iPad: Yankees say no, minors team says yes

The iPad is making its way to the baseball diamond, after all.(Credit: Chris Matyszcyk/CNET)

The New York Yankees made tech news earlier this week when it was confirmed that the most successful baseball team in history wouldn't be allowing fans to bring Apple's iPad to games at the New Yankee Stadium. In response, a minor league team announced this week that it will welcome iPad owners with open arms.The Hudson Valley Renegades, a class-A Tampa Bay Rays affiliate, released a statement earlier this week confirming that it would allow Apple's iPad into its stadium. Even better, the team said that on every Monday game during the season, fans will be able to bring their iPads to the ballpark and get a free ticket.It gets better. The team will even open a ReTweet booth where fans can "get assistance with setting up or updating their social-media networking sites, such as Twitter, Foursquare, and Facebook.""Technology is constantly evolving and enhancing the way fans are able to follow the game," General Manager Eben Yager said in a statement. "This season we are focusing on the fan experience, and utilizing this new technology at the ballpark [allows] fans to do everything from watch a Major League game to checking stats on former Renegades players only improves the fan's experience. It allows everyone to be their own fan."The Renegades' decision to allow iPads into its stadium was a direct response to the New York Yankees deciding that Apple's tablet fell under its "No laptops" policy.Monday games at the Renegades' Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., start on June 21.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Analyst expects iPad to pass Mac

The iPad is set to surpass Apple Mac computer shipments by September, while production levels for the yet-to-be-released iPhone 4G will hit 12 million by that time, according to an analyst. "By the September quarter, iPad sales volumes should exceed Mac, which, on average, are about 3 million on a quarterly basis," said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, in a phone interview Friday. Kumar said that iPad shipments will "easily" reach 4 million by the end of the September quarter.

The iPad, which went on sale earlier this spring, is expected to surpass the Mac in shipments by September, says analyst Ashok Kumar.(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET )

Kumar also commented on the production ramp for the iPhone 4G. "Supply chain checks indicate that 4G production volumes will approach 12 million units by the September quarter," he wrote in a research note sent out Friday. The iPhone 4G is Apple's next-generation iPhone, due later this year. "Along with 3GS shipments, total iPhone quarterly volume could approach 15 million units in September. If these trends manifest, iPhone volumes for the year will top 40 million units or well above current street estimates. The production volumes are a confirmation that Apple is increasingly becoming carrier agnostic," Kumar wrote. Kumar continued. "Verizon launch (is) on track for the holidays: With FCC certification behind, the primary gating factor remains the terms of engagement with Verizon. Supply chain checks indicate that Apple will launch the product in time for the holidays. If these events unfold as planned, iPhone quarterly volume (all flavors) could reach 17 million units by December," Kumar wrote. The iPhone 4G is expected to sport new features like a front-facing camera, better battery life, a higher-resolution display, and new design accents (square design with enlarged aluminum border), and an Apple A4 processor. Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the opening keynote address June 7 at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, where he may provide some details on the next-generation iPhone. An iPhone from Verizon is expected at some point, though neither Verizon nor Apple has confirmed one is coming. Such a deal would mean AT&T would relinquish its current exclusivity to market the iPhone.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Sony, Nokia express concern over Foxconn suicides

Under its Foxconn brand, Hon Hai Precision Industries makes gadgets to order for the biggest name in electronics. And in light of the increasing number of employee suicide attempts and media attention, some of those clients are beginning to speak publicly about the problem. On Friday, one of the most recognizable names in electronics, Sony, and the largest mobile-phone company in the world, Nokia, say they're looking into what's happening at the Foxconn factories in China, according to Agence France Presse. "In response to recent reports, Sony has begun taking steps to re-evaluate the working environment at Foxconn," the company said in a statement. Nokia also commented on the Foxconn situation Friday, saying, "We are concerned and take this very seriously. Given the concerning reports regarding Foxconn, we are in continuous contact with Foxconn to ensure any issues are identified and addressed as soon as possible." The two companies' statements echoed what Apple, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard said Wednesday. All of them say they take working conditions "seriously" throughout their supply chain and will do their own investigations into the matter. Meanwhile, suicide attempts at Foxconn's 450,000-employee factories have continued. On Friday there were reports of yet another attempt, possibly the 16th since the beginning of the year. And on Wednesday, right after Hon Hai's chairman gave a carefully guided media tour of his plant intended to show happy, safe workers, a worker reportedly jumped to his death. Hon Hai has been repeatedly accused of forcing employees to work long hours for low pay under stressful conditions. The company has been sometimes violent and, until this week, mostly dismissive of media requests to investigate. The company said recently it will install "suicide nets" to discourage employees from jumping, and offer a 20 percent wage increase to some workers.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

'Hurt Locker' downloaders, you've been sued

Producers of Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker" have made good on a promise to file copyright lawsuits against people who illegally shared the movie via peer-to-peer networks.

Voltage Pictures, an independent production company, filed a copyright complaint on Monday against 5,000 John Does in federal court in Washington, D.C. According to court records, next on the company's to-do list is to learn the names of the John and Jane Does from their Internet service providers. Attorneys for Voltage wrote in the complaint that unless the court stops the people who pirate "The Hurt Locker," then Voltage will suffer "great and irreparable injury that cannot fully be compensated or measured in money." Voltage has asked the court to order anyone who downloaded the movie illegally to destroy all copies of "The Hurt Locker" on their computers and any other electronic device that they may have stored the film. As for monetary damages, the movie's producers did not ask for a specific figure but want those found to have pilfered the movie to pay actual or statutory damages and cover the costs that went into filing the suits. So, here we go again. Some big hurt
The "Hurt Locker" producers aren't the first to kick off this new round of suits against individuals. A company calling itself the U.S. Copyright Group seems to be spearheading these efforts and has filed lawsuits on behalf of 10 other movies, including "Far Cry" and "Call of the Wild 3D." None of those flicks have come close to earning the notoriety of "Locker." The film won six Academy Awards this year, including one for "Best Picture." The movie was a disappointment at the box office, however, grossing only $16 million domestically. Nonetheless, a film with an Oscar pedigree could potentially whip up a lot of sympathy among independent filmmakers for the idea of taking a stand against file sharing.

'Hurt Locker' sharers: Expect docs like this (photos)

But the filing of a lawsuit does not a successful legal campaign make. Not when you're talking about the volume of file sharers Voltage has set its sights on. This is well tread ground after all. The four top record companies attempted to use litigation as a deterrent for five years and were confronted by bad publicity, big legal costs, and this little nugget: the suits didn't slow illegal file sharing. And the labels are large corporations with lots of cash to fund antipiracy operations. Voltage is relatively small and isn't backed by the Motion Picture Association of America, the trade group representing the six largest film studios, including Disney, Sony Pictures, and Paramount Pictures. The MPAA employs staff to help prevent studio-backed films from leaking to the Web and track them down when they occur. It appears the Copyright Group, which is private and has nothing to do with the government despite the official-sounding name, is offering smaller film companies a means to fight back against piracy. Your IP address
Whether Voltage can bankroll a legal campaign involving 5,000 people, or whether litigation can make up for lost profits remains to be seen. But two things are for certain: First, Nicolas Chartier, who co-founded Voltage, doesn't appear afraid of some bad publicity. On the contrary, he seems to welcome it. Not only did he get banned from the Academy Awards for lobbying judges to vote for his film, but he recently called those who disagree with his lawsuits "morons."

Read an FAQ on the Hurt Locker file-sharing case by clicking photo. (Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET)

The second thing that "Locker" sharers should know is that according to the filing, Voltage already has the Internet protocol addresses of the 5,000 John and Jane Does. There was some question whether companies such as Time Warner and Comcast would provide the information because the Copyright Group has filed so many requests for IP addresses; about 50,000 for a dozen or so films. The ISPs say they don't have the resources to chase down this many. Remember, in five years, the RIAA filed suit against less than 40,000 people. "The plaintiff has identified each defendant by the IP address assigned to that defendant," Voltage's attorneys wrote. "The plaintiff believes that information obtained in discovery will lead to the identification of each of the defendant's true name." Note to readers: If anybody out there is eventually accused of illegally sharing "The Hurt Locker," please contact me. It's news. Thanks. My e-mail is greg.sandoval@cnet.com.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Putting the 'we' in Wii for blind gamers

VI Fit, a video game research project at the University of Nevada, Reno, could help people who are visually impaired stay fit with active games modeled on the Wii that do not require vision (of the literal variety, that is) to play. They do require Wii remote controllers and a Windows PC with Bluetooth support or a USB Bluetooth dongle, but the games can be downloaded for free at vifit.org.

(Credit: VI Fit)

"Lack of vision forms a significant barrier to participation in physical activity, and consequently children with visual impairments have much higher obesity rates and obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes," says Eelke Folmer, an assistant professor in the computer science and engineering department who led the project.Folmer says the two new games, VI Tennis and VI Bowling, are the first of several to come, and that while they are adaptations of Wii exercise games, VI Fit is in no way endorsed by or associated with Nintendo.VI Tennis uses Wii tennis but with audio and vibrotactile cues to instruct the players when to serve and return the ball, and it can be played against other players with remotes, or against the computer.The group says the 13 blind children who tested the game at Camp Abilities in New York engaged in "levels of active energy expenditure that were high enough to be considered healthy," which is a scientist's way of saying they got the kids off the couch.VI Bowling uses Wii bowling but with a novel motor-learning feature, where vibrotactile feedback gives players clues on where to throw the ball. The six adults who were evaluated playing the game exerted about as much energy as if they had spent that amount of time walking.Folmer's research team includes: Tony Morelli, a doctoral candidate at the University of Nevada, Reno; John Foley, a faculty member in the physical education department and expert in movement studies in disability at State University of New York, Cortland; and Lauren Lieberman, a researcher in the Department of Kinesiology, Sports Studies, and Physical Education at SUNY, Brockport, who specializes in adapted physical education, especially children with sensory impairments.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Survey: iPhone owners are the happiest

The iPhone is No. 1 in customer satisfaction, says a new ChangeWave survey, but Motorola also has its share of happy Droid users.Among the 1,009 smartphone owners interviewed by research firm ChangeWave, results released this week found that 77 percent of all Apple iPhone owners said they're very satisfied with their phones. Motorola came in second, with 64 percent of its smartphone users who expressed high satisfaction with their phones.In comparison, 51 percent of HTC owners and 46 percent of RIM Blackberry buyers said they're very satisfied with their smartphones.Among specific models, Apple fans who own the newest iPhone 3GS models were more satisfied than those who still use the older 3G. And Motorola can thank the Droid for its high level of customer satisfaction--69 percent of Droid users said they're very satisfied with their phones, while only 50 percent of those who own other Motorola phones said the same.Of course, we know that iPhone satisfaction varies a lot between rural and urban areas and by geographic location. But ChangeWave spokesman Paul Carton says the customers surveyed were a representative sampling geographically of the U.S. and Canada. Most of those surveyed were U.S. residents, he said.Looking at HTC's customers, 68 percent of the HTC Hero owners expressed a high degree of satisfaction, compared with 50 percent of those using a Droid Eris and 38 of those with an HTC Touch. ChangeWave was running its survey just when HTC's Droid Incredible hit the market, so it couldn't provide feedback on that new model. But the research firm promised to do a follow-up survey of Droid Incredible owners.

(Credit: ChangeWave)

ChangeWave also asked about the mobile operating systems running on smartphones. The iPhone OS received the highest mark, with 71 percent of those surveyed who said they're very satisfied with it. But the Android OS pulled in at a close second--67 percent of its owners said they're happy with Google's OS.Palm's Web OS came in third with 57 percent of its customers saying they're very satisfied with it. That was followed by the RIM OS with 37 percent satisfied and Windows Mobile in the rear with only 24 percent of its owners expressing the same feelings.What do smartphones owners like about their phones? iPhone users rated the applications, ease of use, and Internet access the top features, while Motorola fans listed applications, Internet access, and GPS/Maps as their favorites.What don't they like? iPhone owners ranked carrier AT&T as their top complaint, followed by battery life, and then the lack of multitasking (one limitation due to be fixed when iPhone OS 4.0 debuts). Motorola users named battery life, the screen, and general functionality as their biggest gripes.Those surveyed mentioned various reasons why they chose their smartphones. iPhone owners named the applications, the features and functionality, and ease of use and reliability as the major factors. Motorola customers listed carrier Verizon Wireless, the features and functionality, and the Android OS as the top motivators for their purchase.Naturally, the survey also tapped into the neverending rumors about Verizon or other carriers outside of AT&T grabbing the iPhone. ChangeWave asked participants if they would have purchased the same smartphone had the iPhone been available through their carrier. Overall, 32 percent said yes, while another 29 percent didn't know.

(Credit: ChangeWave)

Specifically, 46 percent of Palm owners would have picked up the iPhone, while 40 percent of Motorola owners would have opted for the Apple phone.Conducting its survey from April 21 to May 2, ChangeWave interviewed consumers who had bought their smartphones over the prior six months.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

A world without records

I received an e-mail recently from my good friend and book co-author Chris Stakutis, who is also vice president of emerging technology at CA. Chris can have very different ways of looking at things, a quality that makes him well-suited for his job. The e-mail I'm reprinting below (with a few edits for brevity) is a case in point. From time to time, one of the organizations that specializes in counting things speculates that in the next five years, humans will generate many yottabytes of data. Here's an example from IDC. (Yes, you can yotta yotta data.) These pronouncements are always great news for storage vendors. However, as an IT professional, Chris would ask not how you would store all that data, but why you would need to store it at all. In enterprise IT, it is common to find storage administrators who will tell you that the company's default position in regard to data retention is to always store everything forever. Since that policy is hard if not impossible to sustain, enterprises have recently devised policies that allow them to throw some of it away. Suppose, however, that you were to start from the opposite side of the proposition--never save anything, ever. One could start there and then create policies around what to save. Here's what Chris says on the matter:

The planet is especially well designed to naturally recycle its own materials. A specimen of some sort perishes, and The System is busy at work to redeploy the basic materials for future growth. In very rare cases, a specimen will leave an indentation of itself behind--a fossil--a "record" if you will. This disturbs the natural order of things. It presents "data" about the past that now needs to be factored with the present. For billions of years, these anomalous records of the past were properly overlooked and did not disrupt the grand plans for the future, thankfully. A bird nesting in the eaves of grand canyon wall benefits from the angle of the warming sun and the abundance of nearby berries. The history of ice ages and earthquakes and past Indian tribes recorded on the rock wall are of no care. Then come the humans. We draw on rocks at first, then turn glyphs into words, then transpose onto leaves loosely bound in what we now recognize as books. Worse yet, we invent photography and can capture an instant of time and review it over and over again and potentially re-live it through motion pictures. We have gone from a universe that only deals with re-growth and the future to one that is becoming obsessed with the past. Enter computers and digital records. Trillions of terabytes of data of the past, and growing without bound. It's not information anymore and to say it is noise is too polite. Back to fossils. Every once in a while, some researcher finds some especially curious fossil buried deep in the ocean floor. Or, the skeletal remains of some early primate high in the mountains of Western China. A single primate skeleton can fascinate scientists for years. We give him a name. We pick a gender. We assign stories of his troubled life as told by the microscopically visible bone fractures, and we even infer his preferred diet based on remnants of teeth and jaw structure. We might even be so bold to guess his social habits--from a single skeleton. Now, picture walking through those same mountains and with every step we crunch thousands of skeletal remains covering millions of years. The crunching is deafening. What can be learned from trillions of primate skeletons? In fact, their history now becomes a present challenge--that of stepping over them to get to a destination. It's hard to believe that recording history in totality is essential to our evolution. Is it not unnatural and [doesn't it] mire us in our ways? What if all the effort given today to recording our past was put towards building our future?

Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Apple TV makeover looming?

Is Apple TV about to move beyond its experimental "hobby" phase? According to what some anonymous sources have told Engadget, the answer is yes. On Friday, the gadget blog posted a report of what sounds like a detailed makeover of Apple TV in its current incarnation. The new device will reportedly be based on iPhone OS 4 software, including the homegrown A4 chip; have 16GB of local flash storage; come in a much smaller casing (reportedly the size of an "iPhone without a screen"); have just a few ports; and cost $99.

(Credit: Apple)

It's also supposedly going to stream 1080p video from the cloud directly to the device, instead of buying and storing all content locally. Apple TV currently uses a stripped-down version of Mac OS X, comes with a 160GB hard drive, and looks like a standard set-top box for the living room. And it currently costs $229. So the new rumored device would be quite a departure from the current hardware and software. But it would be a good departure. What's described above is basically what people have been asking for. Plus, with the rise of Netflix, customers have gotten far more comfortable with streaming content rather than owning it. What these sources are saying also lines up with what CNET reported in March: that Apple had approached major film studios about enabling iTunes customers to store their content on its servers. The plan included being able to access movies and TV content from a variety of Web-connected devices. We also know Apple bought streaming Web music site Lala.com in December because it wanted access to the service's streaming technology. Again, the report comes from anonymous sources, but it's believable. Especially since rival Google is marshaling its own hardware partners to push into the living room with Google TV.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

WSJ: Verizon pledges to promote new Motorola smartphones

Motorola is counting on Verizon to use its marketing prowess to help the handset maker stage a smartphone recovery, and the wireless carrier has promised to do just that, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Motorola's Droid(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Motorola has worked out a deal with Verizon Wireless to make sure some of its new smartphones for Verizon will get a heavy promotion by the carrier, says the Journal.As Motorola has struggled to turn a profit, its co-CEO Sanjay Jha has bet the farm on Verizon Wireless and the Droid to help turn the tide of its sluggish handset business. But the Android OS is owned by Google and the Droid name by Verizon, leaving Motorola in a weaker position to promote the products.Verizon Wireless spent $100 million advertising the Droid for Motorola, according to the Journal, a key factor that kicked up Motorola's earnings during the first quarter. But to manufacture its new Droid Incredible, Verizon picked a different partner, namely HTC.Fielding questions at a Barclays Capital press conference on Thursday, Jha said that Motorola will launch new Droid smartphones to be sold by Verizon Wireless and expressed confidence about his company's relationship with the carrier."I think we are very well-positioned," said Jha. "I think we will participate in the Droid franchise well. We will introduce new Droid products in the Verizon franchise."Following a string of losses, Motorola has been able to turn a profit the past few quarters. But the company still faces a challenging road ahead. Despite strong sales of the Droid, overall smartphone revenue is way down from Motorola's peak a few years ago when its Razr phone flew off the shelves.Hoping to rejuvenate its smartphone trade, Motorola is also due to split itself into two separate businesses early next year--one to focus on the mobile phone business led by Jha, the other to concentrate on enterprise products run by co-CEO Greg Brown.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

LimeWire judge cuts curious note about EFF lawyer

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood apparently goofed by suggesting that a prominent pro-technology attorney acted improperly in dealings with the firm that oversees LimeWire. Two weeks ago, Wood granted summary judgment in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America in the trade group's copyright case against Lime Group, parent of file-sharing service Lime Wire, maker of the LimeWire software. While Wood's decision generated enormous interest from file sharers, as it likely means the end of LimeWire, according to legal experts, Wood's written decision stirred controversy in legal circles by including a short note about lawyer Fred von Lohmann, a well-known champion of technology companies and Internet users. Wood wrote that some of the executives from Lime Wire gave sealed testimony that von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, advised them to "purge incriminating information about LimeWire users' activities." Many of von Lohmann's critics from the pro-copyright side said it appeared Wood was calling out von Lohmann for offering Lime Wire execs a primer on how to break the law and get away with it. But on Tuesday, Wood amended her decision after receiving a written request to do so last week by Cindy Cohn, EFF's legal director. In Wood's amended decision, there is no explanation about what she meant with the phrase "purge incriminating information" or why she removed it. "We believe the materials in the record do not support the inclusion of the phrase 'to purge incriminating information,'" Cohn wrote in her request to Wood for a modification. "As you may imagine, Mr. von Lohmann and EFF are concerned that his professional reputation has been put at risk." Calls to von Lohmann on Friday were not immediately returned. Wood's rewrite won't come as a surprise to von Lohmann's colleagues and supporters, many of them lawyers who also tend to defend file-sharing companies and Internet services accused of copyright violations. Some of them said last week that von Lohmann, perhaps best known for being part of the legal team that defended file-sharing service Grokster in the landmark case, MGM Studios vs. Grokster , is a smart, respected and ethical attorney.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Novell auction could be patent troll bonanza

On Thursday Novell reported another poor quarter with fiscal second-quarter earnings down 5.4 percent to $204 million and a declining cash balance of $980 million. That's bad for Novell investors, of course, but it may portend something even worse for the wider industry.Patent lawsuits. Lots of them.

As reported, as many as 20 organizations have registered bids for Novell, most (or all) of them private equity firms. While an Oracle or a Cisco might acquire Novell for its maintenance streams and product portfolio, it's unclear that private equity firms will have the same motivation. For at least some of these, there will be serious pressure to sell Novell's assets to the highest bidder, regardless of the consequences to Novell's existing customers or to the wider industry.This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that Novell has a treasure trove of patents, with at least 450 patents related to networking, office productivity applications, identity management, and more.When I worked for Novell, we didn't worry too much about a lawsuit from Microsoft. After all, Novell had (and, I presume, still has) patents that directly impact Microsoft's Office business. I could see Microsoft lining up to buy out these patents from a private equity firm, but I could also see a non-practicing entity (aka "patent troll") buying them to extort money from Microsoft.Perhaps some would cheer, but they shouldn't.After all, Novell also has valuable Unix copyrights (sorry, SCO) which, in turn, affect Linux. Given Novell's history in the networking market, it almost certainly owns patents that also could have a big impact on defending Linux.Or attacking it. Depending on who gets those patents.This same intellectual property motivated Microsoft to pay Novell a $536 million settlement back in 2004. How much would Novell's intellectual property be worth to a patent troll?The Novell auction, in short, is a very big deal, and not just for the company that ends up acquiring Novell's business. That business has been in decline for over a decade, punctuated in the second quarter by a 17 percent slide in services revenue, 8.5 percent dip in license revenue, and a 2.8 percent drop in maintenance and subscription revenue.But Novell's assets have arguably never been more valuable in an industry that has seen a spate of lawsuits lately.This is not to suggest that Novell would be wrong to sell to a private equity firm. It may not have much of a choice, and many such firms will arguably do an excellent job managing Novell's assets. The critical thing is that Novell sell to a firm that understands and cares about its business.For those of us who care primarily about Novell's Linux business, as Novell noted in its earnings call, that Linux business is doing well (once you remove the impact of the declining value of its partnership with Microsoft) and its cloud and virtualization message is resonating with service providers. This should mean that the Linux-related assets will go to a good home, and not fall into the hands of a patent troll.Let's hope so. Novell long ago faded from many people's minds, but it has never been more relevant with its business and, by extension, its intellectual property, available for the highest bidder.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Wave-powered desalination pump permitted in Gulf

The waters of the Gulf of Mexico will see a novel offshore platform later this year, one that will use wave power to desalinate water. Independent Natural Resources, which makes the Seadog water pump, on Wednesday said that it has received a permit for a wave power generation facility off the coast of Freeport, Texas. The company says it's the first to receive a "section 10 permit" from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to operate a wave generator in the U.S.

A picture of the planned offshore platform which would have underwater 18 pumps moving water through a water wheel to make electricity.(Credit: Independent Natural Resources)

The facility, which the company hopes to put in the water by the end of the year, will be a platform with 18 wave pumps underneath it. Each pump, which is about seven feet in diameter, will send water up through three water wheels connected to a generator. The electricity from the generator will be used to power a standard reverse osmosis desalination machine. The wave energy generator is larger than Independent Natural Resource's prototype machines which it installed in 2007 but this new facility is sized to operate at commercial scale in Gulf waters. Rather than sell electricity or water, though, operators will be taking data to measure impact on sea life, the generator's performance, and the cost of operation, said Douglas Sandberg, the vice president of the privately funded company. The platform will be about 150 feet by 75 feet in area and be 1 mile offshore to take advantage of swells. The pumps themselves will work 25 feet below the surface of the water and be able to generate about 60 kilowatts. The efficiency of the system in converting wave energy to electrical energy is about 22 percent but can get over 50 percent, Sandberg said. Rather than only convert the energy of an incoming wave, the pump also captures some of the potential energy of air movement in the pump, he explained. The electricity generated on board will be used to power the facility and desalinate 3,000 gallons of water a day for testing, although it's capable of doing 20 times that, according to the company. Water energy connection
The company chose to work on desalination because the energy costs associated with running desalination plants are very high--as much as 40 percent or 50 percent of operating costs, according to Sandberg. It has set up a subsidiary to bottle water from Seadog pumps from future installations. But the technology can be used for municipal-scale desalination. "Instead of having to build power plants to do desalination, we can build one facility that produces power, desalinates water, and delivers it, either for agriculture or drinking," he said. "You do have upfront capital cots but you do not have operating power costs."

A prototype of the Seadog pump being installed in the Gulf of Mexico in 2007. (Credit: Independent Natural Resources)

The pump can be used with different types of generators, including a standard water-powered turbine. The company has a permit to operate for four years, during which it hopes to prove that the environmental impact is minimal. In areas with a good wave resource such as Ireland, Sandberg said the Seadog pumps can be competitive with wind power and "in line" with fossil fuel power generation. Ocean power generators that take advantage of wave motion or currents have potential to produce a significant amount of electricity, but the technology faces a number of challenges. Generally, these machines are put in harsh conditions, making maintenance--and cost--a big concern. Also, there's a long permitting process as data needs to be gathered on the environmental impact. Still, there are a number of companies and researchers pushing ahead on wave or tidal power. Late last year, Aquamarine Power connected a giant, clamshell-shaped device that pumps water from off the coast of Scotland to a water generator. Last week, the company unveiled its second-generation machine, which it hopes to have installed off the Orkney Islands in mid 2011. Updated at 11:30 a.m. PT with additional details and clarifications.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Mozilla prepares coders for Firefox 4 features

It was with delight that I read these words on Thursday: "The proposed IndexedDB standard, which provides a local database store for Web applications, will be supported by Firefox 4." The statement appears on Mozilla's new Firefox 4 for developers site, boding well for those of us who use the Web a lot: the IndexedDB interface gives Web applications a way to work even without a network connection.

The proposed IndexedDB addition to the HTML standard is one of a collection of technologies opening new horizons for Web programmers and putting competitive pressure on Adobe Systems' Flash Player plug-in. The main reason I'm interested in it in particular: the restoration and, I'd hope, improvement of Google Docs offline access and editing features. But I could see it as improving performance for some Web sites, too, through more sophisticated caching, for example. When earlier this month Mozilla detailed Firefox 4 plans, including a desire to release the new version by November, the organization left IndexedDB support as a grayed-out item, meaning it wasn't committing. When I asked if things had changed since then, Mozilla displayed some optimism but left itself some IndexedDB wiggle room. "Our team continues to work on both the implementation of IndexedDB as well as on the specification in collaboration with Microsoft and others," said Director of Firefox Mike Beltzner. "This work is moving fast; over the past two weeks there has been a lot of progress on the specification. We're still aiming to ship it with Firefox 4, assuming the quality of the specification and implementation meet the needs of Web developers looking to build applications that use client side storage." Firefox faces new competition from Google Chrome in particular, but its usage continues to grow, and at least for newer Web sites, being something other than Internet Explorer isn't the liability it once was. IndexedDB is one of a number of technologies developers should be aware of. Mozilla mentioned some earlier, but the developer page has a full list that's still under development. Some highlights: • WebM. Google hadn't announced its royalty-free, open-source Web video project when Mozilla gave its May 11 list. It's no surprise, but WebM has indeed arrived on the Firefox 4 to-do list. Some raw developer-oriented builds of the software have support already. • Multitouch. Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad don't run Firefox, but an increasing number of touch- and multitouch-operated devices will, including Google Android phones. • WebGL. This technology for bringing 3D graphics to the Web uses the OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics interface, but Google is working on a technology to bridge to computers that only have Windows Direct3D drivers installed. Google's also working on a higher-level 3D graphics interface based on its O3D plug-in. • WebSockets. This HTML feature is for better communications between a browser and a server. • HTML5 parser. The HTML5 specification, while not finalized, brings some improvements to the rules for how to interpret Web pages, and Mozilla is moving to a new parser to handle that task. The HTML5 parser is faster than its predecessor and can display SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) amid other elements on a Web page. • SMIL. The Synchronized Multimedia Integration Languagecan be used for some animation chores, encroaching somewhat on the toes of Adobe Systems' Flash. This story was corrected at 9:51 a.m. PDT to correct Mike Beltzner's title. His title is director of Firefox.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Nokia, Opera side with Adobe on Flash

Nokia and Opera Software have taken sides in the Adobe-Apple battle over Flash multimedia support: They are in the Flash camp.

On Thursday executives from Nokia, the world's largest maker of cell phones, and Opera Software, the maker of a leading mobile browser, said they'd support the new Flash 10.1 software that is coming out. Opera's co-founder Jon von Tetzchner was quoted as saying "It is the only proprietary part of the Web we support."Getting these two companies on board, as well as Google's Android, which also supports the software, is a big win for Adobe Systems in its battle against Apple. Last month Apple CEO Steve Jobs knocked the Adobe Flash multimedia software, which is used in most Web video and games, for being proprietary, sapping battery power, not supporting multitouch interfaces, posing security risks, and being unstable. "Flash is the No. 1 reason Macs crash," Jobs said in his open letter detailing the many reasons that Apple doesn't support the software. Flash-based video and games are found on many Internet sites. And the technology is supported on most smartphones and mobile devices. But Apple does not allow Flash on any the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.Adobe has accused Apple of simply trying to control the market. The battle has heated up over recent months with a war of words and with players in the industry are starting to take sides. Nokia and Opera are just the latest companies to side with Adobe. Earlier this week it was reported that Time Warner and NBC Universal have told Apple they won't spend the time and money to rework their Flash-friendly video libraries to make them compatible with the iPad. CNET's Stephen Shankland, who has been following the brouhaha closely, notes that the public fracas has had little effect on consumers. Developers are still creating thousands of new applications for the iPhone and the iPad without Flash. The downside is that many existing Web sites with Flash-based games, applications, and video streaming won't work on the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. To get more of the inside scoop on what the Apple-Adobe battle means check out his FAQ.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Box gets HTML5-powered drag-and-drop uploads

Storage and online collaboration service Box.net on Friday is introducing a new version of its site that lets users with HTML5-enabled Web browsers drag and drop files into their browser to upload them to the company's servers. The company has long had a Java-powered drag-and-drop tool for uploads, but it's been slow to load, required users to have a recent version of Java installed, and put the drop zone in a pop-up window. Under the new system, users can simply drag files to any Box.net folder they're in, and it will start uploading in the background. Despite the advancements that come with the HTML5 version, the Java uploader is sticking around--at least for the time being. Box CEO Aaron Levie, whom CNET spoke with on Thursday, said that the main reason for this is compatibility. To take advantage of the HTML5 drag-and-drop uploading, users must be on Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, leaving users of other browsers (notably Internet Explorer) out of luck. Levie also says that the HTML5 uploader can take a performance hit if a user is trying to upload a single, large file. In Chrome this limit is around 2GB, while on the current version of Firefox, files over 25MB will begin to slow things down. Levie says that the company is hoping to build more HTML5 features into the site, including file management and uploading while offline. "We're excited on where that goes," he said, but noted that Adobe's Flash is still very much a part of some of the site's snazziest features. "The widget and document preview engine are still in Flash, and [HTML5] is so new," he said. "As penetration emerges on HTML5, you'll see us roll over everything that is interactive."

Box.net users who are on Chrome or the latest versions of Safari and Firefox can now drag files from their computer into their browser to begin an upload.(Credit: Box.net/CNET)

Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Opera pokes fun at Chrome speed-test video

Opera, ever scrappy in its effort to promote its browser over larger rivals, is poking fun at Google's recent video boasting about the speed of its Chrome browser. "The Opera browser is much faster than a potato," concludes Opera's low-budget video, which features herring-obsessed caricatured Scandinavians rolling the tubers into a pot of water at the same time Opera loads a Web page. The video is a not-so-subtle dig at Google, which promoted Chrome's speed using elaborately staged stunts recorded with high-speed videography. The first example: involved shooting a potato through a grid to make french fries, with a Web page loading in scene as the sliced potato pieces whizzed by. Joking aside, browser speed is important: people use Web pages more when the pages load and respond faster. All five of the top browser makers--Microsoft, Apple, Mozilla, Google, and Opera--are working as hard as possible on minimum launch times and page-load times and on fast execution of Web-based JavaScript programs.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

What makes a tablet a tablet? (FAQ)

Pop quiz: Which one is the true tablet? Apple iPad, JooJoo, Dell Streak, or HP Slate?If you guessed any of them you're right. Or you're wrong. Because the answer seems to depend on whom you ask.The tablet category is heating up lately. IDC expects more than 7 million tablets to ship by the end of the year and more than 46 million units to ship by 2014. That is in large part due to the success of Apple's iPad, which has flown off store shelves since its introduction in April. Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Asus, Fuijtsu, Acer, Archos, and many others have also flocked to the the decidedly gray area that tablets occupy between a smartphone and notebook.Perhaps because the category is new, the definition of "tablet" seems sort of up for grabs, depending on who is defining it. Size, features, and specifications are the traditional way of breaking down consumer electronics and PC categories, but the few products currently for sale or coming soon are blurring those lines. We take a crack at dampening some of the confusion around the latest crop of consumer tablets. (For a complete list of tablets, see the guide put together by CNET's Donald Bell.)What makes a tablet a tablet?
Traditionally the categories of mobile computing devices break down in terms of size: smartphones have 3- to 5-inch screens, MIDs (mobile Internet devices) range between 5 and 7 inches, and tablets are between 7 and 10 inches.

The iPad occupies a gray area between smartphone, traditional tablet PC, and laptop in a category some are defining as a "media" or "Web" tablet.(Credit: Apple/CNET)

But the feature set, or what the device can do, is the other half of the equation. According to Gartner, a true tablet is any slate over 5 inches running a full operating system like Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.IDC breaks the devices down into media tablets and tablet PCs. A tablet PC has an x86 processor, runs a desktop OS, and has a screen size anywhere from 5 inches to 21 inches. Despite what it may look like, "A tablet PC is a PC," said Richard Shim, IDC analyst. "There's no real limit to them."These are generally the traditional idea of a tablet, the kind that look like a laptop with a screen that twists that you can close and write on with a stylus, like the Dell Latitude XT or the Asus Eee PC T91."A media tablet we're defining as ARM-based, running a smaller OS (non-Windows)," he said. "The screen sizes are between 7 and 12 inches." ARM is a type of low-power processor typically used in mobile devices, whereas x86 processors are used in more robust applications where power consumption isn't as much of an issue.How do the current crop of tablets compare?
There's a pretty big range in IDC's and Gartner's definitions if you compare the features of a few of the recently announced or released tablets intended for consumer use.

Is the Dell Streak a smartphone or tablet?(Credit: Dell)

An iPad has a 9.7-inch screen, runs a version of the iPhone OS, has an ARM-based processor. The JooJoo, which launched earlier this year, has a 12.1-inch screen, a home-brewed browser that functions as an OS, and an Intel Atom processor. The HP Slate will run Windows 7 (or WebOS), an 8.9-inch screen, and an Atom processor.The Dell Streak has a 5-inch screen, an ARM-based processor, and runs Google's Android--but curiously is being sold through a wireless carrier. Acer has hinted that it has a similar plans for its forthcoming 7-inch Android tablet.Sounds like the Dell Streak is really a smartphone. Is it?
The Streak is an interesting case. Dell calls it a tablet. It has a 5-inch screen, which is on the large side for a smartphone. But it also runs Android, a limited mobile OS, and can make phone calls--it comes with 3G service with O2 in the UK. According to Gartner's definition that would be a smartphone. It's also very similar to Dell's smartphone, the Mini 3, which also runs Android and has a screen just 2 inches smaller. Lance Ulanoff at PC Mag pointed this out earlier.To make matters slightly more confusing, Archos has a very similar 5-inch tablet that also runs Android, though it's definitely not a phone. Save for the 3G radio and the camera, the Archos 5 is essentially identical features-wise to the Streak.

Acer's CEO said selling its forthcoming Android tablet through a wireless carrier would be an "obvious" choice.(Credit: Shufflegazine)

So where does the iPad fit in?
According to Steve Jobs, the iPad is not a computer. At its unveiling, he put it in "a whole new category of devices." He has said it's supposed to do all the things that Netbooks were trying to do but "better." Sure, that's just a lot of marketing speak, but he's also partially right: The iPad isn't as useful as a laptop, it's not a Netbook, and it doesn't focus on doing one particular thing well, like an iPod or a Kindle. It has a 9.7 -inch screen, runs a version of iPhone OS, which is not a full desktop operating system, and in terms of features, is a combination of an iPod Touch and an e-reader. It's not quite a PC, and it's definitely not a smartphone. It does, however, inform the definition of what both Gartner and IDC refer to as a "Web tablet" or "media tablet."Why do Dell, HP, and Apple define "tablet" differently?
Because they're trying to sell a product. And since you likely already own a laptop and a smartphone, they want to introduce you to a new consumer device that you'll want to buy.Some of these gadget makers are trying to distance themselves from the traditional idea of a tablet PC, which never took off the way Microsoft had envisioned. Apple is trying to distance its iPad from the idea of it being a PC at all, in terms of features, connectivity, and even the ability to run traditional PC browser plug-ins like Adobe Flash. Dell is, for whatever reason, not defining its Streak as a phone even though it's being sold through a wireless carrier. Perhaps it's trying to ride the coattails of what is now a very buzz-worthy category?HP, on the other hand, is still trying to figure it all out. The company had demonstrated the HP Slate with Windows 7 at CES, which at the time seemed like a straightforward traditional tablet PC. But since buying Palm and promising that Palm's mobile operating system, WebOS, would appear on an HP Slate, the company has been curiously silent about the Windows 7 tablet. That's likely a sign that they're--understandably--still trying to sort things out. Much like the rest of the industry.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)