CREATIVE INNOVATORS

HP Buys Palm

2010-04-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

HP has just announced that it's acquiring Palm to the tune of $1.2 billion, which works out to $5.70 per share of Palm common stock. The deal is planned to close by July 31, which marks the end of HP's third fiscal quarter of the year. Current Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein is "expected to remain with the company," though it's not said in what capacity. Press release after the break. There'll be a call to discuss the acquisition in more detail (well, we hope in more detail) at 5PM ET, so we'll keep you abreast as we learn more.

Gala' OS X preview tested: results may vary

2010-04-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

'Gala' OS X preview tested: results may vary

Gala¹

Flash 10¹

2.40GHz Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 256MB²
Safari 4.0.5	95.4 - 152.8	74.2 - 123.5
Firefox 3.6.4	83.5 - 148.4	89.4 - 130.5
2.66GHz Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512MB²
Safari 4.0.5	59 - 64	96 - 132
Firefox 3.6.4	69 - 79	111 - 140

So we just put a few minutes aside to put Adobe's new "Gala" build of Flash 10.1 through its paces on our latest-generation Core i5 and i7 15-inch MacBook Pros here, and the results are a little confusing to say the least. On our i7 equipped with the high-res display and 512MB GeForce GT 330M, processor utilization playing a 1080p sample video on YouTube dropped by a third to a half on average -- not bad -- with Safari 4.0.5 besting Firefox 3.6.4 by a smidge. Our i5 saw strangely different numbers, though, with Gala actually increasing the load on the CPU by as much as about 20 percent. Adobe is quick to note that this is nothing more than a rough preview release; Apple just unlocked access to the necessary hardware a few days ago, after all, and we're sure the company still has plenty of optimization to do. Ultimately, if our i7 figures are realistic, it should make high-def Hulu a decidedly less drama-packed experience down the road.

Notes:
¹ Performance measured by processor utilization (note that numbers greater than 100 are possible on multi-core machines).
² 15.4-inch high resolution display, 256GB SSD, 4GB RAM

Microsoft Is Broken: Time To Pick Up The Pieces

2010-04-25T00:54:00.001-07:00

Microsoft is in big trouble.

The company hasn’t been a force of innovation for what seems to be a decade now. In that timespan, Microsoft has produced only two or three great product that has been deemed innovative: Windows 7, Xbox, and Auto (aka Windows Sync). Apart from that, I can’t think of anything else from Microsoft that is worthy of being mentioned.

Compare that with Apple (Microsoft’s largest competitor). The company has produced iTunes, iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, Apple TV, Macbook, Macbook Air, iPad, and, essentially, a whole bunch of other products and services that have put Microsoft to shame. Furthermore, every product released by Apple is expected to be a success, and, in most cases, usually is. When is the last time anyone ever said that about a Microsoft product?

Admittedly, Microsoft does have a decent lineup of products:

Windows 7
Bing
Office
Azure
Windows Live
Zune HD
Xbox 360 / Xbox Live

Unfortunately, close to half of the aforementioned products have had lackluster performance while others have yet to reach their full potential. None of these products are remarkable by today’s standard, because there is something else out there that could easily replace any of these products

Yet there are still many other areas that needs to be addressed as well, and soon.

One area of focus that is concerning is mobile. Microsoft has flat-out dropped the ball in the mobile arena. While its competition — Research In Motion, Apple, Google, and Nokia — have been working hard to create new and innovative platforms to build their future from, Microsoft, to this day, is working with ancient technology that, only up until recently, was usable with your fingers (before, a stylus was necessary). Essentially, Microsoft is moving far too slow in this face-paced mobile world we live in.

Office has always been Microsoft’s strong point, but as the world moves to the Web, Microsoft has been stuck in an offline world where Microsoft’s Office is the king. While Office is still, admittedly, an essential tool for businesses around the world, other offerings from Zoho, Google, and others are emphasizing the power and importance of these applications being in the cloud. Microsoft is working on it, but for the longest time, Microsoft has been far too complacent and, as a result, has lost customers.

And rounding out some of the more serious issues is the fact that all of Microsoft’s products are extremely fragmented and separated. It is a serious issue. Seriously, who know what Microsoft services are available on the Web? By just glancing on Bing.com, there is no specific mention that Microsoft has features like e-mail, calendar, and other things of that nature. There is no place to access all these products and services that I know about. There is no unification and connection between these products. It’s a huge mess!

The Solutions

So let’s talk about how Microsoft can fix some of these glaring issues.

Windows Phone 7, for starters, is a step in the right direction. If you haven’t heard, Microsoft’s latest attempt at mobile is shaping up to be something quite spectacular. The interface for Windows Phone 7looks stunning and truly unique, something that the company needed to do if it had any hope of a future in mobile. That said, there is no telling how consumers will react, but the general consensus seems to be positive. Let’s just hope Microsoft markets the hell out of this thing and brings in plenty of third-party developers. (It will also be interesting to see how Microsoft’s Kin phones will turn out.)

Touch-based user interfaces are, quite obviously, something that people desire. If Microsoft stepped up to the plate and, instead of using Windows 7, created a dedicated operating system or user interface for touch-based devices, it could help Microsoft improve consumer adoption of their touch devices for the touch-happy consumers of the world. Apple did it with the iPhone OS, and that obviously worked out quite well (especially with the iPad turning out to be a hit). So why doesn’t Microsoft take a page from Apple and, like Windows Phone 7, create an amazing and unique user interface for touch?

Microsoft Courier — since we are on the topic of touch-based interfaces — is also looking like a strong contender that might attract a wide-spread niche of creatives craving a tablet to help them create and brainstorm. There isn’t an incredible amount of information about the Courier available quite yet, but from what I have seen, it looks far more appealing that the iPad does, specifically because of the types of activities I am interested in. Unfortunately, it appears that not even Microsoft knows who this product is going to be aimed at. But if they can get it out the door and into consumers hands, it could end up being a winner.

Integration of Microsoft’s products would also help the company significantly. As it stands, Microsoft has so many products — so many that I won’t bother to list them — that are spread across the Web. Having numerous products isn’t a problem; instead, the problem is that people can’t easily find and access these products. Google, for example, presents all of their products and services in a simple interface that is accessible in two or three clicks. Microsoft, on the other hand, is a complete mess with no clear central point (although, we are sure Bing will end up being that centerfold, especially with Microsoft’s commitment to the cloud). Why not approach this issue with accessibility in mind? Why not create a dashboard that allows users to understand their account, products and services, and information streams in a glance?

Cloud services being the focus of Microsoft for the future also is not a bad bet. As a matter of fact, it is probably the best bet Microsoft could make. However, while moving to the cloud is great and all, it doesn’t seem like many of Microsoft’s innovations in the cloud so far have been targeting consumers. Instead, they seem to be after businesses, corporate organizations, and developers. That isn’t a bad thing, but it is the consumers who are going to drive Microsoft forward in the future. Everyday consumers are the ones that Microsoft need to win over if they want to be innovative in the future.

Innovation

Innovating, finally, is one of the most important things Microsoft can do to stay relevant in the future. We have seen some signs from Microsoft that the company is finally starting to get the picture, but it has come far too long after it should have.

The company is no longer invincible as it once was; times have changed.

But with all this in mind, it is clear that Microsoft is currently reinventing itself in many ways. And while I don’t expect Microsoft to win over any brownie points with the public quite yet, I think that the steps the company has taken so far shows that Microsoft can still be relevant to the everyday consumer in the future.

But it is vital that Microsoft follows through with their plans and, more importantly, never stops innovating!

Will Google Ultimately Fail Because of Twitter, Facebook, and Social Media?

2010-04-25T00:51:00.000-07:00

Will Google Ultimately Fail Because of Twitter, Facebook, and Social Media?

Twitter and Facebook are the two powerhouses in social media right now. There isn’t a day I watch television without these two being mentioned. It’s a pretty big deal in the public’s eyes. But there is one company that has been missing out on social media opportunities for far too long — you might have heard of it: the mighty Google.

Big G can’t get hop on the social media bandwagon. Orkut has faded from existence in the States. Jaiku is dead(ish). Open Social has gone nowhere. Buzz is an unfinished product that has made a mess. That search deal with Twitter hasn’t really produced anything interesting (at least I haven’t found any use of this information on Google search queries). Latitude (Google’s location-aware social network) must have forgotten its longitude. Wave (the replacement for E-mail) is… well, I don’t even know how to describe it.

The point being that Google has produced nothing but disappointment in the social media arena. That’s not good.

Outside Looking In

We can’t help but worry about Google. The company is usually on the cutting edge of innovation, but the execution of social media continues to escape them.

But there are three reasons I can think of right now that Google needs to keep experimenting with social media until they get it right.

The first is, quite obviously, social media growth. The whole social media scene is becoming evermore important in people’s lives (and, in some cases, is taking their lives over). It’s all about connecting people and developing relationships. It puts the emphasis on the person’s network. It’s also easy to see that this is the future of the Internet. So Google doesn’t want to get left behind.

The second thing is the de-emphasis of search, which ties into social media. You see, social media is taking away from Google’s search business because as people go online and communicate with peers and share content, they do this through the social networks themselves. This reduces the necessity to search for content that would have normally been searched for previously. So instead of typing in “iPhone 4″ into Google, I can click on the various links my friends on Twitter have provided instead.

Google is of little use to me in that situation.

The Core Issue

But the most important reason to worry about Google is that social media could take away from Google’s core business — advertising.

With social networks like Facebook — particularly Facebook, because of its closed nature — on the rise, Google no longer has complete control over advertising. Sure, Google can still see where you are going as long as you visit a site that has Google AdSense on it or enter a search query directly on Google. But these social networks could have a far better understanding about what its users interests are and what gets them to click. As a result, advertisers might be more inclined to go with the social media companies directly who can better target their advertisements.

Could you imagine Facebook starting their their own advertising network for publishers? Could you imagine them offering far better targeted advertisements than what Google could ever dream of?

I can.

I’m sure that is on the mind of Mark Zuckerberg as well. Publishers could possibly earn a higher CPM than what Google offers, especially since Facebook has a platform that gives users plenty of social interaction and could have an advertising platform that could help publishers capitalize on it. Not to mention that Facebook can drive a significant amount of traffic in its own right.

It could allow Facebook to become to Google of the Internet!

But what about Twitter’s own “Promoted Tweets” advertising platform? Well, instead of advertisements being served on webpages, ads could be served right in the middle of where users attention lies the most: the conversations.

So If I enter a search query on Twitter for “Best Buy” and receive a “Promoted Tweet” that offers me a five-percent discount if I purchase an item online from the retailer’s website, you better believe that I’ll be more inclined to click on that — it would be far more effective than anything Google AdSense has ever offered me.

A Matter of Time

How could Google compete with this? It seems like a pretty grim situation for the company to be in.

And if things stay the same way that they are, the company won’t be able to keep up. They, again, have no control (unless Google finds a way to integrate AdSense into Twitter, which is doubtful) over the advertising a user is presented with, and that means everything.

But it’s true that social network advertising (or whatever we eventually call these forms of advertising) will probably lag behind Google’s AdSense for a very long time, especially when considering how much of an infrastructure Google has in place. However, Google can’t be called invincible any longer until it finds a way to become a leader in social media — a task that seems more difficult for the company with the failures piling up.

The company is only missing out on a gold mine. The question is can Google afford to miss it. That will take awhile to figure out.

Bill Gates on How to Fix World’s Biggest Problems [LIVE VIDEO]

2010-04-23T01:14:00.000-07:00

Video clips at Ustream

Check Out The First Video Ever Uploaded to YouTube

2010-04-23T01:06:00.000-07:00

Although YouTube’s birthday is officially February 14, 2005, the first video was actually uploaded to the site exactly five years ago, on April 23, 2005.

The video is entitled “Me at the zoo.” It was shot by Yakov Lapitsky and it’s only 19 seconds long, showing one of YouTube’s founders, Jawed Karim, at the San Diego Zoo.

The video doesn’t look much, but it sparked a revolution; by July 2006, more than 65,000 videos were uploaded to the site every day. In October that same year Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion – a reminder of how fast things move in the age of the internet.

See the first ever YouTube video below.

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die

2010-04-15T01:30:00.001-07:00

Mystery solved: Why time stands still at 9:42 on iPhone

2010-04-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

The question has caused me and countless others many a sleepless night (OK, many a fruitless hour) for the better part of three years: Why in the name of Steve Jobs does every picture of every iPhone in every Apple ad show the time as 9:42.
We here at Buzzblog did our best to answer the riddle back in June 2007 by dutifully asking the Apple public relations department for an explanation. A spokesperson told me she would "try to find an answer," but, alas, she tried and failed. I moved on, reluctantly.

Fast-forward to yesterday and a blog post by Jon Manning, lead developer at Secret Lab, which makes software for the Mac, iPhone and iPad. Manning noticed two things of importance on Saturday: first, that the iPad shows a time of 9:41, not 9:42; and, second, that the fellow standing over there in the Palo Alto Apple store appeared to beScott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone software.

Manning walked over to Forstall and asked the question that's been bugging (some of) us for years. Here is Forstall's reply:

"We design the (product launch) keynotes so that the big reveal of the product happens around 40 minutes into the presentation. When the big image of the product appears on screen, we want the time shown to be close to the actual time on the audience's watches. But we know we won't hit 40 minutes exactly."

"So you add a couple of minutes?"

"Yeah! And for the iPhone, we made it 42 minutes. It turned out we were pretty accurate with that estimate, so for the iPad, we made it 41 minutes. And there you are - the secret of the magic time."

What a relief.

Now, it should be noted that others had speculated as far back as 2007 that the time in the photos was somehow related to the time of the initial iPhone announcement. However, this is the first I've heard of Apple looking to synch that time on the pictures with the time on the watches of audience members ... and that the practice has been extended to the iPad.

Flowchart to Determine if You Should Buy an Ipad

2010-04-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

The Ipad came out on Saturday, and if you weren't one of the 3 million peoplestanding in line at the Apple store to get one already, then you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about, and whether you should be buying an Ipad, too. Luckily, we've created this flowchart to help you determine if you should buy an Ipad:

Windows 7 SP1 Has Leaked, First Screenshot

2010-04-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

Running Windows 7? Want to get that first service pack before everyone else does? Good news, it just leaked.

At least one early build of it called “6.1.7601.16537.amd64fre.win7.100327-0053″ is out an about on your favorite torrent website for download. That is probably illegal, and The Next Web does not condone piracy, but it is there if you have no such legal qualms.

The service pack was announced back in the middle of March, with no date for its release. Of course, this leak was not the intended release date, but it is nice to see the progress so far. So, just what is on this service pack?

According to Microsoft:

For Windows 7, SP1 includes only minor updates, among which are previous updates that are already delivered through Windows Update. SP1 for Windows 7 will, however, deliver an updated Remote Desktop client that takes advantage of RemoteFXintroduced in the server-side with SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2.

Of course, once the real hackers get their hands into this new code, we’ll find out what Microsoft has completely been up to. Let’s face it, Windows 7 is the future of Microsoft, and any upgrades are big damn deal. What do you hope Microsoft changes in Windows 7?

A New Website for Taking Shots at Your Boss

2010-04-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

A new website is betting you're willing to dish about your co-worker's job performance just as you would a Netflix movie or an Amazon purchase. The site, dubbed Unvarnished, came out of private beta testing last week and aims to create an open forum to rate professionals in the workplace — for better or for worse.

It's a concept that has caused some controversy, particularly since Unvarnished allows employees to be reviewed anonymously and with no way of removing a negative review. But the co-founders, veterans of sites like LinkedIn and eBay, think there's a market for honest, unfiltered feedback about how individuals perform in their jobs and say their site will ultimately be more useful than the carefully selected job references or curated blurbs on someone's LinkedIn profile. "We're trying to take how professional reputation works in the offline world and port that online," says co-founder Peter Kazanjy.(See YouTube's 50 best viral videos.)

Here's how it works: Say you have a gripe with your co-worker. You can log in to Unvarnished using your Facebook profile and either create a profile for your co-worker or add a comment to a page already created, assigning them a rating and giving a description of your issue. Your name is kept anonymous, meaning your co-worker can't seek you out for retribution, and your comment is left there for the world (and potentially future employees) to see. Want to give someone an attaboy? You can add that comment on their profile too. The site aggregates reviews to spit out your professional reputation on a five-star scale, along with comments from individual reviewers.

It's not a completely new idea. Sites like Rate My Professors and Rate MDs have proven popular for assessing members of specific professions. But Unvarnished is unique in the scale of its sounding board: you can rate your doctor, IT guy or boss without ever giving away your identity.

Kazanjy says the anonymity is necessary; without it, people couldn't be "candid or nuanced in their reviews." But at the same time, it opens the system up to potential abuse. Feel slighted by your boss? Take it out anonymously on his or her Unvarnished page; there's little chance you'll be caught, and potentially very real consequences for your boss's professional reputation.(See the 25 sites we can't live without.)

Kazanjy says Unvarnished has controls in the system to prevent people from simply trashing their co-workers. All users must "authenticate" through their real-world Facebook profile, providing the company with actual names and personal information in case of a defamatory post. The system is closed to anyone under the age of 21, and abusive comments can be reported and removed by administrators. Users also gain authority based on the helpfulness of the reviews they provide. "We're not being Pollyannish about [anonymity], but we also don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater," says Kazanjy. "We don't want people to not give out negative reviews."

And while you can't remove a review, there are some tools to manage your reputation on Unvarnished. If you log in and take ownership of your Unvarnished profile, you have the ability to respond to each post, giving your side of the story. You can also invite trusted contacts to contribute reviews of their own, in essence bringing friends to bear to burnish your reputation.

Ultimately, Kazanjy says, the controversy surrounding his site isn't anything new. "If someone has an ax to grind, they can already make a smear campaign behind your back," he says. "It already happens in the online world every day." Unvarnished may make passive-aggressive digital warfare easier, but at least it gives some tools to fight back

Nokia 3310: The Most Popular Mobile Phone in History

2010-03-24T06:37:00.001-07:00

Nokia 3310: The Most Popular Mobile Phone in History

Mobile phones industry is developing with gigantic paces: now we are surrounded by such a variety of models that it is easy to get lost in them. It is difficult now to believe that all of this magnificence has the same source. Some still remember a number of iconic models that impacted on the overall development not only of the market of mobile phones, but also the market of mobile phone networks as a type of service. An adequate model of phone enhances the number of subscribers of cellular networks.

Among these models is the most popular mobile phone in the history of Nokia. The model was sold in quantities exceeding 120 million units. If we take into account that fact that at the time of release of the device mobile phone services themselves were considerably more expensive, network coverage left much to be desired, then this result is truly magnificent!

The Nokia 3310 has become a model for design and functional for many copies, for a long time defining the appearance of mobile phones. Largely thanks to this model, Nokia became the very “monster” it is today. The functionality, by the means of today’s standards, was very small. However, the device is distinguished by reliability, quality reception, loud speaker and sensitive microphone that provides high level of communication. The size of the phone was a model of compactness, in a time when most phones were affectionately termed “bricks”.

Nokia 3310 had a very clear monochrome display. We can even not speak about the legendary game “Snake”. Even those who have never had Nokia phones know about it. The game is alive in the 3D version today. Disadvantages of the model did not go to any comparison with the advantages – no phone book (only memory of SIM card), a heavy battery in the first batches, etc. Taking into account the emphasis on ergonomics and call quality – these were trifles. Excellent plastic case and the possibility of using interchangeable panels (also a landmark move) – increased the lifetime of the phone.

It is worth noting that the most popular mobile phone in history became such a short time after entering the market, when it migrated from the medium price segment in the budget category. Nokia 3310 was sold out in the markets of developing countries.

Operators admit: thanks to the emergence of this model, an impressive increase of subscribers was marked, since the phone was reliable and accessible to the widest range of consumers.

To Fight Scammers, Russia Cracks Down on .ru Domain

2010-03-24T06:34:00.001-07:00

To Fight Scammers,Russia Cracks Down on .ru Domain

In a bid to cut down on fraud and inappropriate content, the organization responsible for administering Russia's .ru top-level domain names is tightening its procedures.

Starting April 1, anyone who registers a .ru domain will need to provide a copy of their passport or, for businesses, legal registration papers. Right now, domains can be set up with no verification -- a practice that has allowed scammers to quickly set up .ru domains under bogus names.

The changes will help Russia align its rules with international best practices, said Olga Ermakova, informational projects manager with the Coordination Center for the .ru top-level domain, in an e-mail interview. The .ru administrators care about the "cleanness" of the domain, she added. "We don't need negative content, and such content is often [created] by unknown users."

Loopholes in the domain name system help spammers, scammers and operators of pornographic Web sites to avoid detection on the Internet by concealing their identity. Criminals often play a cat-and-mouse game with law enforcement and security experts, popping up on different domains as soon as their malicious servers are identified.

Criminals in eastern Europe have used .ru domains for a while, registering domain names under fake identities and using them to send spam or set up command-and-control servers to send instructions to networks of hacked computers.

With the new domain registration requirements, it will be more difficult for criminals to continue with business as usual. At the very least, the requirement that registrants must submit paper documents will make setting up domains a more costly and time-consuming process.

"It's pushing the malicious activity elsewhere," said Rodney Joffe, chief technologist with Neustar, a DNS service provider. "If it's so much of a hassle, they'll say, 'Screw it. I'm going to register another top-level domain.'"

Russia has been under pressure to clean up the .ru system, which is widely perceived as a safe haven for scammers. China made similar changes last month to the way that its .cn space is administered.

Joffe said it's too early to say how effective the .cn changes have been.

The .ru domain has been a top source of fraud of late, agreed Robert Birkner, chief strategy officer with Hexonet, a domain name service company. But even if it is cleaned up, criminals will have other places to go. Vietnam's .vn domain and Indonesia's .id have also been a problem lately, he said.

Earlier this week, representatives from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.K.'s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) lobbied the group responsible for coordinating the Internet's domain name system to enforce tighter name recognition policies. Now it is "ridiculously easy" to register a domain name under false details, said Paul Hoare, senior manager and head of e-crime operations with SOCA.

Last month, a study of Internet domain name databases found that only 23 percent of records were accurate.

(Jeremy Kirk in London contributed to this story.)

Can 4G wireless take on traditional broadband?

2010-03-24T06:30:00.001-07:00

Can 4G wireless take on traditional broadband?

The 4G revolution in wireless won't just make Web surfing on your mobile phone faster; it could help you say good-bye to traditional cable and DSL broadband.

Clearwire's 4G WiMax service, currently the only 4G wireless service on the market, offers average download speeds between 3Mbps and 6Mbps, which are comparable with many DSL and cable modem services on the market.

As a result, consumers in the 27 markets where Clearwire currently offers service now have another choice for their broadband service. And many are deciding to ditch cable and DSL for 4G wireless.

Tim Elliott, who lives in Atlanta, is one of those customers. Ten months ago when Clearwire came to town, Elliott, who had subscribed to an AT&T DSL package, canceled his service and signed up.

Elliott said he was convinced to subscribe to the service because he got a free Netbook as part of a promotion. He added that he plans to stick with Clearwire even after his contract expires because he likes the convenience of having broadband anywhere. Even though he could have gotten free Wi-Fi access to any AT&T hot spot as part of his old AT&T DSL subscription, Elliott said the ubiquity of WiMax makes the service more valuable to him.

"I love being able to go anywhere in town with my laptop and not worry about finding a hot spot," he said.

Elliott isn't the only subscriber who has decided to cancel his existing broadband service for Clearwire's 4G wireless service.

In fact, Clearwire's chief commercial officer, Mike Sievert, said during the company's fourth-quarter 2009 earnings call last month that roughly half of the company's subscribers are using its new Clear brand 4G wireless broadband service as a replacement for DSL and cable modem services.

Sievert's comments are the first indication that 4G wireless could actually compete in the duopolistic broadband market. Wireless executives at this week's CTIA trade show in Las Vegas may downplay this fact as they tout new mobile devices for 4G.

But as 4G wireless speeds continue to match speeds for traditional broadband, 4G wireless will serve as a viable replacement for some consumers who are not interested in subscribing to a costly triple-play package of TV, phone, and Internet services.

Indeed, other 4G wireless services will offer similar speeds to those offered today from Clearwire. Verizon Wireless is building its own 4G network using a technology called LTE and is expected to launch the service in 25 to 30 markets by the end of the year. It claims that the average download speeds it has seen in its test networks are between 6Mbps and 12Mbps.

But Verizon and AT&T, which will test 4G LTE technology later this year, have been careful not to talk much about 4G wireless as a broadband replacement service. After all, these companies sell DSL services and they have each invested billions of dollars upgrading their wired networks to provide faster fiber-based services.

Verizon has taken fiber all the way to the home with its Fios service. And AT&T has extended fiber to neighborhoods to boost high-speed Internet speeds.

Neither AT&T nor Verizon Wireless have talked about how they will price their 4G wireless services. There are some indications that the companies plan to implement usage-based pricing, which would likely discourage many people from using their 4G wireless services as a replacement for DSL.

But it's clear from the recently released National Broadband Plan that the Federal Communications Commission expects 4G wireless to be a broadband competitor.

Today, about 95 percent of the U.S. population has access to at least one broadband provider, according to the FCC's report. About 13 percent have access to only one provider, while the vast majority, roughly 78 percent, have access to two providers, cable and DSL. Only 4 percent have access to three or more providers.

The FCC recognizes that broadband needs to be delivered not only to the 4 percent who don't have it, but also that more competition is needed in markets with only one provider.

Even though two competitors are better than one or none at all, three could be even better, which is why many consumer groups have advocated for more competition even in markets with two suppliers.

The problem is that putting broadband infrastructure in the ground is expensive. And earlier attempts to force competition in the telecommunications market through regulation have not been successful.

Now it looks like the FCC has acknowledged that getting a "third wire" into the home is unlikely, and it has instead turned its attention to 4G wireless.

"Bringing down the cost of entry for a facilities-based wireline service may encourage new competitors to enter in a few areas, but it is unlikely to create several new facilities-based entrants competing across broad geographic areas," the National Broadband Plan says.

"Bringing down the costs of entry and expansion in wireless broadband by facilitating access to spectrum, sites, and high-capacity backhaul may spur additional facilities based competition."

Aside from the economic drivers that make 4G wireless a good choice as a third competitor to traditional broadband, other factors will likely drive it in this direction.

Just as people fell in love with the idea of being able to talk on the phone wherever they were with a cell phone, it won't take long before people will also begin to appreciate accessing broadband anywhere and everywhere.

Once mobile broadband becomes ubiquitous, it's easy to see how some of these people may decide to stop paying for two broadband services, much like many cell phone users decided to get rid of their home phones. In fact, 2009 marked the first time that cell phone households in the U.S. surpassed households that only had traditional phones.

"People first added cellular phone service to their monthly budgets because they wanted mobility," Sievert said. "We are starting to see the same thing in mobile broadband. People are attracted to the convenience, but they'll eventually realize they can consolidate services."

The trend is seen first among young adults. Just as people under 30 were the first to ditch home phone service, they are also the first to use wireless-only broadband.

"Right now, substituting 4G wireless for regular broadband appeals mostly to young people who often live with roommates," Sievert said. "They want to be able to take their broadband anywhere."

To be fair, wireless-only broadband will not appeal to every consumer, especially ones who consume a lot of bandwidth. Because of the physical limitations of any wireless service, it will never keep pace with the super-fast speeds of services delivered on fiber networks. Therefore, 4G wireless will never satisfy the needs of the most bandwidth-hungry users.

That said, average users looking to reduce their overall monthly communications spending could see wireless broadband as an alternative to pricey triple-play packages that promise lower prices for broadband in exchange for subscribing to expensive TV packages and phone service.

But will 4G wireless networks help force down the price of their competitors? Maybe. If the FCC can successfully make 500MHz more bandwidth available in the next decade as they plan, new wireless companies may emerge, which could translate into three, four, five, or even six broadband competitors in any given market.

This level of competition could finally force prices lower on broadband services for consumers.

Today, the market is a long way from major shifts in price. Currently, Clearwire's prices are competitive, but the company's not undercutting traditional broadband players by much if at all in some markets.

In fact, its unlimited home service, which offers up to 6Mbps on downloads and 1Mbps on uploads, is priced comparably to AT&T's 6Mbps DSL service, which is also $40. Verizon, which offers a 7Mbps DSL service, charges $55 for the service.

Meanwhile, cable operators typically offer faster speed connections for roughly the same price as the Clearwire service.

It's evident that Clearwire isn't looking to compete on price.

"There may be some people who subscribe to our service to save money," Sievert said. "But I don't think that's the main motivation. I think people like the convenience of the mobile experience."

One reason Clearwire may not be launching a price war could be that two of the nation's largest broadband providers are investors in Clearwire.

Time Warner Cable and Comcast have each contributed billions of dollars to Clearwire to help the company complete its network. As part of the deal, they are reselling the 4G service as an add-on to their existing broadband customers.

Even without significant discounts for the Clearwire 4G wireless service, this still offers broadband subscribers a choice. In the second half of this year, even more consumers in cities such as New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington, D.C., will also have the option of ditching their cable modem or DSL providers to get broadband wirelessly. And for some people, a little bit of choice is better than no choices.

"It's nice to just be able to have a choice," said Elliott, who also admitted the Clearwire service costs almost as much and performed as well as his previous broadband service. "I guess it's the lesser of the other evils out there."

The Real Truth About Broadband Speeds

2010-03-24T06:28:00.001-07:00

The Real Truth About Broadband Speeds

Suppose you went to the supermarket to buy a pound of steak for dinner and when you got home you noticed that the package seemed very light. So you went back and complained to the manager, only to be told that the label says "up to 1 pound," and you're stuck with it.

You'd be furious, of course. But that seemingly ridiculous stratagem is used every day by broadband providers across the country. Don't believe me? Check your agreement. In my case, AT&T tells me that I'm entitled to upload speeds of "up to" 3 Mbps and download speeds of "up to" 384 kbps. What do I have? Download speeds that average about 15 percent slower depending on the time of day, and upload speeds that are more or less as promised.

You can do the math as well I can. A big file, such as a backup or a photo album that takes 120 minutes to download at 3 Mbps, takes an extra 17 minutes at 2.5 Mbps, my actual download speed.

OK, so maybe that's not the biggest deal in the world, but why should I burn up an extra 17 minutes when I thought I was paying to avoid that? And as I found out, I'm lucky. Many consumers get just 50 percent of the speed they thought they purchased.

If we were talking about almost any other consumer service, you'd have the choice of taking your business elsewhere. But not in broadband. "Ninety-six percent of the country has two or fewer choices for broadband -- the cable provider and the phone company," says Chris Riley, policy counsel for Freepress, a non-partisan advocacy group.

How Fast Is Fast?

Not only do we lack a standard for acceptable broadband service, there's not even a standard definition of what constitutes broadband. The FCC, as part of the National Broadband Plan, has just begun collecting data on connection speeds across the country via a test posted on its website. Sure, that's a good idea, but hello, this is 2010! Why don't we know this already? Why, as Eric London of the Open Internet Coalition points out, are ISPs allowed to claim that 90 kbps is broadband?

That 90 kbps figure may sound like a relic of the analog modem days, but in fact it's what you get on your iPhone when forced to connect to AT&T's sclerotic and nearly useless Edge wireless network.

Authorized by Congress, the Broadband Plan lays out numerous goals for this country's data infrastructure, most notably assuring 100 Mbps access for most of the country by 2020. To reach that goal, average download speeds in the United States will have to increase five fold.

Although its data is incomplete, the FCC cites private research indicating that broadband customers aren't getting what they pay for. In fact, households are, on average, experiencing download speeds that are approximately 40 percent to 50 percent of the advertised "up to" speed they paid for, the report states. Upload speeds average about 45 percent of what's advertised. All in all, it appears that the average actual download speed around the country is about 4.1 Mbps.

"There's no excuse for the industry to use 'up to' speeds," says Joe Ridout, of Consumer Action in San Francisco. "It's useless to consumers. The FCC should require the use of average speeds."

Number Games

Sadly, the slippery marketing of broadband service is hardly the only numbers game designed to fool technology consumers. Most egregiously, printers are marketed as "up to" a certain number of pages per minute, a speed not often realized in the real world. Similarly, expensive ink cartridges are marketed the same way, and if you think it's difficult to note how fast your printer prints, just try and keep track of how many pages you get from an ink cartridge.

PCs and cameras are a bit different. If Intel says a chip runs at 1.63 GHz, it probably does; and if your camera is designed for a resolution of 10 Megapixels, you'll likely get it. However, it's taken consumers a long time to look behind those numbers and understand what they really mean. As many of us have learned, CPU speed and megapixels by themselves tell you little about the real-world performance of a PC or the quality of a digital photo.

Broken Speedometers

Unfortunately, there are real questions about the reliability of download/upload tests. Part of the problem is the very real issue of network congestion. Connection speeds drop off sharply around dinner time in much of the country, as consumers jump on the Net.

What's more, the tests themselves are often inconsistent. The FCC, for example, is using two providers: Ookla and M-Lab. In tests of my DSL connection, I saw relatively minor variations in results between the two services, but others have found huge discrepancies.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times recently, journalist David Lazarus said his cable connection was clocked by one of the services on the FCC page at 18 Mbps; and a few seconds later the other reported speeds of 6 Mbps. And if you use one of the numerous speed tests on privately owned sites, the numbers can be all over the map. My 2.5 Mbps connection (according to Ookla) plummeted to 1.16 Mbps when clocked by CNET's Shopper.com.

And you thought that butcher had a heavy thumb.

The Internet Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

2010-03-11T05:25:00.001-08:00

The Internet Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

The Internet is in the running for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has confirmed. Championed by Wired magazine in Italy, the nomination has been backed by OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte.

Italian Wired suggests that the Internet should receive the highly regarded prize for helping to advance “dialogue, debate and consensus.”

The nomination from Wired has been dismissed by some as a publicity stunt — and the support of long-time Wired columnist and investor Nicholas Negroponte is hardly surprising. Although currently seeing some success with the One Laptop Per Child program, Negroponte’s past projects have included such dubious endeavors as as Swatch Internet Time.

The award is to be given to the person (or organization) who has “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” The creators of the World Wide Web — Tim Berners-Lee, Larry Roberts and Vint Cerf — have been nominated, too.

The final nominations will be now be considered by the Committee with the winner due to be announced on October 8, while the awards ceremony will take place in December.

Do you think the Internet should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? Or should it go to a person or organization? Is Wired’s campaign just a PR stunt? Have your say in the comments below.

Use GMAIL offline with gears

2010-03-08T07:18:00.001-08:00

Use GMAIL offline with gears

Gmail has introduced its latest Labs feature called offline Gmail to enable e-mail access even when you are not connected to the Internet.

While this might sound uber geeky, the concept is simple enough when you actually use it. Oh, and the “offline” mode is already available in a simpler form if you happen to use Outlook or any other email client with Gmail POP access.

Gmail uses its Google Gears open source web application to enable the “offline” mode. Currently, Google lists Firefox 2, 3, and the Internet Explorer 7 in its list of supported browsers. Strangely, there is no mention of Google’s own, the Chrome! However, it might be because Chrome support is obvious.

Browse Gmail offline with Google Gears

What it does

The feature, which needs to be enabled from under the “Labs” option under “Settings,” downloads e-mails onto your computer and allows access even when there is no Internet connectivity. Users will be able to access most of their emails, reply to them, and view starred and unread messages, just like they do when Gmail is online. When you perform an action that needs web access, Gmail will queue the action and will execute it as soon the connection is restored. While it might not sound very exciting initially, I, for once, can realize how useful this might turn out to be. For many users, Gmail has become a data center, and I suspect that there are many people out there who would want to have a look at their mails and archives even when not connected to the Internet. The best thing is that once this feature is installed, Gmail will be able to go offline or online by detecting the network status, so you do not need to switch on/off the Offline mode manually. There is also this “Flaky Connection Mode” that detects a slow connection and uses the local cache for accessing data, and only uses the server when Gmail needs web access – like when hitting the send button.

Not all Gmail features work, though, in the offline mode. What does work, however, are the sending and replying to emails, searching your archives, and the much-needed auto-complete function. You will not be able to add attachments or add/manage contacts. However, most users will be able to live with such minor inconveniences.

As expected of a Labs feature, this application has been tested internally amongst 20,000 Google employees and has then been made available to the Labs. Not all users may see this enabled in their accounts, but the feature should be available to all in the coming days. As for the issues noticed, I have not seen anything go wrong in the little time that I have used this. However, CNET does report issues of the local cache going out of sync, but most issues can be sorted out by disabling and re-enabling the feature.

How to use Trial Version software forever without Expiration

2010-03-08T07:16:00.001-08:00

How to use Trial Version software forever without Expiration

Now we download stuff almost daily. New products pop out so often. You can use any software forever you want. You can download trial version, right. Trial version expires after some days. You can stop that expiration. You can tell trial version of the software to not count days or do not bother about time. The software will stay and keep working like original software forever and will not expire or cease to work. You do not have to change your system clock. This little software does it all.

Time Stopper : use Trial Version software forever without Expiration

Time Stopper is the software which can stop the time for try out version software. When you stop the time you can use your try-out versions forever. When you stop the time of a try-out version using this Time Stopper it works via this Time Stopper. Real time and date run normally on your system. You can use any number of try-out version softwares with this software.

How it Works

If you wish to create an icon for your modified trial software and do not want to open Time stopper every time then use last button in software to create new icon. open that trial software after that from that newly created icon always otherwise it can expire.

Viewing the Mouse Tracks You Leave Behind

2010-03-06T21:30:00.001-08:00

Viewing the Mouse Tracks You Leave Behind

Nick Bilton Tracking the mouse movements on my computer for 30 minutes.

If you’ve ever wondered about the flow of your mouse around your computer screen, a free downloadable application, called “mouse pointer track,” can help you follow these esoteric movements and turn them into a fascinating blur between art and information.

The simple application was developed by Anatoly Zenkov, a Russian graphic designer and programmer, and has been downloaded tens of thousands of times since he first released it in late January this year.

The software runs on any Macintosh or Windows computer and tracks every movement and click of your mouse.

Mr. Zenkov explained in an interview that the project began as a simple attempt to create something visually interesting with computer code. “It was just for fun,” Mr. Zenkov said. “It was meant to be an experiment for me, and then I saw the interest from so many other people, so I decided to share it for free on the Internet.”

As you can see from the images on Mr. Zenkov’s Flickr page, he has been tracking different mouse movements in different application settings.

The images at the top and bottom of this post were made by tracking my mouse movements for 30 minutes, during which time I was writing this blog post and surfing the Web.

Make Windows Xp Genuine Forever

2010-03-06T08:44:00.001-08:00

Make Windows Xp Genuine Forever

With five steps your Windows will be 100% genuine so you’ll be able to get the advantages of having genuine Microsoft software.

1 – Run regedit.exe (start, run…) and find this in windows registry: HKey_Local_Machine-Software-Microsoft-WindowsNT-Current Version-WPAEvents. Now right-click on “oobtimer” and click modify, change at least one digit of the value, choose OK and close regedit

2 – Go to Start/Run and type “%systemroot%system32oobemsoobe.exe /a” without the quotation marks, it will appear an activation window, choose the 2nd option “activate by phone”.*

3 – In the next window choose the option to change the product key and type the new key**. If it goes back to the previous window, choose “remind me later” and reboot your pc, if it doesn’t, follow the 4th step.

4 – Close that window and reboot your pc. Then go to Start/Run and type “%systemroot%system32oobemsoobe.exe /a” without the quotation marks, again. You should receive the message “Windows is already activated” or something like that.

5 – If something goes wrong and you can’t boot Windows, just press F8 while the pc is booting until you get some options, choose “Last Known Good Configuration”. You’ll be just like you were before doing all this, and you can try it again.

* If your Windows Xp is an “UE” version, you won’t be able to get to the activation window, so you’ll have to use google to find and download the “oobe” folder. When you do that, place the folder on “windows/system32″ folder and start the process.

** You can find many activation keys on the internet, if you don’t wanna take the trouble to do that I give you one: THMPV-77D6F-94376-8HGKG-VRDRQ

Free Internet with Airtel Hack

2010-03-06T06:04:00.001-08:00

Free Internet with Airtel Hack

So,Are your Ready to use airtel Net from your mobile for free…
All u need to have is
–>PC
–>Serial/USB cable/Bluetooth dongle
–>Any Browser(I suggest Opera as we can browse both wap and other sites)

Now without wasting a minute let me jump into the actual working method

—>Activate Airtel Live sending a message MASALA ACTIVE to 121
—>Create a profile with the following settings in your data account under Data Communication

GATEWAY : 100.1.200.99
APN : airtelfun.com
USERNAME : blank
PASSWORD : blank
PASS REQ : OFF
ALLOW CALLS : AUTOMATIC
IPADDRESS :
DNSADDRESS :
DATA COMP : OFF
HEADER COMP : OFF

and then Under INTERNET PROFILES,

INTERNET MODE : HTTP or WAP (both works)
USE PROXY : YES
IP ADDRESS : 100.1.200.99
PORT : 8080
USERNAME :
PASSWORD :

–>Create a new dial-up connection on your pc after connecting the mobile to pc,using the NEW CONNECTION WIZARD as follows

ISP Name : Anyname
Phone Number : *99***1#
Username and Password : blank

–>Configure your browser to use the proxy 100.1.200.99 and port 8080.

–>Connect to the dial-up account. You will be connected at 115.2kbps

—>Now if you try to access any site on your mobile you ll get an error message like “Access Denied”

—>Open your browser, and start browsing and voila it opens the regular sites and if u beleive ull get a d/l speed of 5-6 kbps

Common Errors u Face:

If u are getting any error wile dialing a dial up connection than go to
Control panel>> Phone and modem>>>select modem and click on its properties >>advanced
and enter the following initialization commands
CODE
AT+CGDCONT=2, “IP”,”airtelfun.com”,”",0,0

It should be connected without any error now.

Banned form adsense, BidVertiser is a good alternate

2010-03-06T06:01:00.001-08:00

Banned form adsense,BidVertiser is a good alternate

if you are a regular reader of GeniusHackers then you might have noticed there were no Google ads on the for the past 6 months. That’s because GeniusHackers is banned from adsense. They quoted that this post violated their guidelines.

Protect yourself from fake login pages

I tried adbrite for a few days, and it was serving unrelevant ads and the Cost per Click (cpc ) was very low. recently I stumbled across a site serving BidVertiser ads, one thing that immediatley caught my attention was the ads were very much relevant to the content on that page. You usually see this only with adsense. I immediatley signed up for a bidvertiser account ( You can see the bidvertiser ads at the begining of this post) and placed their code on GeniusHackers. The results are very encouraging Bidvertiser CPC and CTR are comparable with adsesne.

The best things about Bidvertiser are:

You will get relevant ads on your site.
You have various ad formats to choose from, you can even have your own custom sizes so that your site look and feel isn’t lost(This feature isn’t available in adsense).
Their minimum payout is 10 USD and you can have your payment via paypal.You can have your payment immediately. Adsense payment system is very annoying. I dont know why the still stick to that old age methods. My Octobers adsense cheque hasn’t reached me till now, i requested a reissue 6 times but they dint even bother to reply.

You should sign up for bidvertiser if you are banned from adsense, your site has less traffic and your income is low. Continue with adsesne if you have good traffic and you are not violating their terms.

Get paid to post on your blog

2010-03-06T05:59:00.001-08:00

Get paid to post on your blog

Doesn’t this sound great, you are paid for writing articles on your blog. This is what smorty all about, it’s a bridge between advertisers and bloggers. You get paid for posting reviews about the products they give you. You get a wide variety of products to choose from, so you can select the products that your users might be interested in knowing. Each post will bring you a minimum of US$6 and the Page rank of your blog along with a Smorty smart score determines whether you receive higher paid ad campaigns, bringing you up to even $100 per post. If you want to earn some quick bucks join smorty today and start earning.

advertise on blogs

Multiple Logins of Gmail and Orkut through firefox

2010-03-06T05:54:00.001-08:00

Multiple Logins of Gmail and Orkut through firefox

Just follow the following steps and you will be able to login in gmail and orkut with multiple accounts. Through this you will be able to make profiles in your firefox.

Step 1:
Open system properties(by right clicking my computer), choose tab advanced, click to environment variables button. in system variables section, click new. type this information to each textbox.

Step 2:
variable name: moz_no_remote (should be all small letter).

variable value: 1

Step 3:
open firefox icon’s properties(from desktop and quick launch). add extension -p to command line(like “c:\program files\mozilla firefox\firefox.exe” -p). press ok.
When you will open firefox it will prompt for profile selection create a profile,open firefox login to orkut open once more use another profile login.

How to change your Facebook Profile color

2010-03-06T05:52:00.001-08:00

How to change your Facebook Profile color

Facebook has been one of the most popular social communities in the world, but I was thinking, what can I do to “spice up” my Facebook profile. Well I was googling the net and found a script to do so…

Firstly you have to download Greasemonkey (Needs Mozilla Firefox) https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/748

Restart Firefox (close app and open again)

Download Facebook Auto Colorizer http://userscripts.org/scripts/source/3626.user.js

And your’e done!

Go to Facebook, and you will definitley see a change!