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PSP Go: The official details

(Credit: Eurogamer)
The PSP Go may have been the worst-kept secret of this year's E3 show, but Sony's press conference has now supplied the official details. For the most part, there's little that wasn't already revealed or correctly assumed: the PSP Go is smaller, has a slide-up screen, no UMD drive--and no game-changing upgrades, such as a touch screen or second analog stick. But the big news is that the new PSP will be available in North America on October 1 for $249.

Here's a roundup of the PSP Go's features and specs, as we understand them so far.

Form factor: The PSP Go has a 3.8-inch wide screen (versus 4.3-inch on all previous PSP models). It's said to be 43 percent lighter than the PSP 3000, which means it would tip the scales at about 3.8 ounces. The PSP Go design is very reminiscent of the Sony Mylo--the screen slides up to reveal the controls.

Storage: The Go will offer 16GB of built-in flash memory, and it's expandable via a Memory Stick Micro (M2) slot. There is no UMD (Universal Media Disc) drive on the PSP Go. While that no doubt allows for the smaller size (and, we hope, the potential for better battery life), it also means there's no way to play existing PSP software you might own on the PSP Go.

Controls: While the layout may be different, the control scheme on the PSP Go is little changed from earlier PSP models: a four-way d-pad on the left, the standard quartet of geometrically coded Sony controls (circle, square, cross, triangle) on the right, select/start buttons in the center, and the PlayStation "home" button to the left of the screen.

A second analog control is always at or near the top of wish lists for PSP redesigns, so its absence is a disappointment. At the same time, sticking with the same control scheme means game compatibility between the PSP Go and older PSPs is maintained. It remains to be seen whether the single stick's placement--closer to the center of the control deck rather than the outside right, where it sits on earlier PSPs--will be problematic for seasoned PSP gamers. That said, the Go control layout is more closely aligned to that of a traditional full-size PlayStation controller.

Despite early rumors, there is no touch screen on the PSP Go.

Wireless: In addition Wi-Fi support, the PSP Go adds Bluetooth capability to the Sony handheld platform for the first time. That should allow standard Bluetooth headsets (and, presumably, A2DP headphones and speakers) to pair with the PSP Go. In the leaked video, Sony rep John Koller also specifies the ability to tether the PSP Go to a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. The advantage of that isn't highlighted, but that would potentially allow Web browsing and online gaming via a tethered phone with a 3G data connection (when Wi-Fi access wasn't available). Another possibility (though pure supposition) is that you could pair a PS3 controller (which is Bluetooth-enabled) to the PSP Go.

Games: At Sony's press conference, the company confirmed new PSP versions of many of its most popular franchises. Notable titles--many of which will be released in 2009--include Little Big Planet, Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, MotorStorm Arctic Edge, and SOCOM Fire Team Bravo 3. The first Resident Evil game for the PSP is scheduled to appear next year as well.

PSP games will be available for download directly from the PlayStation Store over the console's Wi-Fi connection. In addition to direct download, Sony says that "all" new PSP games will continue to be available on UMD, too. We have to wonder how long that'll last, given the fact that the company seems to be embracing digital-only distribution on titles like Patapon 2. However, since older PSPs can also access and play download-only titles, the eventual death of UMD shouldn't make them obsolete.

Digital media support: The Go boasts the same support for music, video, and photo files as earlier PSPs, so you should have no trouble transferring gigabytes of media from a PC (or via the M2 flash media card). Downloadable movies and TV shows can be purchased directly from the PlayStation Store over Wi-Fi (no more need to use the PS3 or PC as an intermediary). Despite early rumors of a PSP-centric music store, Sony's instead opted for a partnership with eMusic. In other words, users can purchase DRM-free tracks from any online music store (Amazon, iTunes, eMusic, and so forth) and simply copy them over to the PSP.

Sony will be releasing software called Media Go to help users manage the PSP's content on their PC (this replaces the older, and not terribly useful, Sony Media Manager software). The company is also promising a feature called "Sense Me" that will analyze your music library to play music based on a mood you choose.

PS3 integration: Again, it appears the existing interoperability between the PS3 and the PSP line will be carried over to the PSP Go. That includes the ability to cross-load some games and media, as well as the Remote Play option (access PS3-based content from the PSP over the Internet).

Price and availability: The PSP Go will be available in North America on October 1 for $249. (The portable console will go on sale in Europe the same day for 249 euros, and availability in Japan will follow a month later.) The PSP 3000, currently $169, will stay on the market concurrently.

Unanswered questions: We're hoping to get more details on the PSP Go in the weeks and months ahead. Chief among our unanswered questions: does the Go support video out like the PSP 3000? How's the battery life? Does the screen have the same weird interlacing issues that bothered some on the PSP 3000?

Is it worth waiting for? That, of course, is the big question. The PSP Go isn't the PSP2, to be sure--it's more like the PSP 1.5. Like Nintendo's done with the DSi, Sony is extending (and, it hopes, revitalizing) a portable platform that's sold tens of millions of units worldwide. Considering that this is an evolutionary product--the only real appeal is the smaller form factor--the high price is certainly going to be a barrier for those who already own and enjoy the existing PSP.

On the other hand, owners of the older (and heavier) PSP 1000 and 2000 may find the PSP Go to be the upgrade they've been waiting for. But with the DSi and iPhone/iPod Touch competing for the time--and pockets--of casual gamers, the ultimate answer may again rest with the quality and desirability of the games. We'll be able to answer the question more definitively when we get some hands-on time with the PSP Go later this year

Windows 7 to launch October 22

Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that it is planning for Windows 7 to hit retail shelves and start showing up on new PCs on October 22.

To reach that milestone, Microsoft plans to wrap up development of the operating system by the middle or end of next month, Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview.


Images: A peek at Windows 7 release candidate

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"The feedback from the release candidate has been good," Veghte said.

Microsoft made the near-final release candidate version available last month. Shortly after its release, Microsoft finally confirmed that it was aiming Windows 7 for a holiday 2009 release, something that was widely anticipated, but not confirmed by those in Redmond.

In an interview, Phil McKinney, chief technology officer of Hewlett-Packard's computer unit, said that he feels good about Microsoft's launch date.

"We're locked and loaded for the launch," McKinney said. "The quality of code is just absolutely stellar."

The software maker also confirmed, without giving details, that it plans to offer some sort of "technology guarantee" giving those who buy Vista machines close to the Windows 7 launch a free or discounted copy of the new operating system. As with past similar programs, details on pricing will be up to individual computer makers, although Microsoft did say the upgrade program will apply to Vista Home Premium and higher-priced editions (meaning not Windows Vista Basic).

The tech guarantee program is not beginning immediately, but Microsoft did raise the possibility it will offer some sort of lower-cost upgrade to those who are already using Windows Vista.

I've gotten a lot of e-mails suggesting Microsoft do something along those lines, but its comments this week were the first time I had heard it acknowledge that it was considering such a move.

As for the technology guarantee program, it likely means that Microsoft will do some deferring of Vista-related revenue, though Microsoft again did not spell out details.

"Depending on when we do it there will be the associated accounting for it," Veghte said.

Microsoft has said that Windows 7 will come in five different editions in most markets--Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. A "Windows 7 Basic" will also be sold in emerging markets, Microsoft said.

The software maker has yet to announce pricing for the product

१ Microsoft Vista

Microsoft (MSFT) Vista was released worldwide on January 30, 2007. It was the most recent generation of the flagship product of the world's largest software company. Vista was created to improve the security of the most widely used PC operating system in the world. The securities features were not much better than the previous versions of Windows based on most reviews of the software. Vista was also not compatible with a number of older PCs which limited the number of users who were likely to upgrade from the earlier version of Windows, known as XP. Many analysts claim that Vista also ran more slowly on PCs than XP. All of these factors prevented Vista from being viewed as clearly better than its predecessors. According to research site Net Applications, as of last month Vista's global share of PC operating systems was less than 24%. Windows XP had 62% of the market and Apple's (AAPL) OS X product had over 9%. When Vista was launched, PC Magazine said, "Call it a nice-to-have product rather than a must-have." Microsoft recently announced its first quarterly revenue drop in 23 years. The day of the earnings release CNNMoney observed, "Microsoft's Vista operating system, which was released in early 2007, never took off like the company had hoped. Sales in the division that produces Vista fell 16% in the previous quarter. User satisfaction has been underwhelming, and IT departments have largely opted to stick with Vista's predecessor, Windows XP." The company is rushing Vista's replacement, Windows 7, to market and hopes to have it out by the end of the year.

The 10 Biggest Tech Failures of the Last

Several of the best-funded and most-publicized tech launches of the last ten years have ended in failure. Many large technology companies which had significant market share and product advantages in large industries lost those advantages.

24/7 Wall St. looked at both start-ups and products introduced by companies that did not survive to create a list of the most colossal tech failures of the last decade. To make the list, a product had to be widely recognized and widely available to customers. It had to be aimed at a large global market. It had to be technologically equal to or superior to its competition. It had to be a product or new company that had the possibility of bringing in billions of dollars in revenue based on the sales of similar or competing products. Finally, it had to clearly miss the mark of living up to the potential that its creators expected, and that the public and press were lead to believe was possible.

—Douglas A. McIntyre

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Looking for a Wi-Fi hot spot? Try 10,000 feet up

CNN) -- The days of being cut off from the Internet while you're on a plane are quickly disappearing.


An American Airlines passenger uses Wi-Fi to access the Internet during a flight.

A number of domestic airlines have recently begun offering Wi-Fi Internet access aboard planes, and other airlines say they are working toward making it happen.

"This is the year" for Wi-Fi on planes, said Jack Blumenstein, president and CEO of Aircell, whose Gogo® Inflight Internet service provides access on Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Virgin America flights, and will begin testing on United flights later this year. Gogo is installed on more than 190 commercial planes, and Blumenstein said he expected 1,200 aircraft to have Gogo capability by the end of 2009.

For now, Wi-Fi on domestic carriers' planes is limited to flights within North America. Gogo, which operates by transmitting signals from ground-level towers, functions across the United States and up to about 300 miles offshore. The company's access will cover the entire continent within a year or two, Blumenstein said.

Row 44, which uses satellite technology to provide connectivity to Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines, already covers much of North America and will roll out trans-Atlantic and European service in the third quarter of this year, said the company's CEO, John Guidon.

Neither company would release the exact cost of turning airplanes into Wi-Fi hot spots. But Blumenstein said Aircell managed to equip a plane for "substantially" less than $100,000. Row 44, which bills itself as the "industrial-strength solution" to airplane connectivity, costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per plane, Guidon said.

Another company, LiveTV, is a subsidiary of JetBlue that provides free e-mail and messaging aboard flights but doesn't offer open Web surfing. LiveTV, which uses air-to-ground technology, provides the service on select JetBlue flights and also is working with Frontier Airlines on offering Internet access aboard its planes.

The Wi-Fi venture has the potential to be "very profitable," said Harlan Platt, an airline industry expert and professor of finance at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

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"Normally, air carriers rush to purchase capital equipment that raises their cost but doesn't raise their revenue. ... This is actually a revenue-producing tactic. And it's a good one because it's providing value to the passenger and it's creating incremental revenues for the airline," Platt said.

Aircell, which shares its revenue from Gogo with the airlines, charges $9.95 for flights under three hours, $12.95 for flights longer than three hours and $7.95 to use a Wi-Fi capable handheld device for any flight length. Passengers can begin using the service once the plane reaches 10,000 feet. If the plane remains in flight for longer than three hours as part of a delay, passengers do not pay the higher fee, Blumenstein said.

Platt believes that business model will evolve to entice more passengers to use it.

The size of those fees could result in "a whole segment of the market that they're not going to capture," said Platt. The airlines will maximize their profits by convincing more passengers to use the system with a lower price, he said.

Platt predicted Aircell and the airlines would create a second tier of service, which would be less expensive but with fewer capabilities. He compared the strategy to airlines' price-reducing tactics to avoid empty seats on planes.

As Aircell and Row 44's services expand, LiveTV is monitoring passengers' usage to gauge how to move ahead with its own business model, said Mike Moeller, vice president of sales and marketing for the company.

"Yes, broadband is coming. We're sitting there asking, 'Who pays? Is it the airlines or the customers? And what will they pay? What is the right technology? ... When does all of this happen?' We're in weird economic times," Moeller said.

As for the possibility of passengers offending their seat-mates by surfing for inappropriate content, Blumenstein said nine months of Wi-Fi availability on American yielded no such incidents. Still, airlines including American, Delta and United have requested screening for potentially offensive content, he said.

On the other hand, Alaska Airlines, which uses Row 44, does not plan on using the company's content-blocking capabilities. Instead, flight attendants will follow standard protocol for objectionable material -- they'll ask passengers to stow it away, said Bobbie Egan, an airline spokeswoman.

Here is what major U.S. airlines offer, and what is coming up:


Alaska Airlines offers in-flight Wi-Fi through Row 44. The airline said it launched a trial in mid-February on flights along the West Coast to determine usage and demand, and announced in April it would begin to determine pricing.


American Airlines announced in late March it would install Aircell's Gogo on more than 300 domestic aircraft over the next two years.


Delta Air Lines is using Gogo, and will have Wi-Fi capabilities aboard more than 330 aircraft by the end of this year, the airline announced in August 2008.


Frontier Airlines uses LiveTV for its in-flight entertainment. The airline is testing a LiveTV product that would provide Wi-Fi, which they hope to launch by the end of the year, said Frontier spokesman Steve Snyder. Pricing has not yet been determined, he said.


JetBlue provides limited, free Wi-Fi on its BetaBlue aircraft using LiveTV. Services include e-mail access through Yahoo! Mail, Microsoft Exchange, Gmail, Windows Live (Hotmail, MSN, Live) and AOL. Passengers can transmit Yahoo! instant messages and shop on Amazon.com's mobile site, and those with BlackBerry smart phones can access their accounts. JetBlue is not ruling out the possibility of offering expanded services for a fee, said company spokeswoman Alison Croyle. The airline plans to roll out the LiveTV service on more of its fleet this year, she said.


Southwest Airlines is testing Wi-Fi on four of its aircraft using Row 44 technology. After testing, which will probably last through April, the airline will determine pricing and how it will install the product on the rest of its fleet, spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said.


United Airlines will use Gogo technology as it begins testing Wi-Fi on flights between New York and California in the second half of this year. The airline will decide on availability elsewhere after assessing feedback from testing, said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.


Virgin America offers Wi-Fi using Gogo on all flights between Washington and Los Angeles, California, and all of its Boston routes. The airline said its entire fleet will have Internet access by the second quarter of this year. In addition to Gogo's standard rates, Virgin America offers a rate of $5.95 for red-eye flights.


Airtran, Continental and US Airways do not offer in-flight Wi-Fi, but representatives for those airlines

Moisture, cold irritate some smart phone users

(CNN) -- When the earphone jack on her iPhone started acting buggy, Kristile Cain took the phone in to her local Apple store.


Some consumers are becoming quite bugged by certain smart phone quirks.

1 of 2 Initially, she was told that the phone appeared to be faulty and that it would be replaced.

That was until the store employee realized that the moisture indicator in the phone had been tripped.

"I guess it must have been moisture from it being in the bathroom or something," said the Chicago, Illinois, resident. "It hasn't been dunked or anything, and it hasn't been in water. My only guess is that when I take a shower, I always put the phone on the counter, and the steam must have caused [condensation]."

In the wonderful world of smart phones, it's easy to forget that the very things that make them such a marvel can also make them susceptible to quirks that some users have found annoying.

From the iPhone's sensitivity to water and the inability to use the touch screen while wearing gloves, to complaints about the size of BlackBerry keys and the responsiveness of its operating system, some smart phone owners are peeved by what they view as less than intelligent design.

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Daniel V. Hoffmann, an author and chief technology officer for SMobile Systems, said consumers have the perception that their smart phones will always work perfectly -- a concept he finds intriguing, given that even getting a call through can sometimes be a feat.

"Just by the pure portability nature, people expect [the phones] to work all the time," said Hoffman, whose company offers security products and services for mobile phones. "The expectation for technology is very high, but it's the implementation people need to come back down to earth with some time."

Cain is not the only one who has had her iPhone use dampened.

In Houston, Texas, a pair of iPhone owners recently complained that sweat from their workouts rendered their devices useless.

Once the moisture indicator -- which changes color and is visible through the headphone jack -- is activated, the warranty for the phone is voided, and Apple is not required to replace it.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

Jeremy Horwitz, editor in chief of iLounge, said the iPhone moisture issue dates back to similar complaints with Apple's iPod music player.

He believes that Apple must bear some responsibility, considering how it positions the phones.

"Apple markets these devices as 'take them everywhere, do everything with them, work out with them and keep them in your pocket no matter where you are' sort of devices," he said.

"As a result of that, you do see people going and working out with applications that they download from Apple's app store for the specific purposes of working out," Horwitz added. "It's not a surprise then, under circumstances like that, that people would get sweat into the iPhone."

Ventura County, California, resident Bill Kemble said he and his wife have made peace with such problems as accidentally ending a call by hitting the faceplate with an ear or earring when using a smart phone.

"I've accepted the quirks as part of a leading-edge technology ... not unlike early cell phones always dropping calls, etc.," Kemble said. "If the same quirks were to exist three to five years down the line, I would not be so accepting of them."

Chris Reece, editor in chief of Planet-iPhones.com, said smart phones have become such a part of everyday life that people often forget the devices are sophisticated and sensitive.

"Like any electronic device, it shouldn't have moisture on it of any kind," Reece said. Consumers must hope manufacturers will be understanding when incidents happen, he said.

Larry Cooperman is director of the University of California, Irvine's OpenCourseWare, which places educational materials and resources online for free access by the public. Cooperman, whose son broke an iPhone while riding his bike, said that the more people rely on their smart phones, the more responsibility they must take for the devices.

"If you can't come to class the next day and say, 'my dog ate the homework,' then you can't come to class the next day and say, 'my smart phone broke, and I couldn't communicate,' " he said. "People are increasingly doing more and more on a phone than we ever thought they could."

Cain -- who is also familiar with the lack of responsiveness of the iPhone's touch screen to users wearing gloves, which poses a challenge during Chicago's frigid winters -- does a great deal with hers. The IT professional with the University of Chicago is waiting to see whether Apple will replace her water-damaged phone.

For now, Cain, who wrote about her experience on her blog, Littletechgirl.com, must use her earphones if she wants to make calls on her iPhone.

She said she believes that Apple should reconsider its placement of the moisture indicator and move it to an area of the phone that is not so accessible.

"Every other phone we know they are inside the phone somewhere, behind the battery component or somewhere where accidental moisture from one raindrop is not going to get in there and set it off," she said. "To have them right there, where water can easily get into the phone, is not smart."

YouTube orchestra debuts, wows Carnegie Hall

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The YouTube and Carnegie Hall generations collided Wednesday night in New York City as a nearly sold-out audience looked on in amazement.


Images from musicians' videos are projected during the YouTube Symphony Orchestra concert in New York.

Almost 100 musicians from around the world -- the world's first symphony orchestra comprised of members who auditioned solely online -- played their debut gig. They may have forever changed the audition process in their journey.

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra bore a new era of classical performance at Carnegie Hall, and according to a YouTube employee, that's exactly what they wanted to do.

"We hope this is game changing in the sense it redefines audition space, it brings people closer together and lets them collaborate, transcending geographical and linguistic boundaries," said marketing manager Ed Sanders.

Participants were chosen from more than 3,000 YouTube video submissions from more than 70 countries and territories spanning six continents, according to a press release. Watch orchestra play »

Their YouTube channel has received more than 15 million page views thus far with members hailing from more than 30 countries. The symphony orchestra's members participated in the three-day Classical Music Summit at Julliard and their Carnegie Hall debut served as the finale.

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Michael Tilson Thomas directed the performance and also served as the artistic adviser and conductor to the orchestra. He refined and nurtured each member through their musical selections online until the entire orchestra met in the real world a few days ago.

"For us it's somewhere between a classical music summit conference and a scout jamboree with an element of speed dating thrown in," Thomas said.

While some participants traveled from as far as South Korea, Malaysia and Lithuania, bass player Kurt Hinterbichler lives in New York City. A theoretical physicist working on his doctorate at Columbia University, Hinterbichler was enamored at being chosen to participate.

"Carnegie Hall is still sort of the unofficial pinnacle of achievement of the classical music world," he said. "You know once you've made it to Carnegie Hall you've really made it."

So, how do you get to Carnegie Hall? "Upload, upload, upload [YouTube videos]," joked Thomas, updating the old "practice, practice, practice" punchline.

Violin player Jennifer Lindsay, who is a systems engineer by day, said she was floored when she learned she was selected. "YouTube gave me this opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall. There's no other way that someone like me who is not even a professional musician would have ever made it."

World-renowned composer Tan Dun created a piece especially for the orchestra titled "Internet Symphony No. 1, Eroica." Dun told YouTube his inspiration for this piece came from the streets of many international cities.

"On the streets of New York, London, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, I heard the street noise...then I thought this is the spirit beyond, this is the spirit of today."

Dun has also created music for the movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" and the Beijing Summer Olympics.

The symphony orchestra played to a Carnegie Hall audience that was almost 90 percent of capacity.

Audience members seemed to love not only the performance, but the idea as a whole. Peter Newton and his wife were on vacation in New York from London and decided to attend the concert.

"The mixture between the music and democracy... it's interesting that at the end of the day, you bring them together for this performance," he said.

Aaron Polsky attended the performance in support of his sister, who helped organize it. He was amazed at how limitless the performance seemed. "I think it's great... there are really no boundaries other than owning a computer and an Internet connection."

Musicians Lindsay and Hinterbichler both said they had no doubts the event would be a success.

"Absolutely do not underestimate the motivational power of playing at Carnegie Hall," Lindsay said. Hinterbichler agreed, "We've got world class conductors, it will come together."

In the spirit of YouTube, Travis Threlkel designed videos that accompanied all 15 musical selections. The lights in the room changed from green to red during some segments to match the mood of the selection.

Dun said he thought the concert would be a hit with the Internet community. "The whole world tonight is Googling around what's happening in Carnegie Hall," he said.

Hinterbichler said he still did not grasp the vast reality of the situation.

"It's going to be one of those life experiences you know. I probably won't know what it means until ten years down the line when I look back at it," he said.

So, what will the folks at YouTube come up with next?

"There should be a live Internet performance [by the orchestra]," said Newton, the audience member. After Wednesday night, that certainly seems like a possibility

new Watch Phones

Description:
Keeping you in touch with the world, without weighing you down, the GSM Watch Phone is a sleek and sophisticated innovation, which works like a regular watch and a regular phone both at the same time. Incorporating Blue Tooth technology for ease of use, the Watch Phone also features a 1.8” 260,000 color TFT screen, an alarm clock, a stopwatch, a currency converter and a unit exchange. If none of the 64 polyphonic ring tones catch your fancy, you can set your favorite mp3s as your ring tone. Weighing in at only 50g strapped to your wrist, the Watch Phone comes in four colors: black, argent, blue or red. You get a talk-time of 240 minutes and an idle time of 200 hours. The Watch Phone has 64M of memory and data can be transferred via USB cable, Bluetooth file transfer or headset. This item makes a great gift and is a must-have for all gadget-lovers.



SKU: GSM-Watch-Phone-Mobile300


Language: English, Simple Chinese
Screen: 1.8” 260,000-color TFT; resolution: 176 x 220px
Ring tone: 64 chords, compatible formats: mp3, midi
Music player: mp3, can set MP3 songs as ring tone of incoming calls
Memory: 64M memory
Data transfer: USB cable transfer / bluetooth file transfer/ bluetooth headset/ voice
Network: GSM
Frequency: 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz
Ring Tone: 64 Polyphonic

Battery: Lithium Ion

Talk time: 120/240 minutes
Idle time: 150/200 hours
Time to market: 2007.06
Appearance: Straight board
Dimensions: 72.5 x 63.4 x 23.5 mm

Major iPhone upgrade coming this summer

Apple unveiled a slew of new features — more than 100 in all — in the third major revision of the iPhone’s basic operating system. Among the enhancements demonstrated at a special media event at its Cupertino headquarters on Tuesday were many of the functions users had been clamoring for — in some cases for nearly two years. Among the highlights:
Cut, copy and paste across applications
So-called “push notification” — for example, of breaking news or sports results
Multimedia messaging service (MMS) for sending pictures or voice memos in instant messages
Landscape viewing when the iPhone is turned sideways in most applications, including Mail
The ability to search Mail, Calendar and other applications for key words
Improved calendar functions
Stereo Bluetooth for wireless earphones
And much more. At the end of the 90 minute presentation, senior vice president Scott Forstall (who stood in for the ailing Steve Jobs) was rattling off features faster than reporters could type: Notes Sync, audio/video tags, live streaming, shake to shuffle, Wi-Fi auto login, Stereo Bluetooth, LDAP, iTunes account creation, YouTube ratings, anti-phishing, call log, parental controls, media ccrubber, OTA profiles, VPN on demand, languages, YouTube subscriptions, YouTube accounts, encrypted profiles, auto-fills…
“Many minor features add up to a major change,” was Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster’s take-away message.
Apple also announced a raft of improvements — including more than 1,000 new APIs (application programming interfaces) — in the so-called SDK (software development kit) that programmers use to create applications for the iPhone and the iPod touch. Chief among them:
Peer to peer connectivity (through Bluetooth) to allow multiplayer games with people in close proximity
Support for turn-by-turn navigation and other sophisticated map applications
A subscription model that allows micropayments by the item ($9.95 for an electronic book, say, or a more $0.99 for a more powerful weapon in a shooting game)
The ability to interact with hardware accessories such as speakers or glucose monitoring kits
A beta (preliminary) version of new SDK is available to developers for free download today.
iPhone 3.0 with all the added end-user features won’t be available until sometime this summer. It will be free to owners of existing iPhones and will cost $9.95 for the iPod touch. Some of the new functions — for example stereo Bluetooth and MMS — won’t work on the first generation phones.
Apple also announced some App Store milestones:
25,000 apps available for download (the actual figure is now more than 28,000)
800 million apps downloaded
17 million iPhones sold through Dec. 2008
13 million iPod touches (for a total installed base of more than 30 million App Store-ready devices)
800,000 downloads of the original SDK
50,000 developers — 62% of them new to Apple
96% of apps submitted in February were approved — 98% within seven days — but still not fast enough to satisfy some developers
One user request that wasn’t addressed was support for Adobe Flash, the widely used standard for online video and other multimedia files. Asked in a Q&A what Apple planned to do about Flash, Forstall ducked the question. “We have no announcements on that topic today,” he said, suggesting that there were other ways to send video to mobile devices.
See Jon Fortt’s Big Tech for a live blog of the event. Apple’s press release is available
Apple closed Tuesday $99.66, up 4.4% for the day. The stock has gained $16.55 a share in just over two weeks.
See also:

Top 5 Free VOIP Providers For Making Free Calls Worldwide

1) Raketu- Pretty decent service which offers FREE calls to 42 countries. I am rating it higher than VOIPbuster/Discount for the very reason thats its not a clone and it uses a diff technology than skype. Skype uses Supernodes which can be vulnerable to hacking. I covered that issues in my blog earlier. Additionally it integrates with Yahoo, MSN messengers etc.
Benefits: Better technology, Clear Voice, 42 countries FREE, Integrate with other messengers Drawbcks- Haven’t found any yet.
2) Jajah : I tried jajah about 1 month back and with their FREE minutes i made calls to India. The difference between jajah and other VOIP providers is Jajah only allows you to make calls from your phone. That means You need to give your phone number and your calling party number before you can make a call. When you intiate a call Jajah first connect your phone. You pick up the call and then jajah connects to the other party.
Benefits: No software download needed. Just visit their site. No credits needed for free calls. Drawbacks: Have to use a legitimate number before calling. Cant use PC to make call.
3) Gizmo : Popularly known as ” Skype Killer”. This software lets you call anyone in more than 60 countries. The only downside is that you and other party both should be registered with Gizmo and should also register your numbers. I am sure that this project will be successful and in short time the daatabase of people will be built and then its a FREE calling world.
Benefits: Making calls is easier than ever, Killer Application interface, Drawbacks: Requires both parties to register their numbers with Gizmo.
4) Voipcheap - This is the original VOIPcheap and not the UK version of this company. Although VOIPbuster, voipcheap.co.uk uses the same software, i found this software more reliable and voice quality is of high level. This is an straight winner when it comes to making FREE calls worldwide. You can virtually call more than 50 countries on normal PSTN landlines and mobiles in singapore, USA, HK & Canada. With some hacks, you can call from countries which are not listed in FREE list but you have a work around. You need to check my blog for that.
Benefits: Clear voice, You can make calls from your PC. No need to buy any credits from them before making free calls. Allows PC or Phone to initiate call (via Directdial)
Drawbacks: really none.
5) voipraider/ voipbuster: All these companies belong to Betamax GMBH, a European company dealing in VOIP. They offer extremely low competitive rates to many countries but have almost zero customer service.
Benefits:1 or more additional countries (Thailand + mobile) on Voipdiscount. Drawbacks: No customer service. Change rate any time.
I hope this article will benefit you in making Free International CallsVinay is avid reader and follower in VOIP space and is currently busy writing a VOIP blog.
You can check his blog on Free VOIP

Tags: gizmo, jajah, raketu, voip buster, voipcheap, voipraider

Google shows Web-based offline Gmail on iPhone

Showing that its Web application priorities extend to the mobile world, Google on Wednesday demonstrated a version of Gmail for the iPhone that could be used even when the phone had no network connection.

Google is eyeing a new version of its Web-based Gmail application for Apple's iPhone.

Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of engineering, showed what he called a "technical concept" of Gmail even when the iPhone was offline. In January, Google released an offline version of Gmail for desktops and laptops, and like it, mobile phone incarnation runs in a Web browser, not as a native application.
The software let Gundotra browse and read e-mail even after he switched the phone into airplane mode, which shuts off the wireless network.
Offline applications can't of course retrieve new data from the network, but they do synchronize when network access is restored. Meanwhile, it stores e-mail in a local database on the phone, even when online.
"You'll note that it's very, very fast because it's using that local database," Gundotra said. The application also showed a floating toolbar that was visible even as he scrolled through his inbox.
It's significant for several reasons that Google is eyeing a new version of its Web-based Gmail application for the iPhone. For one thing, the company wants to bring to the iPhone all of Gmail's features -- search, labels, and conversations, for example -- and Apple's built-in mail application lacks those abilities.
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But more broadly, the move is significant because it shows how Web-based applications can bypass the control particular companies such as Apple or Microsoft have over a computing technology.
Apple has achieved tremendous success with its App Store, which lets people download and buy software for the iPhone and iPod Touch. But it controls that conduit, and it only can deliver software written specifically for those devices.
Web applications run in a Web browser, and all smart phones have browsers -- though of course hardware and network constraints typically mean they're anemic compared to desktop versions.
In case this point about the power of Web applications was lost on observers, Gundotra showed the same Gmail software running on the HTC Magic, a new phone using Google's Android operating system.
"You now have an ability to build an app that spans devices as long as that device implements the latest specifications of these modern HTML 5 Web browsers," Gundotra said.
The mobile phone version of the Gmail software uses a somewhat different approach to enable offline access.
Where the desktop version uses a Google-developed open-source browser plug-in called Gears to enable offline support, the iPhone version uses the offline data storage standard of HTML 5, the gradually emerging overhaul of the language used to describe Web pages. That technology can cache the state of an application as well as data such as messages.
Of course, getting a modern, full-featured browser on a PC with plenty of memory is hard enough, and mobile browsers generally lag PC versions.
However, it should be noted that Safari on the iPhone, like the browser in Android, is based on the WebKit open-source project, and WebKit has been building in offline support. So at least on some higher-end phones, a Web-based version of offline Gmail could be an option sooner rather than later

Hearst exec Kenneth Bronfin says that e-readers "will be a big part of our future."

Hearst to launch a wireless e-reader
The publisher plans to introduce a large-format device this year based on electronic-ink technology.

Last Updated: February 27, 2009: 12:08 PM ET
Hearst exec Kenneth Bronfin says that e-readers "will be a big part of our future."

cnnadNEW YORK (Fortune) -- Against a backdrop of plummeting ad revenue for newspapers and magazines, and rising costs for paper and delivery, Hearst Corp., is getting set to launch an electronic reader that it hopes can do for periodicals what Amazon's Kindle is doing for books.
According to industry insiders, Hearst, which publishes magazines ranging from Cosmopolitan to Esquire and newspapers including the financially imperiled San Francisco Chronicle, has developed a wireless e-reader with a large-format screen suited to the reading and advertising requirements of newspapers and magazines. The device and underlying technology, which other publishers will be allowed to adapt, is likely to debut this year.
So-called e-readers like Kindle and the Sony Reader are hand-held gadgets that use electronic "ink" displayed on a crisp, low-power screen to deliver an experience that approximates reading on paper - without the cost of paper, printing and delivery, which can account for as much as 50% of the cost of putting out a periodical.
Hearst executives declined to provide specifics about the forthcoming e-reader, but Kenneth Bronfin, who heads up the interactive media group for Hearst, told Fortune in an interview for a forthcoming magazine story that the publishing company has a deep expertise in the technology. "I can't tell you the details of what we are doing, but I can say we are keenly interested in this, and expect these devices will be a big part of our future," Bronfin told Fortune.
Bronfin led an investment by Hearst more than a decade ago in E Ink, a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup spun out of research at MIT, that supplies the electronic-ink technology used in the vast majority of e-readers on the market today, including Amazon's Kindle, devices from Sony and a crop of next-generation products set to launch in the next 12 to 18 months.
With print revenue in decline and online revenue unable to fill the gap, the $300 billion global publishing industry is increasingly looking to devices like e-readers to lower costs while preserving the business model that has sustained newspapers and magazines.
Insiders familiar with the Hearst device say it has been designed with the needs of publishers in mind. That includes its form, which will approximate the size of a standard sheet of paper, rather than the six-inch diagonal screen found on Kindle, for example. The larger screen better approximates the reading experience of print periodicals, as well as giving advertisers the space and attention they require.
Given the evolving state of the technology, the Hearst reader is likely to debut in black and white and later transition to high-resolution color with the option for video as those displays, now in testing phases, get commercialized. Downloading content from participating newspapers and magazines will occur wirelessly. For durability, the device is likely to have a flexible core, perhaps even foldable, rather than the brittle glass substrates used in readers on the market today.
What Hearst and its partners plan to do is sell the e-readers to publishers and to take a cut of the revenue derived from selling magazines and newspapers on these devices. The company will, however, leave it to the publishers to develop their own branding and payment models. "That's something you will never see Amazon do," someone familiar with the Hearst project said. "They aren't going to give up control of the devices."
The question now is, will readers give up their newspapers and magazines for these new readers?

(CNN) -- In keeping with the democratic nature of user-generated media, Facebook is inviting its 150 million users to help decide how the online gathering place is run.

Facebook is inviting its 150 million users to help decide how the social-networking site is run.

A week after a policy-change blunder sparked widespread protests, the Web's most popular social-networking site announced a new approach Thursday to give users more control over future Facebook rules and practices.
Site managers published the Facebook Principles, a set of 10 values they hope will make Facebook more transparent, along with a proposed statement of rights and responsibilities governing privacy, content ownership and other issues. Users will be able to comment and vote on the wording of the documents.
"As people share more information on services like Facebook, a new relationship is created between Internet companies and the people they serve," Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, said in a statement. "The past week reminded us that users feel a real sense of ownership over Facebook itself, not just the information they share."
Facebook became caught in a content-rights battle after revealing this month that it was granting itself permanent rights to users' photos, wall posts and other information, even after a user closed an account. Member backlash was swift and severe, as tens of thousands of angry users either canceled their accounts or created online petitions.
To quell the uprising, Facebook hastily announced last week it was reverting to its old terms of use policy on member information "while we resolve the issues that people have raised."
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Thursday's announcement seemed aimed at further reassuring users that they, not Facebook, will retain rights to their postings.
"You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, including information about you and the actions you take," reads the proposed statement of rights and responsibilities, which condenses almost 40 pages of legal jargon into fewer than six pages.
Facebook said Thursday it will continue to make independent decisions about the timing and rollout of products. But users will now help determine future changes to Facebook policies through online voting.
Over the next month, the fast-growing site will host virtual "Town Halls" to collect user comments on the proposed new principles and statement of rights and responsibilities.
As of Friday morning, more than 8,600 users had joined a Facebook group to solicit feedback regarding the proposed Facebook Principles, while more than 7,800 had joined a group that was set up to review the proposed statement of rights and responsibilities.
Facebook says that after the comment period ends March 29, it will review users' submissions, then republish its policies to incorporate feedback. All future policy changes would be subject to similar notice and comment periods.
Facebook also plans to establish a user council to participate more closely in the development of future policies and practices.
"Companies like ours need to develop new models of governance," Zuckerberg added. "Rather than simply reissue a new Terms of Use, the changes we're announcing today are designed to open up Facebook so that users can participate meaningfully in our policies and our future." iReport.com: iReporter feels like a 'citizen of Facebook' now
Initial reaction to Facebook's more open approach appeared to be positive.
"The idea that a major company like Facebook would give its users a vote in how the service is governed is remarkable," user Julius Harper, co-founding administrator of the People Against the new Terms of Service group, said in a statement posted on Facebook. "This decision should go far in restoring people's trust, and I hope it sets a precedent for other online services to follow."
But other members had concerns about section 2.3 of the proposed statement of rights and responsibilities, which states that users will grant Facebook license "to use, copy, publicly perform or display, distribute, modify, translate, and create derivative works of ... any content you post" until a member deletes the content or closes an account.
"This is precisely why I pulled one of my photos and why I'm now considering the deletion of my account," Bertha Chambers of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, wrote in a Facebook post Thursday afternoon.
"If Facebook wants to make money through advertising ... that's fine with me. BUT, I'm not giving Facebook permission to use my words or my art for their profit or in ways or reasons that I might not personally support

The Tech Lab: Bruce Schneier

Bruce Schneier is the chief security technology officer at BT and a celebrated writer and speaker on privacy, cryptography and security issues.
Welcome to the future, where everything about you is saved. A future where your actions are recorded, your movements are tracked, and your conversations are no longer ephemeral. A future brought to you not by some 1984-like dystopia, but by the natural tendencies of computers to produce data.
Data is the pollution of the information age. It's a natural byproduct of every computer-mediated interaction. It stays around forever, unless it's disposed of. It is valuable when reused, but it must be done carefully. Otherwise, its after effects are toxic.
And just as 100 years ago people ignored pollution in our rush to build the Industrial Age, today we're ignoring data in our rush to build the Information Age.
Increasingly, you leave a trail of digital footprints throughout your day. Once you walked into a bookstore and bought a book with cash. Now you visit Amazon, and all of your browsing and purchases are recorded. You used to buy a train ticket with coins; now your electronic fare card is tied to your bank account. Your store affinity cards give you discounts; merchants use the data on them to reveal detailed purchasing patterns.

Bruce Schneier has written widely on security, privacy and technology.Data about you is collected when you make a phone call, send an e-mail message, use a credit card, or visit a website. A card will only exacerbate this.
More computerized systems are watching youare ubiquitous in some cities, and eventually face recognition technology will be able to identify individuals. Automatic license plate scanners track vehicles in parking lots and cities. Color printers, digital cameras, and some photocopy machines have embedded identification codes. Aerial surveillance is used by cities to find building permit violators and by marketers to learn about home and garden size.
As become more common, they'll be tracked, too. Already you can be , even if you never make a call. This ; not "follow that car," but "follow every car".
Computers are mediating conversation as well. Face-to-face conversations are ephemeral. Years ago, telephone companies might have known who you called and how long you talked, but not what you said. Today you chat in e-mail, by text message, and on social networking sites. You blog and you Twitter. These conversations - with family, friends, and colleagues - can be recorded and stored.
It used to be too expensive to save this data, but computer memory is now cheaper. Computer processing power is cheaper, too; more data is cross-indexed and correlated, and then used for secondary purposes. What was once ephemeral is now permanent.
Who collects and uses this data depends on local laws. In the US, corporations collect, then buy and sell, much of this information for marketing purposes. In Europe, governments collect more of it than corporations. On both continents, law enforcement wants access to as much of it as possible for both investigation and data mining.

More and more people are scattering their personal data onlineRegardless of country, more organizations are collecting, storing, and sharing more of it.
More is coming. Keyboard logging programs and devices can already record everything you type; recording everything you say on your cell phone is only a few years away.
A "life recorder" you can clip to your lapel that'll record everything you see and hear isn't far behind. It'll be sold as a security device, so that no one can attack you without being recorded. When that happens, will not wearing a life recorder be used as evidence that someone is up to no good, just as prosecutors today use the fact that someone left his cell phone at home as evidence that he didn't want to be tracked?
You're living in a unique time in history: the technology is here, but it's not yet seamless. Identification checks are common, but you still have to show your ID. Soon it'll happen automatically, either by remotely querying a chip in your wallets or by recognizing your face on camera.
And all those cameras, now visible, will shrink to the point where you won't even see them. Ephemeral conversation will all but disappear, and you'll think it normal. Already your children live much more of their lives in public than you do. Your future has no privacy, not because of some police-state governmental tendencies or corporate malfeasance, but because computers naturally produce data.
Cardinal Richelieu famously said: "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." When all your words and actions can be saved for later examination, different rules have to apply.
Future generations will look back at us - living in the early decades of the information age - and judge our solutions to the proliferation of data
Society works precisely because conversation is ephemeral; because people forget, and because people don't have to justify every word they utter.
Conversation is not the same thing as correspondence. Words uttered in haste over morning coffee, whether spoken in a coffee shop or thumbed on a BlackBerry, are not official correspondence. A data pattern indicating "terrorist tendencies" is no substitute for a real investigation. Being constantly scrutinized furthermore, it's creepy. Privacy isn't just about having something to hide; it's a basic right that to democracy, liberty, and our humanity.
We're not going to stop the march of technology, just as we cannot un-invent the automobile or the coal furnace. We spent the industrial age relying on fossil fuels that polluted our air and transformed our climate. Now we are working to address the consequences. (While still using said fossil fuels, of course.) This time around, maybe we can be a little more proactive.
Just as we look back at the beginning of the previous century and shake our heads at how people could ignore the pollution they caused, future generations will look back at us - living in the early decades of the information age - and judge our solutions to the proliferation of data.
We must, all of us together, start discussing this major societal change and what it means. And we must work out a way to create a future that our grandchildren will be proud of.

Cell phone stories writing new chapter in print publishing

CNN) -- Yume-Hotaru's first novel was a best-seller in Japanese bookstores, and he wrote it entirely with his thumbs.

Publishers in Japan were quick to see the potential of putting cellphone novels into print.

The 22-year-old who would rather be identified by his pen name than his real one (Yume-Hotaru means "Dreaming Firefly" in Japanese) started composing the novel on his cell phone in 2007.
Between classes, on the bus or before going to bed at night, he would type single sentences into his phone's tiny keypad, uploading each one straight to the mobile social networking site Mobage-town.
The more Yume-Hotaru posted, the more popular his story became. It won a prize and soon publishers approached him, asking if he wanted to turn his digital book into a paper one. By early 2008, his novel "First Experience," a story about love and sex in high school, was a top title in one of Tokyo's biggest bookstores.
Since it emerged in Japan nearly a decade ago, the cell phone novel, or keitai shosetsu, has moved from a little-known subgenre to a mainstream literary phenomenon. Keitai shosetsu sites boast billions of monthly users while publishers sell millions of copies of cellular stories taken from phones and turned into paperback.
It is even spreading to other countries as other cultures start to take part in a type of composition long considered purely Japanese.
As the name suggests, cell phone novels are written entirely on handsets and posted on sites like Maho no i-rando (Magic Island), the first and largest mobile novel portal in Japan. The site has a million titles, 3.5 billion monthly visitors and six million registered users, according to the company. Mobile readers instantly see new chapters as they are added, often adding comments about the direction they think a novel should take.
The diary-like stories are written and read mostly by young women in their teens and 20's. Many authors use pen names and claim their stories are at least partially autobiographical. The novels often center on themes that are rarely discussed aloud in Japanese society -- drugs, sex, pregnancy, abortion, rape and disease.
"When they write those novels, they share their secret, personal problems, and when they read by mobile phones, they can hide what they are reading," explained Toshie Takahashi, an associate professor of media studies at Rikkyo University in Tokyo.
"They are also involved and engaged with their mobile phones very strongly," added Takahashi, noting that 96 percent of high school students own a cell phone in Japan.
"The mobile phone itself is embedded in young people's everyday lives very deeply and also emotionally and physically."
Despite its popularity among young women, a male writer known as Yoshi, widely considered the first cellular novelist, brought the burgeoning genre to light when he self-published "Deep Love" in 2002. The story about a prostitute in Tokyo sold nearly 3 million copies and was adapted for film, television and Manga, or Japanese comics.
Publishing phenomenon
A struggling Japanese publishing industry was quick to take notice of the growing popularity of keitai shosetsu, especially early works like Yoshi's "Deep Love." Many of the popular cell phone novels have since been turned into paperbacks, and bookstores across Japan now have entire sections devoted to the digital-age literary genre.
By 2007, half of the country's 10 best-selling novels were written on cell phones, according to book distributor Tohan while last year mobile novels and comics were a $240 million market in Japan, which is over 5 percent of the country's $4.5 billion total mobile content market, according to Japan's Mobile Content Forum.
In January 2009, three Japanese mobile phone novel publishers reported collective sales of 1.7 million copies. Publishers, like Goma Books, one of the first to print cell phone novels, have also launched their own keitai shosetsu sites, which they use to sift through for talent whose work will be marketable on bookshelves.
Goma's mobile story site Orion carries 20,000 novels and has approximately two million monthly users, according to the company. Goma has also published several top-selling keitai shosetsu, including "The Red Thread," by Mei (also a pen name).
Since it was released in 2007, the story, which revolves around the romance of two middle school students, has sold nearly 2 million copies and was adapted for a TV series and movie last December. The publishing house now prints a new mobile novel every month.
Some literary purist don't think the cell phone novels constitute real literature, but their popularity is undeniable.
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"The sentences may be a bit immature. It doesn't have a major plot line sometimes. It is just love stories of ordinary high school girls, said Aya Tanaka, a spokesperson for Goma. "But it is kind of like popular comics, it is what the teenagers want to read, and for the publishers, it is quite a big market and it does sell."
Michael Keferl, a trend consultant with Cscout Japan in Tokyo, believes that "[readers] are participating in the creation of the novel, which is one of the reasons why they buy it afterwards. They are helping to write it and are also witnessing it being written."
Crossing cultures
However some believe the future of keitai shosetsu as one that is quickly following in the footsteps of most teenage fads: A sudden and rapid rise to mass popularity followed by a slow but steady decline to the fringes of the not-so-cool.
Last year few mobile novels appeared on best-seller lists while new stories published online have lost their characteristic edginess, said Chiaki Ishihara, a Japanese literature expert at Waseda University in Tokyo who has studied cell phone novels.
"Keitai shosetsu is rapidly declining at this point," Ishihara told CNN. "In a few years, it may not even be considered a subculture."
Others see the cell phone novel moving from an initial boom that peaked around 2007 to a period of market stabilization.
"You are not going to have as many of the big hits as you had before because there are so many titles out," said Keferl. "Things are leveling out now."
While the cell phone novel market may be cooling in Japan, it is just starting to emerge in other countries, like the United States, where faster networks and cheaper data plans are leading more consumers to use handsets in ways similar to people in Japan.
Many companies are starting to launch mobile web sites in the U.S., including DeNA, the Japanese firm that owns Mobage-town, the site where Yume-Hotaru writes his keitai shosetsu.
"What has surprised us is users in America are behaving in a similar way to the Japanese," said Dai Watanabe, president of DeNA Global, Inc. "They are writing about things that are very close to their actual lives. I was surprised to see it is very similar with what is happening in Japan."
Julian Knighten, a 22-year-old who works three jobs, writes his cell phone stories while lying in bed at night in his home outside of Dallas, Texas.
He said he had never heard of keitai shosetsu before but likes writing cell phone novels because of the relationship he has with readers and the feedback they give him about his stories.
"It encourages me to write," said Knighten. "And it gives me the chance to escape reality."

iPhones for Verizon? iPhones for Everyone!

The biggest flaw in Apple's near-perfect iPhone has always been the network it's on. So as rumors have arisen once more (based on an old story from September) of Apple developing an iPhone for Verizon Wireless, the most reliable cell-phone network in the U.S., the Internet has been going nuts. Of course Apple wants to develop an iPhone for Verizon. At this point, Apple wants to develop an iPhone for everyone. It's just got one problem: the hideous, mysterious, Faustian contract it signed with AT&T. And that one is a show-stopper.
Apple's exclusivity contract with AT&T was an attempt to rewrite the economics of the cell-phone business. It wasn't about visual voice mail or even, really, about branding. It was about money and control. In exchange for a bond of blood, AT&T would kick some of its monthly subscription fees to Apple and let Apple control retail distribution. This was radical. This was unique. This was a failure.
The iPhone sold well here, but the U.S. is a fraction of the global mobile market, and international carriers weren't too comfortable with Apple cutting into their monthlies. It turned out that mobile-phone carriers around the world are much more comfortable kicking in one-time subsidies than kicking back monthly fees. So for the international market Apple went to a much more normal system of accounting (normal for the cell-phone industry, that is), and the iPhone has sold spectacular numbers around the world.
Along the way, Apple has also learned that tying itself to one wireless carrier damages, rather than reinforces, its brand, because the quality of its product becomes too tightly coupled to the quality of that carrier. Notice that in many of Apple's "later" countries, the iPhone is available on multiple carriers. Apple's Tim Cook has clearly said the company isn't married to a one-carrier strategy.
Apple has also gotten more flexible on pricing and distribution, which were the two major stumbling blocks when Apple first tried to get Verizon interested in the first-generation iPhone, at least if you believe USA Today. Heck, the iPhone is now even available at Wal-Mart. Apple of 2009, as opposed to Apple of 2006, is much more willing to work with mobile-phone carriers and third-party retailers as partners.
Mobile-phone carriers have learned things in the past two years, too. Everyone's dabbled with visual voice mail. Phones like the T-Mobile G1 and the Palm Pre have made U.S. carriers more comfortable with phone manufacturers taking a starring role in product rollouts and software updates, though Apple takes that kind of control to a new level. Two years have also proved that the iPhone is a unique phenomenon that everybody wants in on.
So Apple will put iPhones on everyone's network, but in the U.S., it will want to put them on Verizon's first. Verizon is now the largest carrier in the country. Also, Sprint has what Apple would consider an unhealthy relationship with Palm, and T-Mobile has that Google thing going on.
If the iPhone were to go to Verizon before 2010, Apple would have to build a version for Verizon's CDMA network. That would have been a great chore back in 2007. Apple isn't actually that big a company; developing two cell phones from scratch would have been a big deal for them. But they're going on their third phone by now, and they have a few years of experience. They could do it now.
It takes a year or so to develop a new phone for Verizon (and especially to get it both through the FCC and through Verizon's own hellish network-testing process). But Apple plans ahead: It'll have that phone ready when its AT&T contract is up. Verizon will likely demand a three-month CDMA exclusivity agreement, which Apple will consent to. Sprint and T-Mobile will follow after a few months.
If the AT&T contract lasts past 2010, a Verizon launch gets even easier. The iPhone could be one of the first devices on Verizon's new LTE network, which will use a fourth-generation network technology that Verizon will share with AT&T, T-Mobile, and dozens of international carriers. An LTE iPhone would eventually be an almost universal device.
Apple's AT&T contract is still shrouded in mystery. All we know about it is that it's "multiyear." Under the most liberal interpretation, that means Apple could be out from under AT&T's thumb in July. But USA Today has said in separate stories that the contract runs through the end of 2010 or even 2012, which puts the Verizon launch firmly in the LTE zone. I'm pretty sure that whenever that clock goes "ding," a whole lot more people will get to buy iPhones

Google introduces ads to Google News (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Google has introduced ads to the results of search queries on Google News in a move aimed at turning the news aggregation site into a money-making venture that may raise the hackles of newspapers and other media outlets.
Josh Cohen, a business project manager at Google, announced the change in a post on the official Google News blog on Wednesday.
"What this means is that when you enter a query like iPhone or Kindle into the Google News search box, you'll see text ads alongside your News search results -- similar to what you see on regular Google searches," Cohen wrote.
A search for Kindle, Amazon's electronic book reader, for example, returns links to news articles and a list of "sponsored links" such as Amazon's Kindle page and ads for other readers such as Sony's eBook device.
"In recent months we've been experimenting with a variety of different formats," Cohen said. "We've always said that we'd unveil these changes when we could offer a good experience for our users, publishers and advertisers alike."
"We'll continue to look at ways to deliver ads that are relevant for users and good for publishers, too," Cohen said, adding that the ads would only appear on Google News search-results pages in the United States.
Google News aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources around the world and provides links to articles on their websites.
The articles are selected, according to Google, "by computers that evaluate, among other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online."
The introduction of ads to Google News search is the latest attempt by the Mountain View, California-based company to monetize its various Web ventures.
Google makes most of its money from Internet search advertising but gradually has been introducing advertising to other properties during the past year, such as YouTube, Google Maps and Google Finance.
Google purchased YouTube in 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars and has been searching for ways to translate its immense popularity into a money-making venture without alienating its huge fan base.
John Battle, a media analyst and the founder of Wired magazine, wrote on his blog, battellemedia.com, that the introduction of ads to Google News search was likely to prove controversial.
He noted that the Google announcement did not mention "sharing revenues with the news (organizations) who provide Google News its content."
"I presume that Google gets paid per click for action on those ad offerings," said Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst at the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based non-profit journalism school.
"But I doubt that they have any particular plans to share that with the people whose news they're aggregating."
Kelly McBride, another Poynter faculty member, said "it's always been obvious that Google didn't develop Google News as a public service -- they intended to make money off it.
"I'm OK with Google News making money," she said. "I hope that they will share it with the content creators."
Agence France-Presse and Google signed a licensing agreement in April 2007 giving the search engine the right to post AFP news and photos on Google News.
The agreement settled a lawsuit filed by AFP against Google in March 2005 accusing it of copyright infringement for allegedly posting AFP headlines, news summaries and photographs without permission

Facebook to let users give input on policies (AP)

NEW YORK - Facebook is trying its hand at democracy.
The fast-growing online hangout, whose more than 175 million worldwide users could form the world's sixth-largest country behind Brazil, said Thursday that those users will play a "meaningful role" in deciding the site's policies and voting on changes.
Facebook is trying to recover from last week's policy-change blunder that sparked tens of thousands to join online protests. At issue was who controls the information, like photos, posts and messages, that people share with their friends on the site.
On Thursday, founder Mark Zuckerberg once again sought to reassure users that they are the owners, not Facebook. And in a broader step, the company also said its users will get a hand in determining the various policies — such as privacy, ownership and sharing — by reviewing, commenting and voting on them before they are put in place.
"As people share more information on services like Facebook, a new relationship is created between Internet companies and the people they serve," Zuckerberg said in a statement. "The past week reminded us that users feel a real sense of ownership over Facebook itself, not just the information they share."
In a conference call, Zuckerberg said the purpose of Facebook is to make the world more transparent by giving people the power to share information, and as such Facebook itself should be transparent as well.
Earlier this month, the site quietly updated its terms of use — its governing document — sparking an uproar after popular consumer rights advocacy blog Consumerist.com referred to them as "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever."
After tens of thousands protested, Facebook decided to revert to its previous user policies while it figured out how best to update them.
The latest controversy was not the first time Facebook angered its users, who have come to expect a sense of privacy even as they share things with friends.
In late 2007, a tracking tool called "Beacon" caught users off-guard by broadcasting information about their shopping habits and activities at other Web sites. After initially resisting, the company ultimately allowed users to turn Beacon off. A redesign of the site last year also prompted thousands to protest, but in that case Facebook kept its new look.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook is privately held. Microsoft Corp. bought a 1.6 percent stake in the company in 2007 for $240 million as part of a broader advertising partnership.

Galaxy may be full of 'Earths,' alien life

CNN) -- As NASA prepares to hunt for Earth-like planets in our corner of the Milky Way galaxy, there's new buzz that "Star Trek's" vision of a universe full of life may not be that far-fetched.

An artist's impression shows a planet passing in front of its parent star. Such events are called transits.

Pointy-eared aliens traveling at light speed are staying firmly in science fiction, but scientists are offering fresh insights into the possible existence of inhabited worlds and intelligent civilizations in space.
There may be 100 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way, or one for every sun-type star in the galaxy, said Alan Boss, an astronomer with the Carnegie Institution and author of the new book "The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets."
He made the prediction based on the number of "super-Earths" -- planets several times the mass of the Earth, but smaller than gas giants like Jupiter -- discovered so far circling stars outside the solar system.
Boss said that if any of the billions of Earth-like worlds he believes exist in the Milky Way have liquid water, they are likely to be home to some type of life.
"Now that's not saying that they're all going to be crawling with intelligent human beings or even dinosaurs," he said.
"But I would suspect that the great majority of them at least will have some sort of primitive life, like bacteria or some of the multicellular creatures that populated our Earth for the first 3 billion years of its existence."
Putting a number on alien worlds
Other scientists are taking another approach: an analysis that suggests there could be hundreds, even thousands, of intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland constructed a computer model to create a synthetic galaxy with billions of stars and planets. They then studied how life evolved under various conditions in this virtual world, using a supercomputer to crunch the results.
Galaxy Quest• The Milky Way is believed to be more than 13 billion years old.• It is just one of billions of galaxies in the universe.• The Milky Way has a circumference of about 250,000-300,000 light years.• It is about 100,000 light years in diameter.• There are three types of galaxies: ellipticals, spirals and irregulars.• The Milky Way is a large disk-shaped barred spiral galaxy. (A barred galaxy has a bar-shaped structure in its middle.)Source: Space.com
In a paper published recently in the International Journal of Astrobiology, the researchers concluded that based on what they saw, at least 361 intelligent civilizations have emerged in the Milky Way since its creation, and as many as 38,000 may have formed.
Duncan Forgan, a doctoral candidate at the university who led the study, said he was surprised by the hardiness of life on these other worlds.
"The computer model takes into account what we refer to as resetting or extinction events. The classic example is the asteroid impact that may have wiped out the dinosaurs," Forgan said.
"I half-expected these events to disallow the rise of intelligence, and yet civilizations seemed to flourish."
Forgan readily admits the results are an educated guess at best, since there are still many unanswered questions about how life formed on Earth and only limited information about the 330 "exoplanets" -- those circling sun-like stars outside the solar system -- discovered so far.
The first was confirmed in 1995 and the latest just this month when Europe's COROT space telescope spotted the smallest terrestrial exoplanet ever found. With a diameter less than twice the size of Earth, the planet orbits very close to its star and has temperatures up to 1,500° Celsius (more than 2,700° Fahrenheit), according to the European Space Agency. It may be rocky and covered in lava.
Hunt for habitable planets
NASA is hoping to find much more habitable worlds with the help of the upcoming Kepler mission. The spacecraft, set to be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida next week, will search for Earth-size planets in our part of the galaxy.
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Kepler contains a special telescope that will study 100,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of the Milky Way for more than three years. It will look for small dips in a star's brightness, which can mean an orbiting planet is passing in front it -- an event called a transit.
"It's akin to measuring a flea as it creeps across the headlight of an automobile at night," said Kepler project manager James Fanson during a during a NASA news conference.
The focus of the mission is finding planets in a star's habitable zone, an orbit that would ensure temperatures in which life could existBoss, who serves on the Kepler Science Council, said scientists should know by 2013 -- the end of Kepler's mission -- whether life in the universe could be widespread.
Finding intelligent life is a very different matter. For all the speculation about the possibility of other civilizations in the universe, the question remains: If the rise of life on Earth isn't unique and aliens are common, why haven't they shown up or contacted us? The contradiction was famously summed up by the physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950 in what became known as the Fermi paradox: "Where is everybody?"
The answer may be the vastness of time and space, scientists explained.
"Civilizations come and go," Boss said. "Chances are, if you do happen to find a planet which is going to have intelligent life, it's not going to be in [the same] phase of us. It may have formed a billion years ago, or maybe it's not going to form for another billion years."
Even if intelligent civilizations did exist at the same time, they probably would be be separated by tens of thousands of light years, Forgan said. If aliens have just switched on their transmitter to communicate, it could take us hundreds of centuries to receive their message, he added.
As for interstellar travel, the huge distances virtually rule out any extraterrestrial visitors. To illustrate, Boss said the fastest rockets available to us right now are those being used in NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Even going at that rate of speed, it would take 100,000 years to get from Earth to the closest star outside the solar system, he added.
"So when you think about that, maybe we shouldn't be worried about having interstellar air raids any time soon," Boss said.

Online relief for the recession-weary

CNN) -- If finding a real job evades you, now may be the perfect time to just pretend you have one.
ResumeShirts.com, launching Tuesday, will allow customers to print their resumes on customized T-shirts.
Fake employees, corporate seat-fillers, are reportedly being paid by New York advertising agencies to dress and act like they work in firms so prospective clients visiting the offices will be instilled with confidence.
Sound crazy? Not to Jeremy Redleaf, the 24-year-old founder of Odd Job Nation, a Web site scheduled to officially launch today.
"Seriously! I have friends who do this," Redleaf says, before rattling off some of the other "exclusive odd jobs" he's compiling. "We want to be the resource for the new growing army of part-time opportunists ... You've got to hustle life before life hustles you."
Assuming your Internet access hasn't gone the way of your 401(k) savings, the Web is now rich with sites and blogs that offer information, support, survival tips and even comic relief to those who are feeling the financial pinch.
Some sites chronicle recession news for those who can stomach it. Among them are
Don't MissIn Depth: 44th President -- State of the Nation The Daily Bail, which keeps tabs on all things bailout; Timely Demise, which covers the retail industry; and a Twitter page called The Media is Dying, which honors the media dead.
But many new sites exist simply to foster community, or at least make people realize they are not alone.
The 405 Club, a reference to New York's $405-a-week maximum unemployment benefit, invites visitors to become part of the "fastest growing club in New York." Laid-off Dad offers insights into one New York City man's travails. ResumeShirts.com, another Jeremy Redleaf venture, allows customers to print resumes and cover letters on customized T-shirts.
Pink Slips are the New Black, dubbed "the blog for unemployed people by unemployed people," was the brainchild of two 20-something women in New York. Visit the "about" page and the message is simple: "We're broke. We're angry. We're frustrated. We're unemployed ... Like you. There is strength in numbers. Join us."
Though the blog started as a way "to channel our anger," co-founder Bridget Sweeny -- a real estate marketing casualty -- says they're now targeting others in their age group with an "irreverent, fun and cheeky" approach. Postings, for example, share fears about moving back in with the parents and listings for awful jobs that make not working more palatable.
Billing itself as a "pop-up site" (a now trademarked term) that is "ready and willing to die," is Recessionwire, which was launched earlier this month. The site's mission is to provide inspiration and offer tips to those who are navigating the recession's rocky road.
"There's a lot of stuff out there about doom and gloom," Laura Rich, one of the three co-founders, says. "From a competitive standpoint, we don't need to compete with that ... We want to help people to be more creative, to use this opportunity to shift things in their lives." Watch founders discuss Recessionwire »
A recent post offered "tips for making the most of your closet misfits," while another revealed the silver lining found in restaurant deals. A recurring column entitled "Love in the Time of Layoff," appears amid "Recession Recipes" that can be whipped up on the cheap, and uplifting tales of "Lemonade Makers" who've made good out of bad times.
Not everyone, however, is able to put a positive spin on the financial crisis, which is why Ben Carey, 37, and Henrik Delehag, 35 -- two London, England, satirists and authors who collectively go by Benrik -- launched Recession Blocker in October.
By using this search tool, one can access a news site without having to read any bad news, because every possible word and phrase that could be seen as a downer (think "cash-strapped," "financial turmoil" or "unemployment") is blacked out.
"The media were making matters worse by talking about it [the recession] non-stop and scaring people out of spending," Carey says, before adding that the heavy traffic has caused his server to crash several times. "It clearly hits a nerve with a wide range of people who are overwhelmed by recession stories."
A character named "Joe" on Odd Job Nation approaches the crisis tongue in cheek. His "penny-pinching tips," for example, encourage readers to make late-day visits to bakeries for free carbs and bring backpacks to friends' places to nab an occasional light bulb.
When transportation needs become desperate, Joe even suggests taking a bicycle from a small child.
"It's good to experience disappointment when you're still developing," he reasons.
For those who can't steal from children, avoid recession news or escape their own bleak realities, Marlin Potash, a New York City psychologist of 30 years, was inspired to step into the blogosphere for the first time. Her blog, Feeling Up in Down Times, went live about six weeks ago.
It's been Potash's way to "bring psychology to the people," at a time when many can't afford it or are stymied by what they perceive as the stigma of going to therapy, she explains.
By offering advice online, including stress-reduction tips such as the "3 Minute Bathroom Meditation," she's hoping to bring what she knows from her field to the recession-weary masses who may never step into a professional's office