'Legitimate' Bitcoin's value soars after Senate hearing

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71177000/jpg/_71177738_71177737.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>The value of virtual currency Bitcoin surged to over $600 (£372), ahead of a US Senate committee hearing on Monday.</p><br /><p>The committee will hear that virtual currencies are a 'legitimate financial service' with the same benefits and risks as other online payment systems.</p><br /><p>The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee wants to explore the 'promises and risks' of Bitcoin for 'government and society at large'.</p><br /><p>The currency has trebled in value since October.</p><br /><p>The US Senate hearing was prompted by the closure of the Silk Road website in October. The site, which sold drugs and other illegal goods, was shut down by the FBI.</p><br /><p>Users of the site were required to pay for their transactions using Bitcoins.</p><br /><p>Representatives from the Department of Justice and financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission have been asked to provide their views about virtual currencies to the committee and submissions have been received from the FBI and the US Federal Reserve.</p><br /><p>The FBI, in a letter to the committee released yesterday, said that it recognised virtual currencies offered 'legitimate financial services' but they could be 'exploited by malicious actors'.</p><br /><img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71177000/jpg/_71177740_71177739.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Mainstream acceptance</p><br /><p>''Two years ago it was alarm when Silk Road first came on the scene,'' Jerry Brito, senior research fellow at George Mason University told Bloomberg.</p><br /><p>''Since then, Congress has been educating itself and understands that there are great potential benefits, and like any new technology there are going to be some challenges. But they see there is a balance to be struck here and they are generally positive on the technology,' he said.</p><br />HOW BITCOINS WORK<br /><p>Bitcoin is often referred to as a new kind of currency.</p><br /><p>But it may be better to think of its units as being virtual tokens that have value because enough people believe they do and there is a finite number of them.</p><br /><p>Each Bitcoin is represented by a unique online registration number.</p><br /><p>These numbers are created through a process called 'mining', which involves a computer solving a difficult mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution.</p><br /><p>Each time a problem is solved the computer's owner is rewarded with Bitcoins.</p><br /><p>To receive a bitcoin, a user must also have a Bitcoin address - a randomly generated string of 27 to 34 letters and numbers - which acts as a kind of virtual postbox to and from which the bitcoins are sent.</p><br /><p>But it may be better to think of its units as being virtual tokens that have value because enough people believe they do and there is a finite number tcoin address - a randomly generated string of 27 to 34 letters and numbers - which acts as a kind of virtual postbox to and from which the bitcoins are sent.</p><br /><p>Since there is no registry of these addresses, people can use them to protect their anonymity when making a transaction.</p><br /><p>These addresses are in turn stored in Bitcoin wallets, which are used to manage savings. They operate like privately run bank accounts - with the proviso that if the data is lost, so are the bitcoins contained.</p><br /><p>Trade in Bitcoin is small compared with that in countries' official currencies. But since its creation in 2008, Bitcoin has become a popular way to pay for things online. There are currently more than 12 million bitcoins in existence according to Bitcoincharts, a website that provides financial information about the currency.</p><br /><p>On one exchange site, Mt. Gox, the value of the currency rose to $619 (£384) on Monday. This compares with a price of $200 (£124) in late October.</p><br /><p>The closing down of Silk Road and hearings in front of US government committees have led some to believe that prices are increasing as investors think Bitcoin will gain more mainstream acceptance.</p><br /><p>'Lots of factors are driving the price action in Bitcoin, including pure speculation,' said Garrick Hileman, an economic historian at the London School of Economics.</p><br /><p>'Regulatory interest in Bitcoin also traditionally has a positive effect on the price of Bitcoin,' he added.</p><br /><p>Jan Lambregts, head of financial market research at Rabobank, which does not trade in Bitcoin, said regulators were right to get involved.</p><br /><p>'Looking at it from a distance, it very much looks like it could be a speculative bubble. It's a small market, with a lot of interest in it, which is inflating and distorting the price,' he said.</p><br /><p>'But you can see the concerns for governments - this is a currency outside their normal domain and which is not influenced by central banks.</p><br /><p>'It may all be relatively small-scale now, but decisions taken now could have wider repercussions were such virtual currency experiments to be expanded in the future,' he added.</p><br /><p>Some have questioned whether trading in Bitcoin is insufficiently transparent and therefore easier to use for illegitimate means. Patrick Murck, from the Bitcoin Foundation, which promotes the use of the currency, told the BBC that the network was very open and everybody could see every transaction that happened.</p><br /><p>'I would challenge that it's for illegitimate use or bad actions. What we're finding is not that it's a haven for illegitimate activities but that there are many legitimate uses,' he said.</p><br /><p>Whatever people are using Bitcoin for, Mr Brito thinks its here to stay.</p><br /><p>'These hearings mean Bitcoin is finally coming into its own,' he said.</p><br /><p>'It's a real thing and it's not going anywhere and these hearings highlight that.'</p><br /></div>

Technology 'Legitimate' Bitcoin's value soars after Senate hearing

The value of virtual currency Bitcoin surged to over $600 (£372), ahead of a US Senate committee hearing on Monday. The committee will hear ...

Read more »

Samsung Said to Plan Galaxy Phone Using Three

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://www.bloomberg.com/image/iMMX5k2pu2RI.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) plans to release a Galaxy smartphone next year with a three-sided display that wraps around the edges so messages can be read from an angle, two people familiar with the plans said yesterday.</p><br /><p>The phone will use an upgraded version of Samsung's technology called Youm, currently featured in the curved Galaxy Round handset, the people said, asking not to be identified because the plans haven't been released. The display may be used in the S or Note series of premium handsets or may be the first in a new line, the people said. Samsung plans to have each side of the display operate independently.</p><br /><p>The world's largest maker of handsets is fighting with Apple Inc. (AAPL) to introduce innovative devices as they brace for a slowdown in the high-end smartphone segment, where Samsung sells about one of every three devices. Apple is developing new iPhone designs including bigger screens with curved glass and enhanced sensors that can detect different levels of pressure, a person familiar with the plans said Nov. 10.</p><br /><strong>Related News:</strong><br /><p>'We'll see curved displays coming into the market, but it's just a question of whether they will gain any significant traction with customers,' said Van Baker, director of research at Gartner Inc.</p><br /><p>Samsung climbed 2.7 percent, the most in more than two months, to close at 1,462,000 won in Seoul trading today. That pared the stock 's loss this year to 3.9 percent.</p><br />Smartphone Saturation<br /><p>Samsung doesn't have a specific release date for the new device, the people said, with one person saying the handset is more likely to come out during the second half of next year. The Youm technology was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Chenny Kim, a spokeswoman for Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung, declined to comment yesterday.</p><br /><p>The company is diversifying its product portfolio by expanding its use of flexible displays, unveiling the Galaxy Gear smartwatch and registering a design patent for eyeglasses that can answer phone calls while the user exercises.</p><br /><p>Samsung filed a U.S. trademark application last year for Youm, saying it could be used in televisions, mobile phones, computers, cars and Christmas tree lights.</p><br /><p>'Samsung is the dominant player,' Lee Do Hoon, an analyst at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (CIMB) in Seoul, said by phone yesterday. 'That gives it a competitive advantage over Apple in the race to make phones with bendable displays.'</p><br /><p>Curved screens may be a technology in search of a problem to solve, said Gartner's Baker. Samsung may provide a test case because they have shown a willingness to release products into the market to see if they gain favor with customers, he said.</p><br />Consumer Tastes<br /><p>'There are enough companies out there that are very fond of throwing whatever hardware they can out into the market, just to see if anybody will bite,' he said.</p><br /><p>Shares of Samsung face their first annual decline in five years as the company becomes more dependent on smartphones amid mounting worries over slower growth and intensifying market competition. The company, which holds $39 billion in net cash, said it will pursue more acquisitions as it seeks to grow amid fears its core businesses are nearing saturation.</p><br /><p>Samsung also is waging a global legal battle with Apple over patents used in mobile devices. The companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees on claims of copying each other's features.</p><br /><p>Apple, which initiated the legal fight in 2011, seeks to limit the Galaxy maker's growing share of the U.S. market, where the Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker is No. 1 and Samsung No. 2.</p><br />Battling Apple<br /><p>Even with slowing sales of the Galaxy S4 released in April, Samsung last month posted record third-quarter earnings after extending its lead in the smartphone market and benefiting from a rally in chip prices. The company is the world's largest maker of memory chips.</p><br /><p>The mobile unit, responsible for more than 60 percent of profit, posted record operating profit of 6.7 trillion won in the third quarter as the company tapped demand in emerging markets, including China and India. It sold about 120 million handsets in the third quarter for a 28.7 percent market share, researcher Strategy Analytics said Oct. 29.</p><br /><p>To contact the reporter on this story: Jungah Lee in Seoul at jlee1361@bloomberg.net</p><br /><p>To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net</p><br /></div>

Technology Samsung Said to Plan Galaxy Phone Using Three

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) plans to release a Galaxy smartphone next year with a three-sided display that wraps around the edges so me...

Read more »

Yahoo vows to encrypt all its users' personal data

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://media.thenewstribune.com/smedia/2013/11/18/17/50/984-1swOdN.AuSt.55.jpeg" width="600"/><br /><p>- Yahoo is expanding its efforts to protect its users' online activities from prying eyes by encrypting all the communications and other information flowing into the Internet company's data centers around the world.</p><br /><p>The commitment announced Monday by Yahoo Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer follows a recent Washington Post report that the National Security Agency has been hacking into the communications lines of the data centers run by Yahoo and Google Inc. to intercept information about what people do and say online.</p><br /><p>Yahoo had previously promised to encrypt its email service by early January. Now, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company plans to have all data encrypted by the end of March to make it more difficult for unauthorized parties to decipher the information.</p><br /><p>Google began to encrypt its Gmail service in 2010 and has since introduced the security measure on many other services. The Mountain View, Calif., company has promised to encrypt the links to its data centers, too. A Google engineer said that task had been completed in a post on his Google Plus account earlier this month, but the company hasn't yet confirmed all the encryption work is done.</p><br /><p>Other documents leaked to various media outlets by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden this year have revealed that Yahoo, Google and several other prominent technology companies, including Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc., have been feeding the U.S. government some information about their international users under a court-monitored program called PRISM. The companies maintain they have only surrendered data about a very small number of users, and have only cooperated when legally required.</p><br /><p>The NSA says its online surveillance programs have played an instrumental role in thwarting terrorism.</p><br /><p>The increased use of encryption technology is aimed at stymieing government surveillance that may be occurring without the companies' knowledge. Even when it's encrypted, online data can still be heisted, but the information looks like gibberish without the decoding keys.</p><br /><p>'I want to reiterate what we have said in the past: Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency,' Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wrote in a Monday post on the company's Tumblr blog.</p><br /><p>Facebook also has said it's cloaking its social networking network with greater encryption, but hasn't publicly set a timetable for getting all the added protection in place.</p><br /><p>Debunking the perception that the NSA and other U.S. government agencies can easily vacuum up potentially sensitive information about people's online lives is important to Yahoo, Google and other Internet companies because they need Web surfers to regularly use their services so they can sell more of the digital ads that bring in most of their revenue.</p><br /><p>The companies fear the government spying revelations eventually will drive some people away from their services and make it more difficult to attract more users outside the U.S. If that were to happen, it could slow the companies' financial growth and undercut their stock prices.</p><br /><p>Yahoo has been struggling to boost its revenue for years, making it even more important for the company to reassure its 800 million users worldwide about the sanctity of their personal information.</p><br /></div>

Technology Yahoo vows to encrypt all its users' personal data

- Yahoo is expanding its efforts to protect its users' online activities from prying eyes by encrypting all the communications and other...

Read more »

US appeals court revives Apple bid for Samsung injunction

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20131118&t=2&i=812900177&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE9AH1AZY00" width="600"/><br /><p>Credit: Reuters/Jo Yong-Hak</p><br /><p>An employee of South Korean mobile carrier KT holds an Apple Inc's iPhone 4 (L) smartphone and a Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S II smartphone as he poses for photographs at a registration desk at KT's headquarters in Seoul, August 25, 2011.</p><br /><p>The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that the lower court abused its discretion in denying the injunction with respect to utility patents and asked it to reconsider.</p><br /><p>The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California had refused the injunction in December 2012.</p><br /><p>The case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is Apple Inc v Samsung Electronics Co., Inc. The case number is 2013-1129.</p><br /><p>(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)</p><br /></div>

Technology US appeals court revives Apple bid for Samsung injunction

Credit: Reuters/Jo Yong-Hak An employee of South Korean mobile carrier KT holds an Apple Inc's iPhone 4 (L) smartphone and a Samsung Ele...

Read more »

Sling ups the app ante: Android and iOS updates add Roku support, Windows 8 ...

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Slingbox users are getting improved mobile apps, Roku compatibility, and -- soon -- even a dedicated Windows 8 app.</p><br /><p><img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/12/05/John_Falcone_60x43.jpg" width="600"/> </p><br /><img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/17/DSC01041_610x405.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>(Credit: John P. Falcone/CNET)</p><br /><p>The Xbox One isn't the only gadget that's got a bullseye on your television viewing. Slingbox owners are about to get quite a few additional options when streaming live TV.</p><br /><p>The new SlingPlayer 3.0 apps for Android and iOS, available today, offer an overhauled user interface with a variety of improvements on both platforms. Among the upgrades delivered are improved guide data for better program discoverability and filtering; accompanying statistical data during live sporting events; and in-app Twitter and Facebook integration. (See the video embedded below for a sneak peek of the new app in action.)</p><br /><p>The app remains priced at $14.99 both platforms (the iOS version is <i>not</i> universal, so it requires separate purchases on iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad).</p><br />Slingbox unveils Roku app, updates app for iPad<br /><p>SlingPlayer comes to Roku Sling is also adding a Roku channel for the first time. The Roku app turns any recent Roku box into a SlingPlayer client, allowing Slingbox users to watch their video streams on a big-screen TV. The Roku app is free, but it can't work without the help of a mobile device. The Roku channel can only be manipulated from the iPhone or Android apps (the Roku control functionality will be added to the iPad app in the near future) using on-screen touch controls. However, because the user login and authentication happens on the phone, that means Slingbox owners can stream to a friend's Roku without inputting any username or password info into the Roku itself; the phone and the Roku just need to be on the same network.</p><br /><p>The addition of Roku streaming comes less than a month after Sling enabled AirPlay support for Apple TV, which allowed iPad and iPhone owners to display live TV streams on that media box as well. (SlingPlayer apps were already available on the WD TV Live, the Sony Internet Player with Google TV, and Netgear NeoTV family of products, but those have far smaller install bases than Apple and Roku.)</p><br /><p>The SlingPlayer app should be available on most 2011 and later Roku models soon. Sling says the Roku 3, Roku 2 XD, Roku 2 XS, Roku HD 2012, Roku LT 2012, and the Roku Streaming Stick could see it hit as early as today, with the Roku 1, Roku 2, and Roku LT 2013 following next week.</p><br /><img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/17/Roku_TV_iPhone_Comp_610x368.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>(Credit: EchoStar)</p><br /><p>Windows 8.1 dedicated app coming soon Slingbox owners have long been able to access their TV streams on the Web via Sling's free browser-based client, but the company now has the latest version of Windows set in its sights for a dedicated app. Expect a touch-enabled Windows app to be available by the end of December on Windows 8.1 and RT 8.1 devices, including Surface tablets.</p><br /></div>

Technology Sling ups the app ante: Android and iOS updates add Roku support, Windows 8 ...

Slingbox users are getting improved mobile apps, Roku compatibility, and -- soon -- even a dedicated Windows 8 app. (Credit: John P. Falcon...

Read more »

FBI Blames Federal Hacks On Anonymous Campaign

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://img.deusm.com/informationweek/news.png" width="600"/><img src="http://img.deusm.com/informationweek/schwartz-IWK-125x125.jpg" width="600"/><img src="http://img.deusm.com/informationweek/editor-RSS.png" width="600"/><img src="http://img.deusm.com/informationweek/editor-email.png" width="600"/><img src="http://static.1.rp-api.com/buttons/repostus_bttn_shrt_embed.png" width="600"/><br /><p>A British suspect is accused of attacking numerous government agencies, including the U.S. Army and NASA.</p><br /><p>Attackers with ties to Anonymous have waged a year-long hacking campaign that's successfully exploited numerous US government systems.</p><br /><p>So read an FBI memo, distributed Thursday, which said that the group of attackers gained access to government systems via SQL injection attacks, as well as by exploiting vulnerabilities in outdated versions of the website development platform Adobe ColdFusion, Reuters first reported.</p><br /><p>That group of hackers was allegedly responsible for the July 2013 Department of Energy (DOE) data breach. In the wake of that breach, agency officials reported that attackers had exploited vulnerabilities in an outdated and insecure version of Adobe ColdFusion to obtain personal information -- including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth -- for more than 100,000 past and current federal employees, including dependents and contractors. Attackers also obtained 2,800 employees' bank account numbers.</p><br /><p>According to the FBI memo, however, the DOE was but one of the government agencies that the attackers successfully breached. Indeed, the bureau said that systems run by the U.S. Army, Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Sentencing Commission were likewise breached via ColdFusion vulnerabilities, and suggested that many more agencies may have been likewise compromised.</p><br /><strong>[ What are the new threats? Read Internet Of Things Opens Doors to Attack. ]</strong><br /><p>Related investigations are still underway. 'The majority of the intrusions have not yet been made publicly known,' according to the bureau's memo. 'It is unknown exactly how many systems have been compromised, but it is a widespread problem that should be addressed.'</p><br /><p>Unnamed US government officials told Reuters that the Adobe ColdFusion hack attacks were linked to the case of Lauri Love, 28, who was arrested last month by the UK's National Crime Agency -- Britain's version of the FBI -- following an international investigation that was spearheaded by the US Army's criminal investigation command.</p><br /><p>Love's indictment in New Jersey federal court was announced on October 28 by US attorney Paul Fishman. 'According to the indictment, Lauri Love and conspirators hacked into thousands of networks, including many belonging to the United States military and other government agencies,' said Fishman in a statement. 'As part of their alleged scheme, they stole military data and personal identifying information belonging to servicemen and women. Such conduct endangers the security of our country and is an affront to those who serve.'</p><br /><p>According to the indictment, Love (aka 'nsh,' 'route,' and 'peace') operated from the south of England, and worked with three conspirators -- who investigators haven't named -- operating from Australia and Sweden. Their alleged attacks, which began in October 2012, targeted not only the US Army and NASA, but also the US Missile Defense Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency.</p><br /><p>Love himself allegedly launched 10 different attacks -- two SQL injection attacks and eight ColdFusion hacks -- that resulted in the theft of information pertaining to more than 5,000 servicemen and servicewomen. 'Once inside the compromised networks, Love and his conspirators placed hidden 'shells' or 'back doors' within the networks, which allowed them to return to the compromised computer systems at a later date and steal confidential data,' according to the indictment.</p><br /><p>Prosecutors said the hackers allegedly attempted to mask their online activities by using VPN proxies and the Tor anonymizing network, as well as each cycling through a range of online handles when communicating via IRC chat rooms.</p><br /><p>Love, who hasn't been charged by British authorities, is currently free on bail until February 2014. If convicted of the two counts with which he's been charged -- accessing as well as conspiring to access US government computers without authorization -- he faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or up to twice the gross loss incurred by the government as a result of the attacks.</p><br /><p>Some of the attacks ascribed to Love's group, reported Reuters, were publicized by Anonymous supporters as part of Operation Last Resort, which was launched after Internet activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide. The Anonymous campaign sought 'reform of computer crime laws, and the overzealous prosecutors' involved in Swartz's case. If convicted, of course, Love would find himself at the receiving end of those computer crime laws.</p><br />There's no single migration path to the next generation of enterprise communications and collaboration systems and services, and Enterprise Connect delivers what you need to evaluate all the options. Register today and learn about the full range of platforms, services, and applications that comprise modern communications and collaboration systems. Register with code MPIWK and save $200 on the entire event and Tuesday-Thursday conference passes or for a Free Expo pass. It happens in Orlando, Fla., March 17-19.</div>

Technology FBI Blames Federal Hacks On Anonymous Campaign

A British suspect is accused of attacking numerous government agencies, including the U.S. Army and NASA. Attackers with ties to Anonymous h...

Read more »

Tech stocks: Pandora, Salesforce earnings this week

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Shares of Salesforce.com are up nearly 2% in pre-market trading, as the company prepares to announce third quarter earnings results after the markets close Monday.</p><br /><p>Last quarter, the cloud computing company reported a 31% bump in revenue to $957 million, while bumping its revenue forecast for the fiscal year to more than $4 billion.</p><br /><p>This week, the company kicks off the Dreamforce software conference in San Francisco. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg are expected to attend.</p><br /><p>On Thursday, Pandora reports third quarter earnings following a strong showing during its last quarter. During that time period, Pandora reported $162 million in revenue and $7.5 million in profit. The boost was led by mobile revenue, up 92% from the year before.</p><br /><i>Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @bam923.</i> USA NOW <img src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/9eef7679603c8ad07f8d41160a412115caf9e5b5/r=x159&c=280x156/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/11/15//1384533203000-USA-NOW-still.jpg" width="600"/> Caroline Kennedy starts her new job | USA NOW</div>

Technology Tech stocks: Pandora, Salesforce earnings this week

Shares of Salesforce.com are up nearly 2% in pre-market trading, as the company prepares to announce third quarter earnings results after th...

Read more »

Nvidia Unleashes Tesla K40, Joins IBM on Future HPC Projects

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://www4.pcmag.com/media/images/407798-nvidia-tesla-k40.jpg?thumb=y" width="600"/><br /><p>Nvidia on Monday announced the availability of its fastest-ever GPU accelerator for supercomputing and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.</p><br /><p>The Tesla K40 GPU accelerator has double the memory of the Tesla K20X, until now Nvidia's top GPU accelerator, and delivers a 40 percent performance boost over its predecessor.</p><br /><p>'GPU accelerators have gone mainstream in the HPC and supercomputing industries, enabling engineers and researchers to consistently drive innovation and scientific discovery,' Sumit Gupta, general manager of Tesla Accelerated Computing products at Nvidia, said in a statement. 'With the breakthrough performance and higher memory capacity of the Tesla K40 GPU, enterprise customers can quickly crunch through massive volumes of data generated by their big data analytics applications.'</p><br /><p>The Tesla K40 is based on Nvidia's Kepler graphics processing architecture and sports 2,880 GPU cores supporting the graphics chip maker's CUDA parallel programming language. The most powerful graphics platform Nvidia has built to date has a whopping 12GB of GDDR5 memory, supports the PCIe 3.0 interconnect, and uses the company's Dynamic Parallelism technology to 'enable GPU threads to dynamically spawn new threads, enabling users to quickly and easily crunch through adaptive and dynamic data structures.'</p><br /><p>The Tesla K40 also features a technology familiar to CPU users, the ability to throttle up cores with converted power headroom. Called Nvidia GPU Boost, this user-controlled performance enhancer can 'unlock the untapped performance of a broad range of applications,' according to Nvidia.</p><br /><p>The new GPU accelerator is now available but isn't likely to be implemented in working supercomputing and HPC systems for a couple of months. Many of the systems listed on the new Top500 supercomputer list released this week already use the Tesla K20X accelerator.</p><br /><p>One of the first Nvidia partners to deploy the Tesla K40 will be the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at the University of Texas at Austin, which is building a remote visualization and data analysis system called 'Maverick,' scheduled to go online in January.</p><br /><p>'The Tesla K40 GPU accelerators will help researchers crunch through massive volumes of big data and gain new insights through large-scale, sophisticated visualizations. With Nvidia GPUs, Maverick will provide researchers powerful interactive capabilities to advance their most complex scientific challenges,' said Kelly Gaither, director of Visualization at TACC.</p><br /><p>Teaming Up With Big Blue Meanwhile, Nvidia has also announced a long-term collaboration with IBM to 'supercharge the corporate data center' with the development of GPU-accelerated enterprise software applications run on systems using IBM's Power processors.</p><br /><p>Nvidia called the partnership the initial step in bringing GPU accelerator technology 'beyond the realm of supercomputing and into the heart of enterprise-scale data centers' for the first time.</p><br /><p>Along with Google, Nvidia was one of the biggest names to sign on with IBM's new OpenPOWER Consortium in August, an effort by the computing giant to rekindle the flagging fortunes of its once-dominant processor architecture through licensing and allowing more third-party insight into the IP than ever before.</p><br /><p>'This partnership will bring supercomputer performance to the corporate data center, expanding the use of GPU accelerators well beyond the traditional supercomputing and technical computing markets,' Ian Buck, vice president of Accelerated Computing at Nvidia, said in a statement.</p><br /><p>'It will also provide existing supercomputing and high-performance computing customers with new choices and technologies to build powerful, energy-efficient systems that drive innovation and scientific discovery.'</p><br /></div>

Technology Nvidia Unleashes Tesla K40, Joins IBM on Future HPC Projects

Nvidia on Monday announced the availability of its fastest-ever GPU accelerator for supercomputing and high-performance computing (HPC) appl...

Read more »

Qualcomm's Toq smartwatch available December 2nd for $350

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/08/toqtoo.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Where mobile devices are concerned, Qualcomm's normally a behind-the-scenes player, but that's all set to change next month. The company has announced that its Toq smartwatch is coming to the market on December 2nd. Big Q had said that it would knock out a limited run of the hardware back in September, but unlike other next-gen wearables, this one wouldn't be limited to a select few. Packing a Mirasol display, wireless charging and stereo Bluetooth audio, the Toq will set you back $350 -- assuming that you haven't already spent that amount of cash on its most immediate rival.</p><br /><p><img src="http://media.gdgt.com/img/products/488/agxs/agxs-50.jpg" width="600"/> </p><br /></div>

Technology Qualcomm's Toq smartwatch available December 2nd for $350

Where mobile devices are concerned, Qualcomm's normally a behind-the-scenes player, but that's all set to change next month. The com...

Read more »

Sony PlayStation Sales Surpass 1 Million Units in 24 Hours

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Sony Corp. (6758) sold more than a million PlayStation 4 consoles in North America during the first 24 hours after the units went on sale Nov. 15.</p><br /><p>The results come as Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai is aiming to make the video game console the centerpiece of a corporate turnaround strategy. Pressure has intensified on the CEO after the company last month surprised investors by reporting an unexpected second-quarter loss.</p><br /><p>Sony is competing for the attention of game players against Microsoft Corp., which is releasing the Xbox One this week. The Tokyo-based electronics maker has priced its console at $399, or $100 less than the Microsoft machine.</p><br /><p>'PS4 sales are better than expected,' Koki Shiraishi, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. in Tokyo said by phone. 'More importantly, I am watching the penetration into the market one month after its release.'</p><br /><p>Sony will have adequate supplies of the console through Christmas and stands by earlier projections for sales of 5 million units by March, Jack Tretton, president and chief executive officer of the company's U.S. computer entertainment division, said Nov. 11.</p><br /><p>Sony shares rose 0.2 percent to 1,850 yen at 9:37 a.m. in Tokyo trading. The broader Topix index gained 0.2 percent.</p><br /><p>The company is investigating reports of defective PS4 consoles, the New York Times reported yesterday. Sony spokesman Dan Race said only a small number of people reported problems, according to the article.</p><br /><p>Race didn't immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.</p><br /><p>The PS4 goes on sale in Europe and Latin America on Nov. 29.</p><br /><p>To contact the reporter on this story: Grace Huang in Tokyo at xhuang66@bloomberg.net</p><br /><p>To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net</p><br /><p><img src="http://www.bloomberg.com/image/iA9tpzBOGXgY.jpg" width="600"/> </p><br /></div>

Technology Sony PlayStation Sales Surpass 1 Million Units in 24 Hours

Sony Corp. (6758) sold more than a million PlayStation 4 consoles in North America during the first 24 hours after the units went on sale No...

Read more »

Quinn: Facebook needs to open service to kids under 13

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Posted: 11/16/2013 12:00:00 AM PST</p><br /><p>Updated: 11/16/2013 05:20:38 PM PST</p><br /><p>Facebook has a youth problem.</p><br /><p>It's funny. The once-rogue operation created by teenagers in a dorm still touts its rebel hacker culture, with messages scrawled on walls, all-night coding marathons and plenty of Red Bull. The average age of Facebook employees is reported to be 28.</p><br /><p>But those youth credentials don't matter anymore. The kids are flocking to other digital haunts. And investors are jittery. When Facebook's chief financial officer said recently that daily users, especially younger teens, had decreased in the quarter, the stock took a nose dive.</p><br /><p><img src="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site568/2013/1115/20131115__116quinn~1_300.JPG" width="600"/> </p><br /><p>The company hasn't given up on the youth market. Far from it. It tried, and failed, to snap up Snapchat, the social media service, for $3 billion, according to reports last week. Last year, it plunked down $1 billion for Instagram, the mobile photo sharing application popular with teens. Facebook recently changed its privacy setting to expand the kinds of things 13-to-17-year-olds can do on the service.</p><br /><p>These are good moves. The company should grab anything digital that is taking off. But one thing it should do -- and fast -- is allow kids under 13 to join, and then figure out how to cater to them.</p><br /><p>Controversial, I know, but here's why it makes sense.</p><br /><p>Facebook has created something that Mark Zuckerberg, the company's chief executive, says has become such a part of our lives that it's like a utility. The service's popularity has become self-propelling. The more folks we know on Facebook, the more time we spend on it. It's the network effect swelling to take in the entire planet.</p><br /><p>But the digital tastemakers are young teens and tweens. Adolescents' social networks aren't on Facebook yet; they are still in the cafeteria and on the playground. Their digital identities are just forming. They text and Skype while they play online games and beg parents for access to smartphones and tablet computers to download apps and try out new ways of communicating. Lunchroom conversations are a mixture of real information and bluster about the pros and cons of things like Kik, WeChat, Tumblr, Snapchat and Instagram.</p><br /><p>This is where Facebook struggles.</p><br /><p>'Youth are not locked into any service and they can compare and contrast them,' said Zachary Reiss-Davis, an analyst at Forrester Research.</p><br /><p>Facebook could open up its current service to tweens with special features and privacy settings. Or it could create a new, stand-alone site, a Facebook Jr., that would be a place for the firm to test features and figure out this market. 'You have to get them on early and in the right way,' said Reiss-Davis.</p><br /><p>The service would need to be parent-controlled and ad-free. And it should offer something new and riveting to entice preteens.</p><br /><p>If kids could join Facebook, they 'may be more likely to stay on Facebook and utilize it,' said Stephen Balkam, chief executive of the Family Online Safety Institute, which counts the site among its members.</p><br /><p>Federal law creates more requirements for online firms to protect children's privacy, so most social networks simply prohibit children under 13.</p><br /><p>But of course the truth is many kids still do join, with or without their parents' knowledge. A 2012 Consumer Reports survey found 5.6 million kids under 13 were on Facebook, down from 7.5 million in the prior year.</p><br /><p>And critics of Facebook's current age limit argue there are already too many dangers. Opening it up to children, they say, exposes the most vulnerable in our society to one of the greatest personal data collection operation in history.</p><br /><p>But the current setup is far from ideal for kids' safety. Preteens who set up a Facebook account have to lie about their age. If they say they are 29, or 99, they receive the least restrictive privacy settings, which means they are potentially exposed to more dangers. It would be better for them to have a way to participate but with necessary, age-appropriate protections.</p><br /><p>And from a parent's point of view, I trust Facebook more than these fast-growing apps and features that haven't yet been raked over the coals by regulators and privacy advocates. With every privacy snafu, Facebook worries about losing users' trust and shareholder confidence. Those stakes make me feel better as a mother.</p><br /><p>Of course, inviting tweens to join also exposes Facebook to more risks, and it's not clear if doing so will increase its cool factor. 'Is that market worth the controversy,' wonders Scott Strawn, a program officer at IDC, the market research firm.</p><br /><p>I would say yes. Facebook shouldn't want to be prematurely middle-aged, shaking its head and muttering, 'Young people, what they do on the Internet, we don't understand it.'</p><br /><p>Open the door to kids, Facebook, and test as many features as you can that capture tweens' imagination. Look for what taps into their digital egos and pray for hockey-stick growth. Then once you have their attention, wait a few years before trying to make money off them.</p><br /><p>Contact Michelle Quinn at 510-394-4196 and mquinn@mercurynews.com. Follow her at twitter.com/michellequinn.</p><br /></div>

Technology Quinn: Facebook needs to open service to kids under 13

Posted: 11/16/2013 12:00:00 AM PST Updated: 11/16/2013 05:20:38 PM PST Facebook has a youth problem. It's funny. The once-rogue operatio...

Read more »

Nexus 5: the best

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://images.smh.com.au/2013/11/01/4881906/art-N5-20--20Lifestyle-203-620x349.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>The Google Nexus 5 Android smartphone in action. Photo: Google</p><br /><p>Google's Nexus 5 has nearly everything you would expect from a high-end smartphone - except the price.</p><br /><p>The thing is a bargain. At $399 for the 16-gigabyte model and $449 for the 32GB model, it is hundreds of dollars cheaper than similar phones.</p><br /><p>And people appear to have noticed.</p><br /><p>It sold out quickly after appearing on Google's online store a couple of weeks ago. Depending on the model, if you ordered one today it would be unlikely to reach you for weeks.</p><br /><p>But it's probably worth the wait.</p><br /><p>Nexus phones always have the advantage of premiering Google's latest Android operating system before other manufacturers get their hands on it and apply their tweaks.</p><br /><p>On the Nexus 5, the operating system is Android KitKat: smooth and intuitive, it is Android as Google intends. Apps open and operate fast.</p><br /><p>Google has also corrected the biggest issue with its predecessor, the Nexus 4, which was likewise manufactured by LG: the absence of 4G LTE capacity. The Nexus 5 is compatible with Australia's fastest mobile internet networks.</p><br /><p>The phone has a plain design with a soft-plastic back. The five-inch screen makes the most of the available space, meaning it is just about comfortable in average-size hands.</p><br /><p>The screen's resolution is impressive, with 445 pixels per inch (ppi). By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has 441ppi and the iPhone 5S 326ppi, but at those levels any differences are negligible.</p><br /><p>Under the hood is a speedy quad-core 2.3 gigahertz Qualcomm processor. In comparison, the Nexus 4 boasted 1.5 gigahertz.</p><br /><p>But there are hardware compromises.</p><br /><p>Colours on the screen can be a little dull, and the eight-megapixel camera is adequate without being amazing.</p><br /><p>Photos are improved via the HDR+ feature, which captures a rapid burst of images and blends the best bits into a single shot. An image-stabilisation feature also cuts down on shake.</p><br /><p>The 2300-milliampere hour battery does the job but isn't spectacular. The phone's closest relative, LG's G2, manages to cram a 3000-milliampere hour battery into a similar frame.</p><br /><p>But then you come back to price. Outright 16GB versions of LG's G2 and Samsung's Galaxy S4 are about $250 and $300 more expensive, respectively. The iPhone 5S costs $470 more.</p><br /><p>For what you get, the Nexus 5 is the best-value smartphone out there.</p><br /><strong>AAP</strong></div>

Technology Nexus 5: the best

The Google Nexus 5 Android smartphone in action. Photo: Google Google's Nexus 5 has nearly everything you would expect from a high-end s...

Read more »

Google Pushes Android KitKat To Nexus Tablets

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://img.deusm.com/informationweek/news.png" width="600"/><img src="http://img.deusm.com/informationweek/zeman-iwk-125x125.jpg" width="600"/><img src="http://img.deusm.com/informationweek/editor-RSS.png" width="600"/><img src="http://img.deusm.com/informationweek/editor-email.png" width="600"/><img src="http://static.1.rp-api.com/buttons/repostus_bttn_shrt_embed.png" width="600"/><br /><p>Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets will be upgraded to Android 4.4 KitKat in the coming days.</p><br /><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/1034/1_Offline_Map_tn.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>(click image for larger view)</p><br /><p>Google announced that it has begun pushing Android 4.4 KitKat to the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets. The operating system is first being made available to WiFi-only models in the US, with other models and locations to follow later.</p><br /><p>According to Google, one of the biggest changes in Android 4.4 KitKat is streamlined code. Google cut down the complexity of the operating system so that it could be used on a broader range of hardware. The company said devices with as little as 512 MB of RAM will be able to run KitKat with most features intact. In other words, Google wants KitKat to work on entry-level devices better. That's a good thing.</p><br /><strong>[ Will KitKat work on Google Glass? Read Google Glass Update Precedes New Hardware. ]</strong><br /><p>This means the new operating system should run quite smoothly on Nexus tablets. The Nexus 7 has a quad-core, 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with 2 GB of RAM. The Nexus 10 has a Samsung Exynos 5 Dual processor with 2 GB of RAM. They have more than enough juice to get KitKat flowing.</p><br /><p>Most of the other improvements are under the hood and meant for developers. They will be able to add printing functions to their apps and advantage of new animations, transitions, graphics acceleration, accessibility APIs, screen recording, and bezel-to-bezel apps. KitKat supports more Bluetooth profiles and bakes in support for IR blasters for controlling home theater equipment. The KitKat SDK is already available for download.</p><br /><p>User-facing improvements in the OS include better notifications, a revised launcher, a new phone dialer app, improved device-wide search, and baked-in support for Google Now across the platform. There are plenty of changes to the home screen behaviors, as well as the main app menu, which has been dramatically simplified. For example, lumping together some of the controls for customizing the home screen panels makes them a bit easier to use. Google also made the icons a lot bigger, so they are easier to see.</p><br /><p>The 2012 and 2013 versions of the Nexus 7 will receive the new operating system. In addition to the tablets, Android 4.4 KitKat will also be available on the Nexus 4, the Samsung Galaxy S4, and HTC One Google Play edition mobile devices in the coming weeks. (The Play Edition devices are flagship-grade hardware with stock Android on board, instead of the manufacturer's user interface). KitKit is preinstalled on the Nexus 5 smartphone.</p><br />Battle lines are forming behind hardware-centric and virtual approaches to software-defined networking. We size up strengths and weaknesses. Also in the SDN Skirmish issue of InformationWeek: Anonymity has a role in business communities (free registration required).<br /><p>One of the main benefits of owning a Nexus-branded device is having first access to the latest system updates from Google. This is a prime example of that benefit at work.</p><br /></div>

Technology Google Pushes Android KitKat To Nexus Tablets

Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets will be upgraded to Android 4.4 KitKat in the coming days. (click image for larger view) Google announced that ...

Read more »

From the PS4 vs Xbox One back to Nintendo vs Sega: Great console battles ...

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://cdn.itproportal.com/photos/console-wars-header-640x480_contentfullwidth.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>With the UK release of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 now just one and two weeks away respectively, the video game console wars are poised to rage anew. The past generation of consoles has lasted a relatively long eight years, so it's been a while since gamers practiced the time-honoured tradition of defending their new console of choice to the death.</p><br /><p>Controversies have been erupting over everything from the Xbox One's slightly lower resolution on some games to the PS4's slightly reduced media capabilities, and everyone seems to be arguing over which big black box is better. So we thought it might be an interesting idea to take a look back at the console wars of generations past.</p><br />Peacetime (1977 - 1981, 1983 - 1988)<br /><p>As video game consoles came into their own during the late 70s and early 80s, hardware was basically dominated by a single superpower at a time. The Atari 2600 flourished earlier on - though it did get some competition in the form of Mattel's Intellivision, with its odd flat controller that featured a number keypad and disc, and looked more like it was something you could use to phone ET's home world rather than control a game with.</p><br /><img src="http://cdn.itproportal.com/photos/406719-atari-2600_fullwidth.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Then the industry crashed in 1982, and Nintendo came in with the NES to pick up the pieces. Sure, there were other consoles around in this period, like the fledgling Sega Master System, but none could even come close to breaking Nintendo's stranglehold on the market. With only one console worth buying, there really couldn't be any console wars.</p><br />Sega does what Nintendon't (1989 - 1994)<br /><p>Determined to make a name for itself in the 16-bit era, Sega went on the offensive, starting the next-generation early with its second and most popular console, the Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis as it was known in the US). This console war, filled with attacking ads, catchy slogans, and made-up features like 'blast processing,' is still the war by which all others are judged. Schoolyards became battlefields of Sega kids arguing with Nintendo kids over who'd win in a fight: Mario or Sonic. And off to the side there was a TurboGrafx (also known as the PC Engine) kid hyping up Bonk.</p><br /><p>The infamous 'Genesis does what Nintendon't' campaign over in the States came about when the Genesis/Mega Drive was still going up against the outdated NES.</p><br /><p>With the launch of the more technically capable Super Nintendo, Sega played up how hip and edgy its console was. Its mascot was faster and cooler, its sports games were better, and its version of Mortal Kombat still had blood.</p><br /><p>While it never became more than the number two company, it was the number two company that never missed a chance to take potshots at number one. It was the Pepsi to Nintendo's Coke, or to use a contemporary analogy, the Samsung to Nintendo's Apple.</p><br />A new challenger (1995 - 1999)<br /><p>The coming of 3D allowed a new challenger to enter and shake up the status quo. After being burned by Nintendo during a failed deal for a SNES CD-Rom add-on, Japanese tech giant Sony decided to go ahead and create a new console of its own: The PlayStation.</p><br /><p>With its polygonal graphics and then-revolutionary disc-based format, the PlayStation became the first console to sell more than 100 million units. Sony ended these console wars before they even got started. Like Sega, it promoted the coolness of its console, but in a more mature way. With a PlayStation, it was okay to game even if you weren't a kid. Meanwhile, the Sega Saturn's failure marked the beginning of the end for the company, and even though some of the most influential and beloved games of all time are on the Nintendo 64, even it couldn't halt Sony's rise to the top.</p><br /><img src="http://cdn.itproportal.com/photos/406718-xbox-ps2-gamecube_contenthalfwidth.jpg" width="600"/>Microsoft makes its move (2000 - 2004)<br /><p>Sony once again swept a generation with the even more successful PS2 launching right in the middle of the DVD boom. The GameCube offered the Nintendo faithful some great titles but ultimately fared worse than its predecessors. The final Sega console, the Dreamcast, would eventually find a devoted audience, but only after its life was cut short.</p><br /><p>However, this generation saw a new fighter step into the ring: Microsoft's Xbox. Initially short for DirectX Box, the Xbox sought to combine the PC power Microsoft was known for with the simplicity of a video game console. While the first Xbox did only slightly better than the GameCube, it gave Microsoft a foothold in the industry, and it was a beachhead that Remond would soon make greater use of.</p><br />Red waters and blue oceans (2005 - 2012)<br /><p>Riding high on the success of its first two consoles, Sony had plans for the PS3 that were arguably a little arrogant. Even its pioneering use of Blu-ray couldn't make up for the console's high asking price, complicated processor infrastructure, and bafflingly condescending quotes from executives telling cash-strapped consumers to work a second job.</p><br /><p><img src="http://cdn.itproportal.com/photos/406716-nintendo-wii_contenthalfwidth.jpg" width="600"/>Sensing weakness, Microsoft became the next company to take a page from Sega's book and jumpstarted the next generation early with the Xbox 360, just four years after the Xbox. During this war fiery debates focused less on games and franchises - since most were on both platforms - and more on the technical aspects of the machines themselves. Was the PS3 really more powerful? Was the 360 really easier to develop for? Was the PlayStation Network really that much worse than Xbox Live? Did 360s really break down all the time?</p><br /><p>While Sony and Microsoft battled in the red waters of competition, Nintendo chose a new path: A blue ocean strategy for its next console. Although the Wii was dismissed by hardcore gamers due to its motion controls, underpowered non-HD graphics, and more casual appeal, it was a massive success, joining the PlayStation in the 100 million-units-sold club. The PS3 and Xbox 360 were ultimately both pretty big successes in their own right, but it's hard to argue that Nintendo didn't reclaim its crown in this generation.</p><br />The frontline (2013 - Present)<br /><p>All that brings us back to the present and the frontline of a new console war which is anyone's game. The Wii U has struggled for half the success that the Wii enjoyed, but will its price cut and steadily expanding library of quality games put it back in the race?</p><br /><p><img src="http://cdn.itproportal.com/photos/xbox-one-vs-ps4-header-640x480_contenthalfwidth.jpg" width="600"/>The PS4 gained a lot of goodwill at this year's E3, and Sony even brought back ads that attack competitors almost by name, but will players turn on it when the console is released? The Xbox One took a lot of flak for its stance on used games and always-online play, but now most of those issues have been cleared up will its tarnished image improve?</p><br /><p>Or maybe other devices like smartphones, tablets, Android consoles, and Steam Machines will disrupt everything and eat everyone's lunch.</p><br /><p>Meanwhile, above it all, PC gamers and their pricey, high-powered machines are just laughing.</p><br /></div>

Technology From the PS4 vs Xbox One back to Nintendo vs Sega: Great console battles ...

With the UK release of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 now just one and two weeks away respectively, the video game console wars are poised t...

Read more »

8 Years Later, Google's Book Scanning Crusade Ruled 'Fair Use'

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Eight years after a group of authors and publishers sued Google for scanning more than 20 million library books without the permission of rights holders, a federal judge has ruled that the web giant's sweeping book project stayed within the bounds of U.S. copyright law.</p><br /><p>On Thursday morning, U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin dismissed a lawsuit from the Author Guild, ruling that Google's book scans constituted fair use under the law. Though Google scanned those 20 million books in full and built a web service, Google Books, that lets anyone search the digital texts, users can only view 'snippets' of a book if the right holder hasn't given approval.</p><br /><p>'In my view, Google Books provides significant public benefits,' the ruling reads. 'It advances the progress of the arts and sciences, while maintaining respectful consideration for the rights of authors and other creative individuals, and without adversely impacting the rights of copyright holders.'</p><br /><p>In a statement sent to WIRED, a Google spokesperson said the company was 'absolutely delighted' with the ruling. 'As we have long said, Google Books is in compliance with copyright law and acts like a card catalog for the digital age giving users the ability to find books to buy or borrow.'</p><br /><p>Michael Boni, a partner with Boni & Zack, the law firm representing the Authors Guild, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment. Nor did the Author's Guild. But the Guild has told other news outlets it will appeal the decision.</p><br /><p>'We disagree with and are disappointed by the court's decision today. This case presents a fundamental challenge to copyright that merits review by a higher court,' reads a statement sent to . 'Google made unauthorized digital editions of nearly all of the world's valuable copyright-protected literature and profits from displaying those works. In our view, such mass digitization and exploitation far exceeds the bounds of the fair use defense.'</p><br /><p>The ruling comes two years after Judge Chin rejected a $125 million settlement between Google, the Author's Guild, and the Association of American Publishers, which was also part of the original lawsuit against the web giant. After complaints over the settlement from outside organizations such as the Internet Archive and Google rivals such as Microsoft, Chin ruled the deal would give Google a de facto monopoly over so-called 'orphan books,' scanned texts whose rights holders had not come forward to claim their share of the revenues Google would make from its book scanning endeavor.</p><br /><p>A year after this ruling, the publishers agreed to another settlement with Google, and this one was not subject to approval from the court. But Chin allowed the case to continue as a class action, but an appeals court reversed this decision and told Chin to rule on the copyright issue.</p><br /><p>Though Google limits how much book text you can view online - and though it doesn't display ads on pages describing books it does not have rights to, the company, as the court explained, can still use its service to draw people to its websites and make money in other ways. But this commercial gain doesn't necessarily mean copy infringement. Google Books, the judge ruled, doesn't 'negatively impact the market for books.'</p><br /><p>On the contrary, Chin said, Google Books feeds the market for books. 'A reasonable factfinder could only find that Google Books enhances the sales of books to the benefit of copyright holders,' the ruling reads. 'Google Books provides a way for authors' works to become noticed, much like traditional in-store book displays.'</p><br /><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/af7781f21afbb766f2f66dbaa3f3d920?s=50" width="600"/><br /><p>Cade Metz is the editor of Wired Enterprise. Got a NEWS TIP related to this story -- or to anything else in the world of big tech? Please e-mail him: cade_metz at wired.com.</p><br />Read more by Cade Metz<br /><p>Follow @cademetz on Twitter.</p><br /></div>

Technology 8 Years Later, Google's Book Scanning Crusade Ruled 'Fair Use'

Eight years after a group of authors and publishers sued Google for scanning more than 20 million library books without the permission of ri...

Read more »

Apple reportedly buys Kinect tech

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Apple has reportedly acquired PrimeSense, the motion-tracking company responsible for the technology in the original Xbox 360 Kinect, in a deal said to be worth around $345m. Whispers of the possible purchase, today reported by Israeli news site Calcalist, began back in July though were described as being in the early stages, and PrimeSense unofficially dismissed the speculation along with chatter rumors of a $280m price tag.</p><br /><img src="http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/primesense_kinect-580x386.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>According to the latest reports, however, that denial was less than accurate, and the negotiations between Apple and PrimeSense have been ongoing nonetheless. A pubic announcement is said to have been planned in roughly two weeks time, though if Apple is true to past form, the company may simply decline to comment on any deal. We've got a request in for more information, and will update if and when we hear more.</p><br /><p>PrimeSense's appeal is in its advanced body-movement tracking technology. Although Microsoft switched from the original PrimeSense system used in the original Kinect sensor for Xbox 360, to a homegrown alternative in the more recent version, that hasn't stopped the company from further developing its system and targeting smaller implementations.</p><br /><p>One such implementation is Capri, shown below, which significantly reduces the size of the sensor array while still allowing accurate motion-tracking of separate limbs and more.</p><br /><img src="http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/PrimeSense_Capri-580x188.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Initially, Capri was seen as being the main point of appeal for PrimeSense to Apple, with suggestions that the new sensor could find its way into future iterations of iPhone and iPad. However, according to the Israeli report today, Apple's actual intended goal for PrimeSense's systems is its much-rumored television project.</p><br /><p>That would suggest navigation of an on-demand, streaming smart TV system using gestures rather than a complex remote. Talk of a full TV with the Apple logo has persisted for some years now, fueled in part by comments by Steve Jobs in which he reportedly claimed to have 'cracked' the problem of unintuitive interfaces.</p><br /><p>At the time, it was assumed that Apple's voice control system on iOS, Siri, would be the key to that system, but if the PrimeSense leaks are authentic, it now looks like motion-control could also play a part. That would certainly fit in with PrimeSense's own development roadmap; the company said it was exploring TV integration all the way back in January 2011.</p><br /><p>Another suggestion, though not one necessarily based on any more than speculation, is that the sensor system could be used in Apple's smartwatch project, unofficially-dubbed the iWatch. It's unclear whether even the reduced Capri sensor array could fit into a wrist-worn-scale device at this stage, however.</p><br /><p>VIA Hillel Fuld</p><br /></div>

Technology Apple reportedly buys Kinect tech

Apple has reportedly acquired PrimeSense, the motion-tracking company responsible for the technology in the original Xbox 360 Kinect, in a d...

Read more »

LG G Flex Specs Review: The Phone with Real Flexible Cure Display

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>After an array of rumors and speculations, LG has finally revealed the specifications of its latest smartphone - the LG G Flex. The device has especially been in the news because of its 6-inch flexible curved display with HD resolution of 720p. The phone uses flexible OLED screen technology allowing for a dramatic curve horizontally for a comfortable fit around your face, instead of an angular weird curve.</p><br /><p>The 177 grams heavy G Flex measures between 7.9 to 8.7 millimeters thick at different points through its vertical arc. This curvaceous smartphone impresses beyond its look and design with its 2.26GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor along with 2GB of RAM, and a powerful 3500 mAh battery. Furthermore, it offers awesome photography experience with its 13-megapixel camera.</p><br /><img src="http://www.pc-tablet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/lg-g-flex-smartphone-1-xl.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>The device features a 'dual window' mode that allows you to open two separate windows on the same screen, adding to your multi-tasking ability and efficiency. Besides, its 'swing lock screen' feature changes the position of the Wallpaper corresponding to how the handset is being held, and displays different unlock touch effects depending on the position of the fingers of the user.</p><br /><p>What more, drawing comparison between G Flex and Wolverine's ability to regenerate tissue cells in order to heal wounds, LG has announced about the 'self-healing' scratch resistant film applied at the back of the device, which will heal light scratches within minutes.</p><br /><img src="http://www.pc-tablet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/LG-G-Flex.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>However, the company hasn't yet specified about when we can expect a global roll-out of the G Flex. Of course there are mounting expectations that the Korean electronics company shall release the device in November, although the date might shift as well. A leak from @evleaks says LG has signed a deal with AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, all of whom will be stocking the phone. Finally, an article on the G Flex's Korean launch also quoted an LG executive, who said a release in America, the UK, and in China was next on the firm's list, and that discussions with networks were well underway.</p><br /><p>It's worth mentioning that LG had introduced its OLED screen technology with its curved 55-inch OLED TV panel, as well as a 5-inch OLED plastic panel during a demonstration at a trade show.</p><br />See how LG G Flex heals itself:</div>

Technology LG G Flex Specs Review: The Phone with Real Flexible Cure Display

After an array of rumors and speculations, LG has finally revealed the specifications of its latest smartphone - the LG G Flex. The device h...

Read more »

Video Game Sales Up Ahead of Console Releases

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><img src="http://www4.pcmag.com/media/images/389123-female-gamer.jpg?thumb=y" width="600"/> </p><br /><p>U.S. video game retail sales increased for a third consecutive month in October as gamers geared up for the release of Sony and Microsoft's next-generation consoles, according to new data from The NPD Group.</p><br /><p>The gaming industry last month brought in $791.1 million in retail sales of new hardware, software, and accessories, up 5 percent over October 2012, NPD said. NPD's Liam Callahan estimated that used and rental sales for the month totaled $89 million while digital format sales like mobile apps and social network games brought in an impressive $491 million, bringing total U.S. video game sales to 'just over' $1.3 billion in October.</p><br /><p>The retail increases were largely driven by software sales, which climbed 10 percent from a year ago to $495.1 million, and accessory sales, which grew a modest 1 percent to $136.9 million. Hardware sales expectantly declined in October, falling 8 percent to $482.5 million as gamers waited for new systems to hit the market, though portable hardware sales minimized decreases in this segment of the market.</p><br /><p>October marked the sixth consecutive month that the Nintendo 3DS led overall hardware sales. As for consoles, the Xbox 360 moved back to the top spot after PlayStation 3 took the crown in September.</p><br /><p>Meanwhile, growth on the software side was driven by continued strong sales of Grand Theft Auto 5 and the launch of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y , Callahan said. GTA 5 was the top-selling game for the second month in a row, selling 'just fewer' than 1.1 million units, while Pokémon X and Pokémon Y came in second and third, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 games of the month were: Battlefield 4 in fourth place, followed by: Batman: Arkham Origins, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, NBS 2K14, Skylanders SWAP Force, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, and WWE 2K14.</p><br /><p>Looking ahead, gaming industry sales are sure to get a boost for the rest of the year thanks to the PS4, which hits stores today, and Xbox One, which goes on sale Nov. 22.</p><br /><p>'With the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One, we hope to see positive trends over November and December which would lead to an increase in software sales for the year,' Callahan said.</p><br /><p>For more, see PCMag's full review of the PlayStation 4 and the slideshow above.</p><br /></div>

Technology Video Game Sales Up Ahead of Console Releases

U.S. video game retail sales increased for a third consecutive month in October as gamers geared up for the release of Sony and Microsoft&#...

Read more »

Did the FBI use Jeremy Hammond to hack foreign governments?

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Yesterday, former Anonymous, Lulzsec, and Antisec hacker Jeremy Hammond (Anarchaos) was sentenced to 10 years, after pleading guilty to the hacking of Strator, a global private intelligence company. Upon the objections of federal prosecutors, Jude Loretta Preska struck portions of Hammond's sentencing statement. These stricken portions later surfaced on the internet some time after the sentencing. In them, Hammond suggests the federal government supplied Hammond and other hackers with foreign government targets.</p><br /><p>In his statement, Hammond claimed Sabu supplied 'lists of targets that were vulnerable to 'zero day exploits''-that is, previously unknown security holes. He also emphasized that pilfered files (including the Stratfor data) were stored on Sabu's server, which was operated by the FBI.</p><br /><p>'At [Sabu's] request, these websites were broken into, their emails and databases were uploaded to Sabu's FBI server, and the password information and the location of root backdoors were supplied,' stated Hammond to the court. 'These intrusions took place in January/February of 2012 and affected over 2000 domains, including numerous foreign government websites in Brazil, Turkey, Syria, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Nigeria, Iran, Slovenia, Greece, Pakistan, and others.'</p><br /><p>Looking at that list, all but Puerto Rico and perhaps Slovenia are strategic US targets for one reason or another. Brazil is increasingly become a rival economic competitor in the Western hemisphere; Turkey is a bulwark against Iran and other volatile Islamic dictatorships; hacking Syrian government websites is self-evident (more on that below); and so on.</p><br /><p>Hammond recollected the compromised websites being 'the official website of the Governor of Puerto Rico, the Internal Affairs Division of the Military Police of Brazil, the Official Website of the Crown Prince of Kuwait, the Tax Department of Turkey, the Iranian Academic Center for Education and Cultural Research, the Polish Embassy in the UK, and the Ministry of Electricity of Iraq.'</p><br /><p>Syria's inclusion on this list should raise eyebrows. It's easy to forget that with 2013 being a year of such escalating civil war bloodshed, Syria was already a target for hackers several years prior. And remember that in 2011 Anonymous made a lot of noise about hacking Syria's Ministry of Defense website.</p><br /><p>'To the Syrian people: The world stands with you against the brutal regime of Bashar Al-Assad,' read Anonymous's message in both English and Arabic. ' ... To the Syrian military: You are responsible for protecting the Syrian people, and anyone who orders you to kill women, children, and the elderly deserves to be tried for treason. No outside enemy could do as much damage to Syria as Bashar Al-Assad has done. Defend your country - rise up against the regime!'</p><br /><img src="http://deathandtaxesmag.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/jeremy-hammond-Free-Hammond-by-molly-crabapple-620x424-1.jpg" width="600"/><small>Free Hammond by Molly Crabapple</small><br /><p>Also recall that the Syrian Electronic Army formed in 2011 in response to these hacks, and didn't really hit its stride until 2012. According to Hammond, the FBI gained access to Syrian systems and data through the puppeteering of Sabu.</p><br /><p>'Sabu ... infiltrated a group of hackers that had access to hundreds of Syrian systems including government institutions, banks, and ISPs,' Hammond stated. 'He logged several relevant IRC channels persistently asking for live access to mail systems and bank transfer details. The FBI took advantage of hackers who wanted to help support the Syrian people against the Assad regime, who instead unwittingly provided the U.S. government access to Syrian systems, undoubtedly supplying useful intelligence to the military and their buildup for war.'</p><br /><p>Hammond said that all of this can be 'easily confirmed by chat logs the government provided' to Anonymous; made possible, of course, by the federal government's discovery obligations in Hammond's case.</p><br /><p>'However, the full extent of the FBI's abuses remains hidden,' stated Hammond, striking a rather ominous tone. 'Because I pled guilty, I do not have access to many documents that might have been provided to me in advance of trial, such as Sabu's communications with the FBI. In addition, the majority of the documents provided to me are under a 'protective order' which insulates this material from public scrutiny. As government transparency is an issue at the heart of my case, I ask that this evidence be made public. I believe the documents will show that the government's actions go way beyond catching hackers and stopping computer crimes.'</p><br />Read the rest of the Jeremy Hammond's powerfully eloquent sentencing statement here.<br /><p>Elsewhere in his sentencing statement, Hammond admitted he didn't how other data supplied to Sabu was used by the government. The hacker suggested, however, that the government's collection and use of this data should be investigated. 'The government celebrates my conviction and imprisonment, hoping that it will close the door on the full story,' Hammond added. 'I took responsibility for my actions, by pleading guilty, but when will the government be made to answer for its crimes?'</p><br /><p>If Hammond is right, then the FBI and, indeed, President Obama have some serious 'splaining to do. And the fact that portions of Hammond's statement were stricken by Judge Preska is also troubling. Even if Hammond were wrong about the FBI's feeding of targets to Sabu, the federal prosecutor's objections Hammond's accusations, allowed by Preska, is a vile form of censorship.</p><br /></div>

Technology Did the FBI use Jeremy Hammond to hack foreign governments?

Yesterday, former Anonymous, Lulzsec, and Antisec hacker Jeremy Hammond (Anarchaos) was sentenced to 10 years, after pleading guilty to the ...

Read more »

Why the US is poised for off

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Better smartphone choices and greater consumer awareness are two reasons to abandon the two-year tether.</p><br /><p><img src="http://asset1.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/12/05/Jessica_Dolcourt_60x43.jpg" width="600"/> </p><br /><img src="http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/11/04/nexus-5-35828372-6374_610x407.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>For about as long as there have been cell phones, US carriers have had a stranglehold over the purchasing experience. The two-year contract has reigned supreme here in the States, with providers heavily subsidizing the cost of high-priced handsets. But for some buyers, times are changing.</p><br /><p>T-Mobile's brassy, vocal assault on the status quo is making the retail cost of smartphones more transparent, while Google's lower-cost Nexus is a sure to lure customers away from premium-priced phones.</p><br /><p>While the majority of phone customers are likely to stick with the contract formula, especially if they're on a family plan already, others are showing greater interest in no-contract commitments.</p><br /><p>Phone choice: A better spread If there's one poster phone for the no-contract experience, it's Google's Nexus 5. Made by LG, but sold off-contract in the US by Google through its Play Store and T-Mobile, the Nexus 5 loudly challenges the merits of higher-priced rivals with its high-end specs and affordable $350 cost.</p><br /><p>Sprint and AT&T also sell the Nexus 5 on contract, but here in the US, the Nexus 5's sub-$400 sticker price is a steal for a handset that has a more up-to-date processor and OS than the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Android front-runners, the latter of which has a full retail charge that costs hundreds of dollars more.</p><br /><p>Google's Nexus line has been a strong alternative for a few years now, but is picking up more momentum with this model, which delivers the LTE that Americans crave alongside robust features and that lower price. While it's too early to collect sales data quite yet, the Nexus 5 is in a strong position going into the holiday surge.</p><br /><p>Beyond the Nexus 5, second-tier carriers like MetroPCS (now owned by T-Mobile), Virgin and Boost Mobile, and Cricket carry a wider range of handsets, including pricey premium options like the iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4.</p><br /><p>Customers typically pay a lower monthly data rate, but a higher up-front cost for the phone, and can leave at any time without getting smacked by an early termination penalty.</p><br /><p>On the Windows Phone side of the house, Nokia has been chipping away at smartphone costs, driving down the full retail price of midrange models such as the $350 Lumia 1320 phablet. While that handset isn't expected to come to the US yet, it still could find a home with these prepaid carriers.</p><br /><p>There's also the Lumia 520, which costs $100 with a prepaid AT&T GoPhone plan, and the $120 T-Mobile variant, the Lumia 521. While both are low-end models that lack LTE, they do contain some software extras to help round out the experience.</p><br /><p>Fiercer competition T-Mobile deserves most of the credit for making the off-contract business model more appealing, after killing off contracts last March.</p><br /><p>Backed by CEO John Legere's war of words, with Verizon and AT&T especially, T-Mobile is taking on the role of innovator, while others react.</p><br /><img src="http://asset2.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/07/10/2_-_John_Legere_again_TMobile.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)</p><br /><p>We saw this when T-Mo introduced it's early upgrade program, Jump, and we see it to some extent with installment pricing as the route to phone ownership, which includes a lower up-front cost followed by monthly payments.</p><br /><p>So far, T-Mobile's tactics have been incredibly successful; the carrier gained 1 million customers in the third quarter, the most it's ushered in after beginning the contracts-are-evil campaign.</p><br /><p>If T-Mobile can keep interest piqued, it can pull even more subscribers away from Verizon and AT&T, its biggest rivals. Edicts like free international texts and data for travelers is almost guaranteed to make that happen.</p><br /><p>Although T-Mobile alone commands any changes in the tide so far, smaller prepaid carriers also have a chance to benefit as former contract subscribers become interested in other no-contract options.</p><br /><p>Midrange good enough? In mature markets like the US, contracts level the playing field of cost, making high-end smartphones seem more affordable and attainable. That often makes the choice to buy a premium handset simpler, since the off-contract difference is closer to $50 or $100, rather than a $200 or even $300 spread.</p><br /><img src="http://asset2.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2013/09/18/01iPhone5s_35781409_septimius_610x436.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)</p><br /><p>As in countries dominated by unlocked, off-contract phones, even a small step toward no-contract payments could see customers happy with midrange or upper-middle phones like the Nexus 5, iPhone 5C, and HTC One Mini (if the latter weren't a carrier exclusive here) -- models that come with features that are capable, but not cutting edge.</p><br /><p>Contract carriers retain the upper hand Despite T-Mobile's bold appeal, there are logical reasons to stay put with contract carriers.</p><br /><p>For instance, it takes no effort to stick around, but it does to calculate expenditures and cost savings with a new carrier home -- especially if you're thinking of moving the entire family over.</p><br /><p>Then there's the argument that the contract does little harm if you're the type of person who will probably stick with the same provider for far longer than the two-year minimum.</p><br /><p>There's also the handy subsidy, which gets you the phone at close to its manufacturing cost. For instance, IHS iSuppli's iPhone 5S teardown estimates the bill of materials at about $200, the same price you can buy the phone on contract. The counter-argument here, is that over the life span of two years, you'll likely spend more paying for pricier data with a contract carrier than you might with a no-contract competitor.</p><br /><p>What say you? T-Mobile's aspirations and agitations are clearly changing the way some US phone owners think about how they buy their phones, a position that's backed by a growing roster of robust phones that pack in a lot of robust features for a significantly lower cost. If we see a sustained step toward the no-contract option, these are two major reasons why.</p><br /><p>Why do you stick with your particular carrier, and are you thinking of making the switch? If you've recently moved from contract to off-contract, what prompted the change? I'd love to hear your stance in the comments below.</p><br /><img src="http://asset0.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2013/01/04/SU_postheader_270x189.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>(Credit: CNET)</p><br /><p>Smartphones Unlocked<i>is a monthly column that dives deep into the inner workings of your trusty smartphone.</i> </p><br /><p><img src="http://asset3.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/html/news/clear.gif" width="600"/> </p><br /></div>

Technology Why the US is poised for off

Better smartphone choices and greater consumer awareness are two reasons to abandon the two-year tether. For about as long as there have be...

Read more »