News

a television entertainment program,

2011-06-09T11:37:00.001-07:00

Understand the "characteristics" of the majority of the audience is always interested in the artistic world, so recently, the station has continued to invite familiar faces take the test, to participate in the jury or the MC's recreation programs. That was one of the best ways "mutually beneficial": Artists are matched by a more decent, fun to the audience, are the remuneration, the station also used the artist name to the target audience and ultimately higher revenue from advertising.

Might say, a television entertainment program, such as "Leap universal" is broadcast live on VTV3 weekly Sunday evening program is dream makers for many television programs today. With this program, viewers get an exciting evening last week, has just been watching a star ... orchestra. Unless the dancers are invited from several countries, the remaining candidates from the jury, the artist MC are known as Thanh Bach, singer Doan Trang, Thu Minh, Thuy Tien, Thanh Thuy actor , Huy Khanh, model and actress who Vu Thu Phuong ...

This year, program producers had invited all the young artists and they are all familiar faces of Vietnamese showbiz, easily heated newspaper pages online. Even with a week to leave the game, the audience was "struck" by the headline article was kind of shocked, "Zhao, games are not" saved "by Vu Thu Phuong", "Huy Khanh" view Light "Leap universal?", "Kim Hien pity to leave the universal Leap" ... This is a "resource" important that the program has been from the media. Licensed from television programs in the U.S. have the original name "Dancing with the Star", from the first appearance in 2010 until now, every live show "Jump universal" all leave a mark in the hearts author. The return of the "universal Leap" 2011 has attracted the attention of audiences and the media. So, "Leap universal" get revenue from ads and messages are very large vote.

Thanh Phan and you jump in "Leap universal."

Honestly, it's a lively entertainment program, the investment technology, good quality audience with an evening holiday weekend. Accordingly, the movement's fundamentalist dancing "Jump universal" are like a wave of young groundwater in large cities. Europe is also a healthy movement, encouraging. But do not stop there, be the media "favor" the most interest from most of the election candidates, to the story behind the scenes, so the whole thing private lives of candidates - the artist is "the can" were exposed, with no less troubling: From the story Duc Thinh actress wife training to support implementation; Thu Minh story broke just love to talk Hoang Anh - ex-wife of actor Huy Khanh on facebook "nhiec" ex-husband ... in poetry, and story artist Thuy Tien "terrible chest wet Route" ... To then have those articles was very "tabloid" continue to run this story: Singer Thuy Tien online whitewash that he was ... entrapments; Huy Khanh actor say "thank you" to his ex-wife Hoang Anh ... With the contestants are "normal people" they would never have such things. The important thing is probably the kind of news "tabloid" had contributed to "draw" the audience to "Jump the universal." This is shown by the number of advertisements and messages to vote for candidates who rocketed up each week

And so, following the success of the model contestants - artist, surely the "universal Leap" years later and some other entertainment programs will be organized according to this motif. Actually, this is not the first artist to participate in television entertainment programs, game shows, but obviously, the appeal of a program consisting of ... all stars are stars still another program of entertainment.

There have been many programs that aim to invite the main character is well-known artists to participate VTV3 seems that "hegemony" of this type: "Play music" every night is allocated into two artist 2 teams; "a duet with Idol" contestant to take the test can interact with the singers on stage, "In the celebrity chef" with each period cooking with an artist, even both to the computer program bearing the trade as "Bringing off brand", which number must also be an invitation for artists to participate. A full program is only interested in stars - that's "good space" - where the successful artists to show off their homes and their aesthetic taste. But the broadcasting time limit, but the program still get a hefty advertising sources outside the main sponsor of the "Son Mykolor." By watching the show, besides the host is acting funny right Spirit, the audience saw firsthand accommodation of famous people. Recently, the "beautiful people XXI century" La Thanh Huyen had recently married pride million apartment "many eyes make eyes flat. In another program, she was a model young emerging Ngoc Trinh is showing a room full of shoes, clothes, furniture full effect that many other stars also have to squint ... let alone ordinary people.

Once wealth and luxury he was beyond the imagination of many people, the more programs to attract the attention of fans.

In recent years, with the "advantage" image, is a television channel information is the first choice in the form of entertainment. So many artists are interested, "investment" for appearing on television in a friendly and open. An artist to be invited to participate in television programs or choose to participate in programs like this as a new way, should be encouraged. Only thing, if it is re-abuse "of harm."

As observed by this reporter, in his "Play music", the organizers of the production program was invited to invite a few characters are some new artists participating villages like singing ... a PR name for them, looking to the audience in mind, remember these names. In addition, a well-known artists are constantly appearing at the end of this program to program it also causes the audience feel boredom. Artists that are not focused investment for the role, for her voice which TV is considered a vehicle for marketing shall contemplate the image is a sad thing ...

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The SNSD's concert in Japan is currently very hot topic throughout the forum Kpop

2011-06-09T11:36:00.003-07:00

The SNSD's concert in Japan is currently very hot topic throughout the forum Kpop. Without warning, the SM has 9 girls molting simultaneously, appears to represent a new maturity and daring sexy on the stage of the tour of Japan.

SNSD was the 9 bulk her into the sexy queen of the tour in Japan

With the pictures and fancam being present at the concert fans gradually revealed, netizens to go out from this unexpected surprise to another. Leader Taeyeon first open row after her pictures outfit look like ... very sexy two-piece swimsuits appear. This is probably also the screen makeover makes most pop fans stunned by so far we only see Taeyeon capital in image clarity, the most simple SNSD. But her own voice, first or second group has strongly F5 for performance of Lady Marmalade Christina Aguilera, Lil 'Kim, Mya, Pink.

Taeyeon and Tiffany opens with the stage of "adult" extremely exciting for "Lady Marmalade"

Along with Taeyeon makeover in her Lady Marmalade is Tiffany. While Taeyeon the "two-piece swimsuits," Tiffany is no less sexy in costumes characterized classic, is proper to the song.

Yuri is hot but still very high in the solo "If"

If Taeyeon and Tiffany-style charm fans half open half closed, then re hot by Yuri separately. She owns her tan SNSD appeared in military uniforms and "fired" If the song solo. The dance moves are tough, definitely sexy just makes you feel the fans are enjoying the stage I'm Coming from the female version of Rain.

YoonA sealed all 3 / 4 performance that still makes fans to "scream"

Yoona is not new apartment is soul fans. She went on stage dressed in very discreet, but also so that stun the audience started dancing seriously when YoonA column 4 Minutes by Madonna. Not only sexy dance moves on the column, expressed emotion on her face YoonA also commented that very hot! Temperature performance up to a head when near the end, the dancers re luxuriant male ... Yoona ripped pants "means" to show the movement split, stone column leg.

Jessica makes fans can not take his eyes when the dress showing sexy body

Just to hide the beautiful curve of the body while working in Korea by without television stations will be "prohibited goods," "Ice Princess" by Jessica finally had the opportunity to show the the pride of their fans. Jessica's solo stage is the most gentle makeover series of performances of her nine SNSD fan but still can not take your eyes off the beautiful girl sitting at the piano. Jessica wore a long dress sophisticatedly scan the meter of land, showing off sexy body as fans want to melt off the stage.

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Thu Minh transformed into a beautiful bird with vibrant samba suspected of "imitation"

2011-06-09T11:36:00.001-07:00

- From day contest, she has been appreciated more than other candidates by 8 years of dancing. That night she also leads the competition with the highest score, you think if people say she has no rival in swimming and she is to become her champion "universal Leap" this year?

What people really think is that pressure on me. The expectations of the audience now is not the advantage that has become my weakness. I was supposed to do 10, but because people think she has 8 years of dancing, so he suddenly becomes 10 points normal, while with a dance that never learned to be like me, people think of her was too good. Therefore, I must try more than normal for women not expected, though actually I have two weeks so that pressure is rather week and the week you show your back to the old place.

Two weeks is two weeks throughout the night to remember life is too, much more pressure and make things happen time to practice my already small as less spiritual and more disturbed. Fortunately, the night contest dolbe Paso, things also began to better already. I just hope not drown health to continue the next round.

- Recently, she makes the audience when suddenly appeared frequently on stage, "Jump universal" feminine with long hair. What made you decide to change short hair style personality that she had faithfully for years?

As everyone can see, each week the contestants have to dance a new dance, a dance that bring a different style. If short hair will forever be limited in style, so I have extended to suit dance and create something new for the audience from the get bored.

- Sad love story recently has nothing to do affect the spirit or her practice?

Of course there is a bit affected, but when it crashed into practice to go down somewhat. When focusing on each step, the apprentice will have to remember so many other things so there is no time to think about sad much.

- So when they do not jump?

When no more jump, things went well for a long time should also not sure why. Important that there is still a beautiful friendship. Although no longer has to walk a path, but we are still asking for and interest in each other as friends.

- Of all the dances she performed, she likes the most and the dance rhythms that makes you feel any difficulties?

To be honest I like all the tone for everything I have interest in learning and understanding, everything back to my own sense of fun and also a difficult individual. If you can tell the most, perhaps simply a smooth, fun and not much pressure in the first dance and dance with Scent Monday with standerd tone. It is the second dance that I have enough time to set the conditions for spiritual comfort. But the most difficult weeks in the fourth week, when I only have two days to set the right tone rumba.

Everything starts to become stress and pressure, very little sleep and worry about your health performance, and how to incorporate your new place. After you return to the old place, between two people disagreements arise causing mental injury, leaving very little training time as well. Tango dance is all that I only have two days to practice.

- She seems to jump and you pair the most sociable of all the contestants entered the competition this year. Herself that her dance partner like?

Actually we have many big problems, but not shown to the outside only. Even with the week I thought as you have to replace due to the big dance. However, things are also satisfied by the exercise, my dance teacher is an extremely dedicated.

Thu Minh transformed into a beautiful bird with vibrant samba suspected of "imitation"

Samba dancers of all pairs Kozhevnikov & Yulia Zagoruychenko

- The idea transformed into a bird in her samba dance competition at last night's dance like a pair of dancers abroad as two drops of water from clothes for each action to shake the hips. What do you think if the audience said that the tests that she was struggling to think of original ideas is just the product "every direction"?

I do not care about anything other than a good workout for the upcoming night of competition. The aside to ask for permission for me to discuss. Actually, I'm not under pressure as people think, simply because I'm not directing anything at all.

- Immediately after suspicion of her dance is not promptly found the stem, then a famous singer was loudly declared: "Stealing ideas is a demonstration of ignorance." She wants to say anything about this?

Actually this is a very old interview, but they deliberately posted on this sensitive time to make people think he is referring to me. This is just a cheap tactics of a certain reporter to attract the attention of readers, but I know he does not say anything about me.

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So Minh Tiep will receive information about her palace on Sunday this week that surprised many people.

2011-06-09T11:35:00.001-07:00

According to a source close, Minh Tiep will float up at noon on 12 / 6 here. A long time he dug the flowers of the Vietnam Cinematography by sensational romance with pretty much the same for you: Quynh Nga, Minh Ha, Vi Cam, Jenifer Pham ... and the latest is Chinese actress Dinh Dinh Can . So Minh Tiep will receive information about her palace on Sunday this week that surprised many people.

After the emotional grove luxuriant, Minh Tiep recently shared very frankly: "I want a wife who is not normally associated with art, a true wife, a mother of children, a woman know to care for the family kitchen. I vaguely feudal when a wife does not want too modern. I do not need that high-income people, communication, or too wide success. "

After learning, we know, his fiancée of Minh Tiep is a candidate entered the final round last HHVN 2010, named Pham Thuy Duong. Thuy Duong was born in 1990, owns impressive 1m69 tall and beautiful face. Back from the competition HHVN 2010, though not in the top, but Thuy Duong still get people impressed by a beautiful face and very fresh. Currently, Thuy Duong not participate in any entertainment field does.

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the drama of socialization of historical broadcast schedule will be back.

2011-06-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

the drama of socialization of historical broadcast schedule will be back.Friday, June 10, 2011 1:23 AMSave Success child actor plays the small time of Ly Cong Uan, Ly Cong Uan film - Road to the Thang Long - Photos provided Truong Thanh Company

Originally exchange by telephone, said Tran Binh Minh, explained: "Schedule film Ly Cong Uan - the Thang Long Road to 30-6 on a plan made by VTV and producers agreed, signed from last year. But now decide to pause VTV plans to film in time and will consider a more appropriate time to broadcast the film. "So, once again the drama of socialization of historical broadcast schedule will be back.

Huyen on the use of natural capital cases to show or pause, Tran Binh Minh said: "We are still negotiating to try to continue to show this film. The film not only be 20 episodes due to content, but because of economic contracts may finally come to the agreement. Schedule particular we will continue to inform the audience. "

Earlier, the film makers use natural capital Huyen had many meetings with VTV. According to director Dang Tat Binh, the filmmakers have completed 22 episodes and is in turn delivered to VTV for acceptance.

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Hội nghị được kỳ vọng là cơ hội để nâng cao sự minh bạch các chính sách quốc phòng và hiện đại hóa quân sự trong khu vực.

2011-06-05T08:41:00.001-07:00

Quang cảnh cuộc tiếp xúc giữa Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng nước ta Phùng Quang Thanh (bên trái) với Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc Lương Quang Liệt. Ảnh: TTXVN.

Hội nghị được kỳ vọng là cơ hội để nâng cao sự minh bạch các chính sách quốc phòng và hiện đại hóa quân sự trong khu vực.

Trong chương trình nghị sự lần này, các phiên họp của hội nghị tập trung vào những vấn đề an ninh đang nổi lên, các học thuyết quân sự mới, ngân sách quốc phòng các nước, tranh chấp chủ quyền, sự phát triển vũ khí hạt nhân, vấn đề an ninh hàng hải hay các lợi ích về an ninh của Trung Quốc.

Theo nhiều tờ báo của Thái Lan, Malaysia và Philippines, chủ đề liên quan đến Biển Đông sẽ được nhắc đến nhiều trong 3 ngày diễn ra hội nghị bởi thời gian gần đây, sự gia tăng các hoạt động của Trung Quốc trên vùng biển này đã khiến nhiều quốc gia láng giềng nói riêng và thế giới nói chung quan ngại.

Riêng về vấn đề biển Đông, Thủ tướng Malaysia Najib Razak đặc biệt lưu ý các đại biểu tham dự đối thoại, các bên tham gia không được để tranh chấp leo thang và cần kiên trì tìm kiếm giải pháp hòa bình qua khuôn khổ ngoại giao. Bên lề hội nghị, các cuộc tiếp xúc song phương cũng được cho là cơ hội nhằm tăng sức mạnh của đối thoại hòa bình.

Tiếng nói của Việt Nam

Tham dự hội nghị lần này, đoàn đại biểu Việt Nam do Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng dẫn đầu, đã thu hút được sự chú ý, quan tâm của đại biểu các nước và dư luận quốc tế khi có bài phát biểu với chủ đề "Phản hồi trước các đe dọa an ninh hàng hải mới". Theo nhiều nhà phân tích, bài phát biểu của Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh đã thể hiện rõ quan điểm của Việt Nam trong một loạt vấn đề an ninh, trong khi vấn đề biển Đông đang thực sự "nóng" trên diễn đàn.

Trước khi có bài phát biểu quan trọng này, Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh cũng có cuộc tiếp xúc song phương với Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc. Đánh giá quan hệ Việt - Trung đang phát triển tốt đẹp, Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh nhấn mạnh, Đảng, Nhà nước, Quân đội và nhân dân Việt Nam hết sức coi trọng quan hệ đoàn kết hữu nghị, hợp tác toàn diện với Trung Quốc. Tuy nhiên, trong quan hệ tốt đẹp giữa hai nước còn tồn tại vấn đề tranh chấp chủ quyền ở biển Đông và đôi khi vẫn xảy ra những vụ việc đáng tiếc.

Nêu sự việc tàu thăm dò địa chấn Bình Minh 02 ngày 26/5 bị tàu hải giám Trung Quốc cắt cáp khi tàu Bình Minh 02 đang hoạt động sâu trong vùng đặc quyền kinh tế của Việt Nam, Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh khẳng định: "Vụ việc đang gây bức xúc trong dư luận nhân dân và khiến lãnh đạo Đảng và Nhà nước Việt Nam lo ngại. Tại Hội nghị này, một số quan chức và báo giới cũng hỏi tôi về sự việc này".

Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh nói: "Bài phát biểu của tôi đề cập đến sự việc tàu Bình Minh 02 một cách khách quan để khu vực và thế giới hiểu đúng. Dù tôi không đề cập thì thế giới cũng biết rõ vì trên tàu Bình Minh 02 có thuyền trưởng là người Nga và có thủy thủ đoàn mang nhiều quốc tịch khác nhau" và đề nghị các cơ quan cấp dưới của hai bên chấp hành nghiêm chỉnh những cam kết của lãnh đạo hai nước.

Đưa ra quan điểm của Chính phủ Việt Nam, Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh nhấn mạnh: "Hai bên cần bình tĩnh giải quyết vấn đề một cách hòa bình, thông qua đàm phán dựa trên luật pháp quốc tế, đặc biệt là Công ước Liên hợp quốc về Luật Biển năm 1982 (UNCLOS 1982) và Tuyên bố về cách ứng xử của các bên ở biển Đông (DOC), một văn kiện đã được ký giữa ASEAN và Trung Quốc".

Theo Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh, vấn đề tranh chấp ở biển Đông có thể phải giải quyết lâu dài. Do vậy, ngành Ngoại giao hai nước cần đàm phán hòa bình và lãnh đạo cấp cao hai Đảng, hai Nhà nước đối thoại, đưa ra những quyết sách mà hai bên có thể chấp nhận được. Việt Nam cũng sẵn sàng cùng Trung Quốc hợp tác phát triển ở khu vực hai nước có tranh chấp thật sự chiếu theo UNCLOS 1982.

Nhất trí với những đánh giá của Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh về mối quan hệ tốt đẹp giữa Việt Nam - Trung Quốc, Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt cho biết, quan điểm của Trung Quốc về vấn đề tranh chấp ở biển Đông là giải quyết thông qua đàm phán ngoại giao.

Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt nói: "Trung Quốc sẵn sàng thảo luận vấn đề này ở các diễn đàn đa phương và phản đối các hành động đơn phương. Trung Quốc cam kết duy trì hòa bình và ổn định ở biển Đông và thực thi đầy đủ DOC".

Về những đề xuất của Việt Nam, Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt cũng nhất trí rằng hai nước phải tuân thủ luật pháp quốc tế, trong đó có UNCLOS 1982 và các văn kiện khác. "Quân đội hai nước cần hợp tác chặt chẽ hơn nữa. Chúng tôi không mong muốn sự việc tương tự xảy ra trong tương lai", Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt khẳng định

Quan điểm của ASEAN

Có thể nói, chưa bao giờ, Đối thoại Shangri-La lại "nóng" như lần này. Các chủ đề nổi bật tại hội nghị bao gồm cả tranh chấp biên giới Thái Lan - Campuchia, xung đột Hàn Quốc - CHDCND Triều Tiên; quan hệ an ninh Mỹ - Trung và vấn đề biển Đông. Ngay trong bài phát biểu khai mạc, Tổng giám đốc Viện Nghiên cứu chiến lược quốc tế (IISS) John Chipman đã khẳng định: "Các cuộc thảo luận giữa đại diện quốc phòng các nước sẽ là cơ hội quan trọng để giảm căng thẳng và tạo không gian ngoại giao".

Còn Thủ tướng Malaysia Najib Razak thì tuyên bố, tranh chấp chủ quyền biển Đông là một vấn đề phức tạp và lưu ý: "Chúng ta không được phép để các tranh chấp leo thang qua khuôn khổ ngoại giao. Các bên cần kiên trì tìm giải pháp hòa bình để giải quyết tranh chấp". Quan điểm của Malaysia là cam kết ủng hộ một quan điểm chung của ASEAN trong nỗ lực đối thoại với Trung Quốc về vấn đề biển Đông. Ông Najib Razak nói: "Lợi ích quốc gia ngày càng trở thành lợi ích tập thể và nhiệm vụ của chúng ta giờ đây là phản ánh lợi ích này trên quan hệ đa phương. Tôi tin tưởng rằng con đường trước mắt cần phải được xây dựng trên sự hợp tác và không đối đầu, và vì điều này, mọi khu vực, mọi quốc gia, mọi nhà lãnh đạo ở đây hôm nay cần phải đóng góp vai trò của mình".

Thủ tướng Najib Razak cũng kêu gọi Trung Quốc và Mỹ hợp tác với ASEAN. Quan điểm của nhà lãnh đạo Malaysia cũng như các quốc gia khác trong khu vực là, thay vì lựa chọn, châu Á cần đẩy mạnh hợp tác với Mỹ - siêu cường quân sự của thế giới; và với Trung Quốc - một cường quốc đang lên, nhằm giải quyết các vấn đề an ninh khu vực như chống nạn buôn người, khủng bố, buôn lậu thuốc phiện và chống phổ biến vũ khí hạt nhân. Ông Najib Razak nói: "Trung Quốc là đối tác của chúng tôi. Mỹ cũng là đối tác của chúng tôi. Ở đây không có chuyện chọn một phía. Chúng ta phải thay đổi chủ nghĩa lưỡng cực của Chiến tranh Lạnh, nhưng không phải bằng một lưỡng cực khác mà bằng chủ nghĩa đa cực. Đó là cách tiến lên phía trước: Đối thoại, gặp gỡ và đồng thuận".

Bộ Ngoại giao Việt Nam nhấn mạnh, hành động trên đã xâm phạm nghiêm trọng chủ quyền và quyền chủ quyền của Việt Nam,

2011-06-05T08:40:00.003-07:00

Tuyên bố được phát ngôn viên Hồng Lỗi đưa ra một ngày sau khi Bộ Ngoại giao Việt Nam có văn bản phản đối việc hải quân Trung Quốc dùng súng uy hiếp ngư dân Việt Nam khi họ đang đánh bắt cá bình thường ở khu vực Trường Sa của Việt Nam.

Bộ Ngoại giao Việt Nam nhấn mạnh, hành động trên đã xâm phạm nghiêm trọng chủ quyền và quyền chủ quyền của Việt Nam, không phù hợp với Tuyên bố về cách ứng xử của các bên ở Biển Đông (DOC).

Việt Nam yêu cầu phía Trung Quốc chấm dứt ngay các hành động xâm phạm chủ quyền của Việt Nam và cản trở tàu cá và ngư dân Việt Nam hoạt động tại khu vực này.

Thế nhưng phát ngôn viên Hồng Lỗi chối bỏ các thông tin về việc ba tàu Trung Quốc nổ súng là không có thực, và rằng "Trung Quốc cam kết duy trì hòa bình và ổn định" ở Biển Đông.

Biển Đông là nơi có các tuyên bố tranh chấp về chủ quyền đối với quần đảo Trường Sa. Việt Nam nhiều lần khẳng định có đầy đủ bằng chứng lịch sử và cơ sở pháp lý về chủ quyền hai quần đảo này.

Ngày 31/5, trong lúc 4 tàu đánh cá của ngư dân TP Tuy Hòa đang hành nghề đánh bắt cá ngừ đại dương ở vị trí 8 độ 56’ vĩ độ bắc, 112 độ 45’ kinh độ đông, cách đảo Đá Đông, quần đảo Trường Sa, tỉnh Khánh Hòa khoảng 5 hải lý về phía đông nam, thì 3 chiếc tàu Hải quân Trung Quốc đã nổ súng bắn xuống nước uy hiếp, đe dọa không cho ngư dân Việt Nam hành nghề. Theo Bộ chỉ huy biên phòng tỉnh Phú Yên, tình trạng ngư dân Phú Yên đánh bắt cá ngừ đại dương quanh khu vực quần đảo Trường Sa, trong phạm vi vùng biển chủ quyền Việt Nam bị tàu quân sự Trung Quốc quấy nhiễu, dùng vũ lực, súng để bắn, dọa và chèn ép đã từng nhiều lần xảy ra.

Trước đó, sáng 26/5, 3 tàu hải giám Trung Quốc đã ngang ngược vào sâu vùng đặc quyền kinh tế của Việt Nam uy hiếp, cắt cáp thăm dò địa chấn của tàu Bình Minh 02 thuộc Tập đoàn dầu khí Việt Nam.

Trong cuộc gặp chiều 3/6 giữa Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Việt Nam Phùng Quang Thanh với đồng nhiệm Trung Quốc Lương Quang Liệt, tướng Thanh nhấn mạnh rằng vụ tàu Trung Quốc cắt cáp tàu Việt Nam khiến nhân dân và nhà nước Việt Nam bức xúc. Ông cũng đề nghị quân đội hai bên kiềm chế, nhằm duy trì hòa bình và ổn định.

Việt Nam càng nhân nhượng thì Trung Quốc càng lấn tới.

2011-06-05T08:40:00.001-07:00

Dã tâm ấy thời gian qua hoặc là được che đậy một cách khéo léo, hoặc là chưa bị phơi bày do một số bên liên quan còn e ngại ảnh hưởng đến quan hệ ngoại giao nên lặng lẽ giải quyết qua các kênh ngoại giao. Thế nhưng, Việt Nam càng nhân nhượng thì Trung Quốc càng lấn tới. Đỉnh điểm là vụ tàu hải giám Trung Quốc trắng trợn xâm phạm vùng đặc quyền kinh tế của Việt Nam và ngang nhiên cắt cáp thăm dò dầu khí của nước ta ngày 26-5 vừa qua.

Hành động phá hoại ngang ngược

Theo thông báo của Tập đoàn Dầu khí quốc gia Việt Nam (PVN), ngày 26-5-2011 các tàu hải giám Trung Quốc đã vi phạm vùng biển thuộc quyền chủ quyền của Việt Nam, gây thiệt hại lớn về kinh tế và cản trở hoạt động bình thường của PVN. Tàu hải giám Trung Quốc đã đe dọa tàu địa chấn Bình Minh 02 của PVN, cắt cáp thăm dò địa chấn tại lô 148 Thềm lục địa Việt Nam, cách mũi Đại Lãnh (Phú Yên) 120 hải lý.

Lô 148 hoàn toàn nằm trong phạm vi thềm lục địa 200 hải lý của Việt Nam. Vị trí cáp thăm dò bị phía Trung Quốc cắt chỉ cách mũi Đại Lãnh, tỉnh Phú Yên khoảng 120 hải lý, tức là còn 80 hải lý nữa mới đến ranh giới 200 hải lý thuộc thềm lục địa quốc gia theo quy định của luật pháp quốc tế. Đáng lưu ý là ở khu vực miền Trung vào phía Nam, trong đó có lô 148, thềm lục địa và vùng đặc quyền kinh tế của Việt Nam hoàn toàn không chồng lấn với thềm lục địa và vùng đặc quyền kinh tế của bất cứ quốc gia nào, kể cả Trung Quốc. Trong khi đó, địa điểm tàu Bình Minh 02 bị cắt cáp cách bờ biển đảo Hải Nam của Trung Quốc tới 340 hải lý, vượt ra ngoài phạm vi 200 hải lý cho phép tới 140 hải lý.

Do đó, việc Trung Quốc cắt cáp thăm dò của tàu Bình Minh 02 là xâm phạm nghiêm trọng quyền chủ quyền của Việt Nam đối với thềm lục địa của mình. Trung Quốc và Việt Nam đều là thành viên của Công ước của Liên hợp quốc về Luật Biển năm 1982. Do vậy, tàu hải giám Trung Quốc cắt cáp cách bờ biển Việt Nam 120 hải lý là vi phạm trắng trợn công ước này. Phải chăng, với hành động trên, Trung Quốc đã trắng trợn chà đạp lên luật pháp quốc tế để mở rộng phạm vi chủ quyền thềm lục địa thêm hàng trăm hải lý?

Thậm chí, chiều 31-5, bốn tàu cá Việt Nam đang khai thác cá ngừ đại dương trên vùng cách đảo Đá Đông thuộc quần đảo Trường Sa của Việt Nam 15 hải lý về phía Đông Nam đã bị 3 tàu quân sự của Trung Quốc mang số hiệu 989, 27, 28 chạy đến với tốc độ rất nhanh, rồi áp sát, bao vây, dùng súng AK bắn liên tục trong gần 7 phút vào các tàu cá Việt Nam.

Công ước Luật Biển năm 1982 của Liên hợp quốc đã quy định rõ: Phạm vi, quy chế pháp lý của các vùng biển thuộc chủ quyền và quyền chủ quyền của các quốc gia ven biển cũng như vùng biển quốc tế. Theo Điều 76 của Công ước, thềm lục địa của quốc gia ven biển có chiều rộng tối thiểu 200 hải lý. Chiều rộng này được bảo đảm tuyệt đối kể cả khi ở trên thực tế rìa ngoài của thềm lục địa của quốc gia ven biển hẹp hơn 200 hải lý.

Năm 2002, Hiệp hội các quốc gia Đông Nam Á (ASEAN) và Trung Quốc đã ký Tuyên bố về ứng xử Biển Đông (gọi tắt là DOC). Việc Trung Quốc cho tàu vũ trang cắt cáp thăm dò địa chấn của tàu Bình Minh 02, phá hoại hoạt động kinh tế bình thường của Việt Nam ngay trong thềm lục địa Việt Nam đã vi phạm nghiêm trọng Tuyên bố này. Theo DOC, ASEAN và Trung Quốc đã cam kết không làm phức tạp thêm tình hình ở biển Đông, không sử dụng vũ lực.

Trong nhiều Tuyên bố chung giữa ASEAN và Trung Quốc, Lãnh đạo cao cấp của ASEAN và Trung Quốc đều tái khẳng định tuân thủ tăng cường nỗ lực để thực hiện toàn diện DOC, tiến tới xây dựng một văn kiện pháp lý cao hơn là Bộ Quy tắc ứng xử ở biển Đông (Code of Conduct, gọi tắt là COC). Do vậy, xét trên góc độ pháp lý quốc tế hay góc độ chính trị thì việc tàu Trung Quốc xâm phạm trái phép lãnh hải Việt Nam, cắt cáp thăm dò của tàu Bình Minh 02 cũng như tấn công các tàu cá Việt Nam là hành động vi phạm nghiêm trọng các điều ước đã ký kết.

Đoạn cáp bị tàu hải giám Trung Quốc cắt đứt

Âm mưu độc chiếm biển Đông

Vì sao Bắc Kinh lại trắng trợn như vậy? Tổng hợp một loạt sự kiện gần đây cho thấy hành động ngang ngược này của Trung Quốc nằm trong cái gọi là chiến lược chung bảo vệ "lợi ích cốt lõi" của Trung Quốc, hay nói một cách chính xác là ý đồ chiến lược độc chiếm biển Đông. Từ sau vụ va chạm với tàu khảo sát Impeccable của Mỹ ngày 8-3-2009 và gửi Công hàm đến Liên Hợp quốc ngày 7-5-2009 lần đầu tiên lưu hành bản đồ đường đứt khúc 9 đoạn (đường lưỡi bò) yêu sách 80% diện tích biển Đông, Bắc Kinh ngày càng trắng trợn trong việc thực hiện ý đồ ngang ngược này, phản đối mọi sự hiện diện của nước ngoài cũng như những nỗ lực duy trì hòa bình, ổn định trong biển Đông. Trung Quốc đã đi từ chính sách "giấu mình chờ thời" sang đòi hỏi "lợi ích cốt lõi" rồi "quyết đoán nhưng không đối đầu", hô hào "giải quyết song phương" trong khi lại cho tàu xuống biển Đông gây sức ép.

Biển Đông chưa bao giờ và không khi nào nằm ngoài tính toán chiến lược của Bắc Kinh. Liệu có phải vô tình khi các hoạt động của Trung Quốc gần đây đều được tiến hành trên đường ranh giới mập mờ của đường lưỡi bò. Xâu chuỗi các sự kiện Trung Quốc quấy nhiễu tàu và máy bay của Philippine tại Bãi Cỏ rong trong tháng 3-5-2011, cản trở tàu Bình Minh 02 của Việt Nam ngày 26-5 và việc Trung Quốc đang đàm phán với Indonesia để phối hợp tuần tra chung ở vùng biển cách xa bờ biển Trung Quốc hàng nghìn km. Thật dễ thấy các hoạt động này đều nằm trong âm mưu tranh chấp tài nguyên ở Biển Đông, theo phương châm "khai thác biển xa trước, biển gần sau, nơi tranh chấp trước nơi không tranh chấp sau".

Tàu hải giám Trung Quốc đã cắt cáp thăm dò của Việt Nam

Thế giới lên tiếng

Ngày 26-5, Thạc sĩ Iskander Rehman cho rằng, sự kiện này dường như khá nhất quán với cách ứng xử gần đây của Trung Quốc tại các vùng biển Đông. Theo đó, Bắc Kinh thường sử dụng cả hai biện pháp là cưỡng ép về ngoại giao và hoạt động quân sự mạnh mẽ để khẳng định chủ quyền. Giáo sư Carl Thayer, chuyên gia về Việt Nam thuộc Học Viện Quốc phòng Australia lại nhận định, vụ việc này thể hiện sự leo thang của Trung Quốc trong hành động gây hấn với Việt Nam. "Trung Quốc đã xác định một cách trơ trẽn chủ quyền của họ bằng những hành động như vậy và họ có ưu thế về đội tàu để thực hiện điều đó".

Qua hành động xâm phạm hải phận Việt Nam và cắt đứt dây cáp của tàu Việt Nam, có lẽ Trung Quốc muốn "nắn gân" để xem phản ứng của Việt Nam như thế nào? Tuy nhiên, mục đích cũng có thể là gây tâm trạng bất an cho các nhà đầu tư nước ngoài đang hoặc có ý định hợp tác với Việt Nam trong việc thăm dò và khai thác dầu khí ở biển Đông.

Hãng tin Pháp AFP cũng bình luận như sau: "Những hành động táo tợn ngày một gia tăng của Trung Quốc tại biển Đông đã và đang làm dấy lên căng thẳng với các quốc gia khác trong khu vực". Theo nhận định của cả hãng tin Reuters và AFP, vụ đụng độ giữa tàu Trung Quốc với tàu Việt Nam càng khiến cho các nước láng giềng Đông Nam Á thêm lo ngại về thái độ ngày càng quyết liệt của Trung Quốc trong âm mưu độc chiếm biển Đông.

Vụ này xảy ra chỉ một tuần sau khi Trung Quốc và Philíppin cam kết "hành xử có trách nhiệm" tại những vùng biển tranh chấp và tìm một giải pháp hòa bình cho các đòi hỏi chủ quyền ở biển Đông. Sau chuyến thăm Manila của Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc Lương Quang Liệt, Tổng thống Philippine Benigno Aquino đã cảnh báo những vụ xâm nhập và đụng độ ở các vùng tranh chấp trên biển Đông có thể thúc đẩy một cuộc chạy đua vũ trang trong khu vực.

Dù vì bất kỳ lý do gì đi chăng nữa, thì việc Trung Quốc trắng trợn xâm phạm lãnh hải cắt cáp thăm dò và tấn công tàu cá Việt Nam là hoàn toàn không có lợi cho quan hệ hữu nghị và hợp tác đang phát triển tốt đẹp giữa hai nước Việt Nam - Trung Quốc, không phù hợp với nỗ lực thúc đẩy thực hiện toàn bộ Tuyên bố về ứng xử của các bên ở biển Đông năm 2002 giữa ASEAN và Trung Quốc, và cũng không có lợi cho việc duy trì hòa bình, ổn định ở biển Đông và khu vực. Tóm lại những hành động của Trung Quốc vừa qua đang thể hiện hình ảnh của kẻ "miệng na mô bụng một bồ dao găm".

TP Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa, 1.500 sinh viên đã cùng nắm tay nhau xếp hình bản đồ Việt Nam trong buổi mit tinh hưởng ứng Tuần lễ biển và hải đảo Việt Nam

2011-06-05T08:39:00.004-07:00

Sáng nay, 5.6, tại Quảng trường 2.4, TP Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa, 1.500 sinh viên đã cùng nắm tay nhau xếp hình bản đồ Việt Nam trong buổi mit tinh hưởng ứng Tuần lễ biển và hải đảo Việt Nam 2011, với chủ đề “Trí tuệ xanh cho sự phát triển bền vững biển, đảo Việt Nam”.

Hình ảnh bản đồ Việt Nam được thể hiện có chiều dài 43,2m, chiều rộng nơi rộng nhất 12,8m và có quần đảo Hoàng Sa, Trường Sa và đảo Phú Quốc. Nhạc bài hát “Nối vòng tay lớn’ của nhạc sỹ Trịnh Công Sơn làm nền vang lên.

Đây là những thanh niên Việt Nam nắm chặt tay nhau thể hiện thông điệp “Việt Nam, Trường Sa và Hoàng Sa luôn luôn trong trái tim của dân tộc Việt Nam. Là con Lạc, cháu Hồng, chúng ta hãy chung tay cùng nhau bảo vệ Trường Sa, Hoàng Sa, bảo vệ biên cương hải đảo của Tổ Quốc”.

Đây là bản đồ Việt Nam được xếp bằng người lớn nhất từ trước đến nay và sẽ được chính thức được ghi nhận là kỷ lục Guinness Việt Nam.

Tờ Philstar của Philippines đăng tải hình ảnh về vụ tàu hải giám Trung Quốc bị phát hiện ở gần Reed Bank

2011-06-05T08:39:00.003-07:00

Tờ Philstar của Philippines đăng tải hình ảnh về vụ tàu hải giám Trung Quốc bị phát hiện ở gần Reed Bank

Theo DFA, đây là hành động mới nhất sau hàng loạt động thái tương tự khác kể từ vụ việc xảy ra ở Reed Bank hồi tháng 3. “Các hành động của tàu Trung Quốc đã cản trở hoạt động đánh bắt cá bình thường và hợp pháp của ngư dân Philippines trong khu vực và làm suy yếu hòa bình, ổn định của khu vực”, DFA nói trong một tuyên bố đăng trên trang web của họ trong hôm qua (4/6).

DFA cho rằng, hành động của tàu thuyền Trung Quốc tại vùng biển của Philippines là “vi phạm nghiêm trọng chủ quyền và quyền tài phán hàng hải của Philippines cũng như vi phạm Tuyên bố ASEAN-Trung Quốc về cách ứng xử của các bên ở Biển Đông - DOC”.

Thứ Ba vừa qua, Manila đã triệu tập đại diện đại sứ quán Trung Quốc để thể hiện “sự quan ngại nghiêm trọng” về các hành động gần đây của Trung Quốc ở Biển Đông. DFA cho hay, chính phủ Philippines yêu cầu lời giải thích rõ ràng từ đại sứ quán Trung Quốc về các vụ việc.

Thông tin trên trang web DFA hôm thứ Tư vừa qua nói rằng, một tàu hải giám và cả tàu hải quân Trung Quốc đã bị phát hiện ở khu vực lân cận Iroquois (Amy Douglas) Bank ở Biển Đông. "Báo cáo cho biết, các tàu này đã tháo dỡ vật liệu xây dựng, dựng một số cột trụ và thả phao ở gần Iroquois Bank", DFA nhấn mạnh.

Iroquois Bank nằm ở phía tây nam Reed Bank. Theo DFA, thì đây là khu vực nằm “trong phạm vi vùng đặc quyền kinh tế 200 hải lý của Philippines”. “Bất kỳ việc xây dựng mới nào của Trung Quốc ở vùng lân cận Iroquois Bank là rõ ràng vi phạm DOC ở Biển Đông’, Ngoại trưởng Philippines Albert del Rosario nói.

Cuộc triệu tập đại diện Trung Quốc ngày 31/5 tiếp theo một cuộc gặp ngày 27/5, khi DFA cũng bày tỏ quan ngại với đại sứ quán Trung Quốc về các thông tin rằng, Trung Quốc dự kiến lắp đặt giàn khoan hiện đại nhất ở Biển Đông vào tháng 7 này. DFA đã yêu cầu phía Trung Quốc thông tin chính xác về vị trí lắp đặt giàn khoan khổng lồ.

Tổng thống Philippines Aquino cũng cho hay, nước này dự kiến sẽ đệ trình thư phản đối lên Liên hợp quốc về hàng loạt vụ xâm nhập liên quan tới Trung Quốc ở Biển Đông kể từ tháng 2. Ông Aquino nhấn mạnh, chính phủ Philippines đang hoàn tất các dữ liệu và sẽ chuyển cho phía Trung Quốc trước khi đệ trình tài liệu lên Liên hợp quốc.

Nếu như năm ngoái, đối thoại Shangri - La nóng lên sau khi bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ phê phán quan điểm coi biển Đông là lợi ích cốt lõi của Trung Quốc

2011-06-05T08:39:00.001-07:00

Nếu như năm ngoái, đối thoại Shangri - La nóng lên sau khi bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ phê phán quan điểm coi biển Đông là lợi ích cốt lõi của Trung Quốc, thì năm nay các sự kiện liên tiếp xảy ra trên Biển Đông trước ngày 4.6, ngày khai mạc Shangri - la lần thứ X, khiến cho đối thoại năm nay thu hút sự chú ý của khu vực lẫn thế giới.

Cuộc đối thoại năm nay được dư luận quan tâm vì hầu hết bộ trưởng Quốc phòng các nước lớn liên quan đã tham dự. Các bên hẳn muốn tìm hiểu lập trường Washington về an ninh khu vực khi Mỹ bước vào thời kỳ “hậu Bin Laden”. Bên cạnh đó, nhiều dấu hiệu cho thấy Trung Quốc triển khai giai đoạn mới đối với Biển Đông, áp đặt các đòi hỏi chủ quyền đối với “đường lưỡi bò” chiếm 80% biển Đông. Từ đó gây ra các sự cố căng thẳng ở biển Đông gần đây.

Tình hình biển Đông hiện hữu trong tinh thần nhiều bài phát biểu tại diễn đàn, cũng như tiếp xúc và trao đổi bên lề Hội nghị. Nhưng những ai chờ đợi sự tranh luận căng thẳng như trong năm 2010 hẳn sẽ thất vọng trước tinh thần thẳng thắn song mang tính xây dựng của các bên tham gia. Shangri - la X phản ánh một cách không nhầm lẫn nguyện vọng duy trì hòa bình, an ninh, hợp tác của các quốc gia trong khu vực. Các bài phát biểu của các thể hiện xu thế đối thoại và hợp tác.

Bài phát biểu khai mạc của Thủ tướng Malaysia Rajib Nazak ở một phương diện nào đó thể hiện mạch chính của tư duy, nhận thức hiện nay của châu Á, trong đó và trước hết là Đông Nam Á, ở thời kỳ thế giới biến động và chuyển dịch quyền lực tại châu Á-Thái Bình Dương. Ông đề cập một vấn đề không mới nhưng rất thời sự: Quan hệ thế nào với một Trung Quốc quốc lực ngày càng tăng cường, có thể trở thành cường quốc kinh tế số một trong vòng 30 năm?

Ông cho rằng các nước khu vực không nên trở lại tư duy chiến tranh lạnh (đi với bên này chống bên kia), mà cần đối tác với tất các nước lớn, bao gồm Ấn Độ, Trung Quốc và Mỹ. ASEAN không có sự lựa chọn nào khác là phải quan hệ với tất cả các nước lớn. Sẽ là sai lầm nếu xem Trung Quốc là kẻ địch. Ông lạc quan “một bộ qui tắc ứng xử mang tính ràng buộc hơn về Biển Đông sẽ sớm thỏa thuận giữa ASEAN và Trung Quốc”. Ông nêu một luận điểm mới: “Lợi ích quốc gia đang ngày càng trở thành lợi ích tập thể trong chủ nghĩa đa phương”.

Các lời lẽ hòa dịu của bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ sắp từ nhiệm về quan hệ quân sự Mỹ-Trung qua các tiếp xúc nhân dịp Đối thoại Shangrila phần nào tạo cảm giác về một quá trình hòa hoãn giữa hai nước lớn. Có lẽ, giữa hai nước lớn này, ít nhất về mặt quân sự, đang có một “cuộc giải lao” giữa hai hiệp đấu. Hai bên, trước hết là Trung Quốc, cần ổn định quan hệ an ninh với Mỹ trước thềm đại hội lần thứ 18 của đảng cộng sản Trung Quốc và bầu cử Quốc hội và Tổng thống Mỹ 2012. Mỹ nhận được một số nhượng bộ kinh tế thương mại từ phía Trung Quốc.

Nhưng phát biểu chính thức của bộ trưởng R. Gates tại diễn đàn Shangri - la vẫn thể hiện các quan điểm không thay đổi của chính quyền Obama liên quan đến khu vực rộng lớn này: Mỹ cam kết mạnh mẽ đối với an ninh khu vực – với đồng minh cũng như đối tác. Ông Gates cũng thẳng thắn thừa nhận Mỹ gặp khó khăn về kinh tế tài chính dẫn tới cắt giảm ngân sách quốc phòng, nhưng vẫn ưu tiên duy trì sự hiện diện quân sự được hiện đại hóa ở Đông Bắc Á, Đông Nam Á và Ấ Độ Dương; bảo đảm khả năng răn đe, và nếu cần đánh bại các kẻ địch tiềm tàng.

Liên quan Biển Đông, bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ tái khẳng định “lợi ích quốc gia” đối với tự do hàng hải; bày tỏ mong muốn các bên giải quyết tranh chấp phù hợp với Công ước luật biển LHQ và không sử dụng vũ lực.

Có lẽ không phải tình cờ, bài phát biểu của bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ đề cập đến Việt Nam cùng sáu quốc gia khác Mỹ có quan hệ ở khu vực (Nhật Bản, Hàn Quốc, Việt Nam, Trung Quốc, Ấn Độ, Singapore và Úc), khẳng định Mỹ cùng Việt Nam bỏ qua quá khứ xây dựng các quan hệ đối tác song phương mạnh mẽ, sinh động trên tất cả các lĩnh vực thương mại, đầu tư, giáo dục và an ninh quân sự.

Thể hiện chiều hướng phát triển an ninh Mỹ - Trung, ông Gates khẳng định Mỹ theo đuổi quan hệ mới với Trung Quốc, đồng thời mở rộng quan hệ đối tác quân sự với các nước khác trong khu vực, bao gồm Việt Nam.

Tuy nhiên, chữ biển Đông không xuất hiện trong diễn văn của ông Gates như từng xảy ra trong năm ngoái, cũng như sự dịu giọng của các quan chức Mỹ về biển Đông gần đây khiến cho người ta cho rằng, có sự thỏa hiệp về phía Mỹ để đổi lấy những nhượng bộ của Trung Quốc về kinh tế.

Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Việt Nam và Trung Quốc đã có cuộc tiếp xúc lần đầu tiên kể từ khi xảy ra vụ tàu hải giám Trung Quốc cắt cáp tàu Bình Minh 02 (ngày 26.5). Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt nhất trí với ý kiến của Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh về việc hai bên phải tuân thủ luật pháp quốc tế, trong đó có UNCLOS 1982 và các văn kiện khác. Ông nói: “Chúng tôi không mong muốn sự việc tương tự xảy ra trong tương lai. Chúng tôi xin nói rõ là Quân giải phóng nhân dân Trung Quốc không có hành động can dự nào vào sự việc vừa diễn ra”.

Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh đề nghị quân đội hai nước bình tĩnh, kiềm chế, không để xảy ra xung đột, gương mẫu thực hiện cam kết của lãnh đạo cấp cao hai nước về bốn tốt.

Thể hiện thái độ chừng mực, thận trọng và có phần hòa dịu, bài phát biểu chính thức của bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc tại diễn đàn sáng ngày 5.6 thể hiện các quan điểm cơ bản của lãnh đạo Bắc Kinh cam kết duy trì hòa bình, ổn định thông qua hợp tác an ninh khu vực.

Về vấn đề biển Nam Trung Hoa (biển Đông), ông Liệt khẳng định Trung Quốc cam kết duy trì hòa bình, ổn định tại vùng biển này; đề cập việc ký kết DOC mà “Trung Quốc vẫn tích cực duy trì đối thoại”. Ông cho rằng “tình hình trên biển Nam Trung Hoa vẫn ổn định” và “các kênh đối thoại và thương lượng với các nước liên quan vẫn mở”.

Đối thoại không phải là thương lượng, nhưng cũng phần nào bắt mạch xu hướng và thời cuộc. Trong bối cảnh khu vực như hiện tại, nếu biết chuẩn bị tinh thần và thực lực, kết hợp sức mạnh tổng hợp đoàn kết toàn dân với hợp tác và đấu tranh khôn khéo, một quốc gia có chủ quyền có thể bảo vệ được lợi ích cốt lõi của đất nước mình.

Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc phát biểu tại hội nghị an ninh Shangri-La

2011-06-05T08:38:00.003-07:00

Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc phát biểu tại hội nghị an ninh Shangri-La. Ảnh: AFP.

"Trung Quốc cam kết duy trì hòa bình và ổn định ở Biển Đông", AFP dẫn lời ông Lương phát biểu trong diễn đàn an ninh Shangri-La ở Singparore hôm nay. "Tình hình ở Biển Đông vẫn ổn định. Vấn đề tự do hàng hải trong khu vực không hề bị cản trở".

Tướng Lương khẳng định Trung Quốc không phải là mối đe dọa đối với hòa bình ở châu Á. Quân đội Trung Quốc đang phát triển các loại vũ khí mới song mục đích chủ yếu là để bảo vệ chủ quyền của đất nước.

"Nhiều người cho rằng với sự phát triển kinh tế, Trung Quốc sẽ trở thành một mối đe dọa về quân sự", ông Lương nói. "Đấy không phải là một sự lựa chọn của chúng tôi. Chúng tôi không theo đuổi tham vọng bá quyền. Chúng tôi không bao giờ có ý định đe dọa bất cứ nước nào".

Tranh chấp chủ quyền ở Biển Đông đang là chủ đề nóng trong thời gian gần đây. Philippines hôm qua cáo buộc Trung Quốc đe dọa hòa bình và ổn định khu vực. Manila dẫn các vụ việc từ tháng 2 tới tháng 5 khi đó hải quân Trung Quốc được cho là nổ súng nhằm vào ngư dân Philippines, đe dọa một tàu khai thác dầu của nước này và xây dựng công trình ở khu vực mà Philippines nói là có chủ quyền ở Trường Sa.

Trong khi đó, Việt Nam tuần này cũng hai lần phản đối Trung Quốc sau các sự kiện tàu Trung Quốc cắt cáp tàu Việt Nam và nổ súng uy hiếp ngư dân Việt Nam trên Biển Đông.

Trong bài phát biểu hôm qua, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ Robert Gates cảnh báo rằng xung đột có thể tái diễn trên Biển Đông nếu các bên không nhanh chóng đạt được các quy tắc và một cơ chế đa phương nhằm giải quyết tranh chấp trong hòa bình.

"Chúng ta không nên phí thời gian thêm nữa", Gates nói.

Hiệp hội ASEAN - mà một số thành viên có tuyên bố chồng lấn về chủ quyền trên Biển Đông - năm 2002 đã ký với Trung Quốc bản Tuyên bố về cách ứng xử của các bên trên Biển Đông (DOC). Tại các hội nghị gần đây, nhiều thành viên hiệp hội cho biết họ muốn sớm có bộ quy tắc ứng xử (tạm gọi là COC) để đưa ra những quy định ràng buộc cụ thể nhằm đảm bảo hòa bình và ổn định. Tuy nhiên chưa biết khi nào COC sẽ ra đời.

Ông Lương là Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng đầu tiên của Trung Quốc tham dự Đối thoại Shangri-La, diễn đàn an ninh cao cấp của châu Á. Trước đó, ông có cuộc hội đàm với Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ Robert Gates bên lề hội nghị trong nỗ lực nhằm cải thiện quan hệ quân sự giữa hai cường quốc.

Ông Lương cũng đã gặp Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Việt Nam Phùng Quang Thanh hôm qua. Trong cuộc gặp, tướng Thanh đã đề cập việc tàu Trung Quốc cắt cáp của tàu khảo sát Việt Nam trong phạm vi thềm lục địa Việt Nam. Tướng Thanh cho biết việc làm đó là vi phạm, gây bức xúc cho nhân dân và nhà nước Việt Nam; yêu cầu các bên kiềm chế không để tái diễn vi phạm.

Sang đến ngày thứ 2 (4/6), các cuộc đối thoại tại Hội nghị cấp cao an ninh châu Á lần thứ 10

2011-06-05T08:38:00.001-07:00

Sang đến ngày thứ 2 (4/6), các cuộc đối thoại tại Hội nghị cấp cao an ninh châu Á lần thứ 10 (còn gọi là Đối thoại Shangri-La 10) đã làm dịu bớt căng thẳng về tranh chấp chủ quyền giữa các quốc gia trong khu vực. Riêng về vấn đề biển Đông, Thủ tướng Malaysia Najib Razak đặc biệt lưu ý các đại biểu tham dự đối thoại, các bên tham gia không được để tranh chấp leo thang và cần kiên trì tìm kiếm giải pháp hòa bình qua khuôn khổ ngoại giao. Bên lề hội nghị, các cuộc tiếp xúc song phương cũng được cho là cơ hội nhằm tăng sức mạnh của đối thoại hòa bình.

Tiếng nói của Việt Nam

Tham dự hội nghị lần này, đoàn đại biểu Việt Nam do Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng dẫn đầu, đã thu hút được sự chú ý, quan tâm của đại biểu các nước và dư luận quốc tế khi có bài phát biểu với chủ đề "Phản hồi trước các đe dọa an ninh hàng hải mới". Theo nhiều nhà phân tích, bài phát biểu của Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh đã thể hiện rõ quan điểm của Việt Nam trong một loạt vấn đề an ninh, trong khi vấn đề biển Đông đang thực sự "nóng" trên diễn đàn.

Trước khi có bài phát biểu quan trọng này, Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh cũng có cuộc tiếp xúc song phương với Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc. Đánh giá quan hệ Việt - Trung đang phát triển tốt đẹp, Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh nhấn mạnh, Đảng, Nhà nước, Quân đội và nhân dân Việt Nam hết sức coi trọng quan hệ đoàn kết hữu nghị, hợp tác toàn diện với Trung Quốc. Tuy nhiên, trong quan hệ tốt đẹp giữa hai nước còn tồn tại vấn đề tranh chấp chủ quyền ở biển Đông và đôi khi vẫn xảy ra những vụ việc đáng tiếc.

Quang cảnh cuộc tiếp xúc giữa Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng nước ta Phùng Quang Thanh (bên trái) với Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc Lương Quang Liệt. Ảnh: TTXVN.

Nêu sự việc tàu thăm dò địa chấn Bình Minh 02 ngày 26/5 bị tàu hải giám của Trung Quốc cắt cáp khi tàu Bình Minh 02 đang hoạt động sâu trong vùng đặc quyền kinh tế của Việt Nam, Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh khẳng định: "Vụ việc đang gây bức xúc trong dư luận nhân dân và khiến lãnh đạo Đảng và Nhà nước Việt Nam lo ngại. Tại Hội nghị này, một số quan chức và báo giới cũng hỏi tôi về sự việc này".

Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh nói: "Bài phát biểu của tôi sẽ đề cập đến sự việc tàu Bình Minh 02 một cách khách quan để khu vực và thế giới hiểu đúng. Dù tôi không đề cập thì thế giới cũng biết rõ vì trên tàu Bình Minh 02 có thuyền trưởng là người Nga và có thủy thủ đoàn mang nhiều quốc tịch khác nhau" và đề nghị các cơ quan cấp dưới của hai bên chấp hành nghiêm chỉnh những cam kết của lãnh đạo hai nước.

Đưa ra quan điểm của Chính phủ Việt Nam, Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh nhấn mạnh: "Hai bên cần bình tĩnh giải quyết vấn đề một cách hòa bình, thông qua đàm phán dựa trên luật pháp quốc tế, đặc biệt là Công ước Liên hợp quốc về Luật Biển năm 1982 (UNCLOS 1982) và Tuyên bố về cách ứng xử của các bên ở biển Đông (DOC), một văn kiện đã được ký giữa ASEAN và Trung Quốc".

Theo Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh, vấn đề tranh chấp ở biển Đông có thể phải giải quyết lâu dài. Do vậy, ngành Ngoại giao hai nước cần đàm phán hòa bình và lãnh đạo cấp cao hai Đảng, hai Nhà nước đối thoại, đưa ra những quyết sách mà hai bên có thể chấp nhận được. Việt Nam cũng sẵn sàng cùng Trung Quốc hợp tác phát triển ở khu vực hai nước có tranh chấp thật sự chiếu theo UNCLOS 1982.

Nhất trí với những đánh giá của Đại tướng Phùng Quang Thanh về mối quan hệ tốt đẹp giữa Việt Nam - Trung Quốc, Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt cho biết, quan điểm của Trung Quốc về vấn đề tranh chấp ở biển Đông là giải quyết thông qua đàm phán ngoại giao.

Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt nói: "Trung Quốc sẵn sàng thảo luận vấn đề này ở các diễn đàn đa phương và phản đối các hành động đơn phương. Trung Quốc cam kết duy trì hòa bình và ổn định ở biển Đông và thực thi đầy đủ DOC".

Về những đề xuất của Việt Nam, Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt cũng nhất trí rằng hai nước phải tuân thủ luật pháp quốc tế, trong đó có UNCLOS 1982 và các văn kiện khác. "Quân đội hai nước cần hợp tác chặt chẽ hơn nữa. Chúng tôi không mong muốn sự việc tương tự xảy ra trong tương lai", Thượng tướng Lương Quang Liệt khẳng định.

Đề xuất của Mỹ

Tin từ tờ Bưu điện Washington cho hay, trong bài phát biểu sáng 4/6, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ Robert Gates đã một lần nữa khẳng định việc Lầu Năm Góc đang thực hiện kế hoạch dần dần mở rộng sự hiện diện của quân đội Mỹ tại khu vực châu Á-Thái Bình Dương. Cụ thể, trong những năm tới, Mỹ sẽ tích cực tham gia các hoạt động tập trận chung trên biển và trong đất liền với các nước trong khu vực này.

Hiện Mỹ cũng đang xúc tiến việc thiết lập một căn cứ hải quân chung với Australia ở châu Á với nhiệm vụ giúp đỡ các quốc gia đối phó nhanh hơn trong trường hợp xảy ra thiên tai và hỗ trợ đào tạo lực lượng quân đội Singapore. Mối quan hệ quân sự của Mỹ với các đồng minh truyền thống là Nhật và Hàn Quốc sẽ được hiện đại hóa.

Mỹ đã có các cuộc tiếp xúc song phương với Trung Quốc, Nhật Bản và nhiều quốc gia khác bên lề Hội nghị an ninh châu Á lần thứ 10 tại Singapore.

Đặc biệt, Mỹ sẽ triển khai tới Singapore một loại chiến hạm mới chuyên hoạt động ở khu vực gần bờ. Loại tàu cơ động này có trọng tải nhỏ hơn so với chiến hạm thông thường chuyên chiến đấu ngoài biển khơi. Chúng sẽ không đóng thường trực tại Singapore mà hoạt động tại quốc đảo Đông Nam Á này theo từng dịp khác nhau... Riêng đối với Việt Nam, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ cho biết sẽ thúc đẩy mối quan hệ đối tác quốc phòng.

Ông Robert Gates nói: "Mỹ và châu Á sẽ càng trở thành mối quan hệ không thể tách rời trong thế kỷ này. Thực tế trên sẽ giúp giữ vững những cam kết của chúng tôi đối với các đồng minh, trong khi vẫn duy trì sự hiện diện quân sự mạnh mẽ và tư thế răn đe trên khắp vùng vành đai Thái Bình Dương".

Chưa hết, trong bài phát biểu của mình, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ còn nêu lên vấn nạn tội phạm công nghệ cao mà mới đây Mỹ vừa trở thành nạn nhân. Vụ việc bắt đầu khi hãng Google tuyên bố hàng trăm tài khoản gmail của quan chức, sĩ quan quân đội, nhà báo ở nhiều nước, nhất là Mỹ đã bị tấn công. Qua điều tra ban đầu, hãng Google cho rằng, tin tặc được phát hiện đến từ Tế Nam, tỉnh Sơn Đông của Trung Quốc. Thế nhưng, Trung Quốc đã bác bỏ cáo buộc này. Trong khi đó, Bộ An ninh nội địa Mỹ đang phối hợp với Google để điều tra kỹ hơn về vụ việc.

Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ Robert Gates trong cuộc gặp Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc Lương Quang Liệt.

Giới quan sát cho rằng, việc nêu vấn đề tội phạm công nghệ cao trong bài phát biểu cho thấy, Mỹ vừa thể hiện chiều hướng cải thiện quan hệ với Trung Quốc song cũng rất khôn khéo "nắn gân" quốc gia đông dân nhất thế giới này, nhất là trong bối cảnh Bắc Kinh đang vấp phải phản ứng của nhiều nước trong khu vực xung quanh vấn đề biển Đông. Trên thực tế, trong tối 3-6, khi có cuộc tiếp xúc song phương với Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc Lương Quang Liệt, ông Robert Gates cũng đã thể hiện sự kỳ vọng của mình vào mối quan hệ Mỹ - Trung Quốc, đặc biệt trong lĩnh vực quốc phòng.

Nhấn mạnh tới chuyến thăm Bắc Kinh hồi tháng 1 và các cuộc trao đổi quân sự ở cấp bậc cao khác, cũng như chuyến viếng thăm Trung Quốc dự tính vào tháng tới của Tổng Tham mưu trưởng liên quân Mỹ là Đô đốc Mike Mullen, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Mỹ khẳng định, quan hệ quân sự Mỹ - Trung đang đi theo chiều tích cực. Song Washington vẫn đang điều tra những cáo buộc của Google rằng, tin tặc từ Trung Quốc lấy cắp nhiều mật mã email của các giới chức cao cấp Mỹ. Rõ ràng, phía sau những lời nói thân thiện của hai vị Bộ trưởng Mỹ - Trung Quốc vẫn là sự nghi kỵ và cảnh giác lẫn nhau.

Phần đông dư luận còn cho rằng, việc Mỹ công khai chính sách quốc phòng ở châu Á cũng là một cách "rung chuông" với Trung Quốc để thể hiện nỗ lực nhằm chống lại ảnh hưởng ngày càng gia tăng của nước này trong khu vực. Ngày 5-6, Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Trung Quốc cũng sẽ có bài phát biểu nhan đề "Sự hợp tác an ninh quốc tế của Trung Quốc", trong đó trình bày chi tiết về chính sách quốc phòng của Trung Quốc cũng như các chính sách và các đề xuất về việc thúc đẩy hợp tác an ninh và đạt được sự hòa hợp trong khu vực châu Á - Thái Bình Dương.

Quan điểm của ASEAN

Có thể nói, chưa bao giờ, Đối thoại Shangri-La lại "nóng" như lần này. Các chủ đề nổi bật tại hội nghị bao gồm cả tranh chấp biên giới Thái Lan - Campuchia, xung đột Hàn Quốc - CHDCND Triều Tiên; quan hệ an ninh Mỹ - Trung và vấn đề biển Đông. Ngay trong bài phát biểu khai mạc, Tổng giám đốc Viện Nghiên cứu chiến lược quốc tế (IISS) John Chipman đã khẳng định: "Các cuộc thảo luận giữa đại diện quốc phòng các nước sẽ là cơ hội quan trọng để giảm căng thẳng và tạo không gian ngoại giao".

Còn Thủ tướng Malaysia Najib Razak thì tuyên bố, tranh chấp chủ quyền biển Đông là một vấn đề phức tạp và lưu ý: "Chúng ta không được phép để các tranh chấp leo thang qua khuôn khổ ngoại giao. Các bên cần kiên trì tìm giải pháp hòa bình để giải quyết tranh chấp". Quan điểm của Malaysia là cam kết ủng hộ một quan điểm chung của ASEAN trong nỗ lực đối thoại với Trung Quốc về vấn đề biển Đông. Ông Najib Razak nói: "Lợi ích quốc gia ngày càng trở thành lợi ích tập thể và nhiệm vụ của chúng ta giờ đây là phản ánh lợi ích này trên quan hệ đa phương. Tôi tin tưởng rằng con đường trước mắt cần phải được xây dựng trên sự hợp tác và không đối đầu, và vì điều này, mọi khu vực, mọi quốc gia, mọi nhà lãnh đạo ở đây hôm nay cần phải đóng góp vai trò của mình".

Thủ tướng Najib Razak cũng kêu gọi Trung Quốc và Mỹ hợp tác với ASEAN. Quan điểm của nhà lãnh đạo Malaysia cũng như các quốc gia khác trong khu vực là, thay vì lựa chọn, châu Á cần đẩy mạnh hợp tác với Mỹ - siêu cường quân sự của thế giới; và với Trung Quốc - một cường quốc đang lên, nhằm giải quyết các vấn đề an ninh khu vực như chống nạn buôn người, khủng bố, buôn lậu thuốc phiện và chống phổ biến vũ khí hạt nhân. Ông Najib Razak nói: "Trung Quốc là đối tác của chúng tôi. Mỹ cũng là đối tác của chúng tôi. Ở đây không có chuyện chọn một phía. Chúng ta phải thay đổi chủ nghĩa lưỡng cực của Chiến tranh Lạnh, nhưng không phải bằng một lưỡng cực khác mà bằng chủ nghĩa đa cực. Đó là cách tiến lên phía trước: Đối thoại, gặp gỡ và đồng thuận".

Tin từ TTXVN cho hay, dư luận quốc tế rất quan tâm đến vụ 3 tàu hải giám của Trung Quốc quấy nhiễu và ngang nhiên của tàu khảo sát Bình Minh 02 của Tập đoàn Dầu khí quốc gia Petro Vietnam khi tàu này đang khảo sát địa chấn trong thềm lục địa của Việt Nam và tiếp đó là việc hải quân Trung Quốc dùng súng uy hiếp tàu cá của ngư dân Việt Nam trong khi đang hoạt động nghề cá tại vùng biển thuộc quần đảo Trường Sa của Việt Nam.

Nhiều học giả nước ngoài cũng lên tiếng về vụ việc này. Như Giáo sư Carl Thayer, hiện đang công tác tại Khoa Nhân văn và Xã hội học Trường Đại học New South Wales của Australia, cho rằng: "Hành động cắt dây cáp của Trung Quốc trong vùng biển thuộc đặc quyền kinh tế của Việt Nam đã vi phạm Luật Biển quốc tế và làm cho vùng biển này không còn an toàn như trước. Tàu Việt Nam đang làm việc trong vùng biển đặc quyền kinh tế mà Công ước về Luật Biển quốc tế đã quy định cho họ. Hành động này rõ ràng đã chấm dứt những gì lạc quan nhất mà Trung Quốc và ASEAN đã và đang thương thảo về biển Đông".

Cùng chung quan điểm trên, Giáo sư Stein Tonnesson thuộc Viện Nghiên cứu hòa bình quốc tế tại Oslo (Na Uy) cho rằng vụ việc tàu Bình Minh 02 xảy ra trong khu vực mà chỉ Việt Nam có quyền tuyên bố thuộc thềm lục địa của mình. Giáo sư Peter Dutton thuộc Viện nghiên cứu hàng hải Trung Quốc (Đại học Hải quân Mỹ) nhấn mạnh, tuyên bố về khu vực đặc quyền kinh tế của Việt Nam hoàn toàn phù hợp với Công ước Liên hợp quốc về Luật Biển. Theo nhà nghiên cứu về an ninh hàng hải khu vực Iskander Rehman, cách hành xử của Trung Quốc "đã dẫn tới sự căng thẳng không chỉ với tàu Việt Nam mà cả các tàu của Mỹ, Nhật Bản và Philippines".

Cũng liên quan tới tình hình biển Đông, trả lời phỏng vấn báo chí, Người phát ngôn Bộ Ngoại giao Mỹ khẳng định Mỹ phản đối việc sử dụng vũ lực hoặc đe dọa sử dụng vũ lực của bất kỳ bên nào ở biển Đông, ủng hộ Tuyên bố của ASEAN và Trung Quốc về cách ứng xử của các bên ở biển Đông và khuyến khích các bên đạt được bộ quy tắc ứng xử đầy đủ. Người phát ngôn nói, Mỹ ủng hộ tiến trình ngoại giao mang tính cộng tác của tất cả các bên nhằm giải quyết các tranh chấp lãnh thổ và lãnh hải mà không có sự áp đặt.

Phát biểu với báo giới tại thủ đô Kuala Lumpur của Malaysia, Tư lệnh Bộ chỉ huy của Mỹ ở Thái Bình Dương, Đô đốc Robert Willard cũng bày tỏ quan ngại về tình hình căng thẳng tại biển Đông, đồng thời cam kết sẽ nỗ lực bảo đảm các bên giải quyết tranh chấp một cách hòa bình, thông qua đối thoại và không xảy ra xung đột. Năm ngoái, giới chức Mỹ cũng đã nhiều lần đề cập vấn đề tự do lưu thông tại biển Đông và Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Robert Gates tuyên bố Washington phản đối hành động ngăn cản các công ty làm ăn ở biển Đông.

Trên thực tế, sáng 5/6, có một số ít người đã tự phát tụ tập, đi ngang qua Đại sứ quán Trung Quốc ở Hà Nội

2011-06-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

Đó là thông tin sai sự thật.

Trên thực tế, sáng 5/6, có một số ít người đã tự phát tụ tập, đi ngang qua Đại sứ quán Trung Quốc ở Hà Nội và Tổng Lãnh sự quán Trung Quốc ở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh để thể hiện tinh thần yêu nước, ý thức bảo vệ chủ quyền lãnh thổ của Tổ quốc, bày tỏ thái độ phản đối việc các tàu hải giám của Trung Quốc cản trở hoạt động, cắt cáp thăm dò của tàu Bình Minh 02 khi tàu này đang hoạt động trong vùng đặc quyền kinh tế và thềm lục địa của Việt Nam.

Những người này cho rằng, hành động của các tàu hải giám Trung Quốc đã vi phạm nghiêm trọng quyền chủ quyền và quyền tài phán của Việt Nam đối với vùng đặc quyền kinh tế và thềm lục địa của Việt Nam, vi phạm Công ước Luật biển năm 1982 của Liên hợp quốc, vi phạm Tuyên bố về cách ứng xử của các bên ở Biển Đông (DOC) ký giữa Trung Quốc và các nước ASEAN.

Những người này tụ tập một cách trật tự, bày tỏ thái độ một cách ôn hòa, và sau khi được các đoàn thể, các cơ quan chức năng của Việt Nam giải thích, họ đã tự giải tán, ra về./.

Bên cạnh vụ việc tại Nội Mông, Trung Quốc cũng đang phải đối mặt với các cuộc đình công của giới xe tải tại Thượng Hải vào cuối tháng 4/2010

2011-06-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Xung quanh sự kiện này, giới phân tích và dư luận quốc tế cho rằng, động thái này của Trung Quốc xuất phát từ tình hình trong nội bộ Trung Quốc có bất ổn, thời gian gần đây khu vực Nội Mông của Trung Quốc có thể trở thành điểm nóng, nên Trung Quốc đã gây ra vụ việc ngày 26/5 để hướng dư luận ra bên ngoài.

Bên cạnh vụ việc tại Nội Mông, Trung Quốc cũng đang phải đối mặt với các cuộc đình công của giới xe tải tại Thượng Hải vào cuối tháng 4/2010 và các cuộc đánh bom tại Giang Tây. Ngoài ra có thể coi vụ cắt cáp tàu Bình Minh 2 ngày 26/5, là một mũi tên nhắm tới nhiều đích khác như thăm dò phản ứng của ASEAN, của Mỹ và là một kiểu chiến tranh cân não.

Giới phân tích còn cho rằng, Trung Quốc đang có ý đồ về dầu mỏ, bởi 3 ngày trước đó, một giàn khoan dầu khổng lồ hoạt động thăm dò và khai thác dầu khí ở vùng nước sâu 3.000m đã được một xưởng đóng tàu ở Thượng Hải bàn giao cho tập đoàn Dầu khí ngoài khơi quốc gia Trung Quốc (CNOOC).

Trước đây, CNOOC chỉ khai thác ở vùng biển có độ sâu từ 300m trở lại. Với giàn khoan mới vừa hạ thủy, Trung Quốc tiến từ thềm lục địa ra biển sâu, giành quyền chủ động trong khai thác dầu khí ở biển xa, góp phần giải quyết cơn khát năng lượng của Trung Quốc, theo phương châm là, “ai đến trước thì được trước”.

Với việc ráo riết gây sức ép với Việt Nam và Philippines, Trung Quốc bắt đầu triển khai giai đoạn mới cụ thể hóa việc đòi chủ quyền theo “đường lưỡi bò”, chiếm 80% Biển Đông.

Kế hoạch này kết hợp với ngoại giao quân sự và ngoại giao tiền bạc diễn ra suốt từ cuối năm ngoái đến nay để tập hợp lực lượng tại Đông Nam Á, nhằm gây trở ngại cho ASEAN đưa ra lập trường chung tại các cơ chế ASEAN-2011. Vụ 26.5 là một động thái thăm dò mức độ phản ứng của ASEAN về vấn đề Biển Đông.

Ngoài ra, nhân hành động này Trung Quốc muốn thử thái độ và thăm phản ứng của Mỹ sau các cuộc tiếp xúc ngoại giao và quân sự dồn dập vừa qua tại Washington. Nhưng người phát ngôn bộ Ngoại giao Mỹ ngày 31/5, khẳng định Mỹ phản đối việc sử dụng vũ lực và đe dọa sử dụng vũ lực của bất kỳ bên nào ở Biển Đông và ủng hộ tuyên bố của ASEAN và Trung Quốc về cách ứng xử của các bên ở Biển Đông.

Ngày 31/5, tư lệnh Bộ Tư lệnh Thái Bình Dương của Mỹ, Đô đốc Robert F. Willard, nói với Bộ trưởng Quốc phòng Malaysia, cho biết người Mỹ muốn tham gia đối thoại phi chính thức với các bên đòi chủ quyền trên Biển Đông để giải thích lý do quân Mỹ có mặt tại vùng biển này.

Đài Tiếng nói nước Nga bình luận rằng, bằng hành động cứng rắn ngang nhiên của mình, Trung Quốc thực sự đang buộc các nước láng giềng phải tìm kiếm một đối trọng để cân bằng với thế lực ngày càng tăng của Bắc Kinh trong khu vực.

Với ĐT Anh, loạt trận vòng loại EURO 2012 đêm nay giống như một con đường có hai lối đi.

2011-06-03T17:53:00.002-07:00

Với ĐT Anh, loạt trận vòng loại EURO 2012 đêm nay giống như một con đường có hai lối đi. Nếu thắng, họ tạo ra bước ngoặt lớn trong cuộc đua ở bảng G. Còn ngược lại, Tam Sư có thể lạc vào một ngã rẽ chông gai…

Ở loạt trận thứ 5 của bảng G tối nay, trên sân nhà Wembley, ĐT Anh tiếp Thụy Sĩ với nhiệm vụ giành trọn 3 điểm để bảo vệ ngôi đầu bảng, cũng như nuôi hy vọng tạo ra khoảng cách điểm số với đội xếp liền sau là Montenegro (sẽ gặp Bulgaria vào rạng sáng mai). Hiện giờ, cả hai đội bóng này đều có 10 điểm nhưng Tam Sư hơn Montenegro ở hiệu số bàn thắng bại (+8 bàn so với + 3).
Trên thực tế, dù có lợi thế sân nhà nhưng ĐT Anh vẫn còn rất nhiều việc phải làm cho mục tiêu đánh bại người Thụy Sĩ. Bài toán lớn nhất của Tam Sư lúc này, chính là sự thiếu hụt lực lượng khi họ vắng Rooney, Defoe, Carrick và Gerrard vì chấn thương và thẻ phạt. Mất 4 trụ cột ở hàng tấn công, HLV Capello sẽ phải bố trí đội hình ra sao để đảm bảo hỏa lực công phá hàng thủ đội khách? Hiện tại, người ta mới chỉ có thể xác định vị trí trung phong mà Rooney bỏ lại sẽ được Don Fabio giao cho Darren Bent. Tiền đạo của Aston Villa này đang có phong độ khá cao khi ghi 7 bàn trong 10 trận gần nhất tại CLB. Nhưng ở ĐTQG, Bent chưa tạo được niềm tin. Vậy nên, nhiều khả năng HLV Capello sẽ chỉ đạo tuyến tiền vệ dâng cao hơn, tạo ra những cú đấm từ phía sau. Nhưng vấn đề là ông vẫn đang phân vân giữa việc chọn ai trong số Walcott, Johnson, Young, Downing và Milner cho hai vị trí tiền vệ cánh. Báo chí Anh cho rằng Walcott và Downing sẽ được chọn.

Dù vậy, với việc HLV Capello đã đả thông tư tưởng của trung vệ Rio Ferdinand (người bị đòi lại băng thủ quân để trao trả cho Jonh Terry), cũng như việc thủ môn số một Joe Hart đang có phong độ tốt, Tam Sư có thể yên tâm về hàng phòng ngự. Trên nền tảng là sự vững chắc nơi hậu cứ, ĐT Anh vẫn có quyền tự tin hướng đến một chiến thắng.

Trong cả 3 lần gần nhất gặp Thụy Sĩ, người Anh đều ca khúc khải hoàn nhờ chiêu “tiên hạ thủ vi cường”, không để đối thủ có cơ hội vươn lên dẫn trước. Và lần này, ở “thánh địa” Wembley, hẳn thầy trò Capello cũng biết phải làm gì để lặp lại thành tích ấy trước các vị khách đến từ xứ sở nhà băng.

Sony đã làm một cuộc gặp mặt nho nhỏ giữa các nhà báo, các nhà phát triển trò chơi tại Sony Pictures Soundstage (Los Angeles).

2011-06-03T17:53:00.001-07:00

Nhằm chuẩn bị cho triển lãm E3 sẽ diễn ra trong tuần sau, vừa qua Sony đã làm một cuộc gặp mặt nho nhỏ giữa các nhà báo, các nhà phát triển trò chơi tại Sony Pictures Soundstage (Los Angeles). Mục đích chính của buổi họp mặt này là nói về PSP2 (mã NGP), chiếc máy chơi game cầm tay thế hệ mới nhất cuả hãng. "Cho đến gần đây, chỉ một số ít người ngoài team PlayStation đã có dịp thử nghiệm NGP. Mọi người thường hỏi tôi NGP như thế nào? Tuy nhiên tôi cũng chỉ có thể nói rằng: Nó trông rất tốt.", Jeff Rubenstein phát biểu, "Chính vì lí do đó mà hôm nay chúng tôi đã mời mọi người tới đây để cùng trải nghiệm."

Những game được giới thiệu và trải nghiệm ngày hôm nay gồm có Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Hustle Kings, Sound Shapes, Super Stardust Delta và Wipeout. Bạn có thể theo dõi 3 video dưới đây để có cái nhìn tốt hơn về chiếc máy chơi game này. NGP có cấu hình khá cao, Sony cho biết sức mạnh của nó tương đương với PlayStation 3, chính vì thế mà không có gì ngạc nhiên khi chất lượng game của NGP rất tốt.

Sony cũng xác nhận việc NGP sẽ tương thích ngược với những game đã được phát triển từ trước đây cho PSP. Sự khác biệt về phần cứng cũng sẽ ảnh hưởng một phần nào đó, và một số game sẽ phải tùy chỉnh lại để tương thích tốt hơn. NGP cũng được tích hợp sẵn một phần mềm có khả năng upscaling và làm mịn các game này để chúng có thể chạy tốt trên màn hình có độ phân giải cao của NGP. Bạn cũng có thể lựa chọn hiển thị nguyên bản gốc nếu muốn.

Một thông tin khác liên quan đến NGP mà có lẽ sẽ làm bạn quan tâm, đó là việc chiếc PSP thế hệ 2 này sẽ có khả năng chơi các game của Android. Tất nhiên đây là khả năng hạn chế và chỉ có game được hỗ trợ, còn phần mềm Android thì không. Những game Android muốn chơi được trên NGP thì trước đó phải được thông qua và phát hành trên PlayStation Suite. Trước đây PlayStation Suite cũng đã được phát hành và chạy riêng trên các điện thoại Android Tegra 2.

tất cả các bộ, ngành, địa phương và các tập đoàn kinh tế, tổng công ty nhà nước đã cắt giảm chi thường xuyên hơn 3.800 tỷ đồng.

2011-06-03T17:52:00.001-07:00

Thực hiện Nghị quyết 11 về kiềm chế lạm phát và ổn định kinh tế vĩ mô, tất cả các bộ, ngành, địa phương và các tập đoàn kinh tế, tổng công ty nhà nước đã cắt giảm chi thường xuyên hơn 3.800 tỷ đồng.

Tại cuộc họp báo chiều 3/6 thông báo kết quả phiên họp Chính phủ thường kỳ tháng 5/2011, ông Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Ủy viên Bộ Chính trị, Bộ trưởng Chủ nhiệm Văn phòng Chính phủ đã cho biết.

Các Bộ, ngành cũng đã thực hiện đồng bộ nhiều giải pháp nhằm bình ổn giá cả, nhờ đó tốc độ tăng giá đã có xu hướng giảm. Tuy nhiên, Chính phủ nhận định, lạm phát đã được kiểm soát nhưng vẫn còn rất cao, tình trạng nhập siêu còn lớn (khoảng 15%) nên Thủ tướng chỉ đạo, mục tiêu kiềm chế lạm phát vẫn là mục tiêu quan trọng nhất trong suốt năm nay.

Trả lời câu hỏi của báo giới, Thống đốc Ngân hàng Nhà nước Nguyễn Văn Giàu cho hay: Chính phủ đã có chỉ đạo giảm tốc độ tăng trưởng tín dụng, ưu tiên cho sản xuất kinh doanh và sẽ tiến hành hạ lãi suất ngân hàng để tạo điều kiện cho doanh nghiệp phát triển.

Tại buổi họp báo, Bộ trưởng Bộ Nông nghiệp và Phát triển Nông thôn Cao Đức Phát cho biết, Thủ tướng Chính phủ về cơ bản đã đồng ý với đề xuất của Bộ về việc thành lập lực lượng kiểm ngư. Hiện Bộ đang phối hợp với các địa phương hỗ trợ cho bà con ngư dân tại chỗ như khai thác ở Trường Sa được hỗ trợ về y tế, xăng dầu, nước ngọt, y tế…, tiến tới có thể thu mua luôn hải sản trên biển để giảm chi phí đầu vào trong lúc giá xăng dầu đang cao, giúp ngư dân yên tâm bám biển dài ngày.

Trong khi đó, Roger Federer thi đấu hoàn toàn thoải mái và chính anh đã khẳng định mình không có gì để mất trước khi bước vào trận bán kết.

2011-06-03T17:51:00.001-07:00

Áp lực phải vào trận cùng những mục tiêu lớn lao như san bằng kỉ lục 42 trận bất bại của huyền thoại như John McEnroe bên cạnh việc buộc phải thắng để vươn lên ngôi vị số một thế giới đã khiến Novak Djokovic phải chịu áp lực vô cùng lớn. Trong khi đó, Roger Federer thi đấu hoàn toàn thoải mái và chính anh đã khẳng định mình không có gì để mất trước khi bước vào trận bán kết.

Ngay từ những game đấu đầu tiên, hai tay vợt đã cho thấy đây chắc chắn sẽ là một trận đấu hấp dẫn khi giành break của nhau liên tiếp. Hai tay vợt tiếp tục giữ sự cân bằng cho đến tận những game đấu quyết định khi mỗi người có thêm một brerak và buộc phải bước vào loạt tie-break để phân định thắng thua.

Federer từ vị thế dẫn trước khá sớm đã để Djokovic san hòa thành công và thậm chí còn vượt lên dẫn trước 5-4 nhưng sau đó, anh đã ghi 3 điểm liên tiếp để giành chiến thắng 7-5 đầy ngoạn mục. Tiếp tục thăng hoa trong séc đấu thứ hai, Federer giành được break sau hàng loạt cơ hội và tiếp tục có được chiến thắng 6-3 để nâng tỉ số lên thành 2-0.

Nhưng Novak Djokovic cũng chứng tỏ anh không phải tay vừa khi đã sử dụng chiến thuật ép trái hiệu quả trong séc thi đấu thứ ba để có thể chiếm được ưu thế trước Roger Federer. Thể lực có phần giảm sút của ngôi sao người Thụy Sĩ đã khiến anh không thể cứu thành công break point và đành chấp nhận thúc thủ 3-6 trước Djokovic trong séc đấu này.

Hai tay vợt thi thi đấu thận trọng hơn khi trận đấu bước vào séc thứ tư. Trong những game đầu tiên, Federer cũng như Djokovic đều dễ dàng áp đảo trong những lượt cầm giao bóng và giành chiến thắng. Tuy nhiên khi bước vào game thứ 9, một cú bỏ nhỏ lỗi đã khiến Federer mất break quan trọng vào tay đối thủ. Djokovic cầm giao bóng trong game đấu tiếp theo với mục tiêu giành chiến thắng để có thể san hòa tỉ số sau bốn séc.

Nhưng đẳng cấp của tay vợt thành công nhất lịch sử đã giúp Federer trụ vững, cú đánh trái một tay đã trở thành thương hiệu của anh đã được thể hiện vào đúng thời điểm cần thiết nhất để đòi lại break từ tay vợt người Serbia và thiết lập lại thế quân bình cho séc đấu. Trong hai game cầm giao bóng sau đó, hai tay vợt đều có được chiến thắng và loạt tie-break lại được sử dụng để phân định thắng thua.

Ở những điểm số đầu tiên, Federer xuất sắc vượt lên dẫn trước Djokovic 2-1. Sau đó, anh tiếp tục thi đấu ấn tượng trong khi djokovic đánh rúc lưới hai lần liên tiếp và nâng tỉ số lên thành 6-3. Tay vợt số hai thế giới cứu thành công 2 match point nhưng ở match point tiếp theo của Federer, Novak Djokovic bất lực với cú ace chính xác tuyệt đối từ phía đối thủ và cay đẳng chấp nhận thất bại.

Công bằng mà nói, Novak Djokovic đã thi đấu rất hay khi vẫn thể hiện được những quả trái tay ổn định đáng kinh ngạc hay những cú thuận tay ăn ra mang hiểm hóc. Nhưng trong một ngày mà Federer thi đấu quá tuyệt vời với những quả trái tay như thời đỉnh cao hay sức mạnh từ những cú thuận tay ăn điểm tuyệt đối, Djokovic không thể có cơ hội. Để thua trước Federer, Djokovic đành ngậm ngùi chia tay với giấc mô số một thế giới và buộc phải chờ một thời điểm thích hợp hơn để có thể bước lên ngôi vị này.

Chiến thắng của Roger Federer giúp anh vượt qua mọi lời chỉ trích và tiếp tục chứng tỏ Grand Slam vẫn là cuộc chơi giành cho những tay vợt lớn, những người có bản lãnh thực sự. Federer sẽ gặp đối thủ quen thuộc của anh là Rafael Nadal trong trận chung kết sẽ được diễn ra vào tối Chủ Nhật này.

Không có bất kì vấn đề gì xảy ra giữa chúng tôi hết. Mục tiêu của các cầu thủ là cống hiến hết khả năng vì màu cờ sắc áo dân tộc.

2011-06-03T17:50:00.003-07:00

Chuỗi siêu kinh điển trong thời gian qua, đặc biệt là trận bán kết lượt đi Champions League tại Bernabeu, đã khắc sâu thêm mối quan hệ vốn dĩ chẳng mấy tốt đẹp giữa Gã khổng lồ xứ Catalan và đội bóng Hoàng gia Tây Ban Nha.

Điều này đã dấy lên luồng ý kiến ái ngại cho các cầu thủ của hai CLB khi họ tập truyên lên tuyển Quốc gia Tây Ban Nha. Bản thân Xabi Alonso, trong cuộc trả lời phỏng vấn sau trận El Clasico tập 3, đã bày tỏ bức xúc với một số cầu thủ Barca, đồng thời thừa nhận anh sẽ phải xem xét lại mối quan hệ với những người này khi trở lại thi đấu cho La Roja.

Tuy nhiên, tiền vệ Iniesta mới đây đã đăng đàn đập tan lời đồn thổi về một cuộc chiến tranh lạnh ngấm ngầm giữa các cầu thủ Barca và Real cùng thuộc biên chế ĐT Tây Ban Nha.

“Không có bất kì vấn đề gì xảy ra giữa chúng tôi hết. Mục tiêu của các cầu thủ là cống hiến hết khả năng vì màu cờ sắc áo dân tộc. Có thể trong quá khứ, một vài điều mâu thuẫn nho nhỏ đã xảy ra, nhưng chuyện đó sẽ không gây ảnh hưởng lên mục tiêu chung của cả đội bóng. Chúng tôi là những cầu thủ chuyên nghiệp và biết minh cần phải hành xử như thế nào”.

Sắp tới, Iniesta và các đồng đội sẽ có trận đá giao hữu với ĐT Mỹ vào ngày Chủ nhật (5/3) trước khi gặp Venezuela sau đó 3 ngày (8/6).

, tiền đạo người Hà Lan còn lớn tiếng chỉ trích cả đội tuyển Tây Ban Nha, đội bóng vốn được cho là nòng cốt dựa trên Gã khổng lồ xứ Catalan.

2011-06-03T17:50:00.001-07:00

Trong quá khứ, Van Persie đã nhiều lần lên tiếng chỉ trích Barcelona khi cho rằng đội bóng này thường xuyên có những cử chỉ và lời nói tác động tới trọng tài. Giờ đây, không chỉ dừng lại ở cấp CLB, tiền đạo người Hà Lan còn lớn tiếng chỉ trích cả đội tuyển Tây Ban Nha, đội bóng vốn được cho là nòng cốt dựa trên Gã khổng lồ xứ Catalan.

“Họ (Tây Ban Nha) luôn đi đến bên trọng tài với nỗ lực khiến đối thủ bị đuổi. Họ đang cố gắng chơi khăm đồng nghiệp của mình. Những hành vi như vậy thực sự khiến tôi khó chịu”, Persie lớn tiếng chỉ trích trên Sport 1.

Van Persie trải qua một mùa giải nhiều ấm ức với trọng tài

“Những người xem truyền hình và các CĐV thực sự không muốn thấy những hành vi như vậy. Nếu bạn muốn xem những lời phàn nàn, bạn nên tới các cửa hàng bánh hay điều gì đó tương tự, nơi có rất nhiều người lên tiếng ca thán”.

Hết chỉ trích Barcelona và Tây Ban Nha, tiền đạo này còn quay sang “chửi bới” cả kình địch Chelsea tại Premier League. Thậm chí, Van Persie còn gọi The Blues là “kẻ xảo quyệt” với cách mà đội bóng này tác động tới trọng tài.

“Các cầu thủ Chelsea luôn là những kẻ xảo quyệt chống lại trọng tài. Tôi thực sự không thể hiểu được điều đó. Hãy im miệng đi và tập trung vào chơi bóng”.

Van Persie đã có một mùa giải thực sự đáng thất vọng năm vừa rồi. Hà Lan bị Tây Ban Nha đánh bại tại Chung kết WC 2010. Tiếp theo đó, Arsenal, CLB tiền đạo này đang đầu quân bị Barcelona loại khỏi Champions League (trận lượt về trên sân Nou Camp tiền đạo người Hà Lan còn bị đuổi trong một tình huống gây tranh cãi).

Không những thế, CLB thành London còn kết thúc PL với vị trí thứ 4 trên BXH, sau khi bị Chelsea và Man City lần lượt vượt qua trong những tuần quyết định của mùa giải.

ban lãnh đạo Man United đã quyết định sớm gia hạn hợp đồng với cầu thủ người Ecuador để tránh sự chèo kéo từ những CLB khác.

2011-06-03T17:49:00.003-07:00

Hồi năm 2009, M.U đã chiêu mộ Valencia từ Wigan với một bản hợp đồng trị giá 16 triệu bảng với thời hạn 4 năm. Dù bản hợp đồng cũ còn tới 2 năm nữa mới hết hạn song sau 2 mùa giải chứng kiến sự tiến bộ vượt bậc của Valencia, ban lãnh đạo Man United đã quyết định sớm gia hạn hợp đồng với cầu thủ người Ecuador để tránh sự chèo kéo từ những CLB khác.

Valencia sẽ được tăng lương - Ảnh Getty

Được biết, phía Man United dự định sẽ tăng lương của Valencia lên mức 50.000 bảng/tuần. Đây là một động thái cho thấy BLĐ đội chủ sân Old Trafford đánh giá cao khả năng của Valencia. Tuy nhiên, kế hoạch đàm phán lại đang gặp một trục trặc lớn khi người đại diện của Valencia lại cho rằng thân chủ của ông phải nhận được bản quyền hình ảnh trong bản hợp đồng mới.

Những đòi hỏi này đã không được phía Man United chấp nhận. Theo Giám đốc điều hành David Gill, chuyện một cầu thủ đòi tiền bản quyền hình ảnh đi kèm trong hợp đồng với đội bóng là điều không thể. Hiện nay, lĩnh vực bản quyền hình ảnh đang khá nhạy cảm khi Cục thuế và Hải quan của Anh đang tiến hành điều tra thu nhập của các cầu thủ ở lĩnh vực này.

Dù kế hoạch gia hạn hợp đồng đang gặp những trục trặc nhất định nhưng phía M.U vẫn tự tin họ sẽ thuyết phục được Valencia đặt bút kí vào bản hợp đồng mới. Thực ra, tiền bản quyền hình ảnh chỉ là một khoản nhỏ nhưng phía M.U không muốn tạo ra những tiền lệ xấu với những cầu thủ khác nên việc họ không chấp nhận với những đòi hỏi từ phía người đại diện của Valencia là điều tất yếu.

Mùa giải vừa qua, Valencia đã phải nghỉ thi đấu suốt từ tháng 9/2010 sau khi bị gãy xương bàn chân trong trận đấu với Rangers ở Champions League. Chỉ trở lại từ hồi giữa tháng 3 nhưng Valencia đã có những đóng góp không nhỏ khi giúp M.U giành chức vô địch Premier League thứ 19 trong lịch sử và ngôi Á quân ở đấu trường Champions League.

Chủ tịch Newcastle, ông Derek Llambias mới đây đã tỏ ra rất giận dữ với Owen và buông lời chỉ trích tiền đạo này trên Daily Express.

2011-06-03T17:49:00.001-07:00

Chủ tịch Newcastle, ông Derek Llambias mới đây đã tỏ ra rất giận dữ với Owen và buông lời chỉ trích tiền đạo này trên Daily Express.

“Michael là bản hợp đồng đắt nhất mà Newcastle từng thực hiện nhưng tôi thất vọng với những gì anh ấy nói”.

Hóa ra, nguyên nhân khiến ngài chủ tịch của Chích chòe bực tức với Owen là do tiền đạo này đã đăng những lời nói có phần “khó nghe” trên Twitter của anh, ngay sau khi có bản HĐ mới cùng MU.

Owen không hài lòng với khoảng thời gian ở Newcastle nhưng Chích chòe

cũng có lý do để không hài lòng với Owen

“(Tôi) thích chơi ở những đội bóng lớn hơn là các CLB nghèo khó. Ở đó chẳng tận hưởng được điều gì”, Owen viết trên Twitter của mình.

Cựu thần đồng bóng đá Anh khởi nghiệp và gây dựng tên tuổi với CLB Liverpool. Sau đó anh chuyển sang chơi cho Real Madrid nhưng sự nghiệp của Owen cũng theo đó bắt đầu lụi tàn. Ngày 24 tháng Tám năm 2005, Newcastle United tuyên bố có được Owen bằng bản HĐ chuyển nhượng trị giá tới 16 triệu bảng.

“Dưới thời HLV Kevin Keegan, anh ta (Owen) được đề nghị gia hạn HĐ thêm một năm với mức lương 140 nghìn bảng/tuần nhưng đã không đồng ý. Lương anh ta lúc đó đã là 133 nghìn bảng 1 tuần”, chủ tịch Derek Llambias tiếp.

“Một cách hoàn toàn thẳng thắn, chúng tôi nhận được gì từ điều đó? Thời gian anh ta ở đây có giá lên tới 40 triệu bảng. Gần 1,3 triệu bảng một bàn thắng”.

Bốn năm gắn bó với Newcastle là bốn năm Owen vật lộn cùng chấn thương. Tính riêng tại PL tiền đạo này chỉ ghi được 26 bàn thắng.

“Chúng tôi có thể là một CLB nghèo nhưng chính chúng tôi đã biến anh ta thành một người đàn ông giàu có.

Anh ta chơi ra sao, với mỗi trận khoác áo Newcastle và nhận 500 nghìn bảng? Nghèo? Vâng, anh ta không hề nghèo với điều đó. Thậm chí, anh ta còn có thể bay qua bay lại giữa Cheshire (quê hương của Owen) với Tyneside (nơi Newcastle đóng quân) trong chiếc trực thăng trị giá 3.5 triệu bảng của mình”, Chủ tịch của Chích chòe không thể thôi bực tức với Owen.

Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Inter Milan và Manchester United là những CLB hiện đang liên hệ với Chivas để tìm hiểu thông tin về Torres.

2011-06-03T17:48:00.000-07:00

Cái tên mà Man Utd đang nhắm tới chính là cầu thủ trẻ 18 tuổi Erick Torres của CLB Chivas. Hiện cầu thủ này đang được coi như là một Chicharito mới và nhận được rất nhiều sự quan tâm từ các CLB tên tuổi ở trời Âu.

Tài năng đang được Man Utd săn đuổi

Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Inter Milan và Manchester United là những CLB hiện đang liên hệ với Chivas để tìm hiểu thông tin về Torres. Tuy nhiên, trong số nhưng CLB trên Man Utd có vẻ nắm lợi thế hơn cả. Nên nhớ, trước đó Quỷ đỏ đã làm quen với cách làm việc của Chivas thông qua thương vụ Javier Hernandez. Thêm nữa, mạng lưới trinh sát tài năng trẻ của Man Utd luôn được đánh giá là hoạt động rất tốt, đặc biệt ở khu vực Châu Mỹ.

Man Utd những năm gần đây luôn kết hợp rất tốt giữa những cầu thủ trẻ, đang đỉnh cao phong độ và những cầu thủ sắp về hưu. Dù là một CLB thuộc dạng lớn nhất thế giới, nhưng Nhà hát của những giấc mơ cũng rất nổi tiếng trong việc ươm mầm tài năng, chứ không chỉ đơn thuần là mua về những bản HĐ tên tuổi để sử dụng.

Từ Cris Ronaldo tới Chicharito, những bản HĐ tý hon vươn lên nổi tiếng khắp thế giới, Man Utd khiến NHM có quyền tin vào việc sẽ lại được chứng kiến những cái tên mới, sẽ nổi lên tại Nhà hát của những giấc mơ trong mùa giải sắp tới. Và Torres có thể là một cái tên như thế.

Messi rời nhà hàng sau khi bị tấn công - Ảnh Reuters

2011-06-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

Messi rời nhà hàng sau khi bị tấn công - Ảnh Reuters

Theo tờ Telam, khi người hùng của trận chung kết Champions League đang ăn trưa với hai người bạn ở nhà hàng Club de la Milanesa, Rosario thì xuất hiện một nhóm học sinh tụ tập bên ngoài và yêu cầu chụp chung một tấm ảnh với thần thượng của họ. Ngay lập tức, tiền đạo của Barca ra khỏi nhà hàng và đứng chụp ảnh cùng các fan nhí.

Nhưng đúng vào thời điểm này, một người không rõ danh tính đã hét lên “Tao là CĐV của Central, còn mày đến từ Newell's” và đấm thắng vào mặt của Messi trước khi tách ra khỏi đám đông. Trong lúc đó, Messi không hề có phản ứng dù bị tấn công và im lặng rút khỏi hiện trường mà không đưa ra bất cứ lời bình luận nào. Tiền đạo người Argentina đã đi tới nhà hàng mà không có vệ sỹ riêng và chỉ được tháp tùng bởi hai người bạn.

Messi được biết đến là một CĐV trung thành của Newell's Old Boys và đã khởi nghiệp ở CLB này trước khi gia nhập lò La Masia của Barca. Newell's Old Boys vốn là đối thủ “không đội trời chung” với đội bóng cùng thành phố Rosario Central và đây có thể là nguyên nhân khiến Messi, một fan của Newell's, bị tấn công.

Sự việc đáng tiếc này là lần thứ hai chỉ trong vòng 1 tuần, Messi bị các CĐV tiếp cận. Trong trận chung kết Champions League hôm thứ Bảy tuần trước trên sân Wembley với M.U, tiền đạo người Argentina cũng bị một fan hâm mộ quá khích đến gần khi người này chạy vào sân để quàng khăn lên người Messi. Ngay lập tức, CĐV quá khích này đã bị lực lượng an ninh tống cổ khỏi sân.

Messi hiện đang tập trung cùng ĐT Argentina để chuẩn bị cho Copa America 2011, giải đấu được tổ chức tại Argentina từ 1 đến 24/7.

Love It or Leave It: Extremist Views on iPad Obscure the Important Points

2010-02-10T05:23:00.002-08:00

There seem to be two distinct camps digging in for a fight over the subject of Apple’s newly announced and forthcoming iPad. On the one hand are the “fanboys” -- those mindless, zombie-like lemmings, hypnotized into submission by Steve Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field, ready to take the food out of their babies’ mouths in order to be first on line to pay way too much for whatever shiny bauble the Mothership tells the faithful it suddenly must have.

On the other hand are the “haters” -- rabid, anti-Apple zealots who wouldn’t say a kind word about anything that comes out of Cupertino, even if it was accompanied by a coupon good for a free unicorn that poops 18-karat gold nuggets and could cure acne with a lick of its strawberry-flavored tongue. They relish in poring over every rumor that had been circulated, pointing to each that remained unfulfilled as proof the device was a sham, an also-ran -- a disappointment destined for failure and leading to the ultimate collapse of Apple itself.

There are, of course, other camps, although they get far less of the media spotlight. They tend to include those of us who would like to actually see a shipping device before weighing in on whether the iPad will be our entrée to a magical utopian future or doom Apple to oblivion. But not being from either the fanboy or the haters camp, we are seen by each as belonging to the other and therefore eyed with suspicion and derision.

Mere hours after Apple introduced the iPad, I was interviewed by Chuck Joiner on his excellent MacVoices podcast. I was traveling on business that day, so I had not seen the event itself, nor even read the liveblogs of the announcement. As I boarded my plane that morning, I left a world in which the iPad did not yet exist -- at least not publicly. I touched down later that afternoon, stepping out into a brave new world that was forever changed by a device I had only guessed at.

Whether it was the fact that I flew above the reach of Mr. Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field or that my earlier speculation about the device had been pretty much on the mark, the reports on the iPad I read as I prepared for my podcast didn’t fill me with the techno-lust I was seeing around some of my usual neighborhoods on the web. As I Tweeted the day before the announcement, I was not feeling a gap in my technology needs. After reading about the iPad’s features and capabilities, I was still feeling, well -- gapless.

I -- along with many others -- had pretty much correctly predicted the iPad’s form factor, user interface, compatibility with existing iPhone apps, WiFi and 3G networking, etc. I had also predicted the iPad-versions of productivity applications, like Pages, Keynote and Numbers. Even its price was in line with what I expected -- around $800 for the storage capacity and networking capabilities I predicted. What I missed was the idea of paring down features to reach a $500 entry point -- a risky move, I think, for the lower-end customers who may not realize what they are giving up.

There were two predictions I made that didn’t materialize, though. The first was a front-facing camera. I was hoping Apple believes it’s time for mobile version of video iChat. But even more than that, I’ve come to rely on the camera in my iPhone for a host of utilities not having anything to do with taking photographs or video. No, the real power in the iPhone’s camera comes from things like “augmented reality” apps; apps like Red Laser that scan products and search the Internet for information and prices; apps that let you add a bottle of wine to a database -- even apps that act as document scanners.

The second unrealized prediction was something much less tangible, but much more important. I said that the real key feature for Apple to include was something no one had figured out -- something that we never knew we wanted, but -- once Apple showed it -- none of us would want to live without. Admittedly, that’s easy to say. It’s like the old joke about teaching someone how to become a millionaire: Step One -- get a million dollars. But for me, it was crucial in order for Apple to make the iPad a truly compelling device. I was looking for something the iPad could do that I couldn’t do with either my iPhone or my MacBook Pro. Something that would make me forego the convenience of having a device that fits in my pocket; something that would sway me from just taking my laptop as long as I was going to have to carry something anyway. Without that, the iPad risks remaining a novelty -- a very cool one, no doubt -- but a novelty nonetheless, attractive to a niche market.

Please don’t be mistaken -- I am not predicting the iPad will be a failure. I believe that it is indeed a different class of device and that as it matures, it may well become the transcendent supplement to iPhone and laptop I am hoping for. I think it will probably sell just fine, even in its first incarnation. Between now and the time it’s released, Apple may well add that certain something that makes me have to have it. It may not happen until iPad 2.0.

For now, then, the iPad is still an open question to me. It’s a device that utterly emanates potential, to be sure. Potential that could well change the face, not only of computing, but of consumer electronics. But potential that -- for now, at least -- remains unrealized.

Facebook, AOL link instant messaging

2010-02-10T05:23:00.001-08:00

"AIM has teamed up with Facebook, and now you can chat with your Facebook friends--right from AIM!" gushes the AIM beta download site. "After you sign into AIM, click the 'Facebook Connect' button at the top of your buddy list to set up Facebook chat. When you are done your Facebook friends will be added to your buddy list. You can now chat with your friends who are using the Facebook site!"

Maybe I should be happier about this than I am. I can't begrudge Facebook's effort to enrich its members communications' options through its 2008 launch of instant messaging, but I also can't help feeling this is a case of a new-era Internet company making the same missteps as its dot-com 1.0 predecessors.

AOL Instant Messenger and Facebook Chat now can connect.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Specifically, I hate how, unlike e-mail, instant messaging consists of separate islands of non-interoperable services. The fact that Facebook and AOL had to hammer out a partnership and that AIM had to release new software to take advantage of it reveals just how unpleasant the prevailing system is for users.

I use two primary instant messaging services today: Yahoo Messenger and AIM, both accessed through the multiprotocol Pidgin software rather than the two separate chat applications. I also use Twitter's direct-messaging ability through TweetDeck. On occasion, I also use Google's Gmail Chat, Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger, and Facebook Chat.

There are some partnerships already that tie these services together. If I run Yahoo Messenger, I can chat with Windows Live Messenger contacts. If I run Gmail Chat, I can chat with AIM contacts. And now if I run the new AIM beta, I'll get to chat with Facebook contacts. There was going to be a messaging partnership between Yahoo and Google, too, but apparently that fell apart along with the search-ad deal it accompanied.

So please forgive me if the AIM-Facebook deal reminds me of how unpleasant and complicated this all is rather than filling me with excitement that a barrier has been lowered.

Every service on the Net that's assembled a collection of users and got them to build links to their contacts wants to keep that precious social graph intact. I understand that--no company wants a corporate ally to suck the value out of that network.

But the more fragmented instant messaging remains, the more likely I am to stick with e-mail--the most reliable inbox of the dozen or so I have to grapple with today. That's because e-mail uses a single, neutral standard, not a hodgepodge of company-specific, proprietary technologies.

Google Buzz has some potential interest here--my Gmail address book has my social graph already built in, after all, and Google Buzz can draw in some information from other services. Until it can seamlessly connect both ways to my existing array of instant-messaging and social-networking contacts, though, Google Buzz will be yet another island of non-interoperability.

Efforts such as Mozilla Raindrop have some potential to put control back in the user's domain, but it will only succeed to the extent that all the communication conduits are open.

"In today's online environment, you can't be competitive without being open and allowing partners, developers, and consumers to leverage your technology," Ethan Beard, Facebook's director of platform marketing, told the San Jose Mercury News. Facebook's approach, though, apparently consists more of one-off deals with AOL than something more universally open such as the application programming interface Twitter offers.

The way I see Net communications right now, the industry remains as closed as it is open.

NASA to launch solar observatory to unravel secrets of the Sun

2010-02-10T05:21:00.002-08:00

New York, February 10 -- NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is expected to unravel secrets of the Sun, is to launch today.

Designed to provide scientists with a torrent

of data regarding the sun, the observatory will acquire detailed images of the star to try to understand it better.

NASA said that the observatory, termed the satellite for the information age, will return 150 million bits of data per second and help to answer questions about the Sun's magnetic field.

“Understanding solar variability is crucial to our modern way of life, which depends on it,” said Madhulika Guhathakurta, a program scientist for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission.

SDO will launch from Florida
The observatory, known as SDO, is scheduled to launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

“Our big goal is to learn how to predict what the sun is going to do,” said Dean Pesnell, SDO project scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

“And I'm interested, scientifically, in predicting what's going to happen a year or 10 years from now.”

More about the SDO and its components
The SDO will gather data about the activity on the sun. With the help of SDO, scientists will also be warned of imminent danger to the solar system.

SDO carries three scientific instruments, including the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, which is a set of four telescopes that return eight images every 10 seconds. Each image packs more than 4000 pixels.

The second instrument, known as the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, uses spectrographs to break down the sun's extreme UV light.

However, Pesnell is most excited about the third instrument.

“The one I think is the coolest is the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. The instrument monitors magnetic flux and takes helioseismology readings, tracking the propagation of sound waves across the sun's surface.

“It looks amazingly like ocean waves, if you can imagine looking down on an ocean and seeing waves just going in all directions. Well, if you study those waves you can infer what's going on inside the sun,” he said.

The instrument will also be able to measure the magnetic field's vector anywhere on the visible face of the sun. This will allow scientists to gauge electric currents running through the solar corona.

The Buzz Around Gmail Contextual-Targeted Ads

2010-02-10T05:21:00.001-08:00

Contextual advertising through AdWords and AdSense has been a cornerstone of Google's business model. The Mountain View, Calif. company built the tools into Gmail to target people with contextually relevant ads based on keywords that appear in email messages.

Now Google has another tool to contextually target people through Gmail. Buzz -- Google's Gmail add-on that the Mountain View, Calif. company unveiled Tuesday -- not only creates opportunities for ads in PCs, but on mobile phones, too.

Today, ads appear in the Gmail inbox next to emails that contain Buzz posts, similar to the way ordinary email messages do -- but no ads appear in the Buzz tab itself, according to a Google spokesperson. Targeted ads appear in the right rail based on keywords in the Buzz email message. And while Google's spokesperson would not confirm how Google will build AdSense into the Buzz tab, industry analysts and insiders are convinced it will happen.

"Clearly it's an attempt by Google to become part of the content-sharing creation trend, which is happening largely outside of Google on Facebook and Twitter," says Forrester Analyst Augie Ray. "The more that Google can gain a window into the way consumers share, the better ads it can serve up. If consumers begin to adopt this tool, it will benefit Google and contextual advertisers through AdSense."

Buzz allows people to share updates, videos, photos, links, and start conversations with friends about interesting things. It goes beyond status messages and automatically pulls images from links, plays videos, flips through photos to share publicly or privately. Gmail users can turn off the Buzz tool by scrolling to the bottom of the Gmail page and clicking off Buzz.

Trip Chowdhry, managing director at Global Equities Research, believes Buzz will likely move Gmail into behavioral targeting because now Google knows more about the Gmail user and friends. He puts the demographic target at single males, between ages 16 and 23.

It's not a stretch to think Google will use Buzz data to increase the relevance of contextual ads, which theoretically could increase click-through rates and conversions, according to Bryson Meunier, associate director for content solutions at Resolution Media. "I'm skeptical that it actually will make the ads more relevant, in part because of Edelman's recent report on trust in social networks," he says. "That's not to say Google won't use the data if a user makes it public and allows them to use it to improve relevance of ads."

Similar to Twitter, the opportunity for brands becomes using the platform to converse and build customer relationships rather than just targeting ads in the margin through AdSense, adds David Gould, president of Resolution Media.

On the one hand, Google needs to take applications social to maintain its lead in search during the next ten years, according to Kevin Lee, president at Didit. On the other hand, social media networks are extremely difficult to monetize, as social ads ask users to stop, ignore their friends and loved ones for a moment, and pay attention to an ad, he says.

"Social ads also reach out to users at the moment when they're likely not to be thinking of purchasing decisions, and an ad that doesn't capture someone in the midst of a purchase decision is certainly a challenge that Google faces across AdSense," Lee says. "The more you enter the realm of pure social networks, such as competing with Facebook, the more challenging it becomes."

Lee says this presents a bit of a problem for Google because the company needs to make its offerings more social, but the more social they make the offerings, the more monetization challenges surface.

Yahoo's attempt to socialize Yahoo Mail last year led the Sunnyvale, Calif. company to introduce more Facebook-like features, too. But Google's push into social might trigger a few red flags -- especially because of the mounds of consumer data the company collects from search patterns, applications and platforms, says Jeremiah Johnston, chief operating officer at Sedo, a trading platform for online domain names and Web sites.

"I'm sure some people will become skeptical about putting more information into Google Gmail," Johnston says. "If you look at the terms of use for Google products, they certainly retain the rights to pick through your data to find ways to make money."

Social networking services like Meebo, Facebook and Twitter began to tie together services allowing easier connectivity. Building social network capabilities into Gmail allows Google to move beyond search engine competitors and compete with Facebook and Twitter. David Goldman, senior search specialist at MRM Worldwide, says since social networking largely relies on mobile, it allows Google to push deeper into the mobile market, too.

Goldman gets jealous tracking friends in real-time surfing on the beach, but imagines the potential of targeting them with ads. "Get your first drink half off at the Boardwalk Bar and Grill," he says. "With every update from my friend's phone, he can essentially walk into any nearby location, show a coupon and save money. This would also allow local small businesses an opportunity to get noticed and reach the right person easily."

Google has the ability to harvest this type of data and integrate it into the many layers of information already gathered about user behavior, and in turn make it more useful for advertisers. So the desire to share information doesn't stop with the PC. Google moved the platform into mobile by identifying signals to algorithmically determine the relevance of a post. Location-based services that determine latitude and longitude support the technology.

The new version of Google Mobile Maps has a layer that displays Buzz posts tagged to a location. People can see public Buzz content posted from mobile phones around their location. That information might include reviews of local stores or restaurants.

"Mobile is a horizontal application that intersects all media channels, including social and it's about information snacking and accessing relevant information on-the-go," says Amielle Lake, chief executive officer at Tagga Media. "These constructs align well with user characteristics of social media, such as sharing information bits that are typically relevant to location and imply that a consumer is on the go, such as @tagga going to Vegas for I-media. Can't wait!"

Opera Software announces iPhone browser

2010-02-10T05:20:00.001-08:00

OSLO — Opera Software ASA announced Wednesday that it will unveil an iPhone version of its Opera Mini mobile phone browser at an international tech conference next week despite not having approached iPhone maker Apple about the move.

The Norwegian firm has not set a release date for its iPhone browser and has not yet sought approval to distribute the browser from Apple's iPhone applications store, Opera spokeswoman Katrin Jaakson said.

But Jaakson said Opera "does not see any reason why it wouldn't be accepted. We obviously hope that Apple will not deny their users a choice when it comes to what browser they use."

The iPhone's default browser is the Apple-developed Safari.

Following the announcement, Opera shares rose 2.5 percent, to 20.40 kroner ($3.46), in midday trading in Oslo.

Currently, Opera offers its Mini browser for free. The browser has become known for its ability to compress full Web sites for mobile use, allowing quicker Internet access than regular browser and lower user costs because it requires less bandwidth.

"Opera's mission is to bring the Web to the world, and by making Opera Mini available on yet another platform, we are one step closer," Opera co-founder Jon von Tetzchner said.

Opera will present its iPhone browser at the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, which will run from Feb. 15-18.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, the Opera desktop browser was a strong alternative to Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and Time Warner Inc.'s Netscape. But its popularity has diminished with the rise of Netscape's successor, Mozilla's Firefox.

Based in Oslo, Opera employs 760 people in 10 countries.

Flickr Co-Founder Proudly Announces ...Glitch

2010-02-09T23:27:00.003-08:00

Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield's new startup Tiny Speck has announced its first product, to be released in the fall of this year: a massively multiplayer online game called Glitch. Judging by the video trailer provided at the Glitch site, the game is a modern—and somewhat psychedelic-looking—take on the 2-D genre, like a trippier version of Super Mario Brothers. According to an in-depth description at CNET, which got an exclusive look inside the game's development, Glitch will have a number of social elements, such as collaborative puzzle-solving.

The Flash-based game, which Tiny Speck has been working on since the company's launch last March, is a bit of a "back to the future" move for Butterfield. As some Flickr fans know, he and now ex-wife Caterina Fake got their start building a massively multiplayer online game called Game Neverending in the late 1990s, but changed course after it became obvious that users were more interested in the game's photo-sharing portion. That feature ultimately became Flickr, which the pair sold to Yahoo in 2005 for $35 million. In what could be a veiled reference to Butterfield's earlier startup, the description of Glitch at the game site calls it a "neverending feast of imagination."

Dr. Seuss meets Borges for some "fun"

The company's choice of Flash as the basis for a game also makes sense, given that Flickr was one of the web services that helped popularize Flash as an interface. Using it as a platform means Glitch will be relatively easy to distribute and even embed in other sites or services—except the iPhone or iPad (AAPL) because neither supports Flash. It further suggests that Tiny Speck is going after the kind of casual-gaming market that has proven so popular for such games as Facebook's Farmville and web sites as AddictingGames.com.

Butterfield formed Tiny Speck last year with several senior Flickr staffers, including Cal Henderson and Eric Costello. They were later joined by Digg designer Daniel Burka—like Butterfield, a Canadian emigré.Tiny Speck is backed by Accel Partners and serial entrepreneur Marc Andreessen.In an interview last year with the Globe & Mail, Butterfield said the game was inspired by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and "magic realism" author Jorge Luis Borges, and that the goal was to create a "fun and really interesting world with its own rules—absurdist and strange but fully realized, if imaginary."

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Phantom Op Trailer

2010-02-09T23:27:00.001-08:00

Earlier today we first announced Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and tonight we bring you the teaser trailer.

Entitled "Phantom Op," this teaser trailer gives us a bit of an idea what to expect from Ubisoft's latest addition to the Ghost Recon franchise.

As a member of the elite Ghost Recon, you are among the few who possess the power, the adaptability and the cognitive fortitude of the future soldier. Specialized in every area of combat, equipped for survival and trained in absolute discretion, you are entrusted with the missions no other soldier can handle. Armed to the teeth with an arsenal of real-world high-tech weaponry only in prototype today, you are an F-16 on legs, trained to lock-on to your objective even in the world's most complex, high-risk warzones.

1280x720 | 640x360

Google Nexus One fee cut follows broad FCC inquiry

2010-02-09T23:26:00.001-08:00

(02-09) 11:48 PST -- Google has quietly acknowledged that $350 is a bit too much to charge consumers who ditch its Nexus One smartphone.

The company's terms of sale for the device now state customers who cancel their Nexus One accounts within 120 days of purchase will have to pay a $150 equipment recovery fee. Previously, Google had been charging a $350 equipment recovery fee for customers who backed out of their Nexus One deals after 120 days.

Father of Linux calls Nexus One "a winner"

Google's decision to charge an early termination fee for the Nexus One has been controversial because both Google and T-Mobile currently charge users separate early termination fees if they drop their Nexus One in less than four months. With a Google fee of $350 and a T-Mobile early termination fee of $200, consumers originally would have had to pay up to $550 for breaking their contracts early.

The practice of charging early termination fees has come under fire in recent months after Verizon doubled its standard early termination fee from $175 to $350 last November. The FCC last month sent letters to AT&T, Google, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon "to gather facts and data on the consumer experience with early termination fees." In particular the FCC cited concerns that early termination fees "have an important impact on consumers' ability to switch carriers" and said the commission must make sure that "consumers fully understand what they are signing up for? when they accept a service plan with an early termination fee."

Space shuttle Endeavour pulls in at space station

2010-02-09T23:25:00.000-08:00

APE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Shuttle Endeavour arrived at the International Space Station early Wednesday, delivering a new room and observation deck that will come close to completing construction 200 miles above Earth.

The midnight rendezvous occurred as the two spacecraft sailed over the Atlantic, just west of Portugal.

"We've got the place ready for you," space station commander Jeffrey Williams assured the shuttle astronauts. "Looking forward to welcoming you on board."

Back at Mission Control, meanwhile, NASA said that standard checks hadn't revealed any launch damage so far. All the pictures and information collected during the first two days of the flight indicate Endeavour suffered no serious damage during Monday's liftoff. But the analysis is continuing, and a few hundred photos taken from the space station during Endeavour's final approach will yield additional data, said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.

Endeavour's crew of six will spend more than a week at the space station, installing the compartments and helping with space station maintenance.

This represents the last major construction work at the orbiting outpost. Once the room, named Tranquility, and the observation deck are in place, the station will be 98 percent complete.

Five men are living at the space station. That makes for a crowd of 11 with Endeavour's presence.

Before docking, commander George Zamka guided Endeavour through a 360-degree back flip so two of the space station crew could photograph the shuttle's belly with zoom lenses. The photos were transmitted immediately to Mission Control so experts can scour the images for any scrapes or holes.

A few pieces of foam insulation came off the external fuel tank during the launch, but none appeared to strike Endeavour.

The only oddity in the pictures from orbit was a protruding seal on the top of the left wing. The seal is part of a door for an access panel; about 4 inches of the 2- to 3-foot seal is sticking out.

Cain said the flapping seal poses no concern, but engineers will look into the matter to find out how it happened. Mission Control asked the station crew to take pictures of the seal, as the shuttle performed its somersault.

As for the rest of the wings and nose — the most vulnerable parts of the shuttle during re-entry — the laser inspection conducted earlier in the day by the astronauts was coming up empty. "Nothing that threw any unusual flags for us," Cain told reporters late Tuesday afternoon.

The rigorous checks were put in place following the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Three spacewalks are planned to hook up the 23-foot Tranquility — named after the Apollo 11 moon landing site — and the seven-windowed dome. The first will get under way Thursday night.

The two Italian-built compartments cost more than $400 million.

Google Buzz Demo Videos You Need to See Before Using It

2010-02-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

As a frontal assault on the social Web castles of Facebook and Twitter, Google Buzz lets users post status updates, pictures, links, videos and other content in Gmail and share them with users, or the entire Web.

I wrote about it after viewing the launch event Webcast. I also logged into Gmail to find Buzz turned on.

It's a snap to use; if you have a Google Profile, you may start buzzing to the Web or privately among users immediately.

Before you click on that link that invites you to Google Buzz in your inbox, you should check out the demo videos for both the desktop and mobile versions of the Web service, which will be rolling out broadly to Gmail users over the course of the week.

First, this video after the jump shows how Google Buzz pulls images from links, plays YouTube videos in line and lets users scroll through Picasa and Flickr Web albums:

Comments Gmail users make in Buzz on your Buzz are automatically pushed to your Gmail inbox, facilitating the information sharing aspects.

Moreover, Buzz will recommend Buzz from users that Gmail users are not directly following. Users can turn this off; it will be interesting to see how many people will take Google up on the recommendations.

Next, the Google Buzz for mobile app looks like a great way for Google to compete with Foursquare, Gowalla and mobile versions of Facebook and Twitter.

After navigating to buzz.google.com in their mobile browser for Apple iPhone or Google Android smartphones, users can use their location to identify places around them and attach these places as location tags to posts, or see what others have posted about the location or business.

Moreover, the new Buzz layer in Google Maps for Mobile lets users see buzz near them or anywhere on the map and lets them post public buzz directly from the layer, attaching a photo from their phone. Users can also access Places Pages to read recent comments or to post buzz about that place. See this demo:

Finally, a voice shortcut available in the quick search widget on Android and in Google Mobile App on iPhone, lets users post buzz by speaking 'post buzz,' into their phone, and then saying their status update aloud.

Are these interesting features? You bet. They put a fresh, social twist on an otherwise siloed Gmail application.

Gmail has 176 million users, according to comScore. Facebook boasts more than 400 million and I'm not sure users will stop using Facebook or even Twitter to do some of the same stuff on Gmail. Why won't people leave Facebook for Google Buzz on Gmail?

Here's one analogy I like to use: People have gotten very comfortable with sharing on Facebook, much the same way people have gotten comfortable using Google search instead of Yahoo or Microsoft Bing.

Why mess with a good thing? Still, it will be fun to watch this theater played out in 2010 and beyond.

Study: Apple’s iPad Hysteria Fizzles

2010-02-09T08:51:00.001-08:00

The popularity of Apple’s iPad may have peaked as CEO Steve Jobs was making the much-hyped product introduction on January 27, 2010.

The number of consumers interested in buying an iPad fell 50 percent after January 27, according to study by Retrevo.

Between January 16 and January 20, 26 percent of surveyed consumers said they have heard of the iPad but are not interested in buying one. Between January 27 and February 3, that figure grew to 52 percent.

During the pre-introduction period, 49 percent said they don’t need an iPad. After the introduction, however, that number grew to 61 percent.

A major deterrent for surveyed consumers appears to be the price of 3G-enabled iPads. Apple will release three Wi-Fi models ranging from $499 to $699 and three same-sized 3G models ranging from $629 to $829.

Don’t Press Panic Button

Even Retrevo says that these findings should be taken with a grain of salt. There is bound to be a letdown after so much media-generated hype surrounding the product introduction.

Besides, how are consumers supposed to decide if they want or don’t want something prior to its introduction?

The good news for Apple is that even after its introduction, 30 percent of consumers either want to buy an Apple iPad or are interested in buying one. That’s a significant chunk of potential buyers.

As custom electronics professionals aim to figure out how Apple’s iPad will impact home automation, Retrevo’s findings don’t seem all that significant. Let’s face it: their clients aren’t the same ones who are balking at paying the extra $130 for access to the 3G network.

Still, Retrevo’s Apple iPad consumer interest findings are worth a look.

Google Gmail press conference (live blog)

2010-02-09T08:50:00.001-08:00

Google is hosting a press conference at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters Tuesday morning at which it is widely expected to make a Gmail-related announcement--more specifically, that it's getting social features along the lines of Twitter and Facebook's status updates. Considering Google's quiet killing of Jaiku, a Twitter-like service it bought in 2007, it should be interesting to see what the company envisions as the ideal social sharing tool.

The event starts at 10:00 a.m. PST, and I'll be in the audience to post live updates of whatever the new product is and how it will work, along with trying to answer any questions readers have. The embedded CoverItLive module below will go live whenever the event starts; in the meantime you can sign up to get an e-mail alert for when it does.

Nvidia Gets Switchable With Optimus Graphics For Notebooks

2010-02-09T08:49:00.001-08:00

Nvidia (NSDQ:NVDA) introduced switchable graphics for notebooks several years ago -- back then the company called it hybrid graphics - but there was a problem. Nobody was switching.

So Tuesday the graphics chip maker unveiled Nvidia Optimus, a switchable graphics technology that automatically routes notebook PC workloads to either the low-power integrated graphics to extend battery life or the more power-hungry discrete card from Nvidia for more graphics pop when needed.

"Consumers no longer have to choose whether they want great graphics performance or sustained battery life," said Rene Haas, general manager of notebook products at Nvidia, in a statement. "Nvidia Optimus gives them both -- great performance, great battery life, and it simply works."

Previous versions of switchable graphics from Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia required users to either manually flip a switch on their notebook or else actively click a toolbar icon, and the switching process caused a system reboot. It was a nice idea in theory, but according to Nvidia's own research, in practice some 95 percent of notebook users simply left their discrete graphics on all the time, sacrificing any battery life gains from switching between GPUs.

Nvidia said its Optimus technology would extend a notebook's battery life by up to two times as compared to a similarly configured PC with discrete graphics. In a demonstration ahead of Tuesday's announcement, Nvidia showed ChannelWeb.com an Asus notebook running solitaire on its integrated Intel graphics, then switching over to its Nvidia discrete graphics without a hitch to run a 3-D video game.

Optimus represents a relatively simple rejigging of hardware and software that eliminates a series of multiplexers (MUXes) previously needed to connect both the integrated and discrete graphics to the notebook display. The old architecture caused display interruptions when switching between graphics, an issue that's eliminated with Optimus.

The final ingredient in Optimus is Nvidia's own driver work, which detects whether a given workload can be run via the integrated chipset or should be given the full horsepower of a discrete GPU, then automatically makes that call nearly instantaneously. Optimus actually works to run individual windows on either integrated or discrete graphics, so a user can multitask and still receive its benefits.

Optimus is supported in Intel (NSDQ:INTC)'s latest generation Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 notebooks, as well as in some older Core 2 Duo platforms and the Pine Trail generation of Intel Atom netbooks, according to Nvidia. The first systems featuring Optimus due shortly are the Asus UL50Vf, N61Jv, N71Jv, N82Jv and U30Jc notebooks, the graphics chip maker said.

Google slashes Nexus One early termination fee

2010-02-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

Reading Google slashes Nexus One early termination fee

A recent FCC inquiry has apparently prompted Google to slash its Nexus One early termination fee (ETF) from $350 to $150.   Meanwhile, a $250 fee for existing T-Mobile customers upgrading to the smartphone was lowered to $50.  

As Tim Conneally of Beta News notes, the Nexus One can be used with multiple carriers, including T-Mobile.

 As such, Nexus One owners who terminate their contracts are typically penalized by both Google and their wireless provider of choice.  

Indeed, T-Mobile customers are currently required to pay a separate, $200 ETF to the company.

As TG Daily previously reported, the Nexus One smartphone has been plagued by a number of 3G connectivity related issues, including a recent widespread outage that left a number of customers without data coverage.

The outages forced Google to release an over-the-air the update on February 2 that added multi-touch support and offered a possible 3G connectivity fix.  

Google has also launched an official Nexus One service hotline to supplement its online help chat service.

Federal mortgage modification plan disappointing so far

2010-01-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

Red tape and limited savings are hampering the much-lauded $75-billion mortgage modification plan. A new round of government help may be on the way as foreclosures are expected to reach 3 million in 2010.

Atlanta

The Obama administration announced Friday that its much-lauded mortgage modification plan has had a disappointing start, helping far fewer Americans stay in their homes than originally hoped.

Intended to bolster struggling homeowners, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has permanently helped only 66,000 homeowners out of 4 million that may be eligible.

As foreclosures are expected to rise from 2.8 million in 2009 to 3 million in 2010, analysts expect the Obama administration to modify the modification program to keep it from becoming another major political issue in a year when Democrats are facing a growing anti-spending sentiment among the voting public.

“HAMP is running into issues of too few permanent modifications, and re-default performance is expected to be poor," Barclays Capital said in a recent research note to clients.

Treasury Department officials said Friday that more than 900,000 homeowners have signed up for trial modifications and the program has yielded “measurable success.” The conversion rate from trial to permanent modification, however, is only about 15 percent.

So what's hampering HAMP?

One problem reported by the Treasury Department is that only 75 percent of homeowners are able to stay current on their new payments for a three month trial period. What’s more, the Obama administration and mortgage servicers say homeowners aren’t fully completing the needed documentation proving income and hardship.

But homeowners are blaming servicers, who get paid for successfully lowering monthly payments. One dissatisfied applicant used the Huffington Post to register his dissatisfaction – and shed some light on why the program may need to be fixed.

Calling the program a “cruel joke,” HAMP applicant Craig Vale said “you are falsely led to believe that some help may actually come your way, but in truth the banks want little to do with you or the HAMP program.”

Mr. Vale claims he’s saving less than $2 a day on his reworked mortgage, calling the entire thing a “failure.” The irony,” he adds, “is that my bank will tell uncle Sam they ‘successfully’ modified my mortgage.”

More than $1.5 billion saved

Treasury officials said that 854,000 homeowners taking part in both trial and permanent modification requests have saved more than $1.5 billion on their mortgage payments, receiving an average reduction of $516 a month.

US banks, insurance companies and carmakers, meanwhile, have received over $373 billion in taxpayer bailouts, writes the HuffPo's Shahien Nasiripour.

In his weekly Saturday address, President Obama vowed to keep up the pressure on US banks to do right by the American taxpayer, who, after all, bailed out much of the financial industry over the last 18 months.

Saying that, “We’re not going to let Wall Street take the money and run,” Obama vowed to make sure that banks can never put the US economy at risk again.

Visit csmonitor.com for more info.

Hershey Preps Cadbury Bid: Report

2010-01-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

HERSHEY, Pa. (TheStreet) -- Hershey(HSY Quote) is planning to bid at least $17.9 billion next week for Cadbury PLC(CBY Quote) , according to a published media report

Such an offer would top Kraft Foods'(KFT Quote) existing bid, which is valued at roughly $17.2 billion.

Hershey was wrapping up a financing package for such a deal on Friday, according to the report, published Saturday on The Wall Street Journal's Web site. The report cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Under the package, Hershey plans to borrow at least $10 billion from banks including JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) and Bank of America's(BAC Quote) Merrill Lynch, according to the report.

The plan is also expected to include $5 billion in new Hershey shares and a minimum of $3 billion in financing from private investors and the Hershey trust, the report added.

> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll

As currently envisaged, Hershey's offer would be from 800 pence to 820 pence (about $13.00 to $13.34) a share, vs. Kraft's existing offer of 770 pence (about $12.50).

David West, Hershey's CEO, who has argued against such a bid, has accepted its inevitability, according to the report, which added that Hershey's board has promised him the CEO's job in a merged company. Hershey and its trust declined to comment, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Kraft has until Tuesday to raise its current offer, while Hershey has another four days, until Jan. 23, to make a decision to bid

Hershey shares closed Friday at $36.25, while Cadbury's U.S.-listed shares ended the session at $51.90. Kraft stock ended the day at $29.58.

Visit thestreet.com for more info.

Google Users in China Fear Losing Important Tool

2010-01-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

BEIJING — At the elite Tsinghua University here, some students were joking Friday that they had better download all the Internet information they wanted now in case Google left the country.

But to many of the young, well-educated Chinese who are Google’s loyal users here, the company’s threat to leave is in fact no laughing matter. Interviews in Beijing’s downtown and university district indicated that many viewed the possible loss of Google’s maps, translation service, sketching software, access to scholarly papers and search function with real distress.

“How am I going to live without Google?” asked Wang Yuanyuan, a 29-year-old businessman, as he left a convenience store in Beijing’s business district.

China’s Communist rulers have long tried to balance their desire for a thriving Internet and the economic growth it promotes with their demands for political control. The alarm over Google among Beijing’s younger, better educated and more Internet savvy citizens — China’s future elite — shows how wobbly that balancing act can be.

By publicly challenging China’s censorship, Google has stirred up the debate over the government’s claim that constraints on free speech are crucial to political stability and the prosperity that has accompanied it. Even if it is unlikely to pose any immediate threat to the Communist Party, Google’s move has clearly discomfited the government, Chinese analysts say.

“The average age of Chinese netizens is still very young,” said Hu Yong, a journalism professor at Peking University. “This is a matter of the future and whether the government’s Internet policy wants to fight with the future.

“If this process goes on, more and more people are going to realize that their freedom of information is being infringed upon, and this could bring changes down the line,” he said.

Google may rank a distant second to the Baidu search engine, but its estimated 80 million users are comparatively better educated and wealthier. Surveys show that roughly two-thirds are college educated. A Beijing technology consultant, Kaiser Kuo, describes them as “a potentially very noisy constituency.”

An Internet expert who insisted on anonymity for fear of repercussions from the government said: “They have bought into the bargain of get rich, have a good job, life gets better, just don’t mess with the Communist Party.”

If Google leaves, he said, “they may start asking, ‘What’s wrong with my country that it doesn’t let me do this?’ ”

“It is not like they are going to take to the streets,” he added. “But it further erodes the legitimacy of what the Communist Party is doing. This is a group the party doesn’t want to lose any more than it already has.”

On the other hand, the Chinese government managed to cut off nearly all Internet access to an entire region of 19 million people for half a year without encountering any significant political resistance. The blackout, imposed in the western Xinjiang region after deadly riots in July, is only now being gingerly lifted.

Other Internet users argue that Google must respect the Chinese government’s policies if it wants to do business here.

“I think government control of this is quite reasonable,” said Liu Qiang, 29, a Tsinghua University mechanical engineer graduate student. “Our party needs to stabilize its governance.”

Some predict that any inconvenience caused by Google’s exit will be short-lived. “The Internet is really big,” said Wang Quiya, a 27-year-old worker in Beijing’s financial district. “Something will take its place, right?”

The government’s recent efforts to tighten Internet controls have already cost some Chinese some pleasures. In the name of rooting out pornography and piracy, Chinese authorities have shut down hundreds of Web sites offering films, music downloads, video games and other forms of entertainment since November.

Li An, a Tsinghua University senior with wide eyes and thick black braids, said she used to download episodes of “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” from sites run by BT China that are now closed. “I love American television series!” she said with frustration during a pause from studying Japanese at a university fast-food restaurant on Friday.

The loss of Google would hit her much harder, she said, because she relies on Google Scholar to download academic papers for her classes in polymer science. “For me, this is terrible,” Ms. Li said. Some students contend that even after Google pulls out, Internet space will continue to shrink. Until now, Google has shielded Baidu by manning the front line in the censorship battle, said one 20-year-old computer science major at Tsinghua.

“Without Google, Baidu will be very easy to manipulate,” he said. “I don’t want to see this trend.”

A 21-year old civil engineering student predicted a strong reaction against the government. “If Google really leaves, people will feel the government has gone too far,” he insisted over lunch in the university cafe.

But asked whether that reaction would influence the government to soften its policies, he concentrated on his French fries. “I really don’t know,” he said.

Xiyun Yang, Li Bibo and Nancy Zhao contributed research.

Visit nytimes.com for more info.

Yahoo Drawn Into Growing Cyber War Between Google and China

2010-01-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

Yahoo (YHOO) was drawn into the growing international cyber-war between Google (GOOG) and the Chinese government Saturday after it declared its support of the U.S.-based search giant. Google threatened to pull out of China after it became the victim of a massive cyber attack that is believed to be masterminded by the Chinese government. Now several other U.S. companies are also believed to have been victims of a similar attack, including Yahoo.

Yahoo said it is "aligned with Google" in it rebuke of Chinese censorship, and condemned "any attempts to infiltrate company networks to obtain user information."

By supporting Google, Yahoo has drawn the ire of Alibaba (ALBCF), the Chinese internet company in which it owns a 40% minority stake. "Alibaba Group has communicated to Yahoo! that Yahoo's statement that it is 'aligned' with the position Google took last week was reckless given the lack of facts in evidence," Alibaba, which operates two of China's largest e-commerce businesses, said in a statement Saturday.

Other U.S. Companies and Chinese Dissidents Also Victims

On Tuesday, Google revealed it had been the victim of the massive attack targeting Chinese rights activists' Gmail accounts. The sophistication and scope of the attacks has led many to believe that the Chinese government was behind them, and in fact, cyber-security experts at Verisign iDefense labs said their analysis showed that "the attack is the work of actors operating on behalf of or in the direct employ of official intelligence entities of the People's Republic of China."

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman acknowledged Friday that China-based attacks on U.S. government computers have been "ongoing for a long time."

In response to the attacks, Google said it would no longer censor its Chinese search engine and was prepared to quit the country. In response, China declared its Internet "open," and said companies operating in China must follow the law.

The growing international row appeared to edge toward the brink of an all-out diplomatic and trade maelstrom after the U.S. State Department said it would formally demand answers from China about the attacks, which targeted over 30 American companies in addition to Chinese dissidents.

Other than Google, Adobe (ADBE), Symantec (SYMC), Rackspace Hosting (RAX) and Juniper Networks (JNPR), most of the other American companies targeted have not come forward publicly (it's typical practice for most corporation to not disclose information about cyber attacks). However, the list of known companies that have been targeted is increasing by the day to include U.S. defense giant Northrop Grumman (NOC), Dow Chemical (DOW), and now, internet giant Yahoo.

Yahoo's Rocky Road in China

Yahoo knew about the attack before Google notified it, but chose to remain silent, Reuters reported Saturday. Beyond efforts to keep information about cyber attacks confidential, Western companies are also wary of publicly challenging the Chinese government, which administers the world's largest population and internet market.

"They don't want to get any noses out of joint in Beijing," Clyde Prestowitz, president of the Washington-based Economic Strategy Institute, told the newswire.

Yahoo has had a particularly rocky road in China. In 2007, it suffered a major public relations backlash after revelations that it had turned over information about Chinese dissidents to the government. It's relationship with Alibaba has also been contentious. Yahoo invested $1 billion into Alibaba in 2005, when it folded its search engine into the company. Alibaba is thought to want Yahoo to sell its remaining stake in the company.

An Escalating Cyber War

Google's stunning decision to publicly rebuke China has pulled back the curtain on international cyber-warfare and demonstrated the pervasiveness of global network attacks. The controversy has also shown that cyber-crime -- typically associated with corporate spying or financial scams -- often has a political component.

Google explicitly referred to espionage in describing the attacks, which targeted Chinese human right activists and political dissidents. As early as Monday, the U.S. State Department plans to formally demand an explanation from China.

Visit dailyfinance.com for more information.

Customers in Benefit of Verizon, AT&T Price War

2010-01-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

Two largest U.S. mobile-phone services, wireless carriers Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. cut their calling plan prices. Customer usually benefits, and currently it appears that customers with Verizon Wireless and AT&T will be benefiting in pricing war between top wireless carriers.

Verizon announced that starting Monday people will be charged $69.99 for monthly calling plan. Earlier they charged $100 for the same plan. Another plan that they announced was a Nationwide Unlimited Talk & Text plan to call and send texts, as well as picture and video messages to anyone in the country for $89.99 monthly access.

On late Friday, AT&T Inc. announced some of the same price cuts. AT&T’s regular customers will now pay $70 for unlimited talk, family talk customers can opt for unlimited talk at $120, while text plans remain the same. AT&T smartphone and iPhone customers can get unlimited voice and data for $100, family talk plans with unlimited voice and data costs $180 while text plans go unchanged.

The latest moves in a long-running pricing competition between the nation’s wireless carriers is not just leading to lower prices for some customers: It also shows that data use is becoming an increasingly important service for mobile carriers as they look to new sources of revenue from customers dependent on mobile access to e-mail and the Web.

Verizon announced the expansion of the 25 megabyte for $10 per month data package requirement to include all Verizon Wireless 3G Multimedia phones, which gives customers quick access to Mobile E-mail, games and the Internet. The $20 data package option for 3G Multimedia phones has been discontinued.

In order to get the new rates, customers have to contact their cell phone carriers. Both companies said the new rates don’t require a contract extension.

Visit Customers in Benefit of Verizon, AT&T Price War for information.

Reg reader unlocks secrets of LHC restart

2009-11-18T07:35:00.001-08:00

Exclusive As all the world knows, the Large Hadron Collider - the mightiest particle-punisher in the world and possible portal to other dimensions - is shortly to fire up again, following last year's catastrophic liquid helium superfluid explosion.

You can learn that much by following other media outlets like any ignorant drone. But you are a tech-savvy Register reader, which means that you can follow events at the LHC live as they happen on CERN's own web pages, which are mostly open for anyone to view - though rather hard to find.

Reg reader unlocks secrets of LHC restart

We should emphasise that this is in no way due to any effort or goodness at Vulture Central. Rather it's the result of public-spirited efforts by Reg reader Chris Stephens. Just as amateur stargazers are usually the best source of information on top-secret spy satellites, enthusiastic LHC-watcher Chris is the man to go to for all the latest supercold superpowered superconductor supercollider news.

It was a tip-off from Chris, in fact, who had noticed climbing temperatures on part of the Collider's mighty magnetic ring, which enabled us to break the story of the baguette-bombing bird which temporarily scuttled the colossal machine two weeks back.

Inspired by having first caused a story to break on the Reg and then seeing it go global as it was shamelessly lifted without attribution by mainstream media outlets worldwide, Chris has now created an "unofficial" LHC portal with links to all the various fascinating CERN webpages, which are at the moment so little known.

In a superb twist, Chris tells us that the main users of the LHC Portal so far are in fact CERN personnel, who evidently find it the handiest way of navigating around their own websites. The portal is now linked to from at least one of CERN's internal sites.

T-Mobile Customers Suffer Data Breach

2009-11-18T07:34:00.001-08:00

T-Mobile is again giving its customers -- and prospective customers -- reason to be nervous.

Most U.S. Sidekick device users suffered severe data losses in October, when they permanently lost photos, contacts, and calendar entries. T-Mobile then suspended the sales of Sidekick devices, which has only been resumed this week. Earlier this month, T-Mobile U.S. customers also experienced widespread service disruption for both voice calls and text messages.

This time, staff at the U.K. operations of wireless carrier T-Mobile have sold personal data of thousands of customers. Millions of records from customers were brokered to third parties, who then approached customers whose contracts were soon to expire.

T-Mobile, the country's fourth largest mobile phone company, said that its customers' data was sold without the company's knowledge, a T-Mobile spokesperson told the BBC. The breach is the biggest of its kind so far, according to Christopher Graham, U.K.'s Information Commissioner, whose office is preparing to prosecute the T-Mobile staff responsible for selling the personal data.

T-Mobile Customers Suffer Data Breach

With a U.K. workforce of around 6500, T-Mobile has more than 16 million U.K. customers (a 15 percent market share) and announced recently its plan to merge with Orange, the country's third largest wireless carrier -- creating a market leader above O2 and Vodafone with more than 28 million customers (and responsibility for even more records).

Suspicions of the customers' data breach were raised when customers whose contracts were due to expire soon were contacted regarding switching to a different carrier. T-Mobile said that it has identified the source of the breach, which then alerted the U.K.'s Information Commissioner. The yet-unnamed offenders could face fines up to$9000 each, but no jail time.

Shigeru Miyamoto Discusses New Super Mario Bros. Wii

2009-11-18T07:33:00.002-08:00

With New Super Mario Bros. Wii safely in stores and winning applause worldwide, Nintendo creative mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto sat down with Famitsu magazine this week to discuss some of the story behind the game's design.

According to Miyamoto, NSMB Wii (which he serves as general producer on) was the most closely he's been involved with a game for a while. "It's been a nostalgic time for me," he said. "I've been getting into the game and making the sort of fine-tuning adjustments that I made with Super Mario World and Mario 3."

Shigeru Miyamoto Discusses New Super Mario Bros. Wii

The way he puts it, the fact NSMB Wii exists at all is a testament to Nintendo's willingness to take risks. "It was a courageous choice for the developers," Miyamoto said. "We went with a very orthodox Mario despite the capabilities of modern game systems. With this game, though, our only really overall goal was multiplayer. I figured that as long as multi-play was fun, then simpler would be better for everything else, both to players and to us creators. To put it bluntly, I would've been just fine with basically making a multiplayer Super Mario World. That's not too terribly interesting, though, so our goal was to create a new and serious 2D Mario, insert multiplayer into that, and make it enjoyable for all walks of gamer."

As Miyamoto put it, multiplayer was the watchword for NSMB Wii from the start -- and it all plays into Nintendo's philosophy of making its games accessible by young and old. "The directors' main goal here was to make the one-player Mario playable by lots of people without having separate modes for everyone," he said. "If Dad is really good at the game, he can start to take his kids along in the stages, or the kids can take Mom and Dad along. That way, anyone can make it to the end of a level no matter how bad they are. Even if they can't beat the game themselves, it's fun for them to experience the entirety of the game. That's why what you could call the 'story mode' is completely playable in multiplayer, although there are other multiplayer modes like Coin Battle."

That accessibility pledge makes itself particularly noticeable with NSMB Wii's Super Guide, a feature that optionally plays a movie of someone playing through a stage if you get stuck. "Originally I wanted it to be viewable after failing at a level three times, but that was too few," Miyamoto commented. "You'd wind up summoning the Super Guide block even when you're playing normally, and the testers and I both thought that was just annoying! So after some trial and error, we settled on eight tries. That's about the point when people start to think 'Man, this stage is kind of hard' and get a little frustrated. If they watch the Super Guide, maybe then they realize it's easier than they thought. We want people to get though this on their own power first, so that's how we decided it in the end."

Despite the uproar this Super Guide feature caused in some corners of the Internet, Miyamoto claims that the idea behind it is nothing that new. "In Mario 3 there was an item, the P-Wing, that basically let you skip a single stage at any time," he recalled. "I figured that since that game has 80 levels or so anyway, it'd be nice to let gamers take a pass on at least one or two of them; then, once they beat the game, they could go back to those stages and try them again. In New SMB Wii, we took that to another level."

Still, as Miyamoto is quick to note, this line of thinking doesn't mean that NSMB Wii is a pushover. "I do think the game has a lot more oomph to it than the first New SMB," he concluded. "World 1 and 2 are pretty forgiving, things ramp up starting with World 3, and it gets even harder at World 6. I think by the time you master World 6 you'll have all the skills you need. You could say this game is a challenge to gamers, to see if they have the perseverence it takes."

Google To Reveal Early Version Of Chrome OS

2009-11-18T07:33:00.001-08:00

Google (NSDQ:GOOG) Wednesday is preparing to pull the veil back a little bit further on its plans for its Chrome operating system.

The search engine giant will reportedly provide more information about the progress that is being made on its thin operating system. Google will also likely conduct a few demos of the OS while providing technical background, TechCrunch reports.

Rumors began to circulate late last week that Google was preparing to launch an early, open-source version of its Chrome operating system this week with a full version of the OS expected in the second half of 2010.

Google To Reveal Early Version Of Chrome OS

Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google, and Matthew Papakipos, engineering director for Google Chrome, will be speaking at the event -- scheduled to take place Wednesday at Google's Mountain View, Calif. headquarters, which will be followed by a question and answer session, according to TechCrunch.

Google revealed the Chrome OS in July, with the search engine company clearly setting its sights on Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT). According to the company, Chrome is designed to be lightweight, simple and secure. The OS was initially targeted at netbooks with Google slating Acer and Asus to be initial hardware partners for Chrome, but a desktop version will also be made available.

Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 friend Facebook

2009-11-18T07:32:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK — Users of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles can now brag about their achievements on Facebook.

Both systems are integrating the social network this week.

Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 friend Facebook

Microsoft Corp. switched on a slew of new features for its Xbox Live online service, allowing owners of the Xbox 360 consoles to update Facebook and Twitter directly from their consoles.

The console can also stream music from the Internet radio service Last.fm.

Sony Corp., meanwhile, is letting PlayStation 3 users connect their systems to Facebook through its latest software upgrade.

Both companies have been looking to turn their consoles into entertainment hubs beyond gaming.

Switzerland to sue Google over Street View privacy

2009-11-16T04:48:00.001-08:00

The Swiss government has lost patience with Google over what it sees as Street View's failure to ensure privacy.

The country's federal data protection commissioner, Hanspeter Thur, is now to sue Google in an attempt to force it to improve the blurring of faces and number plates. He is particularly concerned about locations such as outside hospitals, prisons or schools.

Other countries have raised similar concerns in the past, but Google has always argued that the present level of blurring is adequate, and that people are free to ask Google to remove pictures of their property.

The company says it worked hard to satisfy Switzerland's privacy requirements. "Before the launch in Switzerland, we made sure we spoke to privacy regulators and other interested groups to give them an opportunity to ask questions and raise any concerns they might have. So we were pleased when the Swiss DPA gave us the green light to launch the product, confirming our understanding that Street View is legal under Swiss law." says Peter Fleischer, the company's Global Privacy Counsel, in a blog post.

"We are disappointed that Herr Thuer has changed his position on Street View after launch, and that he has not considered sufficient our proposals for improvements to the product."

Google says it plans to defend itself in court.

Apple wins Psystar Mac clone case

2009-11-16T04:47:00.001-08:00

A US court has ruled in favour of Apple at the close of a long-running legal battle with Mac clone maker Psystar.

Psystar was accused of violating Apple's copyright when it installed the Mac OS X operating system on Intel-based computers.

Apple took Psystar to court 18 months ago, accusing the manufacturer of infringing its copyright and breaking the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

"Mac OS X on both Mac computers and the DVD are covered by software licence agreements that provide that the software is 'licensed, not sold, to [the user] by Apple Inc'," Apple said in court documents.

"Apple's licence agreements restricted the use of Mac OS X to Apple computers, and specifically prohibited customers from installing the operating system on non-Apple computers.

"In brief, customers were contractually precluded from utilising Mac OS X on any computer hardware system that was not an Apple computer system."

Psystar had been selling PCs with Apple's Snow Leopard pre-installed, along with software tools that let users run Mac OS on any machine.

However, a US District Court judge ruled that Psystar had infringed Apple's exclusive right to create derivative works of Mac OS X by replacing original files in Mac OS X with unauthorised software files.

"Specifically, it made three modifications: (1) replacing the Mac OS X bootloader with a different bootloader to enable an unauthorised copy of Mac OS X to run on Psystar's computers; (2) disabling and removing Apple kernel extension files; and (3) adding non-Apple kernel extensions," the judge said.

A hearing to determine the 'remedies' for the case will take place on 14 December.

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2: B-

2009-11-16T04:45:00.000-08:00

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” made more than $300 million on its first day in North America and the United Kingdom. That’s more than the Yankees spent to win the World Series. It’s the highest-grossing launch in the history of entertainment, but it’s nothing compared to what defense contractors earned this decade. Real war is still the best business going.

It’s no surprise that “Modern Warfare 2” is as huge as “Mario,” “Grand Theft Auto” and “Halo.” Its predecessor, 2007’s “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,” was massively popular with both players and critics. It bolstered an amazing single-player campaign with what might be the definitive online multiplayer shooting experience. It was the rare game that mostly deserved its hype.

“Modern Warfare 2” builds on those strengths. The Tom Clancy-esque story is knotted with even more tension and grandly nonsensical twists. The multiplayer is excellent, adding new perks and compulsive game modes with the same great controls. The new Special Ops mode adds two-player co-op missions to the mix.

Unfortunately, fantastic gameplay isn’t the most memorable part of “Modern Warfare 2.” The game’s defining moment is a gratuitous scene that forces you to witness and potentially participate in the massacre of innocent civilians. You play the role of a CIA agent undercover with Russian terrorists who open fire in a crowded airport. You’re forced to walk slowly through the carnage, absorbing the blood and cries of terror. It’s shocking, and guaranteed to cause controversy.

This scene purports to unsettle, to hammer home the horror of terrorism. It doesn’t do that because it fails as storytelling. There’s no build-up and no greater meaning, either emotionally or narratively, for you or your character. Even the villain is undeveloped and tangential to the third act. What could’ve been a bold step forward for game narrative is nothing more than a crass shock tactic.

Video games should mature along with their audience. Games should tackle morally ambiguous situations in a thoughtful manner, challenging players to think long and hard about the actions and decisions they make. That’s not what “Modern Warfare 2” does, though. It’s less interested in contemplating violence, either real or fictional, than in testing the boundaries of good taste. It might make headlines, but it doesn’t make a real statement. “Modern Warfare 2” is the opposite of mature, no matter what the rating on the box says.

Google Nips and Tucks Google Book Search Deal

2009-11-15T04:53:00.001-08:00

Google, authors and publishers Nov. 13 narrowed the scope of their agreement to let Google sell access to millions of out-of-print books online, limiting it to include works registered with the U.S. Copyright Office or published in the U.K., Australia, or Canada. The revised deal also addresses concerns from Amazon, the Department of Justice and others that Google would have too much control over orphan works. The Open Book Alliance, formed in August with Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo to oppose the Google Book Search bid, blasted the revised settlement in a statement.

Google, authors and publishers Nov. 13 narrowed the scope of their agreement to let Google sell access to millions of out-of-print books online, limiting it to include works registered with the U.S. Copyright Office or published in the U.K., Australia, or Canada.

Financial terms of the Google Book Search deal, intended to settle a 2005 copyright suit with Author's Guild and Association of American Publishers, have not changed. Google will still pay $125 million to scan out-of-print works into its search engine and sell access to them to consumers and libraries, sharing revenue with the authors and publishers who owned the copyrights.

Amazon, the Department of Justice and others had expressed concern that Google would have too much control over orphan works under the original agreement filed in October 2008. The revised deal addresses these concerns.

The amended settlement requires the Book Rights Registry -- the group appointed to distribute digital book sales to Google, authors and publishers -- to have a court-approved trustee to represent rightsholders for orphaned works and license their works to third parties.

The trustee can grant licenses to other companies who also want to sell these books, and will oversee unclaimed money. Money that goes unclaimed for 10 years will be used to locate rights holders or granted to charities.

The revamped settlement also clarifies how Google's algorithm will work to price books it scan and sells. The algorithm used to set consumer purchase prices will simulate the prices in a competitive market, and prices for books will be established independently of each other. Moreover, the Registry cannot share pricing information with anyone but the book's rightsholder.

The new settlement also removes the non-discrimination clause that pertained to the Registry licensing of unclaimed works, enabling it to license works to other parties without ever extending the same terms to Google.

The Open Book Alliance, formed in August with Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo to oppose the Google Book Search bid, blasted the revised settlement in a statement. Calling the revision a "sleight of hand" by Google and its partners, OBA Co-chair Peter Brantley said:

None of the proposed changes appear to address the fundamental flaws illuminated by the Department of Justice and other critics that impact public interest. By performing surgical nip and tuck, Google, the AAP, and the AG are attempting to distract people from their continued efforts to establish a monopoly over digital content access and distribution; usurp Congress's role in setting copyright policy; lock writers into their unsought registry, stripping them of their individual contract rights; put library budgets and patron privacy at risk; and establish a dangerous precedent by abusing the class action process.

While the OBA believes the revised deal won't satisfy the DOJ, it is unclear how the regulator will receive the deal. The DOJ in September said that the original deal would violate class action, copyright and antitrust law and should not be approved without changes.

Officials for Google, the Author's Guild and the Association of American Publishers filed their deal only minutes before the New York District Court's deadline, capping months of revisions after opponents to the deal complained that Google would have too much power and control over the digital book market.

New York District Court Judge Denny Chin will set a timeline to study the deal, which will likely include a notice period, an objection period, and a final fairness hearing in January 2010.

See the modification overviews here and a FAQ here. Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan took notes during a conference call with Google and officials from the Author's Guild and AAP.

You Tube Looks To Offer Videos In High-Res

2009-11-15T04:52:00.001-08:00

With an eye on improving the viewing experience of its users, YouTube from next week will start to support 1080p high resolution videos.

The move from YouTube is seen by many as a very significant move given the fact that it currently supports videos to the maximum of 780p only.

Commenting on the subject, Hunter Walk, Director of Product Management at You Tube, mentioned that more than half of the videos have already been re-encoded according to the new video format.

Although, there is still a limit of 10 minute maximum for a video being uploaded, the size limit will have to be increased from the existing 2GB.

Walk also said the high-resolution video had been tested with success and despite the cost of supporting huge files, the company was not worried. Most analysts believe that YouTube which is owned by Google has the capacity to foot the increased costs associated with displaying videos in full HD and it will allow YouTube to tie-up with established content providers and it may even look to offer premium content at a later stage.

It must be noted that mobile users figure amongst the biggest contributors when it came to adding content and the site experiencing a 2000% increase in mobile uploads this year.

Google's Go; a new, open-source programming language

2009-11-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

Google has unveiled an interesting programming language. Dubbed Go, it's aimed at making programmers' lives more fulfilling, especially for multi-core or perhaps even clustered computers. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers go wild.

By Richi Jennings. November 11, 2009.
(GOOG)

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention epic kludges...

Cade Metz getz going:

Google has open-sourced an experimental programming language that attempts to crossbreed a dynamic web-happy language like Python with a compiled language like C++. ... Dubbed Go ... Google says the language is type safe and memory safe, and it's specifically designed for building software that runs on multi-core machines. Systems and servers are written as lightweight processes called goroutines.
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The project's developers include Unix founding father Ken Thompson; fellow Bell Labs Unix developer Rob Pike; and Robert Griesemer, known for his work on the Java HotSpot compiler. They call the language Go because, well, you know. "'Ogle' would be a good name for a Go debugger," the company says.

Jason Kincaid goes further:

Google ... says that Go is experimental, and that it combines the performance and security benefits associated with using a compiled language like C++ with the speed of a dynamic language like Python. Go’s official mascot is Gordon the gopher.
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For more details check out Golang.org.

Google's Go team members go on and on:

Here at Google, we believe programming should be fast, productive, and most importantly, fun. That's why we're excited to open source an experimental new language called Go. ... Typical builds feel instantaneous; even large binaries compile in just a few seconds. And the compiled code runs close to the speed of C. Go lets you move fast.

Go is a great language for systems programming with support for multi-processing, a fresh and lightweight take on object-oriented design, plus some cool features like true closures and reflection.

Dj Walker-Morgan:

The language itself has pointers but no pointer arithmetic; instead it offers bounded slices for random access to memory. Go promotes the writing of systems as lightweight communicating processes called goroutines. The developers say that an application can be made up of thousands of goroutines, which are supported at the language level. Unicode support, garbage collection and run-time reflection are also included in the design of the Go language.
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The language already has two compilers, gccgo which uses a GCC back end, and a suite of architecture specific compilers, 6g for 64 bit x86 code and 8g for 32-bit x-86 code (the naming style for the compilers is inherited from Plan 9 ). The GCC based compiler is slower than the architecture specific compilers but currently generates more efficient code.

But Ryan Paul wants to go home:

Creating a compiler is practically a rite of passage for computer science students, and half of the top vendors in the software industry eventually make their own programming language or extend an existing one to the point where it's marginally recognizable. ... Modern mainstream programming languages don't fall far from the C tree.
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Are there any influential software vendors who have the vision and leverage to liberate [us] from the tiresome anachronisms of C? ... When I learned that Google was going to announce a new programming language, I was hopeful that the search giant would bring something truly novel to the table. They haven't, but the result isn't bad.

And John Ripley goes further:

I really don't understand the repeated banging-head-against-wall that language inventors are doing. There's a good reason why C++ is still in wide and very popular use: precisely because it does have explicit memory management and pointer arithmetic. C++ is a static, explicit language. Go is not. It will not replace C++, and no language will until that is understood.
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Stop trying to replace C++ with a language that does not fulfill every aspect C++ covers. If you ARE a language inventor and reading my comment, answer this: can you write a cache/MMU interface or an interrupt handler in your language? If the answer is no, go back to the drawing board.

Group takes control of dozens of Facebook sites

2009-11-11T03:59:00.001-08:00

A group called Control Your Info has hijacked a number of Facebook sites, aiming to call attention to privacy issues.

"We have seen too many examples where friends and relatives of ours have suffered from their lack of in-depth knowledge concerning their online presence," says the group on its website. "After some research we discovered this is a wide spread problem. People have even lost their jobs over Facebook content. We wanted to do something about this."

Using a quick Google search, the group found a number of sites that had been left without an administrator - and appointed itself. "We did not hack anything. Once we were administrators we owned the groups and could have changed any setting. We chose to change the picture, the name and the description of every group," it says.

The point is it making is that anybody could have done the same, but with rather more malign intent - linking a group with pedophilia, for example.

It says it isn't the only group to have acted in this way. "The search results also revealed many groups that already had been hijacked by various people. Their intentions remain unclear," it says.

Control Your Info says that, now it's got the attention it was after, it will change these settings back.

Facebook is trying to downplay the action, stressing that the sites had been abandoned. It says it will disable the affected groups.

Droid - The Insecure Macho Phone?

2009-11-11T03:58:00.002-08:00

Summary

The tone (and cost) of this campaign seems completely over-the-top -- why all the negative energy Verizon?

Analysis

From a branding perspective this is not the easy-breezy and likeable “can you hear me now?” personality of Verizon we know and love and that the company has worked so hard to build to help get them to #1.

Much of the advertising in this campaign appears to be talking to just iPhone owners and users – while the iPhone has been hugely successful, that’s a relatively narrow market to target, if you're going for world (or U.S.) domination. And even more extreme, the campaign seems to target dissatisfied iPhone owners and users. That is really narrow - the iPhone has the highest customer satisfaction scores of all smartphones - millions of iPhone users love their iPhones, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Yes, there's frustration with AT&T’s service, and some of the campaign attacks that but most of the anger in this campaign seems to be (mis)directed at the iPhone hardware and app approach.

Can't I love my iPhone but still decide to switch to Verizon because it’s coverage is so much better and they finally have some cooler (but still no uber-cool) smartphone handsets to choose from?

And, there are 89 million Verizon subscribers that don’t have access to the iPhone, but do have access to the Droid. Why not sell the positive merits of the Droid to them? That should be a super easy sale, right? $100 million? Really?

While this article doesn’t break it out, I would like to know how the $100 million is being split between Verizon and Motorola, Inc. I can only hope-guess that Motorola was the driver of this over-the-top, in-your-face, over-compensating, insecure-macho tone, and this is not going to be Verizon’s new direction with their brand or marketing.

Samsung Offers Smartphone Software As Competition Intensifies

2009-11-11T03:58:00.001-08:00

SEOUL—Samsung Electronics Co. next year will produce smartphones based on its own operating software and encourage software developers to write programs for them, a step that puts the world's second-largest cellphone maker in competition with some of its key technology suppliers like Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.

The move is a sign of the rising importance phone manufacturers are placing on controlling their own platform, as companies like Apple Inc., Research in Motion Inc. and Palm Inc. do with their smartphones. Nokia Inc., the world's largest cellphone maker by unit sales, has two proprietary operating systems for smartphones.

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Bloomberg News

Samsung Electronics liquid-crystal display at the Korea Electronics Show 2009 in Ilsan, South Korea, last month

Samsung executives said the company will continue to offer smartphones based on many types of operating systems, including Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Google's Android. "We feel we need to be multi-platform in smartphones and cannot just focus on one," says Lee Ho-soo, executive vice esident in charge of Samsung's strategy for product software and content.

But the company, as it did with regular cellphones, is also seeking to control the direction of its smartphone products by offering its own operating system. The move also provides a hedge in case developers of the other systems take financial or technical steps that Samsung doesn't like.

Samsung on Tuesday launched a Web site aimed at attracting software developers to its proprietary operating system, which it has named "bada," the Korean word for ocean. It will provide a software development kit to programmers next month. The company hasn't decided whether to let other cellphone makers to build phones based on its software.

Samsung will offer its first bada-based smartphone in the first half of next year. The company in September opened its first online stores for selling smartphone software in the U.K., France and Italy and aims to provide such service in 30 countries next year.

"The company wants to be a total provider like Apple, with its own platform and app store," says Greg Noh, analyst at HMC Securities in Seoul. "Being a total provider is every company's dream right now."

Though it accounts for about 20% of the global cellphone market, Samsung is a latecomer in smartphones, which is the industry's fastest-growing and most profitable segment. Smartphones will account for about 16% of all cellphones this year, but represent less than 5% of Samsung's business.

To date, most of Samsung's smartphones are built around Windows Mobile software but the company has also built a few Android-based models and two that use a Linux-rooted operating system called LiMo.

Mr. Noh estimates that bada-based smartphones will account for half of Samsung's smartphone lineup by 2012. Samsung's Mr. Lee said it's too early to make such estimates, however.

—Jaeyeon Woo contributed to this article.

Google gives the gift of free Wi-Fi this Christmas

2009-11-11T03:57:00.001-08:00

In a move to secure plenty of good tidings ahead of Christmas, online search giant Google is to provide travelling Internet users with completely free Wi-Fi access at 47 airports across the United States and also on every flight operated by Virgin America during the busy holiday period.

Starting today and running through to January 15 of 2010, the free Wi-Fi offer is described by Google as a holiday gift for its faithful users that it hopes will enable them to be connected for a few extra minutes “or hours if you're delayed” in order to make stressful Christmas travel just that little bit easier to deal with.

“We're very happy to extend our Holiday Wi-Fi gift to the millions of people who will spend time in airports over the next few months,” enthused Marissa Mayer, vice president of Search Products and User Experience at California-based Google.

“We know that this is a very hectic travel season for people, and we hope that free Wi-Fi will make both travelling and connecting with friends and family a little bit easier,” she added.

Some of the major U.S. Destinations covered by Google's free Wi-Fi service include Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Orlando, and St. Louis. It's worth noting that Burbank and Seattle airports will begin offering free Wi-Fi indefinitely once the January 15 closing date passes.

Google reportedly acquiring Gizmo5 VoIP startup

2009-11-10T07:42:00.001-08:00

Please note that this story is based upon rumor and/or speculation.
vibrant media

TechCrunch reports that Google has reportedly acquired VoIP startup Gizmo5 for $30 million in cash, according to sources familiar with the deal. The publication was not able to reach Gizmo5 or Google for comment.

The acquisition could potentially provide integration across Google's communications tools, like Google Talk and Google Voice, which could allow web users to call and to receive calls from landline and mobile phones. TechCrunch says that the deal will be announced shortly.

Snow Leopard Update Bricks 'Hackintoshes'

2009-11-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

Mac OS X 10.6.2 delivers more than three dozen fixes, but crashes Atom-based netbooks.

Apple's latest update to its Mac OS operating system offers more than three dozen fixes for bugs ranging from unprompted data deletion to spontaneous system logouts. And to the consternation of some Apple fans, it also disables netbooks hacked to run the OS on Intel's Atom processor.

Apple released the OS X 10.6.2 "Snow Leopard" update Monday.

The list of bugs the update fixes includes an issue that caused data to be deleted when users logged in as a guest, a glitch that causes unexpected system logouts, and a bug that compromises the duration and reliability of VPN connections.

Also fixed are issues with font spacing, brightness settings, improperly formatted E-mails from Exchange servers, Mobile Me syncing, and about three dozen other problems that affected the previous version of Snow Leopard. It also includes a number of security updates.

Mac OS X 10.6.2 is meant to "enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac," Apple said. But the biggest change that the update foists upon host computers may also be the least popular.

According to numerous user reports, it breaks support for so-called "Hackintoshes"—Intel Atom-based netbooks that have been modified to run Snow Leopard instead of their original operating system.

Netbooks are becoming increasingly popular with computer users willing to trade horsepower for portability and convenience.

Apple obliquely warned users that installing OS X 10.6.2 could wreak havoc on systems that employ unauthorized modifications. "You may experience unexpected results if you have third-party system software modifications installed, or if you've modified the operating system through other means," Apple warned.

That's not sitting well with some Mac users, who've long complained about the monolithic control Apple maintains over modifications to its products, including the iPhone. "I think it should be up to the customer what hardware they want to install even if it's not supported by Apple," wrote a user on a forum maintained by the tech blog TG Daily.

Others, however, weren't as concerned about the issue. "I don't see that as a big deal—Apple is trying to protect its investment. Hackers will always find workarounds for such problems," wrote a poster named Daniel.

Apple has not formally commented on the policy.

Firefox at 5: the Google Cold War

2009-11-09T16:56:00.001-08:00

As Firefox pops the champagne on its fifth birthday, one of its founding fathers has warned the world against an interwebs ruled by a certain money-minded tech giant.

That would be Google.

The Mountain View Chocolate Factory was instrumental in the rise of Mozilla's open-source web browser, contributing not only code, but considerable amounts of cash. Since 2004, Mozilla has pocketed a slice of all Google search revenues generated by Firefox traffic, and in 2006 and 2007, Mountain View dollars accounted for more than 85 per cent of the open-sourcers' income.

But following the debut of Google's very own Chrome browser last year, a certain chilliness has come between the two. Their financial relationship hasn't changed - Mozilla still needs the cash, and Google still needs the traffic - but in other ways, they aren't as close as they once were.

Firefox was founded to revive the mid-90s browser wars with Microsoft and Internet Explorer. But five years after the official debut of Firefox in November 2004, a kind of browser cold war has developed with Microsoft's biggest rival.

"I look at Google and I don't see a lot of alignment with the big picture of the internet," says Asa Dotzler, the ten-year Mozilla vet who was among the team of three or four who founded the Firefox project back in 2002.

"Google is essentially an advertising company. That's where they make their money. They provide a wonderful service - primarily their search service - but it serves their advertising goals. It serves their revenue goals. The more they can know about their users, the more effective they believe they can advertise, the more money they believe they can make. That is most fundamental."

He doesn't see Google as the new Microsoft. Far from it. But Google is still a threat to the Mozilla way. Redmond and Mountain View have absolutely nothing in common, Dotzler says, except that they're both public companies legally beholden to maximize revenue for their stockholders. He's adamant that if Google's ad-centric vision comes to dominate, the web will wind up as something we've all seen before.

"I hope that there is renewed competition in the search space and in the advertising space and in revenue models for the web beyond advertising," he says. "I fear that we would end up in a worse case scenario where the users of the web become consumers of content who sit in front of commercial advertising all day long and have no control over their experience. And that sounds like cable TV to me. The internet can be so much more."

The irony, of course, is that Google ads are still propping Mozilla's bottom line. But the organization has revenue deals with all the big search engines, and Dotzler insists that none of them - not even the most lucrative - has an effect on the company's egalitarian mindset.

As you might expect, he wholeheartedly nominates Mozilla as the outfit who can save the net from both Microsoft and Google. "Mozilla creates a product that makes sure that the non-commercial aspects of the web - those things which haven't purely been designed to generate revenue - are well represented and that anyone can come along and participate without having to be a part of the financial model of the web," he says.

"There are civic and cultural and educational aspects of the internet that needs a defender and an advocate. They won't get that from traditional commercial organizations who have a legal responsibility not to care about this stuff."

Three Reasons The Justice Department Should Stop The Google-AdMob Deal

2009-11-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

Google (NSDQ:GOOG) Monday acquired AdMob, a three-year-old mobile advertising display company, in a $750 million stock-swap deal.

AdMob, based in San Mateo, Calif., already serves ads for Apple (NSDQ:AAPL)'s iPhone and a variety of platforms including Google Android operating system-based smartphones.

The acquisition must still be approved by government regulators. And Google has already attempted to squelch any antitrust concerns by claiming that the mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive. Here are three reasons why the U.S. Justice Department should stop the acquisition.

1. It Will Kill A Thriving Mobile Advertising Display Business

Google is right. There are more than a dozen mobile ad networks in the U.S. with companies like Quattro Wireless, Millenial and Jump Tap. What do you think will become of those healthy competitors when the company that has a virtual stranglehold on the online search advertising market uses all its might and muscle to shut mobile advertising display competitors down.

The smartphone and mobile advertising market is just developing. We don't need a monopoly ad power player coming in and wreaking havoc on an industry that is still in its infancy.

This is the kind of emerging market where the Justice Department needs to be proactive so that consumers and businesses are not backed into a corner and forced to deal with ONE ad player rather than having the option of choosing many different companies.

What the Justice Department has to consider is simple: will the deal lead to more choices or fewer choices for mobile/smartphone manufacturers looking to build a business?

All the Justice Department has to do to come up with the right answer is look closely at the facts regarding how Google has forced any and all comers to play its search game.

2. It Will Snuff Out Mobile/Smartphone Developer Creativity

The lack of an advertising monopoly in the mobile/smartphone market has a wave of companies experimenting with different business models.

Google's decision to enter the game, in effect, freezes any and all experimentation. Google's dominant position in the desktop search market means that all companies are going to wait for Google to wield its search influence before making any development decisions that could leave them out of the Google mix.

Every mobile and smartphone player in the market is huddling in conference rooms today feverishly looking at what they can do to make sure their development teams are on the same page as Google.

Think about it, thousands of developers were working to come up with a better mobile/smartphone mousetrap. Now they are looking at how to play the Google game.

3. Google is Already Too Powerful

The fact is Google is already too powerful in the general ad display market and now is looking to extend that monopoly position into the mobile market. Google will use any and all its power in the general ad display market to snuff out the competition in the mobile/smartphone market.

The Google-AdMob deal is a lot different than Microsoft acquiring ScreenTonic, Yahoo acquiring Actionality or AOL acquiring Third Screen Media. Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL were NOT trying to extend a monopoly in the desktop search market to the mobile/smartphone market. Google is doing just that.

What's more, Google already has a mobile market share position with its Google Android operating system platform. The AdMob deal will force more application and content providers into the Android camp and limit their options at a time when they are already being squeezed by the Apple iPhone App Store (Some claim that only five percent of the 100,000 iPhone application providers make money off of the iPhone App Store platform).

All this Google talk about a mobile ecosystem is a joke. The mobile ecosystem has just been whacked across the head with this acquisition and will only recover if the deal is stopped.

There is a reason that Google is going to great lengths to claim its AdMob acquisition will not stifle competition. Google knows how much power it has in the desktop display advertising business and wants to extend its influence into the mobile market in one fell swoop with the AdMob deal.

Don't fool yourself. Once this deal closes, there will be fewer choices for mobile/smartphone manufacturers, application developers and users. Less competition. Fewer choices. That's the net result of the Google-AdMob deal. And that's what the Justice Department should consider when reviewing the deal.

New BlackBerry software will make your phone cooler

2009-11-09T16:54:00.000-08:00

"OpenGL ES" and "Eclipse" may not mean much to you if you're not an application developer, but ordinary BlackBerry owners will soon be able to benefit from the string of announcements uncovered on Monday at RIM's second, annual BlackBerry Developer Conference.

BlackBerry-maker RIM announced on Monday enhancements to its BlackBerry application development platform--including four APIs for developers to more easily integrate ads, payment services, geolocation, and push notifications for third-party developers.

What does that mean for you? The new tools and features for developers should make it easier for them to create richer apps and do so faster. For instance, new support for OpenGL ES, a graphics API, makes it possible for developers to create 3D games for BlackBerry. Electronic Arts (EA) hopped on stage to demo the car-racing game Need for Speed-Shift on the Storm. The game includes new touch controls, like swiping to activate a speed boost or touching the screen to apply the brakes.

Very soon you'll start seeing visual themes and widgets available for purchase and download in BlackBerry's App World. RIM's new BlackBerry Theme Studio 5.0 will let developers include ringtones in themes. As a result, a theme you download through App World might replace your default ringtone with one that matches the visual theme, like the "Batman" theme song to mirror your "Batman" wallpaper. The ringtones sound very cool, but are limited to BlackBerry phones running the 5.0 operating system or higher.

In addition to finding themes and widgets in the App World for the first time, you'll soon be able to buy premium content not only through PayPal, the current purchasing model, but in 2010, through your monthly phone bill. Like Apple, RIM will be making subscriptions and micropayments available to developers. That will make it possible for users to unlock premium features in BlackBerry apps, like navigation apps, music apps, and games. iPhone games commonly make use of in-app purchasing.

BlackBerry owners can also look forward to seeing push notification not just for core BlackBerry apps, but also for apps created by third-party developers. In the near future, in addition to seeing a red circle or badge as an alert, applications can also insert a notification message into your in-box. Similarly, an app can schedule an event on your BlackBerry calendar, and will be able to call up the camera, as with iPhone, to snap a photo from within the app. We should see a rash of social-networking apps taking advantage of this feature.

Most new BlackBerry smartphones contain GPS; when GPS isn't available, RIM is enabling location services that pinpoint your whereabouts using information from nearby cell phone towers.

RIM has also announced a new alliance with Adobe, which--in 2010--will let developers create applications with Flash 10, and with familiar Adobe Web development tools like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flex. New menu options within Adobe's CS4 applications will help developers create sophisticated graphics and animations, then test them on an emulator or on a smartphone.

The remaining question is, will the software improvements make potential iPhone users take notice? While the technology may differ between the iPhone and BlackBerry behind the scenes, one the surface, many of the new additions appear to be playing catch-up with capabilities already available in the iPhone--like micropayments, notifications for third-party apps, apps that can pull up the camera, and 3D graphics support. Regardless, whenever developers get a hand creating a greater variety of better-looking apps, users gain.

Windows 7 Upgrade Spat Could Have Been Avoided

2009-11-04T16:48:00.001-08:00

The Windows 7 upgrade issue that's causing friction between Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) and some of its most fervent supporters highlights the need for a central repository for Microsoft software licensing policies. Or, at the very least, better communication from the software giant on a problem that's affecting many of its customers.

In the wake of Microsoft's Oct. 22 launch of Windows 7, many XP-using customers ran into problems trying to clean install Windows 7 using upgrade media. Microsoft permits customers to do this on PCs that have a previous version of Windows installed, but not on PCs with blank hard drives. Given the ubiquity of Windows, many customers that were legally entitled to use the Windows 7 upgrade were understandably frustrated when Windows 7 wouldn't activate.

On Microsoft's Small Business Community blog, which is run by Eric Ligman, global partner experience lead in Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Group, one commenter summed up the situation in particularly eloquent fashion.

"This is the sort of information that many people at Microsoft should know. It is the sort of information that should transcend departments and divisions. It is the sort of information that should be in published documents, with clear explanations of steps to take in the event that a legal upgrade technically fails," wrote commenter 'Timmy'.

"What will it take for someone at Microsoft to take this question by the horns and just plain answer it directly? By the way, this question has gone unanswered for the duration of the Vista Beta, the Vista Release, the Windows 7 Beta, and the Windows 7 Release," wrote 'Timmy.'

Microsoft still hasn't offered customers an explanation on how to work around this problem, even though doing so would have mitigated much of the anger that has arisen within the Windows user community and customer base. Ligman, for his part, has vowed to get an official answer from Microsoft on the issue.

Microsoft often says its main competition to Windows is pirated versions of Windows, so it makes sense that it wouldn't want to provide a roadmap for pirates by advocating workarounds. And the amount of money Microsoft stands to lose in this scenario isn't insignificant, given that Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade sells for $80 less than the full version, and the Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate upgrades are $100 less than full price.

"Sure, some people will indeed play games with the system, using cheaper upgrade media rather than full versions to install Windows 7 improperly," said Paul DeGroot, an analyst with Directions On Microsoft, Kirkland, Wash.

However, aside from Windows Product Activation, Microsoft builds very little technical enforcement of licensing into Windows. And it's worth noting that for Microsoft, having customers buy Windows 7 upgrades is a good thing. Microsoft has developed Windows 7 to allow it to run on older hardware, and the many discounts it's offering with Windows 7 shows its desire to get customers to upgrade older computers, even if it results in lower margins.

According to DeGroot, this was a major problem with Vista that Microsoft is looking to fix in Windows 7. "Vista couldn't run on older hardware, and that made it less of a financial success because Microsoft only got the revenue from new PC sales," he said.

Microsoft is plenty capable of developing a mechanism to make it possible for legitimate users to clean install Windows 7 upgrade media without opening the door to greater piracy, says Bob Nitrio, CEO of Ranvest Associates, an Orangevale, Calif.-based technology consultant. But because Microsoft hasn't listened to customers and partners on the Windows 7 upgrade issue, much of the criticism it's receiving is justified, he adds.

"At some point, Microsoft needs to start trusting its customers again instead of assuming that they're all criminals," Nitrio said.

T-Mobile says software error behind outage

2009-11-04T16:47:00.001-08:00

T-Mobile said on Wednesday that a software glitch was to blame for a massive outage on Tuesday that left many customers unable to send or receive calls or text messages.

"After investigating the cause, we have determined that a back-end system software error had generated abnormal congestion on the network," T-Mobile said in a statement. "T-Mobile has since implemented additional measures to help prevent this from happening in the future."

The wireless service provider did not say which software caused the issue.

"We again apologize to those customers who were affected and may have been inconvenienced," T-Mobile said. I've also asked the carrier what, if any, compensation it plans to give those who were without service.

The service disruption began on Tuesday afternoon and lasted, for some, until late into the evening Pacific Time.

T-Mobile has stated that the outage affected about 5 percent of its users.

Web, cellphone users are not isolated from reality

2009-11-04T16:46:00.003-08:00

It's easy – and tempting – to believe that cellphones and the Internet are making Americans more isolated as they filter out those around them and focus on lighted screens, distant Facebook friends and LOL conversations.

But a new survey finds that this may not be true.

In fact, Americans who use such technologies have larger and more diverse "core discussion networks" than those who don't – and their networks also appear to be more diverse.

Though the study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds evidence that using social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn can indeed substitute for a measure of neighborhood involvement, Internet users in general are just as likely as others to visit with neighbors. Cellphone users, bloggers and those who use the Internet frequently at work are actually more likely to belong to a local volunteer group as well.

"It really adds a whole new social setting," says sociologist Keith Hampton of the University of Pennsylvania and one of the authors of the study.

But the survey also finds that although Facebook users know their neighbors as well as others, they're less likely to see them as companions or to rely on them for help in caring for themselves or a family member.

The survey is the first to examine how using cellphones and the Internet changes how people interact – and it suggests that Internet use doesn't keep people from public places such as parks, restaurants, libraries and cafes. Actually, the technology is associated with more widespread use of these places, though Hampton says it's unclear whether Internet use widens people's social circles or whether people with already-wide social circles simply tend to use the Internet more.

Either way, the findings may serve as a sort of salve to those who worry about growing social isolation in the USA. A widely read 2006 study by researchers at the University of Arizona and Duke University found that the proportion of Americans who have "no one with whom they discuss important matters" nearly tripled from 1985 to 2004. It also found that the average person's social network had shrunk by about one-third, from three people to two.

The Pew study, which posed the same questions, confirms the shrinking network but shows people who use cellphones and the Internet actually buck the trend.

For instance, respondents who have a cellphone have a "core discussion network" that is 12% bigger than those who don't. Those who use the Internet for instant messaging or to share photos have a network that's 9% bigger – and they're more likely to discuss important matters with people who aren't family.

The findings clearly stand in contrast to the notion that technology "might cause people to retreat from life," says Lee Rainie, who directs the Pew Internet project. Spending time with online social networks, he says, gives people "new powers to extend themselves and extend their interests."

Microsoft Refreshes MSN, Adds Social Networking Links

2009-11-04T16:46:00.001-08:00

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) is previewing a long-overdue makeover of its MSN portal, which is far less cluttered than its current AOL look-alike and which makes it a little bit easier to access social networking sites.

The preview of the new MSN portal shows considerably more white space than does the existing MSN portal, and appears to make it easier for users to navigate.

For instance, instead of being hit with a mess of uncategorized links on the top of the old MSN homepage, ranging from Airfares & Travel to Money to Yellow Pages, browsers of the new MSN will find the Bing search bar followed by six simple categories including "News," "Entertainment," "Sports," "Money," "Lifestyle," and "More."

The featured articles are also prominently displayed near the top of the page on the left, making them much easier to find than having to look past a cluttered navigation column that runs almost the length of the left side of the page with the old MSN.

The new MSN seems to be more social network-friendly. Microsoft has also added live links to let users connect to such Windows Live, Facebook, and Twitter with two clicks.

However, those links, which might be commonly accessed given the popularity of social networking, are actually on the right side of the home page and may not be as easy to find as some users might wish. That could be especially important to users of smaller notebook PCs or netbooks who much deal with relatively small displays.

Cuomo Hits Intel With Suit

2009-11-04T16:45:00.001-08:00

Intel Corp. was slapped with new charges alleging it abused its dominance of the computer-chip market, this time from New York's attorney general, whose complaint includes a raft of revealing emails between some of the technology industry's most powerful executives.

The lawsuit alleges the chip giant threatened computer makers including Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and International Business Machines Corp. and paid billions of dollars in kickbacks to stop them from using a competitor's chips. In one email, Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini called Dell, which used Intel chips exclusively, "the best friend money can buy," according to the suit.

The antitrust complaint, filed in a Delaware federal court, adds to cases and investigations across several countries that accuse the Silicon Valley company of anticompetitive practices. Dell, H-P and IBM declined to comment on the complaint.

Though the charges are familiar, the latest complaint increases the pressure on Intel, which has already paid a $1.45 billion fine to antitrust authorities in Europe and faces an investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

It also provides the fullest picture yet of the measures Intel, which for years has commanded 80% of the microprocessor market, allegedly used to keep rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. from expanding its market share.

Intel, which is appealing the EU ruling, has denied the allegations. It says its practices have benefited consumers by bringing innovations at lower prices. Intel "will defend itself," said a spokesman. AMD said it welcomed the latest lawsuit and the details disclosed in it.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's complaint includes excerpts of emails between top Intel executives and leaders at its big partners, who discuss Intel's market power and fears of retaliation if they dealt with AMD. It also provides some of the first estimates for how much Intel allegedly paid in rebates and other incentives to dissuade PC makers from buying AMD chips.

For example, the complaint alleges that Dell received approximately $6 billion in rebates from Intel between February 2002 to January 2007, adding that in two quarters of 2006 the Intel payments exceeded Dell's net income. The Austin, Texas, company for much of the decade was the only major computer maker that purchased microprocessors only from Intel.

In one email exchange described in the suit, Dell Chairman Michael Dell complained to Mr. Otellini over the agreement to use only Intel chips. "We have lost the performance leadership and it's seriously impacting our business in several areas," Mr. Dell wrote in November 2005. Mr. Otellini wrote back that Intel had given more than $1 billion in rebates and payments to Dell, which Dell had deemed "more than sufficient" compensation.

In April 2006, after Dell informed Intel that it had decided to begin buying from AMD, the complaint states, then-Intel Chairman Craig Barrett said Intel should respond by cutting off payments and discounts to Dell.

"Not a time for weakness on our part," Mr. Barrett wrote in an email quoted in the complaint. "Stop writing checks immediately and put them back on list prices ASAP."

Following the change, rebates to Dell, which totaled about $800 million for February, March and April of 2006, shrank to $200 million from that November through January 2007, the complaint states.

Mr. Otellini and Mr. Barrett, who has retired from Intel, were not available for comment. A spokesman said Intel has evidence that answers issues raised by the emails, but it can't be released due to a protective order in an antitrust case by AMD.

Some observers found the timing of Mr. Cuomo's move surprising, especially since some lawyers expect the FTC to soon file its own suit The FTC declined to comment.

"It is highly unusual for a state attorney general to take on a national monopoly case before the Feds have acted," said John DeQ. Briggs, an antitrust expert at D.C. law firm Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP.

Benjamin Lawsky, a special assistant to Mr. Cuomo, said the prosecutor is acting to protect competition. "Of course, we look forward to continuing to partner with the federal government when appropriate," he added.

The case is one of a string of high-profile investigations launched by Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who is expected to run for New York governor in 2010.

Mr. Cuomo described Intel's practices as harming consumers, companies and governments. He said Intel has "no laws of supply and demand," adding that it "ruled with an iron fist"

Intel argues that the rebates and other incentives targeted by regulators are lawful forms of price competition, based on the volume of chips customers purchase.

In the case of H-P, which was a regular AMD customer, the complaint states that Intel was determined to limit sales of AMD-based computers to corporate customers, a lucrative segment of the market. Internal H-P emails cited in the complaint say executives became worried that Intel could retaliate by reducing support for a chip line called Itanium that was crucial for some H-P computers.

Confronted with Intel threats and eager to retain rebate payments, the complaint alleges, H-P agreed to restrictions that include limiting global sales of AMD-based desktop PCs to business to no more than 5% of that business. One agreement between the companies, negotiated in 2004, contained incentives that H-P calculated was worth $182 million to the company, the complaint states.

IBM, which in 2003 agreed to use AMD chips in some server systems, was pressured by Intel not to extend its use of that technology, the complaint states. In April 2004, for example, Intel agreed to pay IBM $130 million not to launch a line of servers using AMD chips, the suit states.

In a statement, IBM said it "has cooperated with the requests for information from the government, and believes it has conducted its business appropriately.We have no comment on the allegations in the complaint."

Apple's App Store: 100,000 Apps, But Most Are Unused

2009-11-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

This week, Apple is flexing to impress. The iPhone-maker officially announced its tightly controlled App Store has surpassed the 100,000 mark when it comes to available applications. A hundred thousand -- that's a lot of apps, especially compared to other platforms' far more limited offerings.

But, to revisit the age-old question, how much does size really matter? Does anyone actually need a selection of 100,000...of anything? In the case of the App Store, it appears that despite the impressive nature of its big and firm number, the way we use the catalog may count far more than any measurement.

[ Discover iPhone apps for business and IT pros the easy way: Use InfoWorld's business iPhone apps finder. | Get the InfoWorld editors' 28-page hands-on look at the new iPhone OS from the perspective of business and IT pros. ]

Apple App Store Stats

The sobering statistics come courtesy of AppsFire, an app tracking and sharing service that caters to iPhone customers. AppsFire analyzed the 100,000-plus apps in Apple's App Store to see how many were actively installed on users' devices. Its conclusion: not very many.

According to AppsFire's analysis, by the time you hit the 1000th app (as far as popularity), you're looking at only 1.76 percent of users with the program installed. Once you pass the 2000th program, the number of active installs is barely a blip on the radar.

Yep -- the overwhelming majority of apps are simply sitting unused.

App Store Comparisons

All right, time for a reality check: Does this finding take anything away from the App Store's success? Not in the least. Apple's managed to build up an extraordinary array of high-quality offerings, and that's something no raw number can assess. But does the finding take a bit of steam out of the company's size-centric marketing push? You'd better believe it.

Bear in mind the timing of all of this: On Friday, Verizon's Motorola Droid hits stores nationwide. The phone is already being hyped as one of the first serious iPhone contenders -- but, despite its standout features, the size of the Droid-connected Android Market has been widely cited as a key limiting feature. The Android Market's 10,000 apps, many have suggested, simply can't compete with the App Store's 100k-strong selection.

Seeing how few of the App Store's 100,000 apps are actually in use certainly brings that idea into question.

Now, there's still the notion of quality: Do the Android apps hold a torch to the iPhone's when it comes to what they offer and how well they perform? That's a subjective question you'll have to answer for yourself. When it comes to sheer numbers, though, you may want to think twice before letting an extra zero make up your mind.

JR Raphael writes geek humor at eSarcasm, home to more than 100,000 tech-related jokes. He has never once had success using that as a pickup line.

By JR Raphael | PC World

Apple announces new iTunes, iPods

2009-09-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

In 2001 Apple introduced the iPod: a 5 gigabyte music player that allowed for "1,000 songs in your pocket." Today, more than 200 million iPods have been sold. And Sunday, Apple, once again, updated its iPod line.

In typical Apple fashion, the company held a invitation-only event to show off sales numbers and its new products.

Apple Chief Executive Officer, Steve Jobs took the stage after taking a leave of absence to deal with health issues. Jobs introduced a new iPod Touch and iPhone software update as well as a new iTunes version.

The biggest feature in the new iPod firmware is the ability to purchase pre-made ringtones. And the new iTunes offers a radically re-designed store with a cleaner look. iTunes will also allow for what Apple calls "home sharing," which enables the user to share his or her iTunes library with up to 5 computers in his/her home. Both the new software update and the new iTunes can be downloaded for free.

Phil Schiller, one of Apple's vice presidents, announced the arrival of new iPod touches. Apple claims that the new touches are 50 percent faster than the previous model. This increased speed will allow for smoother game play. Besides the speed increase, cheaper prices, and larger storage, the new iPod Touch is basically the same as its predecessor. The new iPod Touch starts at $199.

Both iPod Classic and the iPod Shuffle received a storage boost.

The iPod Shuffle will also be available in new colors: black, silver, blue, green, and pink. And a special edition Shuffle that is polished stainless steel will be available. The Nanos start at $149.

The new iPod Nano has been changed the most, offering up new colors, a larger screen, FM radio and a video camera built in. For more information on the new products announced by Apple, check out their Web site.

By Tyler Wells

Hands-On With Bing Visual Search

2009-09-14T18:50:00.001-07:00

In the seemingly never-ending attempt to overtake Google (NSDQ:GOOG) as leader of the search engines, Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) released its latest salvo into beta Monday. Called Visual Search, the new feature lends itself very nicely to Microsoft's insistence of calling Bing a "decision engine."

As one might expect, Visual Search is comprised of galleries, each an array of images pertaining to the subject being searched or, more appropriately, researched. Since the galleries have to be manually assembled, there are only a limited number currently available. Microsoft claims the number will continue to grow.

Clicking on a gallery brings up an image for each piece of related data. For instance, clicking on the Dog Breed gallery displays 161 pictures of dogs, initially sorted alphabetically. Hovering over each image temporarily fills in the Bing search field with the breed's name. Below the search field, a list of pertinent information is displayed. In this case -- size, coat length, exercise needs, etc.

As with other Bing searches, the list can be narrowed down with the use of filters listed along the left frame. Clicking on the image brings up a standard Bing results page.

Our initial testing proved Visual Search to work well. About the only caveat is that to use it, the Silverlight 3.0 plug-in (Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash) must be installed.

Since the galleries must be prepopulated by humans, we don't see this feature really turning Bing into the Google killer Microsoft might be looking for it to become. But to help make decisions, especially before purchasing something, Visual Search really makes it easier to find what you're looking for.

When the feature goes live, performing a search in Bing will offer a link to the respective gallery when one exists. Until then, the beta can be found at http://www.bing.com/visualsearch.

By Brian Sheinberg

Google Tries to Enhance News Browsing With Fast Flip

2009-09-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

Google is developing a product called Fast Flip that aims to make it simpler and faster to browse through news articles on the Web, a process that the company finds is cumbersome and discourages people from reading more online.

Fast Flip was expected to go live late Monday at the Google Labs Web site, where the company features early stage product prototypes. As such, Fast Flip could change significantly, become temporarily unavailable or even disappear without notice.

Fast Flip lets readers glance at pages and browse through them quickly without having to wait for multiple page elements to load, which can significantly slow the rendering of articles, especially if they have multimedia content, according to Google.

The idea is to try to replicate online the ease with which people flip through the pages of print magazines and newspapers in the offline world. This could motivate people to read more online, which Google argues will help publishers attract more readers and increase their revenue.

However, when users click on a Fast Flip link, they will be taken to the corresponding publisher's Web site, where the Google technology will not be on hand to display the page more quickly.

People who try out Fast Flip will find articles from 36 publishers, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, Salon and Newsweek, as well as contextually relevant ads. For now, Fast Flip will only feature content from the publishers Google has been working with to develop the technology, but it plans to add more in the future.

Fast Flip will also feature a search engine and let users share content. Based on their reading choices, users will see suggestions for other articles they might find interesting.

Change Browsing Habits?

Richard Gingras, CEO of the Salon Media Group, expects Fast Flip to shed light on how user behavior might change if people can browse through online material more quickly.

"On the Web you can go page to page, but it takes five to 10 seconds between pages, so it's not as 'browseable' an experience as with print, where you flip through and scan a lot of things very quickly," he said.

"This is one experiment, and it'll be interesting to see what we learn," he added.

Gingras believes that Fast Flip will not only lead people to read more online, but also add a higher degree of serendipity to their experience through the unexpected discovery of interesting articles they didn't initially set out to find.

This element of serendipity is one that Google has been interested in adding to Google News, according to Gingras, who before becoming Salon CEO was an independent adviser to Google about news and media from late 2007 until late 2008.

Salon also has its own initiatives to make it easier for its readers to find more of its articles. The publication will soon start to beta test a Web site redesign focused partly on organizing content by topics, so readers can scan articles about the same subject.

"Any publisher these days has to be looking at how to create interesting units of content and facilitate the use and access of that content in as many ways as the audience is willing to consume them," Gingras said.

Google: Work in Progress

At this point, Google isn't making any tools available for external developers to integrate Fast Flip with their Web sites and applications.

"Launching Google Fast Flip in Labs lets us learn from our users and our publishing partners so we can keep exploring ways to display news and help publishers make more money from their content," a spokesman for Google said via e-mail.

"We know that Google Fast Flip isn't perfect, and there's a chance it may never become a full-blown Google product. But we think there are some interesting ideas behind it," he added.

In addition to working on regular PC browsers, the Fast Flip Web site adapts itself when reached from iPhone and Android-based mobile devices, letting users flip pages via a touch-screen interface. Google was due to unveil Fast Flip at the TechCrunch 50 Conference in San Francisco.

By Juan Carlos Perez

Facebook Is Going for Some Twitter Sensibility

2009-09-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

September 14, 2009

Like a balding hipster who imitates a young trendsetter’s style, Facebook is updating itself to look a lot more like Twitter.

Unlike Facebook, where friends mutually agree to let one another into their online lives, Twitter lets people share updates and links with anyone who cares to read them.

That has turned Twitter into a tool for people to peer into the collective mind and see what people are talking about in real time. It is also a tool for businesses to reach customers and monitor what their customers are saying about them.

Facebook seems to be very interested in those features. Since last fall, when Facebook tried and failed to acquire Twitter, it has been slowly introducing features that mimic Twitter.

Last week, Facebook added two new, Twitter-like features. Users can now “tag” friends or companies that they mention in status updates, and they can use a pared-down version of the site called Facebook Lite that resembles Twitter’s stream of status updates.

Meredith Chin, a Facebook spokeswoman, played down the changes. “We’ve been making iterations to our product over time to reflect the rapid evolution of how people share information online,” she said.

But others see another force at work. “Twitter envy: Facebook has it, absolutely,” said Jeremiah Owyang, a social media consultant at the Altimeter Group, which advises businesses on using new technologies. “Facebook absolutely recognizes that Twitter is a threat, and they’re doing what they can to replicate the features before Twitter gets mainstream adoption.”

To tag another Facebook member in a status update, users type the @ symbol before the friend’s name. The @ symbol is a convention that Twitter users started. In response, Twitter added a section on its site where people can see any tweets that mention them. The mentions are hyperlinked so others could click on them to see the subject’s profile page.

Andrew Huang, a product manager at Facebook, said it is “a common Internet mechanism,” and he expects Facebook members to use it more for storytelling than Twitter users do.

Facebook has long allowed people to tag friends in pictures, but until now, not in status updates. When people are tagged, they get notified by e-mail, the update appears on their profile pages and their names are hyperlinked to their pages.

Mr. Huang, who developed the new tagging feature, said it would enable users “to talk about their real-world connections” and “interact with each other more.” It will also enable people and businesses to monitor what others are saying about them on the site, which was previously much harder to do. That has been one of Twitter’s vital selling points to businesses.

Adoption by businesses is a revenue-generating opportunity for both companies. Twitter, which does not yet have any significant revenue, has said that it will soon introduce features that help businesses interact with customers. Facebook offers businesses special pages and the option to buy ads to show to users who like similar companies.

Luna Park, a chain of three restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles, uses both Facebook and Twitter to send out promotions. Chuck Meyer, Luna Park’s general manager in San Francisco, said Facebook is more useful because the restaurant can post photos and longer updates. But he said customers use Twitter more because they think of it as a place to follow businesses and Facebook as a place to chat with friends. Luna Park has about 1,580 fans on Facebook and 2,350 followers on Twitter.

Mr. Meyer is pleased that Facebook added a tagging feature similar to Twitter’s because when people mention Luna Park, their friends can go to Luna Park’s profile page with a single click and Luna Park will get an alert. The new feature will also lure people to the site with e-mail notifications that they have been tagged.

“A lot of companies are envious of Twitter because people spend a lot more time there, and this allows Facebook to do the same thing — it gives them another opportunity to get people to come back to the site,” said Jason Keath, a social media consultant in Charlotte, N.C.

The second new feature, Facebook Lite, is meant for people with very slow Internet connections or new users who want an introduction to the core features of the site, Ms. Chin said. But it might also appeal to veteran Facebook users who like the simplicity of Twitter.

Facebook Lite is essentially a stream of updates, like Twitter. It includes photos and comments, which are not available on Twitter, but disposes of other distracting sections that clutter the traditional Facebook homepage.

Facebook has made other Twitter-like changes. In March, it updated users’ homepages to show the full stream of updates from all friends in real time, instead of just the updates selected by an algorithm. And last month, Facebook allowed brands and celebrities to send status updates directly to Twitter without visiting Twitter’s site. Twitter users can send tweets to Facebook.

Twitter says it is happy to share with Facebook. “Twitter continues to reduce friction between many services,” said Biz Stone, a founder. “Our services are complementary to mobile networks, social networks, search engines, software platforms, television networks and maybe a few other areas we haven’t thought of yet.”

No matter how many features they share, it is unlikely that Facebook will make Twitter unnecessary for its users — or vice versa, Mr. Keath said. “I don’t think that divide is going to close soon. There’s going to be certain aspects where Facebook can compete or maybe take over Twitter, but over all, they are safe in their niches.”
By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

At Last: IEEE Approves 802.11n Wi-Fi Standard After 7 Years

2009-09-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

September 13

People who criticize companies like Microsoft and Apple for pursuing their own de facto standards instead of working through formal standards bodies might consider the long, strange history of Wi-Fi. The IEEE has finally ratified the latest longer range, higher speed version of the wireless standard. The move came seven years after the process began and more than two years after an all-but-final draft was approved and companies started deploying 802.11n gear.

In fact, Wi-Fi has succeeded, and has improved steadily, only because hardware and software companies have regularly given up of the pokey IEEE standards-setting process and have forged ahead on their own. There have been occasional issues of incompatibility, but it has been better than the alternative of waiting forever.

Apple and Lucent launched Wi-Fi products back in the 1990s before the IEEE ratified the original 802.11b standard. Even the Wi-Fi Alliance, a trade group more conservative than the hardware makers, has certified new standards long before the IEEE formally adopted them.

by Stephen Wildstrom

3rd gen iPod touch contains an 802.11n-capable WiFi chip

2009-09-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

The fantastic folks from iFixit have got their hands on a brand new, hot out of the factory 3rd gen iPod touch. So what do they do with it? Tear it apart!

So, what did they discover? Well, two interesting things.

* First, the 3rd gen iPod touch is home to a Broadcom BCM4329FKUBG wireless chip. According to the Broadcom spec sheet, this chip supports 802.11n.

There also a Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and a FM receiver and transmitter packed into that chip
What’s extra interesting is that not even the iPhone 3GS has support for 802.11n.

* There also seems to be room in the iPod touch for an iPod nano style camera.

By now you should know how we’ll get 802.11n support … at some point in the future Apple will release an update, but because it’ll be “adding a new feature” it’ll claim that we have to pay $10 for the update, even though primarily it’ll consist of bug fixes, minor improvements and more integration with the iTunes Store. It sucks, but its the way it is.

Great work iFixit!

by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Google ordered to ID authors of emails to York University

2009-09-13T02:28:00.001-07:00

13 sep 2009

TORONTO -- York University has won court orders requiring Google Inc. and Canada's two largest telecommunications companies to reveal the identities of the anonymous authors of contentious emails that accused the school's president of academic fraud.

The university took the extraordinary measures after an email was circulated alleging that president Mamdouh Shoukri "perpetrated an outrageous fraud" when publicly touting the appointment of a new dean.

In January, the school announced its hiring of Martin Singer as its inaugural dean of the new Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, said to be the largest faculty in the country. The announcement called Prof. Singer a "renowned scholar of Chinese history" and quoted the president as saying: "York University is fortunate to have attracted such a strong scholar and administrator."

A week later, an email in the name of a group called York Faculty Concerned About the Future of York University was sent using a Google Gmail account to members of the York community challenging the statements regarding Prof. Singer's scholarly output. "Lying about scholarly credentials is the gravest offence," the email said before calling for the president's resignation and a new search for a dean.

York obtained a court order in May compelling Google to turn over Internet Protocol addresses associated with the Gmail account. Google identified Bell Canada and Rogers Communications as the relevant Internet Service Providers.

Last month, York sought similar orders compelling Bell and Rogers to disclose the contact information of the customers who accessed the account, a motion that went unopposed by the telecom giants. This week, Justice George R. Strathy of Ontario Superior Court released his reasons for granting the orders, saying it was a reasonable balance between protecting freedom of speech and protection from libel.

David Noble, an outspoken professor at York, was listed in the email as a contact person. In an interview yesterday, he denounced York's legal moves as "a fishing expedition" that was unnecessary since the allegations raised were shown to be correct by statements from both the president and the new dean. "I think they are trying to create a chill among faculty," he said.

"They are spending enormous sums, for what? I think they are just desperate to find out who is involved." He said his colleagues sought anonymity because they are "afraid of reprisals."

Will McDowell, a lawyer for the university, defended the action. "Academics enjoy quite extensive latitude in what they say and what they write and what they research at Canadian universities but I would say this about any of us: The right of free speech is not unlimited," he said.

"What was said is quite damaging to the institution."

The school now has the identities of five or six people who allegedly had access to the Gmail account. Justice Strathy said the information is only to be used for the purpose of commencing litigation.

by Adrian Humphreys

InfoWorld releases new cloud computing 'deep dive' report

2009-09-13T02:25:00.000-07:00

13 sep 2009

InfoWorld released today the fourth entry in its "Deep Dive" series of special PDF reports, covering the emerging area of cloud computing. InfoWorld, a Web-based publication devoted to emerging technology and hands-on business tech expertise, had previously released "Deep Dive" reports on Windows 7, enterprise iPhone, and next-gen mobile devices, as well as a quick-start guide to Windows 7.

The new report feature an exclusive excerpt from SOA and cloud expert David Linthicum's "Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step-by-Step Guide" book, and offers several in-depth articles that demystify the cloud computing concept, which suffers from confusion caused by the excesses of vendor hype, and that provide deployment and selection advice based hands-on testing from InfoWorld's independent Test Center.

More information on InfoWorld's "Deep Dive" reports and other editorial reports. InfoWorld also has a set of interactive tools for users, including a tracker of real-world Windows usage and configuration trends and an iPhone apps finder for business and IT apps.

By InfoWorld staff

Amazon: Google Book deal would lead to “perpetual exploitation of copyrighted works”

2009-09-13T02:21:00.000-07:00

sep 13 2009

In a recent court document filed in federal court in Manhattan, the online retail bigwig Amazon.com reiterated that the Google Books settlement would lead to the “perpetual exploitation of millions of copyrighted works,” and that the contentious issue of establishing rules for digitized books should be the Congress’ dispensation, not Google’s.

Putting forth legal arguments to substantiate its opposition of Google’s settlement with some US publishers and authors, the Seattle-based online retailer said that the deal “invades the prerogatives of Congress and attempts to legislate a private solution to a problem that can only truly be solved with across-the-board changes to the copyright law that affect everyone.”

Other than Amazon, Google rivals Microsoft and Yahoo too have vehemently opposed the litigious book settlement. Even the country top copyright official, Marybeth Peters, recently expressed the concern that parts of the deal are “fundamentally at odds with the law,” and challenge Congress’ ability to govern copyrights.

However, defending the deal, Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker contended that the agreement – whereby Google will make a $125 million payment and set up a Book Rights Registry to recompense copyright owners – is “non-exclusive”, and its approval by the court would make millions of books accessible to the US book-lovers.

The final decision on the deal lies with US District Judge Denny Chin, who would review it at the scheduled October 7 hearing in New York.
by Amandeep Dhaliwal

You Own Your Tweets, But So Does Twitter?

2009-09-12T19:49:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

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 toheir 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

2009-09-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-11T01:36:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

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.