Technical News - 30 Nov 2011

• Muslim Brotherhood says leads Egypt's vote count
  November 30, 2011
  CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood's party said on Wednesday its bloc was leading the vote count in the first stage of Egypt's first election since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

  

  
  
• NATO attack was blatant aggression: Pakistan army
  November 30, 2011
  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A senior Pakistani army official has said a NATO cross-border air attack that killed 24 soldiers was a deliberate, blatant act of aggression, hardening Pakistan's stance on an incident that could hurt efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

  

  
  
• EU monetary chief sees 10 days to rescue euro zone
  November 30, 2011
  BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Europe faces a crucial 10 days to save the euro zone after agreeing to ramp up the firepower of its bailout fund but acknowledging it may have to turn to the International Monetary Fund for more help to avert financial disaster.

  

  
  
• Intel's Otellini: Windows 8 'one of best things' for company
  November 30, 2011
  Intel CEO on Windows 8: "I think it's one of the best things that's ever happened to our company."
  
• Apple Seeks to Block Sale of Modified Samsung Galaxy Tablet in Germany
  November 30, 2011
  Apple is seeking to stop Samsung Electronics selling the modified Galaxy Tab 10.1 that it released in Germany in an effort to dodge an earlier injunction...
  
  
  
  
• MobileIron's Management Software Prepares for Android
  November 30, 2011
  MobileIron hopes to help businesses prepare for what it believes will be an onslaught of Android phones in 2012 with an updated version of its mobile device...
  
  
  
  
• Toshiba to close chip plants as demand slides
  November 30, 2011
  TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp said on Wednesday it would close three of its six discrete chip-making facilities in Japan and also trim output of certain types of chips over the year-end as demand for PCs and TVs slides in Europe and the United States.

  

  
  
• Syria hit with Turkey sanctions as army losses mount
  November 30, 2011
  BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) - Syria's biggest trade partner Turkey suspended all financial credit dealings with it on Wednesday and froze its government's assets, joining the Arab League in isolating President Bashar al-Assad over his military crackdown on opponents.

  

  
  
• Twitter, mixi form Japan tie-up as Facebook gains (AP)
  November 30, 2011
  AP - Twitter Inc. and Japan's biggest homegrown social networking site mixi Inc. joined forces Wednesday to strengthen their ground against a rapidly expanding Facebook.
  
  
  
• Siri: Why Apple will build, buy, or partner on a search engine
  November 30, 2011
  Siri is emerging as Apple's game-changer that could put serious pressure on Google. But, first Apple needs to figure out web search integration.
  
• How will you secure The Cloud? Don't forget your data!
  November 30, 2011
  Cloud security planning must include thoughts about securing the data.
  
• Android Dev Demonstrates CarrierIQ Phone Logging Software On Video
  November 30, 2011
  
  
  Token_Internet_Girl writes with a followup to last week's news about Android developer Trevor Eckhart, who was researching software from CarrierIQ, installed on millions of cellphones, that secretly logged a variety of user information — from button presses to text message contents to browsing data. CarrierIQ tried to silence Eckhart, but later backtracked. Now, Eckhart has posted a video demonstration of CarrierIQ's logging software. From the article: "The company denies its software logs keystrokes. Eckhart’s 17-minute video clearly undercuts that claim. ... The video shows the software logging Eckhart's online search of 'hello world.' That's despite Eckhart using the HTTPS version of Google, which is supposed to hide searches from those who would want to spy by intercepting the traffic between a user and Google. ...the video shows the software logging each number as Eckhart fingers the dialer. 'Every button you press in the dialer before you call,' he says on the video, 'it already gets sent off to the IQ application.'"
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Lost Your Wall Street Job? Become an Ecosystem Financier!
  November 30, 2011
  Wall Street layoffs have hit young professionals the hardest, and if you’re one of those who have been impacted, I offer you my heartfelt congratulations and an opportunity for a less lucrative but more rewarding life.
  
• The confessions of a late adopter
  November 30, 2011
  A science writer explains why she steers clear of new gadgets.
  
• Microsoft's tablet prospects: Caught in middle of Amazon, Apple?
  November 30, 2011
  Microsoft needs more than just interest to get into the tablet game. It will need some unique feature---Office integration is an obvious choice---as well as a real product/price strategy.
  
• Biden says U.S. pullout brings new relations with Iraq
  November 30, 2011
  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq opened a new phase in relations between the two countries, including a robust security partnership.

  

  
  
• Acer Sees Ultrabook Shipments on Track for Q4, With Price Drop in 2013
  November 30, 2011
  Acer expects to meet its target of shipping 250,000 to 300,000 ultrabooks in the fourth quarter, it said Wednesday, after struggling with declining PC sales this...
  
  
  
  
• Tablet failures hamper Corning's Gorilla Glass growth
  November 30, 2011
  Crumbling demand for key Corning tablet customers is hurting growth for Gorilla Glass.
  
• Sugru - Duct Tape for Makers and Gadget Lovers
  November 30, 2011
  Sugru sounds like something Dr. Seuss would have invented. The name alone captures your attention. It rolls off the tongue - Su. Gru. But the famous silly rhyme master didn’t invent it, Jane ni Dhulchaointigh did with a small team in the United Kingdom. Sugru is derived from the Irish word for play "súgradh.”
  
• What's Wrong With Our Economy: Not Enough IPOs
  November 30, 2011
  GGV Capital's Jeff Richards and Former AOL Chairman Steve Case believe we need more IPO’s in order to get this economy going.
  
• Soft robot uses air to move
  November 30, 2011
  Chemists at Harvard University have created a biologically inspired robot out of elastic polymers that can crawl across surfaces and under obstacles.
  
• Study: Laptop Wi-Fi may damage sperm (Digital Trends)
  November 30, 2011
  Digital Trends - Wannabe fathers might want to take note, as according to research carried out by scientists from the US and Argentina, extended use of a laptop placed on your lap with Wi-Fi switched on could damage sperm.
  
• Comparing "Likes" with "Tweets" of the Most Shared Stories
  November 30, 2011
  This detailed chart compares the Facebook Likes, Tweets and Google +1s of the most shared news stories of 2011. What's viral on Facebook may not be so on Twitter.
  
  
  
  
  

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  This story, Comparing "Likes" with "Tweets" of the Most Shared Stories, was originally published at Digital Inspiration on November 30, 2011 under Facebook, Wide, Internet.
  
  
  
  
  
• Britain pulls embassy staff out of Iran
  November 30, 2011
  TEHRAN (Reuters) - Britain has evacuated all its diplomatic staff from Iran, Western diplomatic sources told Reuters on Wednesday, a day after protesters stormed and ransacked its embassy and residential compound.

  

  
  
• Arrests in Olympus scandal could take weeks: lawyers
  November 30, 2011
  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese authorities may take weeks to make any arrests over the accounting scandal at Olympus Corp, though initial findings by an investigative panel of experts are due to be released in days, lawyers said.

  

  
  
• Peter Thiel floats cash to floating tech incubator
  November 30, 2011
  Famed tech investor Peter Thiel is now helping to launch a commercial "seastead" 12 miles off the California coast.
  
• Sonos adds Slacker streaming, Android tablet and Kindle Fire apps
  November 30, 2011
  The Sonos digital music system gets a new Controller app for Android tablets (including the Kindle Fire), plus support for the Slacker streaming service.
  
• New Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive is Faster and Vaster
  November 29, 2011
  Seagate Technology announced that it is shipping the second generation of its Momentus XT drive.  The Momentus XT drives include a flash memory cache inside of the hard disk drive.  The flash cache is used to store frequently accessed data providing the fast data response found in solid state drives while the hard disk storage provides low cost storage.  An adaptive memory algorithm is used to move frequently retrieved data to the flash memory.
  
• Agriculture In The New Economy
  November 29, 2011
  Here's the latest video by Farming First, an international non-profit that hopes to put farming at the top of the policy agenda. It is an interesting proposition, especially considering how much water agriculture uses. But what is important about the IDC Energy Insights study (and the like) is that it emphasizes energy which, like water, is a direct cost that cuts across industries. The study also included online services and government transparency as variables in its ranking.
  
• Internet sales tax fight returns to Congress
  November 29, 2011
  eBay, a critic of new Internet tax legislation, will tell a congressional committee that big box stores aren't hurting online. Instead, they're rapidly gaining market share.
  
• Is the Time Finally Right For Hybrid Hard Drives?
  November 29, 2011
  
  
  a_hanso writes "Hard drives that combine a traditional spinning platter for mass storage and solid state flash memory for frequently accessed data have always been an interesting concept. They may be slower than SSDs, but not by much, and they are a lot cheaper gigabyte-for-gigabyte. CNET's Harry McCracken speculates on how soon such drives may become mainstream: 'So why would the new Momentus be more of a mainstream hit than its predecessor? Seagate says that it's 70 percent faster than its earlier hybrid drive and three times quicker than a garden-variety, non-hybrid disk. Its benchmarks for cold boots and application launches show the new drive to be just a few seconds slower than a SSD. Or, in some cases, a few seconds faster. In the end, hybrid drives are compromises, neither as cheap as ordinary drives — you can get a conventional 750GB Momentus for about $150 — nor as fast and energy-efficient as SSDs.'"
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Ultrabook pricing cuts close to cost
  November 29, 2011
  Ultrabooks are going to get cheaper, but they're already cutting very close to cost.
  
• FCC report slams AT&T's takeover of T-Mobile
  November 29, 2011
  In report released despite AT&T and T-Mobile's objections, regulators say proposed $39 billion wireless megamerger would lead to huge job losses and less competition.
  
• Former Facebook Platform Developer Dave Morin Creates A New Path On The iPhone
  November 29, 2011
  
  
• Latest Humble Bundle Comes With Uplink Source Code
  November 29, 2011
  
  
  SharkLaser writes "The latest Humble Bundle comes with four great indie games from Introversion. Included in the pack are Uplink, Darwinia, DEFCON and Multiwinia. Bonus games include Aquaria, Crayon Physics Deluxe and the recently added Dungeons of Dredmor. Introversion also showcases some of their prototypes, like Subversion City Generator which demonstrates procedural generation of complex city environments, and Voxel Tech Demo for showing destroyable environments using voxel technology. Hackers and open source programmers around the world should also celebrate — Introversion will release source code for their games Darwinia, Multiwinia, DEFCON, and most importantly, Uplink, the legendary hacking simulation that is one of its kind."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• In Australia, Samsung scores rare patent win versus Apple
  November 29, 2011
  SYDNEY (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co is set to resume selling its Galaxy tablet computer in Australia as early as Friday, after the South Korean technology firm won a rare legal victory in a long-running global patent war with Apple Inc.

  

  
  
• Spotify to launch API for its music catalog?
  November 29, 2011
  Apps expected to display lyrics and reviews of songs playing, as well as concert dates and ticket offers, sources tell the Wall Street Journal.
  
• HTC brings HTC Sensation XL
  November 29, 2011
  The new smartphone comes with 'Beats' integration, combined with 4.7-inch display, introduces powerful entertainment experience
  
• Path Relaunches As All-In-One Mobile Smart Journal
  November 29, 2011
  Startup Path has released a revamped version of its private photo-sharing app that it calls a mobile "smart journal."
  
• Australian Federal Court Ends Ban On Samsung Galaxy Tab Sales
  November 29, 2011
  
  
  New submitter Dedokta writes "The Australian Federal Court has overturned the injunction placed on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and ordered Apple to pay court costs. Apple has applied for an appeal with the Supreme Court, but Samsung is now free to sell the Galaxy Tab within Australia. Samsung is not off the hook yet, however; the full case to see if they have indeed infringed upon Apple patents is still to be heard early next year."
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  
• Military deploys distributed solar en masse
  November 29, 2011
  The SolarCity-led SolarStrong project, expected to be the largest residential solar project, installing rooftop solar panels at military bases, secures the $1 billion in financing it needs to go ahead.
  
• Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL join Agari anti-phishing service
  November 29, 2011
  Big e-mail providers to share data with startup that analyzes it for Facebook, banks, and other firms whose brands are used for phishing.
  
• New Path 2.0 automatically chronicles, shares your life
  November 29, 2011
  Put your timeline on Automatic with Path's new feature to check in your visits to new cities, and to dreamland.
  
• HTC Wins Ruling in U.S. Case Over Digital Camera Patents
  November 29, 2011
  HTC has won a case in the U.S. that alleged the Taiwanese smartphone maker had infringed on several digital camera patents controlled by FlashPoint Technology.
  
  
  
  
• LG replaces appliances chief; mobile head stays despite losses
  November 29, 2011
  SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's LG Electronics Inc has replaced the head of its home appliances division but kept its mobile chief despite the business posting six consecutive quarters of losses.