Google opens up social networking

Google has launched a system that will allow developers to create applications for a variety of social networks.

BBC News

Developers currently have to customise their designs for a particular site with many partnering with the hugely popular Facebook.

Google's OpenSocial system will allow a wider distribution for tools like Facebook's music recommendation service iLike and its Top Friends application.

It has long been reported that Google has big ambitions in social networking.

Last week it missed out on the chance to buy a stake in Facebook with the founders choosing instead to do a deal with Microsoft.

"Facebook-fear"

Google said that around a dozen social network partners had signed up to the system, including business site LinkedIn, Friendster and Google's own social network Orkut.

Developers already onboard include Flixster, iLike and RockYou.

Unlike Facebook, OpenSocial allows developers to write in normal javascript and html with only minor adjustments needed for the code to work on its platform.

According to blog TechCrunch the plan is likely to be a big hit with developers as well as Facebook's rivals.

"Developers have been complaining non stop about the costs of learning yet another markup language for every new social network platform, and taking developer time in creating and maintaining the code," wrote TechCrunch's Michael Arrington.

He is impressed by the number of social networks that have signed up so far.

"Facebook-fear has clearly driven good partners to side with Google," he wrote.

Technology writer Om Malik observed: "OpenSocial attacks Facebook where it is the weakest (and the strongest): its quintessential closed nature."

Apple's Leopard leaps, but will Mac sales follow?

By Rex Crum, MarketWatch, Last Update: 2:06 PM ET Oct 30, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Apple Inc. saw booming sales of the latest version of its operating system over the weekend, which may help boost momentum for the company's line of Mac computers during the holiday season.

said Tuesday that 2 million copies of its Leopard operating system were sold since the product was released on Friday, Oct. 26.

Analyst Keith Bachman, of BMO Capital Markets, estimated that 200,000 of those sales included Macs that were pre-installed with Leopard. And coming off a quarter in which Apple sold 2.16 million Macs running the previous operating system called Tiger, the question facing Apple is whether Leopard will be a force in adding to Mac sales during the end-of-the-year holiday shopping season.

"Consumers typically don't understand or know why they should care about an operating system," said J.P. Gownder, principal analyst with Forrester Research. "But in the Apple ecosystem, there are lots of evangelists that play a large role in proselytizing for Apple."

Apple has a tough act to follow regarding Mac sales. In addition to Apple just coming off its first quarter of more than 2 million Mac sales, technology research firm Gartner Inc. said Apple claimed about 8% of the U.S. PC market during the third quarter of the year.

Most analysts expect Mac sales to weaken slightly in the December quarter, as sales have historically been stronger during the back-to-school season. Apple shipped 1.6 million Macs during the final quarter of 2006.

Still, Gene Munster, of Piper Jaffray, said that the numbers illustrate the strong loyalty to the Mac and Apple's ability to sell frequent operating system upgrades to a greater share of its Mac customer base.

"These numbers show the Mac user base is growing," Munster said, in a research note. "It also shows that it is an unusually active user base." Munster has an outperform rating and $250 a share target on Apple's stock.

Bachman, of BMO Capital Markets, called the first weekend of Leopard's sales "impressive" and said his estimates for 2.15 million Mac sales for the quarter will likely turn out to be lower than Apple's final results.

In a research note, Bachman said Mac sales "will be in a barbell distribution this quarter, [with] lots of sales at the beginning with Leopard's release, and at the end of the quarter with holidays."

Bachman holds an outperform rating and $200 a share price target on Apple's stock.

Among the features built into Leopard is Boot Camp, an application that allows Microsoft Corp.'s

Windows operating system to run on a Mac. The operating system also includes Quick Look, a program that lets a person see what is inside a file without having to open it, and Time Machine, a program that automatically backs up everything on the computer.

Computers seen selling briskly in holiday buying

By Philipp Gollner, Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:48pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Personal computers are likely to be among this holiday season's best-selling gifts as consumers upgrade to higher-performance systems and switch to notebook PCs, but the highest demand is coming from outside the United States.

Sales are being driven by falling component prices, entertainment applications such as games, videos and music, growing demand for portable machines and consumer adoption of Microsoft Corp's Windows Vista operating system.

Those trends are stoking sales of computers from Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc, Apple Inc and Acer Inc, among others, according to researchers. A weaker dollar is helping drive sales in Europe.

"A lot of laptops go with the gifts under the trees," said Gregory Spierkel, chief executive of Ingram Micro Inc, the world's largest distributor of PCs and computer products, in a recent interview.

"We're seeing pretty good progress with notebooks across the board," Spierkel said. "I see that trend continuing for the current quarter."

Computers topped holiday wish lists in a recent survey by the Consumer Electronics Association, beating out peace and happiness, big-screen TVs, clothes and money, in that order.

Some of the biggest buyers are consumers in emerging markets whose rising incomes are allowing them to make big-ticket purchases for the first time, according to market researcher IDC, which is forecasting 12.6 percent growth in global PC shipments this year, up from 9.7 percent in 2006.

In the United States, PC shipments grew at about one-third the rate of the worldwide total of 15.5 percent in the third quarter, reflecting the importance of emerging markets in boosting computer sales, IDC said. U.S. consumer confidence remains strong despite protracted housing and credit turmoil, analysts said.

The PC is enjoying a resurgence following several years in which digital music players, mobile phones and automotive gadgets such as global positioning systems topped consumers' holiday wish lists, analysts said.

No longer just a staid workhorse for handling word-processing, email and other basic computing tasks, the PC these days is becoming an entertainment hub in and out of the home, thanks largely to faster Internet connections that bring high-quality video to computer monitors.

"The computer market has legs," said Roger Kay, president of market researcher Endpoint Technologies Associates Inc. "That's surprised a lot of us (who wondered), 'Haven't people gotten tired of this yet?' The answer is, 'They haven't.'"

"You still need screen real-estate to do certain things, particularly to enjoy entertainment," Kay said. "The digital entertainment era is coming into its own. Ultimately, both audio and video entertainment are most conveniently enjoyed these days on some kind of computer platform."

HP of Palo Alto, California, remained the market-share leader by unit sales, followed by Round Rock, Texas-based Dell, China's Lenovo Group Ltd, Taiwan's Acer and Japan's Toshiba Corp.

In the United States, Dell held the top market share spot in the third quarter, followed by HP and Apple, which shipped 15.9 percent more Macintosh computers than in the year-earlier period, IDC said.

Apple benefited from strong back-to-school sales and its image as an innovator after it introduced the iPod music player and the iPhone, which went on sale in June.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, was among the first computer makers to promote the concept of the home computer as a digital hub linking PCs, music players and other hardware with software and online services such as Apple's iTunes music store.

"We're definitely optimistic" for holiday PC sales, said IDC analyst Loren Loverde. "The potential housing bubble, the subprime situation, the high oil prices -- those have been in the media now for a year or more at least. We were more concerned in the second half of last year when growth slowed."

Warning over net address limits

BBC News

Internet Service Providers urgently need to roll out the next generation of net addresses for online devices, internet pioneer Vint Cerf has said.

Every device that goes online is allocated a unique IP address but the pool of numbers is finite and due to run out around 2010.

A new system, called IPv6, has been awaiting roll out for 10 years.

Unless IPv6 is switched on in the coming years, some devices might not be able to go online, Mr Cerf has warned.

Mr Cerf, who played a key role in the development of the protocols which underpin the global net, said: "There is a risk of not being able to get online."

He added: "The rate of consumption of available remaining IPv4 numbers appears to be on track to run out in 2010/11."

Mr Cerf is about to step down as chairman of Icann, the body which oversees the net, and is also Google's chief internet evangelist.

Potential shortage

The current system, called IPv4 provides four billion addresses but the explosion in the number of devices which go online has led to the potential shortage.

Although IPv6 was standardised 10 years ago it has not been rolled out at speed.

While modern computers, servers, routers and other online devices are able to use IPv6, internet service providers have yet to implement the system.

"The reason they haven't - which is quite understandable - is that customers haven't asked for it yet," said Mr Cerf, adding, "my job, whether with my Icann hat on or not, is to persuade them to ask for it.

To be clear - if we finally exhaust the IPv4 pool it doesn't mean the internet stops working

Vint Cerf

"If you don't ask for it, then when you most want it you won't have it."

IPv6 will create 340 trillion trillion trillion separate addresses, enough to satisfy demand for decades to come.

"To be clear - if we finally exhaust the IPv4 pool it doesn't mean the internet stops working. But people wanting an IPv4 address won't get one.

"If there is an internet that does not support IPv6, not getting an IPv4 address means not getting on the net."

He added: "The appreciation of the importance of getting IPv6 into operation is very much more visible than before.

"I'm anticipating in 2008 a substantial increase of use of IPv6, introduced in parallel with IPv4."

One complicating factor is that IPv6 and IPv4 are not compatible so ISPs will have to run the two systems in parallel - adding to costs.

In Asia, governments in China, Korea and Japan have begun to lead roll out of IPv6 and the European Union is reviewing methods to encourage adoption.

3 launches new Skype mobile phone

BBC News

Mobile phone provider 3 has launched a new handset that will allow users to make free calls over the internet via telephony service Skype.

Users will also be able to use Skype's instant messaging service, 3 said.

But while people using Skype on their computers are able to make cheap global calls to any phone number, this will not be possible via the new 3 handset.

Skype has about 246 million registered users worldwide and is one of the firms reshaping the global phone industry.

Mobile potential

To date, mobile phone companies have been unwilling to let users freely access Skype via their handsets for fear that it would hurt their business.

While it is possible to access Skype from a number of handsets, this has involved downloading third-party software, something that has put off the majority of users.

The Skype-phone will be the first instance of a phone operator launching a mass market device that is designed to allow free calling over the internet from a mobile, 3 said.

"It takes an innovative operator... to challenge traditional thinking and offer the kind of product other operators are still shying away from," said Skype's acting chief executive, Michael van Swaaij.

"It's is now truly mobile. Skype has now taken a giant step forward in the mobile arena.

And chief executive of 3 UK, Kevin Russell, said the firm wanted to make mobile internet more accessible.

"Services need to be simple to access and affordable," he said.

"Mobile has the potential to massively increase access to internet calling."

Global reach

The service, launching on 2 November, will be accessed by a button on the handset.

As well as the UK, the 3 Skype-phone will be launched in countries including Australia, Denmark, Italy and Hong Kong.

Pay as you go customers will have to top up their account with at least £10 each month to qualify for the free Skype-to-Skype calls, 3 said.

Student’s Ad Gets a Remake, and Makes the Big Time

By STUART ELLIOTT, The New York Times

Published: October 26, 2007

The idea that you do not have to be a professional to create a good commercial is becoming widespread, in a trend known as consumer-generated content. Leave it to Apple to — paraphrasing the company’s old slogan a bit — think differently.

A television commercial for the new iPod Touch from Apple, scheduled to begin running on Sunday, is being created by the longtime Apple agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day. It is based on a commercial that an 18-year-old English student — an Apple devotee named Nick Haley, who says he got his first Macintosh when he was 3 — created on his own one day last month.

His spot offers a fast-paced tour of the abilities of the iPod Touch, set to a song titled “Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex” by a Brazilian band, CSS.

Mr. Haley said he was inspired to make the commercial by a lyric in the song, “My music is where I’d like you to touch.”

He based the visual elements on video clips about the iPod Touch and other new products, which can be watched on the Apple Web site (apple.com). He uploaded his commercial to YouTube, where it received four stars out of a possible five and comments that ranged from “That’s awesome,” followed by 16 exclamation points, to “Makes me want to buy one and hack it.”

As of yesterday, Mr. Haley’s spot has been viewed 2,131 times on youtube.com. Among the viewers were marketing employees at Apple in Cupertino, Calif., who asked staff members on the Apple account at TBWA/Chiat/Day to get in touch with Mr. Haley about producing a professional version of the commercial.

“I was sitting on the bus and I got this e-mail on my phone,” Mr. Haley, a native of Warwick, England, said in an interview yesterday from the University of Leeds, where he is a “fresher,” or first-year student.

The message said, “ ‘We represent Apple and we’ve seen what you have produced and we’d like a chat with you,’ ” Mr. Haley recalled, adding: “This seemed ridiculous and far-fetched. My initial reaction was, someone wanted to steal it.”

Read More ....

Related Article / Video

Apple iPod Touch Ad Created by Nick Haley (YouTube)

Asian Governments Promote Open Source Development

Government support for open source is helping Red Hat grow its business in the Asia-Pacific region.

PCWorld

John Ribeiro, IDG News Service

Saturday, October 27, 2007 5:00 PM PDT

Asian governments are pivotal to Red Hat Inc.'s goal of earning 60 percent of its revenue from outside the US by the end of 2009, said Matthew Szulik, the company's chairman, chief executive officer, and president, in a conference call on Thursday.

Governments in the region are beginning to see open source as a boost for their economies and a way to increase technological innovation in the region, Szulik said. The governments of South Korea, Japan, Australia, and China have been "positive spokespeople" for the growing adoption of Linux and open source software in the region, he added.

Most of the business for Red Hat in the region, as in the rest of the world, is in the transition from Unix and legacy systems to the Linux operating system. Customers are typically in the financial services, telecommunications, technology and the government sector, Szulik said.

At the end of August, Red Hat's revenue for the first six months of its fiscal year was US$246 million [m], up 34 percent from the previous year. About 85 percent of its revenue came from software subscriptions with the balance coming from services like consulting and training. The company does not break out revenue by regions.

Red Hat also had $33 million in operating income for the six months period, up 48 percent from the same period in the previous year. The company has over $1.3 billion in cash on its balance sheet, said Charlie Peters, Red Hat's chief financial officer.

Apart from continuing opportunities in the market for replacement of the Unix operating system with Linux, Red Hat is also seeing revenue coming in from middleware, Peters said. The company acquired JBoss Inc., a vendor of open-source middleware, in June 2006.

Red Hat plans to roll out new technologies in the coming months that will help customers build global virtualized computing infrastructure, Szulik said. The company introduced server, storage, and desktop virtualization as part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 earlier this year.

An increase in availability of third-party applications around Linux helped boost demand, as Linux has been expanding its share of servers based on Intel Corp.'s x86 architecture and IBM Corp.'s mainframe and server environments, Szulik said. In addition, there has been an increase of technically trained staff with Linux and open-source skills, he added.

Blogging party gets official stamp of approval

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bloggers and internet publishing in Indonesia gained new legitimacy Saturday when Communications and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh declared Oct. 27 National Bloggers Day.

The announcement was made at Pesta Blogger (blogger party) 2007, Indonesia's first large meeting of bloggers, which around 500 people attended.

"I can see today the Indonesian blogger community is developing the use of IT facilities and filling information gaps in the country with blogging," the former rector of East Java's November 10 Institute of Technology said.

He said the gathering and blogging were both "revolutionary" and deserved support.

"Blogs can be educational, empowering and enlightening. That's why I can guarantee you curbing blogs will never happen in this country," said Nuh.

"I also notice most of the bloggers are young, which is good. As the proverb says, 'The future of a country is in hands of the young generation'. Wimar (Witoelar) is the only old one here," he kiddingly said, to laughter from the audience.

Having handled many talk shows, Wimar Witoelar was the moderator at a discussion at the gathering, which was initiated by public relations agency Maverick and driven by a team of bloggers.

Speaking at the discussion were Nuh, committee chairman Enda Nasution, Asia Blogging Network chief executive Budi Putra and Adrianto Gani of www.wikimu.com.

Budi, a former Tempo journalist and now full-time blogger, highlighted the importance of blog contents.

"No one will visit and revisit your blog no matter how cool your blog design is unless you have something substantial to offer," he said.

Well-developed content, Budi said, would automatically attract more visitors and might create business opportunities with advertisers as media for advertisement "is getting narrow".

The gathering drew not only Jakartan bloggers, but also an Indonesian living in neighboring Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur and many others from West Sumatra's Padang, West Java's Bandung, Central Java's Semarang, Yogyakarta, South Sulawesi's Makassar and Central Sulawesi's Poso.

There are 150,000 bloggers in the country.

A blogger and correspondent for The Jakarta Post in Poso, Ruslan Sangadji, said he had traveled to Jakarta with the help of friends.

"I spent Rp 1.28 million (US$140) using the money I collected from my friends. And now I don't have more money to go home," he said, to laughter.

"I eagerly came to learn how to build blogs for the Palu (Central Sulawesi) community."

Violinist Maylaffayza, who writes for 11 blogs, was also among the participants.

"Please do blog because blogging is all about reaching out to people, making friends from all around the world, creating personal relationships and can be very educational," she said.

'Magnetic memory' chip unveiled

BBC News

A microchip which can store information like a hard drive has been unveiled by US company Freescale.

The chip, called magnetoresistive random-access memory (Mram), maintains data by relying on magnetic properties rather than an electrical charge.

One analyst told the Associated Press news agency that the chip was the most significant development in computer memory for a decade.

Mram chips could find their way into many different electronic devices.

The benefit of Mram chips is that they will hold information after power has been switched off.

Freescale has been producing the four-megabit Mram chips at an Arizona factory for two months to build up levels of stock.

A number of chip makers have been pursuing the technology for a decade or more, including IBM, but Freescale is the first company to offer a chip with practical usage for many of today's electronic devices.

'Radically new'

"This is the most significant memory introduction in this decade," said Will Strauss, an analyst with research firm Forward Concepts.

"This is radically new technology. People have been dabbling in this for years, but nobody has been able to make it in volume."

Unlike flash memory, which also can keep data without power, Mram has faster read and write speeds and does not degrade over time.

Ram chips in most electronic devices, such as PCs, lose data when their power is switched off.

Currently flash memory is used in portable devices such as MP3 players and for portable storage in the form of small cards that are used in cameras.

Mram chips could one day be used in PCs to store an operating system, allowing computers to start up faster when switched on.

Bob Merritt, an analyst with Semico Research, said memory chip manufacturers were seeking technology that will be faster, smaller, cheaper and retain data when the power is off.

"The older memory technologies are awkward to work with in a mobile computing environment," Mr Merritt said.

"This is a significant step forward and absolutely critical for moving into the smaller forms that consumers and industry want."

Freescale has been working on the technology for nearly a decade, said Saied Tehrani, who runs the Austin-based company's Mram programme.

He said Freescale already had customers, but he declined to name any.

One in four Americans happy to skip love

Wed Oct 24, 2007 5:20pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Rather than looking for their perfect match, one in four Americans say the Internet can serve as a substitute for a significant other, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

A survey on the role the Internet plays in people's lives by Zogby International and communications consultancy 463 Communications found that 24 percent of Americans said the Internet could replace a partner for some period of time.

The percentage was highest among singles of whom 31 percent said the Internet could be a substitute -- with no difference among males and females.

Read whole story ....

Bloggers make noise - and it's getting bigger all the time

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

At least 358 bloggers plan to take part in the country's first national blog meeting on Saturday.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post on the development and prospects of blogs, particularly in Indonesia, Budi Putra of the Asia Blogging Network said Friday he invited anyone interested in blogging or "citizen journalism" to attend Pesta Blogger.

The Asia Blogging Network is a Jakarta-based world media network providing technology, sports, lifestyle, and entertainment-based postings in more than 70 blogs.

"We invite not only bloggers, but also those who do and will have connections with blogs to come to the gathering, which will take place on Saturday," Budi said.

The gathering will start at 10:30 a.m. at the country's biggest movie theater, the Blitz Megaplex in Grand Indonesia, Central Jakarta.

"We're also expecting representatives of Linux and Microsoft to come but still hoping it will be as casual as possible," said Budi, also a member of the event's organizing committee.

The initial response of the country's bloggers was so enthusiastic that the committee doubled the number of invites to 400.

"Many bloggers are so interested to come they... are willing to spend money on airplane tickets and hotel rooms," said Budi.

In addition, committee chairperson Enda Nasution said in a press statement: "We also have to move the location from the previous Hard Rock Cafe (in Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta) to Blitz Megaplex because of the huge number of potential participants."

According to Budi, not only will the gathering be a common ground for bloggers to meet on, but also a place for discussions on successful blogging.

"We'll set up discussions through which people will hopefully learn about the kinds of opportunities they can have in blogging," said the former Tempo journalist who is now a full-time blogger.

"Indonesia has so much potential to grow its blogs and make them globally popular," he said.

Budi said that the blog industry in the country, which "supposedly can create business profits, is still silent although the number of active players is quite huge".

There are more than 150,000 Indonesian bloggers, at least 60 percent of whom are "active bloggers". That number doubles every six months, according to Budi.

He also says the Indonesian language ranks in the top 10 most active language used in blogs and that Jakartan bloggers rank second among the most active commentators in the world.

More than 500 participants attend blogger party

JAKARTA (JP): More than 500 bloggers in the country attended Saturday the first blogger gathering here, an official at the organizing committee said.

The gathering, named Blogger Party 2007, lured participants from Jakarta to the conflict ridden town of Poso in Central Sulawesi.

Columnist Wimar Witoelar and movie director Joko Anwar are among the participants of the party.

Apple ready to set Leopard free

Leopard, the latest update of the Apple Mac operating system OS X, goes on sale on Friday.

BBC News

The release ends months of waiting for Mac fans, after Apple pushed back the launch to finish development on its much-hyped iPhone.

Early reviews for Leopard have been positive with veteran technology writer Walt Mossberg calling it "evolutionary, not revolutionary".

Apple is hoping to build on recent strong sales of its Mac computers.

In the last three months, Apple sold 2.2 million Macs, up 400,000 on its previous best quarter.

The company is touting Leopard as a Vista-beater, pointing to new features not found in the new operating system (OS) from Microsoft that drives many PCs.

LEOPARD'S NEW SPOTS

• Time Machine - automatic file back-up
• Stacks - related files and folders grouped automatically
• Spaces -keep separate desktops for different uses
• Quick Look - Examines the contents of a file without having to open the related program
• Coverflow Finder - flick through files and folders like album art in iTunes
• Boot Camp - run Windows on a Mac
  
  

Apple says there are 300 new features in Leopard, but some of them are minor tweaks to the previous OS, called Tiger, rather than fully-fledged tools or enhancements.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Mossberg said: "I believe it builds on Apple's quality advantage over Windows.

"In my view, Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use."

Read more ....

Gmail Now Has IMAP Support

Announced at Interop New York, the e-mail feature synchs with Outlook Express, Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003, Apple Mail, Windows Mail, and Thunderbird 2.0.

By K.C. Jones, InformationWeek, October 24, 2007 01:30 PM

Gmail users can now use IMAP to synchronize e-mail on their iPhones and desktops.

Matthew Glotzbach, product management director for Google Enterprise, announced the release of IMAP support in Gmail Wednesday at Interop New York. Glotzbach, a keynote speaker, said Gmail account holders can begin using IMAP immediately.

He held it up as an example of Google's attempts at continuous innovation, saying it's one of many new features Google has added since launching Google Applications in February.

"IMAP isn't new, but bringing it together is," he said.

David Murray, associate product manager for Google, wrote about it in a blog posted Wednesday.

"There are two online petitions I've signed in my life," he said. "One was for a 'Xena: Warrior Princess' movie. The other, which I signed a few months before starting at Google, was for Gmail IMAP... It keeps the same information synched across all devices so that whatever you do in one place shows up everywhere else you might access your e-mail. For example, I can read an e-mail in Gmail, then move it to the 'Starred' folder on my iPhone, then archive it by moving it to 'All Mail' in Thunderbird, then see all of those changes on my BlackBerry."

Google has placed a video demonstration on YouTube. Users must change their settings to enable IMAP in their Gmail accounts and configure their mail client or wireless device to download Gmail messages. Google provides instructions on how to do that.

Once the configuration settings are changed, everything users do through e-mail on their iPhones and desktops will be immediately visible on the other device because the changes have been stored on a server. The feature works for several e-mail applications, including Outlook Express, Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003, Apple Mail, Windows Mail, and Thunderbird 2.0.

IMAP Gmail access will work on a Blackberry, but Google tells Palm users to take note: GMail IMAP access isn't yet compatible with VersaMail. Users' clients must support SMTP authentication to send mail using a Gmail address.

IBM Chipset Promises HD Downloads In Milliseconds

Dubbed mmWave, the computer component will use so-called millimeter wave radio technology to transmit the data.

By Paul McDougall, InformationWeek

October 22, 2007 02:31 PM

IBM disclosed Monday that it has teamed up with Taiwanese vendor MediaTek to develop computer chipsets that the companies say will allow consumers to wirelessly zap high-definition content to televisions and other devices at push-button speeds.

Dubbed mmWave, the chipsets -- which comprise computer chips and high-speed interconnects -- will use so-called millimeter wave radio technology to transmit the data.

The technology employs ultra-high radio frequencies capable of sending and receiving large amounts of data at extremely high speeds to create what IBM and MediaTek are calling "revolutionary multimedia wireless products."

Devices utilizing the technology would be capable of receiving a 10-Gbit file in about 5 seconds, compared to 10 minutes using current Wi-Fi systems. "This collaborative effort will enable consumers to wirelessly transfer large multimedia data files around their home and/or offices in seconds," said T.C. Chen, VP for science and technology at IBM Research, in a statement.

The technology could be used in applications like home theater, where a wireless DVD player could stream high-definition movie content to a television in near-real time.

IBM said it will work to integrate its mmWave radio chips, antenna, and package technology with MediaTek's expertise in digital baseband and video processing.

Still, tech enthusiasts shouldn't rush down to their local Circuit City (NYSE: CC) or Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) in hopes of finding such products just yet. IBM officials say it will be at least three years before they can commercialize the technology. "We don't have a projected date for making a prototype available," said IBM business development executive Saif Aziz, in an interview.

The technology is also expected to compete with Ultra Wideband as a localized networking technology.

Earlier this year, IBM disclosed research it's undertaking into high-speed optical chipsets.

Microsoft: Time To Plot A Comeback

It happened. Microsoft is now the underdog to Google in the game of technology world domination

Wendy Tanaka, Forbes, 10.19.07, 6:00 AM ET

BURLINGAME, CALIF. -

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant faces growing competition in its core software business, which dominated the industry for two decades, and it hasn’t had a bottom line-galvanizing success in any other area recently. It was late to online advertising, letting Google all but run away with that sector. It hasn’t had a big Web 2.0 hit yet. Thank god for Halo 3!

But Steve Ballmer isn’t worried. The bombastic chief executive of Microsoft was brimming with confidence and good cheer about the company’s future at the Web 2.0 conference on Thursday in San Francisco. He told a packed room that Microsoft is working hard on several fronts so it can become a "three- or four-trick pony," holding onto the top spot in business software, but also becoming a force in search, advertising and entertainment.

Just give Microsoft a little more time, Ballmer said.

Read More ....

Tech's time of tumult

We're living through the biggest set of changes yet in technology. It's a mouthful - mobile, ad-supported, on-demand, socially-connected, and truly global. Brace yourself, says Fortune's David Kirkpatrick.

By David Kirkpatrick, Fortune senior editor

October 19 2007: 12:45 PM EDT

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- This is a historic moment in the history of technology. All at once, we are shifting to a mobile, ad-supported, on-demand, socially-connected, truly global network.

Each one of those five new attributes brings with it fundamental, world-altering implications. The fact that all five are happening at once makes this a dizzying time, but one of so much opportunity for tech companies it's almost absurd.

A quick look at each of the five concepts:

Mobility

We knew someday we'd get devices that enabled us to take the richness of the PC desktop with us wherever we went, and the iPhone is a good start, along with other new phones from Nokia and others. Meanwhile, Intel continues its strong push for the Ultra-Mobile PC which will bear fruit faster than most people think.

Mobility is not just one of the forces, but the major force, driving tech forward in most of the world's economies. There are now more mobile phones in use in the world than PCs and TVs combined. And their number continues to burgeon. Sending short messages (SMS) from phones is becoming more important in much of the world than email.

Advertising

Advertising is becoming the way that consumer software is monetized. Google, the world's most adept software company, now garners over 30% of the world's online advertising spending. That has caused every other software firm to wake up. Just listen to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who has several times recently said Microsoft will become a company driven by advertising. (Watch him on this short YouTube video from last year.)

On demand

As for on-demand, that's Google, too. And just about every other Internet company. On demand means forget about applications on your desktop. What you need will be on the web and mostly accessed through just a browser. We've all become used to that model for our personal information and even web email and messaging, but now it's moving into businesses of all sizes.

The recent moves by old-line enterprise firms SAP and Oracle to buy other vintage software companies are just the last gasps of the old regime. The remaining players are consolidating, and the agglomeration is about capturing maintenance revenue from longstanding customers who can't move quickly to the new. But the future is software delivered as an on-demand service over the net by suppliers like Salesforce.com (Charts), who sell on a per-user, per-month basis.

Social networking

This week was the Web 2.0 conference, which spent much time discussing the social connections that are coming to define the Internet. Tim O'Reilly, who helps run the conference, is the one who coined the term. He says it means any service which gets better the more people who use it.

That's a great simple explanation for the success of Facebook - the ultimate social software. Long-winded tech pundits endlessly bloviate over its supposed weaknesses but the fact is that Facebook is defining a new Internet in which identity is celebrated, not masked. (See my many recent columns on the subject here.) That may be the killer app of the ad-supported future, because the most enjoyable and most effective ads will be the ones delivered with the greatest understanding of who sees them.

Global networks

The opportunities presented by the billions of people entering the world of digital communications are vast. Comscore's first-ever comprehensive study of the search industry, released last week, showed that China's Baidu is the world's third largest search site, behind just Google and Yahoo (Charts, Fortune 500), and ahead of Microsoft, Ask, and everybody else.

I recently called the adoption of tech by the developing world tech's biggest trend. Cisco CEO John Chambers says some countries including, amazingly, Saudi Arabia, could be poised to surpass our own digital infrastructure. We're moving to a world of ad-supported social web services delivered on cellphones to people in places like India and Azerbaijan. That's where the profits will come from in the next decade.

The New York Times may ask earnestly if we're in a bubble, as they did this week. But the reason big companies (and this time it's not greedy individuals) are bidding up other tech companies is because, like me, they see the opportunities as huge right now.

Keep it all in mind at once - the mobile, ad-supported, on-demand, socially-connected, and truly global aspects of the changes we're living through. It's a mouthful that is truly changing the world.

Nonprofits turn to YouTube to raise awareness, funds

By Yinka Adegoke, Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:54am EDT

NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters Life!) - After Holly Schnaars, 37, was diagnosed with late stage colorectal cancer she picked up her video camera and decided to tell her story on the online video site Metacafe to raise awareness of the disease.

The mother of two from San Jose, California, is just one of thousands of Americans, as well as charities and nonprofit organizations, who use online video to publicize their cause and raise funds as it becomes easier and cheaper to post videos than hope for television coverage or other forms of marketing.

The ground shift has prompted the biggest online video sites led by YouTube to reorganize their pages to make it easier for such users to find videos related to their favorite causes.

YouTube, which is owned by search giant Google Inc, is creating a special section for nonprofits to air their videos and link them to its Google Checkout online payment system to receive funds directly.

"Nonprofits understand that online video isn't just a way to broadcast public service announcements on a shrunken TV set," said Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube.

"It's a way to get people to do more than just absorb your message but to engage with their user generated content as well," he said.

POWER OF VIDEO

It's not just the online video companies giving support to individual causes and charities. Pure Digital, maker of the Flip video camera, has said it plans to give away a million video cameras to nonprofit organizations around the world to capture images and moments in places traditional media outlets might not be able to reach.

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NZ brewery offers beer for laptop

The brewery is reportedly offering a life supply of 12 beers a month

BBC News

A New Zealand brewery is reportedly offering a lifetime supply of beer for the return of a stolen laptop.

Local media said the laptop was stolen from the Croucher Brewing Company in the central North Island city of Rotorua earlier this week.

Owners were desperate to retrieve the computer containing designs, contact details and financial information, the Rotorua Daily Post said.

They have offered free beer to anyone giving clues leading to its recovery.

Co-owner Paul Croucher said the company would provide a lifetime supply of about 12 bottles a month to anyone who could name the thief.

The company has back-up copies of the material stored on the laptop but these are not up to date, the newspaper said.

Turn off e-mail and do some work

By Jane Wakefield,Technology reporter, BBC News

With inboxes bulging with messages and many workers dreading the daily deluge of e-mail, some companies are taking drastic action.

Intel has become the latest in an increasingly long line of companies to launch a so-called 'no e-mail day'.

On Fridays, 150 of its engineers revert to more old-fashioned means of communication.

In actual fact e-mail isn't strictly forbidden but engineers are encouraged to talk to each other face to face or pick up the phone rather than rely on e-mail.

In Intel's case the push to look again at the culture of e-mail followed a comment from chief executive Paul Otellini criticising engineers "who sit two cubicles apart sending an e-mail rather than get up and talk".

US experiments

The idea of a no e-mail day is not a new one in the US, where companies have been reaping the benefits of shutting down their inboxes for one day of the week.

Firms such as US Cellular and Deloitte and Touche have been experimenting with e-mail for some time.

Last year, fulfilment firm PBD launched a no e-mail Friday, when chief executive Scott Dockter suspected that over-dependence on e-mail was damaging productivity.

Four months later the company felt the trial had been a resounding success, with better teamwork, happier customers and quicker problem solving.

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Microsoft's Office-Phone Foray

Bill Gates says today's systems are like mainframes before PCs and software changed everything. Cisco agrees—and aims to win the race

by Aaron Ricadela, Technology, Businessweek

The way Bill Gates sees it, Microsoft has the chance to upend business communications the way it did when the PC supplanted centralized computer systems in the 1980s.

On Oct. 16, unveiling new Microsoft software that can tie together phone calls, e-mail, and video conferences, Gates drew an analogy to IBM's once-popular mainframe computers: All the features are built into a single product, controlled by a single company. The situation is similar, he said, to the traditional office telephone systems sold by Cisco Systems, Avaya Communications, Nortel Networks, and NEC. "We've seen this before. This is just like the computer industry before the personal computer came along," said Gates. "This has been its own world, untouched by the power of software."

To capitalize on this purported opportunity, Microsoft is looking to exploit the dominant position of its Office suite, providing extensions to those business-productivity tools to perform many of the same tasks as traditional phone systems at perhaps three-quarters the cost. To spur uptake, it's encouraging partners—including Dell, SAP, Ericsson, and even traditional phone-system vendors such as Nortel—to create their own compatible software and sell installation services for the new products, dubbed Microsoft Office Communications Server and Office Communicator.

Instead of selling an end-to-end system that directs calls to the proper extensions, stores an employee directory, and connects conference calls, Microsoft will embed those features in the new software to interact with its e-mail, word processing, and mobile-phone applications, as well as programs made by partners. "We've got a very different way of being able to do things," Gates said.

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