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Cops raid Gizmodo editor home -- you don't mess with Steve Jobs

Publié: avril 26, 2010, 11:42pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Gizmodo's big "next iPhone" scoop has generated more than pageviews. Now it's the police raid. Late this afternoon -- actually at stock market close -- the gadget blog posted about the police raid, which occurred Friday night at the residence of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen. Law enforcement executed a search warrant before confiscating -- count `em -- four PCs and two servers. Chen wasn't home. The police broke down a door to enter his home.
The timing (Friday night) and location (Chen's home) are oh-so revealing. Somebody wants to send a message to reporters about obtaining information and items that might belong to a big corporation -- say, Apple. While I've publicly scolded Gizmodo for scooping stolen goods (pun intended), the situation as recounted by the tech blog (and not yet corroborated) chills my soul. The action as described stinks of harassment, intended to scare off the free press.
Otherwise, why wasn't the search warrant issued during business hours at a Gizmodo office? The tech blog never said that Chen paid $5,000 for the iPhone prototype. Nick Denton, CEO of parent company Gawker, is on record stating the company paid for the device. If there is criminal negligence, shouldn't it be further up the corporate ladder than the editor first writing about Apple's smartphone?
It's true that Chen works from home, but surely Gawker has well-documented everything related to the iPhone prototype. Surely there is a clear e-mail trail on company servers -- then there are legal considerations. Surely Gawker's legal department vetted everything before allowing one word, photo or video to be posted about the iPhone prototype. Obviously, Chen's home is more vulnerable than a company's offices. Chen's home office is located in California, while Gawker offices are in New York. Apple is located in California, too.
There's a message here: You don't mess with Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Apple keeps its secrets until Jobs is ready to reveal them. The free press be damned. Perhaps it's no coincidence that Apple is on the steering committee supporting REACT -- Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team. The detective executing the warrant, Matthew Broad, is assigned to REACT.
Singling out Chen is harassment designed to scare off other reporters. I say that being strongly of the opinion that Gizmodo did in fact receive stolen goods under the California Penal Code. The tech blog likely violated California's Uniform Trade Secrets Act. But the harassment of an editor/reporter/blogger to discourage him or his peers from exercising free speech shouldn't be mingled with Gizmodo's culpability -- or not.
Then there are the direct assaults on free speech. Journalists in California are supposed to be protected from search and seizure. Gawker COO Gaby Darbyshire e-mailed the police detective responsible for the search and seizure, citing California Penal Code Seciton 1524(g): "No warrant shall issue for any item or items described in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code."
California Evidence Code Section 1070 reads:
(a) A publisher, editor, reporter, or other person connected with or employed upon a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, or by a press association or wire service, or any person who has been so connected or employed, cannot be adjudged in contempt by a judicial, legislative, administrative body, or any other body having the power to issue subpoenas, for refusing to disclose, in any proceeding as defined in Section 901, the source of any information procured while so connected or employed for publication in a newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication, or for refusing to disclose any unpublished information obtained or prepared in gathering, receiving or processing of information for communication to the public....
(c) As used in this section, "unpublished information" includes information not disseminated to the public by the person from whom disclosure is sought, whether or not related information has been disseminated and includes, but is not limited to, all notes, outtakes, photographs, tapes or other data of whatever sort not itself disseminated to the public through a medium of communication, whether or not published information based upon or related to such material has been disseminated.
But do these protections extend to Gizmodo? Denton's Twitter bio identifies him as a "gossip merchant," and Gizmodo is regarded as a tech blog. Do the same laws that protect journalists apply to bloggers? It's a question I hear often asked.
For certain, Chen's computers and servers are chock full of sources -- named and not. Should the police be able to raid a blogger's home (Chen is a Gizmodo editor, by title) and violate those sources' rights to privacy? Can the press truly be free, if the police have such free reign. I'm a journalist. I'm biased here. So I pose the question to you: Should the police have been allowed to raid Chen's home and confiscate his computers? Please respond in comments.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Silverlight revolutionizes beta of next Windows Home Server

Publié: avril 26, 2010, 11:12pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

Make your connection to Microsoft Windows Home Server "Vail" Public Beta through Fileforum now.
One of Silverlight video's biggest advantages to date has been the server's ability to tweak the bitrate of video playback as it's being played back, and as the bandwidth of the connection varies. It's the smooth streaming feature that premiered last June with Silverlight 3. Now, with Silverlight 4 already well under way, Microsoft today premiered a public beta of a forthcoming release of Windows Home Server, which will be capable of smooth-streaming video to any Silverlight-enhanced client via the Web.
With the new server software, code-named "Vail" (as in Colorado, not "veil" as in fabric cover), the new generation of DLNA home video and audio components -- including Blu-ray players and notebook PCs -- will be able to receive "pushed" setup information through the home's wireless router, enabling those components to connect to the wireless network. It will be the new Windows Home Server that does the pushing, via the "Play To" functionality that already premiered in Windows 7 but has yet to be tested in a full server setting.
"DLNA enables your home server to participate in a 'Play To' environment as a Digital Media Server (DMS)," reads the reviewer's guide to the "Vail" server, published today. Other DLNA-compatible devices -- TVs, stereos, your Xbox 360 (in Windows Media Center Mode) and more -- can automatically find your home server from within your home network and then stream videos, music, and pictures on demand from it."
"Vail" will also be the first Home Server rendition that plays the role the system should have been born to play: captain of the Homegroup. For the first time in Microsoft's history, the Homegroup feature has made network connectivity actually easy. With "Vail," libraries enrolled in the Homegroup become pushed to users' computers throughout the home, and shared by user name rather than system ID.
The Console app to which users have grown accustomed for managing backup file locations and media libraries, has been replaced in "Vail" with a completely redone Silverlight app. While the built-in version of the new Dashboard looks simple enough, it's actually the browser-based version that looks more dynamic. If it reminds you of apps you've seen recently on Windows Live, it's not by accident. It gives "Vail" a kind of media server home page, from which the user can set up shop, literally becoming her own broadcaster.
Streaming audio from your Home Server to a client that runs Silverlight, also enables this animated album cover showcase. What will be interesting to see is whether mobile platforms on which Silverlight may run, will also be capable of presenting this same showcase. That could change the entire ballgame for many handset or netbook users who are currently stuck with substandard MP3 player apps. Imagine a media world where playback capabilities and experience are determined by your server, not by your device's manufacturer.
(And yes, the question will inevitably come up: When a home broadcaster streams content online, including to herself, will she owe royalties? No, that is not meant in sarcasm or as a joke.)
Microsoft advises that "Vail" beta testers use clean installs only -- very clean, in fact. The company would rather you not install "Vail" on a hard drive that has anything on it, including another operating system -- wipe the partition clean first. Keeping true to its promise made in 2008, this server kernel is 64-bit only. A minimum 160 GB hard drive is required, which is fair enough if you stick to building a test system using parts made within the last three years.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Is there really an iPad interference problem?

Publié: avril 26, 2010, 8:43pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

A slow, but steadily increasing, trickle of messages on Apple's iPad discussion forums appears to confirm the findings of Princeton University's Network Systems engineers, who dealt this month with a rapid influx of iPads over a concentrated area. What they've been noticing is that Wi-Fi on iPads that are set for dynamic DHCP leases -- assignments of IP addresses to clients for limited time periods -- are failing to renew those leases when time expires, often after just a few hours.
As a result, users' iPads are stuck with the message "Connecting..." and no easy, or apparent, way to renew their network connections. Although Princeton discovered the problem as early as April 4, and Apple forum discussions began April 11, Apple's only suggestion has left some customers struggling.
"Apple iPads began appearing on Princeton University's campus soon after they become available April 3, 2010. On April 4, we observed our first DHCP client malfunction from an iPad. Over the next few days, additional iPads malfunctioned in the same way," reads an ongoing page on the subject from Princeton's Office of Information Technology. "The malfunction we see is that the iPad uses DHCP to obtain a lease, renews the lease zero or more times (as expected), but then continues using the IP address without renewing the lease further. The iPad allows the DHCP lease to expire, but it continues using the IP address after allowing the lease to expire. The incident continues for some time (typically hours); usually it ends when the iPad asks for a new DHCP lease, or the iPad disconnects from the network."
Since the iPad was released, there have been a number of reported cases of weak Wi-Fi connectivity. But these cases don't appear to have a common root, and in some instances, it appears users' wireless routers were at fault, rather than the iPad. Some have suggested -- and one site demonstrated with regard to dropping signals from Netflix -- simply restoring Wi-Fi settings to factory defaults. One Australia-based consultant suggested setting Wi-Fi connectivity to "Auto," and the positive public response made him something of an online hero.
But that's not related to the DHCP lease case, which has a more defined profile. Some forum contributors report their network connectivity is stuck after putting their iPads to sleep for a while. That could be related to the Princeton issue, or it could be related to the cloud of weak Wi-Fi issues. Nonetheless, on April 5, Apple responded to the sleep problem by taking the Netflix route: resetting to default.
And since that time, volunteer supporters have been referring iPad owners with possibly related issues, such as the DHCP lease case, back to the April 5 message: Have you tried resetting to defaults? Other users with home routers have set their routers to static IP addresses, which they report solves the problem.
That doesn't help Princeton, which runs a campus-wide network. As its OIT team explained late last week, it sets up dynamic IP addresses to expire no later than three hours after lease. "Shorter leases allow us to recover unused IP addresses rapidly, in turn permitting us to assign globally-routable IP addresses to clients without requiring Princeton to impose a NAT between wireless clients and the Internet," the team's iPad problem announcement page reads.
It goes on to chide some technology blogs for having reported that Princeton "banned" the use of iPads on campus, when it never did any such thing. The team's later, in-depth explanation suggests that some on the team may resent the implication that Princeton is the one at fault here, at the very least for making an issue out of the "magical" iPad.
"We could choose instead to not take a pro-active stance to these kinds of issues. A more common approach is to ignore the kinds of problems caused by devices using IP addresses not leased to them, allowing such malfunctioning devices to cause sporadic mysterious network problems for customers as their IP addresses are 'stolen.' Sites that use that approach may take action only when a victim of a malfunctioning device chooses to complain. Most victims probably don't complain because these kinds of problems appear random and short-lived to each victim, and often go away when they 'try again.' We feel that the stance we take ultimately benefits our customers, as it results in more reliable network service to the customers. It reduces the frequency that our customers experience network disruptions due to others' malfunctioning devices."
Princeton is not alone in having noticed the issue; a warning about iPad DHCP leasing turned up on this knowledge base page at LSU.
Probably gearing up for a round of "See, I Told You So" with reporters are members of Israel's Ministry of Communications. A few weeks ago, it banned the import of iPads into the country, prior to Apple's commencement of its distribution deal there with premium reseller iDigital. Though it was reported that iPads themselves were banned in Israel, in fact, it was the import of American versions of the device that the Ministry had banned, and then partly restored in an announcement Saturday (PDF available here).
"The scrutiny conducted by the Ministry technical team vis-à-vis Apple's team, International laboratory and European counterparts confirmed that the device which could be operated in various standards will be operated in Israel in accordance to the local standards," reads the Ministry spokesperson's announcement.
But as TG Daily contributor Aharon Etengoff first noted, and Time Magazine later expounded on, iDigital is owned by Nehemia "Chemi" Peres, the son of Israel's prime minister, Shimon Peres -- a fact that was not lost on iPhone customers last year. An Israel-based commenter to the LA Times noted that iDigital had exclusive Israel sales rights to the iPhone, and only began selling it there for the first time in June 2009, well over two years after its worldwide introduction, at essentially full market prices.
That's a total of three iPad interference problems, only one of which may have any real substance to it. That doesn't mean it's not real, though.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Lenovo, Sony, HP launch 'green machines' in deeper stripes

Publié: avril 26, 2010, 7:10pm CEST par Jacqueline Emigh

By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews

Flanked by other eco-wares ranging from Philips light bulbs to a home soda-making machine, PC manufacturers on hand at Pepcom's EcoFocus conference touted new computers that, while Energy Star 5.0-compliant, also happen to be made from recycled and/or non-hazardous stuff.
Lenovo demo'd its new 14-inch L-412 (pictured right) and 15-inch L-512 ThinkPads, two laptops launched last week with customer's choice of Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processors. Both feature palm rests, covers, and cases which are 20% comprised of recycled material, such as office water jugs and old IT equipment.
Likewise, Sony's Vaio W Series "mini-notebook" (pictured below) also on display -- based on a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom processor, with 10.1-inch 1366 x 768 backlit LCD -- uses reprocessed plastic from DVD and CD waste in its palm rest, cover, and incidental parts.
Not to be left out of the eco equation, HP demo'd an all-in-one PC that was introduced last week. The new computer-targeted Pavilion All-in-One 200-5020 PC is designed not just to save on energy and space, but also to reflect HP's commitment to ridding PCs of hazardous materials.
HP has issued company directives to halt the use of mercury in notebook LED displays by the end of this year, and to stop any remaining use of brominated flame retardant (BFR) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in computing products launched in 2011.
Meanwhile, Soda-Club Group's soda making machine requires no electricity whatsoever -- and no disposable bottles or metal cans, either, for that matter.
Consequently, Sodastream is reminiscent in some ways of the old-fashioned home ice cream-making machines that were apparently all the rage partly through the last century. But forget about any hand cranking here.
You can make your own carbonated soda or sparkling water in just about any flavor you want at the proverbial push of a button. All you need is a Sodastream starter kit -- varying in configuration from model to model, but basically including a carbonator and carbonating bottles with "fizz-preserving caps" -- and some flavoring, also company-supplied. Oh, yeah, and some water, too.
At the same time, Philips proved that the emphasis on energy conservation keeps working its way down from data centers and laptops to the light bulb level.
Philips' environmentally friendly LED bulbs last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs, while also gobbling up less electricity and producing brighter light, Betanews was told.
The latest additions to Philips' line-up, released last week, include ten new models, geared to specific purposes such as indoor spot and flood lighting, track fixtures, outdoor security lighting, along with wall sconces and other "mood-setting applications."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Facebook scores huge branding coup with 'Like'

Publié: avril 26, 2010, 6:10pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

The most successful brands share several attributes in common. One of the most important: Ownership of a single word that defines the brand. Last week, Facebook made the word "like" its own, in one of the biggest branding coups in decades.
"Like" is seemingly everywhere this week and associated with Facebook. The social network didn't just extend the mechanism beyond its territorial borders, but claimed ownership over the word, too. Backed by the social network's reach and popularity -- approaching 500 million subscribers -- and Open Graph protocol, the "Like" thumbs-up icon already appears on hundreds of thousands of Web pages outside Facebook. Perhaps then, Facebook's branding coup is double -- not just 'like' but the thumbs-up symbol, too. I use Tumblr for my Odd Together blog, where the service's subscribers can like something by clicking a heart. The point: Facebook wasn't the only social service using a "like" mechanism. By the way, Tumblr rivals Posterous and TypePad have built-in easy support for Facebook Like. Hehe, they like Like.
Big brands do big business by claiming ownership over a single word. For Volvo it's "safety." For, Nike it's "performance." For Apple, it's increasingly "magic." Barack Obama claimed "change" during his presidential campaign.
In 2002, Rajendra Srivastava, Emory University Goizueta Business School professor, explained the importance of word ownership. "A brand really lies between the two ears of the consumer. The company owns the physical brand, of course, but the value of the brand really is what it means to the consumer." What could be more meaningful than like? The word is loaded with positive and personal connotations. "I like you" or "I like this," with the important emphasis on "I," which is me (or is that you). Good branding also is about generating good feelings. What could be more good feeling than like, other than perhaps love?
From a broader branding perspective, word ownership is most potent when it is a verb, meaning there is action behind it. For some brands, like Google or Xerox, the word is the company name replacing a verb. People "Google" instead of "search" or they "Xerox" instead of "copy." Facebook is never going to be a successful verb, but like already is one.
Facebook's Like branding is atypical from a larger marketing perspective. Generally, companies take ownership over a word because they want people to buy something. Facebook wants people to vote for something by Liking it. Around those Likes -- and the associated subscriber identities -- Facebook is looking to profit from advertising and marketing intelligence services. As good as cookies and other tracking mechanisms are, an identity is much better. Facebook can build demographic profiles around those Likes, which are marketing gold.
Perhaps the closest atypical word branding campaign to Facebook is Barack Obama's run for the presidency. How strange, he sought people's votes, too -- wanted more Americans to like him than rival John McCain. The Obama political campaign ran one of the most effective marketing campaigns in US history. Advertising Age named Barack Obama marketer of the year in 2008. In Nov. 5, 2008, AdAge story "What Marketers Can Learn From Obama's Campaign," Al Ries explains how Obama came to own "change". He writes:
Mr. Obama's objective was not to communicate the fact that he was an agent of change. In today's environment, every politician running for the country's highest office was presenting him or herself as an agent of change. What Mr. Obama actually did was to repeat the 'change' message over and over again, so that potential voters identified Mr. Obama with the concept. In other words, he owns the 'change' idea in voters' minds.
"Change" didn't come easy. The Obama campaign effectively used social media tools to engage and marshall supporters. In Janaury 2009, PR agency Edelman released report "The Social Pulpit: Barack Obama's Social Media Toolkit." The report explains, and to my reading surprisingly effectively, how the Obama campaign converted "everyday people into engaged and empowered volunteers, donors and advocates through social networks, e-mail advocacy, text messaging and online video." Change was Barack Obama's message, but social media tools were the means for marshaling volunteers and voters.
Social media is the other connection to Facebook. An April 1, 2009 FastCompany story explains "How Chris Hughes Helped Launch Facebook and the Barack Obama Campaign." Hughes created the social networking tools vital to the campaign's eventual success. Hughes' now defunct blog offers insight into how volunteers used My.BarackObama.com to establish "35,000 local organizing groups" in all 50 states. Hughes also is one of Facebook's cofounders.
Facebook and Barack Obama share somewhat intertwined fates. A Facebook founder created the social networking infrastructure that helped a presidential campaign own the word "change," and to pull off one of the most successful branding campaigns in American political history. Now Facebook is claiming ownership over "like," using social networking tools to drive the brand ownership/association. Did Facebook marketers learn something from Hugh's work on the Obama campaign, or is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg just lucky? He would be the first geek to demonstrate accidental branding brilliance.
Regardless, Facebook has taken ownership over the word like. Brand marketers around the world wish they could have done something similar. They'll cash in by association. Facebook Like is going to big marketing.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
RIM whets BlackBerry fans' appetites ahead of likely OS 6.0 news

Publié: avril 26, 2010, 5:46pm CEST par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

For reasons still being debated in the press, Research In Motion was not the star of the last Mobile World Congress show in February. Evidently something wasn't ready yet. But ahead of a smaller wireless conference in Orlando this week, RIM has plans to own the show.
This morning, the company announced two new models -- not refurbished versions of existing models as some press sources have said, but new chasses with new components...just familiar brands. But spokespersons for the company tossed some bread crumbs that lead in the direction of more announcements, perhaps as soon as this afternoon. Word on the rumored BlackBerry OS 6.0 with a (real) Web browser, may be on the docket.
First, though, the company has set out some tasty hors d'oeuvres in the form of a slim new BlackBerry Pearl 3G. Its appeal is that it has many of the features of the bigger Bold, including the faster (for RIM) 624 MHz processor, 3.2 megapixel camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi, HSDPA support, and that cool new trackpad that won't get gummed up with pocket lint like the older models. It's the Pearl form factor without the "pearl," and it's black like the Bold (insert reference to Pirates of the Caribbean here).
The Pearl's appeal to date has been its form factor -- not wide like a sandwich loaf slice, but thinner than a bar of soap. The tradeoff has been the keyboard: There's not enough room for the traditional BlackBerry QWERTY, so the new Pearl 9100 features a 20-key layout that, for some, takes some getting used to. An optional Pearl 9105 model includes a more traditional 14-key layout.
But both will incorporate SureType, which is the predictive typing system that's all the rage on feature phones like the LG enV3 and enV Touch. The complaint we've heard in the past from BlackBerry SureType users has concerned speed, especially compared to the enV Touch which is rocket-fast. So we'll see whether the new Pearls' 624 MHz Xscale processors (loaded with apps) can handle the task. In Canada, the new Pearls are premiering today on the Rogers network.
The new BlackBerry Bold 9650 looks pretty much like the other two Bolds, until you turn it a little sideways. It's just a little slimmer than the original Bold 9000, and a little taller than the newer 9700, so it may be ever-so-slightly more aesthetically pleasing...less like a ping-pong paddle. Neither older Bold model is being replaced.
Yet the 9650 isn't decked out like the 9700, or even like the new Pearl -- it's not really a 3G phone. When RIM says it "supports" 3G, it's referring to EV-DO, which is a bit more like "2.5G." It's a CDMA phone, and will premiere in the US on Sprint.
What we don't know yet is which OS these new models will run, and that curiously obvious omission suggests that the number could be OS 6.0. Attendees of today's Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando are expecting a speech tomorrow morning from company co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. However, the show schedule features the company's VP for product platform management, Alan Panezic, on the Wednesday morning docket.
In a keynote speech last Friday at a different conference altogether, Lazaridis gave attendees a very pointed hint at where his company will go next, perhaps this week: In distinguishing his company's product line from that of Apple, with its iPad tablet, he said that there's a certain class of customers who are waiting for the perfect blend of touchscreen technology with QWERTY keyboard control, who are sitting out the iPad.
In a transcript obtained by the Apple device blog TiPb, Lazaridis told TD Newcrest Technology Conference attendees, "The question you have to ask yourself is, when it comes to tablet [form factors], what market or what opportunities it's solving, what problem is it solving, and is it just a replacement laptop? I think that's a difficult one to judge...If you look at the surveys, you can see that a large amount of the customers that have purchased touchscreen devices in last two years intend to get a device with the QWERTY keyboard on it now. I mean, they've gotten to a point where they realize that a touchscreen alone is not enough, so that's important."
Similar surveys also show customers want a touchscreen phone with a reasonably working Web browser, which is something else this week's conference attendees hope RIM will finally deliver.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010