Tech News

BSNL Teams Up With Microsoft, Launches Managed Business Mail

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:26:00 +0000

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has entered into a long-term partnership with Microsoft to launch BSNL Managed SaaS (Software as a Service) in India. This partnership will enable BSNL to offer hosted solutions on core productivity, collaboration and line of business applications to business customers. BSNL has also launched BSNL Managed Business Mail today – the first offer resulting from this partnership.

Based on Microsoft Exchange platform, BSNL Managed Business Mail moves beyond conventional e-mail options to empower businesses with tools to increase productivity, mobility and collaboration at an affordable monthly fee. This will provide a range of services for businesses across enterprise, SMBs and public sector segments to enhance communication coordination by enabling them to share e-mail messages, contacts, calendars, task lists and documents from any device (PC or mobile phone).

The partnership and launch marks BSNL's foray into managed business solutions based on the SaaS model. Since this service will be delivered via the Internet, users will save on upfront costs related to hardware, licences and installation for their IT infrastructure. Business owners will also be able to focus on their core business tasks – without any disruptions and distractions pertaining to IT headaches like security patches, software updates, monitoring and backups. In turn, this will eliminate need for in-house IT management manpower.

Commented Kuldeep Goyal, chairman and managing director, BSNL, "We are proud to announce a long-term partnership with Microsoft India to offer a wide range of managed services based on the SaaS model and are confident of the value that this will deliver to our customers. We are equally proud to launch BSNL Managed Business Mail as our first SaaS-based managed service and the first under this partnership. Managed Business Mail is an innovative messaging and collaboration service for Indian businesses that will provide enterprises and SMBs with rich enterprise-class e-mail applications that deliver 24X7 access and significant productivity benefits – all at an affordable price."

BSNL Managed Business Mail will be available in four editions at affordable prices starting from Rs 420 per month.

"The unique feature of BSNL's Managed Business Mail will be its availability from the mobile platform. This implies that the service will be accessible on smartphones of any service provider. This unique facility will seamlessly extend the best in class experience benefits of the service to end consumers on the move," added Goyal.

Commenting on the partnership, Rajan Anandan, managing director, Microsoft India, said, "Customers find value in a combination of software plus services delivered via the Internet, thus making owning and managing IT more affordable and convenient. We believe that BSNL's foray into the S+S model will provide ample value to businesses looking to leverage technology to maximize productivity while ensuring lower spends - especially in today's cost controlled environment. We are excited about our partnership with BSNL for their managed services business and look forward to further strengthening our association."

"We believe that Microsoft Hosted Exchange is a compelling proposition that will help us deliver more choice, flexibility and affordability for customers. We shall continue to work closely with Microsoft India in the near future to bring a wider range of hosted applications to the market," added Goyal.

Thing Labs to Launch New Twitter App In Coming Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Jason Shellen, founder of Thing Labs, the startup formerly known as Plinky, is keeping details about its new social media product tightly under wraps — except to say that initially it will only work in conjunction with Twitter. While other application developers focus their attention on multiple social network sites, Thing Labs decided to develop its latest application for the API friends and fellow ex-Googlers Biz Stone and Evan Williams created.

Thing Labs is primarily familiar with the Twitter API via the friendships of Shellen and VP of Technology Chris Wetherell with Stone and Williams, so it seemed natural to start building its new application on that platform first. Wetherell, a former senior software engineer at Google, even spent a few months working on projects at Twitter after he left the search giant earlier this year.

"Chris and I have been using Twitter for about three years now — we were in the first group of users." Shellen said. "We're big fans and believers in Twitter as a platform and it's a great place to invest our time."

The upcoming release of this new social media product — which is expected to launch in a few weeks — was also the impetus behind Thing Labs' name change. Shellen's startup was originally named after its first social media product, Plinky. Launched six months ago, Plinky is a web application that prompts users to answer a question — topics run the gamut from movies to travel — and lets them to post their answers on Facebook, Twitter or blogs.

Shellen said the Thing Labs' social media application will roll out in a few weeks. In addition to Wetherell, who joined the company a few months weeks ago, Dolapo Falola is leaving a senior engineering position with Google and will join the startup in July, making Thing Labs a popular destination for the growing network of ex-Googlers.

After Indians, Sri Lankan students attacked in Australia

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:20:00 +0000

After Indians, a group of students from Sri Lanka have been allegedly attacked in Australia, with three men smashing the windows of their home and taunting them with "racist insults" in capital Canberra.

Police are investigating allegations of attacks against a group of Sri Lankan students at their home, ABC News reported.

It is alleged that three men smashed the front windows of the students' house in Macquarie in north Canberra after an unsuccessful attempt to crash a party.

The students said a car window has also been broken and that they have been taunted with "racist insults".

One of the students, Dijula Wijesuriya, said he has been threatened with a knife. "This guy comes up and takes out a knife and says 'get out of our streets'," he said.

Wijesuriya said they have been living in fear, especially considering the recent violence against Indian students in Sydney and Melbourne.

"We really didn't go anywhere else, we just stayed at home, just go to uni and come back home straight away and lock the doors and stay inside."

India Australia Association of Canberra president Madhu Kalia said she is surprised by the incidents.

"So far Canberra, it has been alright, there have been no attacks on students," she said.

Police said they have investigated several incidents but have not received any reports that they have been racially motivated.

WHO declares swine flu pandemic

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:20:00 +0000

The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic on Thursday - the first global flu epidemic in 41 years - as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.

In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 - its highest alert - after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.

The long-awaited pandemic decision is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.

"At this early stage, the pandemic can be characterized globally as being moderate in severity," WHO said in the statement, urging nations not to close borders or restrict travel and trade. "(We) remain in close dialogue with influenza vaccine manufacturers."

On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths.

The agency has stressed that most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities - especially in poorer countries.

Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy - people who are not usually susceptible to flu.

Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.

The last pandemic - the Hong Kong flu of 1968 - killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.

Many health experts say WHO's pandemic declaration could have come weeks earlier but the agency became bogged down by politics. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil.

"This is WHO finally catching up with the facts," said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota who has advised the US government on pandemic preparations.

Despite WHO's hopes, raising the epidemic alert to the highest level will almost certainly spark some panic about spread of swine flu.

Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands of people worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in the capital of Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger on it had swine flu. Chile has the most swine flu cases in South America.

In Hong Kong on Thursday, the government ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu - a move that some flu experts would consider an overreaction.

In the United States, where there have been more than 13,000 cases and at least 27 deaths from swine flu, officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the move would not change how the US tackled swine flu.

"Our actions in the past month have been as if there was a pandemic in this country," Glen Nowak, a CDC spokesman, said on Thursday.

The US government has already taken steps like increasing availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorizing $1 billion for the development of a new vaccine against the novel virus. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, U.S. health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.

Still, Osterholm said the declaration was a wake-up call for the world.

"I think a lot of people think we're done with swine flu, but you can't fall asleep at the wheel," he said. "We don't know what's going to happen in the next 6 to 12 months."

France Telecom & Telstra in talks with Maxis to buy minority stake in Aircel

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:46:00 +0000

France Telecom and Telstra of Australia are in talks with Malaysia's Maxis Communication to buy a minority stake in Indian telecom operator Aircel, in yet another sign that the ongoing slowdown and credit crunch are having a negligible impact on deal activity in the telecom sector.

The talks between the two overseas players and Maxis revolve around France Tele buying a 20-25% stake in Aircel, a dominant player in Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Aircel, which is one of the major regional players in India, is in the midst of a $5-billion expansion plan that will see it becoming a pan-India player.

Meanwhile, Saudi Telecom, which owns 25% in Aircel parent Maxis, is likely to increase its stake in the company to 35% for about $1 billion. The money from the sale of Maxis' stake will also be used to invest in Aircel. Goldman Sachs is advising Saudi Telecom in its transaction with Maxis. The deal with Saudi Telecom is expected to be completed within a month.

Estimates of the valuation of Aircel, which has a subscriber base of 19.6 million, vary between $7 billion and $8 billion. France Tele, which is not looking to buy a majority stake, will end up paying about $1.4-2 billion if the deal goes through at this valuation, people close to the development said.

The Indian telecom sector is perhaps one of the few sectors in the economy that is still witnessing strong M&A deal activity despite an economic slowdown. In the past 10 months, about $5 billion of deals have been concluded, including a mega $2.7-billion transaction that saw Japanese giant NTT DoCoMo buying 26% in Tata Teleservices.

Indian telecom companies, too, are growing at a scorching pace with monthly subscriber additions rising to more than 10 million a month. At this rate, Indian subscriber base is expected to leap past the 500 million mark in double quick time.

Aircel on course to widen pan-India reach by June 2010

The continued high growth is of great interest to foreign investors. Impending developments such as auction of spectrum for 3G (third generation) and broadband wireless access (BWA), besides the entry of MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators), offer further growth opportunities," said Salil Pitale, head (telecom & media), at Enam Investment Banking.

For France Telecom, Europe's third-largest phone company which owns the Orange brand, it will be an opportunity to re-enter the world's fastest growing telecom as it faces a slowdown in its home turf and in other mature markets.

In response to an e-mail, an Aircel spokesperson said, "We are not aware of any discussions with France Telecom about this matter. Maxis Communications and its partners remain firmly committed to the accelerated growth and development of Aircel to be a successful pan-India operator." A France Telecom spokesperson said, "We do not comment on market rumours."

France Telecom first approached Maxis in August last year, just before the global market meltdown. "At that time, it was also in talks with Tata Teleservices (TTSL). Negotiations with Maxis were revived after NTT DoCoMo clinched the deal with TTSL," a person familiar with the discussions told ET.

Maxis was also in talks with AT&T last year for selling a similar stake, but the deal could not go through because of differences in valuation. Talks between France Tele are still at a preliminary stage and the deal may also fall through because of Maxis' insistence that the prospective investor also purchase a small stake from Maxis. France Tele, on the other hand, wants the investment to go into the company, that is Aircel, and is not keen on buying directly from Maxis.

Maxis owns 74% in Aircel while the rest is held by Chennai-based Reddy family, promoters of Apollo Hospitals. France Tele had held a stake in Mumbai-based BPL Mobile for many years before exiting in 2003. In 2007, its group company Orange Business Services acquired GTL's enterprise and managed services division. Subsequently, it bagged NLD and ILD licences in India. A stake in a mobile firm now will complete France Telecom's India story.

Aircel is currently in a money-guzzling mode, with the target to complete pan-India footprint by June next year. Ananda Krishnan, the owner of Maxis, also needs money to pump into Natrindo Telepon Seluler, a telecom firm in Indonesia which has a 3G licence. Plus, he bought out NTT DoCoMo from Sri Lanka Telecom in 2007 and that business also requires continued investments.

In a bid to fund these plans, Ananda delisted Maxis in June 2007 in a $12-billion deal and within days, he sold 25% of it to Saudi Telecom for over $3 billion. Due to this, Saudi Telecom has an effective 18.5% stake in Aircel. Dilution of another 25% in Aircel will help Ananda's Maxis raise around $2 billion at a time when global credit scenario is not very positive.

At the same time, India's telecom growth story continues to attract international investor interest, with all the major telcos making a beeline for India. This is despite the presence of 12 players and entry of four more telcos later this year. For Ananda, stake sale could be an opportunity to raise money without giving any controlling rights.

Low-profile billionaire Ananda Krishnan, whose business empire stretches from telecom and media to power and construction, is known for buying and selling businesses. In May last year, he sold Excel, the giant exhibition venue in London's Docklands, for around $230 million, to a group backed by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. He then bought a 20% stake in British regional newspaper chain Johnston Press and is widely believed to be interested in setting up a global media empire.

Infy, EDS & IBM bag $1.2-billion Telstra deal

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:45:00 +0000

Australian phone firm Telstra on Tuesday said it has awarded around $1.2-billion outsourcing contracts to Infosys, EDS and IBM, as
part of a major vendor consolidation exercise the company started last year.

ET had reported in March earlier this year that Infosys has won over $100 million contract from Telstra, and EDS and IBM were front-runners for new outsourcing contracts to be awarded by Telstra.

As part of Telstra' latest outsourcing contracts, EDS and Infosys will share $450 million application development and maintenance contract over five years, and IBM will walk away with $750 million deal for managing the phone firm's IT infrastructure.

"EDS, IBM and Infosys are important IT transformation partners and we look forward to continue our relationship," said John McInerney, Telstra CIO and GMD Information Technology.

While Telstra did not comment if Satyam continues to be a vendor, experts said Satyam (now a Tech Mahindra company) has lost the Telstra account.

Telstra had undertaken a vendor consolidation exercise to reduce its IT service providers from four — EDS, IBM, Infosys and Satyam — to three.

The consolidation was aimed at bringing down the cost of managing its IT systems. The phone firm plans to bring down the number of IT systems from about 1,350 now to almost 300 by 2010.

Foul play not suspected in Motwani's death: Police

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:45:00 +0000

Police do not suspect foul play from preliminary evidence gathered in the mysterious death of India-born Stanford professor Rajeev
Motwani, the mentor and adviser of founders of top companies like Google and PayPal.

There is no initial evidence of foul play in the drowning mishap, Atherton police Sgt Tim Lynch was quoted as saying by local newspaper San Jose Mercury News.

Lynch said an autopsy report is awaited to carry forward the probe into the incident.

"We're kind of in limbo... It could have been a simple accident or many other things," he added.

Motwani (47) was found dead in the backyard swimming pool of his Palo Alto home in California on Friday.

Local media reported that Motwani, who did not know how to swim, may have slipped into the pool and drowned. Paramedics were summoned when his body was found.

Lynch said firefighters and a police officer pulled Motwani's body from the bottom of the pool.

The news of Motwani's death sent shock waves throughout the Silicon Valley and the tech world globally, as he was known to be the master brain behind several key advancements in the world of Internet, including Google and PayPal.

Meanwhile, friends and family members of Motwani have opened the "Rajeev Motwani Foundation" in his honour, requesting people to send in their contribution.

Google, Microsoft hiring under scanner

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:49:00 +0000

The US Justice Department is probing possible collusion in hiring by Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Yahoo! Inc and several other compa

nies, said two people familiar with the investigation.

The investigation may include a dozen technology companies, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Justice Department faces the difficult task of proving that there is an explicit agreement between the companies that they wouldn't hire employees from their rivals, said David Balto, a former antitrust attorney with the Federal Trade Commission.

The investigation adds to the scrutiny of technology companies under President Barack Obama's administration. The makeup of Google's and Apple's boards has already drawn the scrutiny of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the Justice Department is looking into a settlement with publishers over Google's book-scanning project.

Google, based in Mountain View, California confirmed it has been contacted by the Justice Department and is cooperating with the investigation, said spokesman Adam Kovacevich. Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, is also cooperating, said company spokeswoman Kim Rubey. Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans, declined to comment.

Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona declined to comment.

Technology companies often trade workers as they seek to lure the best talent, and sometimes end up in conflict. In 2005, Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, sued after Google lured away Kai-Fu Lee to run a development center in China. The companies settled the suit.

Satyam may lay off 5,000

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:48:00 +0000

full board meeting of Satyam Computer is likely to be held on June 11 after its new owner Tech Mahindra assumed charge and the boar

d may draw a consensus on the sensitive issue of laying off as many as 5,000 employees in phases.

Sources said the meeting is scheduled to be held on next Thursday or Friday and for the first time the full board -- six government-nominated members and four member from Tech Mahindra (through its arm Venturebay Consultants) -- will discuss the business strategies.

A company spokesperson said as and when the meeting takes place, there will be comprehensive discussions on all related issues. He, however, did not divulge details of the agenda or whether or not the meeting would look at ways on how to rationalise the employee strength.

Sources said given the sensitivities of the situation, the board is likely to draw a consensus on the 'lay offs' to be undertaken which may take the shape of keeping 5,000-10,000 people on the bench (reserve).

Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayar had recently said Satyam has 10,000 surplus staff and the company would look at the 'least painful' ways to handle the situation.

"It is a question of revival and viability", they said. Last week, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurseed had said the government will not turn a blind eye to any lay offs in Satyam.

Google launches 'Google Squared'

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:35:00 +0000

Google, already the king of Internet search, rolled out an experimental new search product called "Google Squared."

Google Squared does not provide a list of links to Web pages, like with a traditional Google search, but presents information derived from a query in a spreadsheet-like grid called a "square."

Users of google.com/squared can then build, modify and refine their "square" through further Web searches.

"Unlike a normal search engine, Google Squared doesn't find webpages about your topic -- instead, it automatically fetches and organizes facts from across the Internet," Google said in a preview of the product last month.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Google said Google Squared could be useful when a user needs to make multiple searches to find the information they want.

"It essentially searches the Web to find the types of facts you might be interested in, extracts them and presents them in a meaningful way," Google said.

"If your square isn't perfect at the beginning, it's easy to work with Google Squared to get a better answer," Google added.

The Mountain View, California-based Internet search giant cautioned that Google Squared remains experimental and the technology behind it "is by no means perfect."

Yahoo, eBay look to sell start-ups

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Many Internet and media companies that were busy buying start-ups in the boom years could shed assets they no longer deem central to the

ir business, as the recession imposes an age of frugality.

Scathed by the heavy losses they incurred when the dotcom bubble burst in 2000, tech companies moved quickly to cut costs and focus on staying profitable as the current recession hit.

Now, as the doldrums linger, many are taking a hard look at the start-ups they bought during the good times, many of which were never a good fit. Some of those acquisitions could wind up right back on the sales block.

Venture capitalists, who invest in start-ups and recover their money by taking them public or selling them, say the dealmaking has already begun. Many expect more sales and spin-offs in the next few months as companies squeeze their assets for cash and reassess business strategies.

"In good times, companies acquire, in bad times, they divest," said Todd Dagres, a venture capitalist whose firm Spark Capital funded hot microblogging site Twitter.

Dagres and other venture capitalists said companies increasingly are seeking out private investors to gauge their interest in dealmaking. The talks usually center on small units that don't carry their own weight, or are no longer considered strategic.

"What you're seeing is very active triage," said Dan Nova, a venture capitalist at Highland Capital Partners. "As Fortune 500 companies focus or refocus their core strategic mission, they're deciding if those acquisitions are still consistent with that mission," Nova said. "If they're not, (they will) try to sell or shut them down."

In recent months, top Web companies like Yahoo Inc and eBay Inc have begun cleaning out their closets. As part of a turnaround strategy under its new chief executive, Carol Bartz, Yahoo has begun axing money-losing properties, such as Geocities, which it acquired in 1999.

Online auction giant eBay recently said it would spin off Skype, the popular Web-based phone company it bought for $2.6 billion in 2005. eBay also sold back StumbleUpon, a start-up that helps people discover online content, to its founders and venture capitalists, two years after buying it for $75 million

Google Tests Scripting Feature for Online Apps

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Google will add scripting capabilities to Google Docs, allowing organizations to customize its online applications and automate tasks, the company said Wednesday.

Google plans to sign up about 1,000 customers over the next few weeks to test the feature, called Google Apps Script. It isn't saying yet when Apps Script will be widely available. Google Docs users can apply here to try it out.

It will be tested initially in Google Spreadsheets and extended to other Google Docs applications over time, said Jonathan Rochelle, product manager for Google Docs, in a press briefing at the Google I/O conference.

The scripting will allow organizations to build custom functions in spreadsheets, like translating figures from inches to millimeters, or translating text from one language to another. It will also enable applications to be linked together, allowing a user to send an email from within a spreadsheet, for example, or access a calendar from a list of addresses.

The company posted a video and some information about Apps Script in its Enterprise Blog.

The scripting should help Google to compete better with Microsoft's widely used Excel spreadsheet software, but it will also open a new front for security attacks and other potential issues.

"The nature of scripting is such that it could be easily abused," Rochelle acknowledged. "We want to make sure people can't make a mistake [such as] they coded something they don't know is happening."

Google will work to make it "bulletproof" before it's released to the public, he said. The company described it as "a puppy who's still in training," suggesting it has more work to do on it.

Google Apps Script is based on JavaScript, with object-based extensions added by Google, making it easy to learn, according to Rochelle. "It really is JavaScript, except there are certain things we don't let you do," he said.

There is not currently a way to import Excel macros, he said, but Google is considering that for the future. It expects Apps Script to appeal especially to systems integrators, who have been asking for it, he said.

Excel still has many more features and capabilities than Google Spreadsheets, but Rochelle argued that "user satisfaction" is a better measure by which to compare the products. "If 80 percent of people don't use the features then it doesn't matter" he said.

Several partners are at the show who offer integration services and develop add-on tools for Google Docs. Ed Laczynski, CTO of LTech, said his company has migrated "hundreds of thousands" of users from on-premise software to Google Apps. The company just released a tool that lets users download and backup their documents to a local disk.

Oracle is also in on the act. The company is about to release a beta tool that will let users of its Siebel customer relationship management software import and export data from Google Docs, said Dipock Das, a senior director with Oracle's CRM group.

Lawyer seeks trimmed prison time for Phil Spector

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:06:00 +0000

A lawyer for Phil Spector said in a court document filed Wednesday that the music producer maintains he did not kill actress Lana Clarkson and is not responsible for her death.

Attorney Doron Weinberg wrote in a memorandum to the sentencing judge, however, that Spector's prison sentence on a second-degree murder conviction should be 18 years to life in prison.

The court document asked that a sentencing enhancement for use of a gun be trimmed to three years, instead of the four requested by Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson. The murder conviction alone mandates 15 years to life in prison.

Spector, 69, was scheduled to be sentenced Friday. He was found guilty April 13 in the shooting death of Clarkson at his home in 2003. Clarkson, who starred in the 1985 cult film "Barbarian Queen," died of a gunshot fired in her mouth as she sat in the foyer of Spector's mansion.

Weinberg had said the conviction would be appealed.

Weinberg also said in the court document that an account of Clarkson's death provided by Jackson in a memorandum last week was "based on conjecture, not facts."

Jackson had offered a theory of the shooting that was not proven by evidence at the trial, suggesting that Spector threatened Clarkson with a loaded gun as she attempted to leave his house and "the end result ... was Lana being shot through the mouth as she recoiled in fear."

Jackson suggested those facts could be deduced from the fact that Spector had threatened women with guns in the past in similar circumstances.

There were no eyewitnesses to the shooting. Weinberg wrote that his client "asserts, as he has steadfastly maintained since February 3, 2003, that he did not kill Lana Clarkson, and he is not responsible for her death."

In arguing for a lesser sentence on the gun charge, Weinberg disclosed that during a private conference with the judge over jury instructions before the verdict, prosecutors had argued "that the facts proven at trial could support the conclusion that the death of Lana Clarkson resulted from an accidental discharge of the weapon during a misdemeanor brandishing."

Weinberg said given that suggestion, the additional term for gun use should be reduced to the minimum of three years.

Time Warner to spin off ailing AOL

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:03:00 +0000

Time Warner announced plans Thursday to spin off its troubled AOL Internet unit by the end of the year, bringing to a close one of the most disastrous corporate mergers in history.

The US media-entertainment giant said its board had approved a separation from AOL, formerly known as America Online, to make it an independent, publicly traded company.

"We believe that a separation will be the best outcome for both Time Warner and AOL," Time Warner chairman and chief executive Jeff Bewkes said in a statement.

"We believe AOL will then have a better opportunity to achieve its full potential as a leading independent Internet company."

Time Warner said that before the spin-off goes ahead it will purchase the five percent in AOL owned by Internet search and advertising giant Google, which paid one billion dollars in 2006 for the stake.

Time Warner owns the remaining 95 percent of AOL, which saw its heyday as a provider of dial-up service in the early days of the Internet but has been losing ground as consumers switch to high-speed or broadband services.

Once the proposed separation is complete, Time Warner shareholders will own all of the outstanding interests in AOL, according to the plan.

Time Warner said it aims to complete the separation, which will have to be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, around the end of the year.

An independent AOL would be free to focus on growing its Web brands and services and its advertising business, according to Time Warner.

"This will be a great opportunity for AOL, our employees and our partners," said AOL chairman and chief executive Tim Armstrong, who was hired away from Google in March to run the division.

"Becoming a standalone public company positions AOL to strengthen its core businesses, deliver new and innovative products and services, and enhance our strategic options," Armstrong said.

Time Warner merged with America Online in 2001 at the height of the dot-com boom, with AOL using its inflated stock as a currency for the transaction.

But the marriage of old and new media behemoths baptised as AOL Time Warner quickly went sour as the benefits promised to shareholders failed to materialize.

AOL was valued at more than 150 billion dollars when the ill-fated merger was announced but its worth collapsed dramatically as the dot-com bubble burst.

Time Warner was forced in 2002 to massively write down the value of the Internet unit and the AOL name was removed from the group's corporate title in 2003.

In the years since the merger, AOL weathered an accounting scandal and was relegated to being just one of the divisions in Time Warner's empire, which includes Time magazine, Warner Bros. studio and the CNN and HBO television networks.

Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn once described the merger as a "colossal mistake."

AOL is currently the number four Web gateway after Google, Microsoft sites and Yahoo! and has been trying to refashion itself recently as a popular one-stop portal.

Time Warner shares were down 0.96 percent in New York at 22.78 dollars

Microsoft revamps search engine, dubbed "Bing"

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Microsoft Corp is revamping its search engine to counter the dominance of Google Inc in the web search and related advertising business.

The world's largest software company, which is still in talks with Yahoo Inc over a potential partnership, has long been determined to play a major role in the lucrative web search market after watching upstart Google take a stranglehold.

Microsoft, which has been testing the search engine internally under the name Kumo for several months, plans to introduce the new service, re-christened "Bing," over the next few days, with a full launch next Wednesday.

Advertising Age reported earlier this week that Microsoft was planning a $80 million to $100 million ad campaign to promote Bing. Microsoft declined comment on the report.

The Redmond, Washington-based firm has lots of ground to make up. Last month Google took 64.2 percent of U.S. Internet searches -- up half a percentage point from the month before -- handling 9.5 billion out of a total of 14.8 billion searches.

Yahoo was a distant second with 20.4 percent of searches and Microsoft third with 8.2 percent, both down slightly from the month before, according to data firm comScore.

Both Google and Yahoo have recently introduced new features in their search engines to attract users, making Microsoft's task even harder.

Telstra - Nine new SME apps

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Telstra has released a raft of online software applications, available to Australian SMEs with the Telstra T-Suite software-as-a-service platform, says WebWire.

According to the company, the T-Suite applications will be available to lease online for a monthly fee without expensive upfront licensing fees, meaning businesses can preserve vital cash reserves during the current tough economic climate.

Telstra adds that Australian small businesses in all industry sectors will be able to generate employment agreements and manage everyday staff issues with easy-to-use HR processes and templates from Workforce Guardian that are updated online to reflect changes in employment law.

McAfee, EMC team up vs Symantec in online backup

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:24:00 +0000

McAfee Inc, the No. 2 computer security company, plans to team up with EMC Corp to offer online PC backup services, and announced the acquisition of a company that protects ATMs against hackers.

The company plans to offer consumers unlimited Web-based backup for personal computers with EMC Corp's Mozy division for $50 to $60 a year, Executive Vice President Todd Gebhart said at a McAfee's analyst meeting on Friday.

Earlier in the day, McAfee said it would pay $33 million to buy Cupertino, California-based SolidCore Systems Inc, adding products that help companies protect ATMs, cash registers and other point-of-sale systems used by retailers, along with multifunction printers and other specialized computer devices.

It would pay another $14 million if SolidCore's business meets certain financial targets.

SolidCore's products are used by more than 100 financial institutions and in more than 15,000 retail stores, McAfee said.

McAfee Chief Executive Dave DeWalt said he would continue to look to make small- and mid-sized acquisitions of products that the company can cross-sell with existing products.

"I think people here would expect three or four more things like SolidCore," said Cowen & Co analyst Walter Pritchard.

McAfee said it expects the acquisition of SolidCore to be slightly dilutive to profit, excluding items, in the current quarter, ending June 30, which is when it expects the deal to close.

The company plans to introduce the PC backup service in the second half of the year, making it a late player into a market dominated by bigger rival Symantec Corp, its partner EMC and privately held Carbonite.

A few years ago McAfee beta tested a backup service that it hoped to launch, but ditched plans to bring that to market.

DeWalt reiterated his comments from a Thursday interview with Reuters, saying that business had improved in May from April. "So far, good pace. We are on a roll here," DeWalt said.

Shares in Santa Clara, California-based McAfee rose 27 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $38.30, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was little changed.

Google Pulls Trademark Restrictions for U.S. Ads

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Google is loosening its grip on trademarks included in advertisements through its AdWords service. The search giant said Thursday it will allow companies to place the terms of a trademark in the copy of text advertisements.

"Under this policy change, advertisers will be able to create more specific, less generic ad copy targeted to narrowly tailored landing pages," said Deanna Yick, a Google spokesperson. "Users and consumers shopping online will have more options and relevant choices."

The move will bring Google's policy on the use of trademarks in ad text more in line with the industry standard, according to Dan Friedman, a representative from Google's Inside AdWords team, in an official blog post.

Companies with certain criteria will be able to use trademark terms in ad text in the U.S. even if the company doesn't own the trademark or doesn't have approval from the trademark owner.

"For example, under our old policy, a site that sells several brands of athletic shoes may not have been able to highlight the actual brands that they sell in their ad text," Friedman said. "However, under our new policy, that advertiser can create specific ads for each of the brands that they sell."

In Hot Water

While Google says it's doing companies and users a favor, brand advertisers may think otherwise.

Google's move may land the company in more hot water and put the company on the defense against potential trademark lawsuits similar to one already filed against the company.

On Monday, FPX LLC, also known as Firepond, filed a class-action complaint against Google for using trademarks it owns, including Firepond and Firepond CSQ.

In court documents, Firepond says it has suffered and has been injured in its business and property and the damage it has suffered is both economic and non-economic in nature.

"Google's change in policy is further indication of the company's failure to honor and respect the right of federally registered trademark owners," said Scott Kline of Andrews Kurth LLP, one of the law firms representing Firepond. "Even competitors Yahoo and MSN are willing to take down infringing links upon notification of a federally registered trademark. We are disappointed by the change in policy, but believe it only serves to strengthen our client's claims."

Move Is Pro-Consumer

Others, however, believe the move by Google is pro-consumer. The Computer & Communication Industry Association said Google's change will be good for consumers.

The change aligns Google's policy more closely with current industry standards on sponsored search text, said CCIA counsel Matthew Schruers. "By allowing ad text to make references to others' trademarks -- a practice permitted and encouraged by trademark law -- Google's new policy will improve consumers' ability to find products online and to obtain better information about the products they want to buy," he said.

Paul Levy, counsel for Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit public-interest organization, said it's a modest step in the right direction.

"Generally speaking, it seems to me that modifying their procedure so that it is easier for those that have information to communicate to consumers that they have Web sites in which they may be interested, enabling them to communicate more truthful information about what is in those Web sites, is a good thing," Levy said.

"I would also say that I'm particularly glad Google is not in retreating but rather is moving forward with the AdWords program that provides potential for increased competition for comparable goods and services," Levy added. "My regret is that they are not allowing use of keywords for direct-competitor ads."

Citrix Leverages Amazon’s Cloud

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:28:00 +0000

Citrix has pushed out a cloud solution called Citrix C3 Lab so its followers can use Amazon's EC2 and S3 as part of their standard technology infrastructure and prototype cloud projects.

Citrix says C3 Lab is the first of several ways it plans to leverage Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Citrix dreamed up Citrix Cloud Center (C3) last year. It's a bunch of Citrix gear packaged and marketed to the cloud service provider market. This week it added XenApp and XenDesktop so service providers can deliver Windows applications and desktops as a service.

C3 Lab is supposed to provide an inexpensive, preconfigured environment that starts with access to Citrix XenApp alongside key Citrix C3 technologies such as Citrix Access Gateway and Citrix Repeater.

Users will be able to test application compatibility and staging and gain experience of the AWS cloud. Other C3 products and scenarios are supposed to be added over time.

As a help there are C3 Lab Blueprints of guidelines and best practices available for testing virtualization, security and application services in a cloud environment.

The C3 Lab will be made available for public use as a set of Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) in EC2.

The only charges will be Amazon's.

XenServer, a key component of C3, will soon be enhanced with a new distributed virtual switch add-on that Citrix say will enable secure, multi-tenant, highly scalable public clouds. The switch will partition network traffic on a per-application basis, with resource and security guarantees, and offer full visibility into and control over inter-VM traffic both within a server and virtual network overlay.

A technological preview should be available for a free download on June 1.

At the same time a partner program will kick in designed to give hosted service providers the "right to use" Citrix products as the underpinning of their delivery infrastructure along with flexible monthly "active subscriber" pricing and licensing.

See http://community.citrix.com/display/cdn/Citrix+C3+Lab.

Terminator Salvation game released for iPhone, iPod touch

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:18:00 +0000

Gameloft on Thursday announced the release of Terminator Salvation for the iPhone and iPod touch. It costs $10.

Terminator Salvation follows the storyline of the upcoming blockbuster movie starring Christian Bale. It's the latest in the long-running Terminator series, in which John Connor leads the human resistance against Skynet and an army of Terminator robots.

Previewed by Macworld in April, the Terminator Salvation iPhone game pits you against T-800 Terminators, tanks, motorcycles and drones controlled by Skynet. You get an assault rifle, shotgun, grenade launcher, chaingun and other weapons to take down the enemy robots.

Terminator Salvation requires iPhone 2.2.1 software update.

Not-for-Sale Twitter Is Expanding Search Functionality

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:17:00 +0000

In recent days the spotlight has been on Twitter and rumored acquisitions of the micro-blogging company by contenders such as Apple, Google and Microsoft. Twitter's founders, however, have pulled the plug on the speculation, saying the San Francisco-based company is not for sale.

"No. We are not for sale," Biz Stone, Twitter's cofounder, told ABC's The View host Barbara Walters after she asked about the acquisition rumors.

While Stone and cofounder Evan Williams put the acquisition rumors to rest, Twitter Vice President Santosh Jayaram discussed Twitter Search and its future.

Twitter Search will be used to crawl information from links by Twitters to analyze and then index the content for future use, Jayaram, a former vice president for search quality at Google, told Webware. Currently Twitter Search is only used to search words included in tweets, but not words in links.

Along with its new crawling functionality, Twitter Search will also get a ranking system. When users do a search on trending topics -- the top-10 topics people tweet about, which get their own link on the Twitter sidebar -- Twitter will analyze the reputation of the tweet writer and rank search results partially based on that.

Changes Expected

Updates to Twitter's search functionality were expected, since Twitter has access to a lot of data and needs to find a way to get revenue. Twitter's founders also hinted about such functionality when they first announced Twitter Search.

"Twitter teaches us new and amazing things every day, and a big lesson learned is that search is so much more than a box and a button," according to an official Twitter blog post. "As public tweets fly in from around the globe, we analyze them to detect when certain words or phrases occur with higher frequency."

The company added that the trending phrases surfaced on the Twitter home page as its updated throughout the day, and are a compelling if rudimentary way to explore a collective global consciousness.

Attractive for Buyers

With all the links to Web sites of interest to Twitters, the company and its search capabilities are attractive to potential buyers because it can help users find information about what is happing in real time.

There have been several examples of the effectiveness of Twitter already. When a US Airways flight made an emergency landing in New York's Hudson River, the first photo to hit the Internet was through Twitter because a passenger on a nearby ferry took a photo of the aircraft in the water.

Another example was the terror attacks in Mumbai. People caught up in the attacks used Twitter to alert friends and family that they were safe.

Jayaram also personally benefited from Twitter real-time search while at Twitter's San Francisco office on March 30. He said Twitter engineers noticed an earthquake trending upward and seconds later the building began shaking, he told Webware. An earthquake struck 60 miles outside San Francisco and tweets about the earth rumbling hit Twitter's office before the quake did.

SugarCRM Chief Steps Down

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:14:00 +0000

The CEO of open-source customer-relationship-management software vendor SugarCRM has stepped down.

John Roberts, who cofounded the company in 2004 with Clint Oram and Jacob Taylor, will be replaced on an interim basis by Larry Augustin, a board member and former CEO of Linux systems vendor VA Linux. The company did not give a reason for Roberts' departure, except to say that he was pursuing other opportunities.

SugarCRM makes software that sales and service departments can use to keep track of current and prospective customers. The company boasts more than 5,000 customers, who can either host the SugarCRM software themselves or buy it as a service from one of the company's partners. SugarCRM competes with industry giants Microsoft and Salesforce.com.

In a blog post, Augustin said he had taken over as interim CEO, effective Wednesday, while the company searches for a permanent chief executive.

"I have an immense amount of respect for the founding CEO, John Roberts," Augustin wrote. " Few people have taken a company from concept to major growth the way John did at Sugar."

Star Trek game beams onto iPhone, iPod touch

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:11:00 +0000

Electronic Arts (EA) on Thursday announced the release of the Star Trek game for the iPhone and iPod touch. It's available from the App Store for $5.

Just in time for the premier of the new motion picture that "reboots" the legendary science fiction franchise with a new cast reprising the roles of "Classic" Trek characters Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura and Chekov, the Star Trek iPhone game lets you pilot the U.S.S. Enterprise on a mission to seek out and … destroy your enemies.

Spock and Kirk make appearances as you journey through space and time, battling ships from alien races including the Klingons, the Romulans and the Cardassians. You will battle Khotak elite fighters, the Bird of Prey and Vor'cha Battle Cruiser, listen to music from the original Star Trek soundtrack, and more.

Star Trek: The Mobile Game requires iPhone 2.2.1 software update or later.

Google CEO doesn't see problem with his Apple role

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:10:00 +0000

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is taking a government inquiry into his role on Apple Inc.'s board in stride, expressing confidence that the probe won't find any evidence that the ties between the two companies throttle competition in mobile phones and other technology fields.

In a media session held Thursday before Google's shareholders meeting in Mountain View, Schmidt said he hasn't considered stepping down from Apple's board because he doesn't view the maker of the iPhone, iPod and computers as a "primary competitor." He echoed that sentiment when a shareholder later asked him to step down from Apple's board to avoid further government scrutiny.

Google attorney Kent Walker confirmed the Mountain View-based company is in talks with the Federal Trade Commission about whether its overlapping board relationships with Apple violates federal antitrust laws. The inquiry was reported by The New York Times earlier this week.

Both Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson are directors at Google and Apple.

Walker told reporters that Google is "comfortable" that it doesn't generate enough revenue in the same markets as Apple for Schmidt's and Levinson's dual roles on the companies' boards to violate antitrust law.

Google makes most of its money from online advertising driven by its market-leading search engine. But it is the chief architect of an operating system called "Android" that already runs some mobile devices similar to the iPhone. Android also is going to be in some low-cost computers, called "netbooks," later this year.

Schmidt, who joined Apple's board in 2006, told reporters he always recuses himself from all Apple board discussions involving the iPhone, but doesn't avoid talks about any other subject.

Cupertino-based Apple and Google also both make Web browsers that are vying to lure users away from Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox. As its YouTube video site expands, Google also conceivably could clash with Apple's iTunes store.

The shareholder who asked Schmidt to quit Apple's board during Google's annual meeting thinks the interlocking board relationships eventually will cause headaches for Google.

"There is no reason for it because it isn't adding any value for shareholders," said Brandon Rees, a representative for the AFL-CIO's holdings in Google. "There is really nothing to gain and a lot to lose. We don't want Google to become an antitrust devil like Microsoft did."

Schmidt scoffed at a similar analogy during his session with reporters, asserting "there is no comparison" between Google's behavior and Microsoft's attempts to stifle competition in the computer software market during the 1990s. Microsoft's tactics eventually triggered an antitrust battle that forced the software maker to change its ways.

Still, the FTC inquiry is one of several signs that the government is taking a closer look at Google and its increasing dominance in Internet search and advertising. Last year Google scrapped a proposed Internet advertising partnership with Yahoo Inc. to avoid a legal battle with the U.S. Justice Department.

Before retreating, Schmidt had repeatedly predicted the Yahoo alliance would withstand antitrust scrutiny.

Now, the Justice Department is reviewing a proposed legal settlement with authors and publishers that would expand Google's digital library of books. Regulators are responding to complaints lodged by some librarians and consumer activists who are worried the proposed settlement will give Google a digital monopoly on millions of books.

A federal judge in New York recently granted a four-month extension to object to the settlement, setting a new deadline of Sept. 4.

Schmidt predicted the book settlement will lead to a "fundamentally good outcome" by giving more people around the world a better chance to buy and read out-of-print works.

He also said Google understands it's more likely to attract government scrutiny because of its dominance of Internet search and its sheer size. By some measures, Google now processes more than 70 percent of U.S. searches, helping it to generate nearly $22 billion in annual revenue.

"Information is incredibly important and we should expect governments around the world to be interested in what we do and hold us to the principles we have articulate," Schmidt said, referring to Google's corporate motto to "do no evil."

The Google shareholder meeting was a mostly amiable affair, just like the previous four that the company has held since its August 2004 initial public offering. This year marked the first time that neither of Google's co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, appeared on stage with Schmidt to take questions. Brin also missed the 2007 meeting because he was getting married then, but Page was on hand.

Spammers flood Internet with trick flu emails

noreply@blogger.com (News Aggregator) — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:17:00 +0000

Cyber crooks are capitalizing on influenza fears with torrents of email promising "Swine flu" news but delivering malware or dubious offers for potency drugs or penis enlargement.

"Zombie" computers infected with a dreaded Conficker virus that became an online scourge this year are among machines being used to spew flu spam crafted to trick email recipients, according to computer security firm Trend Micro.

"The thing making it worse is the misinformation out there about swine flu," Trend Micro threats research manager Jamz Yaneza said Thursday.