Google to take on Apple iPhone with launch of new Samsung Nexus Prime

Google will launch the Samsung Nexus Prime on 11 October in San Diego, and the new phone is set to run the latest version of Android, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich 

Samsung's new Nexus Prime mobile phone is set to be unveiled at 'Unpacked'

 

Google and Samsung have announced that they will reveal “what’s new from Android” on 11 October. Sources inside the companies confirmed that the event will see the launch of a major new product, heavily rumoured to be the Samsung Nexus Prime. The new handset that will run Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of the operating system.

The San Diego event will be the first time Google has launched an operating system that runs on both tablets and phones, and takes place the week after Apple is set to announce its latest iPhone in California.

Rumours about the prime’s specifications suggest it will feature a dual-core processor, a large 4.5″ screen and 4G capabilities for countries where they are available. Speculation has also suggested that the event will include a new tablet, or at least an update for the software currently running on existing Samsung tablets.

Google has been keen to emphasise that, despite continued wrangles over patent law, it is continuing to launch new hardware and software. A spokesman said that “Microsoft are resorting to legal measures to extort profit from others’ achievements and hinder the pace of innovation. We remain focused on building new technology and supporting Android partners.”

The search giant believes new hardware and new announcements with manufacturers will convince the industry that it will not be covered by legal action.

Most burglars using Facebook and Twitter to target victims, survey suggests

The majority of burglars use social media such as the websites Facebook and Twitter to target their victims, a survey suggests. 

The results were based on the answers of offenders who were convicted of burglary this year. Photo: PSL Images / Alamy

 

With many users posting constant updates, the sites can unwittingly provide the thieves with information about recent high-value purchases such as televisions as well as the dates and times when they are out.

Other websites, such as Google Street View, show photographs of individual houses from which the would-be burglars can gauge security and ease of access by looking for alarms and side entrances.

The results were based on the answers of offenders who were convicted of burglary this year.

Four out of five of the criminals said social media websites were being used by burglars.

However, the same number said a simple home alarm would have deterred them from targeting the property in the first place.

According to the survey, a thief steals an average of £487 from a home on a single visit.
One of the convicted burglars interviewed, Richard Taylor, said: “We’re living in the age of the digital criminal and people are taking advantage of social media to access information about would-be victims.
“We’ll tell them even when we're going away on holidays. We will let them know that we’re not in. We’re inviting them round to our house.”
Jonathan Lim, an expert at Friedland, the security firm behind the research, said: “Taking simple measures, including cutting back trees and shrubs to remove potential hiding places and installing simple alarm systems are all good, cost-effective deterrents that all homeowners can implement to remove their home from the target list.”

More arrests in hunt for Anonymous and LulzSec hackers

A 23-year-old man has been arrested in California as part of the investigation into a hacking attack against Sony Pictures. 

The Lulzsec logo. The hacker group has been implicated in several security breaches in recent months.

 

 

 

The FBI announced yesterday that it had arrested Cody Kretsinger, 23, from Phoenix, Arizona. The FBI says he is a member of the LulzSec hacking group.

Two other men were also arrested. Christopher Doyon, 47, from Mountain View, California, and Joshua Covelli, 26, from Fairborn, Ohio, were charged with conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer. They are accused of taking part in a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack.

A DDOS attack involves bombarding the target computer with so many requests that it becomes inaccessible. The men are thought to be linked to the Anonymous hacking group but it is not clear whether they were involved with Mr Kretsinger.

Fox News reported that the FBI also had search warrants for properties in New Jersey, Minnesota and Montana.

The arrests were the latest in an international law enforcement operation against Anonymous and LulzSec that has seen suspects arrested in Britain, the Netherlands, Australia, Spain, Turkey and the US.
In the last year Anonymous and LulzSec have claimed credit for attacks on the CIA, Soca, PayPal, Visa and news International. 

Google+ opens to public

Google+ has fully opened to the public, meaning anyone can now join the newest social network. 

Google+ has now fully opened to the public.

 

Up until now, people have required an invitation from existing users or Google employees to join the social network hoping to take on Facebook.

Launched in late June, the site has already surpassed 25 million members and is expected to reach 100 million members by the end of 2011. In 2004, it took Facebook 10 months to reach 1 million users.

Google+ is by far the most successful social product Google has yet to produce in an attempt to rival Facebook’s unparalleled popularity and success.

The search company has made the announcement 48 hours ahead of f8, Facebook’s annual conference, at which the social network is expected to announce a new digital music service and media platform with a host of content partners.

“For the past 12 weeks we’ve been in field trial, and during that time we’ve listened and learned a great deal. We’re nowhere near done, but with the improvements we’ve made so far we’re ready to move from field trial to beta, and introduce our 100th feature: open signups,” wrote Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of engineering at Google, on the company blog.

Additionally Google+ has also made some changes to the site as it rolls out publicly. It has now enabled video ‘hangouts’, where people can talk via video in groups, to Android-powered mobile phones.
It has also enabled ‘hangouts’ to be broadcast publicly, in a similar fashion to the way YouTube allows cetain users to broadcast content live from an event.
Google+ users can now search for content and pull up results without leaving the social network’s environment. The results will pull together results on topics such as cooking, as well as relevant Google+ users and their posts on the searched-for topic.
Last week all three political leaders, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and Ed Miliband, opened Google+ accounts, in the run up to party conference season.

Dell to keep PC production despite HP's exit

HP's decision to scrap its hardware business is an opportunity for the company, says Dell founder and chief executive Michael Dell 

Dell founder and chief executive Michael Dell

 

 

Dell will continue to produce and sell hardware for personal computers, according to its founder and chief executive Michael Dell.

Shrugging off black clouds hanging over the PC industry after Hewlett-Packard’s exit from the business, Dell showed confidence over his company’s future.

Despite growing pressure from tablets and Apple’s Macbooks, Dell believes his company will benefit from HP’s surprise decision, announced last month, to spin off its personal computer line.

He stressed the importance of a hardware-selling strategy to give Dell a surplus over competitors in the server market.

“Think about the scale economies in our business. As a company spins off its PC business, it goes from one of the top buyers in the world of disk drives and processors and memory chips to not being one of the top five,” he told the Financial Times. “And that raises the cost of making servers and storage products. Ultimately we believe that presents an enormous opportunity for us and you can be sure we are going to seize it.

Michael Dell also announced that the company is “very much in line” with Microsoft’s plans to make its Windows software suitable for tablets. There have been rumours that Dell is expecting Windows 8 to boost the tablet market next year in order to launch a new tablet around the operating systems.
After the HP announcement some caustic remarks appeared in Michael Dell’s Twitter feed. Among them, "If HP spins off their PC business....maybe they will call it Compaq?", a reference to HP’s plan to become the world’s largest PC maker with the acquisition of Compaq computer in 2001. It was later discovered that Dell’s Twitter account had been hijacked.
Dell will be the only IT company still selling services and hardware, as soon as HP withdraws its hardware business. HP is still the largest vendor of PCs with 18.1 per cent market share, followed by Dell with 12.9 per cent.

Updates improve Facebook and Twitter connections

Both Twitter and Facebook have made it easier to send messages to each others' network

Facebook members will soon be able to pipe their profile directly to a connected Twitter account.

The social networking giant said it was working on the feature in a document sent to developers about upcoming changes.
Before now linking to Twitter was only possible from Facebook pages which are meant for bands, public figures and businesses.
Facebook said linking was coming "soon" but gave no specific date.
The mention of the forthcoming connection to Twitter came as Facebook unveiled its "subscription" system which works in a similar fashion to Twitter's "follower" feature.
Those who subscribe to a Facebook page, and eventually a profile, will automatically be informed when its owner publishes what they flag as a public update.
The feature changes the dynamic of Facebook which before now has been about sharing updates with those a user deems to be their "friends". By subscribing, Facebook members will be able to see the public activities of almost any of its 600 million users.
Many suspect the feature that links profiles to Twitter will be formally unveiled at Facebook's F8 developers conference which starts on 22 September.
The move is widely seen as a response to a change made by Twitter. In early September, Twitter made it easier to send Tweets directly to a Facebook account.
Prior to the changes, many Twitter and Facebook users relied on stand alone applications or add-ons to link the two.
Both the changes are also seen as responses to the success of the Google + social network which makes it easier to send updates to other places.

Artificial blood vessels created on a 3D printer

Artificial blood vessels made on a 3D printer may soon be used for transplants of lab-created organs.

Until now, the stumbling block in tissue engineering has been supplying artificial tissue with nutrients that have to arrive via capillary vessels.

A team at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has solved that problem using 3D printing and a technique called multiphoton polymerisation.

The findings will be shown at the Biotechnica Fair in Germany in October.

Out of thousands of patients in desperate need of an organ transplant there are inevitably some who do not get it in time.

In Germany, for instance, more than 11,000 people have been put on an organ transplant waiting list in 2011 alone.

To make sure more patients receive these life-saving surgeries, researchers in tissue engineering all over the globe have been working on creating artificial tissue and even entire organs in the lab.

But for a lab-made organ to function, it needs to be equipped with artificial blood vessels - tiny and extremely complex tubes that our organs naturally possess, used to carry nutrients.

Continue reading the main story

Numerous attempts have been made to create synthetic capillaries, and the latest one by the German team seems to be especially promising.


"The individual techniques are already functioning and they are presently working in the test phase; the prototype for the combined system is being built," said Dr Gunter Tovar, who heads the BioRap project at Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart.

Elastic biomaterials


3D printing technology has been increasingly used in numerous industries, ranging from creating clothes, architectural models and even chocolate treats.


But this time, Dr Tovar's team had a much more challenging printing mission.


To print something as small and complex as a blood vessel, the scientists combined the 3D printing technology with two-photon polymerisation - shining intense laser beams onto the material to stimulate the molecules in a very small focus point.


The material then becomes an elastic solid, allowing the researchers to create highly precise and elastic structures that would be able to interact with a human body's natural tissue.


So that the synthetic tubes do not get rejected by the living organism, their walls are coated with modified biomolecules.


Such biomolecules are also present in the composition of the "inks" used for the blood vessel printer, combined with synthetic polymers.


"We are establishing a basis for applying rapid prototyping to elastic and organic biomaterials," said Dr Tovar.


"The vascular systems illustrate very dramatically what opportunities this technology has to offer, but that's definitely not the only thing possible."

Built-in video editor added to YouTube

YouTube have added a built-in video to their service.

Now instead of having to reload videos when changes have been made, the new editor allows users to retouch their creations without doing so.

The idea for including an editor came out of eyeballing videos that had been uploaded to the service, YouTube product manager Jason Toff told CNET.

"We noticed a lot of the videos that were uploaded to YouTube could use some polish, some basic video editing," Toff said. "We noticed a lot of videos that had extra footage at the beginning that could have been trimmed off, or some footage at the end that could be trimmed off, a lot of videos that were really shaky and could use stabilization, and dark videos, etc."

Google acquires over 1,000 IBM patents

Google has acquired over 1,000 patents from IBM, as part of its strategy to strengthen its patent portfolio to counter litigation, according to records of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Jim Prosser, a Google spokesman, confirmed the transfer, reported by a blog SEO by the Sea, but did not provide details such as the price Google may have paid for the patents.
Google also acquired another over 1,000 patents from IBM in July. It transferred recently some patents to smartphone maker HTC to help it pursue patent litigation against Apple.
Google has been interested in acquiring patents for some time now, which led to its failed bid in June for the patents of Nortel Networks, and its proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility for about US$12.5 billion.
The tech world has recently seen an explosion in patent litigation, often involving low-quality software patents, which threatens to stifle innovation, Kent Walker, Google's senior vice president and general counsel, said in a blog post in April.
"But as things stand today, one of a company's best defenses against this kind of litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio, as this helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services," he added.
The acquisition of Motorola Mobility's patents was a key consideration for Google to start talking to the company in early July. But Motorola told Google that it could be a problem for Motorola Mobility to continue as a stand-alone entity if it sold a large portion of its patent portfolio, according to a filing by Motorola to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.
Like the patents from the previous patent transaction between Google and IBM, the range of inventions covered in the new set of patents is pretty broad, including desktop and server hardware, computer security, database processes, circuit design, parallel database systems and architecture, user authentication, creditcard/smartcard testing, and much more, said SEO by the Sea. The vast majority of patents appear to have been originally assigned to IBM, but there were a few that started out at Cognos, which IBM acquired in 2007, and which was merged into IBM's business intelligence offerings, it added.
The USPTO recording date for the transaction is Sept. 13, while the execution date on the document is August 17. IBM could not be immediately reached for comment.

Intel's Thunderbolt with fiber optics years away

Intel's Thunderbolt high-speed interconnect technology, which shuffles data between PCs and devices like displays and external storage, could be years away from getting optical technology, an Intel executive said this week.
Thunderbolt, originally introduced in February on Apple's Macintosh computers, was pitched as being optical technology but currently uses copper wires. Fiber optics are expensive to implement, and copper wires are working much better than expected, said Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, in an interview at the Intel Developer Forum being held in San Francisco.
Thunderbolt, originally known as Light Peak, was announced in 2009 and was designed to use fiber optics to transmit data among systems and devices. However Intel and Apple released Thunderbolt based on copper, with data transfer rates between host devices and external devices of up to 10Gbps (gigabits per second). The trend of using copper wires could continue, and it could be many years before fiber optics are used in Thunderbolt.
"It's going to be way out," Perlmutter said. "At the end of the day it's all about how much speed people need versus how much they would be willing to pay."
The cost of implementing fiber optics is significantly higher than copper, and copper can transfer data at adequate speeds at this stage, Perlmutter said. There is still more room for data transfers to jump on copper.
"Copper will continue to improve, which happens. There have been many technologies that had been predicted dead 20 years ago that are still making good progress. We'll see," Perlmutter said.
Fiber optics provide faster data transfers over longer distances compared to copper, Intel officials have said. Intel researchers are also developing technology based on silicon photonics that will be able to move data up to five faster than current Thunderbolt implementations.
Thunderbolt was initially licensed exclusively to Apple, but Intel at IDF said that Acer and Asus would bring the interconnect to Windows PCs next year. The technology will be used in ultrabooks, which Intel is promoting as a new category of thin-and-light PCs with tablet-like features. At IDF, a Windows PC with Thunderbolt connected to a solid-state drive was shown transferring four uncompressed videos at 700 megabytes per second.
Thunderbolt is viewed as an alternative to USB 3.0, which can transfer data at 5Gbps. However, Intel insists that the interconnects are complementary, and the chip maker will integrate Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 support in chipsets for the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors, which will reach laptops and desktops early next year.

Only a few Thunderbolt peripherals are available today because of the exclusivity of the technology to Apple. But with Acer and Asus adopting Thunderbolt for PCs, a larger number of peripheral makers could adopt the interconnect. Thunderbolt currently supports the PCI Express and DisplayPort protocols, which helps reduce the number of connectors needed to attach peripherals to computers.

Google 'readies new Nexus smartphone' to battle iPhone 5

Google is said to be preparing the latest of its flagship Nexus range of smartphones, to take on the new iPhone expected this autumn. 

The Nexus S, Android operating system smartphone Photo: AFP/GETTY

 

 

The Nexus Prime will reportedly be the first Android smarphone to run “Ice Cream Sandwich”, the next iteration of the operating system.
It is reportedly being built by Samsung, with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor at its heart when it launches in October. The current model, the Nexus S, features a single core, 1GHz processor.
The display will also be upgraded to a 4.5-inch 720p Super AMOLED HD screen, according to reports from South Korea. The Nexus S display is 4-inch and lower resoluton.
Ice Cream Sandwich will merge the main version of Android with Honeycomb, the version adapted for tablets, so some analysts have speculated that the Nexus Prime may do away with hardware buttons such as “home” and “back” found on smartphones.
The timing of the release means the Nexus Prime is expected to go head-to-head with the fifth version of Apple's iPhone due in stores early in October. It also reportedly features a faster processor, as well as an eight-megapixel camera.

NBC News Twitter account hacked

This screenshot shows the fake news tweets posted from a hacked NBC News Twitter account.

(Credit: Twitter)

Hackers compromised the NBC News Twitter account today and sent several fake tweets from the account about an attack on Ground Zero reminiscent of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
"Breaking News! Ground Zero has just been attacked. Flight 5736 has crashed into the site, suspected hijacking. More as the story develops," was the first tweet this afternoon. It was followed by two others, including one that started "This is not a joke."
The fourth tweet said "NBCNEWS hacked by The Script Kiddies."
An e-mailed NBC News statement said: "The NBC News twitter account was hacked late this afternoon and as a result, false reports of a plane attack on ground zero were sent to @NBCNews followers. We are working with Twitter to correct the situation and sincerely apologize for the scare that could have been caused by such a reckless and irresponsible act."
NBC News also used the Twitter account of its chief digital officer, Vivian Schiller, to alert followers to the problem. "Ignore tweets from @nbcnews till further notice. We've been hacked. Do not retweet," her account tweeted shortly early on.
A search for the NBC News Twitter profile shortly thereafter displayed the message "This user does not exist."
It's unclear who the Script Kiddies are. The profile for the Script Kiddies--a term used to describe novice hackers--also appeared to have been removed from Twitter.

Updates on the hack were tweeted from the account of NBC News Chief Digital Officer Vivian Schiller after the official NBC News account was disabled.

(Credit: Twitter)

The hacking comes on the heels of a similar problem with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's Twitter account, which was used to tweet blatant spam yesterday. Wozniak told CNET that he wasn't aware of his account being hacked but that he would change his password. "I really don't use my Twitter account," he wrote in an e-mail. "I should. It's a good thing. But it's down on my priority list and I'm too short of time."
Twitter spokeswoman Lynn Fox, contacted in regards to the Wozniak incident, said the company does not comment on individual accounts.
Graham Cluley of security firm Sophos predicted that account hijinks of this sort would continue to happen until Twitter offered extra security measures for popular profiles.
"Twitter should be applauded for taking such quick action (in suspending the accounts), but isn't it time that there was better security available to accounts which have a large number of followers, or who (like media organizations) may cause public panics if someone breaks in and starts tweeting false news stories about terrorist attacks?" he wrote in a blog post today. "I, for one, would like to see Twitter and other social media sites offer an additional level of authentication for those who want to better defend their accounts. I fear that, unless that happens, we will continue to see high-profile accounts hacked and brands damaged as hackers run rings around them."

Leaked screenshots hint iPhone 5 could be launched on Oct. 21

The word within the world of technology is that an October release for Apple's eagerly awaited iPhone handset is now almost certain, after continued silence from the company about when the handset will appear.
           
A screenshot submitted to American technology blog This Is My Next seems to confirm the day might well be October 21.
               
The screenshot, sent to American blogger Chris Ziegler by an anonymous employee of the Best Buy electronics chain, which recently launched stores in the UK, shows an email sent to American Best Buy employees regarding an upcoming Apple launch.
              

Apple's iPhone 4 is a bestseller: could its successor be due for release on October 21? 

                      
It requests that a manager be present at 6am on October 21 to install a 'large Apple fixture' on the big screens in the American electronics store.
                   
The tantalising aspect to this detail is that 6am is the time at which Apple requested managers attend for the launch of iPhone 4 last year - also to install screens.
                
The Best Buy employee also revealed that an event was scheduled for October 10 for managers to discuss upcoming 'big releases' - which would fit with an iPhone 5 launch a fortnight later.                  
Last year's iPhone 4 launch saw the device released in the UK and the US simultaneously, with other countries following rapidly afterwards.
                 
An Apple spokesperson said, 'We are not commenting on rumours or speculation.' While the company is typically tight-lipped about the launch dates of its iconic smartphones, evidence has been mounting that a late October release seems likely.
               
Apple's marketing machine is extremely well-oiled, particularly when it comes to their hero product, the 100-million-selling iPhone - and preview events are usually orchestrated weeks in advance. With no official word from within the company in early September, a late October release looks increasingly likely.
                           

New CEO: Tim Cook joined Apple in 1998 

                    
Android rivals such as Samsung's Galaxy S II are now also considerably faster than the current iPhone 4: the company may not be able to afford to wait much longer than late October to release their upgraded handset.
                          
An Apple engineer losing a prototype in a bar a few weeks before release has also become a regular ritual. This year, a prototype iPhone 5 was reportedly lost in Cava 22, a San Francisco bar, and sold via the internet - although details of the incident are disputed, and no clear details of the device itself have emerge.
                     
The late October release date would appear to be supported by images that appeared on the internet recently said to show production parts for a new model that have arrived at Chinese resellers in preparation for the global launch of the high-powered phone.
                     
The images of parts labeled N94, have been reproduced by industry websites such as Apple Leaks, MacPost and Apple Insider.
                   
It's perhaps wise not to place too much faith in Chinese components or one grainy email screenshot, however.
                           
The enthusiasm of the Apple faithful is such that by this stage in the genesis of ANY Apple device, the rumour mill is in such overdrive that 'evidence' such as sketches, grainy pictures, and even orders placed with Taiwanese chip foundries have all been hailed as definitive 'proof' of a release date, or form factor, for iPhone 5.
             
As ever, the one thing is certain is that Apple will continue to 'not comment on rumours or speculation' until the company are ready to tell us, where and when we can buy iPhone 5 - and what exactly the much-hyped phone will do that makes it worth all this attention.

China's Alibaba takes aim at Baidu in Internet search

China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group entered the search engine business so that China's leading search engine, Baidu, wouldn't sleep well, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma said over the weekend.
"If Baidu sleeps well then China's Internet users won't sleep well," Ma said during a speech at the company's annual Alifest this weekend.
Alibaba, best known for its Chinese e-commerce websites, launched a beta version of its new search engine last year called eTao.com. This put the company in competition with Baidu, which dominates China's search engine market with an 80 percent user market share, according to CNZZ.com, an Internet analytics web site.
Ma's comment was one of the first times Alibaba has publicly spoken about its intentions for eTao. In June, eTao was made into its own company under Alibaba Group.
Following Ma's comment, Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo said the company never obsesses with what its rivals are doing, but instead obsesses with what its usesr want. "As long as we are able to deliver that, we will sleep just fine," he said.
Both Alibaba and Baidu are the leaders in their respective markets. But even as Alibaba dominates China's e-commerce scene, many of the country's Internet users rely on Baidu to search for products online, according to analysts.
Alibaba's eTao site has been designed primarily as a shopping search engine, allowing users to query for products and group-buying deals. But the site also allows users to search for general web pages as well. eTao's market share, however, is so small that research firms don't list it.

Alibaba's eTao site launched months after Google decided to shut down its search engine for mainland China last year, a move that allowed Baidu to expand its market share to the point it has a near monopoly. Last month, the company faced criticism from a Chinese state-run television network in what analysts said was an effort by authorities to regulate the search giant.

HP to Host Record Number of Top Security Professionals at Protect 2011

HP  announced that its seventh annual cybersecurity symposium will welcome the largest gathering of security and compliance professionals to date.
At HP Protect 2011, HP also will unveil for the first time a unified set of solutions from its market-leading companies, including ArcSight, an HP company; Fortify, an HP company; and HP TippingPoint.
HP Protect 2011 will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Washington, D.C., from Sept. 11 to 14. More than 2,500 attendees will participate in advanced training sessions, hands-on immersion programs and in-depth presentations with real-world practical solutions and best practices.
Highlights of HP Protect 2011 include:

• Keynotes from Léo Apotheker, president and chief executive officer, HP; Tom Reilly, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Security, HP; and additional senior executives who will discuss the latest in security intelligence and risk management;
• Guest speaker Ralph Langner, chief executive officer, Langner Communications, who was first to identify that Stuxnet is a cyberwar weapon aimed at Iran’s nuclear program;
• A panel of international experts including Dr. Prescott Winter, chief technology officer, Public Sector, Enterprise Security, HP; Peter Coroneos, former chief executive, Internet Industry Association; and Andrea Rosen, chief compliance and enforcement officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
• Partner pavilion featuring more than 40 exhibiting partners.

Supercomputer predicts revolution

Sentiment mining showed a sharp change in tone around Egypt ahead of President Mubarak's ousting

Feeding a supercomputer with news stories could help predict major world events, according to US research.

A study, based on millions of articles, charted deteriorating national sentiment ahead of the recent revolutions in Libya and Egypt.
While the analysis was carried out retrospectively, scientists say the same processes could be used to anticipate upcoming conflict.
The system also picked up early clues about Osama Bin Laden's location.
Kalev Leetaru, from the University of Illinois' Institute for Computing in the Humanities, Arts and Social Science, presented his findings in the journal First Monday.
Mood and location The study's information was taken from a range of sources including the US government-run Open Source Centre and BBC Monitoring, both of which monitor local media output around the world.
News outlets which published online versions were also analysed, as was the New York Times' archive, going back to 1945.
In total, Mr Leetaru gathered more than 100 million articles.
Reports were analysed for two main types of information: mood - whether the article represented good news or bad news, and location - where events were happening and the location of other participants in the story.

The Nautilus SGI supercomputer crunched the 100 million articles

Mood detection, or "automated sentiment mining" searched for words such as "terrible", "horrific" or "nice".
Location, or "geocoding" took mentions of specific places, such as "Cairo" and converted them in to coordinates that could be plotted on a map.
Analysis of story elements was used to create an interconnected web of 100 trillion relationships.
Predicting trouble Data was fed into an SGI Altix supercomputer, known as Nautilus, based at the University of Tennessee.
The machine's 1024 Intel Nehalem cores have a total processing power of 8.2 teraflops (trillion floating point operations per second).
Based on specific queries, Nautilus generated graphs for different countries which experienced the "Arab Spring".
In each case, the aggregated results of thousands of news stories showed a notable dip in sentiment ahead of time - both inside the country, and as reported from outside.

Media "sentiment" around Egypt fell dramatically in early 2011, just before the resignation of President Mubarak.

For Egypt, the tone of media coverage in the month before President Hosni Mubarak's resignation had fallen to a low only seen twice before in the preceding 30 years.
Previous dips coincided with the 1991 US aerial bombardment of Iraqi troops in Kuwait and the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
Mr Leetaru said that his system appeared to generate better intelligence than the US government was working with at the time.

"The mere fact that the US President stood in support of Mubarak suggests very strongly that that even the highest level analysis suggested that Mubarak was going to stay there," he told BBC News.

"That is likely because you have these area experts who have been studying Egypt for 30 years, and in 30 years nothing has happened to Mubarak.
The Egypt graph, said Mr Leetaru, suggested that something unprecedented was happening this time.
"If you look at this tonal curve it would tell you the world is darkening so fast and so strongly against him that it doesn't seem possible he could survive."
Similar drops were seen ahead of the revolution in Libya and the Balkans conflicts of the 1990s.
Saudi Arabia, which has thus far resisted a popular uprising, had experienced fluctuations, but not to the same extent as some other states where leaders were eventually overthrown.
Mapping Bin Laden In his report, Mr Leetaru suggests that analysis of global media reports about Osama Bin Laden would have yielded important clues about his location.

Media reports mentioning Osama Bin Laden may have helped narrow down his location

While many believed the al-Qaeda leader to be hiding in Afghanistan, geographic information extracted from media reports consistently identified him with Northern Pakistan.
Only one report mentioned the town of Abbottabad prior to Bin Laden's discovery by US forces in April 2011.
However, the geo-analysis narrowed him down to within 200km, said Mr Leetaru.
Real time analysis The computer event analysis model appears to give forewarning of major events, based on deteriorating sentiment.
However, in the case of this study, its analysis is applied to things that have already happened.
According to Kalev Leetaru, such a system could easily be adapted to work in real time, giving an element of foresight.
"That's the next stage," said Mr Leetaru, who is already working on developing the technology.
"It looks like a stock ticker in many regards and you know what direction it has been heading the last few minutes and you want to know where it is heading in the next few.
"It is very similar to what economic forecasting algorithms do."
Mr Leetaru said he also hoped to improve the resolution of analysis, especially in relation to geographic location.
"The next iteration is going to city level and beyond and looking at individual groups and how they interact.
"I liken it to weather forecasting. It's never perfect, but we do better than random guessing."

Android now works on HP TouchPad, multitouch included Enthusiasts have managed to get Android 2.3.5 working on the HP Touchpad, complete with multitouch support.

Good news, everybody! Following the crazy $99 HP Touchpad fire sale, many enthusiasts set to work on getting Android to run on the defunct webOS device. A cash bounty was even put forward to encourage geeks to get a working port of Android. A functioning port is now here, complete with multitouch support.
Earlier attempts at getting Androd on the device had only limited success; a CyanogenMod hack got Android booting on the TouchPad, but the touchscreen didn't work properly.
The latest porting effort, the work of Team Touchdroid, can handle ten-point multitouch via a vanilla build of Android 2.3.5.
If you picked up a bargain price TouchPad, and want in on the Android action, it's worth bearing in mind that work on this 2.3.5 port is still ongoing. Either way, it's good to see progress on the port coming along. Now, how long will it be until the HackNMod $2340 bounty is claimed?

Hulu up for sale, Google bidding big against Amazon, Yahoo, Dish Network

Source: thms.nl/Flickr

How much is Hulu worth, now that they have over a million Hulu Plus subscribers? Reports range from $500 million to $2 billion. And anytime a company on the block gets in that high a price range, Google's name comes up. Does YouTube need a younger brother?
After Comcast bought NBC, on original Hulu backer, things got a little wonky about Hulu's direction. Differences of opinion with other Hulu backers Disney and News Corp. pushed the hanging of the "For Sale By Owner" sign on Hulu's door (Providence Equity also owns a piece). But they could change direction and decide to keep Hulu after all.
Besides Google, other bidders chasing Hulu are Amazon, Dish Network, and Yahoo. DirecTV reportedly took their bid back. Amazon and Google lead the race, since they have piles of cash, and Dish Network is still working on digesting Blockbuster.

Google and Hulu = greatness

Google is the best thing that could happen to Hulu. Not only for Google TV (which is incredible, despite its lackluster sales) but also for Hulu's expansion into international markets.
Alex Murphy on shashgear.com

Yes and if GOOG had that library they could offer a 'free' (with ads) equivalent of Netflix. Given the depth of knowledge they'd have on Googflix customers, the ads could be very unintrusive yet easily bring in $7.99 of revenue to Google each month.
Rurik Bradbury on allthingsd.com

Google buying Hulu makes the most sense! 1) Google TV 2) Hulu is run mostly with ads, and Google is the best one to help it further monetize it like that, and even make it free internationally. They have a lot of relationships with advertisers. 3) Social integration/Google+ Circles to better personalize your viewing experience. 4) Hangout viewing with friends. 5) Android - huge and rising platform for media viewing. There's no one out there, even outside the current bidding, that is a better fit for buying Hulu than Google.
George V on businessinsider.com

Google and Hulu = disaster

Google will strangle hulu to death. :(
The Total Creation on slashgear.com

Does anyone else see a future where google takes over the world.
Kevin Peavler on allthingsd.com

How would Google possibly integrate Hulu with YouTube? Or would it just totally kill it? It doesn't make much sense to me.
Matt Kroll on businessinsider.com

Not Google

I think Amazon would be the best fit, if they have all the books in the world, and all the music in the world, it seems like TV shows and movies is the logical next step.
Morgan Linton on venturebeat.com

Amazon all the way. Yahoo might be OK too.
dyinman on venturebeat.com

I think It's Google's long running piracy issues with.YouTube and indexing of torrents and illegal downloads that make media companies standoffish.
tastygoove on slashgear.com

If they sell to anyone, it would probably be safest to big content's interests in the hands of Amazon.
Spinchange on allthingsd.com

Yahoo is still in the bidding mix. Wonder if firing their CEO will make Yahoo management back off, or overpay to show the world they're still a player?

Jarre's Aerodream

What kicks out 10,000W, is 3.5-metres tall and costs 400,000 Euros? September will know it is the electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre’s latest, greatest speaker system — the AeroDream One.
Jarre unveiled what he claims is the “the largest hi-fi system in the world” with a demonstration of its awesome power. First up was one of his own compositions, Oxygene 2, followed by thesoaring voice of Whitney Houston, which effortlessly downed out the cacophony of sound and music in the huge IFA hall. The AeroDream is the ultimate evolution of Technologies Jarre’s range of high-performance homeentertainment products, which debuted at last year’s IFA with the AeroSystem One.
The iPhone- and iPod-compatible HD multidirectional sound tower has now been joined by the chic, sleek AeroPad One and AeroPad Two iPod, iPad and iPhone dock speakers. For Jarre, however, the AeroDream’s significance is about more than making a big noise — albeit a lush, crystal clear and beautifully balanced one.
“In recent years, we have lost that emotional link with sound,” he said, speaking exclusively to IFA International before the AeroDream launch. “We are paying less attention to the way we listen to music. I think it’s time to restore that emotional link while creating the ideal hi-fi system for the 21st century.”

Apple wins permanent ban on German sales of Samsung tablet - Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 is too similar to Apple's iPad 2 and may not be sold in Germany, a court there has ruled

Samsung must not sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany because it looks too much like Apple's iPad 2, the district court in Düsseldorf ruled on Friday.
In addition, Samsung Germany may not sell the device in any other European Union country, although other Samsung divisions may sell into those countries, a spokesman at the court said.
Samsung will appeal the decision in the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court, a spokesman said.
"We are disappointed with this ruling and believe it severely limits consumer choice in Germany," he said via email.
Apple had filed a lawsuit claiming that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes on the design of the iPad 2, which is registered with the E.U.'s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market.
"By imposing an injunction based on this very generic design right, this ruling restricts design innovation and progress in the industry," the Samsung spokesman said, adding that the decision is inconsistent with the Aug. 24 ruling by a Dutch court on a separate case involving the two companies, which found the designs of Samsung's Galaxy products don't violate Apple's design right.
In the German case, Apple was granted a preliminary injunction about a month ago preventing Samsung from selling the tablet in all E.U. countries except the Netherlands, where a separate case is pending. A week later the ban was lifted in all countries except Germany, because the court wasn't sure it had the authority to stop a South Korean company from selling its products outside Germany.
On Aug. 25, the injunction was upheld, following a hearing that focused on the accuracy of evidence supplied by Apple, with Samsung accusing Apple of deliberately distorting images of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 so that it looked more like the iPad 2. Earlier, an investigation by IDG publication Webwereld showed that at least one of the Galaxy Tab pictures that Apple provided as evidence in the case was wrong or had been manipulated.
The global legal battle between the two companies even made its presence felt during the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) consumer electronics show in Berlin, where Samsung removed from its stand all traces of the Galaxy Tab 7.7, the 10.1's smaller brother, just two days after launching the product there. That device is the subject of a separate injunction from the lower court. Samsung can still challenge that ruling in the lower court.
However, in Japan, the CEO of mobile operator NTT DoCoMo said on Thursday that his company's launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab next month will not be affected by a patent-infringement lawsuit Apple has filed there against Samsung.
Meanwhile, Samsung has vowed to keep up its legal counter-offensive. "We will take all available legal options including continuing to aggressively pursue Apple for its ongoing violation of Samsung's wireless technology patents around the world," the Samsung spokesman said.

Lenovo expects to beat Dell in PC sales by year's end

Lenovo's chairman believes the company will overtake Dell to become the world's second-largest PC vendor by the end of this year.
Lenovo chairman Liu Chuanzhi made the remarks on Thursday while speaking to the Chinese media. A Lenovo spokeswoman confirmed he made the comments.
In the previous quarter, the Chinese PC maker edged out rival Acer to take the third spot for global PC sales, according to research firm IDC. Lenovo's market share was at 12.2 percent, putting the company right behind Dell, which had a 12.9 percent share. Top-ranked HP had an 18.1 percent share.
Lenovo's chairman made the claim as the company has seen the fastest growth among the world's top five PC vendors. In the last quarter, the company's PC sales increased by 22.9 percent year-over-year. In comparison, Dell's PC sales only grew by 2.8 percent.
Analysts have said PC shipments have declined because of sluggish spending due to broader economic conditions, and because the popularity of tablets has eaten into PC sales. Lenovo, however, has put its fast growth down to expanding into developing markets in Latin America, Africa and India, while also protecting its home turf in China, where it has a 31.7 percent share.

Last quarter, China also overtook the U.S. in PC sales and shipments, according to IDC. While the U.S. is expected to reclaim the top spot later this year, China will become the biggest PC market throughout 2012.

HP Introduces All-in-One PCs for Everyone

HP today revealed its largest investment in the all-in-one desktop PC market to date, unveiling a new portfolio of products that offers consumers, small businesses and enterprises powerful and sleek PCs and award-winning customer service and support.
All-in-one PCs deliver a smaller footprint along with the power and multimedia features expected from a two-piece computing solution. IDC research shows that among commercial PC users worldwide, the intent to purchase all-in-one solutions will rise from 9.9 percent to 15.7 percent in the next 12 months.⁽¹⁾
Additionally, NPD Group reported that 34 percent of consumer desktop purchases in the month of July were all-in-one PCs.⁽²⁾ To support this growth, HP offers a broad range of screen sizes and premium features, such as multitouch, to meet the needs and budgetary requirements of every consumer and business.
“The popularity of the all-in-one form factor continues to grow, and HP’s contribution to this market is significant,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. “We continue to expand our portfolio to remain the global leader in Windows-based all-in-one PCs, introducing innovation that matters to business customers and consumers alike.”
Affordable, stylish home computing
The space-saving HP Omni series PCs provide an ideal combination of form, function and affordability. Two new models, the 20-inch diagonal HP Omni 120 and 21.5-inch diagonal HP Omni 220 PCs, offer ample storage, built-in speakers and vivid high-definition (HD)⁽³⁾ displays. They also feature HP LinkUp, which lets users view and interact with content from a notebook PC on the Omni PC. Changes are saved directly to the notebook, so there are no file transfer hassles.⁽⁴⁾
The HP Omni 120 PC features an elegant easel design that integrates up to 750 gigabytes (GB) of hard drive space⁽⁵⁾ and a choice of the latest AMD or Intel® processors.
The HP Omni 220 PC offers a streamlined cantilever design. Select models offer Beats Audio™ and second-generation Intel quad core processors and graphics for a PC that sounds and performs as good as it looks.
The HP TouchSmart advantage
The 20-inch HP TouchSmart 320, 21.5-inch diagonal HP TouchSmart 420 and the 23-inch diagonal HP TouchSmart 520 PCs are designed for consumers who demand a premium multimedia and touch experience. These TouchSmart PCs feature a free-standing, tilt-enabled display, which complements the surrounding environment instead of defining it. The floating form is minimal and elegant with enough space between the stand and display to hide the keyboard when not in use.
The newest version of HP’s exclusive TouchSmart software provides the most intuitive, immersive touch experience to date. Users can conveniently access Windows® apps, desktop icons and built-for-touch applications within the same desktop environment. Additionally, users can experience content and programs from a notebook PC on the TouchSmart PC’s Magic Canvas with HP LinkUp for a more comfortable, entertaining and productive experience.⁽⁴⁾
Music lovers will enjoy a premium listening experience with integrated Beats Audio technology on HP TouchSmart PCs. The optional HP Pulse Subwoofer, paired with the TouchSmart 520 or 610, adds depth to music, movies and games, filling the room with penetrating bass.
First HP TouchSmart designed for small businesses
The HP TouchSmart Elite 7320 All-in-One Business PC offers small businesses the productivity, reliability and touch technology they need for a competitive edge. The sleek and modern design rotates up to 30 degrees vertically, enabling it to be deployed in very small spaces.
The HP TouchSmart Elite 7320 includes a 21.5-inch diagonal, full HD,⁽³⁾ widescreen, LED back-lit touch display; second-generation Intel Core™ i3 i5 and i7 processors⁽⁷⁾; and the HP TouchSmart Suite, providing a powerful computing package that empowers businesses.
The HP TouchSmart Elite 7320 also provides access to the HP Elite Premium Support program, delivering 24/7 Elite-accredited support to maximize return on investment for growing businesses.
Versatility and style in a business all-in-one
The HP Pro 3420 All-in-One is designed for small businesses with demanding workloads looking for a versatile PC that is ready to perform right out of the box. Ideal for customer-facing work environments or businesses with virtual collaboration needs, the HP Pro 3420 is equipped with integrated webcams and premium stereo speakers for instant face-to-face communication with remote employees.⁽⁴⁾
It features a 20-inch diagonal screen and includes the latest Intel Core i3 processors⁽⁷⁾ with up to 8 GB of memory⁽⁴⁾ and up to 2 terabytes (TB)⁽⁵⁾ of storage. It also offers the easy-to-use HP ProtectTools security suite⁽⁶⁾ to help secure access and communication of confidential information.
Enterprises choose all-in-ones to engage customers and employees
Enterprise customers from the Ronald McDonald House to Disney choose HP business all-in-one PCs for their sleek design and powerful performance.
HP’s recently announced HP 8200 Elite All-in-One Business PC completes the company’s new all-in-one portfolio, delivering enterprise, midmarket and public sector customers a no-compromise combination of performance and style.
Featuring second-generation Intel Core vPro™ processors,^(7,8) it offers robust performance, enterprise security remote management and easy serviceability, as well as integrated collaboration tools that allow businesses to connect to coworkers at the office, across town or on the other side of the globe.
Pricing and availability⁽⁹⁾

• The HP Omni 120 PCs are expected to be available on Sept. 21 in the United States at a starting price of $399.99.
• The HP Omni 220 PCs are expected to be available on Sept. 11 in the United States at a starting price of $799.99.
• The HP TouchSmart 320 PCs are expected to be available on Oct. 2 in the United States at a starting price of $599.99.
• The HP TouchSmart 420 PCs are expected to be available on Sept. 11 in the United States at a starting price of $699.99.
• The HP TouchSmart 520 PCs are expected to be available on Sept. 11 in the United States at a starting price of $899.99.
• The HP Pulse Subwoofer is expected to be available on Sept. 21 in the United States at a starting price of $149.99.
• The HP TouchSmart Elite 7320 PCs are expected to be available on Sept. 21 in the United States at a starting price of $850.
• The HP Pro 3420 PCs are expected to be available in October in the United States at a starting price of $599.

HP drops price of popular Pavilion DM1 laptop to $399

Hewlett-Packard upgraded the popular Pavilion DM1 laptop and also lowered its price as the company shows that business continues as usual amid efforts to sell or spin off the PC unit.
The DM1 comes with an 11.6-inch screen and is now priced starting at US$399. The DM1, introduced early this year, is one of HP's best-selling laptops and was most recently priced at $449.
The laptop will run on new Advanced Micro Devices E-series chips, which includes the CPU and graphics processor on a single chip. The chip offerings include the dual-core E-300 and E-450 chips, which draw up to 18 watts of power and run at 1.3GHz and 1.65GHz, respectively.
HP will also for the first time offer Intel's low-voltage Core i3 chip, with laptop prices starting at $599, said Kevin Wentzel, technical marketing manager at HP. However, users have to buy an external DVD drive with the Intel-based laptop. Buyers will not immediately have the option to buy the laptop without the drive, though the company may rethink that.
"At this point, this is just the way the product has been structured," Wentzel said.
The laptop otherwise includes minor improvements from its predecessor that make it easier to use. HP has tweaked the taskbar and start menu in Windows 7 to make commonly used programs such as Skype easier to locate. The six-cell battery fits into the laptop's chassis, which is an improvement from a cylindrical battery that jutted out. A six-cell battery gives the laptop a battery life of around 9.5 hours. The laptop weighs 3.53 pounds (1.6 kilograms), which is a bit heavier than its 3.46-pound predecessor.

HP in August said it would exit the PC market as it focuses on the higher-margin enterprise business. HP prefers to spin off the division, and has launched a publicity campaign that pitches it's PC division as a "$40 billion startup." The company has said it will continue to meet its support and warranty obligations on PCs sold.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich

The Ice Cream Sandwich picture just became a little clearer

The next big update to Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, will be released in October or November this year according to Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt.
Ice Cream Sandwich will combine elements of the current Gingerbread smartphone and Honeycomb tablet software in order to create one united OS for the Android platform.
We've known for a while that it is coming before the end of the year, but in an interview with Salesforce CEO Mike Benioff, Schmidt was a little more specific.
"We have a new operating system, internally known as Ice Cream Sandwich for some reason, which is being released in October/November, which everyone's really excited about," he said.

Fragmented

Google has been heavily criticised for how fragmented the Android operating system can be, with many devices all running different versions of the software.
The company hopes that Ice Cream Sandwich will remedy those ills creating one master operating system.
The first device to run Ice Cream Sandwich is expected to be the Samsung Nexus Prime, which continues to be at the centre of all speculation.

Microsoft set to reveal Windows 8 tablet next week? Could debut with Samsung slate

Tablet hardware on its way?

Microsoft could be gearing up to reveal Windows 8 for tablets at its Build conference next week, with Samsung rumoured to be the hardware partner of choice.
That means that when the conference kicks off on 13 September, a Samsung-made Windows 8 tablet could become a reality.
The rumour comes by way of the Korea Economic Daily, whose industry sources claim that, "This new product manufactured by Samsung will be the company's first collaboration with Microsoft in its hardware devices."

The final countdown

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Steven Sinofsky will do the onstage demo of Windows 8 but that the slates aren't going to make it on to shop shelves for at least another 12 months.
Windows 8 is also set to run on desktop PCs, usurping the incumbent Microsoft OS, Windows 7; most rumours peg the Windows 8 release date as early 2012.
Samsung, meanwhile, has every reason in the world to be pushing for tablet success; its Android slates are widely agreed to be the best of the robotic bunch, but legal clashes with Apple have been hampering sales in several markets.
No doubt the company is keen to fight the iPad on whatever OS front that it can.

Nvidia promises quadcore tablets by end of 2011 With smartphones to follow in 2012

Nvidia - xooming into the quadcore market

Nvidia's quadcore processors will be hitting Android tablets by the end of 2011, according to the company's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.
The processors, code-named Kal-El, will also make their way to smartphones too, but probably not until 2012.
"We're the only people seriously on the dance floor with Qualcomm," said Huang, conjuring up wonderful images of the two companies engaged in a teen-movie-style dance-off, probably trying to out-robot each other.

Superphone

He also talked about taking Nvidia into the mid-range smartphone market rather than focusing solely on tablets and 'superphones' like the Motorola Atrix.
"We'll be very pleased if we can be a sizable player in the mainstream phone market," Huang added.
He reckoned that Nvidia holds about a 70 per cent share of the Android tablet market, but only 50 per cent of the superphone line. No doubt being first past the post with quadcore chipsets will give the company a boost as we head into 2012.

Google says China has renewed its content provider license

The Chinese government has renewed Google's Internet Content Provider (ICP) license, a company spokesman said on Wednesday, giving the company another year to operate its local website in the country.
The company's license, which allows the search giant to operate its China-based site Google.cn, must be reviewed annually. Last year, the company's license renewal appeared to be in doubt after Google decided months earlier it would no longer censor its search engine results in the country. The move angered Chinese officials, but in July, authorities decided to still renew the license.
Google, however, has significantly reduced its services in the country after declaring it would stop censoring search results. Google.cn no longer operates as a search engine, but instead provides a link to Google.com.hk, the company's unfiltered search engine for Hong Kong users. Google search results, however, are still filtered in China through the government's own censorship systems.
Since then Google has seen its share of the search market drop to 8 percent of all Internet queries, according to CNZZ.com, an analytical web research site. Domestic search engine giant Baidu has an 80 percent share.

In the run-up to the ICP license approval, Chinese authorities found plenty to dislike about Google, apparently blocking access to Gmail in March and to Google Plus when Google introduced the social networking feature in June.

Yahoo CEO Bartz fired over the phone, rocky run ends

Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone yesterday after a period of stagnation, shares have hardly risen since she first took the reigns in 2009, and partnership rift rumours.
"I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward," the outspoken CEO said in a two-sentence email to employees obtained by Reuters.
Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse will act as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found.
A rift between Yahoo and it's Chinese partner, Alibaba, surfaced in May after it was revealed that Alibaba had abruptly handed Alipay -- one of Alibaba's crown jewels -- to a company controlled by Ma, apparently without Yahoo's knowledge.
Yahoo is worth about $16 billion, with much of that ascribed to its roughly 40 percent stake in China's Alibaba, the parent company of websites including Alibaba.com and Taobao. Yahoo also owns a stake in Yahoo Japan, along with Japanese mobile company Softbank.

China taps IBM mainframe for online services

An IT services company in China has picked an IBM mainframe to provide online services for up to 300 million citizens, including many in rural areas who will access the services through kiosks in community centers and other public places, IBM said.
The mainframe acts as an integration point for services delivered by several departments and organizations throughout Fujian province in southeast China, including health care, Social Security, banking and education services.
Local service provider Yi Lian Zhong Information Technology picked the mainframe partly because it can handle the high volume of transactions the system is expected to generate, according to IBM.
"Scale is considerably different in China. A small bank is 100 million customers," said Bill Reeder, IBM worldwide zEnterprise Cloud and Linux sales leader.
The system provides citizens with access to the various services through a single Web portal. They swipe their identity card at the kiosks and can pay bills, look for jobs, submit housing applications and collect farming and fuel subsidies.
YLZ picked a z10 Business Class mainframe, one of the smaller models aimed at mid-sized companies. It's the size of a large refrigerator and can do the work of 232 x86 servers, IBM said when it launched the system a few years ago.
The mainframe is supplementing Sparc-based systems that were running out of capacity, Reeder said. The Sparc systems continue to run the portal site, using Oracle's database and WebLogic middleware.
Software connectors link the mainframe to each local department providing the services. YLZ will extend the system from Fujian to seven other provinces, covering about 300 million people, according to IBM.
IBM was keen to publicize the deal, which shows how developing countries are adopting mainframes to support large-scale online services. It has also announced mainframe deals in India and Namibia, in southern Africa.

IBM said more than a third of the new customers for its z196 mainframe, which started shipping last year, are in growth markets, or countries outside of Japan, western Europe and North America.