You Own Your Tweets, But So Does Twitter?

September 12, 2009

Reading about changes to a site's terms of service is a lot like hearing someone say, "We have to talk." It's never a good sign.

So, despite the calm way in which Twitter's Biz Stone described the site's updated terms of service, I'm raising skeptical eyebrow. We've heard a lot today about the new terms' advertising possibilities, but I'm more alarmed by the declarations of what Twitter can do with your content.

Stone notes that "your tweets belong to you, and not to Twitter." At the same time, Twitter is allowed to "use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed)."

After all that, what ownership do I have that Twitter doesn't?

Let's make an analogy. Say I write a sentence on a piece of paper. They're my words, on my paper, plain and simple. But let's say the paper company had declared that it can take those words and use them as it pleases, because they were written on the company's paper. Can I still say that I'm the owner of those words?

The justification for Twitter's reproduction rights is, simply, "that's what we do." Not good enough.

Twitter's terms look a lot like the ones that got Facebook into hot water earlier this year. They're not word-for-word the same, but you see a lot of similar language: use, copy, scan, reformat, modify, edit.

Not surprisingly, Twitter moved to pre-empt the backlash that Facebook faced by saying that "your tweets belong to you." (Facebook said it in reverse: "We are not claiming and have never claimed ownership of material that users upload.")

We're talking semantics here. The bigger problem is the blanket claims these social networking sites are making on users' content. I appreciate that Twitter's terms of service are brief and readable, but I'd rather the site spell out exactly how and where it intends to use people's tweets, so we're all on the same page.

By Jared Newman, Technologizer

Hacker Pleads Guilty In Major Identify Theft

September 12, 2009

A hacker accused of stealing tens of millions of credit and debit card numbers in one of the largest computer break-ins in U.S. history pleaded guilty Friday to fraud, identity theft and other charges.

As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, also agreed to forfeit more than $2.7 million, a Miami condo, a 2006 BMW 330i, a Tiffany diamond ring and Rolex watches. He faces up to 20 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 8

Gonzalez pleaded guilty in a Boston federal court to 20 counts of conspiracy, computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. Nineteen of the charges were contained in an indictment handed down in Massachusetts in August 2008, and one charge, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, stemmed from a New York indictment handed down in May 2008.

The Massachusetts charges stemmed from the hacks into numerous major U.S. retailers, including TJX Companies, BJ's Wholesale Club,OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX), Boston Market, Barnes & Noble and Sports Authority. In New York, the charge was related to hacks into the Dave & Buster's restaurant chain. More than 40 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen from the retailers, according to federal prosecutors.

Gonzalez and two unidentified co-conspirators located in or near Russia broke into credit-card payment systems through a series of sophisticated techniques, including "wardriving" and the installation of sniffer programs to capture credit and debit card numbers, according to the indictments. Wardriving involves driving around in a car with a laptop to find accessible wireless computer networks in retail stores.

Gonzalez and his co-conspirators sold the numbers and also engaged in ATM fraud by encoding the data on the magnetic strips of blank cards and withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars at a time, according to the indictments. Gonzalez and the others concealed and laundered the money they received through the Web and by channeling funds through bank accounts in Eastern Europe.

"Technology has forever changed the way we do business, virtually erasing geographic boundaries," U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan said in a Justice Department statement announcing the guilty plea. "However, this case demonstrates that even in the cyber world, there is no such thing as anonymity."

Gonzalez faces a third federal indictment handed down in New Jersey last month. He's accused of stealing credit and debit card numbers from major U.S. retail and financial companies in the state, including Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey-based card payment processor; 7-Eleven Inc., a Texas-based nationwide convenience store chain; and Hannaford Brothers Co. Inc., a Maine-based supermarket chain. That case is pending.

By Antone Gonsalves

Business iPhone apps finder adds new category, products

InfoWorld.com has expanded its iPhone business apps catalog -- an interactive listing of Phone apps of use to professionals, businesses, and IT staff -- to include communications-oriented apps. This brings the number of categories to 24 categories. InfoWorld's editors also added nearly 20 new apps to the finder across several categories, bringing the total number of selected apps to more than 230.

The online tool lets people sort apps by more specific categories than the Apple store provides, as well as by name, price, and release date. The service has no cost and is available at infoworld.com/iphone-apps. Users with a U.S. iTunes account can download apps to iTunes from the InfoWorld business app catalog; iTunes must be installed on your computer.

The catalog contains only iPhone apps deemed useful for business users, excluding the bulk of the apps labeled "business" at the App Store, as many are not really business apps or are of dubious value.

InfoWorld's editors will continue to add new apps and categories to the catalog as merited.

InfoWorld is a Web-based publication devoted to emerging technology and hands-on business tech expertise. It has also published "Deep Dive" PDF special reports on enterprise iPhone and next-gen mobile devices.

Original story - www.infoworld.com/node/91459

InfoWorld staff, InfoWorld

Different Kinds Of Keywords

Keyword(s) are basic raw material used in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Keyword selection or Keyword Research as it is called technically, where we use special tools to find out a list of Keywords (search terms) searched by targeted audience, recently. Keyword can be single word, two or three words, multiple words and theme based.

Lets detail each of these one by one . Understanding these categories of keywords would also help one to decide as to their targeting on specific pages.

#Keyword of Single word

Keyword of Single word is used to target a large traffic but leads to highly competition category of sites. Keyword of Single word are known as generic Keyword(s) where we target general audience. Keyword of Single word does not help to target a specific page for a specific audience.

Although, Keyword of Single word helps in bringing huge traffic but these terms are mostly not relevant these days, as, searchers mostly use two or three keyword to find out their required information.

Instead single word keywords are good theme keywords.

We can use these primary keyword 5 to 7 times in a web page for good theme according of a site. The inside pages of the site can qualify these themes into product or service categories by adding qualifiers to these theme keywords.

Example:

Keyword “Services” will produce result of all the web sites related to Services which can be United States Department of Health and Human Services, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, direct Services, online Services, offline Services, Indian Services, American Services, food Services, agricultural Services, business Services, free Services, paid Services, etc.

#Keyword of Multiple words

Keyword of Multiple words is used to target a specific traffic, which leads to high sale, top position in search result listing as well as improves page rank competition. Keyword of Multiple words are known as Specific Keyword(s) where we target a specific audience & not general searcher. Keyword of Multiple words helps to target a specific page for a specific audience.

Keyword of Multiple words, more often than not are location specific and related to geographic area of your intended services or products.

#Keywords based on Theme

Keyword based on Theme are used to target a highly targeted audience, which leads to quick high sale, top position in search result listing as well as boosts page rank. Keywords based on Theme are known as Conceptual Keyword(s).

Keywords based on Theme consists all possible primary Keywords related to the web site therefore attracts high traffic of targeted audience. Keywords based on Theme add quality by providing Keyword Rich Text to search engines, which improve results and provide targeted search result listings.

Keywords based on Theme are used in each page of web site to focus on a specific topic correlated to a targeted topic or idea (theme). Keywords based on Theme effectively contribute in growth of informative pages for its site focusing on different related topics.
by canigetinfo.com

Why People Believe in Conspiracies

After a public lecture in 2005, I was buttonholed by a documentary filmmaker with Michael Moore-ish ambitions of exposing the conspiracy behind 9/11. “You mean the conspiracy by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to attack the United States?” I asked rhetorically, knowing what was to come.

“That’s what they want you to believe,” he said. “Who is they?” I queried. “The government,” he whispered, as if “they” might be listening at that very moment. “But didn’t Osama and some members of al Qaeda not only say they did it,” I reminded him, “they gloated about what a glorious triumph it was?”

“Oh, you’re talking about that video of Osama,” he rejoined knowingly. “That was faked by the CIA and leaked to the American press to mislead us. There has been a disinformation campaign going on ever since 9/11.”

Conspiracies do happen, of course. Abraham Lincoln was the victim of an assassination conspiracy, as was Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand, gunned down by the Serbian secret society called Black Hand. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a Japanese conspiracy (although some conspiracists think Franklin Roosevelt was in on it). Watergate was a conspiracy (that Richard Nixon was in on). How can we tell the difference between information and disinformation? As Kurt Cobain, the rocker star of Nirvana, once growled in his grunge lyrics shortly before his death from a self-inflicted (or was it?) gunshot to the head, “Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you.”

But as former Nixon aide G. Gordon Liddy once told me (and he should know!), the problem with government conspiracies is that bureaucrats are incompetent and people can’t keep their mouths shut. Complex conspiracies are difficult to pull off, and so many people want their quarter hour of fame that even the Men in Black couldn’t squelch the squealers from spilling the beans. So there’s a good chance that the more elaborate a conspiracy theory is, and the more people that would need to be involved, the less likely it is true.

Why do people believe in highly improbable conspiracies? In previous columns I have provided partial answers, citing patternicity (the tendency to find meaningful patterns in random noise) and agenticity (the bent to believe the world is controlled by invisible intentional agents). Conspiracy theories connect the dots of random events into meaningful patterns and then infuse those patterns with intentional agency. Add to those propensities the confirmation bias (which seeks and finds confirmatory evidence for what we already believe) and the hindsight bias (which tailors after-the-fact explanations to what we already know happened), and we have the foundation for conspiratorial cognition.

Examples of these processes can be found in journalist Arthur Goldwag’s marvelous new book, Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies (Vintage, 2009), which covers everything from the Freemasons, the Illuminati and the Bilderberg Group to black helicopters and the New World Order. “When something momentous happens, everything leading up to and away from the event seems momentous, too. Even the most trivial detail seems to glow with significance,” Goldwag explains, noting the JFK assassination as a prime example. “Knowing what we know now ... film footage of Dealey Plaza from November 22, 1963, seems pregnant with enigmas and ironies—from the oddly expectant expressions on the faces of the onlookers on the grassy knoll in the instants before the shots were fired (What were they thinking?) to the play of shadows in the background (Could that flash up there on the overpass have been a gun barrel gleaming in the sun?). Each odd excrescence, every random lump in the visual texture seems suspicious.” Add to these factors how compellingly a good narrative story can tie it all together—think of Oliver Stone’s JFK or Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, both equally fictional.

By Michael Shermer

New iPod Touch Holds Secret 802.11n Wi-Fi And Camera Slot

Sep 12, 2009

A recent tear down of the new third generation iPod Touch reveals that the device is sporting an 802.11n Broadcom chip along with enough space to house the much rumoured camera.

The disassembly was conducted by the handy guys over at iFixit, and the results offer some hope for those who may have been disappointed with Apple's showing at their recent press event.

Dismantled, the device revealed a 6 x 6 x 3 millimetre space capable of housing a camera similar in size to that now found in the new Nano's. Despite the space being there, and Steve Jobs saying otherwise, many are now speculating that the lack of a camera is due to the rumoured manufacturing problems.

On a more exciting note, the iFixit tear down also revealed that the third generation iPod Touch is rocking an all new BCM4329FKUBG wireless chip [PDF], which manufacturer Broadcom states can support FM transition in addition to the now official 802.11n wireless standard, something even the iPhone 3GS can't handle.

Be sure to check out the full disassembly for more geeky facts on the new cheaper iPod Touch, and speculate in the comments as to what these hidden additions could mean.

Chris Brandrick

Why the Cliq Won't Click

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Motorola's Cliq has a number of innovative and cool features, but ultimately lacks the chemistry to capture any significant portion of the smartphone market or return lost industry relevance to Motorola.

Motorola has had a rough year with sluggish sales and plummeting revenue. The announcement of the Google Android-based Cliq, and Motorola's MotoBlur interface have generated some buzz, but the Cliq appeals to the wrong market.

To be fair, I think the contact integration feature is awesome. The ability to click on social networks to include for a contact and let the Cliq automatically track and update that information even as your contacts make changes to��heir social networking accounts is an innovation that will likely be adopted by other vendors.

Providing the ability to erase the data on the phone using remote wipe is also a welcome move. Mobile devices in general, and smart phones in particular, contain a lot of (sensitive) information and they are easily lost or stolen. There is a remote wipe app available for iPhone for a fee, but Motorola appears to be offering the service for free. Again, this is a feature that other vendors should pick up on in my opinion.

That said, the Cliq is a juvenile device. Motorola seems to have focused its attention on software feature innovation while completely ignoring the aesthetics and style of the hardware it is putting the features in. There are less functional hardware designs out there to be sure, but the slide-out QWERTY keyboard, rectangular micro-laptop with a 3-inch screen is uncompelling at best.

As far as mobile device hardware is concerned, that is not a deal-breaker per se. It would be nice to see some more creative hardware innovation, but I understand that there is only so much you can do with a device that is the size of a 3" x 5-inch index card when most of the real estate is occupied by the screen out of necessity. But, the Cliq is more on par with devices aimed at tweens and less with more grown up devices like the Blackberries, the HTC Touch 2, or even the iPhone.

The primary feature setting the Cliq apart from competing devices is that it is the first (and thus far only) device with the MotoBlur interface. Conceptually, MotoBlur sounds phenomenal. In the real world though there are some kinks to work out.

Integrating information from various messaging and social networking sources into a single interface is a great idea, but it is hard to pull off on a 3-inch screen. The MotoBlur concept would probably make a great application or browser plugin for desktops and laptops, or even notebooks, but it's a lot of information to fit onto such a small display.

Screen size aside, MotoBlur also suffers from being version 1.0. The information overload combined with the inability to filter out information you don't want to see illustrate that there is room for improving the MotoBlur experience. I would expect the functionality and customizability of the MotoBlur UI to improve with future releases.

The Cliq will be a relative success for Motorola, but that isn't saying much given that Motorola hasn't had a genuine hit since the Razr debuted in 2004. And like its predecessors, the Cliq's teeny-bopper SMS-esque name is probably indicative of the audience that will embrace it most.

Motorola seems to be heading in the right direction with this handset, though. The Cliq is Motorola's first attempt at a Google Android-based device, and the first device to include the new MotoBlur UI. With luck, Motorola will gather user feedback and learn from the Cliq, but the Cliq itself unlikely to click with the grown-ups who actually buy smartphones.

by Tony Bradley, PC World

Video Game Sales Slide 16 Percent in August

Numbers from the NPD Group show the video game industry is still struggling, as sales fell 16 percent compared with August of last year.

Video game sales continued their economic slide in August, falling 16 percent, to $908.7 million, and extending the industry’s sales decline to the sixth straight month, according to market research company The NPD Group.

The Nintendo Wii posted the best sales of the three major console makers, with 277,400 units sold. Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 posted increases, following highly publicized price cuts. NPD reported that software sales slipped 15 percent and sales of video game accessories experienced a 2 percent gain.

The PlayStation 3 posted sales of 210,000 consoles, up 13 percent and the first gain in 10 months, according to NPD. Microsoft saw sales rise by 10 percent in August, though hardware sales overall dropped 25 percent to $297.6 million. Sony’s console now retails for $299, while the Xbox 360 retails for $300.

“The price cuts implemented on the PS3 and 360 hardware already made an impact on unit sales, despite having been executed fairly late in the month,” NPD Group industry analyst Anita Frazier told news service Bloomberg. “It will be interesting to see the full impact of the new price points on September sales.”

While still in decline, the industry experienced a less precipitous drop in sales than in July, when sales fell 24 percent, to $848.8 million, compared with the same month last year. In addition, the upcoming holiday shopping season, coupled with highly anticipated titles such as Electronic Arts’ "The Beatles: Rock Band," is likely to boost what some analysts once considered a recession-proof industry.

"Certainly the worst is behind us,” Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich told Reuters. “The month of September does have a game for every demographic, and that does create a perfect storm for sales, and we expect that momentum to continue for the holiday season."

In�another report, the NPD Group found children12 years of age and younger account for 24 percent of video game industry unit sales, while households with children in this age group make up 45 percent of total industry dollar sales. According to the report, 57 percent of children ages 2-12 play video games, and 62 percent of them use a computer. The report concluded that while it is a big market for games, this consumer segment is far from penetrated, representing an area for future industry expansion.

“According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 53.4 million of them ages 12 and under in the U.S., accounting for 17 percent of the population. Yet for many industries, games included, they account for a much larger portion of total sales,” said Frazier. “For the 12 months ending June 2009, this group of consumers comprised 24 percent of games industry unit sales. Tweens in particular are a highly involved group of consumers, as 75 percent of this age group play video games and 81 percent are on the computer for non-homework related activities.”

By: Nathan Eddy
2009-09-12

The new iPod Nano: More features, same size

September 12, 2009

With the iPod getting to be old hat, Apple Inc. has frantically piled on extras in an attempt to make the player seem fresh again.

The new version of the iPod Nano, unveiled this week at a company event, crams into the little player a video camera, FM radio, microphone, speaker and even a pedometer.

Is this a sign of desperation?

Well, if it is, bring it on. The new Nano is an astonishing triumph of engineering and design that has managed to pack all these new features -- along with the old ones -- into a sleek, elegant device that's a pleasure to use.

None of the new features -- with the exception of the dorky pedometer -- seem like gratuitous add-ons. They're quality instruments that perform quite nicely, especially considering that the player is not much bigger than a couple of sticks of gum, side by side.

Indeed, this fifth rendition of the Nano (first introduced in 2005) is wrapped in an aluminum case that is essentially the same size as its predecessor.

Almost alarmingly small. As one colleague noted, it would be easy to lose in the laundry.

Or an unmade bed. In the early morning, I shot my first video with the help of a lovely demonstration model.

See the clip "Earl Wakeup Call" at www.youtube.com.

Even in a groggy state, the video controls were easily navigated. The picture quality of the video is not going to win Academy Awards, but it was certainly passable for a YouTube postcard to friends and family.

There's at least one significant glitch for the company to solve. After the video was downloaded to a Mac computer, it was supposed to be simple to send it along to YouTube or Facebook. But it wouldn't export properly out of the iPhoto software.

After more than an hour on the phone with Apple technical support (the new Nano was new to them too), a temporary work-around was devised.

It would not be a shock if more glitches were found. Apple is known for taking big leaps forward, and sometimes that means it has to run damage control on the first release of a new or upgraded item.

The FM radio is the other major upgrade. Apple has long resisted radio on the iPod, but maybe it finally gave in because it figured it could make money off it.

If you hear a song you like on some stations that broadcast digital text information, you can click a Nano button to "tag" the tune. Next time you sync the player to your computer, those songs are listed so you don't forget them. And with just another click, you can purchase them from Apple's iTunes music store. How convenient.

The radio is easy to use, works well (outside) and does have one truly convenient feature -- a TiVo-like buffer that allows you to halt listening for up to 15 minutes and pick up right where you left off.

One quibble. Although the scan feature works well, it's canceled out the first time you choose a station as a clickable favorite.

The new Nano is $149 for the 8-gigabyte model and $179 for the 16 GB version. Given that you'll be tempted to take a lot of off-the-cuff videos, you're probably better off with 16 GB.

That is, if iPod players are still for you. For not too much more money, you can move up to an iPod Touch (starting at $199), which is a sophisticated mini-computer in addition to being an audio-video player.

The Touch has Wi-Fi capability for e-mail and the Web and sophisticated GPS apps. And it can play serious games.

Then there's the granddaddy of the portable: the iPhone (starting at $99, with a two-year call/data plan). The iPhone 3GS ($199, with plan) already has a video camera.

It's a good bet that the Touch will eventually get a video camera, too. And with their Wi-Fi abilities, they'll be able to send those video clips directly to friends, family or Facebook.

Even so, the stylish Nano deserves to be thought of not as a lesser device, at least for the time being, but one that serves its own niche. It's so small that it's great for the gym, hiking trails or a run.

Its shape and on-screen graphics (which on the FM mode are delightfully retro) humanize the technology.

And those videos -- well, they're a gas.

As for the future, hard to beat what Alison Southwick at the Better Business Bureau posted on Facebook in response to my "Wakeup" video.

"How weird is that the new iPod both looks back (radio!) and forward (video!) in its new features," Southwick wrote.

"Perhaps the next iPod will send telegraphs and teleport people."

By David Colker

DOJ to investigate Microsoft/Yahoo deal

12 Sep 2009

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is to take a closer look at the proposed deal between Microsoft and Yahoo over their search engine businesses.

The DOJ was already looking at the detail but has now asked both companies for more details about the merger, according to Bloomberg. In particular the DOJ will be examining search-engine investments, ad pricing and product plans for the future.

“The antitrust agencies are pretty skeptical of the argument that you need to be bigger to compete,” said Michael Katz, a former chief economist in the Justice Department’s antitrust unit.

“The Justice Department will respond, ‘Why can’t you get bigger by competing?’”

Under the proposed deal Yahoo will use Microsoft's Bing search engine and the two companies will split advertising revenue from adverts sold next to the search results.

“Yahoo and Microsoft are cooperating fully with the Justice Department and firmly believe that the information they will be providing will confirm that this deal is not only good for both companies, but it is also good for advertisers, good for publishers and good for consumers,” Adam Grossberg, a Yahoo spokesman, said in a statement.

Hands On: Motorola’s New Android Phone Nails Design, Fumbles Software

September 11, 2009
Motorola announced its first Android operating system-based device, the Cliq yesterday. The hardware is beautifully designed while the software makes a serious attempt to incorporate social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. But more importantly, the future of Motorola may ride partially on the success of the Cliq.

First off, let’s just say the handset gets a lot of things right: The phone itself is nicely designed and feels impossibly thin (for a slider), the touchscreen is responsive and the social networking options are subtly ingrained into the phone — they don’t come out and slap you in the face.

But let’s also say this that the Cliq suffers from feature overload. The UI is messy and challenging to learn — it attempts to bring together too many mobile features and can be confusing and clogged. We suspect that after a few days with the device, it would become easy to master. But right off the bat, operating the phone left us befuddled.

The Cliq’s coming out party was September 9, and then we got the device behind closed doors. Here are the highlights.

Hardware

The Cliq is lovely to hold. It feels quite slim (about 0.62 inches thick) and light (weighing 5.6 ounces). Comparatively, the Palm Pre is 0.67 inches thick and weighs 4.76 ounces, while the iPhone 3G is 0.48 inches thick and weighs 4.7 ounces. The sliding keyboard on the Cliq is smooth and the physical(!) keypad offers fantastic tactile feedback, making touch-typing a very real possibility. The phone comes in a polished black the company calls “Titanium” and “Winter White.” The 3.1-inch display is bright and easy to read — at least under the florescent lighting where we put the phone through its paces. The screen is touch capable and very, very responsive. It’s certainly on par with the iPhone.

User interface

The Cliq runs the Android OS draped in a custom skin from Motorola called Blur. Besides having an idiotic name, the skin collates e-mail, social networking services (Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace) and contacts into a single stream so users don’t have to click through different apps. The phone’s homescreen has three widgets: Social Status, Happenings and Messaging.

Social Status has a text box where you can broadcast your status (eating ice cream or hanging out with friends) and choose the service, such as Facebook, Twitter or MySpace, you want it to be updated to. It’s a neat service and fans of mobile tweeting will appreciate having a feature like this built into their phones.

Messaging can aggregate corporate and personal e-mail accounts and display them on a single screen. You can arrange new messages to pop up in a cardlike view (similar to the Palm Pre) or in an easily scrollable list.

The Happenings widget looks much like a Facebook feed except it brings in information about status updates and photos from other services like Twitter and MySpace too.

Camera

The Cliq has a 5.2-megapixel auto-focus camera. We tested it briefly by shooting some pics in low light and comparing it to photos from the iPhone’s camera. Guess what? The Cliq’s cam captured finer details and offered a brighter picture with true colors. It’s easy to share and upload photos, in the spirit of Cliq fun. The user interface on every photo has four choices: Share, Gallery, Set as Wallpaper and Delete. Clicking on the Share tab means you can post the photo to MySpace, Gmail, Picasa or any other photo-sharing site you have set up such as Flickr.

Phone

Hey, this thing is supposed to make calls, right? The phone sports a dialer similar to the iPhone, and the keypad has additional features, such as a speed dialer and history (a mashup of e-mails, phone calls and status updates). We didn’t get to test the voice quality of this device, which will be available on the T-Mobile network later this year. Motorola and T-Mobile haven’t said how much the phone will cost, but we’re betting under $200.

Overall

The Cliq is a beautiful piece of hardware, but it suffers from features creep. Too many options are jammed into a skin that, quite frankly, can’t handle them. There’s a reason why the iPhone, the Pre and even the G1 have done so well — the user interfaces are simple and elegant, and they can be learned without an instruction manual. Motorola screwed up with Blur — it adds an obtuse layer of functionality to a device that does not need it.

Moto admits the phone can be overwhelming at first, but claims the complete customization of social networking sites like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook are worth it. We disagree. Let people pick and choose what social networking sites they want to use on their phones and download apps that best serve their needs. An additional skin like Blur just over-complicates things.

Motrola, hear us out: You guys are not doing well right now. You make great hardware and crappy software. If you want phone buyers to take you seriously, keep producing excellent handsets like the Cliq, load them with top-notch operating systems (Android FTW!) and let it be. People will start buying your products again.

By Priya Ganapati

A utility suite for cheap and Madden football: iPhone apps of the week

September 11, 2009

Have you updated your iPhone to version 3.1 yet? Among the fixes and feature enhancements in the latest update, Apple added the Genius feature (formerly found in iTunes) to the App Store. Like its iTunes counterpart, Genius for iPhone apps looks at the apps you have on your iPhone and makes recommendations for apps you might like. I should point out that you need to digitally agree to Apple's terms and conditions, which you should read carefully before turning the feature on. The potentially objectionable part (that I have no objection to) is that Apple will track information, like which apps I use most and how long I use them, to make future recommendations.

With the app store now boasting more than 75,000 apps, this feature might be a good way to find stuff you like without having to sift through everything. If you're OK with the terms and conditions, check it out and let me know what you think in the comments.

This week's apps include an app that's a whole suite of useful tools and the football game that everyone has been waiting for.

AppBox Pro (99 cents for a limited time) gives you a whole slew of apps that cover basic functions like a Flashlight, a unit converter, and a tip calculator. In all there are 21 apps included in the suite and each is well made. There is nothing particularly flashy here, but there are plenty of useful items that just about everyone will need at one time or another. For 99 cents, AppBox Pro is a no-brainer.

To list some of the applications in the suite, there is a Battery Life app, to tell you how much battery time you have left based on whether your talking on the phone, playing games, or listening to music. You get a nice looking Clinometer (level) tool to help you hang pictures or perfect your home building project. For those who like to travel, there is a Currency Converter so you know you're spending the right amount on an item, for example, and you also get a Translator (for several different languages) so you can haggle the price. The System Info app shows you what is using up memory on your iPhone and lets you know how much space is left on your hard drive. You also get a few Web-based apps including Google Books, which will let you browse and read books from an enormous database. Overall, getting a huge suite of well-made apps for 99 cents is a steal. Grab it quick before the price goes up.

Madden NFL 10 is finally here and I'm glad I told football fans to wait when I talked about NFL 2010 in an earlier post. Though the two games are pretty similar and NFL 2010 is still a worthy purchase, Madden NFL 10 offers smoother graphics and overall, better gameplay. Madden NFL 10 is fully licensed by the NFL just like the other game, so you get all of the NFL teams and every NFL player that's on each roster. Like NFL 2010, you control your player with an onscreen joystick, but instead of the contextual buttons that would put the game in a sort of bullet-time (slow motion) in NFL 2010, Madden always gives you the option to go into bullet-time, with more options for moves once the game has slowed down. Madden also has a button to give you a burst of speed that works great for getting out of tight situations.

It's difficult to describe how Madden NFL 10 is better than the NFL 2010 because many of the game mechanics are similar. It might be the smoother graphics, or it might be that the control system somehow feels more accurate. Whatever it is, Madden NFL 10 just feels more immersive; like I'm actually a part of the game. Both have enormous playbooks, both use similar controls, and both let you play through seasons, right up to the Super Bowl. But playing Madden NFL 10 is definitely closer to a platform experience and stands out as the better game. If you waited to find out which was the better football game for the iPhone, I highly recommend Madden NFL 10. It also doesn't hurt that John Madden makes comments on some plays--it's hard not to like that old pro.

What is your favorite iPhone app? Do you think the added Genius support for iPhone apps is truly genius? Have you tried out AppBox Pro? Do you have both football games and disagree that Madden is the better choice? Let me know in the comments!

Jason Parker

Facebook strips down to Lite site

11 September 2009

The world's biggest social networking site has launched a slimmed down version for people with slow or poor internet connections.

Facebook has said the Lite site will be faster and simpler because it offers fewer services than the main site.

Initially it is meant to support users in developing countries and where bandwidth constraints make the current version too slow to use.

At the moment it is only available in India and the US.

The company said around 70% of its more than 250 million users are from outside America. Countries in Southeast Asia and Europe are seeing a massive increase in growth where fast internet connections are more common.

News that Facebook was testing the Lite site was first leaked in August.

"Twitter-like"

The options on Facebook Lite are limited to letting users write on their wall, post photos and videos, view events and browse other people's profiles. There are no apps or special boxes.

"It appears, at a quick glance, to be a better site for Facebook newbie's or for anyone who finds the current site overwhelming and noisy," said Rafe Needleman at technology website CNET.

More than 70% of users are outside the United States

"The new layout feels almost Twitter-like."

Terence O'Brien at Switched.com gave the slimmed down version of what he called "ol' blue" the thumbs up because it "strips away distractions".

"The simple site loads noticeably faster, is easier to navigate, and is much easier on the eyes thanks to the lack of people sending you "virtual booze" or asking you to join their "vampire fraternity."

"The new layout seems like a direct challenge to Twitter, which can attribute much of its success to is simplicity and portability," said Mr O'Brien.

"Worldwide rollout"

Many industry watchers said they believe that even users with good internet connections may well flock to Facebook Lite because of its new look and ease of use.

"That is what some US users are planning to do," said Eric Eldon of InsideFacebook.com

"Indeed the reaction from US users has prompted Facebook to release it intentionally for US users, something it hadn't previously planned on doing."

Mr Eldon said he believed a "worldwide rollout doesn't seem too far away".

Fans of Facebook Lite has said it is like a return to the early days

Facebook has acknowledged this is a possibility in a statement on the site which said the firm was "working on translating Lite into other languages".

So far those who have posted comments on Facebook seem to like the company's new Lite approach.

"It's good to see Facebook listening to their users, " wrote one user.

Another said: "Facebook Lite should be great for college campuses like mine that are hung up on bandwidth."

Having no third party apps on the site also garnered a fair amount of support.

"The no-apps thing is killer. There's nothing about them I'll miss," noted one user, while another said: "Whatever you do, please, PLEASE do not allow the quizzes, games, or apps to ruin this pristine version of Facebook."

Anyone who switches to Facebook Lite and does not like it can switch back to the fuller version of the site.

Facebook strips down to Lite site

The new Windows 7 ad is, um, happy

Windows 7 will be breaking down the doors on October 22.

So the advertising has to start round about September 10, right? And, indeed, here it is, making its debut Thursday in the prime-time premiere to which America is no doubt glued, the CW's "Vampire Diaries."

The ad is as safe as certain critics suggested Vista wasn't. There's a girl. And it's not Lauren, the one who isn't cool enough to buy a Mac. No, it's Kylie, the rather younger girl who is frightfully adept at all things digital.

You remember Kylie. She's the one who has a fish called Dorothy. She's the one who e-mails a picture of said Dorothy to her family (well, not Dorothy's family), having color-corrected it using the Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Well, now they've given Kylie the big one. Will she carry it off? Or will she falter like a one-armed juggler on "America's Got Talent"?

Kylie tells us she's found happy words, lots of them. Yes, they are happy, happy reviews of Windows 7--from such august names as, well, CNET. Kylie makes a slideshow so that we can clearly see just how everyone thinks Windows 7 is the not a blister like Vista. As the same tune that tells you there are very few seconds left in an NBA game--yes, Europe's "The Final Countdown"--intones with gay abandon, Kylie says: "I'm a PC and more happy is coming."

Chris Matyszczyk

First impressions: Motorola Cliq

It was a big day for Motorola. The handset manufacturer unveiled its first Google Android device, the Motorola Cliq, to a packed house at the Mobilize '09 conference in San Francisco. While much of the interest was in seeing Moto's premier Android handset, many were also curious to see if it would deliver something that would breathe new life into a company struggling behind the competition.

Is the Motorola Cliq the answer? Well, we're not completely sold at this point. We finally got some hands-on time with the device, and while we're impressed with the hardware and the features are on par, it's the MotoBlur software that makes us weary. The integration of data from different sources is great, but having all information like Facebook updates, tweets, e-mails constantly streamed to your home screen is completely overwhelming, in our opinion. And is it really necessary?

True, you can customize the home screen and remove widgets, so we'll hold off on verdict until we get the phone in for review. Also, pricing will be a huge factor. T-Mobile and Motorola has not announced pricing, but Engadget Mobile grabbed a screen shot of the carrier's Web site that listed the Motorola Cliq for free with a two-year contract or $399.99 without an agreement. This, of course, has since been pulled down but if true, it could be an enticing offer for many.

Surely, we'll hear more news in the coming weeks but in the meantime, check out our hands-on photo gallery of the Motorola Cliq to get a closer look at the device and to get our first impressions of the smartphone. Also, check this space on Friday morning, to see our First Look video.

by Bonnie Cha

Group keeps cell phone health debate raging on

Admit it. When you buy a cell phone, you’re looking for sex appeal.

Does it have Bluetooth? A slide-down or flip-out key pad? How many gigs for stashing your music collection? Apps?

Now comes an advocacy group suggesting you check something else — the level of radiation your cell phone sends sizzling toward your skull.

“You should pay attention to the amount of radiation that’s being absorbed by your head,” said Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group. “There is a danger.”

While the cellular industry dismisses such fears and the federal government essentially declares the phones safe, Naidenko’s organization thinks the radiation can cause brain cancer and other illnesses.

So this week, it released a ranking of phones by the level of radiation emitted — from the lowest-radiation Samsung Impression to three models, including the Kyocera Jax S1300, that put out more than four times as much radio frequency energy.

The group suggests not just that you shop for a lower-radiation phone, but that you use a speaker phone and other tools to keep the device away from your ear.

In issuing its rankings, the Environmental Working Group — a nonprofit advocacy group concerned mostly with health problems it associates with pollution — injects itself into a scientific controversy that has simmered for years without consensus.

Waves emitted by cell phones come in the radio frequency range, and they don’t come with the penetrating power of X-rays or radioactivity. But there is speculation about ongoing exposure.

To date, studies have either been inconclusive or at odds. Often, researchers conclude that the truth will only be known when large numbers of cell phone users have had decades of exposure.

“The weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell phones with any health problems,” says a Food and Drug Administration statement.

In its review of literature, the Environmental Working Group said the evidence showed that more than 10 years of cell phone use begins to increase chances of brain tumors, salivary gland tumors, migraines and vertigo and behavior problems in children.

The group says the Federal Communications Commission’s standards for cell phone radiation are outdated and don’t account for increased cell phone use by younger children. It contends that their developing brains are more susceptible to damage from cell phones.

Yet the debate goes on. A recent study in Great Britain found “no evidence that the risk of developing pituitary tumors is associated with cellular phone use.” A Swedish study published this summer did find a correlation between cell phone and cordless phone use and tumors. Yet a third piece of recent research failed to connect tumors to cell phones, but said that conclusion was less convincing “because the observation period has been too short.”

“Anybody who tells you we know or don’t know the risk is wrong,” said Louis Slesin, the editor of Microwave News. “We don’t know the answer to this question.”

The FCC limits the “specific absorption rate” of radiation from cell phones to 1.6 watts per kilogram. Manufacturers are required to make the measurements — widely seen as an imperfect method — by operating the phones next to a mannequin head filled with liquid. They measure the amount of energy that reaches the watery center.

You can find out how much your cell phone emits by looking for the phone’s FCC identification number, typically printed inside the phone behind the battery, and entering that number at an FCC Web site.

By SCOTT CANON

The Kansas City Star

Apple fixes Flash snafu in Snow Leopard, patches 33 bugs in Leopard

Less than two weeks after Apple launched Snow Leopard, the company today issued the new operating system's first security update. In a separate upgrade, Apple patched 33 vulnerabilities in 2007's Leopard, and about half as many in the even older Tiger.

Today's updates were the third and fourth from Apple in the last two days. Wednesday, Apple delivered security fixes for the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as another upgrade for its QuickTime media player.

"It's another sneak attack," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security, referring to the string of updates. "Actually, it's almost what we've come to expect from Apple," he added. Unlike rival OS maker Microsoft, which releases most of its security upgrades on a pre-set monthly schedule, Apple ships its patches whenever they're ready to go out the door.

The Snow Leopard 10.6.1 update's security content consisted solely of an upgrade for Adobe's Flash Player, which was bumped to the up-to-date version 10.0.32.18.

Users and security researchers had taken Apple to task for not only shipping Snow Leopard with an outdated and vulnerable version of Flash Player, but also for silently "downgrading" once-secure editions when Macs were updated to the new operating system.

Mac OS X 10.6.1 packaged nine patches for Flash vulnerabilities, some of which could result in "arbitrary code execution," Apple-speak of a critical flaw that attackers could exploit to grab control of a Mac. According to the corresponding Adobe security advisory, six of the nine flaws could be considered critical.

Apple released the first update for Snow Leopard less than two weeks after it debuted the operating system on Aug. 28, a slightly faster pace than in 2007, when Apple took about three weeks to issue the first security update for Mac OS X 10.5, aka Leopard.

Adobe updated Flash Player to 10.0.32.18 in late July to plug a dozen vulnerabilities, including three inherited from flawed Microsoft development code -- obviously, those were not present in the Mac version -- and one that hackers had been exploiting for at least a week, which did apply to the Mac.

"Having to release a whole OS update just to patch one third-party component, that's a bit heavy-handed," said Storms. "Apple had to go through one whole engineering cycle to fix Flash."

As if to echo Storms' point, Apple noted that the 10.6.1 update -- which admittedly includes fixes for eight non-security issues -- tipped the scale at 75MB.

The Security Update 2009-005 for Leopard and Tiger was more traditional, patching 33 vulnerabilities in the former and 16 in the latter. Of the 33 bugs in Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard, 23 were tagged with Apple's "arbitrary code execution" phrase; 14 of the 16 flaws in Tiger were pegged the same way.

Among the components patched in 2009-005 were ClamAV, the open-source antivirus scanner bundled with Apple's server software; CoreGraphics; the Apple-developed-but-open-source CUPS printing system; Launch Services; MySQL; the PHP scripting language; and SMB (Server Message Block), the file- and print-sharing protocol Macs use to access Windows-based networks.

Two of the vulnerabilities could be triggered by duping users into visiting rigged Web sites, said Apple, while a number of others, including flaws in ColorSync, CoreGraphics and ImageIO, could be exploited by attackers who serve up malformed image, PDF or PixarFilm-encoded TIFF formatted files.

Storms focused on the six patches for PHP, which updated Leopard's version of the scripting language to 5.2.10. "PHP [5.2.10] was released in June," Storms said. "Apple either needs to close this [time] loophole, or distance itself from bundling third-party and open-source components."

Apple has taken heat, from Storms as well as other security experts, for its sometimes-sluggish pace of rolling third-party updates into its operating system. It took Apple until mid-May, for example, to include Flash Player 10.0.22.87, the version Adobe released in late February, with a Leopard security upgrade.

Also included in the Mac OS 10.6.1 update were at least eight fixes for non-security bugs, Apple said in a separate support document. Among them was one that "addresses an issue in which some printer compatibility drivers might not appear properly in the Add Printer browser," said Apple. The company today pushed out an additional update that boosted the number of Hewlett-Packard printer drivers.

Both were in reaction to complaints by users that they weren't able to operate some HP printers after upgrading to Snow Leopard.

Storms said it was possible that today's updates weren't the last for the week. "They've updated the iPhone, QuickTime and OS X. A new iTunes has just come out, and it's likely there were some fixes in that, too. The only thing that's left is Safari," he said, noting that Apple's browser has been patched every month since May, each time in the first or second week of the month.

Mac OS X 10.6.1, the 2009-005 security update and the updated HP printer drivers can be downloaded from the Apple site or installed using the Mac's integrated update service.