Technology archive for 2012-02-14

New submitter pjlehtim writes "In a recent interview. Samsung's AV product manager, Chris Moseley, said, 'TVs are ultimately about picture quality. ... and there is no way that anyone, new or old, can come along this year or next year and beat us on picture quality.' Sounds familiar? There must be a change in the perceived role of television in the entertainment ecosystem before the general public starts to care about the smart TVs manufacturers are trying to push. That change is likely to come from outside the traditional home entertainment industry. It's not about technology; it is about user experience, again." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After expanding its live TV streaming from iPads to iPhones, Time Warner Cable is going in the other direction and offering the service on PCs. The PC version of TWC TV launched today in beta -- still no word on streaming to Android devices or HDTVs yet -- but the Silverlight player will work on Windows and OS X, in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Chrome. According to the official blog it has more than just streaming, with remote control over compatible set-top boxes and DVR scheduling also included. Of course, the same restrictions still apply here as they have on tablets and phones, with playback only while connected to your home network. If you're a Time Warner customer, hit the link below to sign in and try it out, or hit the blog for more details on what works where.Time Warner Cable's TWC TV launches for PC, brings live TV streaming to the desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  TW Cable Untangled, TWC TV (beta)  | Email this | Comments

Bloomberg:Netflix Said to Plan Another Original Series, Increasing Challenge to HBO  —  Slate of Netflix Shows Steadily Increasing  —  Ratcheting up competition with HBO, Netflix will produce 13 episodes of a new comedy series, “Orange is the New Black,” according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:Take that, Netflix: Hulu premieres Battleground series  —  Hulu launched its first original scripted series Battleground Monday night, just one week after Netflix started its foray into original programming with Lilyhammer.  —  New episodes of Battleground, a comedy about a Senate campaign in Wisconsin …

ABC News’ Joanna R. Stern reports: The iPad 3 reports just keep on flowing in. The Wall Street Journal reported today that versions of the forthcoming tablet will be available with AT&T and Verizon LTE, which is capable of providing speeds as fast as Wi-Fi connections. Like...

Varied as people’s interests may be online, the major search engines say the death of a public figure can be a powerful unifying force. Yahoo reports that Whitney Houston’s death on Saturday led to a 31,600 percent spike in searches that included her name. Searches...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Websites of exchange operators Nasdaq and BATS have been attacked by hackers over the last 24 hours, causing ongoing disruptions for those trying to use the sites, spokespersons for the companies said on Tuesday.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Caesars Entertainment Corp stands to benefit from the rise of social media gaming, Chief Executive Gary Loveman said in a speech on Tuesday.

How do you improve on the phone we described as "one of the cheesiest Android devices we've ever handled"? If you're Alcatel, you switch from a sliding to candybar form factor, ditch the large, candy-colored buttons and add a touchscreen. That about sums up the OT-915, a budget handset that's slated to make its official debut at Mobile World Congress later this month, but whose existence Electricpig claims to have confirmed weeks in advance. That press shot up there, if accurate, speaks for itself: what we have here is a full QWERTY device whose button layout and style borders on BlackBerry KIRF. Other specs include a 2.8-inch, 240 x 320 touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, WiFI, FM radio, 11.9mm-thick profile and Android 2.3 as an OS. Electricpig, based in the UK, reports the phone is headed to Blighty at some unspecified date, though it's unclear what other (typically non-US) markets it'll reach. For now, we leave you with that one photo up there, but you know if we see this thing on the show floor at Barcelona we'll hit you back with more details and the requisite hands-on treatment.Alcatel OT-915 with QWERTY keyboard, Gingerbread said to be launching at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  Electricpig  | Email this | Comments

John Markoff / New York Times:Flaw Found in an Online Encryption Method  —  SAN FRANCISCO — A team of European and American mathematicians and cryptographers have discovered an unexpected weakness in the encryption system widely used worldwide for online shopping, banking, e-mail and other Internet services intended to remain private and secure.

If you thought the Patriot Act 'debacle' was one sided, with U.S. authorities striking at the heart of Europe, it turns out it can be flipped on its head, reversed, and can hit back just as hard.

'Mainframes' and 'moonshots' are two words that were almost synonymous in the 1960s, as are 'iPhones' and 'apps' today.

itwbennett writes "Sony on Tuesday demonstrated new 'smart sockets' that 'perform authentication whenever a device is plugged in,' said Taro Tadano, a general manager in Sony's technology development division. The company also demoed a home power grid that tracks electricity use by time and appliance."This has led to speculation that the technology will be used in some places to charge consumers for the use of electricity. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Qualcomm's CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs predicts that computing environments are going to follow the pattern of smartphones, such as always on and always connected interfaces.

(Reuters) - Zynga Inc reported higher quarterly revenue than Wall Street expected on Tuesday as the largest publisher of games on Facebook added new users to its mobile games "Words with Friends" and "Zynga Poker."

Matthew Panzarino / The Next Web:Apple's Tim Cook says there are now over 100M iCloud users, marking 15M user growth in 21 days  —  Today at a Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a keynote presentation in which he addressed working conditions at Apple's factories in China, as well as the product philosophy of Apple.

Matt Rosoff / Business Insider:Activist Shareholder Declares War On Yahoo: Here's Who He Wants On The Board  —  One of Yahoo's fiercest critics, Dan Loeb, has just formally declared war on Yahoo by nominating his own slate of directors.  —  In addition to himself, he has suggested three other names, according to an SEC filing:

Qualcomm's CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs predicts that computing environments are going to follow the pattern of smartphones, such as always on and always connected interfaces.

For 2012, Zynga said "we expect that growth will be weighted towards the back-half of the year with slower sequential growth in the first half of the year."

Sears is getting frisky this Valentine's day with some racy images in their marketplace! Read all about it here and share your thoughts afterward.

(Reuters) - Zynga Inc reported higher quarterly revenue than Wall Street expected on Tuesday as the largest publisher of games on Facebook added new users to its mobile games "Words with Friends" and "Zynga Poker."

Microsoft is serious about Windows 8, and if you're serious about submitting Metro-style apps then there's now a healthily long and detailed blog post (at the source link) explaining how. The post suggests that Redmond's app police are looking at a roughly a six-day turnaround for signing off and publishing the average title, with content compliance taking the longest time because it involves "real people." As the real person in the video after the break makes clear, your first goal should be to reserve your app's name so no one else can take it. (You do have a name for it, right?)Continue reading Microsoft guide explains how to submit apps to the Windows Store (video)Microsoft guide explains how to submit apps to the Windows Store (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Microsoft News, WMPoweruser  |  Microsoft  | Email this | Comments

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:Zynga beats earnings estimates for its first-ever quarterly report as a public company  —  Zynga reported a modest profit for the fourth-quarter in its first-ever quarter financial report today.  —  The non-GAAP earnings per share were five cents.  The company reported fourth-quarter bookings …

hypnosec writes "It costs developers a total of $40,000 to release a single patch on Xbox Live, making it a difficult platform for smaller developers to grow on. This revelation was made by Tim Shafer of Double Fine Studios — which recently drew a lot of charitable donations as part of a campaign to create a contemporary point and click game. He went on to say that this is just too high a fee for smaller developers to pay, making it hard for them to do well on the platform. This makes sense, since requiring just one patch could massively cut into the profits for a company." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ryan Kim / GigaOM:Fab.com takes big step toward becoming Amazon of design  —  A year ago, Fab.com pivoted toward its present model as a design flash sales site, and it's been a stunning success, with 2 million members since launching eight months ago and a Crunchie award for best shopping app.

Apple CEO Tim Cook's bet appears to be that supply chain metrics on working conditions can lead the tech industry.

Zothecula writes "The European Space Agency's new Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata — or Vega — launch vehicle lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 10 a.m. GMT on February 13 on its maiden flight. Designed for launching small payloads, Vega is intended to complement Europe's existing family of launchers that includes the Ariane 5 heavy-lifter and Soyuz medium-class launchers. The qualification flight, designated VV01, saw the first Vega successfully carry nine satellites into orbit." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

If you fancy yourself a power user, HP's got a "world's first" trick up its sleeve that might lure you in. Earlier today, the Palo Alto outfit took the wraps off its newest all-in-one, the HP Z1. This workstation is a mere distant cousin to HP's consumer-focused Omni and TouchSmart lines -- not that that's a bad thing. The machine comes sporting a 27-inch, 2560 x 1440, IPS display, the back of which snaps open for easy access when making hardware tweaks and, if you wisely choose to take the premium road, you could be walking out with a quad-core Intel Xeon CPU and NVIDIA Quadro graphics, as well as your choice of a 160GB or 300GB SSD for storage. Needless to say, it all depends on how much dough you're willing to part with. HP says the Z1 is expected to ship around April, with the lowest-end model starting at $1,899. It'll be a while before you can get your hands on one, but in the meantime you can keep yourself entertained by checking out those glossy press shots below. Gallery: HP Z1 press shotsContinue reading HP unveils Z1 all-in-one workstation: 27-inch IPS display, starts at $1,899HP unveils Z1 all-in-one workstation: 27-inch IPS display, starts at $1,899 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  HP  | Email this | Comments

Sam Byford / The Verge:Sony developing authenticating power outlets: pay-to-charge on the way?  —  Sony is developing power outlet technology that uses IC chips to determine a user's identity or permissions.  Possible use case scenarios include managing energy usage in large buildings, device theft prevention …

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference 2012 in San Francisco.

Hackers broke into Nortel's computer networks more than a decade ago and over the years downloaded technical papers, research-and-development reports, business plans, employee emails and other...

Zee / The Next Web:Welcome (Back) to The Next Web, Robin Wauters  —  Back in 2008, @Boris put a tweet out looking for a replacement for one Robin Wauters, a contributor, who after a spell with The Next Web was being snapped up by Michael Arrington to join TechCrunch.  —  As with many things, both TNW and I were at the right place at the right time.

If you've been relying on a satellite modem for your daily dose of the Internet, you're probably all too familiar with sub-1Mbps download speeds and an overall painful experience. That's exactly why we've been so impressed with ViaSat and its new 12Mbps down, 3Mbps up Exede residential satellite broadband product. Yesterday, we journeyed deep into Camp Pendleton near San Diego to test out those 12/3Mbps speeds on the go-anywhere SurfBeam 2 Pro Portable, and now we're back to play around with the enterprise setup's more stationary sibling, the SurfBeam 2 Pro. The modem functions in much the same way as ViaSat's less-expensive household version, though there's a bit more horsepower under the hood.The sample we saw at the company's Carlsbad, CA headquarters is also provisioned for faster service, delivering throughput in excess of 40Mbps down, letting you transfer files from the web at speeds you'd typically only be able to meet with a fiber connection. That may be a bit excessive for regular web use, but if you need to download software, movies or other large files in remote areas, that extra speed will likely be more than welcome. Join us past the break for a quick look a Exede, followed by a demo of the enterprise version and its 40Mbps downloads.Gallery: ViaSat SurfBeam 2 Pro hands-onContinue reading Satellite web surfing at 40Mbps with ViaSat SurfBeam 2 Pro (video)Satellite web surfing at 40Mbps with ViaSat SurfBeam 2 Pro (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14[..]

An anonymous reader sends this quote from CBC News:"Hackers based in China enjoyed widespread access to Nortel's computer network for nearly a decade, according to ... Brian Shields, a former Nortel employee who launched an internal investigation of the attacks, the Wall Street Journal reports [from behind a paywall]. ... Over the years, the hackers downloaded business plans, research and development reports, employee emails and other documents. According to the internal report, Nortel 'did nothing from a security standpoint' about the attacks." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

(Reuters) - Talks between Yahoo Inc and China's Alibaba over the U.S. internet giant's Asian assets have hit an impasse, throwing their plans for a $17 billion tax-free asset swap into question, according to sources briefed on the situation.

(Reuters) - Amazon.Com Inc, which has been spending heavily on expansion, said it will spend more than $90 million to open a fulfillment center at Middletown in Delaware.

(Reuters) - Half of American adults know someone who found love online, and while the Internet plays a more important role than before in starting relationships it is also a forum for cheating and lies that ends them, according to a survey released on Monday.

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Chinese tech firm that claims it still owns the iPad trademark will seek a ban on exports of Apple Inc's computer tablets from China, which could deal a blow to the U.S. technology giant's sales worldwide.

Farhad Manjoo / @fmanjoo:Tim Cook will be speaking at Goldman Sachs' tech conference today. Streaming here at 12:30 pacific. http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ conference/

Bloomberg:Amazon Has Fewer Prime Subscribers Than Estimated  —  Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)'s Prime service, a linchpin of its effort to keep customers loyal and fuel long- term profit, has attracted fewer than half as many members as analysts estimate, three people familiar with the matter said.

TORONTO (Reuters) - In another blow for beleaguered BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, the U.S. federal government's main procurement agency is issuing iPhones and Android-based devices to some of its 17,000 workers.

TORONTO (Reuters) - In another blow for beleaguered BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, the U.S. federal government's main procurement agency is issuing iPhones and Android-based devices to some of its 17,000 workers.

Ty Pendlebury / CNET:Time Warner Cable now streams to your desktop  —  Last year, Time Warner Cable unveiled its first iPad app and the company has now launched a beta version of the software for desktop streaming on Mac and PC.  —  The new app lets cable (and data) subscribers stream live TV to their desktop computer while in the home.

Plenty of doctors are using Apple iPads, but not many of the tablet computers are outfitted with enterprise network and data access, according to a new survey from Spyglass Consulting Group.

Video service Netflix has disclosed it paid out $9 million last year to settle a class-action lawsuit that it violated privacy by keeping records on what subscribers watched two years after customers had canceled their plans.

iBooks Author ( Macworld rated 3.5 out of 5 mice ) may be a fine tool for creating basic ebooks. But if you're an educational publisher and you want to produce electronic titles that are hundreds or thousands of pages long, with complex graphics, multimedia elements, navigational interfaces, and reader interactivity, iBooks Author won't be enough. But iPad publisher Inkling has another option.

FleaPlus writes "NASA and the White House have officially released their FY2013 budget proposal, the first step of the Congressional budget process. As mentioned previously on Slashdot, the proposal decreases Mars science funding (including robotic Mars missions) down to $361M, arguably due in part to cost overruns by the Webb telescope. The proposal also lowers funding for the in-house SLS rocket and Orion capsule to $2.8B, while doubling funding for the ongoing competitive development of commercial crew rockets/vehicles to $830M. The ranking member of the Senate science committee, Sen. Hutchison (R-TX), expressed her frustration with 'cutting SLS and Orion to pay for commercial crew,' as it would allegedly make it impossible for SLS to act as a backup for the commercial vehicles." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Since it was announced last August, we've anxiously been waiting for Sony's flagship Walkman Z (the first to feature Android) to hit US shores. (It made it here well after the holidays passed. Better late than never, right?) While Sony is billing the Z as a Walkman first and foremost, its spacious 4.3-inch display and 1GHz Tegra 2 SoC ensure it's powerful and well-sized for playing games and generally making the most of Gingerbread. The device will be available in a variety of flavors, with up to 32GB of storage ($330), though for the purposes of this review we've been rocking the entry-level 8GB model ($250). Although we haven't exactly been charmed by similar devices vying for a piece of the iPod Touch's market share, the Walkman Z has plenty of promise. The question is, does it deliver? And does it deserve your $250 when it goes on sale in March? Let's find out. Gallery: Sony Z series Walkman player reviewContinue reading Sony Z Series Walkman Player reviewSony Z Series Walkman Player review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The Institutional Shareholder Services has told Facebook that its co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has too much power; he has voting control over at least 57.1 percent of Class B shares.

Twitter users are now getting sessions encrypted with 128-bit encryption by default.