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BetaNews.Com (7 non lus)

To protect trade secrets, HP sues former CEO Hurd after joining Oracle

Publié: septembre 7, 2010, 9:33pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

HP filed a civil lawsuit against its former CEO Mark Hurd on Tuesday after the executive was hired by IT giant Oracle.
"Mark Hurd agreed to and signed agreements designed to protect HP's trade secrets and confidential information. HP intends to enforce those agreements," HP's statement to the media said.
The complaint, which can be downloaded here, says that Hurd has "put HP's most valuable trade secrets and confidential information in peril," by accepting his position at Oracle, a main competitor to HP in the enterprise sector.
In the interest of keeping its trade secrets safe, HP has asked for, among other things, an injunction that keeps Hurd from assuming his position at Oracle if he could end up disclosing secrets, or basing executive decisions upon confidential information.
"Oracle has long viewed HP as an important partner," CEO Larry Ellison said in a statement addressing the suit. "By filing this vindictive lawsuit against Oracle and Mark Hurd, the HP board is acting with utter disregard for that partnership, our joint customers, and their own shareholders and employees. The HP Board is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together in the IT marketplace."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Mark Hurd - Oracle - Hewlett-Packard - Oracle Corporation - Trade secret
Google aims for Apple with 'Web TV', launching worldwide by 2011

Publié: septembre 7, 2010, 9:13pm CEST par Ed Oswald

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Apple may have the head start on its competitors when it comes to streaming content, but Google is not going to let it get too far ahead. CEO Eric Schmidt said in a keynote at the IFA conference in Berlin this week that it plans to offer its "Google TV" service worldwide by next year.
Sony will be the first manufacturer to incorporate Google's technologies into television sets sold within the US this fall. From there, the service will be expanded worldwide in 2011. Samsung is also considering building televisions based on Google's Android platform, but no final decision has been made.
Manufacturers have little to lose by incorporating Google TV into their plans: the platform is offered at no cost to developers, and Google has no plans to charge any kind of fees to those content providers offering content over the service, nor does it plan to extend its advertising platform there either.
It certainly looks like Google is only interested in getting its platform on as many devices as possible, and in the quickest amount of time. Its strategy is the complete opposite of Apple's, which charges for the box to play its content, and also takes a cut of the sales of content through its service.
Originally announced in May of this year, the service aimed to take Android to more than just mobile devices. Logitech and Intel also are partners in Google TV's development, in an effort to bring search to the television in a way that is useful to the viewer.
Intel will supply the processors within the television, and Google the software and web browser. Logitech would build the peripherals for interaction with the television, such as the keyboard and remote control.
Partnering with Google may seem strange, as Sony has been known to favor in-house proprietary solutions versus open source ones, like Android is. Yet, Google's brand name gives Sony an established brand on which to build its internet-connected line of televisions on.
In addition, it gives Sony access to thousands of Android developers which now can begin to develop apps intended for television's larger screen, further enhancing the overall experience.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Google - Apple - Sony - Television - Eric Schmidt
Craigslist takes down adult services section, silent as to why

Publié: septembre 7, 2010, 8:04pm CEST par Ed Oswald

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Craigslist shut down its adult services section quietly late Friday, seemingly acquiescing to the demands of child welfare groups. Organizations such as The Rebecca Project had said that Craigslist's policy of allowing sex ads was assisting criminals in sex trafficking, and the site was making a hefty profit doing so.
For whatever reason, the site has decided to make it obvious that it was removing the link, placing the word "censored" in white letters with a black background in place of where the link used to be. Cragslist's decision to do so seems to suggest that it may have been pressured to make the change rather than doing it of its own volition.
The site was not responding to press requests for comment as of Tuesday. The move came about two weeks after attorneys general in 17 states warned Craigslist that prostitution ads were rampant across the site. The site responded, and said it was willing to work with law enforcement in order to get the issue under control.
It is estimated that Craigslist could lose as much as $36 million yearly in revenue as a result of shutting down adult ads. According to a study from AIM Group, that revenue had tripled in just the last year alone.
Shutting down this section may have the opposite effect than what critics may be looking for. Prostitution could begin to appear in other sections of the site, like "casual encounters." In fact, a cursory search of this section will find many ads advertising sex for those who are "generous:" essentially sex for money.
Microsoft Research senior researcher Danah Boyd argued that censoring the adult services section actually helps those using Craigslist for criminal purposes.
"What we desperately need are more resources for law enforcement to leverage the visibility of the Internet to go after the scumbags who abuse," Boyd wrote for the Huffington Post. "What we desperately need are for sites like Craigslist to be encouraged to work with law enforcement and help create channels to actually help victims."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Craigslist - Law - Prostitution - Huffington Post - Microsoft Research
IDC: Apple iOS market share will decline 26 percent through 2014

Publié: septembre 7, 2010, 6:58pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Today, IDC raised its forecast for 2010 global smartphone shipments. Is it any wonder? "Hot" defines an exciting summer of new models, including iPhone 4 and scads of big-screen Android smartphones. Meanwhile, Nokia is ready to pop the N8 (It's almost Nokia World, folks!), and Microsoft has already started marketing Windows Phone 7 even before the first devices release.
The analyst firm published a forecast through 2014 that shows Apple's iOS losing market share and Microsoft's mobile OS gaining but not rising from fifth place. Android -- what in a statement Ramon Llamas, IDC senior research analyst, called a "wild card" -- is forecast to make the greatest gains.
For 2010, IDC now predicts year-over-year smartphone shipments will grow 55.4 percent, or 10 percent higher than the previous forecast. For first half of 2010, manufacturers shipped 119.4 million smartphones, or 76.8 million more units -- a 55.5 percent increase -- than 2009. Looking ahead at the full year, IDC forecasts 269.6 million smartphone shipments, which compares to 173.5 million during 2009. For 2011, IDC predicts that shipments will grow 24.5 percent year over year.
"The smartphone is the catalyst behind the rebound in the worldwide mobile phone market this year," Kevin Restivo, IDC senior research analyst, said in a statement. "Additional product introductions and an expected flurry of smartphone buying activity in the second half of the year will push the market well above previous expectations."
Smartphones are selling so well that IDC predicts overall handset shipments will grow 14.1 percent -- a 1.5 percent increase from the previous forecast -- year over year. That's not bad for a market annually shipping more than 1 billion units, which is greater than the entire PC install base.
Still, the numbers may be conservative. The smartphone market is suddenly and rapidly changing. During second quarter, Gartner placed Android No. 1 in the United States and third-ranked worldwide based on actual sales (IDC measures shipments). Android market share was 17.2 percent, but Gartner previously forecast the smartophone operating system would achieve 18 percent in fourth quarter 2012 -- a feat likely to come more than a year early. Analysts can really miss when a market is dynamically changing so fast.
IDC's forecast butts against popular blog and press punditry favoring consolidation around Android and iOS. "IDC believes the market will comfortably support up to five OS players over the next five years," Restivo asserted in the statement. "Shorter replacement cycles and an ample feature phone to smartphone upgrade opportunity means the smartphone OS market will remain fragmented but healthy for the foreseeable future."
The assertion has huge implications for mobile applications development, if true. Henceforth, development has consolidated around a smaller number of platforms, with the personal computer being prominent example. So it's not unreasonable to presume there would be consolidation around two or three mobile operating systems. However, IDC analysts see greater possible fragmentation.
Several possible unfolding scenarios:
1. IDC's forecast is wrong. Applications development will compel rapid consolidation around one major mobile OS and as many as two others.
2. The mobile platform is fundamentally different from PCs, and developers will gladly support four or five different operating systems.
3. The future of the mobile Web is still uncertain -- whether it will center around applications or the browser. The latter would more easily support a larger number of smartphone operating systems.
IDC is ambitious forecasting such a dynamically changing market as smartphones. The market was relatively small before Apple launched iPhone in June 2007. Then Google followed with Android, when a single handset -- T-Mobile's G1 -- shipped in autumn 2008. Now Android ranks No. 1 in US smartphone OS market share. Meanwhile, Nokia fights to hold market share, while Microsoft prepares a Windows Phone 7 marketing blitz in an attempt to regain share.
If IDC's long-term forecast is even remotely accurate, Apple's star will fade, with iOS market share declining nearly 26 percent between 2010 and 2014. Meanwhile, Microsoft's mobile OS share would increase by 43.3 percent, but not enough to break 10 percent global share or to pull out of fifth place. However, Microsoft would trail Apple by just 1.1 percent market share.
More immediately, there are two simple questions: Which smartphone OS do you prefer? What new smartphone did you recently buy or plan to purchase? Please respond in comments.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Microsoft - iPhone - Google - Apple - Nokia
Samsung completes the carrier quadruple-play with Fascinate on Verizon

Publié: septembre 7, 2010, 6:47pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Samsung's Gigaherz class, Android-powered Galaxy S line of smartphones will be available on all four major U.S. wireless carriers this week with the launch of the Fascinate on Verizon Wireless.
Verizon Wireless and Samsung today announced the Fascinate will be available tomorrow (September 8) online and the following day in stores for $199 after rebate and two-year service contract.
Like the Vibrant on T-Mobile, Captivate on AT&T, and Epic 4G on Sprint, the Fascinate is powered by Android 2.1 with Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 user interface, is driven by the 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, and has a 4" Super AMOLED touchscreen. In most respects, the device is is identical to the Vibrant, except it is equipped with Verizon-compatible CDMA radios.
Samsung is releasing a Galaxy S device on the top six wireless carriers in the United States, and the addition of the Fascinate completes the "big four." Later in the fall, U.S. Cellular and Cellular South will be getting a Galaxy S device too, but they will likely be re-branded versions of some of the four that have already been released.
This multi-carrier support has proven to be a great boon for Samsung. On August 30, the company announced it had already shipped one million Galaxy S devices in forty-five days, and at that point only two of the four models were even available.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Verizon - Android - T-Mobile - United States - Sprint Nextel
Personalized feed reader my6sense launches in beta on Android

Publié: septembre 7, 2010, 5:46pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Personalized feed reader my6sense has launched in beta today on Google's Android platform, and can be downloaded freely from the Android Market now.
My6sense made some ripples in the vast ocean of iOS apps when it launched last year; because it takes the simple concept of RSS and social feed reader and gives it some "digital intuition" so your feed is more relevant to your interests.
The main streams of content in my6sense come from Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, and Google Reader, and once you enter all your feeds, you start using the app as you would any other feed reader. The first few times you use the app, it's really quite similar to any other feed reader. The real benefits come later.
Once you start checking your feeds and clicking on posts or links that interest you, my6sense starts to rank and prioritize feed items based upon how useful a bit of information may be to you. Eventually, the items you're most likely to be interested are the first that are suggested to you.
My6sense does not give you the ability to create tweets or feed posts from scratch, unless they're linking to some content in your stream. This takes some getting used to, but it ultimately helps the app focus on providing a more relevant stream.
This relevancy is represented as the "digital intuition" progress bar shown on the home screen. As you use the app, this bar rather quickly fills up and ranks you: "Explorer, Excelling, Mastering, Transcending, and Lord of the Senses." Though it's not much in the way of a game, it definitely serves as a reward for honing the app's suggestion engine.
One of the most interesting aspects of this beta is just how different the Android version is from the iOS version. The app includes a dashboard widget which looks very similar to those that come with the Android Twitter and Facebook apps. It shows one feed item at a time and can be scrolled through by pushing an arrow button on the widget.
Additionally, the app presents a greater amount of options to Android users for browsing feeds. In the iOS version, there are two tabs, one labeled "relevance," and one labeled "time," and along the bottom, there are buttons for top messages, feeds, and user profile. Android users have these options, but can also sort through their feeds by individual service, feed source, or user.
"Android customers have made their platform choice to avoid limits on what they can or cannot do with their phone, and we too want to avoid limiting your experience to traditional streams based on time or simplistic filters," Barak Hachamov, Founder & Chairman of my6sense said.
Aside from the initial time investment required for training the Intuition Engine, my6sense is a handy app, and the feeds it creates are more relevant without being too exclusionary. It can be downloaded for free in the Android Market right now.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Facebook - Google Reader - Google - RSS - Twitter
Oracle snatches up ousted HP CEO Hurd, makes him co-president

Publié: septembre 7, 2010, 4:31pm CEST par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

HP's ousted CEO Mark Hurd will be joining Oracle as a co-president and member of the board, statements from the company said Monday.
Last month, Hurd left his position as CEO of HP after a sexual harassment investigation uncovered several of his policy violations; including a clandestine personal relationship with an HP contractor, and falsification of expense reports.
But Hurd's expunge and subsequent quick rehire at Oracle are somehow befitting of his career of late.
During his tenure at HP, the company experienced sustained growth despite persistent economic adversity. But it wasn't without serious scandal related to cutthroat business practices. In 2006, the US Department of Justice found that Hurd approved the use of spyware and software tracking devices to find out who was leaking information to the press.
Oracle CEO Ellison went to bat for Hurd after his resignation, calling the board's move to dismiss the CEO "the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs."
In his announcement of Hurd's hire on Monday, Ellison said, "There is no executive in the IT world with more relevant experience than Mark. Oracle's future is engineering complete and integrated hardware and software systems for the enterprise. Mark pioneered the integration of hardware with software when Teradata was a part of NCR."
The question now seems to be whether Hurd can integrate into Oracle's camarilla, which for the last few years has consisted of Ellison, Safra Catz, a former investment banker who ran finance and operations, and Charles Phillips, who ran sales. On Monday, Phillips resigned.
Fortune magazine senior editor Adam Lashinsky explains the situation in this way: "Catz and Hurd are financial types, not technologists, though both have decades of technical chops and deep strategic understandings of how the industry works. Catz has a reputation for loathing the hurly burly of dealing with customers and investors, though she has stepped up her role with investors of late. Hurd verily lives to sell stuff and relishes pressing his case with the people who write checks on their companies' behalf. He thinks in terms of relative valuations and loves to talk about it. As of early 2009, Hurd and Catz didn't know each other well; now they've got to get along while being courtiers in the court of Larry."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Mark Hurd - Safra Catz - Oracle - HewlettPackard - Steve Jobs