Jammie Thomas lawyer not hopeful on mediation

In an effort to finally settle the copyright claims made by the largest record companies against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a federal court in Minnesota has appointed a special master to help mediate. Judge Michael Davis decided to appoint the special master without any urging by the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group that represents the four major music labels or Thomas-Rasset, according to Joe Sibley, one of her attorneys.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset(Credit: Jammie Thomas-Rasset)

Thomas-Rasset is the Minnesota woman who the RIAA accused of illegally sharing music in April 2006. After one jury found her liable for copyright infringement and ordered her to pay $222,000, the judge in the case later ruled he erred in instructing the jury and called allowed a retrial. In the second trial, a jury found Thomas-Rasset liable for $1.92 million. The judge found that amount to be "monstrous and shocking" and reduced the amount to $54,000. Following that, the RIAA made a settlement offer, but after Thomas-Rasset rejected that, the RIAA elected to challenge the judge's decision to lower the damages amount. The special master has his work cut out for him. The case has dragged on for four years and the sides don't appear to be any closer to finding common ground. "I'm not optimistic," Sibley told CNET. "I think that the case has been analyzed enough by the record industry and they know what they will accept. If they didn't want to accept the judgment on [the reduced damages award], I don't think there is anything we would have to offer them that they would accept now."
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

iOS 4 rollout brings lengthy download times

(Credit: Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

iOS 4 download delays

The iOS 4 update is out in the wild, but we're hearing and experiencing long download times.

How's your iOS 4 download experience going?

• Finished downloading, and it worked fine for me
• Downloading, and it's going fast
• Downloading, and it's taking a while
• I haven't tried it yet

Vote View results

Eager to get your hands on the latest and greatest version of Apple's iOS for your iPhone or iPod Touch? Apparently you're not alone, as CNET readers, Twitter users, and our own staff members have been experiencing heavily extended download times, as well as download failures on the software update.For this reporter, the start-to-finish time to grab Apple's 378MB iOS 4 firmware update (which is one of Apple's biggest yet) was estimated at 4 hours and 29 minutes, averaging 20KB to 30KB downloaded per second. It also had to be restarted twice, due to connection drops on the other end. By comparison, a successful download of a 379MB file from Apple's iPhone developer center Web site took just 17 minutes on the same connection.If history has taught us anything though, it's that the download will get faster--it will just take time. The same thing happened when iOS 3 was released, prompting download times in excess of an hour for the much smaller 230MB file.Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.How's your download experience been? Let us know in the poll to the left, or in the comments.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

DIY chocolate bars put editor in sugar coma

It pained me to have to wait till after these were photographed to eat them.(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

UPDATE: This post was edited at 2:20 p.m. to correct the minimum number of bars to 2, not 3. I can tell the difference between numbers, I swear.Barring a large lottery win, this may be the closest I get to channeling my inner Willy Wonka. Chocri, a German start-up that recently set up shop in the U.S., offers chocoholics the opportunity to create their own chocolate bars via its Web site, createmychocolate.com. First, you start with your base chocolate: milk, dark, or white. Then you choose up to five toppings, which range from about what you'd expect to add to a chocolate bar (nuts, coconut, etc.) to things you might not think to put on chocolate (chamomile, poppy seeds, gold flakes). You can even name the bar if you want; it'll be printed on the package. Once you confirm your choices, the bars are made in Germany from organic, fair-trade-certified chocolate and shipped to you in about three weeks. Each 3.5-ounce bar starts at $6.90, and each topping adds a little more to the price (sea salt adds 20 cents, and the real gold flakes will add an extra $2.10), so if you're on a limited budget, you might want to keep that in mind.

Decisions, decisions (click to enlarge). (Credit: Chocri screenshot by Jeff Sparkman/CNET)

There's also a two-bar minimum for each order, and that can be two completely different bars or two of the same. Shipping usually runs about $6, but expedited shipping that gets your chocolate to you in one week instead of three, is available as well for $19.90. One percent of the sales is donated to DIV Kinder, a German-based child-welfare organization that helps children in Ivory Coast, which, not coincidentally, is the largest exporter of cacao beans. Chocri gave me a crack at being a chocolatier recently, and this is what I came up with: Copy Editors' Breakfast
Milk chocolate with sprinkles, cinnamon corn flakes, cinnamon, Bourbon vanilla. Very smooth. The sprinkles and cinnamon corn flakes (looked similar to Cinnamon Toast Crunch for you cereal junkies out there) added a bit of crunch, while the extra cinnamon complemented the milk chocolate nicely. I think this one might be my favorite. Gilligan's Delight
Dark chocolate with coconut shavings, banana chips, nougat pieces. I'm a sucker for dark chocolate and coconut, so I already knew I would be digging this bar. The banana chips felt like an appropriate addition to the coconut, and the pieces of nougat added a little extra sugar buzz. Plus, I just like the word "nougat." Sweet Mercy
Milk and white chocolate with gummy bears, star decorations, Bourbon vanilla. A thin layer of milk chocolate enrobed one side of the otherwise white chocolate bar, which I liked, and the vanilla didn't overpower it at all. I added the star decorations because once as a kid, I got in trouble for eating them out of the bottle. I was pleased that the bars were as tasty as I'd hoped. Chocri also gave me three other sample bars with various toppings for comparison, and while I wouldn't have thought so, dried apple bits on chocolate is actually pretty good. The site has clean, intuitive controls and keeps a tally of your selections. To remove an ingredient, click on it. Bam. No hassle. As with other customization sites I've checked out, the experience is pretty painless. Sure, I was impatient to get my chocolate, but remember, it's coming from Germany. Plus I have instant-gratification issues. Microwave popcorn takes too long to cook for me. If you are a nut for chocolate (see what I did there?), you'll likely spend hours coming up with various chocolate concoctions. And if you really like one, you can reorder it without having to re-create it by entering the bar's reorder code. Pretty sweet, no?
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Amazon drops Kindle price to $189

Amazon fires back at Barnes & Noble.(Credit: Screenshot by David Carnoy/CNET)

Amazon's response to Barnes & Noble's Nook price drop earlier Monday? We can do that, too--only slightly better. Yes, the e-reader pricing wars are in full swing as Amazon has trimmed the price of the Kindle from $259 to $189. In case you're keeping score, that number is a whole $10 less than what Barnes & Noble is charging for the Nook 3G (with Wi-Fi). That said, Barnes & Noble can still claim a certain victory in the affordability department with the just announced Wi-Fi-only Nook, which is available for preorder at $149 and will be out later this week. Will Barnes & Noble call Amazon and go to $189? We'll have to wait and see, but it matched Amazon at $259 for the Kindle, so it may just do it again.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Settlers of Catan coming to Microsoft Surface

A version of Settlers of Catan for Microsoft's Surface tabletop computer is in development, with an early version slated to be shown at this week's Origins Game Fair.(Credit: Microsoft)

Now, it's no secret that I am a Settlers of Catan enthusiast. Just ask the kind folks at TechFlash who made the mistake of letting me play in their tournament.

In the Surface version of Settlers--as with the traditional board game, players benefit if they can keep rivals from seeing which cards they have in their possession.(Credit: Screenshot by Ina Fried/CNET)

So I, like many devotees of the German board game have been hoping to see it make its way to Microsoft's Surface tabletop. Well, the good news is that it is indeed happening. Enthusiasts at this week's Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio, will be the first to see Catan running on the Microsoft tabletop computer, although the game is still in development. The final version is planned to be ready for the Gen Con Indy show in Indianapolis this August. Now if I could only buy a Surface. But, since I can't--and Catan isn't quite ready yet anyway-- there's always the iPhone/iPod Touch version. Plus, the developers of the iPhone game have started seeking beta testers for an iPad version of Catan. I'm interested to see how they make use of the iPad's bigger screen. It would also be neat if, down the road, one could hold their cards on an iPhone or iPod Touch, in the same way that is allowed in Scrabble for iPad. Meanwhile, here's a YouTube video of Catan in action on the even bigger and more capable Surface. It's interesting to see the details, such as how players still use their hands to block others from seeing their cards.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Connecticut heads up 30-state Google Wi-Fi probe

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal(Credit: Connecticut Office of the Attorney General)

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal plans to head up a 30-state investigation into Google's Wi-Fi data gathering scandal, his office announced Monday.Blumenthal's investigation adds to the legal headaches for Google caused by the revelation that its Street View cars were collecting wireless "payload" data in addition to geolocation data from unsecured wireless hot spots. Ever since Google revealed the extent of its data gathering a month ago in response to inquiries from German regulators, lawyers and politicians have been lining up to express their outrage."Consumers have a right and a need to know what personal information--which could include e-mails, Web browsing, and passwords--Google may have collected, how, and why," Blumenthal said in a statement posted on his Web site. "Google must come clean, explaining how and why it intercepted and saved private information broadcast over personal and business wireless networks."Earlier on Monday French government officials announced that a review of data collected there revealed that e-mail addresses and passwords were recorded by Google, although as Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan points out, the nature of Google's collection means that anything sent over an unsecured wireless connection could have been collected.Google has argued that the data that was collected was "fragmented" because Street View cars were moving and the equipment used to record data was changing wireless channels several times a second. It has also said that it collected data inadvertently, and the company's intent will be a key part of the legal battle between Google, the state investigations, and a series of lawsuits.Blumenthal, a Democrat, is going to have a busy summer: in addition to leading this investigation, he's running for U.S. Senate in Connecticut to replace retiring Senator Chris Dodd.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Toshiba debuts ultraslim Android laptop

Toshiba announced Monday that it will ship an Android-based laptop, the first among top-tier laptop makers to sport a dual-core ARM processor.

The 10.1-inch Toshiba AC-100 runs Android 2.1 and packs an Nvidia dual-core processor. Availability in the U.S. is not clear. (Credit: Toshiba)

By one definition, the Toshiba AC100 (see video below) is a smartbook: an always-on, 3G-enabled Linux-based laptop using a processor based on a design from U.K.-based ARM. That term--in vogue briefly--has lost its luster, however. Principally because real, shipping smartbooks have failed to materialize. One of the most highly touted smartbooks, the Lenovo Skylight, has never shipped despite plenty of hype earlier in the year from both Lenovo and Qualcomm--the latter was slated to make the Sklylight's silicon. (The fact that a German company disputed the smartbook trademark didn't help matters.) And a word of caution: The 10-inch Toshiba AC100 is not yet commercially available though it's slated to ship in the third quarter in Europe. There's no word on availability in the U.S., though a Toshiba spokesman contacted Monday said U.S. availability typically comes a couple of quarters after introduction in Europe. That said, it is a truly unique design, quite different than its Windows-Intel based Netbook cousins. The two marquee features are its Nvidia Tegra 250 processor and the Android 2.1 operating system. The Tegra 250 is a cutting-edge dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor running at speeds of up to 1.0GHz. Virtually all laptop-class ARM processors shipping to date have used a single-core central processing unit, or CPU, design. Android is Google's popular OS that has been used, to date, almost exclusively in smartphones, such as Motorola's Droid. Another key feature is the integration of mobile broadband: the laptop is designed to be "always on" like a smartphone, needing less than a second to wake up from standby mode, according to Toshiba. Toshiba AC100 specifications:

• Processor: Nvidia Tegra 250 Mobile Processor (1GHz, ARM)
  
• Operating system: Android 2.1
  
• Memory: 512MB DDR2 (333MHz)
  
• Storage: up to 32GB solid-state drive
  
• Battery life: up to "8 hours constant battery life"
  
• Display: 10.1-inch diagonally with LED backlight, 1,024x600 pixels
  
• Communication: Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, WLAN (802.11 b/g/n), mobile broadband
  
• Connectivity: 1 USB 2.0, 1 Mini USB, Card Reader (SD, MMC), HDMI
  
• Camera: 1.3 megapixel Webcam with integrated microphone
  
• Weight: 870g
  
• Availability: third quarter of 2010 throughout Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
  
• Price: unannounced but similar product in Japan will be priced at, or under, $500
  

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

Seen from space: Gulf oil spill

As the BP oil spill enters its 63rd day, word comes that the worst-case scenario of the amount of oil gushing from the damaged well, has climbed to 100,000 barrels a day. Initially, BP put the daily tally from the Deepwater Horizon at around 1,000 barrels.

Slideshow: Tracking the Oil Spill from Space

Journalists have reported on the spread of the spill in print and video. As the anecdotal evidence of a mounting environmental disaster accumulates, the challenge of quantifying the enormity of the problem is made that much harder by the piecemeal nature of this developing story. But now, several hundred miles above the earth, NASA satellites have been tracking the spread oil slick as it approaches the Louisiana coast and you can find many of those eye-opening photographs in our image gallery below.This story was originally posted at CBSNews.com.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

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

Fourwhere unites Foursquare, Yelp, and Gowalla listings

Fourwhere now combines Foursquare, Yelp, and Gowalla listings and tips into one interface.(Credit: Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

Aggregators are good not just for things like news, movie, and game ratings, but also for local knowledge. Yelp, Gowalla, and Foursquare have all made a business out of this, but up until now you've had to spend time bipping back and forth among them to glean knowledge from each service's members. That's changed now with Fourwhere, a service that launched during South By Southwest, which now combines reviews and check-ins from all three services in one place. The end result is a single page you can visit to see the most recent local user activity at any given time. Fourwhere's entire interface is controlled through a Google Map, which can be scrolled or zoomed to whatever neighborhood, or part of the city you want. It employs two different ways to find out more information about venues: either letting you look at comments about it, or just things like its address and phone number--the latter being pretty useless since the first option shows you these things anyway. In my brief use of the site this morning, I found its performance to be sluggish. Results were slow to load, and even on larger displays with a big area for the map, it only loaded up small clusters of listings, which needed to be manually refreshed if the search radius meandered into a nearby area. I also found it was, in several cases, missing results from both Gowalla and Yelp when there were tips and reviews there--something I wouldn't have known if I hadn't ventured off the site to go find that information on my own. Despite the current shortcomings, I really like the idea of having one place that aggregates not only the tips from these sites, but, more importantly, the check-ins. When done right, and given a sense of time, Fourwhere could prove itself as a very powerful tool for showing what's hot and what's not based on a much larger group of users than any of the three services could offer on their own.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Dell pondering Chrome OS Netbook

Google's Chrome OS software could run on a Dell-built Netbook later this year.(Credit: Google)

When Google's Chrome OS arrives later this year, Dell could be ready to jump on board, according to a report.Dell's Amit Midha, president for greater China and South Asia, said the PC company "wants to be one of the leaders" when it comes to adopting new technologies like Google's Android and Chrome operating systems, according to Reuters on Monday. Dell's interest in Android is old news, but it has to this point only played around with Chrome OS, stopping short of announcing plans to release a product based on the software.Midha didn't exactly announce such plans with his comments, of course, but his words are the strongest suggestion yet that Dell would like to build a Chrome OS Netbook. The company is not listed among the official Chrome OS supporters on Google's Chrome OS pages, which include Dell competitors such as Acer, HP, Lenovo, and Toshiba.Google has said Chrome OS Netbooks are supposed to be out by the end of the year. The company has also said it plans to use the devices internally, and it will be interesting to see which hardware vendor gets the Google contract.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Road Trip Pic of the Day, 6/21: What is this?

If you know what this is a picture of, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Day challenge.(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

Update (Monday, 10:42 p.m.): The answer--which 102 of you got (or, amazingly, 97.1 percent of everyone who responded)--is Santiago Calatrava's Sundial Bridge, in Redding, California. If you weren't the winner, or even if you were, please come back for tomorrow's Picture of the Day Challenge. There are bridges, and there are bridges. This is one of the most stunning I've ever seen. It's also special to the community where it's located. Maybe you've been there or seen this, possibly from my previous Road Trip coverage. Either way, I'd love to hear from you if you know what this bridge is called and where it is located. And if you're right, you could win a prize in the CNET Road Trip Picture of the Day challenge. So if you have those answers, please e-mail them to me no later than 6 p.m. Pacific time Monday (to daniel--dot--terdiman--at--cnet--dot--com, including "Picture of the Day" in the subject line). I'll choose a winner at random from among everyone who sends in both pieces of the correct answer. Please forgive me if you don't hear from me if you're not the winner. I get dozens of responses each day. Also, I've turned off comments because some people have been posting the correct answers there. I hate to shut down discussion, but I want you to figure out the answer on your own. One caveat: no individual can win more than two prizes. But at the end of the trip, I'll draw a name from among all the daily challenge winners and give out something a little more substantial. On June 24, Geek Gestalt will kick off Road Trip 2010. After driving more than 18,000 miles in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Southeast over the last four years, I'll be looking for the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation and more throughout the American northeast. If you have a suggestion for someplace to visit, drop me a line. In the meantime, you can follow my preparations for the project on Twitter @GreeterDan and @RoadTrip and find the project on Facebook.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Report: FaceTime calls won't use wireless minutes

With the iPhone 4 due out this week, Apple has confirmed that one of its most anticipated new features, FaceTime video calls, will not use minutes from users' wireless plans. Citing an unnamed Apple rep, Business Insider reported Sunday that people don't need to worry about using voice minutes, even though FaceTime video chats are initiated from a voice call. "The voice call ends as soon as the FaceTime call connects," the Apple rep told the online business publication. "The FaceTime call is over Wi-Fi so does not use carrier minutes." To be clear, voice minutes are used to begin the call. But after moving the call to FaceTime, the iPhone then disconnects the voice call and the charges will end. FaceTime video calling was Apple CEO Steve Jobs' "one more thing" at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco earlier this month. FaceTime requires that both users have an iPhone 4, and for now, supports only video calls over Wi-Fi.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

What's Adobe's 64-bit Flash plan?

64-bit versions of Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux now are in widespread use, and software for the operating systems is following suit. So it may seem a bit backward that Adobe withdrew its only 64-bit version of Flash Player. But don't take the disappearance of Adobe Labs' experimental 64-bit Flash Player for Linux as a sign of things to come. Moving its widely used browser plug-in beyond the 32-bit era is a "top priority," said Tom Nguyen, Adobe's Flash Player product manager, on Saturday. However, Adobe isn't committing itself publicly to a delivery schedule. And if it doesn't move with some alacrity, it risks inflicting broken Web sites on computer users who do make the 64-bit shift with their browsers. Plenty of people would be perfectly happy to see Flash fade from the Web, ranging from those who resent how it enables intrusive advertisements to those who are actively working to reproduce much of Flash's abilities in Web standards such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). But there are also innumerable people who rely on Flash for online games, interactive charts, video streaming, and other uses. Those who switch to a 64-bit browser without a suitable version of Flash could find the Web doesn't work as they expect.

Making the 64-bit transition has been a long, grinding process for the mainstream computing industry, starting from the lowest levels of computing hardware and now moving through software. On personal computers, it began with processors--first from AMD, then from Intel. Operating systems were next to come along. Linux, with its technically savvy user base, made an early transition from 32-bit to 64-bit, and Apple made much of its 64-bit Mac OS X move with version 10.6, aka Snow Leopard. The larger population of Windows users have moved more slowly, but PCs running 64-bit Windows became commonplace with Windows Vista. 64 bits or bust
What does 64 bits get you? Mostly, the capacity for more than 4GB of memory in a computer or for a computing process, and in some cases, better performance. For memory-hungry chores such as video editing, a 64-bit machine is a necessity, but even with more mainstream computers running modern operating systems, it's useful. The need for a 64-bit browser is less clear, though. Even with people doing ever more with browsers and with browser architectures that split computing processes up into separate memory compartments, 4GB goes a long way, and a 32-bit browser runs fine on a 64-bit operating system. "A 64-bit browser doesn't necessarily make the Web better or faster than an otherwise identical 32-bit browser," Nguyen said. Here's one reason for 64-bit browsers, though: Apple said its Safari browser got a 50 percent performance boost running Web-based JavaScript programs when it made the 64-bit jump with Safari 4 in 2009. That's only one aspect of browser performance, but it's an important one. Overall, from Adobe's perspective, it doesn't matter why people move to 64-bit browsers, only whether they are--and the likelihood is increasing that they will. One important milestone 64-bit Firefox, is expected later this year, and Microsoft's IE already is available in a 64-bit version. Google engineers have begun work on 64-bit Chrome, and that browser has Flash built in. Adobe knows what's at stake. "As more people are using 64-bit operating systems, more will be moving to use 64-bit browsers, and it's important that they have the best possible Web experience," Nguyen said. "We are actively working on the release of a native 64-bit Flash Player for the desktop, and we will provide native support for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux 64-bit platforms in an upcoming major release of Flash Player." Adobe has been willing to commit to some Flash developments, such as building support for Google's WebM video-streaming technology into Flash Player and putting it into the hands of a billion people within a year. But Nguyen didn't commit to a time for 64-bit Flash Player. Gone, but not forgotten
Adobe answered Linux user demands for a 64-bit Flash Player with a pre-release version of the plug-in. But with the release of Flash Player 10.1 earlier this month, Adobe withdrew that product. Why? "We have temporarily closed the Labs program of Flash Player 10 for 64-bit Linux, as we are making significant architectural changes to the 64-bit Linux Flash Player and additional security enhancements," Adobe said of the change. What stands in the way of 64-bit Flash's return, and not just for Linux? Nguyen says it's not the core of the engine, but rather the supporting software:

The issue that comes to mind when going from 32-bit to 64-bit--the actual size of memory addresses--was addressed by our engineers some time ago. The main issue has been libraries. Flash Player relies on many code libraries for functionality like audio and video playback or hardware acceleration. If a library that Flash Player depends on isn't available in 64-bit, we need to rewrite code for new libraries. Flash Player is used to create powerful, beautiful apps and content, but it can also play back a wide array of media, from video clips back to Flash Player 6 to, say, the latest and greatest H.264 HD video streaming live with hardware acceleration. To do so natively in 64-bit, all of the many library dependencies must be available or rewritten for 64-bit. For example, on Mac OS X, we rewrote code that used the older Carbon libraries, which were 32-bit only, to instead use modern Cocoa libraries. Except for compatibility code we include for non-Cocoa browsers, Flash Player 10.1 is now fully rewritten for Cocoa, setting the stage for a 64-bit Flash Player.

That Mac situation is a sore point. Explaining why Apple banned Flash from the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, CEO Steve Jobs castigated Flash for being insecure, crash-inducing, and a relic from a bygone age of computing. Flash Player 10.1 answers some of those criticisms, for example with inclusion of multitouch support and the hardware acceleration for some Mac tasks. Hardware acceleration for decoding H.264 video, though, still doesn't exist for the Mac except in an experimental version of Flash Player called Gala. Out of sync
Apple and Adobe are not in sync when it comes to Flash. After Adobe shipped 10.1, Apple released Mac OS X 10.6.4, which included Flash Player 10.0.45.2, though apparently those who had the newer version weren't downgraded, Nguyen said. To be fair, though, coordinating release schedules for complicated, heavily tested software isn't easy. Safari is unusual in that it's been a 64-bit browser since Apple released version 4 in 2009. Plug-ins typically must match the browser they're plugged into when it comes to 32-bit or 64-bit designs, but Safari solves the problem with a compatibility later that accommodates 32-bit Flash, Nguyen said. There are a lot of other browsers to reckon with, though, besides Safari. And Adobe may not have committed to a ship date, but the company sees the writing on the 32-bit wall. "We expect 64-bit to be in wide use," Nguyen said, "and Flash Player will take advantage of native 64-bit."
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

French regulators: Google snagged passwords, e-mail

Google collected passwords and e-mail when the company intercepted and stored data detected on open Wi-Fi hot spots in France, according to the French National Commission on Computing and Liberty.

Google Street View cars collected personal information while detecting wireless networks.(Credit: CNET Asia)

The commission launched an investigation in early June after Google admitted that it had stored fragments of personal information from open Wi-Fi hot spots as its fleet of vehicles drove around neighborhoods around the world collecting data for its Street View mapping service. Google collected data in 30 countries. Some countries asked the company to delete the data. Other countries, namely France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, requested that the data be kept so that they could conduct investigations. Google claims that it had been collecting only fragments of payload data because vehicles were on the move and could only get information when they passed places where an unsecured Wi-Fi network in use. The company also said that the collection was a mistake. The code that was written to collect the data was part of an experimental Wi-Fi project started in 2006. When a new Wi-Fi project was launched a year later for Street View, Google has said, engineers included the old code without realizing that it was collecting payload information. Lawsuits have already been filed against Google in the United States. Congressional leaders are also looking into the matter.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Deal brings $100 million for home solar financing

A deal between California utility Pacific Gas & Electric and solar company SunRun will eliminate the upfront cost of installing rooftop solar panels for 3,500 homes. PG&E subsidiary Pacific Energy Capital has created a $100 million tax equity fund that will be used by SunRun to offer homeowners financing for solar electric panels.

SunRun offers a power purchase agreement through which consumers pay a small upfront fee and then a monthly payment for the solar panels, rather than purchase them outright. The financing, regularly used with business customers, allows homeowners to lower their monthly electricity bills with the panels, but avoid the installation cost, which can be in the range of $25,000 to $40,000 depending on the size. The $100 million will fund installations this year and in 2011 in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. SunRun already has 4,000 customers of its financing service through partnerships with 15 other solar installers. The solar financing model of offering a power purchase agreement, or leasing solar panels, is one of the most promising methods for making solar photovoltaic panels accessible to more homeowners. The financing companies own and maintain the panels over 20 years and so they benefit from the state and federal tax credits and rebates and sell the electricity to the utility. The credit crisis that started in 2008, along with the dipping economy, took a toll on financing for renewable-energy projects which rely on tax credits for financing. But solar financing companies focused on residential customers have continued to expand over the past two years. PG&E, which raised the fund mainly through shareholders, expects to get a return on its investment and learn more about the residential solar market. "As a company in a region where distributed solar is becoming increasingly important, we are focused on continuing to take advantage of smart, strategic opportunities that enable us to acquire an in-depth understanding of this market and these technologies," Brian Steel, senior director of corporate strategy and development at PG&E, said in a statement. Earlier this year, PG&E announced a similar deal with SolarCity, in which PG&E provided $60 million in tax equity to finance a solar panel leasing program.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

B&N adds $149 Wi-Fi-only Nook, cuts Nook 3G to $199

The new $149 Wi-Fi-only Nook looks virtually identical to the original Nook 3G but is half an ounce lighter and has a white instead of gray back. (Credit: Barnes & Noble)

We've been waiting to see which company--Amazon or Barnes & Noble--would blink first when it came to price cuts for its e-readers, and now we get the answer. Barnes & Noble not only introduced on Monday a new Wi-Fi-only Nook for $149, but also cut the price of the original Wi-Fi and 3G-enabled Nook from $259 to $199. The new model will be available later this week and can be preordered now. Barnes & Noble is also upgrading the software for its Nook e-readers to version 1.4 and offering "complimentary" access to all AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots around the country. But the real news here is the price cuts because the new Nook has only minor design and feature changes; it weighs in at half an ounce less than the Nook 3G and has a white instead of gray back. When the Nook got off to a rough start with negative reviews from major publications like The New York Times, Barnes & Noble sought to snuff out a number of software bugs and add promised features, such as free in-store streaming for many e-book titles. This is the fourth software upgrade since the Android-powered device launched in November, and the company recently released a new B&N Reader iPad app that was generally well received. The price moves obviously put pressure on Amazon to the cut the price of its $259 Kindle and possibly bring out a cheaper Wi-Fi-only model as well. Rumors have been floating around for a while that Amazon is getting set to release a new e-reader of its own that may have a touch-screen interface and offer zippier performance since current E-ink technology is inherently slow. Barnes & Noble's ability to drop the price to $149 for its entry-level e-reader is key because at that price the Nook begins to enter the territory of the impulse purchase. Sony's Pocket Edition e-reader now can be had for around the same price, and Borders is just bringing out its Kobo e-reader for $149. But neither of those models features Wi-Fi-connectivity, and the Sony model has a smaller 5-inch E-Ink display. Of course, someday, e-readers like the Nook and Kindle may cost close to nothing with the purchase of a subscription to an e-book club that requires you to buy a certain number of titles each month. That day is still a little ways off, but we'll see what Amazon has up its sleeve. If it doesn't respond soon, its huge market lead will erode even more quickly as big competitors like Barnes & Noble--and perhaps Apple in the future--make aggressive moves in the e-book market. Note: Early Monday afternoon, Amazon responded to Barnes & Noble's price cut with a price trim to the Kindle, which now costs $189. Additionally, Borders announced that it will bundle a $20 gift card with its $149 Kobo e-reader.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Good Technology boosts iPhone security controls

Good for Enterprise works on iPhones, iPods, and iPads.(Credit: Good Technology)

When an employee at AIM Media lost his iPhone containing company e-mails and other sensitive data last year, there was nothing to be done except hope that whoever found it didn't care to snoop.Now, if that happens again AIM Media IT Director Nelson Saenz can just remotely wipe the data. "Apple made it possible for the iPhone to work with Microsoft Exchange," he said. "But from an IT standpoint what was missing was centralized administration and security."Since January, AIM Media has been using Good for Enterprise, software and service from Good Technology that lets companies manage and secure smart phones that employees are increasingly using for work and play. For many employees, it means they don't have to carry two phones, such as the work-sanctioned BlackBerry and their beloved iPhone, because the corporate data on the device can be protected.And as of Monday, companies that are paying the subscription fees for employees' iPhones will be able to remotely wipe the entire device and not just the work-related e-mails, calendar, contacts, and other data. Good Technology is releasing iPhone Management so that companies, government agencies, and other organizations that may have more stringent compliance and other regulatory restrictions can have more control over the iPhones, iPads, and iPods their workers use. This could free up doctors and others who work in HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)-governed areas to be able to use iPhones for work, said John Herrema, chief marketing officer at Good Technology."We're giving the IT department a finer level of control so if you are coming from a regulated industry you can manage that subset (of iPhone users) in a more controlled way," he said.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Telstra signs on for pan-Australia fiber network

Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has managed a real, tangible win-win outcome with Sunday's deal between Telstra and the National Broadband Network Co., according to telecommunications analysts. Sunday, Telstra revealed it had signed a preliminary $11 billion (Australian, or $9.6 billion U.S.) deal with NBN Co. that would see the telecommunications company migrate its telephone and broadband customers onto the fiber National Broadband Network, with its copper network to be shut down and no more broadband services to be provided over its hybrid-fiber coaxial cable network. It was a day many thought might not ever come, but did: a day Telstra agreed on a way forward. Read more of "Telstra's NBN deal a win-win: analysts" at ZDNet Australia.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Geometry Playground takes shape in SF

Geometry as jungle gym (photos)

View the full gallery

Does the thought of geometry bring back stressful high-school math memories? Geometry Playground, a new exhibit opening Friday at San Francisco's Exploratorium, could help you rethink your associations with proofs, polygons, and acute angles by moving geometry from the textbook realm to, well, the playground realm. The exhibit includes a series of experiential displays that let you do things like crawl inside giant 3D spaces; watch yourself in a big curved mirror as you try to play hopscotch; look into a tapered kaleidoscope to see a live video creating a 120-sided shape; and use a flashlight to "draw" in the air around yourself and then see your movements manifest as geometric sketches on a large video screen. Geometry-related films such as "Between the Folds," which chronicles artists and scientists who devote their time to modern origami, will accompany the exhibit, as will workshops focused on geometric problem-solving through activities like paper folding, lacemaking, crochet, and tessellating (creating perfectly fitting patterns of shapes). Geometry Playground stays in San Francisco through September 6 and then moves on to San Diego; St. Paul, Minn.; and other cities. It's made possible by the National Science Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Click on the gallery to the right to get a sense of how Geometry Playground is shaping up.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Changing the rules of the Digg game

A management shake-up, tepid traffic, and a hyped product revamp that still hasn't seen the light of day: Much has been made, lately, of the woes facing onetime social-news darling Digg.But even if things turn around after the release of Digg's "Version 4," which will go live later this year following an alpha test that's starting to make the rounds, its launch will give Digg an additional challenge. It's built up an elaborate network of influence and deal making between media companies and "power users" over the years, and the Version 4 launch may amount to nothing less than a regime change."With the new way that Digg Version 4 works, the new homepage, 'My News', when you log in is going to be the curated content of the publishers, tastemakers, and friends that you follow, and that's going to define your customized news feed," Matt Van Horn, the company's head of business development, explained to CNET. In other words, gone will be the singular focus on the top choices of the Digg community, a grassroots rabble that's managed to build up a finely honed pecking order of influence over the years. And, in turn, gone will be many media companies' attempts to harness the power of Digg's community by dealing with those select few."It'll supposedly end the concept of the Digg power user, which has been a problematic thing for them," media consultant Rex Sorgatz, whose company Kinda Sorta Media has worked with digital publishers to build effective social-media strategies."Something like a hundred people control a huge percentage of the (Digg) home page," said Garrett Camp, the CEO of StumbleUpon, a "discovery" service whose advertising program is targeted by many of the same media strategists who work to bring in Digg traffic. "It's got some personalization, but it's really only when you're logged in."It's been both a blessing and a curse for Digg that it became such a choice destination for the young, geeky, and vocal: The community has been beyond loyal, but its slant toward high-level tech news, fringe politics, and all things Apple has kept it from having a lasting grip on the mainstream. But Digg has another kind of loyalist, and those are media companies. Despite reports that Digg is passe, marketers and consultants who work on digital-media outlets' visitor analytics and social-network promotion say that Digg is still an extremely significant source of traffic for their sites.Version 4, with users' personalized home pages putting the central most-Dugg list on the back burner, will change that.Obviously, Digg had to do something. Executives have teased the major revamp for over a year now, hinting repeatedly at features that still have yet to launch. At the same time, there's been clear internal friction: CEO Jay Adelson quit his post in April, citing an "entrepreneurial calling," with founder Kevin Rose returning full time to the company and taking over the helm. There was a round of layoffs shortly thereafter. Other prominent Digg employees have quit too, joining the ranks of companies like SimpleGeo, a start-up co-founded by longtime Digg lead architect Joe Stump, and AOL.Meanwhile, Digg's Valley cred has been waning. In 2006, an ebullient BusinessWeek cover story depicted a cheeky Rose on the eve of Digg Version 3's unveiling, the company fresh off the announcement of a VC funding round that valued it at $60 million. Four years later, there are no more rumors about Google or News Corp. courting Digg for a sale. The social-news aesthetic that was once unique to Digg and a few other sites has now been co-opted by Facebook, which now offers "like" buttons that many publishers run alongside the Digg buttons that have been placed there for promotion for years; and TweetMeme, which aggregates Twitter links into a Digg-like interface."It feels like its cultural influence is dissipating," Sorgatz said of Digg. "It seems less relevant.""Twitter's sort of stealing (Digg's) limelight, and Facebook with the 'like' button is doing what they always did," StumbleUpon's Garrett Camp said.In the days of the heaviest hype, some media companies turned directly to influential Digg users as a way to buy traffic; in its heyday, one source in the digital-marketing world explained, a Digg power user could pull in $3,000 to $5,000 per month for those services alone. While it still goes on to an extent, those price tags have fallen."The only thing left to Digg is a grave," Website Magazine dramatically asserted early this June, pointing to Compete.com data that said the once-hyped social news site saw its traffic plummet by 13.8 million unique visitors from March to April.Digg says those numbers are misleading. "Most of it is due to the Google algorithm change that took place in mid-February, and that was really directed at Facebook and Twitter and we saw the negative effects of that," spokeswoman Michele Husak told CNET, hinting that the impending product revamp may see additional traffic aberrations. "We're shifting our platform over to Version 4, so there will be some obvious changes in what the numbers look like."Traffic at Digg might not be plummeting, and arguably, it's more than lukewarm. There are 40 million unique visitors, even if it's just a few of them doing the "digging." In many cases, particularly sites that deal with content that Diggers find particularly appealing, Digg still trumps inbound traffic from Facebook and Twitter. Sorgatz pointed to one of his clients, TheWeek.com, which continues to see big traffic coming from Digg's politically minded users. "They're really big on political cartoons, and occasionally they will get Dugg and on the front page, and suddenly servers go bananas," Sorgatz said."I think the demise of Digg is greatly exaggerated. I think they're still a huge site," said Jonah Peretti, the CEO of BuzzFeed, a start-up that works with media companies to help them drive their content "viral," and has partnered with many sites including Digg.The idea of "going viral," with the sudden bursts of traffic that ensue, is an appealing one to publishers. One consultant forwarded a document to CNET that it distributes to clients who want to figure out how to get on Digg's front page by making inroads with the site's elite. "Digg is the ultimate social media exercise in quid pro quo; if you are not willing to interact and help promote (by Digging) other users stories, you will not be able to use the site effectively," the document explained. "Most Digg sharing is done through instant messaging; if you don't have access to IM during the day, you won't be able to grow your Digg profile and status."But the document warns that there is "no exact science" to getting on the Digg front page, and that the community can be unreliable. BuzzFeed's Peretti agreed, saying that media companies should now expect to see a steadier stream of traffic coming from Digg rather than the massive peaks and gulfs that many now experience."With Digg, if you get on the front page you know that it sends (lots of traffic) all at once, but then it might not send very much for a couple of weeks, and then it sends a lot again," Peretti said. "The blessing and curse for the old Digg model is that you send it all at once and people notice it and get excited, but it also makes it hard to depend on, it makes it all about the front page rather than personalization."With Version 4, the company hopes to replace the back-room dealing of the old Digg with an official presence on the site for media companies and publishers."I think we're hoping to still allow for that (hit-driven business) while being able to send more predictable, regular traffic," Matt Van Horn said. "The default home page is going to be 'My News', which is going to be the customized news feed for you, so we hope we're going to send a lot more 'long tail' traffic, but we're still going to have a 'Top News' page."Van Horn, an energetic 26-year-old, is known in the media industry as the guy who puts together open-bar "Digg Swiggs" for the local digital crowd on his frequent visits to New York. These days, tasked with easing media companies into a new, post-"power user" Digg, he's arguably a more prominent face of the company than Rose himself."I think that the savvy will always evolve," Van Horn said. "The Digg algorithm has always been changing; it's very different than it was years ago. I can't speak to the relationships that media companies have with power Diggers, but I do know a lot of smart media companies that have a lot of people that are very active on Digg. I think that the smart ones and the savvy ones are going to evolve and learn to be successful in the new Digg ecosystem."Van Horn's job entails not just working with media companies on how to wrangle Digg, but also encouraging them to promote Digg itself in the process. "One of the smartest things that publications can do is optimize their sites for getting Dugg most easily, so having yellow Digg buttons with the number count as well as modules of the most-Dugg stories can really help both on the old site and on Version 4," he said.But when all is said and done, Digg is a community site. It's the people pushing the buttons who are ultimately in control. And the company may have a chicken-and-egg problem on its hands: for a new Digg that relies in part on your friends' recommendations, it helps to have friends already using Digg actively, and for millions of potential users that won't be the case, at least not immediately."They have a ton of unique visitors, of which most do nothing," StumbleUpon's Garrett Camp said. "I've seen the screenshots, and it's neat, but I don't know enough people who use Digg for it to be effective for me."
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

A look at iPhone cash and exchange deals

You may have heard there's a new iPhone hitting stores this week. If you're planning on buying one and still have your old iPhone, why not sell it?There's a good chance you can recoup much of what you originally paid and put it toward the new iPhone 4. Individuals, resellers, and retailers are willing to pay for old iPhones, you just need to know where to look. The gadget resale market, especially for the iPhone, is hotter than ever right now. Consumer electronics reseller Gazelle.com said last week that 10,000 iPhones were sold to the site in the week following the iPhone 4's introduction on June 7--and that was 10 times the number of old iPhones sold to the site following the iPhone 3GS announcement a year ago.Your best options for making money off your iPhone include the obvious places like eBay and Craigslist, but if you don't feel like doing the work yourself, gadget resellers will do most of it for you: they'll buy your phone from you and handle the reselling themselves. And this year, iPhone retailer RadioShack is offering an incentive to sell back your old phone.

Gadget resellers will pay you for your old iPhone.(Credit: NextWorth.com/Screenshot by Erica Ogg/CNET)

Though most places will take any model iPhone with normal wear and tear, the later the model of iPhone you're selling, and the better the condition it is in will increase the resale value. And, of course, before you part with your phone, remember to wipe it of all your personal data.Here are some of your best options:Gazelle.com Gazelle will buy your old iPhone and pay you depending on the condition. It'll wipe the data for you as part of the service (though you should probably do it yourself just for peace of mind). You just answer a few questions about your phone's condition and which accessories you have, and it'll spit out a price and send you a box for shipping your phone. Last week a 32GB iPhone 3GS in good condition with normal wear and tear was worth $198. NextWorth.com Like Gazelle, it'll buy your old iPhone provided it's in decent working shape. If it's close to new, with everything in working order, a 32GB iPhone 3GS will fetch as much as $300. For an iPhone 3G in good condition, NextWorth is offering more than $100. RadioShack The consumer electronics retailer is offering perhaps the most efficient way of reselling your old iPhone and getting a new iPhone 4. For the first time, RadioShack has been included as one of the first retail outlets to get the iPhone on launch day. And it's sweetened the deal for potential customers by adding an extra incentive.RadioShack will let you turn in your old iPhone for store credit toward the new one. The retailer says it will pay "up to $200" for an iPhone 3GS. Just bring it into the store and an employee will plug the device's specs and condition into their system and pay based on that recommendation. That value can be put toward a new iPhone 4 the same day or kept on a RadioShack gift card for future use.

If your phone looks like this, you probably can't resell it. But be sure to check out electronics recycling centers.(Credit: magerleagues' Flickr)

Best Buy will also pay you for an old iPhone in good condition as long as you bought the phone through Best Buy and you have your original receipt.Craigslist It's easy and free to list an old iPhone on the online classified listing site, so it's a natural choice. Craigslist allows you to choose from among potential buyers, and there's more room to haggle on a price. A quick perusal of San Francisco Bay Area Craigslist shows people willing to pay $200 to $250 for a 32GB iPhone 3GS. Just remember to insist on cash from buyers, and always meet the person in a public place when you do the exchange.eBay eBay is a good choice for people who want an established system through which to offload their old goods. With eBay you get less chance of being scammed, and the option of auctioning your unwanted phone to buyers, potentially sending the price up higher. PayPal payments also help ensure you'll get your money, and eBay's buyer protection program will help you smooth out any conflicts with buyers and help you get paid. There are more than 1,100 used iPhone 3GS 32GB models on sale on eBay as of late last week, so there will be some competition in attracting buyers. But the bids that are coming in are fairly high: One iPhone 3GS had 11 bids at $273.If your phone isn't in good enough shape to resell or if you want to get rid of it, don't just toss it in the trash. You can go to the National Center for Electronics Recycling Web site to find an electronics recycler in your area.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)

Is Google far too much in love with engineering?

It's nice if a pilot has a background in flying. It's really quite special if a colonoscopist has a background in medicine. But does everyone who heads up a department at Google really need to have a background in engineering?I should be lying in the sun rather than pondering this existential mind-twister, but I was moved past reluctance by a blog post written by Don Dodge, developer advocate at Google.Dodge, who used to perform advocacy at Microsoft, wrote this post to celebrate surviving--I'm sorry, I mean enjoying--six months at Google.In a section titled "Engineering Rules!," Dodge offered the following: "Google has always been driven by outstanding engineering talent. Google hires only the best engineers. The legends of complex interview questions and coding problems are true. Educational achievement is valued at Google."Do complex interview questions really test your educational achievement? Or do they merely test your ability to answer complex questions asked by, no doubt, complex people--people with certain complexes--in an interview situation?But even that mind-number isn't the one that keeps me from the sand.It was this: "Engineers are at every level, starting at the top, in all kinds of positions at Google. Nearly all the top management at Google have engineering backgrounds. Marketing, sales, business development, product management, are all more likely to be former engineers."My troubled educational achievement suggests to me that Dodge is holding up this intellectual monochrome of leadership as a good thing. He is suggesting that this is a company that is so immersed in engineering that only those who understand its complex rudiments can be trusted to, say, market Google's products.

I believe this is an image from a Google presentation called "The Joys of Engineering Leadership."(Credit: CC DailyLifeofMojo/Flickr)

This is how Dodge explained it: "The engineering background brings a rigorous thought process that questions assumptions and requires accurate data in the decision process. That doesn't mean every decision will be perfect, but it will be based on data...not opinions."Perhaps some will be heartened, given how much information Google manages to collect about their everyday interests and proclivities, that Google is a company where opinions do not rule.Yet there is something slightly shiver-making about this supposed data worship. It might remind some of frenzied arguments they have had with the lovers when one party screams at the other: "You just don't understand me! You're not an engineer!"Is it really possible that there exist so few human beings beyond the educationally superior dome of Google who might not be able to muster an idea or two about how Google might market its highly complex engineering products? You know, like those highly complex all-copy ads that sit at the side of search results?Does one really need a background in engineering to wonder how best to offer real people, whose closest relationship to engineering might come every time they go over a bridge while humming along with their iPods, a browser?And how much of an engineering background does it take to decide which of 41 shades of blue really is the right one?Please, I don't wish to offend the world's greatest engineering talents. Whether they work for Google or not. If I say something too mean, I know they have the power to sever my ability to communicate with the world.They could prevent me from watching Justin Bieber videos. They could steal information from my Wi-Fi signals, reveal all the e-mails I have written to my closest friends, Cameron Diaz, Lady Gaga, and the archbishop of New York. They could make it so that my garage remote control will never work again.However, I wonder whether such slight, but no doubt data-driven, infelicities, such as the launch of Google Buzz, the riotously misguided home page designs, or the launch of Nexus One, might have done with one or two fewer data-driven managers and one or two more people who offered suggestions about what real people like and how they might react?Google does many interesting and clever things. But, at this stage of its development, its office does seem to be full of too many people with the emotional maturity of Dwight Schrute.At a time when the company needs to create more products that become an essential part of real people's lives, it often seems incapable of communicating the worth and, dare one suggest, the magic of such products to those very people.In my fanciful though intellectually inferior way of thinking, I can see the head of Google's marketing department walking into a Parisian bakery, ordering the most exquisite pastry, tasting it, delighting in its complex wonder until his lips are moist beyond imagining. Then he hears the lady behind the counter say: "Ze baker. He has a degree in archaeology."A true Googlie would, naturally, put the pastry down and walk out of the bakery. Well, at least that's what the data would tell him to do, wouldn't it?
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)