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Nikon confident of regaining DSLR camera market share in Malaysia

2012-02-09T15:29:00.001-08:00

TOKYO: Nikon Corporation expects to regain a 50% market share of the digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera market in Malaysia this year after its flood-hit plant in Thailand is fully restored by next month.

Its DSLR camera market share in Malaysia tapered off to 40% last year after the disastrous flood waters, which ruined its components and manufacturing plant in Rojana Industrial Park, Ayutthaya, last October.

"The plant in Thailand has been put back together and only started production last month although it is not yet running at full capacity," said Nikon general manager for communications Tetsuya Morimoto.

He said by end-March, the plant would be back to normal and resume supply of DSLR camera components to all Nikon camera manufacturing plants worldwide.

In an interview with Bernama at the Nikon headquarters here, Morimoto said the floods had only affected the production of DSLR cameras and not Nikon's compact digital cameras as these were produced outside Thailand.

"As such, Nikon's market share of compact digital cameras in Malaysia was not affected in 2011, retaining 20% of its share as projected," he added.

Moving forward, Nikon launched two new DSLR camera models this year, the D-4 on Jan 6 and the D800/D800E on Feb 7.

A Nikon Malaysia official in Kuala Lumpur said the company was targeting sales of 1,000 units of the D4 and 3,000 units of the D800/D800E in the country.

Nikon also announced that it would launch in phases a new product line-up of 12 compact digital cameras of the Coolpix series to cater for all categories of users worldwide. - Bernama

Groupon disclosure, growth concerns hit stock

2012-02-09T15:28:00.004-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO: Groupon Inc shares slumped as the daily deal company's first quarterly results since it went public stoked concern about limited disclosure and slowing growth.

Groupon reported an unexpected fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday from a huge tax bill, most of which will likely not be repeated.

While the tax bill caught Wall Street's eye, analysts were more unsettled by signs that Groupon's breakneck pace of growth from recent quarters may be slowing, especially in North America, its most mature market.

Groupon also did not disclose some metrics that the company had reported in filings last year for its initial public offering, some analysts noted.

"There weren't a lot of details on metrics that Groupon provided in the past," said Aaron Kessler, an analyst at Raymond James. "There may be some frustration with this. A lack of details is never a good thing."

Groupon shares slumped 15% to US$20.90 (RM62.70) in afterhours trading following the results.

As a private company Groupon was one of the fastest-growing businesses in history. However, it was criticised for big losses, heavy marketing spending and aggressive accounting in the run-up to its IPO last year.

In early November, Groupon pulled off one of the largest Internet IPOs of the past decade, valuing the company well over US$10bil (RM30bil).

But analysts and investors are still concerned that consumers may be getting tired of the company's discount coupons and some merchants are not running more than one Groupon deal.

Growth concern

On Wednesday, Groupon reported fourth-quarter gross billings of US$1.25bil (RM3.75bil). That was up about 8% from the third quarter.

In the third quarter, gross billings jumped 25% from the previous quarter to US$1.16bil (RM3.48bil).

Gross billings is a closely watched measure of how much money Groupon collects from deals it runs, before the company shares a chunk of that cash with participating merchants.

"Billings were lighter than expected," said Ken Sena, an analyst at Evercore Partners.

Less disclosure

Kessler of Raymond James said Groupon used to break out gross billings for North America and International, but the company did not do so for the fourth quarter.

That made it difficult to gauge whether Groupon's domestic business grew more slowly than its international operations, Kessler explained.

Kessler said previous disclosures on the number of Groupon coupons sold in a quarter and the number of merchants waiting to run deals were also not reported in the fourth-quarter results.

Groupon also changed a metric it had used to report user growth, introducing a new unit called "active customers," which equals the number of users who have bought a coupon at least once in the past year.

In previous regulatory filings, Groupon had disclosed two distinct metrics: "cumulative customers" - the number of users who have used at least one coupon since the service began - and "subscribers," the total number of users who receive Groupon's e-mail messages.

A Groupon spokesman said on Wednesday that the company no longer discloses its number of subscribers.

Taxing results

Groupon said its fourth-quarter net loss attributable to common stockholders was US$42.7mil (RM128.1mil), or 8 cents (24sen) a share. That compares with a loss of US$378.6mil (RM1.14bil), or US$1.08 (RM3.24) a share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, Groupon reported a fourth-quarter loss of 2 cents (6sen) a share. Revenue was US$506.5mil (RM1.52bil), up 194% from the final quarter of 2010.

Groupon was expected to make a profit of 3 cents (9sen) a share on revenue of US$475mil (RM1.43bil) in the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Groupon paid US$35mil (RM105mil) in taxes during the quarter, for an effective tax rate of 1,600%.

That was driven by income generated in some countries outside the United States and tax provisions related to Groupon's new international headquarters in Switzerland.

"This makes us a good corporate citizen," said chief financial officer Jason Child. But he added that the company's tax rate in the future will likely be about 33%.

"One thing that stood out was the tax," said Jeff Houston, an analyst Barrington Research Associated. "That raised my eyebrows."

Such surprises may be a symptom Groupon's youth, Houston said. The Chicago-based company was started in late 2008.

"It may take another quarter or two for investors to get more confidence and get more comfortable with management," the analyst added. "The daily deal space is so new and the company is only three years old."

Pole-dancing deals

Groupon founder and chief executive Andrew Mason has defended his company vociferously against its many critics in recent months.

Plenty of analysts dialled in to hear how Mason, one of the industry's more colourful CEOs, would fare on his first earnings call, a personal milestone for the 31-year-old.

The call may have disappointed those familiar with the sight of an underwear-clad Mason doing yoga - there was a video floating on the Internet of just that last year. But the CEO still showed some of his usual sparkle.

Mason took most of the call in a flat tone as he plowed through financial results, talked up his company's growth potential and soberly laid out Groupon's plans to staff up on engineers.

Later on the call, Mason said Groupon is working on new features that will help customers personalise the offers they get and avoid coupons they don't want.

"Please stop sending us pole-dancing deals," Mason said, deadpan. "That's been a much requested feature." - Reuters

Google to pledge not to favour Motorola over rivals

2012-02-09T15:28:00.003-08:00

BRUSSELS: Google will pledge to license on fair and reasonable terms the patents it acquires through buying Motorola Mobility, said a person familiar with the matter, in a bid to allay regulatory and users' concerns.

The world No 1 Internet search engine will send a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and other global bodies with the promise, the person said.

The non-profit ETSI, which has members from 62 countries, produces standards for telephony and Internet technologies globally.

"Since we announced our agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility last August, we've heard questions about whether Motorola Mobility's standard-essential patents will continue to be licensed on FRAND (fair and reasonable) terms once we've closed this transaction. The answer is simple: They will," said a Google spokesman.

Standards-setting agencies typically require members to offer licensing access to their standards or patents on such terms.

Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt told reporters in November last year that the group would not favour US handset maker Motorola once it had completed the acquisition.

The European Commission, which acts as competition regulator in the European Union, is reviewing the deal and is scheduled to decide by Feb 13 whether to clear it.

Google unveiled the US$12.5bil (RM37.5bil) acquisition in August last year to boost its patent portfolio and compete better with mobile rivals such as Apple.

US antitrust regulators are also reviewing the acquisition. - Reuters

Kaspersky Lab sales growth slowed in 2011

2012-02-09T15:28:00.001-08:00

CANCUN (Mexico): Russia's Kaspersky Lab reported that sales growth slowed substantially last year as the world's No 4 maker of antivirus software said its business was starting to mature.

The company, co-founded by computer security expert Eugene Kaspersky, said that sales grew 14% last year. That is down from growth of 38% in the prior year.

Revenue totalled US$612mil (RM1.84bil) last year. The company declined to provide profit figures.

Chief sales and marketing officer Garry Kondakov downplayed the decline, saying that the drop was a result of the company's maturation.

"I think it is natural," he said at a press briefing here.

He said that Kaspersky Lab's sales were still growing faster than the overall antivirus market. - Reuters

Angry Birds among first Windows Store Games for launch

2012-02-09T15:27:00.001-08:00

ANGRY Birds, Hydro Thunder and Toy Soldiers will reportedly be some of the first games to feature in Microsoft's Windows Store at launch.

An unnamed source familiar with Microsoft's plans told technology blog The Verge that Microsoft will include Pinball and Solitaire pre-installed with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview version while additional games such as Reckless Racing,Hydro Thunder, Angry Birds, Toy Soldiers, Ilomilo, Rocket Riot, Full House Poker, Tentacles, Crash Course, Ms Splosion Man and Wordament will be available in the preview version of the company's Windows Store.

Slides posted on Microsoft's Window Store blog in January show Toy Soldiers priced at US$9.99 (RM30) and Cut The Rope selling for $1.49 (RM4.50). Additional games like Pinball FX 2, Wordament, and Pirates Love Daisies are marked free.

The Windows Store will initially echo Apple's App Store for Mac business model with developers receiving 70% of proceeds. Microsoft will reduce its cut of the proceeds to 20% after a developer sells US$25,000 (RM75,000) worth of an app. Apps will range from US$1.49 to US$999.99 (RM4.50 to RM3,000) and are said to work on any device powered by Windows 8.

The Verge writes that Microsoft is on track to launch the preview version of its Windows Store in late February, alongside the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and we expect to see some high profile applications to match the initial game offerings.

In December Apple announced that its Mac App Store had reached 100 million app downloads in less than a year of opening.

Microsoft's Windows Store will open in late February, coinciding with the launch of a preview version of Windows 8. - Relaxnews 2012

Ex-Motorola engineer guilty of stealing trade secrets

2012-02-09T15:26:00.002-08:00

CHICAGO: A former Motorola Inc engineer who was stopped at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in 2007 carrying thousands of the company's proprietary documents was found guilty of stealing trade secrets, but cleared of economic espionage for China.

Hanjuan Jin, a Chinese-born American, was charged with illegally possessing thousands of Motorola's trade secrets on her computer and in other forms of digital storage as she attempted to board a flight to Beijing on a one-way ticket.

Prosecutors alleged Jin, 41, intended to pass the information to the Chinese military. She was caught by federal agents during a random security search at the airport.

Jin, who joined Motorola in 1998, pleaded not guilty and waived her right to a jury trial, putting her case in the hands of US District Judge Ruben Castillo, who conducted a trial last November.

Castillo handed down a split verdict, finding Jin guilty of stealing Motorola's trade secrets but not guilty of economic espionage against the United States.

Castillo said that while federal prosecutors proved Jin had "criminally betrayed Motorola" he could not reasonably infer Jin meant to betray her adopted country.

He scheduled sentencing for April 18 and said Jin could remain free on bond until then.

"Motorola Solutions appreciates the significant efforts the government devoted to prosecuting this case and securing this verdict," the company said in a statement. "We fully cooperated with the government's investigation and are pleased with this outcome."

Motorola Inc split into Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility in January 2011. Motorola Mobility is being sold to Google. - Reuters

Romanian man charged with hacking Nasa computers

2012-02-09T15:26:00.001-08:00

LOS ANGELES: A Romanian man accused of hacking into Nasa computers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles under the online moniker "Iceman" has been indicted on a federal charge, prosecutors said.

Robert Butyka is charged with hacking into 25 Nasa computers at JPL in December 2010, causing US$500,000 (RM1.5mil) in damage and leaving researchers unable to use them for two months, US Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said.

The computers were part of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Program, which is used to support climate research and improve weather forecasting, he said. Butyka, 25, a Romanian citizen who called himself "Iceman" online, was sentenced to three years in prison in Romania last month after being convicted there on similar charges, Mrozek said.

It was not clear if Butyka was currently serving that time in Romania, but US authorities will seek his extradition to the United States to face trial, Mrozek said.

The indictment, which was handed down by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on Feb 7, charges Butyka with one count of unauthorised impairment of a protected computer.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development centre and Nasa facility that in recent years has managed the Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Cassini-Huygens probe to Saturn. - Reuters

Italian professor launches challenge to Google

2012-02-09T15:25:00.001-08:00

AN ITALIAN computer science professor, whose research helped inspire Google, launched a new search engine and social media network that he hopes will challenge the US technology giant.

The new site entitled "Volunia" allows users to view the components of particular websites to find the subject of interest more quickly and to interact with registered users who might be looking at the same webpages.

"The Web is a living place," said Massimo Marchiori, who came up with the algorithm for the Internet page ranking service HyperSearch in the 1990s and used to teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"There is information but there are also people. The social dimension is already present, it just has to emerge," he said in an online demonstration.

Marchiori said he believed the functions available on Volunia would soon become normal on all the major search engines including Google and Yahoo!

He has been working on the project for four years and has been praised by Italian commentators for giving up a more high-profile career in the United States to return to Italy, where his salary is 2,000 euros (RM7,840) a month.

Marchiori teaches at the University of Padua in northeast Italy. He has been quoted as saying that future Google founder Larry Page approached him after a conference in which he presented HyperSearch.

Page "was fascinated by it and asked if he could use it. Since it was not patented, he used it in the best possible way," Marchiori said.

Volunia, which has a US copyright, was only launched to selected users on Feb 6 and will be rolled out more widely and in 12 languages including Arabic, English, Japanese and Russian over the coming days. Organisers said they hoped to fund it by selling advertising space. - Relaxnews 2012

Hacker releases Symantec source code

2012-02-09T15:24:00.001-08:00

MOUNTAIN VIEW (California): A hacker released the source code for antivirus firm Symantec's pcAnywhere utility, raising fears that others could find security holes in the product and attempt takeovers of customer computers.

The release followed failed e-mail negotiations over a US$50,000 (RM150,000) payout to the hacker calling himself YamaTough to destroy the code.

The e-mail thread was published on Monday, but the hacker and the company said their participation had been a ruse. YamaTough said he was always going to publish the code, while Symantec said law enforcement had been directing its side of the talks.

The negotiations also might have bought Symantec time while it issued fixes to the pcAnywhere program, which allows customers to access their desktop machines from another location.

"Symantec was prepared for the code to be posted at some point and has developed and distributed a series of patches since Jany 23 to protect our users against known vulnerabilities," said company spokesman Cris Paden.

Symantec had taken the extraordinary step of asking customers to stop using the software temporarily until it readied the patches. It issued fixes for "known vulnerabilities" in version 12.5 of the software on Jan 23 and fixes for versions 12.0 and 12.1 on Jan 27.

Paden said that Symantec had contacted its customers and that it had not lost any customers. He said that if they were running up-to-date, patched versions they should not face increased risk.

Symantec also expects hackers to release other source code in their possession, 2006 versions of Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition and Norton Internet Security. "As we have already stated publicly, this is old code, and Symantec and Norton customers will not be at an increased risk as a result of any disclosure," Paden said.

The e-mail messages over the US$50,000 (RM150,000) payoff was widely circulated, with some mocking the world's largest standalone security company for its apparent attempt to buy protection.

But the company said the e-mail messages were in fact between the hacker and law enforcement officials posing as a Symantec employee.

"The communications with the person(s) attempting to extort the payment from Symantec were part of the law enforcement investigation," Paden said, adding that no money was paid.

Paden declined to name the law enforcement agency, saying it could compromise the investigation.

Symantec had previously confirmed the hacker, part of a group called Lords of Dharmaraja and affiliated with Anonymous, was in possession of source code for its products, obtained in a 2006 breach of the company's networks.

The e-mail exchange released by the hacker, who claims to be based in Mumbai, India, shows drawn-out negotiations with a purported Symantec employee starting on Jan 18.

The e-mail negotiations echoed conversations in past years, viewed by Reuters, in which police agencies directed talks between victims and hackers.

"We can't pay you US$50,000 at once for the reasons we discussed previously," said one e-mail from a purported Symantec employee Sam Thomas, who offered to pay the full amount at a later date.

"In exchange, you will make a public statement on behalf of your group that you lied about the hack."

A common tactic of the FBI and others investigating extortionists and kidnappers is to seek to break down the amount of money sought by the suspects into multiple smaller payments.

This stretches out the negotiation, giving authorities more insight into the suspect and more time in which to make an arrest. It also lessens the risk to any victim inclined to pay the entire amount demanded.

Most important, it creates more transactions, each one of which provides a trail of records and human beings that can be traced as the police seek their quarry.

The hacker said he never intended to take the money.

"We tricked them into offering us a bribe so we could humiliate them," YamaTough told Reuters.

In recent weeks, the hacker has posted segments of code for Norton Utilities and other programs. A software maker's intellectual property, specifically its source code, is its most precious asset.

Symantec's Norton Internet Security is among the most popular software available to stop viruses, spyware, and online identity theft. - Reuters

Yahoo! chairman exits, review drags on

2012-02-09T15:22:00.002-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo! Inc chairman Roy Bostock and three other directors will step down as the struggling company ploughs ahead with an internal overhaul, including discussions on dealing with its stakes in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo! Japan.

The corporation - once a web powerhouse but now agonising over a range of options to revive flagging growth - on Tuesday said it appointed former Rovi Corp CEO and IBM Corp veteran Alfred Amoroso and ex-eBay COO Maynard Webb as independent directors.

Yahoo!'s board has come under fire from investors impatient with the company's persistent inability to effect a turnaround, and frustrated with the apparent indecisiveness of stakeholders over how to handle its investments in Alibaba and other prized Asian assets.

"We have engaged with potential investors and reviewed proposals concerning an equity investment in the company, although at this time there have not been any proposals which have been deemed by the committee to be attractive to our shareholders," Bostock said in a letter to shareholders released on Tuesday.

"We are also in active discussions with our partners in Asia regarding the possibility of restructuring our holdings in Alibaba Group and Yahoo! Japan. The complexity and unique nature of these transactions is significant," the letter said.

Bostock, who joined Yahoo!'s board in 2003, was a lightning rod for Yahoo! shareholders upset about the company's fall from grace and the string of struggles that defined the company during his tenure.

Shareholders blamed Bostock, along with Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang, for turning down a rich acquisition offer by Microsoft Corp in 2008 near the height of Yahoo!'s valuation.

Yang resigned from Yahoo! last month. The 71 year-old Bostock, who also serves as vice-chairman of the board of Delta Air Lines and who fired Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz over the phone in September, announced his plans to leave Yahoo! shortly after the appointment of former PayPal president Scott Thompson to the CEO post.

Bostock will remain chairman until the company's annual meeting, expected in the next few months. Yahoo!'s new board will decide on a new chairman at the appropriate time, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Pioneer

A web pioneer, Yahoo! has seen its revenue growth stall in recent years as rivals Facebook and Google inc have increased their share of online advertising spending.

Thompson, credited with driving growth at eBay's online payments division PayPal, joins Yahoo! during a period of turmoil, as the company plows ahead with a strategic review in which discussions have included the possibility of being sold, taken private or broken up.

Many investors hope Yahoo! will sell or spin off its Asian assets, with some speculating that Thompson may focus on developing Yahoo!'s core online media business.

But one of Yahoo!'s major institutional investors described the company's efforts at striking a deal to spin off its Asian assets as "painfully slow."

While the shareholder said the departure of Bostock was "monstrously overdue," he noted that the changes to the board would not necessarily accelerate the dealmaking process or bolster his confidence in the company.

"I'm not highly confident about anything given that group, and now I don't know who the group is," said the shareholder, who wished to remain anonymous. "I have a choice of uncertainty or almost a certainty that they'll make a bad decision. It's like the lesser of two evils."

Bostock and fellow board members Vyomesh Joshi, Gary Wilson and Arthur Kern will not stand for re-election at the next shareholders' meeting, Bostock said in Tuesday's letter.

The changes come a few weeks before dissident shareholders can nominate rival directors to Yahoo!'s board. In November, activist hedge fund manager and Yahoo! shareholder Dan Loeb, of Third Point LLC, called for Bostock and Yang to resign from the board and demanded the right to appoint two of his own directors to the board.

Third Point did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shares of Yahoo! were up one penny at $15.83 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

"A lot of this change was expected. That's why you're not seeing as big a reaction to the stock," said Herman Leung, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group. "Most investors are getting a little numb on the corporate governance that's going on. At this point it's either get your head down and focus on the business or get something sold," he said.

Under a "cash rich split" plan being discussed, Yahoo! would effectively transfer most of its 40% slice of Alibaba back to the Chinese company and all of its stake in Yahoo! Japan to Softbank Corp in return for cash and assets, sources have told Reuters.

Yahoo! had also entertained separate proposals from private equity firms TPG and Silver Lake about minority investments in the company, but those offers fell short of Yahoo!'s expectations.

"Those talks are pretty much done," said a person familiar with the matter.

The person added that Yahoo! had not received any offers to purchase the entire company in the five months since it undertook a broad "strategic review" of its business. - Reuters

IMDB 'Jane Doe' case gets a court date

2012-02-09T15:22:00.001-08:00

LOS ANGELES: Junie Hoang, the actress suing the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) for revealing her age, will see her day - and perhaps two days - in court next year.

Court papers have set a Jan 7, 2013 court date for the trial. The filing indicates that the trial is expected to last one or two days.

Discovery on the trial must be completed by Aug 10, this year.

Hoang - who was born Huong Hoang but works under the stage name "Junie" - is seeking US$1mil (RM3mil) from IMDB and its parent company, Amazon.

She claims that the publication of her age - which she says IMDB obtained when she used her credit card to sign up for the site's subscription service IMDB Pro - has damaged her career prospects.

"In the entertainment industry, youth is king," the suit - filed in October 2011 - reads. "If one is perceived to be 'over-the-hill,' i.e. approaching 40, it is nearly impossible for an up-and-coming actress, such as the plaintiff, to get work."

Hoang initially filed her lawsuit anonymously, but in December the judge in the case ordered her to reveal her name if she wanted the suit to continue.

The actress, whose credits include 1000 Ways to Die and I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant, filed an amended complaint containing her name in January.

In their subsequent motion to dismiss, IMDB and Amazon called Hoang "selfish" and accused her of attempting to perpetrate a fraud by trying to conceal her true age.

The case has set off a robust debate about ageism in Hollywood, with many supporting Hoang's cause. The Screen Actors Guild issued a statement of support for the actress after she revealed her name.

"An actor's job is to portray someone else," SAG said. "When personal information, like a birthdate, is used to limit who an actor can portray, creativity is harmed, and the actor is harmed." - TheWrap.com/Reuters

Renesas, Fujitsu, Panasonic in talks to merge system chip ops

2012-02-09T15:21:00.004-08:00

TOKYO: Renesas Electronics Corp, Fujitsu Ltd and Panasonic Corp are in talks to merge their chip operations, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The three firms are considering spinning off their system chip design and development divisions, with production to be transferred to California-based Globalfoundries Inc, which is planning to set up a company in Japan, the sources said.

The government-backed investment fund Innovation Network Corp is likely to be involved in the project, according to the sources.

The Nikkei newspaper has also reported that Elpida Memory Inc officials and Globalfoundries would meet this week to discuss a possible sale of Elpida's Hiroshima factory.

Elpida said in a statement that the report on the sale of the Hiroshima plant was incorrect, but did not specify what element of the report was wrong. - Reuters

Halliburton to abandon BlackBerry for iPhone

2012-02-09T15:21:00.003-08:00

TORONTO: Oil field services company Halliburton plans to stop issuing BlackBerry smartphones to employees and switch over to Apple's iPhone, which it said was better suited to its needs, marking another setback for Research In Motion (RIM).

RIM's BlackBerry smartphones have long dominated corporate mobile communications with on-the-hip e-mail and security credentials, but are increasingly challenged by Apple products and smartphones running Google's Android software.

"We are making this transition in order to better support our mobile applications initiatives," spokesman Tara Mullee Agard said in an e-mail on Tuesday.

The Houston-based company will switch 4,500 BlackBerry-toting employees across to iPhones over the next two years, Mullee Agard said, adding that Halliburton would supply the devices. Apple is helping with the transition, she said.

Even before a major RIM outage last October left many workers without e-mail on their BlackBerry, companies had been considering alternatives.

Last year, Credit Suisse started allowing bankers to use their Apple and Android devices on the company network - one-third of its 25,000 BlackBerry users have switched.

Barclays Capital also allows some employees to use iPhones and iPads. Standard Chartered switched from BlackBerry to iPhones for many users last year.

Companies that had previously supplied workers with a BlackBerry and paid RIM a monthly service fee can save by encouraging use of personal devices.

Yet while many large corporation say they are testing how the iPhone and other devices can handle their e-mail and other corporate data, it is unclear how many will ultimately abandon the BlackBerry entirely.

RIM has nevertheless recognised the threat and in November announced it would offer security features for iPhone and Android from within its existing BlackBerry service for corporations. - Reuters

RIM tells European developers it's 'ready to compete'

2012-02-09T15:21:00.001-08:00

AMSTERDAM: Next-generation software for BlackBerry's smartphones is "ready to compete," Research In Motion's new chief executive, Thorsten Heins, told more than 2,000 technical developers, expressing confidence in RIM's long-term future.

The Canadian company has lost market share and market value after being comprehensively outplayed by technology giants Apple, Google and Samsung.

But it is betting that yet-to-be-released products powered by its new QNX operating system will improve its image after a year of product delays, the botched launch of its PlayBook Tablet and a shareholder revolt.

"The smartphone market is still young, and there are huge opportunities for us, both with consumers and business," Heins said.

In his first formal speech since he became CEO on Jan 23 after RIM's former co-chiefs bowed to investor pressure and resigned, Heins told a packed Amsterdam conference of BlackBerry developers on Tuesday that he would listen to them, that RIM would continue to innovate, and that the new QNX-based operating system would kick off its next technology growth curve.

He also said he was thrilled to take the reins at RIM and believed the new technology used in BlackBerry 10 devices, which are promised for later this year, will set the standard for a "new user paradigm" for use in the home, cars, Tablets and in smartphones.

The Canadian firm was holding its first European developers meeting, with 2,000 attendees focused on making applications for the latest and future BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook Tablet, which RIM had hoped would compete with Apple's iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab models.

"It's taking a little while for BlackBerry to fully transition to the new QNX-based operating system, but once it is ready to go, it will provide an exciting experience for consumers and will only get better as it's a powerful technical platform to build upon for the next decade of mobile," said Kevin Michaluk, founder of enthusiast website CrackBerry.com and a conference participant.

"Apple's iOS is well-developed, but it is actually now the oldest mobile operating system, older than Android, webOS, Windows Phone, while BlackBerry 10 is now the newest mobile platform," he said.

RIM said in December that it is delaying the launch of phones based on BlackBerry 10 until the later part of 2012 as it is awaiting the availability of a high-powered chip.

Heins didn't tell the developers on Tuesday exactly when the new phones would hit the market, but reiterated that they would be out "later in the year". A long-awaited software update for the PlayBook is still due before the end of February.

Heins cited market research from GfK that the Blackberry is the No 1 smartphone in Britain, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and the Netherlands and that two billion BlackBerry apps had been downloaded from RIM's App World. Six million BlackBerry apps are downloaded every day, he said.

"Those stats were really exciting, and with all the recent negative publicity, this data put things into context, and actually BlackBerry is doing well in the app space," said Ryan Hall, an app developer and director at Nice Agency in London. - Reuters

China's Huawei outmuscles Swedish rival

2012-02-09T15:20:00.001-08:00

HONG KONG: When Huawei Technologies posts its annual results in April, they will likely show the unlisted Chinese firm has overtaken Sweden's Ericsson as the world's top-selling telecoms equipment maker.

As with solar panel maker Suntech Power, another Chinese manufacturer that is a world beater yet little known beyond the Great Wall, it's been a rapid rise to the summit.

And, as the pace of global spending on telecoms equipment slows - on the switches, hubs and base stations that connect networks - Huawei has been building serious growth in new areas such as smartphones and its MediaPad Tablet PC.

Globally, Huawei already ranks sixth in mobile phone sales.

Privately-owned Huawei was founded in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen by CEO Ren Zhengfei just 25 years ago, after he left the People's Liberation Army as part of a scaling down of the world's largest military force.

Now 68, Ren, who was named the fifth most powerful Asian executive by Fortune magazine last year, was involved in military technology development for the PLA before setting up Huawei with just 20,000 yuan (RM9,600).

Annual sales are forecast at around 200bil yuan (RM96bil), around two-thirds of which are from telecoms gear, putting it ahead of Ericsson's 2011 network sales of US$19.8bil (RM59.4bil).

Ericsson, which has a market value of more than US$31bil (RM93bil), has led the mobile telecom equipment market for at least the past decade.

Gear growth slows

Global spending on telecoms equipment is forecast to grow 6.9% this year to US$444bil (RM1.33 trillion), slower than last year's 7.7% growth, dented by Europe's debt crisis and the generally weak economy that has checked spending in the IT sector, according to IT research firm Gartner.

Ovum, a British research firm, sees a similar trend, with growth in telecom operators' spending slowing to 5.5% in 2012 from 12.2% last year.

About two thirds of Huawei's revenues come from selling telecoms gear - where it also competes against Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH, Alcatel Lucent and ZTE, another Chinese firm.

As well as consumer gadgets, Huawei has pushed aggressively into selling routers and switches to corporations in the so-called enterprise sector, a growing US$35bil (RM105bil) market dominated by Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard.

"There's a lot of price pressure now (from the Chinese firms) and this is going be tough for Ericsson," said Bill Rojas, an analyst at research firm IDC.

Some analysts, however, say Huawei needs to build strong channel partners - distributors and systems integrators - over the next three to five years if it's to compete in the enterprise sector.

"The market is wide open, this is anybody's game," said Matt Walker, an analyst at Ovum, referring to the telecoms market. "I know some observers will see a conservative growth outlook, think it means a tight price climate, and conclude that this favors Chinese vendors. I don't see this."

"Huawei and ZTE are positioned well in both these markets, but so are others," he said. "Services may be a big part of it."

Ren's background with the Chinese military has often been cited as hindering Huawei's progress in telecoms technology in North America, though the company has repeatedly denied having links with the armed forces.

Last year, Huawei backed away from buying US server technology company 3Leaf's assets, bowing to pressure from a US Government panel, and in 2008, it gave up on a bid for US networking equipment company 3Com.

In 2010, some Republican lawmakers raised national security concerns about Huawei's bid to supply mobile telecoms equipment to Sprint Nextel Corp.

Gear to gadgets

The real future growth driver for Huawei, and ZTE, also based in Shenzhen, is likely to be in red-hot consumer gadget markets, helping take up some of the slack in telecoms.

Huawei's consumer devices - dongles, mobile phones and Tablets - now bring in almost a fifth of its revenues and these sales are powering ahead at 40%, the company said last month, twice the growth seen in 2010.

Huawei had sales of US$6.8bil (RM20.4bil) in its consumer business last year, and is moving up the value chain by selling more of its feature-filled IDEOS and Vision smartphones.

A key advantage here is price.

Huawei's new Ascend smartphone sells at around US$400 (RM1,200), much cheaper than the most basic Apple iPhone 4S, which costs around US$650 (RM1,950) in Hong Kong stores. The phones are increasingly available at stores in glitzy Chinese malls and have featured at a Milan fashion show.

"Chinese users prefer mid-range smartphones as they are more affordable than the expensive high-end ones, and have a much better user experience than low-end phones," microblogger Hu Yang wrote on Sina Weibo.

"Let's hope Huawei introduces more such mid-range smartphones in the future, (though) I hope Huawei improves its software capabilities in smartphones as mine still has some bugs that aren't resolved."

As sales grow rapidly, Huawei hopes margins won't be compromised.

Its overall gross profit margin rose to 41.9% in 2010, from 39.6%, while, at Ericsson, gross profit margin declined to 35.1% last year from 38.2% in 2010.

"We are trying to have a strategy that doesn't revolve around price," said a Huawei executive, who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

"Over the last two to three years, we have been focusing more on value, like customisation, support and systems integration."

Other new growth areas Huawei is looking at include fourth generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE), an upgrade from 3G technology that promises faster data downloads.

"Huawei is very competitive in LTE products. They're going to take away more market share," said IDC's Rojas.

Huawei has clinched more than three dozen fourth generation LTE contracts globally with major operators such as Japan's Softbank Corp, and sees sales of LTE equipment doubling next year, a senior executive said in November.

The Chinese firm, which employs more than 110,000 staff worldwide, has been offering solutions to operators that will help ease network migration with its singleRAN (radio access network) technology.

As part of a branding and image drive, Huawei also bid, unsuccessfully, to set up a phone network in London's Underground during this year's Olympic Games.

Huawei's Asian base, particularly in its home market, may also prove beneficial, both for its telecoms gear business and device sales.

"The good thing is that Asia still needs to catch up with network deployment. The demand is there," said another Huawei executive, who also asked not to be named.

"It may not be the same growth rate as before, but it's still quite significant compared to other parts of the world." - Reuters

Megaupload founder refused bail in New Zealand

2012-02-09T15:19:00.002-08:00

WELLINGTON: A New Zealand court refused an appeal by the founder of online filesharing site Megaupload.com to be freed on bail on Friday, agreeing with prosecutors there was a risk he would attempt to flee before an extradition hearing.

Kim Dotcom, a German national also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, was returned to custody until Feb 22 ahead of a hearing on an extradition application by the United States.

Prosecutors say Dotcom was the leader of a group that netted US$175mil (RM525mil) since 2005 by copying and distributing music, movies and other copyrighted content without authorisation.

Dotcom's lawyers say the company simply offered online storage and that he strenuously denies the charges and will fight extradition.

Dotcom, 38, and three others were arrested on Jan 20 after armed New Zealand police raided his country estate at the request of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He told the court that, with his assets frozen and business shut down, he had no intention of trying to flee to his native Germany, where he would be safe from extradition.

"I will not run away. I want to fight these allegations on a level playing field. I have three little children. My wife is pregnant with twins. I just want to be with them," he said in court.

The prosecution again painted Dotcom as an extreme flight risk because he has had multiple passports, sources of funds, and access to various means of travel.

It also said he had a previous history of trying to evade arrest, when he allegedly fled to Thailand from Germany to dodge insider trading charges.

The United States is expected to file its extradition application within the next few weeks. - Reuters

No 'Facebook fatigue' for longtime users

2012-02-09T15:19:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON: So much for "Facebook fatigue." A survey shows that people who have used the social networking site over a long period - since its founding in 2004, say - show no sign that they are tired of posting pictures, updating weekend plans or just relaying random thoughts.

The Pew Research Center report, based on a US phone survey, logs and data from November 2010, sheds light on Facebook's possible long-term popularity as the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg heads for a US$5bil (RM15bil) initial public offering.

Ahead of the IPO, one concern about Facebook has been that users will simply bore of it after a while, a phenomenon known as "Facebook fatigue." The Pew research suggests those worries may be unfounded.

The longer that people have used Facebook site, the more frequently they hit the "Like" button, commented on friends' content, posted status updates and tagged their friends in photos, the report showed.

It also concluded that having more Facebook friends kept users more involved with the social networking site.

"The more Facebook friends users have, the more they perform every activity that we explored: Friending, liking, private messages, commenting, posting, photo tagging, joining groups and poking," Pew said regarding the survey by its Internet & American Life project.

Facebook users on average can reach 156,569 other network users through friends of friends. The number is skewed by Facebook users with especially large friend lists, and the median is 31,170 people reached through friends of friends.

"This examination of people's activities in a very new realm affirms one of the oldest truths about the value of friendship," said Lee Rainie, head of Pew's Internet project. "Those who are socially active have a better shot at getting the help and emotional help they need."

The survey was based on a phone survey of 2,255 US adults that was conducted in November 2010. Respondents were asked to share logs of their Facebook activity, and about 269 respondents let Facebook release data on their use.

Facebook says it has 845 million active users today. - Reuters

Lenovo IdeaCentre B520 : Lenovo has a new IdeaCentre

2012-02-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

AS PART of its 2012 line-up, Lenovo has launched the IdeaCentre B520, the company's most powerful All-In-One (AIO) PC to date.

Aimed at those seeking high-performance gaming and family entertainment machines, the B520 has a frameless design with a 23in full HD display with optional nVidia 3D Vision solution.

Housing a second-generation Intel Core i7-2600 (3.4 GHz) processor, it also features 4GB memory, 500GB hard disk drive, 2GB nVidia GeForce GTI 55M graphics chip and DVD burner.

In addition, the PC boasts SRS Premium Sound audio enhancement and an optional 3-in-1 mouse with motion-drive gaming and air-mouse functionality. The B520 is available now for RM4,199 and RM5,299 (with 3D Screen).

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www.lenovo.com

Fujifilm DSLR X-S1 : Superzoom camera from Fuji

2012-02-09T15:16:00.000-08:00

Fujifilm's latest entry into the bridge camera market is the X-S1, a camera which the company claims has a high-quality look and feel, with metal dials and a rubberised coating that makes it more like a premium DSLR.

However, the major feature of the X-S1 is the Fujinon 26x optical zoom lens, which has a whopping range of 24-624mm (35mm equivalent) and maximum aperture of f/2.8 at the wide-angle end.

The zoom range can further be extended with Fuji's Intelligent Digital Zoom which will double the entire zoom range to 24-1248mm.

The camera has all the usual shooting modes (Program, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority and Manual) as well as full auto modes that can inteligently switch the sensor to get more dynamic range or better low-light capability.

The X-S1 uses a 2/3in, 12-megapixel EXR CMOS sensor, has a 3in tiltable LCD as well as a electronic viewfinder with a resolution of 1.44 million dots.

The ISO range of the camera is between 100 to 3,200 and can be pushed up to 12,800 although in this mode you can only shoot small JPEG images.

The X-S1 has a recommended retail price of RM2,988 and comes with a free 8GB SD card and softcase.

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www.fujifilm.com.my

A pocketable mouse

2012-02-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

FOR frequent travellers, it's all about size and weight - the smaller and lighter, the better.

In view of this, Logitech has a pocket-sized model called the Wireless Mini Mouse M187 which is designed to be extra small but yet still comfortable to use as a mouse.

The mouse is wireless and comes in a number of colours to suit your style and laptop. The price is also nearly as tiny as the mouse, with a suggested retail price of just RM49.

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www.logitech.com

TOSHIBA Portege Z830 Specification

2012-02-08T15:30:00.000-08:00

Specification:

-Intel Core 2 Generation Processor,
-Weight 1.12 kg,
-15.9 milimeter (mm),
-RAM DDR3 ultra-Speed.
-EasyGuard Toshiba Technology,
-port VGA, HDMI
-USB Port, Including 1 USB 3.0 Port,
-Bluetooth,
-WLAN.

www.toshiba-asia.com.

Acer Aspire S3 / S5 : Timeline goes Ultra

2012-02-07T15:24:00.001-08:00

ACER has unveiled a slimmer and lighter Timeline model called the Ultra. Measuring just 20mm thin, the notebook doesn't sacrifice size for battery life as it still promises eight hours of operation on a single charge.

It will be powered by the latest Intel Core i processor and will have a dedicated graphics chip for intensive 3D gaming though the company did not disclose the exact specifications.

The notebook is also expected to have a slim DVD drive, professionally-tuned Dolby Home Theater v4 surround sound speakers, HDMI out and USB 3.0 ports.

As with its predecessors, the Ultra will also have an Instant On capability that will allow the notebook to spring back to life from standby in just 1.5 seconds.

Users will have a choice of two sizes - 14in or 15in.

Acer expects the Ultra to ship sometime this quarter and the price has yet to be announced.

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www.acer.com.my

Hacked companies still not telling investors

2012-02-07T15:23:00.001-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO: At least a half-dozen major US companies whose computers have been infiltrated by cyber criminals or international spies have not admitted to the incidents despite new guidance from securities regulators urging such disclosures.

Top US cybersecurity officials believe corporate hacking is widespread, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a lengthy "guidance" document on Oct 13 outlining how and when publicly traded companies should report hacking incidents and cybersecurity risk.

But with one full quarter having elapsed since the SEC request, some major companies that are known to have had significant digital security breaches have said nothing about the incidents in their regulatory filings.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp, for example, said last May that it had fended off a "significant and tenacious" cyber attack on its networks. But Lockheed's most recent 10-Q quarterly filing, like its filing for the period that included the attack, does not even list hacking as a generic risk, let alone state that it has been targeted.

A Reuters review of more than 2,000 filings since the SEC guidance found some companies, including Internet infrastructure company VeriSign Inc and credit card and debit card transaction processor VeriFone Systems Inc, revealed significant new information about hacking incidents.

Yet the vast majority of companies addressing the issue only used new boilerplate language to describe a general risk. Some hacking victims did not even do that.

"It's completely confusing to me why companies aren't reporting cyberrisks" if only to avoid SEC enforcement or private lawsuits, said Jacob Olcott, former counsel for the Senate Commerce committee. The chair of that committee, John D. Rockefeller, urged the SEC to act last year.

Stewart Baker, a corporate attorney and former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said the SEC guidance was detailed enough that companies that know they have been hacked will "have to work pretty hard not to disclose something about the scope and risk of the intrusion."

Otherwise, "this is an opportunity for enforcement that practically hands the case to the SEC on a platter," Baker said.

Lockheed spokesman Chris Williams said hacking was covered under the company's most recent annual securities filing, which has as one of many risk factors "security threats, including threats to our information technology infrastructure, attempts to gain access to our proprietary or classified information, threats to physical security of our facilities and employees, and terrorist acts."

Williams said the May attack had "no material effect on our business."

Mantech International Corp, CACI International Inc and other defence and technology firms that have been reported by security researchers as hacking victims were likewise silent in their most recent filings. Neither Mantech nor CACI responded to interview requests.

"It's common knowledge" that most large defense contractors have been penetrated, said Olcott.

Sikorsky Aircraft, mindful of a strict New Hampshire law warning individuals at risk of identity theft, wrote to that state's attorney general in August that hackers had gotten into its system and could have accessed Social Security numbers of 55 employees who lived in the state.

Sikorsky said the employee data likely was not the hackers' target, which suggests that they might have been after designs or other trade secrets. But Sikorsky parent United Technologies Corp did not mention the May intrusion in subsequent SEC filings.

"Like other companies, our businesses are subject to (information technology) security attacks at times. We monitor systems and co-operate closely with the government when appropriate," said United Technologies spokesman John Moran.

Dearth of confessions

Melissa Hathaway, a former intelligence official who led US President Barack Obama's initial cybersecurity policy review and helped push the SEC to enact a disclosure policy, said she was "surprised" at the dearth of new confessions.

"The SEC division of corporate finance has an obligation to ask these companies why they didn't disclose," she said. "We need to have transparency on the state of the situation, and we need to have a national conversation regarding the near-term impact of economic espionage and the long-term health of the nation."

The SEC declined to comment. The agency's guidance officially clarifies previous policy instead of establishing a new rule, a process that takes longer and requires a vote of the commissioners. A person close to the agency said it expects fuller disclosures in annual 10-K filings that will begin appearing in volume this month.

Cybersecurity has been an increasing concern in Washington, and Obama asked during his State of the Union speech for action on legislative proposals. Security experts believe hackers are frequently targeting valuable digital information including strategic plans, blueprints and secret formulas.

But security experts in and out of government have complained for years that most companies don't disclose even very successful hacking attacks, because they never find out about them or simply don't want to spook investors, customers or business partners.

The US National Counterintelligence Executive, in a landmark November report that openly accused China of sponsoring military and economic cyber espionage, said that it is hard for companies to estimate the impact of losses that might not be apparent for years.

One Pentagon contractor that did go into some detail recently about the threat was Northrop Grumman Corp, which warned: "Cybersecurity attacks in particular are evolving and include, but are not limited to, malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data, and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in mission critical systems, unauthorised release of confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data.

"These events could damage our reputation and lead to financial losses from remedial actions, loss of business or potential liability."

A few technology companies gave even more specific warnings, including Juniper Networks Inc, which makes gear for routing Internet traffic, and chipmaker Intel Corp. Intel had been one of the few to disclose a successful breach in the past, along with Google Inc, which has complained of attacks originating in China.

In a November filing, Intel repeated that hackers had gotten inside and warned that "the theft or unauthorised use or publication of our trade secrets and other confidential business information as a result of such an incident could adversely affect our competitive position and reduce marketplace acceptance of our products."

Some companies asserted that they had not been hacked, or at least averred that they had not been subject to a "material" or "catastrophic" intrusion.

Others confessed to breaches for the first time, including VeriSign and VeriFone Systems, which said it had experienced "security breaches or fraudulent activities related to unauthorised access to sensitive customer information."

The company did not respond to requests for elaboration. Point-of-sale terminals including VeriFone's models are popular targets for criminal hackers, who can tamper with them in order to record passwords and card numbers.

VeriFone has been reported as a supplier of machines to Michaels Stores Inc, a retail chain of hobbyist stores that had to replace more than 7,000 terminals last year after discovering tampering in 20 states.

Two other companies said they disclosed breaches because of the SEC guidance. Tumi Holdings, the luggage maker that is pursuing an initial public offering, said in a stock prospectus that security systems in some of its retail stores had been compromised in the past.

In an interview, Tumi chief financial officer Michael Mardy said there had been no theft of a database or other massive breach. Instead, he said there had been occasions where store employees had conspired with outsiders on a small scale, for example by giving refunds to people who had not made purchases.

"We felt it was necessary to list as a risk factor because it actually is a risk factor," Mardy said.

University of Phoenix parent Apollo Group Inc, which in the past had noted attempted breaches, for the first time said some attempts had succeeded.

"We are facing an increasing number of threats to our computer systems of unauthorised access, computer hackers, computer viruses, malicious code, organised cyberattacks and other system disruptions and security breaches, and from time to time we experience such disruptions and breaches," it wrote in a 10-Q.

Apollo spokesman Rick Castellano declined to say how extensive the breaches had been. "Cybersecurity is an area of growing area of concern for all companies", Castellano said. "We devote significant resources to manage any potential threat." - Reuters

They're not Facebook, but social media stocks run up anyway

2012-02-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK: The hype over Facebook's initial public offering has excited investors revisiting other social media companies, even though most of those stocks have plunged since the fanfare of their own IPOs.

Trading volume and options activity in stocks like Renren Inc, often called "the Facebook of China" and Quepasa Corp, a social media technology company focused on Latin audiences, have soared since the IPO news of the world's largest social network on Friday.

Neither company has the reach of Mark Zuckerberg's massively successful Facebook, but being in a similar business has been enough to bring investors looking to profit on quick trades.

Analysts warn that these other social media companies face significant headwinds and the sudden interest in related companies could hurt investors later.

"It's like the bright light on a hot summer night, attracting all the bugs," said James Dailey, who manages US$215mil (RM645mil) at Team Financial Management LLC in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Dailey does not own these stocks.

Facebook Inc filed for an initial public offering on Wednesday that could value the social network between US$75bil and US$100bil (RM225bil and RM300bil), putting the company on track for one of the biggest US stock-market debuts of all time.

The action in social media stocks of late may be instructive more in terms of the kind of frenzy that will erupt when Facebook actually starts trading, rather than a changed belief in the fundamentals of the other companies.

"Facebook will dwarf the combined capitalisation of these names. Nonetheless, watching the demand for, and pricing of, out of the money calls in these names may be a proxy for the reception Facebook receives as it approaches listing," said Ralph Edwards, director of derivatives strategy at ITG Inc.

Quepasa, with a market capitalisation of just US$150mil (RM450mil), is up 20% since Friday to US$4.40 (RM13.20), after rising as much as 33% on the day of the news. Trading volume topped 354,624 shares the following Monday, a five-fold jump from its daily average of about 63,922 in the past 25 days.

Similarly, Renren shares are up about 31% since Friday, lately trading at US$5.47 (RM16.41). Trading volume surged to as much as 4.2 million shares earlier this week, compared to a daily average of 744,062 in the past 25 days.

Renren has lost 70% in stock value since its public trading debut on May 4. The company has a market capitalisation of US$2.2bil (RM6.6bil).

"The speculative juice is ramping up, but I think investors are getting ahead of themselves," Dailey said.

LinkedIn Corp shares have also gained 6% since Friday, trading at US$76.81 (RM230.43). The stock is down about 19% from its NYSE debut on May 19.

Options get expensive

In the options market, the value of calls - contracts that give the investor the right to buy shares at a fixed price any time up until expiration - in Quepasa, Renren and other more well-known names like LinkedIn have become pricey.

In Quepasa, premiums in May US$5 (RM15) calls, one of the most actively traded options in the name over the past few days, rose as high as US$1.10 (RM3.30) a contract earlier in the week, compared to about 20 cents (60sen) leading up to the Facebook IPO news, according to Interactive Brokers Group options analyst Caitlin Duffy. They stood at around 65 cents (RM1.95) on Wednesday.

In Renren, premiums on actively traded Feb US$6 (RM18) calls rose as high as US$1.15 (RM3.45) on Tuesday, after trading at just 5-10 cents (15-30sen) prior to the news. That's a hefty profit for an investor that bought calls at the cheap price and sold later at the higher value. The premium was at 30 cents (90sen) on Wednesday.

Calls in Zynga Inc, which is about four times Renren in market capitalisation, were also popular. On Monday, Zynga option volume was 2.5 times the average daily levels with 8,702 calls and 7,068 puts traded, Trade Alert said.

Zynga has been rallying of late because Facebook derives 12% of its revenue from the company.

Both Renren and Quepasa are viewed as companies highly susceptible to a short squeeze, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.

"Although they are in a hot sector, it is hard to see how either of these stocks would benefit significantly from the Facebook IPO. Also, the fundamentals of these individual companies provide significant headwinds," said TD Ameritrade chief derivatives strategist J.J. Kinahan.

As of Wednesday's close, options volume on Renren was 2.7 times the average daily level with about 20,000 calls and 9,249 puts traded, data from options analytics Trade Alert showed.

In Quepasa, 837 calls and 201 puts changed hands on Wednesday. Quepasa is typically a thinly traded options name, averaging 471 calls and 82 puts per day, figures from Trade Alert showed.

"This (Quepasa) is not a stock that I look at everyday. I've never seen the volume surge like this before, and this will probably be the only time," Duffy said. - Reuters

Samsung Galaxy S Advance : Specification

2012-02-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

Specification:

-Android 2.3 Gingerbread,
-1GHz dual-core processor with 768MB RAM
-4.0-inch Super AMOLED display,
-800×480 pixel resolution,
-5MP rear camera with LED flash,
-720p video recording,
-1.3MP front camera,
-8GB/16GB Internal Storage
-MicroSD card slot (Up to 32GB)
-1,500mAh Lit-Ion Battery