Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion (for 3DS)

Disney's Epic Mickey: The Power of Illusion tries to be a call back to a Sega Genesis classic, but it loses its appeal with its limited environments and unnecessary touch screen mechanics.

View the Original article

Samsung Galaxy Note II (Verizon Wireless)

With a fast quad-core processor, a big, gorgeous display, and features galore, the Samsung Galaxy Note II delivers almost everything a huge-screen smartphone should—just make sure you look at the HTC Droid DNA first.

View the Original article

YouTube (for iPad)

YouTube returns to the Apple iPad with an app that closely replicates the online YouTube experience.

View the Original article

Kingston DataTraveler Workspace (32GB)

The Kingston DataTraveler Workspace USB Flash drive puts Windows To Go in your pocket, letting you roam without losing secure access to your corporate workspace.

View the Original article

Gmail (for iPhone)

The standalone Gmail app for iOS searches your entire email so much easier and faster than the pre-installed Mail app, it's definitely a recommended download, and could very easily become your primary app for Gmail.

View the Original article

Samsung Entro (Virgin Mobile)

The Samsung Entro for Virgin Mobile is a bare bones flip phone that does a fine job of the absolute minimum.

View the Original article

Lenovo ThinkPad Twist (3347-4HU)

The Lenovo ThinkPad Twist (3347-4HU) ultrabook convertible is a natural evolution of the convertible tablet.

View the Original article

Apple iMac 21.5-Inch (Late 2012)

The slimmer Apple iMac 21.5-Inch (Late 2012) still has it where it counts. It looks better, sounds better, and gets your work done quicker.

View the Original article

Google Maps (for iPhone)

Google Maps brings free, accurate GPS-enabled maps back to the iPhone, and even throws in free voice navigation on iOS for the first time.

View the Original article

Wi-Fi Finder (for iPad)

If you are on a hunt for a wireless connection, JiWire's Wi-Fi Finder app will help you find all Wi-Fi hotspots, both paid and free, anywhere in the world. Unlike other competitors, you don't need to be online to view the list.

View the Original article

Sony Wonderbook: Book of Spells Move Bundle (PS3)

Aimed at the younger set, the Sony Wonderbook: Book of Spells Move Bundle makes the most of augmented reality gameplay.

View the Original article

The Elements: A Visual Exploration

The Elements: A Visual Exploration is a compelling and visually stunning guide to those basic chemical substances, combining informative (and well interlinked) text, cool, spinning VR images, and even an animation set to a theme song.

View the Original article

Did Twitter's founder reveal its would-be Instagram killer?

Photos tweeted today by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey may have been generated using the service's rumored photo filters.

(Credit:Jack Dorsey)

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey may have dropped the first public proof that Twitter is getting ready to release its own photo filtering feature, a tool it hopes could help in its increasingly tense battle with Instagram.

A report published today by All Things D suggested that informed sources have said that Twitter plans to launch its photo filtering tool before year's end. A series of black-and-white photos tweeted by Dorsey today appear to have been created using Twitter's own photo hosting service, pic.twitter.com. That would mean that Dorsey, who has largely relinquished his operational role at Twitter, and who is the founder and CEO of mobile payments startup Square, may well have been using the rumored new tool.

As All Things D wrote:

Twitter is making a big push to release a series of photo filters to be used inside the official Twitter app before the end of the year, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The goal is to release the camera filters in an application update in time for the holiday season, these sources say. The new version of the app is currently in testing, which may be why we're seeing Twitter chairman Jack Dorsey post so many black-and-white filtered photos of his Square employees (not to mention the wing of his plane at takeoff, posted just this Saturday morning).

The New York Times first reported the rumors of Twitter's photo-filtering initiative last month.

If the All Things D and New York Times reports are correct, it would be the latest salvo in the escalating war between Twitter and Instagram. Earlier this week, Instagram deactivated Twitter Card integration, a step that resulted in Instagram photos showing up poorly cropped in tweets. The goal, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom said, was to get more of his company's users utilizing the service on the Web. But it was also clear Instagram wants to wean its users off of Twitter.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment this evening.

It appears that executives at Twitter are eager to push out major new features by year's end. In several speeches, CEO Dick Costolo has said that he is intent on making users' entire tweet histories available by the end of the year. And if the All Things D report is true, the company also wants its photo filtering tools in users' hands by New Year's. "Why push it out before the new year? Perhaps Twitter wants a cut of the inevitable jump in photos we'll see as everyone goes home for the holidays," All Things D wrote. "Instagram, for instance, saw more than 200 Thanksgiving-related photos posted to its service every second on Thanksgiving Day alone, and ten million Thanksgiving photos posted overall that day."

View the Original article

Square launches gift cards

Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco in September.

(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Square, a leader in mobile payments, today launched a gift card service tied to its Square Wallet program and that could be aimed at attracting some would-be Apple Passbook users.

The new service appears designed to let anyone purchase a gift card for friends or family at any of the more than 250,000 businesses nationwide that accept Square Wallet, an iOS andAndroid app that lets users pay automatically with their mobile device. The recipient would then redeem the value of the gift using Square Wallet on their own device.

The value of a service like this is that it avoids the use of physical gift cards and lets merchants that accept Square Wallet easily set up the transaction with Square Register, a system that lets them take credit cards, track sales and inventory, and generate analytics.

The gift card business is estimated to be worth $100 billion annually, yet tens of millions of dollars of such gifts expire every day, according to CouponTrade.com. Apple has recently attempted to get in on the gift card game by letting iOS 6 users store the cards in Passbook. Square is clearly hoping it can be the digital gift card service of choice for millions of iOS and Android users. The San Francisco startup has been developing more and more ways for users to pay. It started by providing merchants with plug-in dongles for iOS devices that let anyone take credit cards, and then launched Square Wallet and Square Register.

The company, which is already processing more than $10 billion in annualized transactions, also recently launched a partnership that lets customers pay using Square Wallet at more than 7,000 Starbucks outlets in the United States.

View the Original article

Epson PowerLite S11 Multimedia Projector

The Epson PowerLite S11 Multimedia Projector is a capable, inexpensive projector geared to the classroom.

View the Original article

Xerox WorkCentre 6605N Color Multifunction Printer

The Xerox WorkCentre 6605N Color Multifunction Printer is a solid workhorse color laser MFP with good output quality when you use its default PostScript driver.

View the Original article

Xerox WorkCentre 6605DN Color Multifunction Printer

The Xerox WorkCentre 6605DN Color Multifunction Printer is a capable workhorse color laser MFP that provides good-output quality at lackluster speed with its default PostScript driver.

View the Original article

Viewsonic VX2770Smh-LED

The Viewsonic VX2770Smh-LED is an attractive 27-inch IPS monitor that delivers very good color and off-angle viewing performance.

View the Original article

Apple iTunes 11

Apple's iTunes media playing software has long offered the most in listening and viewing options. This major overhaul is faster and cleaner than ever.

View the Original article

Lenovo IdeaCentre K430

With its affordable price tag and good range of features, the Lenovo IdeaCentre K430 gaming desktop is a solid choice.

View the Original article

Apple iMac 27-Inch (Late 2012)

The Apple iMac 27-inch (Late 2012) all-in-one PC is the pinnacle of desktop design and manufacturing. It's not perfect, or cheap, but it's worth every penny.

View the Original article

Qooq Tablet

The Qooq cooking-focused tablet is an interesting addition to the high-tech kitchen, but a too-high price renders it a luxury item rather than a must-have. A plain old tablet with a stand and some quality Web recipes makes a much more versatile cooking companion.

View the Original article

Edifier Exclaim e10

The Edifier Exclaim e10 is a good-looking, simple PC speaker system that delivers high-quality audio performance for its under-$100 price.

View the Original article

McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2013

McAfee's developers are serious about the "Plus" in McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2013. In addition to basic antivirus functionality, it offers firewall protection, vulnerability scanning, system cleanup, and more. Its SiteAdvisor toolbar beat out all others in phishing protection. However, the core antivirus technology doesn't score as well as many in independent tests and own tests.

View the Original article

Sony 35mm f/1.8 Prime Lens

The Sony 35mm f/1.8 Prime Lens is a fast standard-angle lens for the NEX system, but is expensive when compared to comparable SLR lenses.

View the Original article

Pandora Radio (for iPad)

Pandroa Radio, one of the veteran services in the streaming music space, delivers a solid—if limited—iPad app.

View the Original article

Panasonic Technics RP-DH1250

The Panasonic Technics RP-DH1250 offers powerful, clean audio in a comfortable fit, but is priced too high when compared with some worthy competitors.

View the Original article

McAfee Internet Security 2013

McAfee Internet Security 2013 includes just about every feature you might imagine in a security suite. Its SiteAdvisor technology earned a new high score in phishing detection, but its antivirus protection is just average. Effectiveness of the other components also varies.

View the Original article

Nexus 4 comes back in stock for ordering today

ericcmack Unboxing Google's Nexus 4 smartphone

Google has been a cruel mistress to Android fans looking to get their hands on a new Nexus 4 lately. After the latest Google-designed phone sold out in what felt like nanoseconds -- perhaps better described from now on as 'nexi-seconds' -- it's been two weeks of living in "out of stock" limbo.

Until today. At noon ET (9 a.m. PT), Google says, theNexus 4 will be back on sale via the Google Play store.

Related storiesGoogle Nexus 4 already sold out at U.S. Google Play storeNexus 4 sells out in U.K. on Google Play as site suffersLG Nexus 4 (sort of) has 4G LTE

The Nexus 4 is available unlocked and contract-free for $299, a price that led to a run on the phones in the U.S. and the U.K., causing bottlenecks in the Play Store and sold-out status in mere minutes.

Is there enough pent-up demand from the folks who missed the first crush two weeks ago to see a repeat of the phenomenon today?

Might want to limber up those fingers and practice your fastest clicking, tapping and swiping moves right now, just in case.

Via The Verge

View the Original article

Microsoft's first Windows Phone 8 update dubbed Apollo Plus?

Football4PDA Twitter account as the source. The Verge subsequently posted that the code name of Windows Phone OS 8's follow-on would be "Apollo Plus." (Maybe the ban on code names ending with "o" doesn't start till Windows Phone 9 OS?)

The Verge's Tom Warren also reported that Microsoft would share details about the update at the Mobile World Congress show in February 2013. The Verge cited unnamed sources as providing the information and said the coming update could include features like VPN support, a Wi-Fi connectivity fix, and audio improvements.

Related storiesWindows Phone 7.8 rumored to launch this weekHow to silence notifications on smartphones and tabletsMicrosoft wants to denigrate your iPhone and Android again

VPN support is an interesting one, given Microsoft officials said in June of this year that Microsoft had decided against including VPN functionality in the Windows Phone operating system (even though it had been included in Windows Phone OS' predecessor, Windows Mobile). A Microsoft official told me that Microsoft has decided instead to rely on things like Secure SSL to address this need... as they considered Secure SSL "a better, light-weight approach" to providing this kind of functionality in the new BYOD (bring your own device) world.

I've since heard from a number of business users that no VPN support was a deal breaker for their organizations in adopting Windows Phone. I've also heard from users in countries with governments that censor their citizens' Web-browsing that VPN is a much-desired feature for circumventing officially imposed firewalls.

I asked Microsoft whether the next version of the Windows Phone OS was code-named "Apollo Plus" and whether VPN connectivity will be part of it. Not surprisingly, a spokesperson said only that the company doesn't comment on rumors and speculation.

If Microsoft does refer to the minor, interim update to Windows Phone 8 OS as "Apollo Plus," that might help dampen user expectations a bit. With Tango, many users were expecting a lot more, feature-wise, than ended up being part of that update because it had its own special code name.

Meanwhile, I also asked Microsoft about the whereabouts of the Windows Phone OS 7.8 update -- the one that is slated to allow existing Windows Phone 7 users to make use of resizable tiles on their phones. A Microsoft spokesperson said: "More information on 7.8 will be available in the coming weeks."

As to the rumors circulating that 7.8 might be available this week, I'm doubtful. I think Microsoft might announce the release to manufacturing of 7.8 this week, but I'm hearing the update may not be available from the carriers until early next year (maybe even as late as February 2013).

This story originally posted as "Apollo Plus: Is this Microsoft's first Windows Phone 8 update?" on ZDNet.

View the Original article

CNBC's on-air laptops: When Macs aren't really Macs

A MacBook isn't a MacBook when it's a Dell.

(Credit:Dell)

I confess to not watching CNBC too often.

When the channel isn't presenting dour faces promising imminent immolation, it's showing over-excitable bald people telling you which stocks to buy. Well, screaming, actually. There is enough screaming in my life already.

However, this morning, there might be screaming of a different sort at CNBC, because the sleuths at Business Insider have revealed what they say is brand subterfuge. Or, if you like, insider faking.

Indeed, Business Insider insists that the shiny laptops placed before presenters -- which, for all the world, look like Macs -- are mere dolled-up Dells.

The Insiders, you see, managed to get around the desk after a show and discovered that the keyboards of these laptops did not reflect what you'd see on (an) Air.

For the bodies of the machines closely resemble those of Dell's Latitude 2120 Netbooks. Allegedly. And according to photos the site published.

As Business Insider's Jim Edwards explained: "They look like MacBooks because CNBC has disguised them by adding gray lids, along with some CNBC branding where the Apple logo might have been."

More Technically IncorrectStart-Ups: Silicon Valley Ep. 4: Lose it, drink, lose it againFacebook removes pic, confuses elbow for breastBest Buy ad suggests that Santa's an Apple fanboyWhat would Apple have to do to ruin your relationship?The vending machine that dispenses caviar

Who could believe that anything related to money and stocks would possibly involve simulation?

Being of kind mind, I would like to give CNBC some latitude here. The channel isn't telling anyone that these are MacBooks. It's merely suggesting a certain sleekness that's associated with Apple. The producers obviously feel that the opinions offered on their shows would be less persuasive if they were seen to be delivered over the front of some $600 machine.

So they gussy up a Dell in order to project the sophisticated air of, well, Adele.

Every stock needs marketing, doesn't it? Yes, even your own.

View the Original article

Google fighting German plan for linking fee

Google has kicked off a campaign against a proposed German law that would force search engine providers to pay copyright fees every time they return a news article in their results.

The Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger, or "ancillary copyright for press publishers," would provide an extension of copyright in Germany to cover snippets of articles, such as those that show up in search results so the user can tell what each result is about. It is being proposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition and follows intense lobbying by publishing giant Axel Springer and others.

Google today launched a petition against the plan, arguing that they would make it much harder for Web surfers to find what they are looking for. Google has complained about the Leistungsschutzrecht before, but is now stepping up its opposition due to the fact that the bill will be debated this week in the Bundestag. "Most people have never heard of this proposed legislation," Google country director Stefan Tweraser said in a statement. "Such a law would affect every Internet user in Germany

View the Original article

Facebook increases Fab's Thanksgiving sales by 20 percent

(Credit:Fab)

Fab can put another notch on its trendy Facebook belt -- the quirky e-commerce site said it's made at least 20 percent of its Thanksgiving revenue from shoppers who joined Fab through Facebook.

Overall, Fab saw at least 25 percent of its revenue betweenBlack Friday and Cyber Monday come from social media sites. Facebook led the way during the four-day period, now one of the biggest shopping times of the year.

While Fab didn't say how other social media contributed to its revenue overall, CEO Jason Goldberg did post the traffic breakdown in his blog betashop:

• 65 percent Facebook

• 20 percent Pinterest

• 5 percent Twitter

• 1 percent Coolhunting

• 0.5 percent svvply

• 0.3 percent Apartment Therapy

• 0.3 percent Reddit

• 0.3 percent betashop

(The remaining 7.6 percent came from other sources.)

Related storiesLivingSocial promotes Fab for the holidaysFab continues push for customers with free shippingFab reaches 9 million users, opens up holiday shops

It's no surprise that Facebook is a major contributor to this traffic. In addition to the social network's shear size, the two companies have been closely intertwined. In September, Goldberg said the company had a good relationship with Facebook, adding that social media contributed to 50 percent of Fab's signups. Earlier this month, Facebook added Fab to its list of retail partners on its gifting service, Facebook Gifts.

Fab made a big push to cash in on holiday traffic this year. The company launched its holiday stores shortly after reaching 9 million member sign-ups earlier this month and then added free shipping to boot.

View the Original article

HP claims 'extensive evidence' of Autonomy accounting scam

Autonomy founder and former CEO Mike Lynch

(Credit:HP)

Hewlett Packard says it has discovered "extensive evidence" that an unspecified number of former employees of Autonomy had cooked the books prior to HP's $11.1 billion acquisition of the software company.

In its fourth quarter earnings report last week, HP announced it was taking an $8.8 billion charge related to its purchase of Autonomy. At the time, HP said that it bought the company based on pumped-up and fraudulent accounting. Since then, HP and Autonomy founder and former CEO Mike Lynch have engaged in a public war of words about who was really to blame for Autonomy's disappointing performance and whether there was fraud.

Here's HP's official statement:

HP has initiated an intense internal investigation into a series of accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations that occurred prior to HP's acquisition of Autonomy. We believe we have uncovered extensive evidence of a willful effort on behalf of certain former Autonomy employees to inflate the underlying financial metrics of the company in order to mislead investors and potential buyers.

The matter is in the hands of the authorities, including the UK Serious Fraud Office, the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division and the US Department of Justice, and we will defer to them as to how they wish to engage with Dr. Lynch. In addition, HP will take legal action against the parties involved at the appropriate time.

While Dr. Lynch is eager for a debate, we believe the legal process is the correct method in which to bring out the facts and take action on behalf of our shareholders. In that setting, we look forward to hearing Dr. Lynch and other former Autonomy employees answer questions under penalty of perjury.

Related storiesHP now target of a lawsuit over Autonomy troublesAutonomy's wizardry: Bringing still images to virtual life HP gains control of AutonomyHP's Whitman: PC spinoff, Autonomy deal still onHP is having an identity crisis

For his part, Lynch offered a decidedly different narrative in a letter to HP's board that he released publicly on Tuesday.

27 November 2012

To: The Board of Directors of Hewlett-Packard Company

I utterly reject all allegations of impropriety.

Autonomy's finances, during its years as a public company and including the time period in question, were handled in accordance with applicable regulations and accounting practices. Autonomy's accounts were overseen by independent auditors Deloitte LLC, who have confirmed the application of all appropriate procedures including those dictated by the International Financial Reporting Standards used in the UK.

Having no details beyond the limited public information provided last week, and still with no further contact from you, I am writing today to ask you, the board of HP, for immediate and specific explanations for the allegations HP is making. HP should provide me with the interim report and any other documents which you say you have provided to the SEC and the SFO so that I can answer whatever is alleged, instead of the selective disclosure of non-material information via background discussions with the media.

I believe it is in the interest of all stakeholders, and the public record, for HP to respond to a number of questions:

Many observers are stunned by HP's claim that these allegations account for a $5 billion write down and fail to understand how HP reaches that number. Please publish the calculations used to determine the $5 billion impairment charge. Please provide a breakdown of the relative contribution for revenue, cash flow, profit and write down in relation to: 1: The alleged "mischaracterization" of hardware that HP did not realize Autonomy sold, as I understand this would have no effect on annual top or bottom lines and a minor effect on gross margin within normal fluctuations and no impact on growth, assuming a steady state over the period;

2: The alleged "inappropriate acceleration of revenue recognition with value-added resellers" and the "

View the Original article

Elon Musk's plan for life on Mars

SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaks to the Royal Aeronautical Society in London earlier this month.

(Credit:Screenshot by James Martin/CNET)

Stunning views, lots of elbow room, and complete custom living are just a few of the benefits of space settlements -- and we might just be closer to attaining them than you'd think.

Elon Musk, founder of the private space transport company SpaceX, earlier this month outlined plans for the colonization of Mars, something he says can get under way in the next 10 to 20 years with the first manned mission to the Red Planet. If the first settlement is designed to build and sustain additional settlements, colonization could proceed from there quite rapidly, he explained at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, as reported by Space.com.

Following a first manned mission, Musk next envisions sending a small team of 10 people to Mars, along with construction supplies to build transparent domes.

Still, the process of building citylike colonies to sustain long-term habitation is expensive and challenging. Unveiling some of his planning specifics, Musk stressed the importance of a reusable rocket to keep costs down.

With initial systems in place, the first people to arrive would then begin to pressurize the domes with Mars' atmospheric carbon dioxide, infusing the soil with nutrients, which would then allow the early Martian migrants to grow Earth crops. Life would likely be hard early on, with high set-up costs to build the life-sustaining machines, he said. But over time the colony would become more established and self-sufficient, and more and more people would arrive -- up to 80,000, perhaps.

Initial equipment would include machines to harvest methane, oxygen, and carbon dioxide from Mars' atmospheric nitrogen, and devices for extracting water from the subsurface ice, Musk explained in London. Once food, water, and shelter are established and life is under way, you too can move to Mars.

But getting there will cost you. Tickets would run up to $500,000, Musk supposes.

All this planning for life in space isn't new. Back in the 1970s, when only a handful of people had ever ventured into space over less than two decades, NASA was envisioning where technology might take us.

View the Original article

Kill mobile ads with Adblock Plus for Android

With Adblock Plus for Android installed, Google responds to a search query and returns no ads or sponsored results.

(Credit:Screenshot by Jaymar Cabebe/CNET)

Released yesterday, Adblock Plus for Android offers a no-nonsense way to completely remove ads from your mobile computing experience. Simply download and install the app, and let it run behind the scenes. From there, you should notice that display ads, video ads, push notifications, and even many in-app ads are no more.

Related storiesAdblock Plus for Mozilla FirefoxAdblock for ChromeBlock ads with AdBlock Plus

So far, I've seen AdBlock Plus kill ads on several Web sites, including Google, and within the ad-supported Pandora app. According to its developers, though, AdBlock Plus does not work when browsing withFirefox forAndroid, since Firefox does not support Android's system proxy settings.

Adblock Plus works right out of the box for nonrooted mobile devices running Android versions 3.1 or higher. Older versions of Android require you to manually configure proxy settings to get the app to work.

View the Original article

Conservative groups dump on Pandora's royalty legislation

On Capitol Hill tomorrow, Pandora will argue the Web radio services need to pay less for music.

(Credit:Greg Sandoval/CNET)

WASHINGTON, D.C.--It doesn't take a sophisticated algorithm or genome project to know that Pandora's pitch for a new music royalty rate has been a dud.

Pandora says Web radio services pay too much in music royalties and is backing The Internet Radio Fairness Act. If passed, this federal legislation would reduce the rate these streaming services would pay. Pandora gets another chance tomorrow to convince the public and lawmakers of the bill's necessity during a hearing before the U.S. House subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet.

The music industry, which will also send representatives to testify at tomorrow's hearing, is throwing its big guns against the bill. Not only have a large number of artists, including Rihanna and Katy Perry, come out against it, but now even conservative think tanks are criticizing the legislation.

The American Conservative Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, and Taxpayers Protection Alliance have all written letters opposing IRFA.

Maybe Pandora's managers saw big tech companies rout the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and thought Washington politics would be easy. SOPA was crushed last January when the opposition was able rally public opinion by painting it as a threat to free speech So far, Pandora's pitch about IRFA -- that it will benefit music and tech companies by creating more jobs and opportunities -- has fallen flat. And in the case of SOPA, opponents were able to send Republican supporters running for cover. With the recent support from conservative groups, the entertainment industry seems to be covering its right flank.

Related storiesNew Myspace sees big losses -- just like old MyspaceReport: Hollywood big shot Peter Chernin set to join Twitter's boardMaroon 5, Missy Elliot among artists opposing Pandora subsidyNAACP calls Pandora-backed legislation unfairWeb radio growing faster than on-demand services (study)

To the music sector, Pandora's argument goes sometime like this: to help you, we need to pay you less. This isn't going to convince many in an industry that has seen revenue shrink by more than half over the past decade and heard scores of similar claims. IRFA would bring Web royalty rates more in line with those paid by satellite and cable music providers. The music industry supports a competing bill that would require satellite and cable radio providers to pay a rate closer to the one that Pandora currently pays.

Wall Street has lost a lot of confidence in Pandora. Not only were persistent rumors about an alleged plan by Apple to launch a Pandora competitor pressuring Pandora's stock but the share price fell after news broke earlier this month that more than 100 music artists were criticizing IRFA. If the bill fails to pass, Pandora won't be cutting costs anytime soon.

Rogan Kersh, a political science professor at Wake Forest University who studies lobbying, told Businessweek today: "When the very artists they are streaming -- the artists they are featuring, the artists that are even cooler than Pandora -- start to push back, that's a real bind for them. It's a major lobbying setback."

Come tomorrow, Pandora will start fresh. Tim Westergren, the affable cofounder of the company, is making way for CEO Joe Kennedy (at least he has the right name for Washington politics), who will testify on Pandora's behalf. Some of the others testifying include David Pakman, former CEO of eMusic who is now a venture capitalist; Jimmy Jam, a music producer and artist; and representatives from SoundExchange and the National Association of Broadcasters.

View the Original article

Commenters push Facebook policy changes to public vote

Facebook is about to take its policy changes to an official vote among its users. And if history is any guide, turnout will be low and Facebook will proceed to make the changes it wants. That includes how it collects data from Instagram users, which has privacy advocates protesting and urging CEO Mark Zuckerberg to reverse course.

Facebook last week proposed a series of policy changes that, along with changes to how it handles your data, would abolish the social network's practice of allowing users to vote on policy changes.

That's right. Facebook wants to do away with your right to vote -- a right most members clearly don't realize they have. In April 2009, Facebook instituted its own democracy of sorts through a vote that was put before but largely ignored by Facebook's 200 million users at the time (665,654 votes were cast). But the company now argues that the system no longer makes sense because Facebook has become so large and is a publicly traded company.

That 2009 policy says that site governance changes automatically go to a broader vote once a post about the proposal receives 7,000 "substantive comments," which is easy to achieve now that Facebook has roughly a seventh of the world's population as users. For the people's vote to become binding, however, Facebook requires "more than 30 percent of all active registered users" to participate -- and that is far harder to achieve.

Users have until tomorrow at 9 a.m. PT to comment on the post, so it's not official yet. But it will happen, considering that as of now the post is approaching 19,000 comments, and voting will go on for a week. Facebook's vice president of public policy and marketing, Elliot Schrage, wrote the post, Proposed Updates to our Governing Documents, which is now crammed with thousands of comments asking that Facebook maintain its policy of putting site changes to a user vote.

View the Original article

Apple should double down on Jony Ive, analyst suggests

Gene Munster speaks at the Business Insider Ignition conference today in New York.

(Credit:Dan Farber/CNET)

NEW YORK -- "Apple should double-down on Jony Ive." That's what Gene Munster, managing director and senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, counseled during a state of Apple presentation at the Business Insider Ignition conference.

"The concept of the Apple's operating system has basically been copied by competitors... The real substance is the hardware side, where Jony Ive plays into it," Munster said. "The difference is in the hardware, and isn't fully appreciated."

In October, Ive was given the leadership role in developing the user interface for Apple's software, in addition to his role as head of industrial design.

After endorsing the tandem of CEO Tim Cook and Ive, Munster -- who has long been one of the biggest proponents of Apple moving into the TV business -- offered his prediction for Apple product launches over the next few years. That list includes an Apple television, an iPhone 5s, and Retina displays for MacBook Airs and theiPad Mini in 2013. 

March 2013: Apple will introduce a radio service, similar to Pandora and Spotify; an iPad Mini with Retina display; and an update of theApple TV box, including an app store.

June 2013: The impact of Ive on Apple software will become more apparent at the annual Worldwide Developer Conference, with previews of iOS 7 and OSX, Munster said. In addition, he expects enhancements to the PassBook digital wallet, commerce integration with services such as Groupon and LivingSocial, and improvements to the maps app. "Letting go of  Richard Williamson (who was in charge of the company's maps software for iOS) is an example of Apple pushing forward on maps improvements," Munster said.

Also on tap in June, MacBook Airs will gain Retina displays, he said.  

September 2013: An iPhone 5S is expected, and it may include NFC, a faster process, and a better camera than the currentiPhone 5. The iPad Mini will get some component improvements, and the 5th-generation iPad will likely come with the A7X processor.

November 2013: An Apple TV, not a set-top box, should be ready for the holiday season. Design would be a critical aspect of the TV, like other Apple products, Munster said. It would cost  $1,500 to $2,000, and be available in sizes from 42-inches to 55-inches.

"The average consumer just wants a better experience with their TV," Munster said.  "People like all-in-one products, like a TV. The selling point will be the interface, fixing the remote  control problem and offering motion capture like the Wii and FaceTime."

 However, he predicted that the Apple TV will not have a la carte channels.

"Apple wants it desperately, but it can be successful without it," Munster said. 

The future: Apple will need to accelerate the iPhone launch cycle with more frequent releases and lower price points:

Apple tried to come out with iPhone 5 to target larger screens, but customers think it's slimmer and faster. Apple hasn't solved problem of bigger screen. Expect two releases a year, with one in fall, the point upgrade, and the S version the spring. A cheaper iPhone for China and other other markets may be available in the next few years.

Munster said he also expects Apple to develop some major innovations in the years ahead, as it did with the iTunes, iPhone, and the iPad.

"Going forward there has been a suspicion that Apple will stop innovating. But over next decade Apple will cannibalize the iPhone with some other devices in the same way the iPhone cannibalized the iPod," he said. Those innovations will likely come from more automation and robotic technology down the road, Munster surmised.   

View the Original article

Leahy pledges no warrantless e-mail access for feds

Sen. Leahy abandons his warrantless e-mail access proposal, saying he wants to "better protect privacy in the digital age."

(Credit:U.S. Senate)

Stripped of its controversial provision for warrantless e-mail acccess, Sen. Patrick Leahy's bill to rewrite electronic privacy and surveillance law will head for a vote on Thursday.

The Vermont Democrat confirmed in a press release yesterday that his latest amendments to the bill will not include language that would have allowed more than 22 agencies -- including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission -- to access Americans' private e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant.

A CNET article last week disclosed the existence of Leahy's proposal for warrantless access. A public outcry followed, with the ACLU insisting upon a requirement for warrants and the conservative group FreedomWorks launching a petition to Congress, with nearly 8,000 messages sent so far, titled: "Tell Congress: Stay Out of My Email!"

Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, responded by abandoning his proposal and saying in a statement that he remained committed to protecting Americans' privacy rights. "I hope that all members of the Committee will join me in supporting the effort in Congress to update this law to protect Americans' privacy," he said.

With the warrantless access sections deleted in the reworked language (PDF) that Leahy posted yesterday, privacy groups and industry representatives are now more likely to support the revised proposal, due for a committee vote Thursday. The proposal, a substitute for H.R. 2471, which has already cleared the House of Representatives, generally requires law enforcement to obtain search warrants for the contents of e-mail, photos, documents, and other private files.

It "protects the central privacy provision that we put forward," says Christopher Calabrese, legislative counsel for the ACLU.

The ACLU is part of a liberal-conservative-libertarian coalition aligned with technology companies to push for updates to the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act that would require search warrants for police searches of e-mail and other private data stored on remote servers. They also want a requirement for warrants before police can track the locations of Americans' cell phones.

At the moment, Internet users enjoy more privacy rights if they store data on their hard drives or under their mattresses than in the cloud. Many companies fear this legal loophole could undermine faith in cloud-based services. And that's one big reason Apple, Amazon.com, AT&T, eBay, Google, Facebook, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Twitter have joined what they call the Digital Due Process coalition.

Leahy has, however, retained (PDF) some other sections of his revised draft that, as CNET reported last week, moved in a more pro-law enforcement direction.

One section says providers "shall notify" law enforcement in advance of any plans to tell their customers that they've been the target of a warrant, order, or subpoena. Another allows police to delay that notification for two 180-day periods -- up from two 90-day periods in the original bill.

Hanni Fakhoury, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Leahy's revised version is certainly "an improvement over the language" that CNET posted last week.

But, Fakhoury added: "I'm less thrilled about extending the delayed notification provisions.... People have a right to know when the government has looked through their electronic communications, and the sooner they find out, the better."

The ACLU's Calabrese also expressed concerns. "We're a little worried that if companies essentially have to notify law enforcement before they tell customers, it may lead to fewer notifications to customers," he said.

One person participating in Capitol Hill meetings on this topic has told CNET that Justice Department officials were unhappy about Leahy's original bill unveiled in September. The department is on record as opposing warrant requirements -- James Baker, the associate deputy attorney general, has publicly warned that requiring a warrant to obtain stored e-mail could have an "adverse impact" on criminal investigations, a position that apparently conflicts with that of the National District Attorneys' Association.

Leahy, a former prosecutor, has a mixed record on privacy. He criticized the FBI's efforts to require Internet providers to build in backdoors for law enforcement access, and introduced a bill in the 1990s protecting Americans' right to use whatever encryption products they wanted.

But he also authored the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which is now looming over Web companies, and the reviled Protect IP Act. A article in The New Republic concluded Leahy's work on the Patriot Act "appears to have made the bill less protective of civil liberties." Leahy had introduced significant portions of the Patriot Act under the name Enhancement of Privacy and Public Safety in Cyberspace Act (PDF) a year earlier.

View the Original article

Copyright scare spreads on Facebook

BridgetCarey

Tuesday's CNET Update has a cyber-shopping hangover:

Today's tech news roundup looks at the Cyber Monday shopping surge and how Amazon's Kindle Fire was a hot seller.

Also, don't be fooled by the status updates spreading on Facebook about copyright. It's a hoax. Nothing that you put in your status message will change the policies you agree to when you sign up for an online service.

In Apple news, iPhone owners can use Siri in some Chevy cars next year, with Chevy MyLink. And the new iMac all-in-one desktops will be on sale Friday.

And change is coming for Android users: If you want to write a review about an app or product in the Google Play store, you'll have to use your real name with a Google

View the Original article

Samsung's Galaxy Note II Is a Phabulous Phablet

By Jack M. Germain
TechNewsWorld

The stylus is perhaps the main distinguishing factor from other high-end smartphones. The S Pen is more refined in generation two of the Galaxy Note family. The credit for that goes to the new sensor technology built into the screen and software improvements. You do not have to actually use the S Pen, but the enhancements it brings add to the experience.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II could very well be the best high-end smartphone/phablet on the market today. It brings the best features of Android Jelly Bean to this combination of high-powered tablet and state-of-the-art phone.

View the Original article

Mixtab Delivers Content With a Side of Eye Candy

By John P. Mello Jr.
MacNewsWorld
Part of the ECT News Network

Mixtab has the kind of visual verve found in outstanding news aggregation mobile apps like Flipbook. On its home screen, feed groups appear as large tiles -- called "tabs" -- on a faux wood background. The name of the feed group appears at the top of the tile and the rest of it is made up of a photo and copy, on top of a transparent smoke gray overlay, with information about the latest feed in the group.

Really Simple Syndication is a way for people who produce content for the Web to push that content to people interested in it. For folks like me, it can save time otherwise spent jumping from website to website to gather news.

View the Original article

Why Cadence Is Canon at Canonical

By Jack M. Germain
LinuxInsider
Part of the ECT News Network

Canonical's rigidly regular release schedule has been the subject of calls for change, but Mark Shuttleworth and plenty of others see no need. In fact, the regularity may be exactly what makes it work, satisfying the needs of both desktop and enterprise users, said Jay Lyman, senior analyst for enterprise software at The 451 Group.

The latest release of Canonical's innovative open source operating system, Ubuntu 12.10, maintains its twice-annual upgrade pattern. Even though the last few releases have generated a steady chorus of cries for longer release schedules, Canonical's leadership stands by the schedule and the rationale behind it.

Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth certainly does not think Ubuntu's every-six-month release schedule is part of any ill-perceived problem. During his recent Linuxcon keynote address, he praised that cycle for creating lots of excitement and keeping contributors motivated.

At least one of Canonical's board members favors longer release intervals. Meanwhile, Shuttleworth steadfastly adheres to the mantra: Many eyes make all bugs shallow, so make releases early and often.

Contrary to the criticism, Ubuntu's twice-yearly release cycle has a clear purpose for Canonical's success as a major OS developer. It forms a cadence with several upsteams and other distributions, according to Adam Conrad, Ubuntu Release Engineer at Canonical. That helps the development team keep its fingers on the pulse of current open source development.

"We've put robust mechanisms in place to ensure quality, both with our own products and with various upstream products that we rely heavily on. Our focus on quality permeates from the platform up to the code we write upstream, and our choices of upstream components too. We require tests and gated trunks for all Canonical code bases and prefer upstreams that share the same values," Conrad told LinuxInsider.

Stability Sells

That explanation makes considerable sense, noted Al Hilwa, program director for applications development software at IDC. Fundamentally, it is an execution and planning issue.

"What is important is putting out a predictable schedule and a road map for when projected functionality will be integrated," Hilwa told LinuxInsider.

Whether Ubuntu needs to adjust that cycle is the sticking point, however. The development team has to assess the nature of the code changes versus the intervals available to stabilize the code.

"In principle, most changes can be incrementalized to fit any cycle," Hilwa suggested.

Rigidity Required

Extending the release cycle would not necessarily lead to better overall quality. Rather, it would only give people a longer goal to land the new features they really want to see, in Conrad's view.

Another reason he disfavors a more relaxed release time is human nature. Ultimately, people will always try to get things in at the last minute.

"We do offer our LTS

View the Original article

Knockoff Sellers Knocked Offline on Cyber Monday

By David Vranicar
TechNewsWorld

Today in international tech news: Cyber Monday inspires a crackdown on sites selling illegal merchandise, a sex offender in Northern Ireland wants Facebook to get rid of a page called "Keeping our kids safe from predators," and Samsung reveals findings from a factory audit in China.

In both 2011 and 2012, U.S. authorities seized domains of streaming sites the week of the Super Bowl. The logic, apparently, was that the Super Bowl was the mother of all illegal viewing events, so it figured to be a good time to knock these sites offline.

The Super Bowl might yet be months away, but something similar has happened.

On Cyber Money -- the Super Bowl, if you will, of online shopping -- U.S. authorities seized some 130 domain names in several countries to prevent them from selling counterfeit merchandise.

According to the Associated Press, this is the third straight year authorities have launched a Cyber Monday counterfeit crackdown. Websites selling knockoff sports jerseys, DVDs and other merchandise were targeted.

The sites were seized after copyright holders confirmed that bunk products were being sold.

Sex Offender Fights Facebook Pedophile Page

A convicted sex offender wants Facebook to remove a page called "Keeping our kids safe from predators," which is devoted to monitoring pedophiles in Northern Ireland.

According to the BBC, the man -- who cannot legally be identified but who did reportedly spend time in prison for sexual assault -- is also seeking an injunction to prevent his photograph and details from appearing on Facebook. He wants Facebook Ireland to terminate the accounts of those operating the page.

The man, who is reportedly in bad health, claims that his neighbors are acting differently toward him, according to the judge hearing the case. Facebook has already removed the man's photograph as well as comments made about him. A Facebook lawyer said further action is not necessary.

Conference to Discuss UN Web Authority

Many countries will use a conference next week in Dubai to push to give a United Nations body broad regulatory powers over the Internet.

According to Reuters, the conference of the International Telecommunications Union, an arm of the UN, will pit "revenue-seeking developing countries and authoritarian regimes" who want more Internet control on one side, and the U.S. and Internet companies that will fight for the status quo on the other.

U.S. Congress and European Parliament have put forth resolutions for the current decentralized system to stay in place. Meanwhile, leaked drafts suggest Russia is pushing for rules that give individual countries "broad permission to shape" what is on the Internet in their countries. A group of Arab nations is proposing universal identification of Internet users.

The Reuters article points out that many countries -- Russia, China and some Arab states among them -- already restrict Internet access within their borders. However, such restrictions would reportedly be greater with validation in the form of an international agreement.

Google asked users last week to take to social media in support an open and free Internet. In addition, Google's Vint Cerf told Reuters that proposals to restrict the Internet were destined to fail.

Samsung Calls Itself Out on China Labor

South Korea-based Samsung has admitted that it found illegal work practices during an audit of more than 100 of its Chinese suppliers.

According to The Guardian, the audit, which reportedly covered more than 65,000 employees, found instances of excessive overtime hours and fines for being late or absent. However, the audit reported that, after conducting interviews with all staff under 18, there were no instances of child labor.

Samsung is the world's biggest maker of mobile phone and smartphones, as well as a huge supplier of memory chips and touchscreens.

View the Original article

Google Play Takes Away Reviewers' Mask of Anonymity

By Peter Suciu
TechNewsWorld

Google has begun to require that reviewers on Google Play be signed in through Google

View the Original article

GraphicConverter

GraphicConverter is the best graphic file management and manipulation software for everyone except professional graphics designers.

View the Original article

Cisco Linksys Smart Wi-Fi AC 1750HD Video Pro EA6500

The cloud as management console with Cisco Connect Cloud raises the bar for router management and that capability coupled with fine performance makes the EA6500 a four star Editors' Choice for wireless routers.

View the Original article

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Some excitement and a few minor innovations can't prevent most of Call of Duty: Black Ops II from feeling like a retread in need of a reboot.

View the Original article

LibreOffice (for Mac)

Worth having if you don't want to pay for an application suite or if you need to open legacy formats, but far from the first choice among office suites under OS X.

View the Original article

Hitcase Pro for iPhone 4/4S

The Hitcase Pro will protect your iPhone 4 or 4S, letting you safely and easily capture and share your outdoor adventures, but don't expect the same video quality or options you get with standalone action cameras.

View the Original article

LG Spectrum 2 (Verizon Wireless)

The LG Spectrum 2 for Verizon Wireless gets you a first-rate smartphone for about half the price as other top picks.

View the Original article

Fluenz

Language-learning software Fluenz guides new learners through a rigorous and thorough program, adding ample context in English to help the new language not only stick, but also make sense. It's only available in six languages, though.

View the Original article

HTC Windows Phone 8x T-Mobile

The HTC 8X is the best-looking Windows Phone 8 handset on T-Mobile, but you'll pay extra for the design.

HTC Windows Phone 8X

View the Original article

Gangnam Style 'most viewed video'

Psy's horse-riding dance has been performed by the head of the UN Continue reading the main storyRelated StoriesS Korea eyes 'Gangnam style' boost WatchPsy pressure to represent countryPsy given YouTube world record Gangnam Style, the dance track by South Korean pop phenomenon Psy, has become YouTube's most-watched video of all time.

It has notched up more than 808m views since it was posted in July.

The video pokes fun at the consumerism of Gangnam, an affluent suburb of the South Korean capital Seoul.

In it, the portly Psy dances as though he is trotting on a horse, holding the reins and spinning a lasso in a manner that has sparked a global dance craze.

The video also features the 34-year-old singer reclining on a sun lounger in tight pink shorts, gazing longingly at a girl dancing on an underground train in tight shorts and gesticulating at a woman working out on a beach - in tight shorts.

The dance has sparked numerous copycat versions, being performed by a diverse fan-base including Filipino prison inmates, prominent Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and a Chinese robot.

Popular parodies include one performed by Eton College schoolboys and another in the Star Trek language Klingon.

Gangnam Style, which won best video at this year's MTV Europe Music Awards, has also been number one in 28 countries.

It holds the Guinness World Record for the most "liked" song ever - currently with a little under 5.4m likes on YouTube.

Previously, Justin Bieber's 2010 teenybopper hit Baby held the record for the most YouTube views.

Bieber's manager Scooter Braun was the first person in the US to tweet a link to the Gangnam Style video.

Have you caught the 'Gangnam Style' style dance bug? We would like to see your copycat version. You can upload your video using the form below.

View the Original article

Samsung audit finds China issues

Samsung has asked its suppliers to adopt new hiring process with immediate effect Continue reading the main storyRelated StoriesSamsung faces new factory claimsSamsung widens China plant checksSamsung checks child labour claim Samsung says an audit of 105 of its suppliers in China has identified "several instances of inadequate practices at the facilities".

These included overtime in excess of local laws as well as fines for being late or absent from work.

However, it found no evidence of under-age workers at any of the suppliers.

The audit followed a report by China Labor Watch which alleged that it had evidence of long working hours and under-age workers.

"Samsung did not identify any instance of child labour during the audits after reviewing HR records of all workers aged below 18 and conducting face-to-face ID checks," the company said in statement.

The South Korean manufacturer said that it had asked all its suppliers to adopt a new hiring process immediately to address the problems identified.

It said that among other things, it had asked the suppliers to develop a longer term plan to resolve working hour practices by the end of this year and also to correct irregularities in labour contracts.

Samsung said it was reviewing practices at another 144 of its suppliers in China.

Corrective measures

China Labor Watch (CLW), a New York-based campaign group, has published two reports about alleged breach of labour laws at factories of Samsung and its suppliers in China.

Continue reading the main story“Start QuoteExcept the overtime issue, violations covered in the report are not in line with our knowledge”End QuoteSamsung Electronics The first, published in August, alleged that it had found seven children - all of them are under the age of 16 - working at a factory of Samsung's supplier HEG Electronics.

Samsung had carried out an audit of that factory and said it did not find any evidence of child labour.

It was after that report Samsung announced that it would conduct an audit of 249 suppliers in China.

But just as Samsung promised to carry out the checks at its suppliers, CLW published another report alleging "illegal and inhumane violations" at eight Samsung factories in China.

CLW said it had found evidence of "forced and excessive overtime", "extensive labour contract violations", "abuse of underage workers", "lack of worker safety" and "severe discrimination based on age, gender, and individual characteristics unrelated to the job" among other breaches.

Samsung said that it had conducted regular checks as well as unannounced inspections of all its factories in China in October.

"Except the overtime issue, violations covered in the report are not in line with our knowledge," Samsung said.

It added that it would correct its working hours practices and meet the local guidelines by the end of 2014.

View the Original article

Sex offender's Facebook challenge

A convicted sex offender has launched a legal bid to force Facebook to remove a page set up to monitor paedophiles in Northern Ireland.

The man, who cannot be identified, is also seeking an injunction to stop his photograph and details from appearing on the social networking site.

He claims the case is urgent because he is at real and immediate risk.

Proceedings were brought before the High Court over the Facebook page, 'Keeping our kids safe from predators'.

The man, known only as XY, as he was granted anonymity in court, is currently out on licence after serving a prison sentence for sexual offences.

Following his release he discovered his photo and threatening comments had been posted online.

The judge hearing the case, Mr Justice McCloskey, said: "He deposes to fear and anxiety. He avers that there is a marked change of attitude on the part of his neighbours."

The man, who said he was in poor health, wants Facebook Ireland Ltd to terminate the accounts of anyone operating the page.

His lawyers argue that the company should also be restrained from permitting those responsible from publishing, distributing, broadcasting or disseminating any further information about him on the site.

Monitor

Human rights legislation dealing with privacy and inhumane and degrading treatment is intrinsic to the case.

Facebook has already removed the man's photograph and comments made about him. A lawyer for the company argued that the further relief being sought was neither necessary nor proportionate.

But counsel for the plaintiff confirmed he still wanted the entire page removed. She said the litigation would also try to identify the "mischief makers" before deciding how to proceed against them.

"The case we are making is that Facebook should undertake to monitor," she said.

"The plaintiff recognises that is somewhat onerous, but we would seek a final injunction with regard to that."

Mr Justice McCloskey will hear full arguments from both sides in court in Belfast later this week.

"The court, in consideration and determination of a case of this kind, will obviously have at the forefront of its mind the operation of well-established laws including the law of defamation and the provisions of the Human Rights Act," he said.

View the Original article

Robot uprising risk to be studied

In The Terminator, the machines start to turn on the humans Continue reading the main storyRelated StoriesWhy are humans scared of robots?Rethinking robots at Innorobo 2012Changing relationship with tech Cambridge researchers are to assess whether technology could end up destroying human civilisation.

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) will study dangers posed by biotechnology, artificial life, nanotechnology and climate change.

The scientists said that to dismiss concerns of a potential robot uprising would be "dangerous".

Fears that machines may take over have been central to the plot of some of the most popular science fiction films.

Perhaps most famous is Skynet, a rogue computer system depicted in the Terminator films.

Skynet gained self-awareness and fought back after first being developed by the US military.

'Reasonable prediction'

But despite being the subject of far-fetched fantasy, researchers said the concept of machines outsmarting us demanded mature attention.

"The seriousness of these risks is difficult to assess, but that in itself seems a cause for concern, given how much is at stake," the researchers wrote on a website set up for the centre.

The CSER project has been co-founded by Cambridge philosophy professor Huw Price, cosmology and astrophysics professor Martin Rees and Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn.

"It seems a reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape from the constraints of biology," Prof Price told the AFP news agency.

"What we're trying to do is to push it forward in the respectable scientific community."

He added that as robots and computers become smarter than humans, we could find ourselves at the mercy of "machines that are not malicious, but machines whose interests don't include us".

Survival of the human race permitting, the centre will launch next year.

View the Original article

Is there still a need for Cyber Monday?

Filed under: WebSTORY HIGHLIGHTS Cyber Monday has been the biggest single shopping day of the year for online retailersBut retailers are spreading their online sales throughout the Thanksgiving holidayAs a result, Cyber Monday's growth is flatteningAnalyst: Cyber Monday will phase out eventually

(Mashable) -- Seven years ago, Cyber Monday was established as the online counterpart to Black Friday, a day when Internet retailers would band together to lure holiday shoppers to web storefronts through steep discounts, free shipping and other promotions.

So far, Cyber Monday has delivered on its mission, becoming the biggest single shopping day of the year for online retailers. And it keeps getting bigger: Sales on the day amounted to $1.25 billion in the U.S. in 2011, up 22% from 2010

View the Original article

Nikon D3000 dual-lens-kit deal of the day

Its feature set is basic even by entry-level standards, but the Nikon D3000 delivers the photo quality and performance you expect when stepping up to a dSLR, with an optional interface that's very beginner friendly.

View the Original article

Panasonic DMP-BDT220 Blu-ray player for $75 on Amazon

The Panasonic DMP-BDT220 is the best Blu-ray value of 2012, with built-in Wi-Fi, tons of streaming-media apps, 3D compatibility, and a simple user interface.

View the Original article

Apple shares have fallen far enough, Citi says

Citi prefers to be optimistic when it comes to Apple.

It's not really alone in this (as the firm notes, 51 out of 56 analysts recommend investors buy Apple shares), but what is different is the optimism comes after a rough patch for Apple's stock.

Apple shares have dropped pretty badly over the past couple of months -- down about 18 percent from a high of $705.07 in September -- but that decline is likely about over, Citi says.

The firm today started coverage on the electronics giant by recommending investors buy shares and saying the stock should reach $675 over the next 12 months. It notes that Apple shares typically climb 20 percent to 50 percent following sell-offs similar to the most recent drop.

View the Original article

Motorola Atrix HD now 99 cents

For $99.99, the Motorola Atrix HD is a great deal if you can live with its mediocre camera and short battery life.

View the Original article

Google Maps helps man walk 5,000 miles

Winston Fiore (left) has walked 5,000 miles for smiles.(Credit:Winston Fiore)

Imagine hiking 5,000 miles through Asia, with only Google Maps as your guide. Winston Fiore, a U.S. marine formerly deployed to Senegal and Afghanistan, did it in about a year, calling the journey his "Smile Trek."

The inspiration for "Smile Trek" came in 2007 when Fiore witnessed "an incredible amount of poverty" while in Senegal. He then decided to set aside a year for traveling, and found a cause to throw his weight behind: the International Children's Surgical Foundation (ICSF), a nonprofit that provides free corrective surgery for kids in developing countries with cleft lips and palates.

For the past year, he has hiked through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, and Singapore. He completed his journey last week.

Speaking to CNET Asia in Singapore, his start and end point, Fiore says he didn't carry any physical maps and only relied on Google Maps to map his daily walking route. (Probably a good thing Fiore wasn't using aniPhone 5 -- we all know about the Apple Maps kerfuffle.)

Along with Google Maps, Fiore relied on Google Translate (to communicate with locals); Google Latitude (for keeping his family, friends, and supporters informed of his whereabouts); and MyTracks (to record his speed, distance, and places visited).

View the Original article

PC gaming does Cyber Monday: Downloadable PC games

Amazon's site navigation is kind of a mess. You can find the discounted, downloadable PC games here.

In total, Amazon lists 429 results, encompassing full games and downloadable content (DLC), with discounts up to 75 percent. You also get a $5 credit with any downloaded game purchase to use in January 2013 on any "2012 Editor's Choice" game.

Amazon's deal inventory dwarfs that of its major competition. In comparison, GameStop has 20 discounted PC titles. Valve Software has six.

The trick for Amazon is that it lists bundles as well as individual games. A bundle can include an entire series of games, a la the Bioshock collection, or a game and its season pass, as with Max Payne Complete. The latter entitles you to the core Max Payne III game, as well as all current and future DLC.

Of Amazon's offers, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a highlight. Amazon sells it for $24.99. Other online retailers only have it for upward of $35.

Other standout deals on Amazon include the aforementioned Max Payne Complete for $19.99, and Kingdoms of Amalur Complete for $11.99, or $4 less than publisher Electronic Arts' own discounted version. (I'll offer the fact that I just purchased the discounted Kingdoms of Amalur as a cautionary tale about the perils of conducting this research).

For more family-oriented games, Amazon lists the Disney Kids and Family pack download for $9.99 (including Toy Story 3, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, and G-Force games), along with an assortment of card and puzzle games. Again, click here for Amazon's complete list of discounted downloadable PC games.

View the Original article

Facebook adds iTunes to Facebook Gifts

The social network's move to add Apple to its retail partner list for Facebook Gifts comes shortly after it announced the inclusion of more than a dozen new partners at a media event earlier this month.

The Apple partnership is an important one for Facebook. Although the social network is reportedly pushing for its employees to use Android phones in hopes of improving itsAndroid apps, Facebook and Apple have close ties; For example, Apple has integrated the social network's sharing feature into iOS 6.

Facebook Gifts already features digital gifts from companies like Hulu, Pandora, and Rdio, but Apple's iTunes gives Facebook a big mainstream tech/media brand to tout as the social network tries to get members to use the new service.

Related storiesFacebook uses posters to push employees to switch to AndroidIrish regulators seek 'urgent' clarity on Facebook data changesThe Onion's joyous crucifixion of social media gurus

Launched at the end of September with about 100 merchants, the gifting service lets users buy and send gifts right off friends' Timelines and Facebook takes a cut.

Although Facebook won't say how big of a cut it gets from these sales, including the deal with Apple, the new service lets Facebook make money on something other than advertising.

View the Original article

Nintendo's Fils-Aime: Microsoft, Sony need to react to us

" adding that the device's performance to this point is "quite comparable" to the Wii, indicating the Wii U could match what is one of the most popular consoles of all time.

In the end, Fils-Aime doesn't see the Wii U as a standalone piece of hardware, but as "a living, breathing" product that will continue to be improved over the coming years.

View the Original article

T-Mobile offers HTC One S for free

The HTC One S is the best phone you can get on T-Mobile (for now), wrapping Android 4.0, 4G data speeds, and a beautiful 4.3-inch AMOLED screen into one svelte package.

View the Original article

Versatile indoor grill makes turkey sandwiches all year round

The Thanksgiving tradition of finding new ways to cook leftovers continues.(Credit:Amazon)

It's time to talk turkey. A lot of turkey. As in turkey sandwiches. It is that time of year, after all. However, as high as the leftovers may be piled up in the refrigerator, that doesn't necessarily mean it's easy to figure out what to do with them. One can only eat so many sandwiches. Unless of course, there can be found new ways of constructing them.

The Frigidaire FPPG12K7MS Professional Panini Grill (about $120) takes an old classic and smashes it -- in a good way. But panini sandwiches are just the start. The indoor grill opens flat and each side has an individual temperature control. The reversible cooking plates can be used to grill or griddle so when it comes time to fry up some bacon for that turkey sandwich, this one countertop appliance has you covered.

Finding creative ways to deal with Thanksgiving leftovers is a delicious tradition, but sometimes it's the classics that really hit the spot. The device features five adjustable height settings that can be used to find the perfect pressure for creating pressed sandwiches. With 1,500 watts and 240 square inches of cooking area, the indoor grill makes it easy to cook up some classic leftover combinations -- or perhaps to use that extra cooking area to come up with some new ones.

Topics: Cooking Tags: indoor grill, Frigidaire, griddle Brian Krepshaw A San Francisco resident, Brian has access to some of the best dining in the world. With a deep appreciation for the kitchen, he is always on the lookout for that perfect appliance that combines style and grace with the ever-popular ability to save time. Don't Miss

View the Original article

Two hard drive deals for Cyber Monday

Despite a few minor shortcomings, the GoFlex Satellite makes an excellent direct-attach external storage solution for anyone and a must-have for those who frequently travel with Apple's iPad.

View the Original article

Google ups the ante against Amazon's cloud service

Google has added 36 new types of server to its rentable cloud infrastructure. 

The additions to Google Compute Engine, the company's infrastructure-as-a-service technology, were announced by Google on Monday.

View the Original article

Grab a Vizio 70-inch TV for $1,699

If you're looking for a TV with a big screen and most of the bells and whistles then you might be interested in Vizio's E-Series 70-inch Razor Smart TV, which is on sale for Cyber Monday at 1699. It's usual price is $1999 and it is the larger version of the 60-inch E601i-A3 which itself got a solid 3.5 stars from David Katzmaier. Vizio says the 70-inch version is quite different with an even better picture and so we were unable to review the TV as part of a series as we usually do.

The E701i-A3 unit features 'Razor' LED backlighting and comes with Vizios spiffy new 22mm bezel design. It comes with a 120Hz refresh, built-in Wi-Fi with Smart TV, and a reversible QWERTY remote. Unfortunately it lacks 3D, but unless you watch Avatar religiously you won't miss it.

The TV is available from Costco, Amazon and Walmart. CNET anticipates receiving a 70-inch E701i-A3 shortly so look out for more information soon.

Tags: cyber monday, vizio, 70-inch

View the Original article

Xbox SmartGlass: Not Quite the One, But Worth a Date or Two

By Chris Maxcer
MacNewsWorld
Part of the ECT News Network

If I'm going to be searching for content -- opposed to browsing or navigating to it -- using the Xbox SmartGlass app is a good choice, if only for the ability to use a virtual keyboard. As for the rest of it, it doesn't exactly fill a glaring need, but it does extend the Xbox experience just a bit farther.Xbox SmartGlass, an app by Microsoft for iPhone and iPad, is available free in the Apple App Store.

View the Original article

Acer Aspire V5-571-6891

Can you get full quality in a laptop for under $500? Yes, you can, with the Acer Aspire V5-571-6891 desktop replacement laptop.

View the Original article

LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (1TB SSD)

Tight deadlines? The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (1TB SSD) gets you your data quicker than you can think.

View the Original article

PC Tools Registry Mechanic

PC Tool Registry Mechanic is a stripped down version of PC Tools Performance Toolkit that doesn't deliver the same performance-enhancing punch as competing products. Furthermore, the three-PC license is an antiquated model in the multi-PC home.

View the Original article

PTLens 8.9

PTLens was a pioneer in lens-based corrections, but bigger fish have since swum past it.

View the Original article

Innovation vs. Magic: Why Apple and Microsoft Need James Bond

By Rob Enderle
TechNewsWorld

The Surface and Windows Phone announcement events arguably were better than the last several Apple events. It's as though Apple lost the Steve Jobs script and Microsoft found it somehow. Still, anyone who tries to read the script will be overshadowed by Jobs -- until someone with magic gets on stage and owns it.After seeing the new Microsoft offerings, Steve Wozniak recently lamented that Microsoft is nowout innovating Apple. Wozniak is the surviving founder of Apple, and his perspective clearly isimportant, but he was the guy who got the product to work. It was the other Steve who was largely responsible for creating the entity that was Apple, and it was the other Steve that made it a huge success.

Steve Jobs was moreof a packaging and marketing guy; once he got something that worked, he didn't mess with it much --he simply refined it and convinced us we loved the refinements. The products weren't truly magical,any more than a magic show is magical, but he convinced us they were something special -- and they weregood enough that we saw them through his eyes.

Apple wasn't the first with smartphones, tablets or even MP3 players. It was just the first to package a set of compelling technologies, wrap them upwith marketing, and get us to line up to buy them.

Windows 8 is innovative, but it is only part of something that makes up a whole; without the rest, it'snot magical. Surface comes close, but I think what's missing is a magician. Let me explain.

I'll close with the Dell XPS 12 tablet -- the first Windows 8 tablet I've received to review, and onewith the most innovative screens of the bunch.

Apple's Dying Magic

Thinking back on the first introduction of the iPod, what I didn't recognize at the time was that I was at an Apple magic show. Like most magic shows, the audience was filled with shills to create an atmosphere. In this case, they knew when to cheer and applaud.

Given that we mostly thought MP3 players were crap at the time, it was critical for us to see it assomething new and different. Even so, there were a lot of skeptics -- and for good reason. The iPod was awhopping US$500 in a market populated by under-$200 products that weren't selling. You'd have to havebeen nuts to believe a product would sell for more than twice-market.

However, that is what makes magic magic -- getting people to believe the impossible is possible. You need a magician, though. I kind of wonder if he could be Steve Wozniak?

Borrowed Magic: Surface/Windows Phone

Both of Microsoft's recent launches were directly out of the Apple script. They had people in theaudience who cheered at the right times, the products both were in areas where Microsoft had failedin the past, and both products were clearly very different from the products in market.

Unlike that first iPod, the Surface tablet is competitive with other products in the same size class, as are the newWindows Phones. In addition, unlike Apple at the time of the iPod launch, Microsoft is in good financialshape and isn't living under a cloud of impending failure.

Now there are some minor problems with the Surface tablet, and the Windows Phone 8 is having afew teething pains as well. But the first iPod used FireWire, had little capacity, wouldn't workwith Windows PC, and did nothing but play music. A lot of people who bought it ended up returningit, largely because they didn't realize it wouldn't work with their hardware. Yet it was thefoundation for the new Apple.

The Magician

Now part of why Jobs was a magician is that he was legendary in the valley. He was the founder of Apple andthe face of the company. He was amazing in front of an audience. It wasn't just the fact that he couldremember a script after one reading, either. He had presence -- he could touch you.

If you've ever seen a play with a famous actor and then gone back with a friend and seen the same play with an understudy, you can perhaps get what I mean. The understudy says the words right, even has the intonations right, but it just isn't as good. Part of the reason, I think, is that you know it won't be.

With Jobs, you knew the event was going to be legendary. Even if he was off his game, your braincould in the gaps and create the magic. At the end, this was likely more habit than performance -- buteven sick Jobs could outdo anyone who has succeeded him.

Microsoft Outdid Apple

Now the Surface and Windows Phone announcement events arguably were better than the last severalApple events. It's as though Apple lost the Steve Jobs script and Microsoft found it somehow.

Still, anyone who tries to read the script will be overshadowed by Jobs -- until someone with magicgets on stage and owns it.

Wrapping Up: Skyfall

Bet you were wondering where the James Bond reference was going to go. Well, over all the JamesBonds stood Connery -- every one of them was a pale echo of the first James Bond. However, in Skyfall, Craig and the writers reset the franchise -- Skyfall is arguably the best Bond movie ever made.

That's because itembraced the Connery history and made it part of the new future for the franchise. A hand-off is what's alwaysbeen missing -- a sense of continuity or closure, if you will, and that moment is magical. I think anyone who steps into Jobs' shoes will have to take the stage like he did, accept the unpassedbaton, and create a similar form of continuity. Then we won't see a mere attempt at magic -- we'll see a truemagician.

Product of the Week: Dell XPS 12

View the Original article