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Verizon's 4G LTE network gets first 4G smartphone

2010-12-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

A smartphone manufacturer is finally making good on the LTE 4G network Verizon turned on earlier this month. The Android blog Droid Lite tracked down HTC's newest piece of hardware, the HTC Thunderbolt. It's a smartphone that resembles Sprint's Evo 4G in many ways, especially in its massive screen size.

Verizon's LTE network has been up and functional for nearly a month, but the only devices made available to sail the 4G sea have been a couple of new USB modems aimed at business customers. With the Thunderbolt, Verizon will be opening up access to more consumer-level activity.

Details on the Thunderbolt are slim, aside from physical features it shares with the Evo, like the 4.3-inch screen and back kickstand. HTC previously referred to the phone by the code name "Mecha," and set up a teaser site for it alongside the Evo and the T-Mobile G2.

According the site, HTC plans to reveal the Thunderbolt on January 6, the first day of CES. Stay tuned for our impressions of it and many other gadgety treats as we descend upon Las Vegas next week.

Find your iPad/iPhone/iPod for free (if you have the latest version)

2010-11-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

File this under "it should have been free all along." Apple's "Find my iPhone" feature, previously a feature of the subscription-based MobileMe service, is now free--with a catch: it's only free for users of the iPhone 4, iPad, or newest fourth-generation iPod Touch.

That means that while many iDevices--be they iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch--can be updated to iOS 4.2, only the most recent versions of each will get the free "Find my iPhone" functionality.

The service finds your iPhone, if by "find" you mean "get a rough GPS estimate of the location." Still, the service has had its success stories.

Its two best features are, undoubtedly, its ability to remote-wipe all data if necessary, and its triggering of a played-back sound even if the device in question is set to silent. The latter has actually saved my apartment sanity on several occasions.

Even though "Find my iPhone" requires certain settings to be activated on the iDevice in question, and can be relatively easily thwarted by thieves, consider this: you need not fear losing your iPhone 4 under a sofa ever again.

iOS 4.2 will be live later today

Google Docs Now Syncs With Microsoft Office

2010-11-22T10:33:00.000-08:00

Google has transformed one of its acquisitions into Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, a new tool that lets users simultaneously edit an Office doc via the cloud.

Launching in beta today, Google Cloud Connect is an add-on for Office that syncs documents, spreadsheets and presentations from Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 with the “Google cloud.” In other words, it takes data on the desktop and makes a backup copy in Google Docs, gives it a unique URL and constantly syncs the data with anybody else that might be sharing the same document.

The technology behind Google Cloud Connect derives from DocVerse, a productivity tool that Google acquired earlier this year that lets multiple users collaborate and edit Microsoft Office documents.

Originally, DocVerse was just focused on syncing Word docs with each other so that users could collaborate. Here’s what we originally wrote when we first reviewed it:

“This sidebar is where all of DocVerse’s magic happens. You can invite friends and colleagues to collaborate on any documents. As you and others make edits, those changes are synced to the cloud. In addition to a hard copy, the plug-in automatically saves a web-based version of the doc that others can see to make collaboration easy.”

Cloud Connect doesn’t take away any of that collaboration functionality while adding Google Docs to the mix. A business team can edit a document from either Microsoft Office or Google Docs simultaneously. Google Docs also saves all of the revisions, so if someone messes up someone else’s edits, it’s easy to revert them.

Today’s launch is all about getting Office users to slowly switch to Google Docs. The search giant wants people to switch from Office to the cloud, which eventually leads to Google. By dipping their toes into the waters of Google Docs via their business colleagues and friends, loyal Office users will get used to Google’s offering and eventually discard Microsoft’s productivity suite for good. At least, that’s what Google hopes.

Does Google’s plan make sense? Yes. Will it actually work? Probably. Is Cloud Connect a win for users? Absolutely.

Sorry, Facebook, Complexity Will Kill Your New Messaging System

2010-11-20T10:09:00.000-08:00

I set up my new Facebook messaging account yesterday, and my first thought was that Facebook hadn't thought through the experience very carefully.

First, it let me reserve a Facebook e-mail address, matt.rosoff@facebook.com. Great--people can send an e-mail to that address and it'll show up in Facebook.

The second thing it asked me was whether I wanted to turn SMS on. OK, sure. It would be nice to get messages from my Facebook friends on my phone so I don't have to open the Facebook app.

That was it. Done. Easy.

Except the first text I got was a friend request from a person I worked with 15 years ago. I accepted, but that's not the kind of thing I want interrupting me on my phone. I immediately turned texts off.

Last night, I met Joel Seligstein, one of the developers who worked on the project. I showed him the first (and only) SMS I'd received. He acknowledged that Facebook got the sign-up flow wrong on its first attempt, apologized for my experience, and said that new sign-ups will be able to select settings more carefully so they only get messages they really want. He also let me know that I could go into my account settings and select exactly which types of messages go where.

This illustrates a big problem. Users have different expectations for who can e-mail them (just about anybody), IM them (friends on a specific list), and text them (friends who are close enough to have their cell phone number). When all of these different communications media are blended into a single system, user expectations are going to be upended in uncomfortable ways. And no normal person is going to take the time to go through and uncheck a bunch of boxes to dictate what kind of messages can go where.

Seligstein was speaking at an event focused on companies that are trying to improve e-mail--that good old platform that nobody loves but everybody needs. (The event, Inbox Love, was organized by 500 Startups founder Dave McClure and is a precursor to a conference scheduled for next year.)

During his presentation, he acknowledged that Facebook had some other stumbles with the rollout. Some folks got invitations and signed up on Monday, only to find that the system had reverted back to the old version on Tuesday. Apparently Facebook wasn't happy with the early user experience and had to go back in and revamp it.

Seligstein also explained that it's taking longer than expected to build IMAP support into the system because IMAP is a crazy complicated protocol with weird idiosyncrasies (other speakers agreed), and told me that the company would "probably eventually" build voice into the system, but had to get the text part right first.

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Gets The Comic Book Movie Adaptation Treatment

2010-11-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin may have had the first laugh in chronicling the life and times of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network," but the young entrepreneur is getting another shot at the big screen — by way of a comic book movie adaptation, no less!

Bluewater Productions have announced via press release that the publisher is teaming up with Hayden 5 Media to create an animated film based off the comic book about the Facebook founder, titled "Mark Zuckerberg and the Found."

According to the press release, the production will lean on a mixture of live-action filmmaking and animation, for a visual look and feel that's very similar to the film "A Scanner Darkly."
"When we found out that Bluewater was releasing this comic, we knew we had to get on board," said Todd Wiseman, President of Hayden 5 Media, in a statement. "We saw a great opportunity to re-tell the story of Mark Zuckerburg post-'Social Network' in a brighter, animated form that could be enjoyed and understood by a broader audience."

"This will not be the last retelling of the Marc Zuckerburg story," added Milos Silber, Executive Producer at Hayden 5 Media. "We're just aware of the profound impact of Facebook, and with over 500 million users, we're bound to have an audience. One that is more willing to watch a shortened, visually captivating summary of this short epic online, or on their favorite network."

The "Mark Zuckerberg and the Found" comic book hits stores in late December with a suggested retail price of $6.99.

34% of non-AT&T smartphone buyers wish they could buy Apple's iPhone

2010-11-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

A new survey has found that more than a third of U.S. smartphone buyers on carriers other than AT&T wish they could have bought the iPhone, expressing buyer's remorse.

ChangeWave on Friday released the results of a new survey which polled consumers on their new smartphone purchase. As has been shown numerous times before, customers who bought Apple's iPhone were happier than those who invested in handsets from any other manufacturer, with 77 percent of all iPhone buyers in the last six months saying they are "very satisfied."

The 1,212 U.S. respondents were also asked what phone they would have bought if it was available from their wireless carrier. 46 percent said they would have stuck with their current smartphone, but a whopping 34 percent of those surveyed who aren't on AT&T said they would have bought an iPhone.

The survey also found that Motorola fares the worst on this question, as 39 percent of Motorola smartphone buyers would stick with their new purchase, and a very close 37 percent would have preferred an iPhone.

The survey also reiterated the fact that customers are even happier with the iPhone 4 than they were with the iPhone 3GS. A total of 84 percent of those who bought the 32GB iPhone 4 said they were "very satisfied," while 78 percent of those who bought the 16GB model chose the same.

For comparison, the recently released Samsung Galaxy S, an Android-based handset available on all four major U.S. carriers, has a "very satisfied" rating of 55 percent. That's still better than the 28 percent "very satisfied" rating given by customers of all other Samsung models.

Earlier this month, ChangeWave found that netbook interest is waning as more customers are eyeing Apple's iPad. Among those who said they are looking to buy a tablet, 80 percent said they are most likely to purchase an iPad.

In September, ChangeWave also revealed that the total sum of handsets running Google Android were just as popular with consumers as the iPhone. Of 4,000 respondents polled, 37 percent said they would prefer an Android phone, while 38 percent chose the iPhone.

Apple Seen Prepping Thinner iPad For 2011

2010-11-20T09:47:00.000-08:00

Qualcomm CDMA-GSM chip will enable next-generation tablet to run on most cellular networks in U.S., Europe and Asia.

Apple plans to launch early next year a second-generation iPad that's thinner and capable of running on cellular networks worldwide, according to media reports.

The next iPad will reportedly include a Qualcomm chip that makes it possible to run the 3G version of the tablet-style computer on CDMA and GSM cellular networks. Such a move would make it possible for the one device to run on the cellular networks of the four major U.S. wireless carriers -- AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless -- as well as on the networks of carriers in Europe and Asia.

"Recent checks suggest Apple is going to be ratcheting down production of the existing 3G iPad over the next two months in anticipation of ramping up a new World iPad that is powered by Qualcomm and will run on both GSM- and CDMA-based networks around the world," said Brian Blair, analyst for Wedge Partners, as cited Friday by The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital

At Interop NYC 2010, InformationWeek's Fritz Nelson finds an attendee roaming the floor with a bag so full of schwag that would make most professioanl trick-or-treaters jealous.The next iPad will reportedly include a Qualcomm chip that makes it possible to run the 3G version of the tablet-style computer on CDMA and GSM cellular networks. Such a move would make it possible for the one device to run on the cellular networks of the four major U.S. wireless carriers -- AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless -- as well as on the networks of carriers in Europe and Asia.

"Recent checks suggest Apple is going to be ratcheting down production of the existing 3G iPad over the next two months in anticipation of ramping up a new World iPad that is powered by Qualcomm and will run on both GSM- and CDMA-based networks around the world," said Brian Blair, analyst for Wedge Partners, as cited Friday by The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital Web site.

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Blair said that his recent Qualcomm channel checks also reveal that Apple is preparing to build about 48 million iPads next year and that the devices will be thinner than the current model. To reduce the thickness, Apple is making the new iPad out of a single piece of metal, essentially adopting a manufacturing process similar to what it uses for its unibody MacBooks.

Apple doesn’t comment on future products. However, Ezra Gottheil, analyst for Technology Business Research, told InformationWeekthat the report makes sense, given Apple's longtime strategy of avoiding the production of several versions of the iPhone to run on networks based on different standards. In the U.S., for example, the iPhone has only run on AT&T's network since its release in 2007, though a Verizon version is reportedly near completion.

"It certainly makes sense for Apple to produce a run-anywhere product," Gottheil says of the iPad report. "Apple always wants a definitive, single product."

Meanwhile, Taiwan-based DigiTimes quoted anonymous sources in reporting that Ibiden, Tripod Technology and TTM Technologies will be the initial manufacturers of the printed circuit boards for the new iPad, which the publication says Apple is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2011.

Facebook Mobile Event Nov 3: Will We See a Secret Facebook Phone?

2010-11-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

Facebook has sent out an invitation to the media for a “mobile event” at its Palo Alto, California headquarters on Wednesday November 3. Could this be the unveiling of the much-speculated about Facebook phone?

You may recall that technology blog TechCrunch reported last month that Facebook was secretly developing a special smartphone.

Facebook then issued a carefully-worded response that said the company was not “building” a phone, but that it had projects focused on “deeper integrations with some manufacturers.”

The response was reminiscent of the tack taken by Google last year when rumors were rampant that it was about to release a smartphone. In January, of course, Google began to sell the Nexus One phone, which it developed alongside handset vendor HTC, on its website.

The Facebook invite provides no details whatsoever other than to say that the event begins at 10:30 am on November 3 and will be followed by lunch.

But the invitation sports an image of two shaded figures alongside what appears to be the old string-and-Dixie-cup phones that kids in treehouses have long used to communicate. One hopes the actual Facebook phone, if there is one, is slightly more high-tech.

Facebook suspends developers for selling user ID numbers

2010-11-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

Company says it has 'zero tolerance' for data brokers

Facebook said that a “data broker” had paid Facebook app developers for user identification numbers and that as a result the company had suspended a number of developers.

Given that the user identification numbers (UIDs) were not considered to be private and that merely knowing a UID does not bestow anyone the ability to access private data, the hard line taken by the social networking behemoth is as much a statement of intent to tackle the firm’s tarnished reputation when it comes to privacy concerns.

Facebook representative Mike Vernal wrote on the Facebook Developer Blog: “Facebook has never sold and will never sell user information. We also have zero tolerance for data brokers because they undermine the value that users have come to expect from Facebook.”

“To restate our policy, developers may not pass any data from Facebook to data brokers, and we are now including anonymous identifiers in this protected category of Facebook data.”

Facebook said that it was imposing a six month ban on access to Facebook development features for the group found to have sold UIDs to data brokers. Less than 12 developers were involved which Facebook described as “mostly small developers”, saying that none of them had produced applications in the top 10 list.

Apple releases iOS 4.2 to developers

2010-11-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

Apple is promising to deliver the latest iOS upgrade, version 4.2, to the public sometime in November.

Apple has reportedly delivered the final test version of iOS 4.2 to developers, meaning that it could be hitting iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads any day now.

It looks like the upgrade will be most noticeable among iPad users, as several features already found on the iPhone will now become available for Apple’s tablet computer. With the new iOS installed, the iPad will be capable of multitasking in the same way the iPhone currently is, which permits users to run certain apps in the background while running another app simultaneously. Other iPad features include support for organizing apps into folders and the addition of Apple’s Game Center. The upgrade will also come with AirPlay, allowing iPad users to synch with the Apple TV to stream music, video, and photos. The upgrade will also reportedly provide for brightness controls as well as for the ability to adjust volume while multitasking.

There’s no word on what bug issues will be addressed with the upgrade. However, it is widely hoped that Apple will, at the very least, include fixes for a security flaw found in the iPhone’s passcode system and an alarm clock glitch that recently caused instances of tardiness in Europe (we recommend that American iPhone users consider setting a back up alarm clock following this weekend’s daylight saving time adjustment, just in case.) Both issues are found in the current version of iOS. Whatever the latest iOS ends up looking like, it appears that those interested in jailbreaking their device won’t have to wait this time around; several sites are reporting that current jailbreaking techniques will work just fine with iOS 4.2.

Twitter to Include Ads in Your Stream of Tweets

2010-11-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

Advertising is inescapable on the Web today and the last place users want to see ads is on the sites they visit for recreation. Wouldn’t it be nice if members of social-networking sites could log onto their Facebook or Twitter page without the hassle of having to sift through ads? Unfortunately, with the amount of time users spend on their favorite social-networking platform, it only makes sense to increase the number of advertisements we are subjected to.

Facebook (News - Alert) recently began implementing ads into member’s newsfeeds and now its Twitter’s turn. However, Twitter is easing into in-stream advertising slowly, as the concept is still a work in progress.

According to a Yahoo News article, Twitter will begin testing Promoted Tweets within one of its partners, HootSuite. Twitter will be experimenting with how and when to place the ads, hopefully to be as unobtrusive to the microblogging companies loyal users as possible.

Twitter’s objective is to make sure that the ads you see in your stream are related to your interests, so the Promoted Tweets won’t be completely random.

“During this testing period with HootSuite, we will experiment with where and when Promoted Tweets are shown in the timeline. Not all HootSuite users will see Promoted Tweets and those who do may see different Promoted Tweets in different places in their timeline,” Twitter mentioned in a post when announcing the in-stream roll out.

Twitter explained that they will only display Promoted Tweets in the timeline when they are relevant by using signals to determine a Promoted Tweet’s relevance to a user such as the public list of who a member follows.

Since the in-stream ads have yet to go into effect, there’s no telling how users will react. However, the majority of Internet users are already opposed to ads polluting their online content, so chances are implementing more ads into their tweets won’t go over too well. But keep in mind, Twitter isn’t necessarily the most profitable social-networking platform and needs to generate more revenue somehow.

Android sweeps Apple, BlackBerry in U.S. smart phone market

2010-11-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

There is more bad news for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) as its smart phone sales have slipped to the third position in the U.S. market.

According to the latest data by the NPD Group, the U.S.-based smart phone market tracking company, the BlackBerry’s share of the US market in the third quarter fell to 22 per cent from 28 per cent in the second quarter.

On the other hand, the sales of Apple’s devices rose marginally to 23 per cent from 22 per cent in the second quarter, pushing the BlackBerry maker to the third spot in the U.S. smart phone market.

The steep fall in sales of the BlackBerry maker, which until recently dominated the US market, came despite the high-profile launch of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 in August.

But it was not Apple, but the surge in the popularity of Google’s Android operating system (OS) which did the most damage to RIM in the US market.

The sales of Google Android devices jumped as much as 11 per cent from the second quarter to account for 44 per cent of all smart phones purchased in the third quarter.

“Much of Android’s quarterly share growth came at the expense of RIM, rather than Apple,” Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis at the NPD Group, said.

“The HTC EVO 4G, Motorola Droid X, and other new high-end Android devices have been gaining momentum at carriers that traditionally have been strong RIM distributors, and the recent introduction of the BlackBerry Torch has done little to stem the tide,” he said.

According to the data, Android’s operating system has made such an impact on the market that the share of RIM OS has declined by 53 per cent, and that of Apple iOS has fallen by 21 per cent since 2009.

Because of this onslaught from Android OS, “Apple faces challenges in further expanding its domestic market share, while still retaining exclusivity,” said Rubin.

Just two weeks ago, Apple CEO Steve JObs had taunted RIM, saying,”we have now passed RIM, and I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable feature.”

But it is Android OS that is becoming the major worry for him and BlackBerry bosses.

Google sues US in software battle

2010-11-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Google is suing the US government, saying it was unfairly excluded from a $58m deal to revamp e-mail systems at the Department of the Interior.

In a lawsuit filed with the US Court of Federal Claims, Google says the terms of the five-year contract rule out its products and favour rival Microsoft.

The search giant wants to offer its Google Apps software for the contract.

But Google says it was told that only Microsoft's business software could be used - a move it called "arbitrary".

The Department of the Interior, which employs about 88,000 people, declined to comment on Google's legal action.

Security fears

Google says in its lawsuit that it was told there would be "full and open competition" for the contract, but that the bid specified that only the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite-Federal could be used.

This is a special version of Microsoft's suite of business tools that was designed for the US federal government.

Google has its own special version of its software designed to address government security concerns, Google Apps for Government.

However, the firm says it was told its product did not comply with the department's security requirements.

Google says the decision was "arbitrary and capricious", as well as being "unduly restrictive of competition" and against US law.

It calls for an open contracting process, which it says "could save US taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and result in better services".

Skyfire Brings Flash Video to iPhone

2010-11-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

Skyfire, which is already available for Android OS smartphones, is coming to the iPhone on Thursday and bringing with it the ability to play Flash video content. Apple doesn’t support Flash content on its iOS devices, which will make Skyfire a welcome addition for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users that need to play Flash-based video on their handheld devices.

Instead of displaying Flash videos on iOS devices, Skyfre intercepts and converts them to HTML 5, then streams them to back out to users. The process works around the inability to play Flash content natively on iOS devices, and it took about two months of work with Apple to get Skyfire approved for distribution through the App Store, according to CNN.

Skyfire users hoping to work around Hulu’s paid-only model for viewing shows on mobile devices, however, are in for a disappointment. Hulu is actively blocking Skyfire from downloading and converting shows, which means users will still have to pay a monthly subscription fee to watch content on the go.

Skyfire will be available on Thursday, November 5, for US$2.99 and is available at Apple’s iTunes-based App Store.

Oracle to buy retail software company ATG

2010-11-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

Oracle Corp said on Tuesday it will buy Art Technology Group Inc for $1 billion, to bolster its e-commerce software applications.

Oracle's $6-per-share bid represents a 46 percent premium over ATG's close of $4.10 on Nasdaq. ATG shares were trading at $5.99 in early Nasdaq trading.

The acquisition, which is expected to close early next year, is the latest in a wave of dealmaking by a major technology company to diversify product portfolios -- from computing, security, storage and networking to online videoconferencing and e-commerce.

"It's a nice, safe acquisition for Oracle," said Jeff Gaggin, an Avian Securities analyst, adding that the deal will expand Oracle's retail software portfolio, which includes Retek, a retail software company it acquired in 2005.

More than 1,000 companies use ATG software to help with online customer transactions on mobile devices and in stores.

ATG creates software for customers to buy items online. Its customers include Best Buy Co Inc, AT&T and Vodafone Group Plc. It competes with Amazon.com and GSI Commerce.

ATG, which is based in Cambridge Massachusetts, had sales of $50.3 million in the third quarter of 2010, up 16 percent from $43.4 million a year earlier.

Avian Securities' Gaggin called ATG a "moderate grower" and said it was reasonable for Oracle to pay a 46 percent premium on its shares.

Oracle is in a California court on Tuesday seeking some $2 billion in damages from rival SAP AG on accusations that SAP stole its software.

Oracle shares were up 23 cents at $29.38 in Nasdaq morning trade.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker; additional reporting by Swati Chitnis in Bangalore; Editing by Derek Caney)

TechnologyDealsInflows Outflows

Shuttle launch delayed by leak repairs

2010-10-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

The shuttle Discovery, showing the location of an access panel where leaking quick-disconnect fittings had to be replaced, delaying launch on a space station resupply flight from Monday to Wednesday.(Credit: NASA)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--NASA managers decided Saturday to delay the shuttle Discovery's launch an additional day to Wednesday to give engineers enough time to complete replacement and retest of leaky quick-disconnect fittings in the ship's right-side orbital maneuvering system rocket pod.

If all goes well, Discovery's countdown will begin at 2 p.m. EDT Sunday, setting up a launch attempt at 3:52:13 p.m. Wednesday, roughly the moment Earth's rotation carries launch pad 39A into the plane of the space station's orbit. The forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather Wednesday and Thursday, improving to 80 percent "go" on Friday.

NASA Test Director Jeffrey Spaulding said engineers are "really confident" they can finish the work in time to start the countdown Sunday.

"The team has done an excellent job overnight, it's been a lot of hard work," he said. "I think they've done a great job and I look forward to getting the call to stations tomorrow" to start the countdown.

The primary goals of Discovery's 39th and final mission are to deliver a loaded cargo storage module to the International Space Station, along with a spare set of cooling system radiators that will be mounted on the lab's main power truss.

Assuming an on-time launch, Discovery would dock with the space station at 12:36 p.m. Friday. Two spacewalks are planned, on Nov. 7 and 9, with undocking on tap Nov. 12 at 5:02 a.m. and landing back at the Kennedy Space Center at 9:59 a.m. Nov. 14.

Launch had been targeted for Monday, but engineers ran into problems overnight Thursday with leaking nitrogen and helium quick-disconnect couplings used by Discovery's right-side OMS pod. The nitrogen gas is used to open and close a variety of valves, while the helium is used to pressurize propellant tanks in the rocket pod.

Engineers decided early Friday to replace the fittings, delaying the start of Discovery's countdown to Saturday and pushing launch from Monday to Tuesday.

The repair work required engineers to vent high-pressure helium tanks in the OMS pod before swapping out the couplings. The replacement work was completed early Saturday and engineers began a series of leak tests to make sure the new fittings were tight before repressurizing the helium system.

Because the tanks were fully vented for the repair work, engineers had to first carry out an intermediate repressurization, a process expected to take about six hours to complete, followed by a 16-hour procedure to bring the system up to flight pressure.

To make a Tuesday launch target, NASA had to start Discovery's countdown by 2 p.m. Saturday. But after a management review earlier Saturday, it was clear more time was needed, and the decision was made to push the launch back one more day to Wednesday.

"The plan as we knew it yesterday was to vent down the tank and replace some parts we thought were faulty on an air-half coupling on our right-hand OMS maneuvering system pod and then do some leak checks," Spaulding said. "As we went through the day, we learned there was some additional work we needed to do...from a leak check perspective and some of the venting operations that needed to be done.

"We did remove and replace the air-half coupling and the ground-half coupling that we talked about yesterday, the parts that were faulty, and we've done some initial leak checks on those and also some moisture samples. And all of those came back good."

Spaulding said engineers expect to complete the helium repressurization procedure early Sunday, well before the planned start of the countdown.

The shuttle's current launch period extends through Nov. 7. Spaulding said NASA managers planned to follow normal procedures, making two attempts in a row, if necessary, before standing down a day to give the launch team a chance to rest. Another two launch attempts then would be possible, on Nov. 6 and 7, if necessary.

"Launching on Wednesday, we still have up to and including Sunday, so that gives us...our normal four (launch attempts) in five-day capability we like to preserve," Spaulding said.

The next launch window opens Dec. 1.

MySpace Overhauls Site, Focuses on Entertainment

2010-10-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

MySpace on Wednesday unveiled a revamped site with a focus on entertainment and content rather than subscriber-driven profiles, pulling in social elements that are more akin to Twitter and Foursquare than rival Facebook.

MySpace has faced tough competition from Facebook; the News Corp.-owned site has about 100 million users compared to Facebook's 500 million. MySpace acknowledges as much with Wednesday's revamp, saying pointedly that "previously MySpace was people-focused, now the focus is content."

Though personal profiles still exist, MySpace focused much of the upgrade on content distribution – the latest updates on celebrities, bands, TV shows, and movies rather than what your high school lab partner had for breakfast or photos from that weekend BBQ.

There is a focus, however, on presenting real-time data. The new MySpace welcome page will constantly update as the latest news "bubbles up across the beta site," MySpace said. Once a user is signed in to MySpace, the site will display information based on that user's preferences.

A screen shot of the new welcome page (click below to enlarge) shows the number one TV show, artist, song, comedian, and music video across MySpace, while also incorporating emerging artists that users across the site are discovering. News articles ("11 Movies to See This Year") are mixed in with real-time suggestions ("Popular bands people are listening to") and exclusive content.

Users will have the option of three new user homepages: a traditional, list view; a grid view that's organized more like a magazine to highlight content; and a player view, which is a new TV type format focused on video.

The "Right Now" section, meanwhile, will display content that is trending on MySpace in the moment. Users can find recently added music and videos and listen or watch right in the interactive chart. A "Discovery Tab" will also incorporate videos that friends are watching with those that are popular across MySpace. From anywhere on MySpace, scroll to the top and the new Discovery Tab drops down as a horizontal film strip.

Like band or celebrity profiles on MySpace, the site will also introduce "Content Hubs," which are more comprehensive pages dedicated to movies, TV, and celebrities. They will feature information about the topic, as well as trending articles with news, videos, and photos from various content partners. Hubs focused on games, comedy, sports and fashion will be revealed in the coming months.

Content partners include MTV, the Los Angeles Times, Access Hollywood, New York Times, Village Voice, and Just Jared.

MySpace said it will enlist the help of "curators" to serve as the resident experts on certain topics and extend their reach across the site. These curators will be a "subset of [MySpace's] audience whose reputation and knowledge around particular entertainment topics and emerging cultural trends make them uniquely influential," MySpace said.

Like Foursquare, MySpace will introduce a reward system called "Reputation," where users can earn badges for their social activity around entertainment topics that appear in their news stream.

On the profile front, MySpace will include a "My Stuff" section that drops down to display different "drawers" of personal information – profile, photos, videos, and uploaded content. If someone makes someone public, it will become part of the Discovery Tab.

The company promised to release a Web-based mobile version of the revamped sight soon and release an iPhone and Android app later this year.

The new MySpace begins rolling out today in beta and will be available to all users worldwide by the end of November.

Yahoo relaunches Beta with faster Mail and Twitter client

2010-10-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yahoo on Wednesday released an overhauled version of its Yahoo Mail Beta client that it says is twice as fast as the previous version. The new version also adds features such as an integrated Twitter client, rich-media previews and a more full-featured IM client.

Yahoo says the speed boost should be especially noticeable to users outside the US with latency issues, as the new version makes use of the company's cloud computing technology. This means that if the user has an unreliable connection, the app can adjust its behaviour to keep pages from timing out or becoming unresponsive.

Aside from the speed and performance increase, which Yahoo says were the top requests from users, the company has added a robust Twitter client, which joins the existing social-sharing tools for Facebook and Yahoo. Users can post to Twitter, or to any combination of the other two services, as well as see Twitter status updates in the update stream below. Yahoo has long had a way to incorporate Twitter feeds, but now users can reply and re-tweet without leaving the page.

Latest Facebook privacy scare isn't so new

2010-10-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

If you were looking for another reason to hate FarmVille and all those other games on Facebook, today's report by the Wall Street Journal should make you happy:

Many of the most popular applications, or "apps," on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information -- in effect, providing access to people's names and, in some cases, their friends' names -- to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

But it's important to know that Facebook has been enabling this kind of open access to user information since its inception and that anyone searching for it doesn't need an app to find it.

The "identifying information" noted in the article -- your Facebook username or profile number -- is already public data in most cases. Unless you disable the "public search" feature that Facebook enables for all over-18 users, anybody can see your name and photo by typing in the right address.

And even if you have opted out of public search, any of the 500 million-plus users on Facebook can see what the Palo Alto, Calif., social network defines as public data: name, picture, gender and networks.

Facebook's adjustable default privacy settings will also let strangers see some of your friends.

(Two things to note involving corporate ties: The Wall Street Journal's owner, News Corp., owns Facebook competitor MySpace. And as you've no doubt memorized by now, Post Co. chairman Donald E. Graham sits on Facebook's board of directors, and the paper uses Facebook to market itself.)

According to posts on Facebook's developers blog and the blog of one Web firm critiqued in the WSJ piece, Rapleaf, the apps in question are gathering information through a standard Web feature called the "referer URL."

Attentive readers will recall that the same mechanism was blamed in a May WSJ story about privacy issues at Facebook and MySpace. Referers aren't a bad thing by themselves; they're a basic feature of Web links that allows sites to know which sites visitors are coming from.

In most cases, a referer (the misspelling has become common practice) doesn't say anything about who you are -- only which sites you've visited. That's not the case with Facebook profiles, as the company acknowledged in May. But sanitizing referers in a way that works in all browsers is not an easy thing -- see this lengthy explanation from the Facebook engineering blog for the grisly details.

It looks like Facebook's engineers forgot to make sure their referer-laundering works for Facebook apps, too. And, as the WSJ story notes, some companies -- such as Rapleaf -- made further use of this information:

The apps reviewed by the Journal were sending Facebook ID numbers to at least 25 advertising and data firms, several of which build profiles of Internet users by tracking their online activities.
To me, this whole episode confirms two general principles to remember when thinking about electronic privacy breaches.

1) Data will leak by accident for a variety of benign reasons: Developers used the same technique that worked before; they assumed all their users kept the default settings; they didn't factor in how older software would behave, and so on.

2) Some companies won't resist the temptation to use data they weren't supposed to see.

What can you do about those two possibilities? Know your privacy options, and use them to limit your visibility. Facebook's defaults are too liberal for my taste and should be tightened, as I recommended in June and followed up with advice about its Places check-in feature in August.

Then be picky about adding applications to your account, and note what information they request of you and what they post to your profile. A revision to Facebook's privacy interface introduced last week makes it easier to see and limit the applications' appetites for your data.

But more important, remember the fundamental bargain of any social network: You're trading some of your information for the ability to communicate easily with friends. As one commentary wisely put it: "If you think that social media exists for charitable reasons, think again."

What's your take on this news? Am I letting Facebook off easy in this case?

Nebula 'Halo' Leaves Scientists Baffled

2010-08-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

The cloud combination - or nebula - known as Ira's Ghost has been photographed by the Hubble Telescope with scientists wondering what it is that is lighting it up.

Ira's Ghost was first discovered in 1983 and is a "reflection nebula" which means it is lit up by a light source, rather than an "emission nebula" which is lit up from within.

What is puzzling the scientists is that they do not know where the light source is coming from.

They say they cannot find evidence of an external light source and therefore cannot explain why the nebula is throwing light into space.

Space enthusiasts say there should be a bright star nearby, but that is not the case.

One theory is that it could be a huge star that once travelled through the nebula at just under 125,000 mph.

The image was snapped by the Hubble as part of a "wish list" for the telescope to do when there was spare time.

As a "bonus" discovery, scientists are not too concerned about the origin - they are just delighted to have found something different.

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Solar system 'two million years older than first thought'

2010-08-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

The solar system could be almost two million years older than previously thought, scientists have discovered using evidence from one of the oldest meteorites.

The new study said the Solar System formed 4,568.2 billion years ago, which was between 300,000 and 1.9 million years earlier than previous estimates. Photo: NASA/ JPL
Researchers revised the age after analysing a mineral "relic" buried deep within the meteorite, known as an inclusion, found in the Sahara desert in northwest Africa.

These minerals, from a 1.49-kilo (3.2-pound) meteorite found in the Moroccan desert in 2004, are among the oldest solid materials formed following the birth of the Sun.

Experts said dating them could provide one of the most precise estimates of the age of the formation of the solar system.

Researchers from Arizona State University used a technique that relied on forms of lead atoms called isotopes to determine the age of this particular inclusion.

They found it formed 4.5682 billion years ago, which was between 300,000 and 1.9 million years earlier than previous estimates.

This age makes the inclusion the oldest material from the solar system that has been dated so far, according to the finding published in Nature Geoscience on Sunday.

"The age of the solar system can be defined as the time of formation of the first solid grains in the nebular disc surrounding the proto-Sun," said Dr Audrey Bouvier, a space scientist from the university's Centre for Meteorite Studies, who led the study.

"This age is estimated by dating calciumaluminium-rich inclusions in meteorites. These inclusions are considered as the earliest formed solids in the solar nebula.

"Their formation marks the beginning for several long and short-lived radiogenic clocks that are used to precisely define the timescales of Solar System events, such as the formation and evolution of planetary bodies."

She added: "From the consistently old ages in the studied inclusion, we conclude that the proto-Sun and the nebular disc formed earlier than previously thought."

Mars rover technology could improve solar power efficiency on Earth

2010-08-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Technology designed to help NASA scientists explore Mars could hold the secret to solving the world’s energy problems by improving solar power efficiency, experts claim. The devices scouring the red planet have sensors which detect dust build-ups and zap the surface of their solar panels with an electrical charge to keep them shiny

Solar panels could be kept free from dust and grime which hampers energy output using a self-cleaning system developed for NASA’s Mars rover robots.

The devices scouring the red planet have sensors which detect dust build-ups and zap the surface of their solar panels with an electrical charge to keep them shiny.

Dr Malay Mazumder, who helped create the technology for NASA, said it could help boost efficiency of large solar power plants, many of which are situated in arid and dusty desert locations.

"A dust layer of 4g per square metre decreases solar power conversion by 40 per cent," said Dr Mazumder, from Boston University.

"In Arizona, dust is deposited each month at over four times that amount. Deposition rates are even higher in Australia, the Middle East, and India."

The technology, used on the Mars rovers since they landed on the planet in 2004, involves coating the solar panel surface with electrodes of Indium tin oxide, a transparent, electrically-sensitive material.

Sensors monitor dust levels on the surface of the panel and energise the material when dust concentration reaches a critical level.

Electrodes on the panels then produce a cascading wave of electrostatic pulses, which shake off the dust leaving them clean and more energy efficient.

Dr Mazumder said the process removes about 90 per cent of dust in two minutes and uses only a small amount of the electricity generated by the panel for cleaning operations.

The research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Scientists have weight of the worlds on their shoulders

2010-08-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

Scientists will now be able to accurately measure planets such as Jupiter thanks to a new breakthrough

AS scientific problems go, it has been one of the weightiest in the solar system: how do you accurately measure a planet, its moons and any rings it may have to see how heavy they are?
Now, an Australian-led international team of scientists has found a new method of weighing planetary systems that promises to fine-tune models of the solar system and improve spacecraft flight plans.

The breakthrough will also speed up the quest for gravity waves, the ripples in space and time that Albert Einstein predicted in his 1915 general theory of relativity.

The new planetary scale uses radio signals regularly emitted by small rapidly spinning stars called pulsars to measure the weight of planetary systems.

"This is the first time anyone has weighed planetary systems: planets with their moons and rings," said team leader David Champion.

"And, we've provided an independent check on previous results, which is great for planetary science."

The new technique is to be published in an upcoming edition of the Astronomical Journal.

Until now, scientists weighed planets by measuring the orbits of their moons or of spacecraft as they flew past them and calculating the planet's gravitational pull.

According to team member and CSIRO astrophysicist George Hobbs, the new approach is more versatile than existing methods.

"It can be widely used to detect a range of objects, from planets to asteroids," he said.

One in 20 people reprimanded for inappropriate emails

2010-08-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

One in 20 people have been reprimanded at work for sending an ill-advised email, according to a survey.

Inappropriate jokes, angry messages sent in the heat of the moment, and scathing email replies forwarded to the wrong people are among some of the email gaffes that have landed office workers in hot water with their employers or clients.

One in five of those questioned said they had sent an inappropriate email in the heat of the moment, while almost a third said they had accidentally hit “reply all” instead of “reply”.

More than one in 10 of the 2,000 people surveyed admitted they had mistakenly sent an email criticising a colleague to the person they were insulting.

According to the research, carried out to mark the DVD release of Going Postal, the television adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s novel, men were more likely to make an email gaffe than women, with 28 per cent admitting to sending an ill-judged message, compared to 17 per cent of women.

There have been a number of well-documented email gaffes. Last year, a worker at Deloitte had to resign after emailing colleagues asking them to name the best-looking man in the office, while in 2000, nine members of the Financial Services Authority were suspended after forwarding copies of explicit emails allegedly sent by Claire Swire to her then-boyfriend, Bradley Chait, who worked for law firm Norton Rose.

Google: Hey, We've Got Places Too

2010-08-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

Don't forget, prospective Facebook Places users, Google offers similar features to the Facebook's new location-sharing service with Google Maps for Mobile. Just one day after Facebook announced Places, Google announced in a blog post that more than 100 million people a month are now using Google Maps on their mobile phones.

Although the search giant never mentions Facebook by name, it's awfully strange timing to send out a reminder about Google Maps for Mobile right after Facebook launched Places.

What to Do With Google Maps for Mobile

Regardless of the timing, there's no doubt you can use Google Maps for Mobile to do a lot more than you can with Facebook Places. You can use My Location to get your bearings when visiting a new city or neighborhood. Google Latitude lets you broadcast your location to your friends, and Place Pages can help you find hours of operation, reviews and other information about nearby restaurants, shops and landmarks. You can also use Google Maps on your mobile device to get voice-guided directions.

Google Feeling the Pressure?

There's no doubt Google Maps is a useful service, and with more than 100 million users every month it's clearly popular. But now Facebook is attempting to popularize location-sharing among its 500 million users in a way that services like Google Latitude, Foursquare, or Gowalla could never do. So perhaps it's wise to remind users of all the great things you can do with Google Maps for Mobile just in case Facebook Places (powered by Microsoft's Bing Maps) starts to include other features that could compete with Google Maps.

Then again, maybe it's complete chance that Google Maps for Mobile just happened to reach 100 million users per month at the same time Facebook got into the location game. Just like the time Google and Bing just happened to strike real-time search deals in the