Remember that Google Super Bowl search ad that your girlfriends and wives thought was really cute and clever? Well, Google recently unveiled a new widget that allows you to create your own Search Stories ads. You know, a string of related Google searches that are woven together to create a story.
To kick off the long offseason, why not take some time and create your own Georgia Tech-themed Google search story? Leave your videos in the comments section. If we get enough submissions, we might be able to put them to a vote to determine the best GT-related Search Story.
http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2010/4/16/1425625/georgia-tech-themed-google-searches
Welcome to The Next Web Network’s Weekly Recap. Make sure to check out this week’s podcast where we discuss the biggest stories of the week. Also, the deadline to grab your tickets to The Next Web Conference 2010 in Amsterdam (April 27 – 29) is fast approaching.
This week was all about Chirp, Twitter’s first official conference. At Chirp Twitter unveiled it’s long awaited monetization strategy as well as a bunch of new product announcements. Google also made a variety of product announcements as well as posting strong Q1 results. This week we also announced the finalists for The Next Web Paypal X Startup Rally 2010.
http://thenextweb.com/2010/04/18/tnw-network-weekly-recap-twitter-chirp-announcements/
In the past week, Google has been noticeably absent from a growing debate about the future of a net neutrality policy being proposed by the Federal Communications Commission and the agency’s role over broadband services.
Last week, a company spokesperson declined to comment on how it believes the FCC should proceed after a federal court threw the commission’s role over broadband services into doubt. Google has been a leading corporate advocate of net neutrality rules at the FCC.
The company is expected to say more over the following days but has in recent weeks sent mixed messages. On the one hand, media counsel Rick Whitt told the FCC’s general counsel, Austin Schlick, that the agency needed to “build a complete legal and evidentiary record to confirm the agency’s oversight authority, whether under Title I, Title II, Title VI, or other pertinent provisions.”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/04/in_the_last_week_google.html
Google has made its first British acquisition, buying Plink, a company founded four months ago by Oxford University PhD students Mark Cummins and James Philbin.
Plink’s first product is PlinkArt, a visual recognition app for mobile that analyses pictures of well-known artworks and paintings and identifies them. Users can then share the photo with friends and also click through to buy a poster version.
Since launching four months ago, PlinkArt has attracted 50,000 users.
Plink, which was a finalist at Mini Seedcamp London, the competition for European startups, was recently awarded a $100,000 prize from Google after winning a public vote on the best reference app on Android, Google’s mobile platform.
http://realbusiness.co.uk/internet_business/google_buys_british_tech_startup_plink
SAN FRANCISCO — This year, Netflix made what looked like a peculiar choice: the DVD-by-mail company decided that over the next two years, it would move most of its Web technology — customer movie queues, search tools and the like — over to the computer servers of one of its chief rivals, Amazon.com.
Enlarge This Image
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Kevin McEntee, vice president of engineering at Netflix, pointing, and Santosh Rau, cloud system manager. Netflix is using Amazon’s network, freeing it to focus on its movie business.
Amazon, like Netflix, wants to deliver movies to people’s homes over the Internet. But the online retailer, based in Seattle, has lately gained traction with a considerably more ambitious effort: the business of renting other companies the remote use of its technology infrastructure so they can run their computer operations. In the parlance of technophiles, they would operate “in the cloud.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/technology/19cloud.html?src=me
"It has gone as we expected," said Schmidt at a meeting of the American Society of News Editors.
"Google is an unusual company," said Schmidt, adding that other tech firms in Silicon Valley probably had a range of opinions about Google's decision to publicly report hacking attacks, and opting to end its censorship of its Chinese service.
"We were able to make a decision based on principle," he said, adding that he was unsure what the end result would be.
"It is a battle," he said. "We know that there is a reasonably large group of people in China who are seeking non-censored information."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63B0E420100412
Google is busy waging wars on two fronts.
The Mountain View search giant has its sights set on Apple's iPhone in the cell phone market. On the application and operating system front, Microsoft is its main target.
Google's Android cell phone operating system is a direct competitor to Apple's iPhone, and soon Google will be powering tablet PCs that compete with Apple's new iPad. While there are differences between Android and the iPhone operating system, both have a similar look and feel. One major difference today is that Google's OS can run more than one program at a time while the iPhone can only run one program (except for certain Apple applications). This will change, however, as Apple releases its iPhone OS 4.0 update in the summer.
But Apple isn't alone in facing competition from the search giant. Google on Tuesday introduced updates to its Google Docs suite of Web-based programs that make them more compatible and more competitive with Microsoft Office.
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_14877258?nclick_check=1
Google and Advanced Micro Devices shares dropped sharply Friday after earnings reports from the Silicon Valley tech companies fell short of investors' high hopes.
Mountain View Internet giant Google finished at $550.31, down $44.99, or 7.6 percent. After the stock markets closed Thursday afternoon, Google reported profit for its most recent quarter of $1.96 billion, up 37 percent year over year. Revenue climbed 23 percent to $6.77 billion.
Even though the results beat Wall Street forecasts, analysts were concerned that Google was increasing spending too quickly. Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said Google intends to "remain committed to heavy investment in innovation — both to spur future growth in our core and emerging businesses." He said the company has added 800 employees so far this year.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business-headlines/ci_14899037?nclick_check=1
"As we discussed on Friday, the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland has led to flights being canceled across the EU. With travel chaos ensuing and the airlines losing an estimated $200 million per day, EU authorities are coming under increasing pressure to re-open the airways. Test flights conducted on Saturday were apparently successful, with no problems encountered during flight. Following the test flights, Peter Hartman, CEO of KLM, said, 'We hope to receive permission as soon as possible after that to start up our operation and to transport our passengers to their destinations.' Evidence possibly opposing this move comes from the Finnish Defense Forces, which released photos and a statement after F-18 Hornets flew through the ash cloud, saying, 'Based on the pictures, it was discovered that even short flights in ash dust may cause significant damage to an airplane's engine.' Is it safe to resume flights so soon, or should planes remain grounded until the ash cloud has dissipated?"
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/04/18/1435200/EU-Conducts-Test-Flights-To-Assess-Impact-of-Volcanic-Ash-On-Aircraft
"More than three weeks after the release of The Settlers 7, with the controversial 'always on-line' DRM, a lot of people still can't connect to Ubisoft's DRM servers. The forum threads where people can post if they are unable to connect keep growing daily. One reason for the lack of fixes or responses from support seems to be that the people responsible were on vacation during the Easter holiday, despite the promise of 24/7 monitoring of the servers. The moral of this story seems to be that it is a bad idea to buy a game just before a major holiday."
http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/04/18/1452221/Ubisoft-DRM-Problems-Remain-Unsolved
"Jonathan Corbet recently pointed out at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit that the Linux kernel team was getting older and not attracting young developers. This article suggests the Linux kernel no longer has the same appeal to young open source developers that it did 10 years ago. Could it be that the massive code base and declining sense of community from corporate involvement has driven young open source programmers elsewhere?"
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/04/18/1557220/Why-Linux-Is-Not-Attracting-Young-Developers
"Alan D. Mutter writes in his journalism blog 'Relections of a Newsosaur' that some newspapers exploit bereaved families with exorbitantly priced death notices — a distasteful and strategically inept way for them to try to make ends meet. 'I stumbled across the problem this week when I tried to buy a death notice in... the San Francisco Chronicle, which proposed charging $450 for the one-day run of a crappy-looking, 182-word death notice,' writes Mutter. But lose the death notice business, and newspapers risk losing a huge audience driver as well. The solution may be partnering with websites like Legacy.com, a site that already publishes death notices for about two-thirds of the people who die each day in the US. 'It may not be easy to figure out the terms of a broader collaboration, writes Rich Gordon on Poynter.org, 'partly because some newspaper executives are wary of Legacy and feel the company could become a competitive threat for audiences and revenue. But this is exactly the reaction many newspaper executives had to collaborating with Internet companies in other classified advertising categories. I'd hate to see newspapers make the same mistake with death notices and obituaries.'"
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/04/18/1825206/Newspaper-Death-Notices-May-Be-a-Dying-Business
"A mat of microbes the size of Greece has been discovered on the sea floor off the Pacific coast of South America. 'These tiny creatures can join together to create some of the largest masses of life on the planet... A single liter of seawater, once thought to contain about 100,000 microbes, can actually hold more than one billion microorganisms...'"
http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/04/18/1842220/Microbe-Mat-the-Size-of-Greece-Discovered-In-the-Sea
"[Three years ago] I was very excited about Apache Wicket as the way to develop line of business applications with a domain model, CRUD [create-read-update-delete] screens for maintaining the model, and in the most interesting cases, doing something else useful besides. I still like Wicket. It has, as its website says a small conceptual surface area.' It reminds me of python in that 'You try something it usually just works.' In many respects, though, Wicket seems to be at the wrong level of abstraction for the for the sorts of line of business applications described above. If your team is spending any time at all writing code to produce listing, filtering, and sorting behavior, not to mention creating CRUD screens and the back end logic for these operations, they are probably working at the wrong level of abstraction. ... Recently I did a small project using Grails and was quite pleased. Grails uses groovy, a dynamic language compatible with Java and is based on the proven technologies that I know and love well: Spring, Hibernate, SiteMesh, Maven, etc. ... I get all the power of the Java ecosystem without the fustiness and lack of expressivity of the core language (no more getters and setters, ever!)."
http://developers.slashdot.org/story/10/04/18/2135250/Thoughts-On-the-State-of-Web-Development
"We have approximately 20 workstations which all have different hardware specs. Every workstation has two monitors and generally runs either Ubuntu or Windows. I had started using Clonezilla to copy the installs so we could deploy new workstations quickly and easily, when we have hardware failures or the like, but am struggling with Windows requiring new drivers to be installed for all new hardware. Obviously we could be booting into Ubuntu and then load a Windows virtual machine after that, but I'd prefer not to have the added load of a full GUI underneath Windows — we want maximum performance possible. And I don't think the multi-monitor support would work. Is it possible to have a very basic virtual machine beneath to provide hardware consistency whilst still allowing multi-monitor support? Does anyone have any experience with a technique like this?"
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/10/04/18/2244215/Virtualizing-Workstations-For-Common-Hardware
Apple is reportedly talking with Advanced Micro Devices about using the No. 2 chipmaker’s processors. Simply put, an Apple win would be huge for AMD since its profit margins just can’t keep up with Intel’s at the moment.
AppleInsider reports the following:
AMD reps have been seen talking with Apple;
Apple is working with AMD chips in its labs;
Apple wants to diversify and isn’t happy about Intel design decisions that have hurt the company’s partnership with Nvidia;
Apple may be interested in AMD for its graphics ability and the fusion of CPUs and GPUs.
The AppleInsider report is fascinating in that it shows how Apple may be looking for leverage. An Apple-AMD hookup raises some interesting questions. Among them:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=33179
BANGALORE: Microsoft is not only aiming for a higher market share or greater monetisation of its search properties, a segment where it trails market
leader Google by a wide margin. Instead, the world’s largest software firm is trying to turn search into a technology platform, one that helps consumers take complex decisions, says Qi Lu, Microsoft’s head of online business. And the simple way of doing a such thing, says Mr Lu, is to understand user intent behind search. Mr Lu, an Yahoo veteran who was hand-picked by Steve Ballmer to run the Redmond giant’s online services — most importantly, search — was in India to add more muscle to Microsoft’s local R&D efforts and streamline its partnership with Yahoo, which recently got regulatory approval.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/software/Microsoft-looks-to-turn-search-into-a-tech-platform-says-online-biz-head/articleshow/5829981.cms
Attorneys for former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach filed a fourth amended petition Friday claiming the former coach’s firing was predetermined and done so to help the university save money.
In the filing, six Tech officials are being sued individually for damages: Tech Chancellor Kent Hance, Board of Regents members Jerry Turner and Larry Anders, Tech President Guy Bailey, Tech Athletic Director Gerald Myers and Tech Investigator Charlotte Bingham. Craig James, the father of Adam James was also named as a defendant.
One of Leach’s attorneys, Ted Liggett, said Friday that the individuals are being sued — especially Hance, Turner and Anders — because they went “beyond the scope of their job.” Liggett pointed out that it was Bailey and Myers’ responsibility to deal with the Leach situation and no one else should have been involved.
Liggett believes the filings show that Leach’s firing is derived from the contract negotiations last spring.
http://www.dailytoreador.com/news/leach-expands-lawsuit-to-include-seven-officials-1.2230069
Here are a few thoughts from Saturday's Texas Tech spring game, where the 24-24 tie and much of what happened on the field provided little insight into what will happen on the field.
1. Backup quarterbacks Seth Doege and Jacob Karam did a nice job, combining to complete 47 of 68 passes for 530 yards and five touchdowns on a cold, blustery day. But much of the Tech offensive punch will be determined by the two seniors-to-be that were involved in the pregame coin flip and not much else. Either Taylor Potts (hand injury) and Steven Sheffield (broken foot) will quarterback the Red Raiders this season. "There's going to be a lot of competition," new head coach Tommy Tuberville said. "The best guy will be our starting quarterback. When you have two senior quarterbacks, it it's a great thing to happen. Both of them have experience and know how to win games. We want to have the guy who can move the ball the best and have the other guy come out of the bullpen."
http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/04/what-we-learned-from-techs-spring-game.html
EDMONTON — Edmonton will soon be home to a state-of-the-art virtual reality rehabilitation system for injured soldiers and other patients, one of only two sites in Canada with such technology.
The Department of National Defence will spend $1.5 million on a computer-assisted rehabilitation environment (CAREN) system for the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital.
The system should be operational by early 2011 and will serve Western Canada. A CAREN at the Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre, also to be installed this year, will serve the eastern part of the country.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Glenrose+hospital+acquires+CAREN+system/2922062/story.html
Just a strike away from sweeping its in-state rival, Virginia fans rose to their feet Sunday at Davenport Field.
That, however, was as close as weekend perfection would come for a sellout crowd that sat stunned as a would-be win evaporated.
Twentieth-ranked Virginia Tech scored five runs in the ninth inning to mount an improbable comeback and register an 8-5 victory over the Cavaliers.
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/sports/cavalier_insider/ci_baseball/article/hokies_rally_to_stun_cavs/55084/
Georgia Tech running back Jonathan Dwyer tested positive at the NFL scouting combine for amphetamines, FoxSports.com reported Sunday, but Dwyer's agent said teams were aware of his client's medical history.
"All 32 teams received notification prior to the combine that a medication he's taken since childhood would likely result in a positive result at the combine," Adisa Bakari told ESPN's Joe Schad. "We provided the necessary medical documentation."
The NFL calls Dwyer's situation a "therapeutic use exemption," a source told Schad. The type of medication he has taken was not identified.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft10/news/story?id=5111130
Virginia – - The third anniversary of the Virginia tech shooting that took place three years back on the sixteenth of April 2007.
The Virginia tech shooting took place at the campus of the Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. The shooting consisted of two consecutive attacks followed by a gap of two hours. The culprit killed thirty two students at the campus and injured twenty five people. It was one of the deadliest campus shootings in the United States history of university crimes. The Culprit Seung hui had a anxiety disorder. He was a student at the Virginia Tech University after graduating from High School. The state university wasn’t given any medical record of the student due to a privacy law. He was accused of stalking 2 female students and was declared mentally ill by the justice. He was ordered to have a special treatment for his illness.
http://www.twominutenews.com/2010/world/us-world/shooting-of-virginia-tech-8198.html
Oklahoma starter Jeremy Erben gave up seven runs on 10 hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings on the mound as Texas Tech topped the Sooners 8-3.
With the loss Sunday, Oklahoma (26-10, 6-7 Big 12) falls behind Texas Tech (20-19, 8-7) in the conference standings, with the Red Raiders now in sole possession of third place.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9F5PE6O2.html
ATLANTA -- Georgia Tech scored in all eight of their innings at the plate on the way to an 11-3 routing of Clemson Sunday. Its the 5th straight loss for the Tigers.
Kyle Parker tied the game in the top of the second with solo home run over the right field fence. It was his 14th home run of the season.
The Yellow Jackets responded by scoring four runs in the bottom half of the inning, and one run every inning for the rest of the game.
http://www.midlandsconnect.com/sports/story.aspx?id=445309
More than half of Americans turn to the Internet for some form of health advice or information, and research finds that most would also like to use a secure Internet site to access medical records, schedule office visits, refill prescriptions and pay medical bills. What's needed now is a healthcare hub -- the behind-the-scenes technology and architecture that aggregates the details of our health.
As our lives grow more connected and more complicated, we strive to manage the influx of information and detail that consumes our daily living. In our everyday life, handling work, bills, family schedules and more is a daunting task even for those with exceptional organizational skills. For those of us whose talents lie elsewhere, we're out of luck.
Now imagine attempting to organize and manage your health and health records. Those of us with chronic conditions or who are caregivers for loved ones are already engaged in this battle.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Connecting-the-Dots-With-Online-Healthcare-Resources-69786.html
If you want to view Flash video on your iPad or iPhone, there is now an option available on iTunes that apparently has Apple's blessing -- or at least has not yet received the curse of its rejection. Cloud browse works just fine, according to Today in iPhone's Rob Walch, who tested it earlier -- but as of Thursday afternoon, the app was temporarily out of commission due to server maintenance issues.
The widening chasm between Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) has inspired a number of third-party companies to develop bridges to cross the divide -- that is, workarounds that will let iPad and iPhone users view videos created using Adobe's Flash technology.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Cloud-Browse-Flash-App-Is-OK-With-Apple-69787.html
The Seattle Times won a Pulitzer Prize this week for its coverage of the murder of four police officers and the manhunt that followed. The team there provided its top-notch coverage with the help of new digital communications technologies that haven't yet won the trust many old-school journalists. In the hands of reporters and editors who know how to use them, though, they're clearly powerful tools.
At the risk of giving Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain one more reason to do 360s in his grave, I'm compelled to modify one of his best-known quotes: It seems reports of journalism's demise at the hands of technology have been greatly exaggerated.
The evidence piled up this week. Awards were announced, new business models launched, constructive criticism heaved at established news brands, and that dastardly new media even tried to give an assist to journalists trying to make sense of a Twittering, blogging world. All of it involved recognition that the mother of all mashups is underway in the news industry thanks to digital technologies. And while that's going on, it appeared that life is indeed progressing as usual, the democracy remains intact and dogs and cats are still living apart (thanks, Ghostbusters, for that last obligatory pop culture reference.)
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/That-Was-The-Week-That-Was-in-Online-Journalism-69784.html
Responding to a hail of criticism over his decision to end the Constellation program to return to the moon, President Obama told NASA employees on Thursday that no one is more committed to manned space exploration than he is, and that he expects to see humans land on Mars within his lifetime.
President Obama on Thursday delivered a major speech at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida about his vision for human spaceflight in the coming years, affirming that he is "100 percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future."
As part of a US$6 billion increase in NASA's budget over the next five years, the president aims to increase exploration of the solar system , as well as make more Earth-based observations designed to help humans protect the environment.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Obama-on-Space-Exploration-Weve-Got-to-Be-Smart-69790.html
Google Labs has revealed details about its Cloud Print project, which would allow all kinds of applications on various devices print to any Web-connected computer. The project's still in development -- part of the process relies on what Google calls "cloud-aware printers," which will need to be built with special technology Google's still working on.
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) on Friday announced that it's working on Google Cloud Print, a service that will let any application on any device print to any printer over the Internet.
Instead of relying on the device's local operating system and drivers to print a job, applications will use Google Cloud Print to submit and manage print jobs. Google Cloud Print will then send the print jobs to the appropriate printer and provide information on the job status to the application.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Google-Dreams-Up-Cloud-Printing-Service-69793.html
Twitter has decided it's time to leave the nest and take flight with a new ad-centric business model. Can the little microblogging service that could maintain good relations with its developers? Or are new rivals -- or partners -- just around the corner? Meanwhile, the public met Microsoft's next of Kin, the FCC met with Congress, and Apple met devs' wrath.
To their credit, Twitter's executives are self-aware enough to know the company has been living sort of like a trust-fund child well past its metaphorical college days. Every startup needs some time in the cradle, of course, but when you're hosting 50 million messages per day and you still don't have a revenue plan, questions start getting kind of pointed. This is not lost on cofounder Biz Stone. He recently wrote on the company blog, "Believe me, when your name is Biz and you're a cofounder of Twitter, it also means putting yourself at the mercy of folks like Stephen Colbert who hit home runs with lines like, 'So, I assume that 'Biz' in 'Biz Stone' does not stand for 'Business Model.'"
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Twitters-New-Flight-Plan-69796.html
It was a big week for Rich Internet Applications. Adobe's Creative Suite 5 and Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010, as well as its Silverlight 4, all lend momentum to the drive to move RIAs off the browser. The platforms have sharpened new methodologies for designing simpler client-side Web apps that maintain data on stronger server-side apps.
In recent years, most Web applications in widespread use have been developed with Web browsers as their platform. Here, one imagines Java advocates are already composing their complaint letters. But with Web resources bound to URLs, for most developers, it's made sense to utilize the functionality most commonly associated with URL-bound resources: HTML, JavaScript, and now its rapidly maturing derivative, Ajax.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Let-the-Rich-Internet-App-Battle-Begin-69789.html?wlc=1271647473
WASHINGTON – Toyota Motor Corp. is expected to agree to a fine of more than $16 million, the largest government penalty levied against an automaker, for a four-month delay in telling federal authorities about defective gas pedals on its vehicles, a Transportation Department official said Sunday.
Toyota faces a Monday deadline to accept or contest the $16.4 million fine over evidence it knew about sticking gas pedals in September but did not issue a recall until January.
The Transportation official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity. The official said Toyota is expected to pay the full amount of the assessed fine within 30 days as a means of avoiding going to court against the government.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100419/ap_on_bi_ge/us_toyota_recall
AMSTERDAM – Major airlines that sent test flights into European air space found no damage Sunday from the volcanic ash that has paralyzed aviation over the continent, raising pressure on governments to ease restrictions that have thrown global travel and commerce into chaos.
Is it safe to fly yet? Airline officials and some pilots say the passengerless test flights show that it is. Meteorologists warn that the skies over Europe remain unstable from an Icelandic volcano that continues to spew ash capable of knocking out jet engines.
European Union officials said air traffic could return to half its normal level on Monday if the dense cloud begins to dissipate. Germany allowed some flights to resume.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100419/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_iceland_volcano
ATLANTA – U.S. airlines never met a fee they didn't like. Until now, it seems.
Five major carriers on Sunday agreed not to follow the lead of a small Florida airline that plans to charge for carryon bags. Their commitment comes just in time to keep travelers from running for the exits during the peak summer flying season, but it is doubtful that it marks a change in strategy.
Airlines are going to tack on every fee they feel they can get away with because it bolsters their revenue stream while allowing them to keep base fares lower. They just don't feel like passengers will tolerate losing their sacred free carryons — at least not right now.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100419/ap_on_bi_ge/us_airlines_bag_fees
LAS VEGAS – Carrie Underwood made history at the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday night, becoming the first woman to win entertainer of the year twice.
Underwood won the show's top honor last year. This year, she beat out Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, the Zac Brown Band, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, George Strait and Keith Urban.
Top-selling trio Lady Antebellum were the dominant winners, grabbing five trophies, including song and single record of the year for crossover hit "Need You Now," while also snapping Rascal Flatts' seven-year run as best vocal group.
"We are having a blast tonight," singer Charles Kelly told the crowd after win No. 4. "We love you all. We will never forget this night."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100419/ap_on_en_mu/us_acm_awards
ORLANDO, Fla. – Jameer Nelson scored 24 of his 32 points in the first half, and the Orlando Magic nearly blew a 22-point lead before beating the Charlotte Bobcats 98-89 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.
Rashard Lewis added 19 points, and Dwight Howard had nine blocks but was limited offensively and in foul trouble for most of the second half.
Gerald Wallace had 25 points, and Stephen Jackson played through a hyperextended left knee to finish with 18 points in the Bobcats' first playoff game in franchise history.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night in Orlando.
Charlotte swarmed and slapped Howard on every opportunity near the rim to frustrate the Magic's All-Star center. Howard had five points and seven rebounds, and was 1 for 6 on free throws.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100419/ap_on_sp_bk_ga_su/bkn_bobcats_magic
PHILADELPHIA – He usually hears cheers from Flyers fans after another fight has riled them up.
Buried under a pile of his teammates with nothing to see but a blur orange jerseys, Daniel Carcillo never heard noise like what vibrated throughout the arena. Carcillo, a fighter with squatters rights on the penalty box, morphed from puncher to postseason star with the biggest goal of his career.
Carcillo scored 3:35 into overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night and a 2-1 advantage in the Eastern Conference series.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100419/ap_on_sp_ho_ga_su/hkn_devils_flyers
Web cams in school-issued laptops allegedly photographed students at home.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/school-allegedly-spied-via-web-cams-19196035
Reliable electronic health systems and high levels of health IT adoption could play a key role in ensuring the success of future quality improvement initiatives, according to the 2009 National Healthcare Quality Report from HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Modern Healthcare reports (McKinney, Modern Healthcare, 4/14).
Overall Findings
The congressionally mandated analysis tracked the U.S. health care system's performance on more than 200 quality measures in 2007 (Preidt, HealthDay, 4/13).
Although researchers found that overall health care quality improved by 2.3%, they also found that rates for certain infections worsened across the previous year (McKinney, Modern Healthcare, 4/13).
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/4/15/ahrq-report-health-it-adoption-could-lead-to-gains-in-care-quality.aspx
Benjamin Franklin stated "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes." To coin off that adage, health care attorney Nathan Kottcamp founded National Healthcare Decisions Day in 2008, celebrated on April 16. The purpose: to provide clear and concise information on health care decision making and to encourage people to plan for end-of-life decisions. NHDD is supported by over 60 organizations, including the American Bar Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Association of Retired Persons.
In all 50 states, people are guaranteed the right to plan for a health care crisis (i.e. living will or advance directive) per 1991 federal law. However, data suggests: 95 percent of Americans say they have heard of advance-care planning - 71 percent say they have thought about it but only 29 percent say they have planned for a health care crisis.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20100416/EDIT02/100419767?Title=Make-Health-Care-Decisions
EXPERTS are monitoring the threat to human health posed by the volcanic ash in Irish air space -- but insisted yesterday there was no significant risk, writes Colin Gleeson.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) said there was no danger to people on the ground because the plume was "currently at high altitude" and it was not expected to come to ground in Ireland "in the near future".
The ash is from a volcano on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland, which began to erupt just after midnight yesterday.
A HSE spokeswoman said that even if the plume did drop towards the ground, the concentrations of particles at ground level were so small that they were not likely to cause significant effects on health.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ash-does-not-pose-health-risk-insist-experts-2140387.html
Lost in all the hubbub over deposed cabinet minister Helena Guergis and her fast-driving husband were three stories of much greater long-term significance to Canadians and their well being.
Together, what these stories show is that the governments of Canada's three largest provinces — Quebec, Ontario and B.C. — are taking dramatic steps to try to get rising health-care costs under control.
Moving from East to West, we saw Quebec Premier Jean Charest's Liberal government put forward a plan to have all patients pay a $25 fee for each visit to a doctor.
Then came Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's announcement to lower the cost of generic drugs and also eliminate the "professional allowances" paid pharmacists by drug manufacturers to push certain products.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/15/f-vp-newman.html#ixzz0lFqfgoNy
WASHINGTON — It's an eagerly awaited early benefit of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul: affordable coverage for Americans with medical problems who can't get a private insurer to even take a look.
Starting in July, a special high-risk pool will offer coverage to uninsured people with pre-existing health conditions at a cost similar to what everyone else pays. It's the first test of whether the administration can deliver on Obama's vision within the budget Congress set.
But some vulnerable patients are probably going to feel a little cheated. Consider this coverage wrinkle:
Suppose your cancer is in remission. You had to quit your job while you were having chemotherapy, and your employer coverage ran out. You can't find a private insurer who'll take you, but you're lucky to live in a state that has its own high-risk pool. Still, you have to struggle to pay the premiums, well above standard insurance because sicker people are in the group. Yet as the federal program is designed, you wouldn't be able to switch over and take advantage of significant savings.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jxPQgG3FooEgj3TfE3fzZ-L6dNSQD9F410N00
Kevin Rudd now appears to have a fairly stark choice when it comes to his hospitals funding plan; either alter it before the COAG meeting on Monday or accept that he will not get the states on board.
New South Wales has dealt the latest and biggest blow to the Prime Minister's hospitals dream.
Premier Kristina Keneally is refusing to give up control of a third of the state's GST revenue to the Commonwealth.
New South Wales is demanding instead that state and federal funds be pooled and controlled by the states.
Ms Keneally is also demanding a lot more money immediately.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/16/2875285.htm
SHANE MCLEOD: The Northern Territory Chief Minister says he won't sign Monday's national health agreement until verbal assurances he's been given by the Prime Minister are reflected in the deal.Paul Henderson says he expects the Commonwealth will give the Territory more money because it has to contend with issues that other states don't, such as treating a high number of Indigenous people with complex chronic conditions.Yet the Prime Minister is saying today that he's already put his final offer.The Premiers and Territory leaders will have a phone hook-up later this afternoon for more negotiations ahead of next week's meeting.
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s2874759.htm
A controversy that is threatening to undermine public faith in the management of cricket – India’s national passion – deepened on Thursday as government authorities raided the headquarters of the Indian Premier League.
Tax officials raided the Mumbai offices of the IPL, the country’s multibillion-dollar cricket tournament, in a move that follows a dispute between one of the sport’s top officials and India’s deputy foreign minister.
The head of the IPL, Lalit Modi, has accused the minister, Shashi Tharoor, of trying to interfere in the recent auction of a team franchise that was won by a consortium involving a woman, who domestic media have claimed is Mr Tharoor’s girlfriend.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ff195582-491c-11df-8e4f-00144feab49a.html
JD Sports Fashion is looking for a boost to its sales from soccer’s World Cup this summer, having prepared ranges which focus on countries playing in the finals.
But chairman Peter Cowgill says that, unlike its competitors, the company would not be significantly harmed if England make an early exit.
“It’s always bad if England exit early because you lose the feelgood factor,” he said. “But unlike the others I would like to think we have been a little bit more subtle about this and are not going to get caught out.
“After all, we are now a sport- and athletically-inclined leisurewear retailer rather than a straight sportswear retailer.”
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/1215261_golden_future_in_store_for_jd_sports
The actress and owner of IPL team Kings XI Punjab, Preity Zinta, has denied rumours that she and cricketer Brett Lee are more than just good friends.
Heylooooo! Sher Lock Holmes texted me that Preity Zinta’s visit to Haridwar and her victory havan have borne fruit. Her IPL team Kings XI Punjab has begun to win matches and beat the finest teams in the tournament… But even she realises that it’s a little late in the day for that!
Never mind, Holmes says, she’s a sport and doesn’t take victories to her head and loses to her heart. So true! She’s been tweeting that she loves the wins and is really kicked about the way her boys are performing. She’s even tweeted that she’s slept with a grin on her face. That’s sweet!
http://www.hindustantimes.com/pg3/Preity-s-a-sport/531596/H1-Article1-531163.aspx
MANITOBA'S newest sports facility marked its grand opening Thursday by honouring the province's oldest active athlete.
At the grand opening of Sport Manitoba's new Sport for Life Centre, Premier Greg Selinger awarded the Order of the Buffalo Hunt to Jaring Timmerman.
Timmerman is the 100-year-old swimmer who broke several world records over the last year. He now holds records for 50- and 100-metre backstroke and freestyle categories in his age group.
Also on hand were Eric Robinson, Manitoba's minister responsible for sport, Paul Robson, chairman of Sport Manitoba's board of directors, Olympic champion Jennifer Botterill and Sport Manitoba president and CEO Jeff Hnatiuk.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/multi-use-sport-centre-opens-doors-91013874.html
Keith Richards says he is like Mozart. Damien Hirst makes the comparison with Picasso or Van Gogh, while Steve Davis simply describes him as "the best genius any sport has ever had".
The man himself winces at such descriptions.
"A genius? Cor, I don't know about that," says Ronnie O'Sullivan. "I've been semi-successful. I've done all right but I'm not the player I was. Who do I think will win the world championship? John Higgins. Have I been good for snooker? I don't know."
Such self-deprecation has long been an O'Sullivan trademark.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-best-genius-any-sport-has-ever-had-20100416-sjw7.html
The Premier League is to mount a challenge to the decision by regulator Ofcom to make Sky sell sports channels to its competitors at a discount.
Ofcom told Sky it must cut the price it charges rival cable, terrestrial and internet broadcasters to show its premium sports channels.
The broadcaster will have to sell Sky Sports 1 and 2 for up to 23% less than the current wholesale price.
Premier League boss Richard Scudamore said the league had "no other option".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8623114.stm
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Vice President Biden on Thursday visited a technology center that broke ground on an expansion partly funded by federal stimulus money.
The $17 million Ben Franklin TechVentures received a $6 million grant under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act in September. The technology business incubator is on the Lehigh University campus.
Biden lauded the project as helping to create high-tech jobs for the 21st century. The grant will help fund a 47,000-square-foot expansion and create 200 technology jobs, the company said. - AP
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20100416_Biden_attends__tech_center_groundbreaking.html
Three years ago to the day, 23-year-old Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho went on a killing spree at the school, taking 32 lives before turning a gun on himself.
Time heals all wounds — or so it is said — but the violence that day that reverberated across the globe won’t be forgotten anytime soon, according to three members of the Augusta County Chapter of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association.“It’s a sad time of year for us,” said Billie Smith, a 1979 graduate of Virginia Tech. “It’s hard to believe it has been three years now.”While April 16 will always be a gloomy reminder of the inexplicable bloodbath that took place at the school, it also is used to point to the strength of the “Hokie Nation,” which bonded together even stronger in the aftermath.“I’ve never been more proud to be a Hokie,” Smith said.
http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100416/NEWS01/100415008
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks took some tentative steps forward Thursday in advance of quarterly earnings reports from Google Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!goog/quotes/nls/goog (GOOG 595.30, +6.30, +1.07%) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!amd/quotes/nls/amd (AMD 10.16, +0.27, +2.73%) . Google shares rose 68 cents to $589.68, while AMD was up 2 cents a share at $9.92. Small gains also came from Microsoft Corp. /quotes/comstock/15*!msft/quotes/nls/msft (MSFT 30.87, +0.05, +0.16%) , Dell Inc.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/google-amd-lead-mild-tech-gains-2010-04-15?reflink=MW_news_stmp
KAMPALA, Uganda -- Losing Internet access is a Web geek's worst nightmare. So when 19-year-old Felix Kitaka ran out of money to pay for the pricey dialup connection at his Kampala home last year, the young software developer was distraught. Without Web access he wasn't going to be able to finish the Facebook application he was working on -- and even if he were able to raise the money to pay his overdue bills, he wouldn't be reconnected for weeks.
So Kitaka contacted Jon Gosier, an American who had just launched Appfrica Labs, a technology incubator in Kampala. After a brief meeting, Gosier invited Kitaka to work on his Facebook application at Appfrica's offices. Starting immediately.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/16/smallbusiness/appfrica/
Internet giant Google today reported a 37 per cent rise in first quarter net profit - beating Wall Street expectations and boosting hopes of a revival in the technology sector. In the first three months of the year the search giant saw profits rise to $1.96bn (£1.3bn) - up from the $1.42bn it made in the same period in 2009. Revenues rose 23 per cent to $6.78bn US dollars (£4.4bn) as more people clicked on internet ads powered by the company's search engine.Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1266410/Google-profit-increase-points-tech-sector-recovery.html#ixzz0lFnNsF8s
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – President Barack Obama boldly predicted Thursday his new plans for space exploration would lead American astronauts on historic, almost fantastic journeys to an asteroid and then to Mars — and in his lifetime — relying on rockets and propulsion still to be imagined and built.
"I expect to be around to see it," he said of pioneering U.S. trips starting with a landing on an asteroid — a colossal feat in itself — before the long-dreamed-of expedition to Mars. He spoke near the historic Kennedy Space Center launch pads that sent the first men to the moon, a blunt rejoinder to critics, including several former astronauts, who contend his planned changes will instead deal a staggering blow to the nation's manned space program.
"We want to leap into the future," not continue on the same path as before, Obama said as he sought to reassure NASA workers that America's space adventures would soar on despite the impending termination of space shuttle flights.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_sc/us_obama_space;_ylt=AtQKQ21SUlUue9GDS01hUkIjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJpaW1wZmNpBGFzc2V0Ay9hcC8yMDEwMDQxNi9hcF9vbl9zYy91c19vYmFtYV9zcGFjZQRwb3MDMgRzZWMDeW5fdG9tYnN0b25lBHNsawNvbnRvbWFyc29iYW0-
San Francisco – MySQL, the open source database now property of Oracle, has stayed the same in such aspects as its availability under the GPL, but some traits will change under its new management. For example, Oracle will be more tight-lipped about product plans, a MySQL official said Thursday.
Devotees of the database also can expect continued improvements in areas such as performance and a stronger emphasis on Windows, said Kaj Arno, vice president of the MySQL community for the still-functioning Sun Microsystems branch in Munich. (Oracle's Sun acquisition has not been completed yet in Germany.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20100415/tc_infoworld/120913;_ylt=AqVaLWE49DLfcXmTPLpo2V4jtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJqM2F1MWRmBGFzc2V0A2luZm93b3JsZC8yMDEwMDQxNS8xMjA5MTMEcG9zAzEwBHNlYwN5bl9hcnRpY2xlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDbXlzcWxvZmZpY2lh
SHATTERING ASSUMPTIONS: New study finds that young adults generally care as much about online privacy as older Americans, despite all their raunchy postings.
THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT: Researchers say young adults are sometimes encouraged by sites to reveal personal information to participate in social networks, even though they may prefer not to.
WHAT THIS MEANS: Lawmakers and educators shouldn't assume that young adults aren't looking for privacy protections.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100415/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_young_adults_privacy_summary_box;_ylt=Aq6w4WdrOD9_hUZoZqbe2NIjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTNjN2t1dm1pBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDE1L3VzX3RlY195b3VuZ19hZHVsdHNfcHJpdmFjeV9zdW1tYXJ5X2JveARwb3MDOARzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3N1bW1hcnlib3hzdA--
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Advanced Micro Devices Inc reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue as PC and server spending rebounded, but investors cashed out of a rally triggered by stellar Intel Corp results.
The company -- which had posted 12 consecutive quarters of losses until the previous quarter -- said on Thursday its second-quarter sales would be seasonally weaker, striking a muted tone in contrast with Intel's bullish comments on corporate spending bouncing back in 2010.
Shares of AMD, which in Thursday's regular session hit levels not seen since November 2007, slid 5 percent as investors sold out. The stock had added 8 percent since Intel's better-than-expected results.
"The stock was a little ahead of itself," said Broadpoint Amtech analyst Doug Freedman. He said the company's real earnings growth will come in the back half of the year.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100416/tc_nm/us_amd;_ylt=ArdyisHYFf_Wm1q3oTfQKaojtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJiNjVrcjZjBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwNDE2L3VzX2FtZARwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA2FtZHJldmVudWViZQ--
One week after a critical bug was made public, Oracle has patched its Java virtual machine to fix an exploit that could be used to sneak malicious software onto a computer.
That's a good thing, because earlier this week, security vendor AVG said that it had spotted the exploit for this bug being used in a real-world cyber-attack.
Oracle released its Java SE 6 version 20 update Thursday morning. It addresses three security bugs in Java, including the vulnerability exploited in AVG's attack, which was made public last week by Google researcher Tavis Ormandy.
That flaw affects the Windows version of Java 6 10 and later, Ormandy said in a note disclosing the problem, posted to a security discussion list last week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20100415/tc_pcworld/afterattacksoraclepatchesjavabug;_ylt=AolDYZgE9ndKvL8TkfuiS5MjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTNhamR0MWgyBGFzc2V0A3Bjd29ybGQvMjAxMDA0MTUvYWZ0ZXJhdHRhY2tzb3JhY2xlcGF0Y2hlc2phdmFidWcEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNhZnRlcmF0dGFja3M-
Toshiba, the world's fifth-largest personal computer maker says it will launch slate devices later in 2010, including models that run either the Microsoft Windows 7 or Google Android operating systems.
Jeff Barney, general manager of digital products for Toshiba America, tells Reuters that his company is exploring several tablet form factors, including a dual-screen tablet that runs Windows, and another slate with a 10-inch display. He predicts that these new tablets won't cannibalize netbook sales, despite the overlap in functionality. The Android-based device would cost less than the Windows tablet, Reuters reports. Both tablets, like the Apple iPad, would be used primarily for media consumption, including online video, music, e-books, and other digitized content.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20100416/tc_pcworld/toshibatodebutipadstyletabletslaterthisyear;_ylt=Ajx2Vbvi0fuK48ADJ5iR0WAjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTNsdXE1c2M5BGFzc2V0A3Bjd29ybGQvMjAxMDA0MTYvdG9zaGliYXRvZGVidXRpcGFkc3R5bGV0YWJsZXRzbGF0ZXJ0aGlzeWVhcgRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3Rvc2hpYmF0b2RlYg--
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Sales of video game gear and software in the United States climbed 6 percent in March, industry tracker NPD said on Thursday, bouncing back somewhat after declining for two straight months.
Hardware sales slipped 4 percent in the month, but software sales jumped 10 percent.
Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii was the top-selling home console in the month, selling 557,500 units, while Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 console came in second with 338,400 and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 was third with 313,900 units.
The top-selling game in March was Sony's "God of War III."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100415/media_nm/us_npd_videogames;_ylt=AgCBgQZ6MPEH_IGh47fS2qojtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJuOXY4M2JqBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwNDE1L3VzX25wZF92aWRlb2dhbWVzBHBvcwMxNwRzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3ZpZGVvZ2FtZXNhbA--
NEW YORK – Before it bought online video service YouTube, employees of Google Inc. believed YouTube's business was risky because it relied on pirated content and recommended pursuing a different strategy, newly released documents showed Thursday.
The internal Google documents, marked "highly confidential," were obtained and released by media company Viacom Inc. in part to bolster its case in a $1 billion copyright lawsuit against Google and YouTube.
Viacom alleges the companies built YouTube's success by promoting the unlicensed use of video taken from Viacom cable channels such as MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, rather than paying the creators.
Google bought YouTube for $1.76 billion in November 2006.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_hi_te/us_viacom_youtube;_ylt=AlvTZI30bt.KextgXdKbaRYjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJuajJ0cTMyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDE2L3VzX3ZpYWNvbV95b3V0dWJlBHBvcwMxNQRzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA25ld3JvdW5kb2Zkbw--
Television has changed a lot over the years--from black-and-white tube sets to Technicolor consoles to plasma and LCD high-definition TVs.
But the medium is still evolving. Tech companies are producing bigger (yet thinner) TV screens and immersive, customizable viewing experiences with Internet connectivity, widgets, and apps; and broadcasters are looking at ways to move beyond high-definition.
We still have a long way to go before our home entertainment systems look like something out of Minority Report, but some of the new technologies are pretty impressive: 3D TV that approximates what you'd get in a movie theater, multiple monitors designed to present a wall-size picture, and ultra-definition resolution are just some of the innovations you can look forward to.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20100416/tc_pcworld/thefutureoftv3dwindowwallsvisiblelightcommunicationandmore;_ylt=AqKdxcD.Pbb3ES5WHt8AdfMjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTQ1czdtcDkwBGFzc2V0A3Bjd29ybGQvMjAxMDA0MTYvdGhlZnV0dXJlb2Z0djNkd2luZG93d2FsbHN2aXNpYmxlbGlnaHRjb21tdW5pY2F0aW9uYW5kbW9yZQRwb3MDMTEEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawN0aGVmdXR1cmVvZnQ-
NEW YORK – All the dirty laundry younger people seem to air on social networks these days might lead older Americans to conclude that today's tech-savvy generation doesn't care about privacy.
Such an assumption fits happily with declarations that privacy is dead, as online marketers and social sites such as Facebook try to persuade people to share even more about who they are, what they are thinking and where they are at any given time.
But it's not quite true, a new study finds. Despite mounds of anecdotes about college students sharing booze-chugging party photos, posting raunchy messages and badmouthing potential employers online, young adults generally care as much about privacy as older Americans.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100415/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_young_adults_privacy;_ylt=AuhNHsO9vcBwpzJiG6Z4bhwjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwNTl2dG0yBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDE1L3VzX3RlY195b3VuZ19hZHVsdHNfcHJpdmFjeQRwb3MDNQRzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3N0dWR5eW91bmdhZA--
The ambitiously named Incredible doesn't quite scale the heights of HTC's recently announced Evo 4G (or at least on paper it doesn't), but hey — it still looks impressive in its own right. (Maybe "HTC Impressive" would have been a better name?)
The blogosphere has been rife for the past week or so with leaked details about Verizon's third Android smartphone (set for release on April 29; $199 with a two-year contract and after a mail-in $100 rebate), but now we finally have the official Incredible specs, courtesy of Verizon.
Weighing in at about 4.5 ounces and measuring a little less than a half-inch thick, the Incredible gets off on the right foot with an eye-popping, 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display. In back, you'll find the 8-megapixel camera and its dual LED flash for snapping pictures in low light — nice, although the Incredible lacks the Evo 4G's front-facing camera for video conferencing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100415/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc1634;_ylt=AvXx6cwp1edMNXXi920EPjkjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJ1ZWJrMzJvBGFzc2V0A3l0ZWNoX2dhZGcvMjAxMDA0MTUveXRlY2hfZ2FkZ190YzE2MzQEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNhbmRyb2lkLXBvd2U-
Attention to whomever is trying to send faxes to my voice line from the phone number identified by my Caller ID as "000-000-0000:" That activity has just been made illegal by the federal government.
On Wednesday, the House passed the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010, which nearly completes this bill's movement through the legislative process. The Senate already passed a version of the bill in February. And, as with the Do Not Call List legislation several years back, this is a bill that has nothing but broad support from the people and minimal cost associated with it. There's no real obstacle preventing the president from signing it into law pretty soon.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_wguy/20100415/tc_ytech_wguy/ytech_wguy_tc1637;_ylt=AnpNnXWc_vY2rIL0aQmPK6kjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJ1ZnYyZzkwBGFzc2V0A3l0ZWNoX3dndXkvMjAxMDA0MTUveXRlY2hfd2d1eV90YzE2MzcEcG9zAzEEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNwaG9ueWNhbGxlcmk-
SAN FRANCISCO – Coming off a stellar first quarter, Google Inc. seems to have regained the momentum that it lost shortly after the U.S. recession started in December 2007.
But it looks like it's going to take a lot longer for the Internet search leader's stock price to rebound to its pre-recession levels.
The shares fell nearly 5 percent late Thursday after the company released first-quarter results that exceeded analyst expectations.
Earnings rose 37 percent and revenue surged 23 percent. The latter figure represented Google's highest growth rate since the summer of 2008.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_hi_te/us_earns_google;_ylt=Amu5HJvoFONsfp6XJybgmpYjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTJnYjdkM2ZqBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDE2L3VzX2Vhcm5zX2dvb2dsZQRjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzIEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDZ29vZ2xlMXFncm93
The steady rain of leaks about HTC's Incredible smartphone has turned into a downpour, and the buzz has become a steady drone. If the Incredible is Verizon's next launch, the company is making a smart move, said 451 Group analyst Chris Hazelton. It will give consumers their first opportunity to actually handle a phone that is expected to be strikingly similar to the much-ballyhooed Nexus One.
With a name like "Incredible," you'd better be good.
Based on leaked documents published on Tuesday, phone enthusiasts are buzzing over prospects that what's rumored to be Verizon's next big phone will live up to its name and more.
Various Web sites published what were purported to be manuals and spec sheets for the new phone. They indicate that the Incredible will share many similarities with Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) well-received -- but lightly bought -- Nexus One, including its 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor and 3.7-inch OLED capacitive screen. It will feature the HTC Sense user interface layered over Android 2.1.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Will-HTC-Incredible-Live-Up-to-Its-Name-69764.html
A sensor in your cellphone could alert you to a toxic leak in your immediate vicinity -- or it could alert government officials to a major terrorist attack with a chemical weapon. Putting the crowdsourcing concept to work, it would be possible to assess the location, nature and the severity of such an attack in seconds. It's unclear how many citizens would want such a capability on their phones, however.
If the Department of Homeland Security has its way, cellphones will soon do more than transmit calls, GPS information and a host of data from the Web. They'll also monitor the air for toxic substances that could be part of a chemical warfare attack.
Anywhere a chemical threat breaks out -- a mall, a bus, subway, or office -- Cell-All will alert the authorities automatically. (Image by Paul Wedig. Click to enlarge.)
Just as antivirus software springs to life when it spies suspicious activity, so Cell-All, from the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), regularly sniffs the surrounding air for certain volatile chemical compounds.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Air-Sniffing-Cellphones-Could-Aid-Chemical-Warfare-Defense-69760.html
GIMP is one of the most able-bodied open source photo manipulation apps in the world, and its feature set rivals those of many proprietary -- and often downright expensive -- offerings. Its features will fix flaws in photos as well as enable the user to artistically manipulate images in a multitude of formats. However, most photo editors this advanced do require a bit of a learning curve, and GIMP is no exception.
The Linux world is filled with numerous capable packages for just about every computing category. Graphics manipulation applications are no exception. In any list of able-bodied graphics candidates, GIMP 2.6 should be one of the top three contenders.
GIMP is Linux Speak for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a free powerhouse that sets the standard for displaying and tweaking all things photographic on a computer screen. It is a very close first cousin to the not-so-open-source program known as Adobe's (Nasdaq: ADBE) Photoshop.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/GIMP-Is-No-Lame-Photo-Tool-69753.html
President Obama will attempt to defuse the growing controversy over his administration's plans for space exploration in a speech on Thursday. The critics' arguments were bolstered this week by the publication of an open letter from renowned astronauts Neil Armstrong, James Lovell and Eugene Cernan, who called the president's decision not to go back to the moon "devastating."
Obama on Thursday will speak at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida about his plans for drastically changing the direction of the nation's human spaceflight program.
Included in those plans is a decision -- originally announced back in February -- to end the Constellation moon program and shift NASA's focus to developing new technologies for deeper space exploration instead.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Obama-to-Defend-Space-Vision-Against-Mounting-Criticism-69772.html
Application delivery controllers and server load balancers are devices that optimize Web and application infrastructure. These appliances can help reduce data center costs and optimize operations. While large enterprises often use purpose-built hardware-based load balancers, smaller organizations may be able to reap most or all of the same benefits by using virtual load balancers.
Today Web and application infrastructure continues to expand applications for e-commerce and communications with customers, partners and internal employees. For those responsible for deploying, maintaining, and supporting these network applications, there is an increasing need to get their highest performance out of data center equipment while simplifying the complexity that causes excess overhead and unnecessary costs.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Server-Load-Balancing-Not-Just-for-the-Big-Guys-Anymore-69767.html
The International Space Station will get its first humanoid robot this fall. Though R2 is only half a man -- he's got nothing from the waist down -- he's a lot stronger than the real people he's designed to help. Also, he'll be better suited to undertake some tasks that are too dangerous for ordinary mortals.
Moving slowly and deliberately, a pair of white-gloved hands reach out, grasp a white cloth and carefully pull it back, revealing a manila envelope. The hands then deftly move to the envelope, pick it up and present it to onlookers.
The scene is from a NASA video, and the hands belong to a character known as "R2," or Robonaut 2 -- a startlingly humanoid looking robot currently prepping to fly to the International Space Station aboard the last scheduled space shuttle mission in September.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/R2-Lands-Space-Station-Gig-69771.html
Opera made an unexpected appearance at the App Store this week. Submitting its Mini browser to Apple for approval seemed like a long shot, yet here it is. Opera certainly feels faster on its feet than Safari when it comes to loading pages. It also has a few features you won't find on the iPhone's built-in browser. Zoom control, however, just isn't the same.
Opera Mini, an application from Opera Software, is available for free at the App Store.
Opera Software can be quite the prima donna when it wants to, and apparently it knows how to use that attitude to get the results it wants. This company was a main player in the recent effort to require Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to offer a full menu of Web browsers each time Windows is installed in Europe. Not only must Windows ask the user which browser he or she wants to set as default (Internet Explorer or one of several rivals, including Opera), but the options must be listed in random order. Enough people picked Opera that the company considered the effort a success.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Opera-on-iPhone-Prestissimo-but-Just-a-Little-Flat-69762.html
Linux can't be around forever, can it? For that matter, what does the future hold for operating systems in general? "If you asked me to predict what operating systems would look like in the future, I would probably give you quite a pessimistic answer," said blogger Jeremy Visser. "I think that future OSes will be more and more locked down, and you will be doing less with them while thinking you are doing more."
Human beings are a naturally curious species, most would surely agree, and for as long as we've had cards to punch or keyboards to type on, we've wondered what computing technologies the future might bring.
Linux bloggers are no exception -- indeed, they might even be created a little more equal in this respect, shall we say, particularly when it comes to their favorite platform.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/The-Life-Expectancy-of-Linux-69775.html
Twitter can be a useful tool for job searching, and not only for networking. It also provides candidates with a vehicle for demonstrating their skills and displaying their personalities. "People get hired for who they are, not just what they do. Your digital footprint is your resume," said Susan Whitcomb, president of the Career Coach Academy.
The constant drumbeat of bad economic news didn't stop Jennifer Cloud from pursuing a job in her chosen field of interactive marketing . Armed with a degree in communications and a desire to learn new technologies, she started using Twitter.
"I was wondering if the resumes I was blindly submitting online were launched into a vortex," Cloud said. "With Twitter you meet people at all levels of management and get an opportunity to present yourself as a person rather than a piece of paper."
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Tweet-Your-Way-Into-a-Job-69774.html
The Library of Congress has decided to add Twitter's vast collection of tweets to its archive. Once methods of searching and researching the collection are developed, the tweets could lend valuable insights about historical events and cultural trends. "We think there are discoveries that are going to be made that we can't even conceive of right now," said Matt Raymond, director of communications for the Library.
Next time you tweet, you may want to consider your role in history. The Library of Congress plans to archive all public posts from Twitter, dating back to the 2006 debut of the popular social networking service.
Details on tweet availability will be worked out within the next several months, according to Matt Raymond, director of communications for the Library of Congress. Although some posts will be accessible online at the Library's Web site, you'll need to travel to Washington, D.C., to access the bulk of the billions of tweets.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Library-of-Congress-to-House-Billions-and-Billions-of-Tweets-69781.html?wlc=1271390199
Welcome back again! We're here, still. Tell your friends. Anyway, this week we finally give our final thoughts on Facebook...Final. OK, they're probably not our final thoughts, but we go so in depth, we won't need to even mention Facebook for at least a few episodes. New drinking game: Take a sip every time Dong says "Facebook" in this ep.
Also, I attempt to talk game theory with Dong, but as usual, he fails miserably. He then goes on all about some easy to use router. I mean, this is nothing new. He does it every week. Don't say you haven't noticed.
http://www.cnet.com/8301-17914_1-20002653-89.html
Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard wave after surfacing from their dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the worlds deepest spot. The mission, in 1960, was the first--and only--manned dive to the bottom of the trench. Now, ocean exploration has fallen off the map, but new technologies promise to recharge a once promising field of research.(Credit: Thomas Abercrombie, National Geographic Society)
On January 23, 1960, two men, diving in a small deep-sea submersible, reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, a spot about 200 miles southwest of Guam that, at 35,800 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, is the deepest point on Earth.
It was the first time humans had gone that deep, and when Navy Lt. Don Walsh and his co-pilot, Jacques Piccard, took the bathyscaphe Trieste all the way down, they surely must have felt like pioneers, the first of many who would make their way there.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20002563-52.html
Bill Gates is going back to college, and Beyond Binary is going along for the ride.
Next week, the Microsoft chairman and philanthropist is doing a three-state college tour, meeting with students and faculty to encourage more people to join efforts to solve society's biggest global challenges.
Bill Gates is headed on a three-day college tour next week and Beyond Binary will be following along with coverage of the speeches, behind-the-scenes notes, and an interview with Gates.(Credit: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)
In a blog post this week, Gates noted that he's done similar tours during his time at Microsoft, but that this is the first time he's done it in his capacity as head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
"I'm most looking forward to my conversation with students about how we can get more of the world's brightest people to focus on the world's biggest challenges, like poverty, global health, education, energy and climate change," Gates wrote.
Gates will be in the San Francisco Bay Area at the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University, and then travel to the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20002540-56.html
The Pentagon is looking for a few good flying machines.
The U.S. Department of Defense, in the form of its DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) division, is calling on the research community to create a flying vehicle that can travel both by land and air, lift off without a runway, carry up to four personnel, and handle itself in the battlefield.
With land vehicles vulnerable to ambushes, attacks, and explosives, the objective of the program known as Transformer is to provide soldiers with a vehicle that can travel freely in the air to avoid problems on the ground. Such a vehicle would be used in combat for raids, reconnaissance, insurgency/counterinsurgency, and other types of missions. It would also be deployed to evacuate the wounded and deliver supplies, according to DARPA's solicitation.
Additionally, DARPA is looking for something with VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing), meaning it can lift off like a helicopter requiring no runaway, and reach altitudes as high as 10,000 feet. But to traverse rough road conditions when on the ground, the agency wants the vehicle to handle like an SUV with at least four wheels for stability and heavy-duty suspension. And like the rest of us, it wants a car that's fuel-efficient--able to run for 250 miles on a single tank of gas.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-20002587-42.html
Uh-oh. Just a month after Gina Bianchini, co-founder of build-a-social-network service Ning, departed the company, it's cutting 40 percent of its staff and axing its free, ad-supported service.
Bianchini had co-founded Ning with Valley legend Marc Andreessen, and it had raised $119 million in venture capital, including a whopping $60 million round in early 2008 that Andreessen famously characterized as a stockpile for the "nuclear winter" that would help get it through the economic recession.
Jason Rosenthal, the Ning COO who took over as CEO from Bianchini, sent an e-mail memo to company staffers on Thursday that somebody forwarded to industry blog TechCrunch. He explained that Ning will be focusing on premium networks--which come with additional features and are not ad-supported--because that's where the company's business successes have been, thus far.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20002611-36.html
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.--By Mitch Jackson's telling, the handful of electric vehicles that FedEx is testing are wonderful, offering sufficient range and one-third the operating cost.
But because an electric truck costs three or four times more than a conventional truck, FedEx's worldwide fleet of all-electrics is only 19 out of about 40,000 trucks.
"We want those trucks. We believe in energy independence," said Jackson, vice president of FedEx environmental affairs and sustainability. "We have a deep belief in electrification, but the capital (needed) has inhibited us to what we have now."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20002571-54.html
For Marc Maiffret, the turning point in his life came when--at the age of 17--he woke up to an FBI agent pointing a gun at his head.
A runaway and high school dropout, he had just returned home and landed his first professional job using his computer skills for the good of companies instead of for mischief. But his past was still catching up to his present.
Young, articulate, and outspoken, Maiffret went on to become a celebrity hacker wunderkind, testifying before Congress on security issues, featured in cover stories in numerous magazines and newspapers, appearing in MTV's "True Life: I'm a Hacker," and being named one of People Magazine's 30 People Under 30.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20002317-245.html
Google put out a pair of small, but useful Gmail updates on Thursday that make it both easier to use and more integrated with the company's free Calendar service. Notably, both have skipped a trial through the service's "labs" section, and gone straight through to the final product.
The first is drag-and-drop attachments, a feature which lets you drag files from your desktop machine right into your e-mail message to have them begin uploading. It works the same as the system Google implemented in its Wave service for photos and other media types. It also has the same requirement of the user having to run Google Chrome or Firefox 3.6.
To use it within Gmail, users just drag any file from their hard drive (or from within an open application) into a new green box that appears within the compose menu. The service then uploads it in the background, which--just like uploading any other attachment--lets you do other things as the bits are being pushed.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20002619-248.html
Microsoft said on Thursday that it has dispatched a team of auditors to a facility in China that is accused of requiring its teenage employees to work long hours in poor conditions for take-home pay that amounts to just 50 cents an hour.
"As a company that sells a wide range of hardware and devices, we take very seriously our corporate responsibility to ensure that the manufacturing facilities and supply chain operations that we use comply with all relevant labor and safety requirements and ensure fair treatment of workers," according to a blog post from Brian Tobey, corporate vice president of manufacturing and operations for Microsoft's entertainment and devices unit. "We were therefore very concerned when we saw a report by the National Labor Committee (NLC) alleging that conditions at a factory operated by KYE in Dongguan, China, were adversely impacting workers."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20002622-56.html
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