into line with all other Dow components. We note that Apple is currently the only company above $215B in market cap that pays a
dividend and is not included in the Dow. Although Apple's dividend is below the Dow average, it is within 1 standard deviation and has approximately the same yield as IBM (Exhibit 8). Other potentialtech companies are much smaller by market cap and some would also potentially have to split their stock and consider initiating a dividend (Exhibit 9). We show other potential additions outside of Tech ranked by market cap in Exhibit 10.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bernstein-analyst-apple-is-considering-splitting-its-stock-and-joining-the-dow-jones-2012-7#ixzz22DdYQ6kx

Microsoft introduces Outlook.com, Hotmail's planned successor

Back in June, there were leaks about an alleged new Microsoft mail client -- "Newmail" -- something LiveSide.net described as a Metro-style Hotmail."

On July 31, Microsoft took the wraps off a preview version of that new client, which it is formally christening "Outlook.com." (The screen shot above is an example of what the new Outlook.com interface looks like.)

Microsoft is billing Outlook.com as a new free mail service that pulls features from Hotmail and Exchange. It is designed for personal/consumer use; Microsoft continues to position Outlook as its business e-mail client. Outlook.com is integrated with Windows and Office, and can pull in Twitter, Facebook, Gmail and LinkedIn contacts. The new mail client has the Metro look and feel. And it is providing users with more granular control over which ads they see and where they see them.

In some countries, @Hotmail email addresses are not pariahs. But in others, they're considered as unhip as @aol addresses. While Microsoft is not currently requiring Hotmail users to move to Outlook.com, the longer-term plan is to convince them to move to Outlook.com. There's no word on when (or definitively if) Microsoft will pull the plug on Hotmail.com, but I'd guess there is a date on someone's calendar at Microsoft as to when this will happen.

Those who've been following the increasingly regular feature updates that the Hotmail team has added to the service will be familiar with Outlook.com's features. The ability to view previews of attached photos; to "sweep" unwanted messages in bulk; to weed out "gray" (junk) mail more easily; and to access Microsoft's Office Web Apps (the Webified versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) from inside mail are all part of Outlook.com. (I'm not really sure which unique Exchange features are part of Outlook.com. Anyone?)

Microsoft is providing new Outlook.com users with 7 GB of free cloud storage through SkyDrive. (If you already have a SkyDrive account, I don't believe you get an extra 7 GB added to your total available storage if you sign up for Outlook.com, however.) As it has been doing with Hotmail, Microsoft is trying to wean Outlook.com users from sending attachments. Instead, the focus is on saving files, photos and other content to the cloud, with "smart layouts" in email messages showing recipients what they can see via links and/or downloads.

On Windows devices, including Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets and PCs, users will have the option of choosing which mail client they want to use (when they click on the Mail app). One of the permitted choices will be Outlook.com. And on other mobile devices and phones -- not just Windows Phones, but any phone that supports Exchange ActiveSync -- Outlook.com will be a supported mail option, as well.

For those wondering about Skype integration, especially given this week's news regarding Google replacing Gmail video chat with Google+ Hangouts, Microsoft is dangling the promise of, at some point in the future, being able to launch Skype video calls from inside Outlook.com inboxes without having to use the Skype app. (It sounds like the ability to use Outloo.com plus video calling from the Web will be another option here.)

Microsoft is not commenting on when it expects Outlook.com will advance beyond the test stage. As of today, it is available in preview form. Those who already have @hotmail.com and/or @live.com email addresses that they want to move to @outlook.com can click "Upgrade to Outlook.com" in the options menu. Those who do not have existing Microsoft consumer mail accounts with those addresses can sign up for a new @outlook.com email address via www.outlook.com.

Facebook Is Getting Crushed -- Down 4%

Facebook can't buy a break.
The stock is off 4% this morning after it got a mixed report from Bernstein analyst Carlos Kirjner.
Kirjner raised his rating on Facebook to Market Perform from Underperform, reports Eric Savitz at Forbes. He has a $23 price target on the stock.
While that all sounds good, he also basically tells investors he only thinks the stock is really worth $19. The other $4 is what Facebook might do some day that will be awesome:

“We believe that  Facebook is worth $19/share (10 times estimated 2014 EBITDA plus cash) valued just as a display advertising business gaining market share due to its fundamental competitive advantages based on scale, user data and identity ... These $19/share do not assume upside from its social advertising capabilities and do not give Facebook any credit for upside from yet-to-be-defined businesses based on its distinctive assets, such as its social graph. Because these ‘upside’ opportunities are still highly uncertain, we value them at $4/share based on our sizing of such upside opportunities and our judgment of the probabilities they will come through, leading us to our $23/share valuation."

His note only gets more negative from there:

"The decline in European CPMs [in the June quarter], attributed by management to poor macro environment, suggests that Internet advertisers in Europe are not yet convinced of Facebook’s high ROI ... The fact that Facebook’s revenue trajectory and key metrics are already affected this heavily and this early by external drivers such as seasonality and macro give us pause. To us, this suggests that either the ROI on Facebook  advertising is just not that attractive, or the company has a long and arduous path to making it transparent to advertisers."

And finally ...

"As it has been well known, over 211 million shares will be added to Facebook’s current float of 484 million shares in August, an increase of nearly 40%, up to 355 million shares will be added to the float in October (an 73% increase versus the current float), and 1,339 million in November (an 276% increase compared to the current float)... While these are well known facts and should (in theory) be already reflected in the stock price, history suggests that there is a good chance of transient pressure on the stock price as liquidity increases abruptly. We would see a buying opportunity if FB were to trade around or below $19/share."

Russian Telecom Blames Apple's 'Dictatorship' For The iPhone Costing $1,000 In Russia

OAO Mobile TeleSystems, the iPhone’s biggest wireless carrier in Russia, criticized Apple Inc. for not cutting the device’s $1,000-plus price in the country and being too strict about how it’s sold.
The phone’s cost makes it a hard sell in a market where rival models go for as little as $120, executives from the Moscow-based company said at an event in New York. Apple also requires that the carrier’s retail locations meet its standards, imposing additional burdens, MTS said.
“They’re more in a dictatorship mode where they say, ‘This is what you have to do or you don’t get the iPhone,’” Vasyl Latsanych, the Russian company’s vice president of marketing, said at the event. “Being arrogant with your partners in big markets doesn’t pay off.”
The remarks exposed a rift for Apple in one of the largest emerging mobile-phone markets and added to concern that the iPhone maker is charging too much in developing economies. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook faced questions after last week’s earnings report over whether the iPhone’s pricing was going to limit growth overseas. He responded that Apple’s focus on product quality trumped other considerations.
“I firmly believe that people in the emerging markets want great products like they do in developed markets,” Cook said during the call on July 24. The goal “is to make the very best product, and that’s more important and overshadows all other things.”
Natalie Harrison, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California- based Apple, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Smartphone Demand

Apple would get a larger share of the Russian market by cutting the iPhone’s price or helping subsidize it, Michael Hecker, MTS’s vice president for strategy and corporate development, said at the New York event.
Unlike in the U.S., Russian consumers typically don’t sign up for long-term mobile-phone contracts. So it’s less practical for carriers to subsidize the phone’s cost themselves the way AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless do. The iPhone 4S, Apple’s latest model, costs $199.99 in the U.S. with a two-year commitment.
“If Apple showed more flexibility then they would have a higher penetration in our markets,” Hecker said.
Russians have a growing appetite for smartphones, he said. MTS -- the region’s largest carrier, with more than 100 million subscribers in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Belarus -- expects smartphones to have 60 percent penetration at the end of 2014, compared with 15.4 percent in the first quarter of 2012.
After making the remarks about Apple, MTS softened its criticism later in the day.
“While we have differences with Apple, we have a constructive relationship,” Joshua Tulgan, an MTS spokesman, said in a statement. “Smartphones like the iPhone are important to our customers and our economy and we want to get them into the hands of as many people as possible.”
In total, Apple sold 26 million iPhones last quarter, shy of the 28.4 million predicted by analysts. The shortfall caused Apple sales and profit to miss Wall Street estimates for only the second time since 2003.

Apple TV gains subscription streaming option

For $7.99/month, you can watch new episodes of Hulu's shows on your Apple TV.

Hulu Plus has finally arrived on the Apple TV, just in time for the service's last three remaining subscribers to take advantage of it. Apple TV users began noticing the new "app" on their Apple TV interfaces on Tuesday morning, its presence later confirmed by Ars and the Hulu blog. A software update isn't necessary in order to see the new option, but you do have to subscribe to Hulu Plus for $7.99 per month (with "limited" ads) in order to use it.
Hulu Plus was introduced in 2010 as a way for the free TV streaming site to make a bit more money than they could generate through online ads. The idea was to offer premium TV options for a monthly subscription, such as back episodes of popular TV shows or the latest episode of primetime hits—and allow users to watch those things earlier than the non-subscription schmucks. The service has struggled to gain a significant foothold in the online TV market over the last two years, though. Hulu Plus is clearly still around, but it's not quite as popular or on as many devices as Netflix's online service, for example.
Users have been trying to find ways to watch Hulu shows on an Apple TV for years, and there are numerous hacks available for those who just can't live without their streamed TV. That's why, when Hulu Plus began showing up on Apple TVs this morning, it was almost a surprise—few expected Hulu and Apple to finally agree to put the service on the Apple TV.
You can't watch the free, ad-supported version of Hulu, though; only subscribers will be able to watch their Hulu shows on the Apple TV after they log in. Hulu Plus carries shows like Modern Family, New Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Master Chef, and The Family Guy, so if you're already a subscriber or think you want to plow through a few seasons of Zooey Deschanel, this is your lucky day.

Microsoft Privacy Statements: A New Look

As we increasingly rely on technology for many aspects of our lives, the amount of data created continues to grow at an exponential rate. An important challenge for organizations is to provide privacy statements describing the collection, use and protection of data that are straightforward, yet comprehensive. Clarity and simplicity are key for time-pressed consumers, but large enterprises, governments, and other high-tech savvy individuals often need highly detailed information to use online services with confidence.
With each of these audiences in mind, we are unveiling initial improvements to the look and feel of many of our online privacy statements. We believe the changes enhance the appearance and functionality of our privacy statements, and enable us to more effectively layer important information. Our hope is that the changes will make privacy information easier to locate and use for many consumers.
Microsoft is condensing our privacy statements, just making them easier for people to find the information they want at the level of detail they want. There are no material changes to our data-collection and use practices. We stand behind our policies and remain steadfast in the data-protection commitments we have made. Customers can continue to rely on the privacy practices they’ve come to expect and appreciate from Microsoft.
Indeed, in 2006 we were one of the first companies to develop and deploy a layered privacy statement. At the time, that was forward-thinking. But, given the growth of online services and improvements in web technologies and design, we saw an opportunity to enhance how our statements are presented. Our new format will increase usability without sacrificing the detailed information that many customers, regulators, and policymakers expect and want to see.
The new format will enable greater structural consistency across privacy statements for different Microsoft products and services. It will also help customers go directly to the privacy statement for the specific product or service they’re using, rather than navigating through a general privacy statement and the many supplements that were added as the number of our products and services grew.  Our new right-hand navigation will help customers link directly to their desired section in the statement they are currently viewing. The horizontal buttons at the top can be used to switch between different privacy statements.

The migration to the new format will be a steady and gradual transition. Microsoft.com and Bing are the first to make the change. Others will follow over time.
We hope our customers agree the new approach provides clearer and simpler summaries of our privacy practices, as well as detailed explanations for those who need or want them. We believe the changes will increase transparency by making it easier for people to locate and use relevant privacy information.

Inkling Debuts Version 3.0, Bringing Its Interactive E-Books To The iPhone

After Inkling made its public debut more than two years ago, it quickly became known as the startup that made super well-designed interactive college textbooks for the iPad. But in recent months, Inkling has slowly but surely expanded significantly beyond that initial focus — branching out from educational textbooks to consumer-focused titles such as cookbooks, and from the iPad to other digital venues such as the standard web browser.

Today, Inkling is continuing in that progression with the debut of its Version 3.0, which brings the official launch of its e-book titles to the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

Since Inkling is such a visual product, it was great to have its founder and CEO Matt MacInnis come by the TechCrunch TV studio to show us how the company has translated its e-book platform to the relatively tiny form factor of the iPhone and the iPod touch — while keeping all the interactive bells and whistles for which Inkling has become so well-known.

Along with the demo, MacInnis also gave us some updated stats on Inkling: The San Francisco-based startup now has some 100 full-time employees, and during the last school year Inkling was used by students at more than 4,000 schools, with over 50 percent of the medical schools in the United States having active Inkling users. But as strong as education is at the moment, its consumer-focused titles such as Frommer’s travel guides are promising too, he said, and represent a big part of Inkling’s business going forward.
Watch the video embedded above to see how Inkling looks on the iPhone, hear MacInnis weigh in on what it’s like to compete with e-book giants like Amazon and Apple, learn why Inkling is moving into the platform realm with the debut of its publishing platform Habitat, and more.
Here are a few screenshots of Inkling for the iPhone: 

Pinterest Effect: Pinfluencer Raises $1.4 Million For Its Pinterest

Pinfluencer, as you may have guessed by its name, is a newly launched startup offering an analytics solution for the up-and-coming social network Pinterest. Prior to today’s public debut, several brands have been using the service in private testing, including 1-800-FLOWERS.com, GNC, HauteLook, Piperlime, Rent the Runway, Minted, Beau-coup, Shop It To Me, and wikiHow.
Alongside the launch, the company is also announcing it has closed on $1.4 million in seed funding in a round led by Freestyle Capital and Baseline Ventures, and which included investment from angel investors Jess Engle (former CEO and co-founder of CoTweet) and Mark Ghermezian (Appboy CEO, and whose family owns Mall of America), and others.
Like many building analytics for the Pinterest platform. Pinfluencer gives brands the ability to track metrics around pins, in order to see which ones are trending, who the brand’s most influential pinners are, and which boards are the most popular, among other things. But it goes a bit further, too, and allows brands to compare their efforts with those of their competitors, to see who’s pinning the most, what the top pins are, or who’s getting the most pins and re-pins, for example. This last bit is important, because it’s the ability to compare one set of efforts with another that helps provide the context. It’s still early days for Pinterest, so it’s not common knowledge what constitutes “good,” or at what threshold something can be deemed having gone “viral.” In total, Pinfluencer now tracks over 25+ performance metrics.

Founded in February 2012, Pinfluencer’s co-founders include CEO Sharad Verma, who previously led product manage for Yahoo’s social search and monetization and who started TripAha and eventsTonight; Suvda Myagmar, who was previously a relevance analyst at Bing; and Naveen Akunur, who founded e-commerce site Sheyna, and whose experience includes key roles at Yodlee and SendMe.
Verma says that up until January, he was working on eventsTonight, a mobile app to discover nearby entertainment, and it’s there he began experimenting with Pinterest to find out if people liked to pin events. “What we noticed instead was a humungous amount of product sharing on Pinterest,” he says. “That’s when it occurred to us that Pinterest is a database of shopping intent, it’s another home for a retailer’s catalog. We got really excited about its potential to transform the way e-commerce is distributed and discovered.” So he brought the team together and they created Pinfluencer in just five months’ time.
And lest you think Pinfluencer is just another bandwagon-jumper, Verma stresses that Pinterest is not a fad. “It replaces what women have been doing for ages – clipping images and putting them in a binder,” he explains. And it will continue growing, especially internationally, he says, because pinning images is a common language. Pinterest also has time-spent and shopping intent, he adds, “but its core demographic is women who make all the purchasing decisions.”
Studies have shown that women are indeed Pinterest’s core audience. But Verma says he thinks the service will eventually expand from that. “There are more categories on Pinterest that appeal to female audience than males today, but we think that will gradually change.” Men might be slow adopters on Pinterest, the way it’s designed today, he says, but he’s certain that Pinterest is now thinking about how to tap into male psychology and give them strong reasons to use the product, too.
Pinfluencer’s pricing is on a SaaS-basis and not set in stone yet, with tiered levels based on number of pinners per month, data storage, and other features, but companies can try it out for the first two months for free.
Going forward, the team will use the new funding for product developments, which, in the near-term includes a self-serve platform for retailers to reward their most engaged pinners. Further down the road, they’ll develop “top on Pinterest” widgets to add Pinterest-infused social shopping to retailers’ own websites. The company is also using the infusion of capital to hire in sales, marketing, engineering and design.

Sony Xperia Tablet leaked from internal slides: Surface-style keyboard and tentative $450 price tagSony Xperia Tablet leaked from internal slides Surfacestyle keyboard and tentative $450 price tag Sony's next-generation tablet appears to have leaked on internal slides spotted by German news site, Mobiflip. In short, it's thinner and lighter than the Tablet S, while internal specifications also trump it, including a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, Android 4.0 ("or later"), 3G connectivity and three storage options; 16, 32 and 64GB. The whole tablet follows the same folded magazine design of Sony's existing tablet, is splashproof and houses a 6,000mAh battery that the slides suggest will manage 10 hours of WiFi-based web browsing. There's even some tentative pricing, with the different-sized models marked up at $450, $550 and $650, respectively. The pictures also cover Sony's plans to add a lightweight keyboard to its next tablet, similar to Microsoft's Surface plans, but with some Smart Cover-esque kickstand skills thrown in for good measure. We've added a shot of the keyboard cover after the break, but you can take a tour of the rest of the slides -- which include a raft of accessories and docks -- at the source link below. Update: We've been in touch with a Sony spokesperson, who had "no comment at this stage." We may have to wait until next month, when European trade show IFA kicks off -- with Sony in attendance -- until we hear anything more concrete. Sony Xperia Tablet leaked from internal slides Surfacestyle keyboard and quadcore processor

Sony's next-generation tablet appears to have leaked on internal slides spotted by German news site, Mobiflip. In short, it's thinner and lighter than the Tablet S, while internal specifications also trump it, including a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, Android 4.0 ("or later"), 3G connectivity and three storage options; 16, 32 and 64GB. The whole tablet follows the same folded magazine design of Sony's existing tablet, is splashproof and houses a 6,000mAh battery that the slides suggest will manage 10 hours of WiFi-based web browsing. There's even some tentative pricing, with the different-sized models marked up at $450, $550 and $650, respectively. The pictures also cover Sony's plans to add a lightweight keyboard to its next tablet, similar to Microsoft's Surface plans, but with some Smart Cover-esque kickstand skills thrown in for good measure. We've added a shot of the keyboard cover after the break, but you can take a tour of the rest of the slides -- which include a raft of accessories and docks -- at the source link below.
Update: We've been in touch with a Sony spokesperson, who had "no comment at this stage." We may have to wait until next month, when European trade show IFA kicks off -- with Sony in attendance -- until we hear anything more concrete.

Technologizer Apps & Software Yahoo’s New IntoNow Update Lets You Do More with TV

When Yahoo’s free IntoNow app for phones and tablets was new, the most interesting thing about it was the startling technology that made it a Shazam for TV. You held your gadget up, it listened to the soundtrack of whatever you were watching on your TV set and then it identified the program with nearly perfect accuracy.
Then it  checked you in to the show–so others could see what you were watching–and gave you access to tweets, discussions and other items relating to the program. This part of the app was just okay. It was obvious that IntoNow would benefit from giving you more stuff to do once it had figured out what you were watching.
And now it’s doing just that, with a beefier new version for iPhone and iPad. (The Android version will get an update in coming months.) Yahoo’s added one feature that’s nearly as dazzling as the original show-identifying technology, plus some upgrades that make the app a more informative and engaging TV-watching companion.
The dazzling feature is called Capit. When you’re watching live TV–or anything you’ve recorded in the last week–you can tap a button and pull up screen shots of the show you’re watching. (Yep, IntoNow is running a massive DVR farm that’s recording TV streams and capturing vast quantities of these screens continuously, and can pull up images timed to the moment you pressed the Capit button.) You can then select a screen, add a LOLcats-style block-letter caption, and share it on IntoNow and Facebook and/or Twitter.
Is that a useful feature? Well, maybe, in some instances; I could see using it to share a cool moment from a sporting event, for instance. But I think IntoNow mostly envisions folks using it to joke around, engage in memes and otherwise playfully riff on imagery from shows they like.
In a less flashy but clever move, the new app scans the closed-captioning data for TV shows, identifies people, places and other concepts, and uses what it’s learned to show you relevant news stories and informational modules. If you’re watching Today, for instance, you might get related news stories which the app has culled from Yahoo News and around the web; if you’re tuned into an Olympics event, you might get quick-hit facts on the participating athletes and the countries they represent, plus links to more information on Yahoo.
The app can also identify songs played in shows–even if they aren’t the original versions or there’s background noise–and allows you to buy them on iTunes. And it includes a new group chat feature.
IntoNow has millions of users and is probably the most prominent of a gaggle of “second screen” apps, all of which aim, in one way or another, to give you something related to do while you’re watching TV. (Viggle, which lets you collect points to be exchanged for prizes, is another.) None of the contenders is a massive breakout hit yet, and all of them, I suspect, compete with Twitter and Facebook–two places where an awful lot of people go when they want to discuss the prime-time TV shows they’re watching–more than with each other.
I’ll be curious to see if Capit gives Yahoo’s app the viral boost it’s obviously intended to provide. I’ll bet it’s going to be a blast during the presidential debates…

Google Maps Adds Service Alerts for New York City Subways

Google announced on Tuesday it is rolling out planned service alerts for New York City’s subway system within Google Maps.
To make it easier for New Yorkers to commute and keep them posted on scheduled maintenance and delays, Google is adding information about service alerts that occur throughout the city’s 468 subway stations labeled on Google Maps.

“Since first making New York City public transit directions available in Google Maps, we’ve been working to deliver you with the most accurate and useful information about subway, bus, commuter rail, and ferry service across the greater metro area,” Csaba Garay, transit partner technology manager at Google Maps, said via its company blog. “Starting today, we’ll also be showing planned service alerts for the city’s subways, which serve more than 200 million people every year.”

Google said alerts will automatically be included in the step-by-step transit directions pointing users where to go.
“We’re regularly adding new cities and features globally and looking forward to continuing our efforts to make travel by public transportation a better experience in more than 400 regions around the world,” Garay added. “For everybody who lives in one of New York City’s five boroughs, commutes in and out every day or is visiting for business or vacation, we hope today’s update improves the ease and efficiency of your trips around the city.”

The 8 Things That Scare Microsoft

Microsoft is in the midst of a major overhaul.
It's building its own tablets, risking its relationships with device makers. Its plan to hurt Google with Bing hasn't worked. It's still struggling to get people to love its phones.
Its most recent quarterly report plainly spelled out its biggest threats.
Microsoft has a lot of opportunities, and it's talked plenty about those. But here's what the software giant should worry about—straight from its own mouth.

1. It's not just about software. It's about the cloud!

Microsoft really wants you to know that it's a player as software goes online—"in the cloud," in industryspeak.
It names six cloud platforms: Office 365, Xbox LIVE, Dynamics CRM Online (a Salesforce.com competitor), Bing, Skype, Azure (which competes with Amazon Web Services), plus some other minor services (like Microsoft Intune).
But it worries that its cloud products might not be as popular as its PC software products:
"While we believe our expertise, investments in infrastructure, and the breadth of our cloud-based services provide us with a strong foundation to compete, it is uncertain whether our strategies will attract the users or generate the revenue required to be successful."

Upside: Microsoft is making a lot of smart investments in its cloud. It opened Azure to Linux. It is letting Skype run as its own unit, maintaining support of Android and iOS and so on.

2. The two companies Microsoft fears most: Apple and Google.

Windows is still at the center of Microsoft and Windows now has more competition than ever:
"The Windows operating system faces competition from various commercial software products and from alternative platforms and devices, mainly from Apple and Google."

Upside: Microsoft's enterprise customers are in no hurry to ditch Windows PCs for Macs or iPads or Android tablets. A large portion are only now upgrading to Windows 7. Microsoft has some time to get Windows 8 fine-tuned before it risks losing these critical customers.

3. In the enterprise Microsoft has a LOT of competition.

Microsoft spent years trying to build high-end software for data centers. 
Microsoft named Hewlett-Packard as a competitor twice. It named IBM 10 times. It named Oracle 9 times. All three make integrated hardware and software. Oracle and IBM also offer a lot of business software that competes with Microsoft.
But Microsoft is also wary of CA Technologies, VMware, Adobe, Cisco, and SAP as competitors with its business software products. Even Intel got a mention, for competing with Microsoft's embedded systems products. Microsoft also named Linux at least a half a dozen times and Red Hat once.

Upside: As long as enterprises still want Windows devices, they will keep buying Windows Server and software that runs on it and manages it, which is its biggest, healthiest business right now. And Microsoft is the lower-cost option in some areas like databases.

4. Microsoft sees Apple and Google as threats to Xbox.

Microsoft warns, "In addition to Nintendo and Sony, our businesses compete with both Apple and Google in offering content products and services to the consumer." 
Neither Apple nor Google make gaming consoles, but they both make devices that let you stream entertainment to your TV.  Xbox is Microsoft's video-game console—which is also the company's best bet on the online-entertainment business.

Upside: Xbox Kinect made Microsoft cool again. An Xbox console is an affordable option compared to a lot of other Internet-connected set-top boxes which can't even play games.

 

5. IBM is a love/hate relationship.

Despite naming IBM as a competitor 10 times over, Microsoft is relying on IBM as a single-source supplier for chips for some of its hardware products like Xbox 360 and Kinect.
It's buying all of its RAM from one supplier, too—Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. It will do the same for its Surface tablets. "Sole source suppliers also will produce key components of our Surface devices."

Upside: By giving all of its business to single-source suppliers, Microsoft gives itself a lot of leverage with them, even though it risks inventory supply if these vendors experience problems. 

6. The popularity of non-Windows smartphones and tablets could lure away developers.

Microsoft knows that all of its big plans rests on cool software. It needs lots of developers to write apps for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, which they won't do unless they think lots of people will buy those devices.
"Users may increasingly turn to these devices to perform functions that would have been performed by personal computers in the past. Even if many users view these devices as complementary to a personal computer, the prevalence of these devices may make it more difficult to attract applications developers to our platforms."

Upside: Microsoft has plenty of cash and in-house developers. It already owns wildly popular software like Microsoft Office and Halo. It can grease the wheels all on its own.

7. All this new stuff could succeed but will still erode margins.

Microsoft warns, "New products and services may not be profitable, and even if they are profitable, operating margins for new products and businesses may not be as high as the margins we have experienced historically."

Upside: Microsoft has one of the biggest R&D labs in the world. In its fiscal 2012, 2011, and 2010, it spent $9.8 billion, $9.0 billion, and $8.7 billion, respectively. Microsoft has enough cash to alter its businesses AND try and find the next big thing.

8. Everyone might hate Windows 8.

Steve Kovach, Business Insider

Windows 8 is such a big change that people may opt to leave Windows altogether.
Microsoft warns, "In fall 2012, we are launching Windows 8, a major new release of our PC operating system that seeks to deliver a unique user experience through well-integrated software, hardware, and services. Success depends on a number of factors including the extent to which customers embrace its new user interface and functionality, successfully coordinating with our OEM partners in releasing a variety of hardware devices that take advantage of its features, and attracting developers at scale to ensure a competitive array of quality applications."

Upside: The only true alternative to Windows 8 is a Mac. But most Windows 7 apps will run on Windows 8. That will probably be good enough to keep millions of Windows users happy and willing to grow through a Windows 8 learning curve.

Twitter May Have 500M+ Users But Only 170M Are Active, 75% On Twitter’s Own Clients

Yesterday Paris-based analytics firm Semiocast noted that Twitter had passed the 500 million user account mark, with some detail on how that is playing out on a country-by-country basis. Today, we have some numbers that spell out what that actually means in terms of active Twitter users.
Paul Guyot, the founder of Semiocast, says its analysis indicate that on average, less than one-third, 27%, of Twitter’s user base is active — in other words, only around 170 million people, and possibly less at the moment.
The numbers come from research Semiocast conducted earlier this year, Guyot notes. That study, from January, found that the Netherlands had the highest proportion of active users, at 33%, with Japan following closely behind at 30%. As you can see in the list below, there doesn’t appear to be a clear trend in active users directly related to how developing/mature each market is.

Also: active in this sense means the number of accounts that were modified over a three-month period, including changes of avatar, subscribing to a new follower or tweeting, says Guyot. “We believe this is close to a monthly login rate,” he tells me. This is potentially the key one for Twitter as it seeks to monetize visitors with advertising and other marketing strategies. Also, there may be an argument for more people logging in who are just looking at what other people post, and not adding new follows or making any other changes.
Guyot also points out that the 500 million-account landmark it announced yesterday does not include spambots. “Twitter is massively deleting spam user accounts,” he noted. “Our figures do not include these deleted accounts.”
In terms of how people are accessing Twitter: Guyot says that Twitter’s own access points, including TweetDeck, represent 75.4% of all public tweets. That seems to imply that Twitter’s moves to make its APIs a little more difficult to use for certain third parties, it seems, is potentially a play to bring that proportion up even higher.
Semiocast analysis indicates that Twitter’s own website accessed from desktops, not mobile, is the largest platform overall, representing 27.6% of all activity worldwide.
But collectively it is mobile clients (including iPad software) that are most-used: they represent about 61% of all tweets, with Twitter’s own mobile apps and mobile web presence accounting for 74% of that.
Interestingly, Twitter is getting more activity these days from third-party apps outside of iOS and Android. The most popular non-Twitter agent [client] is Ubersocial for BlackBerry at 3.0%, followed by Echofon at 2.1%, Guyot tells me. Twitter clients that make it easier to tweet in languages other than English seem to also be performing well, offering some kind of edge over what Twitter itself offers. “Usage really depends on country, as many Japanese-only agents are in the top 50 of all agents,” he notes.

Hackers reveal critical vulnerabilities in Huawei routers

Security researchers disclosed critical vulnerabilities in routers from Chinese networking and telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei at the Defcon hackers conference on Sunday.
The vulnerabilities -- a session hijack, a heap overflow and a stack overflow -- were found in the firmware of Huawei AR18 and AR29 series routers and could be exploited to take control of the devices over the Internet, said Felix Lindner, the head of security firm Recurity Labs and one of the two researchers who found the flaws.
Huawei is one of the fastest growing providers of networking and telecommunication equipment in the world. Huawei equipment powers half of the world's Internet infrastructure, Lindner said.
The researcher, who also analyzed the security of Cisco networking equipment in the past, described the security of the Huawei devices he analyzed as "the worst ever" and said that they're bound to contain more vulnerabilities.
During the Defcon talk, which Lindner gave together with Recurity Labs security consultant Gregor Kopf, the researchers pointed out that there are over 10,000 calls in the firmware's code to sprintf, a function that's known to be insecure.
"This stuff is distrusting," said security researcher Dan Kaminsky, who is best known for discovering a major vulnerability in the world's DNS (Domain Name System) infrastructure in 2008 and who worked for Cisco in the past. "If I were to teach someone from scratch how to write binary exploits, these routers would be what I'd demonstrate on."
"What FX [Lindner's moniker in security circles] has shown is that the 15 years of secure coding practices that we've learned about -- the things to do or not do -- have not been absorbed by the engineers at Huawei," Kaminsky said.
According to the Huawei website, the AR series routers are used by enterprises and AR18 in particular is marketed as product intended for small and home offices.
The Recurity Labs researchers specified during the talk that they didn't test any "big boxes" like the Huawei NE series routers -- which are intended for telecom data communication networks -- because they couldn't obtain them.
Lindner and Kopf also criticized Huawei for its lack of transparency when it comes to security issues. The company doesn't have a security contact for reporting vulnerabilities, doesn't put out security advisories and doesn't say what bugs have been fixed in its firmware updates, the researchers said.
"If I don't know who to contact, I can't tell you about your bugs and this happens," Lindner said, referring to the public disclosure of vulnerabilities.
The researcher hopes that this will be a wake-up call for Huawei customers. The only way to force a company to build more secure products is to make the customers ask for it, like it happened in the past with Microsoft, Cisco or Apple, he said.

Panasonic Photosynthesis System converts carbon dioxide to organic material with plant-like efficiency

Greenery may fulfill a superficial need to improve the landscape aesthetic, but plants play a much more critical role in regular life function, converting carbon dioxide to oxygen through a process called photosynthesis. Panasonic is among the companies attempting to replicate this natural procedure through artificial means, and it looks like the Japanese electronics maker is well on its way towards a viable solution. Presenting at the International Conference on the Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy this week, Panasonic announced the development of an Artificial Photosynthesis System, which uses a nitride semiconductor to convert water and carbon dioxide -- a byproduct of factories and power plants -- into an organic material called formic acid, which is used in the manufacturing of dyes and fragrances. Covering the planet in formic acid wouldn't necessarily represent progress, but assuming demand isn't exceeded, it certainly beats CO2. Best yet, Panasonic claims that the system converts the substances at plant-like efficiency rates, or 0.2 percent. Hit up the PR after the break for a more granular look at the company's creation.

Superfast broadband will be available in 90% of UK by 2015

Ed Vaizey said the UK was one of the most 'digital nations in the world', with a thriving e-commerce economy. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

 

The culture minister, Ed Vaizey, has said 90% of the country will have superfast broadband by 2015.
The minister insisted the government was working to put the right infrastructure in place for "the vast majority of the country" by 2015 to "future proof" the service.
Those who want "really, really fast speed" will then be able to connect to a network and choose to upgrade, he said.
Vaizey made his comments as a report by the House of Lords warned that the government's broadband policy had become "preoccupied" with delivering certain speeds to consumers when what was needed was a greater focus on access through a national broadband network.
The Lords communications committee concluded after a wide-ranging, six-month investigation that Britain would need a better broadband network to cope with future technologies. It raised concerns over the way Britain's network was being built, describing government strategy as "flawed" and liable to widen the digital divide between those communities with fast internet access and those living in broadband blackspots.
The peers said broadband should be treated as a vital national asset, like roads, rail and energy.
The report, Broadband for All – an Alternative Vision, recommends national planning for a "communications network of local, regional, national and internet exchanges where different operators can site equipment and exchange traffic, all linked by ample optical fibre that is open to use by competing providers".
"The delivery of certain speeds should not be the guiding principle; what is important is the long-term assurance that as new internet applications emerge, everyone will be able to benefit, from inhabitants of inner cities to the remotest areas of the UK," they said in the report.
The Conservative Lord Inglewood, chair of the communications committee, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "The current strategy is based around providing certain levels of speed across the country and we're not convinced at all that that is the right place to start thinking about a policy and a programme for rolling out broadband infrastructure."
He added: "What we need to do is to find a system, it seems to us, that enables people to get what they want and pay accordingly."
Vaizey said the UK was one of the most "digital nations in the world", with a thriving e-commerce economy in which people spent more online and used technology more.
He said there was a "very competitive marketplace" in Britain in terms of laying fibre optics in people's homes in two-thirds of the country, with "government intervention" needed in the rest.
Vaizey told Today that £500m had been put in place to support this, with funding from devolved governments bringing the total to around £1.2bn, plus additional funding for pockets of cities where broadband connection was poor.
"We have set ourselves a target that by 2015, 90% of the country will have superfast broadband," said Vaizey. "Generally speaking most people define that around the 35 megabits a second (Mbps) speed but we have said that 100% of the country should have access to 2Mbps. To put that in context, for example, if you want to watch the iPlayer on your computer you would need about 1-1.5Mbps."
He said he was "happy" the target would be met.
The highest speed broadband requires fibre optics in the home, but Vaizey said further improvements to broadband speed must be "demand led".
The minister for culture, communications and creative industries said one of the reasons ministers wanted to move to a superfast broadband policy was to try to future-proof the system by putting the "right infrastructure" in place for the vast majority.
Those who want "really, really fast speed" can connect to a network and choose to upgrade, he said.
Pressed on the fact that some European countries had faster connection, Vaizey said the government had the most competitive marketplace.
"I think the rest of Europe actually looks to us as leaders in this. That also includes price because there's absolutely no point in having superfast broadband coming past your door if you can't afford it. So we also want competition on price and we do have very low prices on broadband."

Samsung's 11.8-inch 'retina' tablet, WP8 phones revealed

Three upcoming Samsung gadgets have been revealed, including an 11.8-inch tablet with a 'retina' resolution and two new Windows Phone mobiles.
Details of all three devices came to light in court documents that were made public during Samsung's ongoing spat with Apple -- a legal fracas that also revealed the look of early iPhone prototypes.
The Verge spotted the tablet, which along with its hand-stretching 11.8-inch screen, is destined to sport a 2,560x1,600 pixel resolution that would trump the new iPad's 2,048x1,536 retina display.
The tablet bears the codename 'P10' and will have LTE connectivity on board, but apart from that nothing else is known. The court documents seemingly peg the P10 as being a '2012' device, so we could catch a glimpse before this fine Olympic year draws to a close and we are hurled into the perpetually unlucky 2013.
It sounds exciting, and hopefully could offer a little more than the disappointing Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (pictured above), which was too pricey and not very powerful.
Meanwhile two Windows Phone gadgets, nicknamed Odyssey and Marco have also been spied by the Verge. Both are powered by 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm processors, meaning they'll be powered by Windows Phone 8, as the existing software doesn't support multi-core chips.
The Odyssey has a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED screen with a high-def resolution and an 8-megapixel snapper, while the Marco will have a 4-inch, 800x480 pixel Super AMOLED screen and a 5-megapixel camera. Both phones look to be LTE enabled, meaning that unless there are separate versions for the US and Europe, we may not see them in the UK just yet.
I think Nokia has created the most impressive Windows Phone gadgets to date, with Samsung's Omnia 7 and new-but-basically-identical Omnia M failing to smoke my tyres. If Samsung can sprinkle some of the magic Galaxy S3 dust on a Windows Phone mobile though, Microsoft's platform could be given the jump-start it badly needs.

Gaming, Tablet PCs

Wikipad specs get real: 10.1-inch 1,280 x 800 display, 1.4 GHz Tegra 3, Jelly Bean

By Steve Dent posted Jul 31st 2012 6:14AM

The Wikipad gaming tablet has been ticking off boxes on its way to becoming a real product, and after bedding down with Gaikai game streaming and settling in to a 10.1-inch form factor, the rest of the hardware is now set. The chunky handheld will brandish an IPS display with 1,280 x 800 resolution, NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30 quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, at least 16GB storage and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Other notable items include 8-megapixel rear / 2-megapixel front cameras, six hours continuous gaming battery life and a 2D-only screen instead of the 3D originally touted -- at least, for the first model. The controller remains the same with a pair of triggers, bumpers, joysticks and start/select buttons, and will cover the slate's speakers and route sound out the front. The rest of the story is yet to come, namely exactly what that price will be and when you'll actually be able to pew-pew with it, but the company has promised to 'fess up soon. Meanwhile, though airy for a tablet at 560 grams (1.2 pounds), it's not exactly PS Vita or Nintendo 3DS XL territory -- but then a heavyweight contender could be exactly what handheld gaming needs.

Panasonic's 2013 Q1: things are looking up with a $164 million profit

Panasonic's financial year runs from summer to summer, so its first-quarter results for 2013 just hit the wire. The figures proudly show that the company has managed to turn around the losses it suffered so badly in the previous period -- with $23 billion in turnover generating a tidy profit of $164 million. While sales dropped by six percent compared to the first three months of the year, it's been reducing fixed costs and restructuring each segment of the business to ensure a return to profit making despite the worsening financial crisis in Europe. The company's even been able to stick some cash into the savings account, tucking $16.6 million into the piggy bank for a rainy day.

Toshiba slips into the red as latest earnings reveal $153 million loss

Toshiba's most recent fiscal results (the first of its 2012 financial year) show that while the company pulled in $16 billion in turnover, it slumped to a $154 million loss for the last three months. While its "social infrastructure" unit (power plants, LED light bulbs and radiation detectors) generated a $107 million profit, the consumer electronics and white-goods sectors continued to lose sales. The company attributes the loss to further restructuring costs as well as pointing an accusatory digit toward the European financial crisis and concerns about power generation capacity in Japan. Despite the gloom, the company says that it still expects to hit a target of $81 billion turnover and $3.8 billion profit before March 2013.

How Much Would It Cost to Be Batman in Real Life?

It would cost $682 million for a real-life Batman to fund his world-saving lifestyle, thanks to the price of high-tech cars, gadgets, his mansion and training, a new infographic says.
The infographic, created by MoneySupermarket.com, looks at how much it would cost to run Batman’s empire. The main conclusion? It’s not easy on the wallet.
In fact, Batman’s collection of vehicles alone cost about $80 million. His Tumbler/Batmobile alone has a price tag of $18 million due to its jet engine, front-mounted machine guns, remote-control system and GPS technology.
Meanwhile, it would cost about $37,000 each year to run Wayne Manor and the Bat Cave. His weapons cost about $10,000 — from a $50,000 TLPS Grappling Hook Launcher to a $15,000 thermal camera and a $5,000 night-vision monocular. Three Batarang Throwing Stars cost about $1,000.

Other pricey accessories include a memory cloth polymer cape ($40,000), ultrasonic bat attractor ($1,000), a retinal projection system featured in his mask ($10,000), forearm blades ($1,000) and custom boosts ($1,000).
Batman’s training and education costs vary. Military pilot training would be $500,000, as would training for special firearms and several engineering degrees.

Seiko Epson to pay Motorola $150 million to settle LCD dispute

Japan's Seiko Epson Corp said on Tuesday it has agreed to pay Motorola Mobility LLC $150 million to settle a civil lawsuit over pricing of liquid crystal displays.
The Japanese printer manufacturer will post an extraordinary loss of 13 billion yen ($166.26 million) in its earnings for the April-June quarter, covering the settlement and costs from other suits. ($1 = 78.1900 Japanese yen)

Twitter introduces ticker symbol 'cashtags' for finance searches

Building on hashtags, the social network expands search capabilities by adding in clickable stock-ticker symbols like $AAPL, $GOOG, and $FB

Twitter started prioritizing money talk on its site today with the announcement of "cashtags." These are clickable ticker symbols, like $AAPL, $GOOG, and $FB, which take users to search results about the company's finances and stocks.
Twitter made the announcement via a tweet in which it wrote: "Now you can click on ticker symbols like $GE on http://twitter.com to see search results about stocks and companies."

According to The Verge, the cashtags come on the heels of other user-created Twitter innovations, such as the @reply and the #hashtag. (The hashtag, for instance, evolved into the social network's "Discover" tab.) In this case, cashtags also appear to be part of Twitter's emerging strategy to keep users on twitter.com instead of clicking away.

StockTwits co-founder Howard Lindzon, however, charged that Twitter has hijacked one of his company's key features. "You can hijack a plane but it does not mean you know how to fly it," Lindzon wrote. The entrepreneur claimed that Twitter had told him as recently as a few months ago that it wasn't interested in making its own cashtags.

Despite the "he-said, she-said," Twitter definitely seems interested now.
Currently, the cashtags take users to a Twitter search of the ticker symbol but don't yet show any expanded information within the Twitter service. Of course, this could, and probably will, change in the future.

Newest HP ultrabook faces shipment delays

Hewlett-Packard is still trying to get its latest and greatest ultrabook out the door. The design is HP"s thinnest and lightest ultrabook to date.

HP's Envy Spectre XT: its newest high-end ultrabook was supposed to ship in early June.

Hewlett-Packard is having a tough time fulfilling orders for its newest high-end ultrabook.
That would be the Envy Spectre XT, a 13-inch, three-pound, sub-0.7-inch-thick laptop sporting a mostly metal design and Intel's newest "Ivy Bridge" processors.
The model, announced in early May, had been expected to ship as early as June 8 but orders have been backlogged.
"HP Envy SpectreXT orders are taking longer to fulfill than HP expected," an HP spokesperson told CNET. "We are contacting all customers who have placed orders to provide updated expected delivery dates."

An order for the Spectre XT placed today on HP's Web site is showing a delivery date of August 27, 2012.
The newest Spectre (XT stands for "extra thin") starts at $999. That gets you Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, an Intel Core i5-3317U processor, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB DDR3 system memory, a 128GB solid-state Drive, backlit keyboard, a 13.3-inch LED- backlit Display (1366x768), a two-year warranty, and extras such as a two-year Norton Internet Security subscription, and Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 & Adobe Premiere Elements 10.

The Spectre XT was announced on the heels of the pricier and bigger 14-inch Envy Spectre. (Spectre is HP's premium laptop brand.) The latter is a novel design that packs a 14-inch screen into a 13-inch chassis and boasts a large helping of Gorilla glass on the front and back of the display and on the chassis.