Wasiq Ansari’s World

93 Million American Without High-Speed Internet Access

One-third of the country (or 93 million Americans) don’t have high-speed Internet access at home, according to a new consumer survey released Tuesday (Feb. 23) by the Federal Communications Commission. The report, Broadband Adoption and Use in America, comes about a month before the Commission is due to release its national broadband plan to speed up broadband access to Americans.

Broadband adoption by African Americans, Hispanics, lower-income households, the disabled and senior citizens, trail the national average. About 59 percent of African Americans have broadband at home, 49 percent of Hispanics, 42 percent of the disabled and 35 percent of senior citizens.

The results were based on a survey conducted between Oct. 19, 2009 and Nov. 23, 2009 among 5,005 Americans.

“In the 21st century, a digital divide is an opportunity divide. To bolster American competitiveness abroad and create the jobs of the future here at home, we need to make sure that all Americans have the skills and means to fully participate in the digital economy,” said FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.

The survey identified three main barriers to broadband adoption among Americans: affordability, lack of digital skills and relevance. (19 percent of nonadopters called the Internet a “waste of time.”)

On March 17, the FCC is set to deliver its National Broadband Plan to Congress. In the report, the FCC is expected to detail a strategy for connecting the country to affordable, world-class broadband and making the U.S. a global leader in high-speed Internet to create jobs and spur economic growth.

Source: mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/broadband/e3ib108b71d68d61db95c9666c41a5af88c

BRUSSELS — European Union data privacy regulators are telling Google Inc. to warn people before it sends cameras out into cities to take pictures for its Street View maps, adding to the company’s legal worries in Europe.

Google should shorten the time it keeps the original photos from one year to six months, regulators also said in a letter to the company obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.

In a statement, Google said its need to retain Street View images for one year is “legitimate and justified.”

The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., said it also already posts notifications on its Web site about where its Street View cameras are clicking. The alert system on Thursday indicated Google’s picture-taking vehicles have been cruising the streets of Cagiliari, Italy, Nantes, France and possibly other nearby cities.

Street View launched in the U.S. in 2007 and now adds photos of real-life street scenes to Google’s maps of around 100 cities worldwide. To soothe privacy concerns, it uses special software to blur pictures of faces and car license plates.

Google has been slow to roll out the service in Europe after governments raised concerns that taking pictures of people in public places could break some EU rules on personal privacy.

Greece told the company last year to halt plans to snap the nation’s streets until more privacy safeguards are provided and in April, residents of one English village formed a human chain to stop a camera van.

Google has also bowed to German demands to erase the raw footage of faces, house numbers, license plates and individuals who have told authorities they do not want their information used in the service.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said that Europe had “high standards for data protection” and that she expected that “all companies play according to the rules of the game.”

The head of EU data protection agencies, Alex Turk, told Google’s data privacy chief Peter Fleischer in a letter dated Feb. 11 that the company should always give advance notice on its Web site and in the local or national press before it takes pictures.

It should take care to avoid taking pictures “of a sensitive nature and those containing intimate details not normally observable by a passer-by,” Turk said.

He also said that the company should revise its “disproportionate” policy of keeping the original unblurred images for up to a year, saying improvements in Google’s blurring technology and better public awareness would lead to fewer complaints – and a shorter delay for people to react to the photos they see on the site.

Complaints about the images put online would usually be checked against the original photos.

The data privacy warning comes a day after an Italian court convicted three Google executives – including Fleischer – of privacy violations because they did not act quickly enough to remove an online video that showed sadistic teen bullies mocking and hitting an autistic boy.

Google said it would appeal the case, claiming it attacked freedom of speech on the Internet.

Also Wednesday, EU antitrust authorities said that Google’s rivals have complained that it demotes their sites in the rankings it uses on its search engine, the world’s most popular. The EU said it was not opening an antitrust case – and Google said it had done nothing wrong.

–

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this report from San Francisco.

Source:  washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022504840.html

@yahoo + @twitter Sitting in a Tree…T.W.E.E.T.I.N.G.
Yahoo! Gives ‘Em Something to Tweet About, Partnering with Twitter to Integrate Content and Social Experiences from Across the Web

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb 24, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — As part of its ongoing commitment to be the center of people’s online lives, Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) today announced a global partnership with Twitter to integrate Twitter’s real-time social experiences with more than 600 million people in Yahoo!’s global network. The integration is part of Yahoo!’s commitment to provide personally relevant information to people, from sources across the Web.

A little bird told me: @yahoo is the place to tweet and be tweeted
This partnership includes three primary elements:

1) People will be able to access their personal Twitter feeds across Yahoo!’s many products and properties, including the homepage, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Sports, and others, letting them check in more easily on what’s happening with the people and things they care about while on Yahoo!.

2) People will be able to update their Twitter status and share content from Yahoo! in their Twitter stream, so they can easily share their Yahoo! experiences with their friends and followers on Twitter.

3) Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! media properties like News, Finance, Entertainment, and Sports will include real-time public Twitter updates across a variety of topics. Yahoo! Search users will immediately see real-time Twitter results today; go to Yahoo! and try it out.

Tweet and shout: @yahoo pumps up the social volume
Today’s Twitter partnership, along with Yahoo!’s recently announced Facebook relationship, will transform Yahoo! into a highly customizable social experience that lets people bring together and unify their activity from their many social experiences across the Web. Because of these connections, anyone with a Yahoo! ID can update multiple social networks simultaneously and stay in touch with the people and information that matter most at every moment of the day.

“Let me try to capture the enormity of this integration in 140 characters or less: We’re turning the key to the online social universe — you will find the most personally relevant experiences through Yahoo!,” said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president, consumer products group, Yahoo!. “We’re also simplifying people’s lives by bringing their social worlds — and the world — together for easy access.”

Add an exclamation point to your tweets
The Twitter integration also provides full access to the complete Twitter public data stream, which Yahoo! will use to improve the relevance and freshness of content across Yahoo! properties. This will drive deeper user engagement, and create new and compelling opportunities for developers, advertisers, and publishers.

“The information in one single tweet can travel light-years farther with this Yahoo! integration,” said Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone. “Tweets in more places brings relevance where and when you need it most.”

The real-time Search integration is available immediately. Other parts of the integration are expected to launch later this year.

About Yahoo!
Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most trafficked Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!’s vision is to be the center of people’s online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).

Yahoo! is the trademark and/or registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc.

All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6190826&lang=en

Source: yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=446691

Microsoft has launched the latest version of its mobile phone operating system, called Windows Phone 7 series.

The software has a redesigned user interface and incorporates many Microsoft services such as Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music service.

The software was introduced at an event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

According to research firm Canalys, Microsoft’s software currently has around 9% of the smartphone market.

That puts it fourth in the global market behind Symbian, Rim (makers of the Blackberry) and Apple’s iPhone OS.

The new system follows the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 in October 2009.

“This is obviously a huge step forward,” analyst Pete Cunningham of Canalys told BBC News.

“Microsoft have really struggled with windows mobile 6 and 6.5 and have been losing market share off the back of it.”

However, he said, the firm could not “rest on its laurels”.

“Although it looks good today and competitive today, the other other firms haven’t revealed their hand.

“It doesn’t launch for another eight or nine months and that’s a long time in the mobile world.”

For example, in a little over 30 months Apple has claimed 15% of the smartphone market, according to Canalys figures, whilst Google’s Android operating system has claimed 5% of the market in around two years.

Games machine:
Microsoft’s new operating system is built around a series of so-called ‘live tiles’, which pull in real time content from a users web sites and social networks.

ser can create their own tiles, for example, to keep tabs on the latest posts and pictures from friends or relatives on social networks.

“We wanted the software experience to fundamentally focus on what is most important to each individual user,” said Joe Belfiore of the firm at the launch.

The new interface also has a series of “hubs”, which bring together related content from the web, applications and services into a single view.

The six hubs are people, pictures, games, marketplace, music and office.

The games hub, for example, incorporates elements of the firm’s online gaming network Xbox live, including games and the ability for gamers to access their online profiles.

The music hub brings together music and video content from a user’s PC, online music services and an in-built FM radio.

The first phones using the new operating system will be available later this year from manufacturers including Samsung, LG, HTC and Sony Ericsson.

“We have a chance to make an impact on the market,” said Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer.

Although Microsoft will only provide the software for the phones, it will specify certain hardware requirements to manufacturers.

For example, all handsets will be multi-touch and will come with a dedicated hardware button for Microsoft’s search engine Bing.

Manufacturers will also be restricted to the smart tile user interface, according to Mr Cunningham. Other operating systems – such as Android – allow manufacturers to customise the look and feel of the interface.

“That may make [Windows Phone 7] less attractive in the long term,” he said.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8515915.stm

Google has admitted to BBC News that testing of its controversial social network Buzz was insufficient.

The firm has had to make a series of changes to the service after a ferocious backlash from users concerned about intrusions of privacy.

The BBC understands that Buzz was only tested internally and bypassed more extensive trials with external testers – used for many other Google services.

Google said that it was now working “extremely hard” to fix the problems.

“We’re very early in this space. This was one of our first big attempts,” Todd Jackson, Buzz product manager, told BBC News.

“We’ve been testing Buzz internally at Google for a while. Of course, getting feedback from 20,000 Googlers isn’t quite the same as letting Gmail users play with Buzz in the wild.”

Many of the firm’s new services are tested by the so-called Google Trusted Tester program, a network of friends and family of Google employees who are given confidential access to products before they launch.

Buzz was not tested by this program.

The firm has now set up a “war room” at Google HQ to bring together engineers and product managers to make decisions about what changes need to be made to Buzz.

“If it becomes clear that people don’t think we’ve done enough, we’ll make more changes,” said Mr Jackson.

He acknowledged that many of the networks “tens of millions” of users were “rightfully upset” and that the firm was “very, very sorry”.

“We know we need to improve things.”

Privacy priorities:
Buzz was launched on 9 February. The service, which is integrated with Gmail, allows users to post status updates, share content and read and comment on friends’ posts.

One problem that immediately caused concern was Google’s decision to automatically give users a ready-made circle of friends based on the people they most frequently e-mailed.

Unless users changed settings in their profile, this list could automatically be made public, allowing anyone to see who a user corresponded with most frequently.

Mr Jackson told BBC News that the decision to create these automatic lists was borne out of the idea that Google “wanted to provide a great user experience straight out of the box”.

But privacy experts immediately pointed out this could cause problems for journalists, businesses or even people having an illicit affair.

Evgeny Morozov, a Belarus-born researcher and blogger who looks at the political implications of the internet, also raised concerns.

“If I were working for the Iranian or the Chinese government, I would immediately dispatch my internet geek squads to check on Google Buzz accounts for political activists and see if they have any connections that were previously unknown to the government,” he wrote

As a result of complaints, Google said Buzz would now only suggest people who a user might want to be friends with.

The company has also announced steps to make it easier to disable Buzz altogether and to ensure that people’s accounts do not automatically connect with online Picasa photo albums and items that people may store in their Google Reader accounts.

The changes were in part thrashed out at a company-wide meeting on 12 February at Google headquarters.

“We realize that we didn’t get things quite right – we’re working extremely hard to fix this,” said Mr Jackson.

He said that “transparency and control” were “top priorities” and that users would “continue to see improvements”.

Code challenge:
Other possible changes include a better “preferences menu” that will allow users to better tailor what appears in their inbox, and a more prominent “mute” option to switch the service off.

Another idea, said Mr Jackson, was to create a separate service that was not part of Gmail.

“We think that integration with Gmail was absolutely the right way to go – we wanted to make Buzz easily accessible to people,” he said.

“We also want to give people who don’t use Gmail the ability to use Buzz, so we’re exploring the idea of offering a separate destination site.”

The most recently announced changes would go live “this week”, he added.

“We worked around the clock to make the code changes for these improvements; now we’re putting them through a full testing process to identify any bugs and translating them into 53 languages so they reach all Gmail users.”

Asked if the Google founders – Larry Page and Sergey Brin – or any of the executive team would issue an apology for breaching their user’s trust, a Google spokesperson said: “Google has apologised – we’re very sorry for the concern we caused.”

Source: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8517613.stm

Google aims to take on Facebook with new social feature called ‘Buzz’

Google, which has faltered in its attempts to break into the booming social networking business, is making another bid to counter the growing influence of Silicon Valley rival Facebook and San Francisco upstart Twitter with new products that make it easier to share with friends on its Internet e-mail service Gmail.

Google The Internet giant held a press conference at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters Tuesday to show off “Buzz,” which incorporates social media tools such as photo and video sharing and status updates in Gmail. Google Buzz, which launches Tuesday, will also be accessible on mobile phones. And Google will eventually also debut a version of Buzz for businesses.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, vice president of product management Bradley Horowitz, vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra, and product manager Todd Jackson were on hand to show it off. The tagline for Google Buzz is “a Google approach to sharing.”

Buzz is perhaps Google’s boldest effort yet to get social. It is taking on Facebook and Twitter as well as other hot start-ups such as Foursquare (and borrowing from Gmail creator and ex-Googler Paul Buchheit’s FriendFeed which was absorbed by Facebook).

The new service has five features, Jackson said. You will automatically follow the people you e-mail and chat with on a regular basis. You will be able to share content from around the Web, including YouTube videos, Flickr photos, site links and other materials. You will be able to share your thoughts in a public way and in a private way. You will get social updates in your inbox. And Google will help you find only the stuff that matters by recommending popular content. The mobile version of Buzz can figure out where you are and show you nearby buzz posts.

“Google has long said their goal is to organize the world’s information. With the introduction of Buzz, you can see the company recognizes how social has become a ‘Google scale’ problem that needs improved discovery and real relevancy,” said technology blogger Louis Gray. “People are sharing their content in a wide variety of social sites online, and Buzz is the first product from Google that looks to harness this data in one place and provide a platform for discussion.”

Last month, Google introduced a new feature that displays search results related to their friends and other members of their social networks. Google has been trying for years to gain a foothold in social networking as its smaller, more nimble competitors steal some of its thunder. Orkut, its social networking service, gained a mass following in Brazil and nowhere else. Attempts to buy its way into the arena also failed, when Google acquiring — then ultimately scrapped — the services offered by Twitter competitor Jaiku and Foursquare forebearer Dodgeball.

Analysts remain skeptical that this effort will catapult Google into the social stratosphere. Meanwhile, Facebook has exploded in popularity. It has become such a central part of many people’s lives that it’s replacing e-mail. That’s exactly what Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is looking to do: turn his site into the starting point and focal point of the Internet experience. Facebook’s strategy of connecting the world’s people, versus Google’s strategy of organizing the world’s information, seems to be resonating. So now Google says it’s going to organize the world’s social information.

The Silicon Valley showdown is heating up. Google is still the Web’s No. 1 most-visited site, with 173 million U.S. visitors in December, according to ComScore Media Metrix. But Facebook is gaining. Facebook was the fourth-most visited site in December, with 111.8 million visitors.

“Google has tried to succeed with social products that just haven’t caught on. There’s no guarantee Google Buzz will be any different,” search blogger Danny Sullivan wrote in a blog post.

Google on Thursday confirmed that it has acquired social search start-up Aardvark, a company founded by ex-Google employees.

“We have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aardvark, but we don’t have any additional details to share right now,” said a company spokesperson in an e-mail.

Google has not confirmed a price, but a report on TechCrunch says that Google will pay about $50 million.

Aardvark is a matchmaking service for questions and answers. It allows users to submit queries and then connects the searcher to friends or associates who are likely to have the best answer.

By acquiring the company, Google is deepening its already substantial commitment to social networking — an interest evident in the launch of Google Buzz earlier this week — and is expanding beyond algorithmic problem solving toward services with more of a human component.

And a greater emphasis on people might be just what Google needs: The company’s focus on data, automation, and scalability has meant that the people-oriented side of its business, such as customer service, often comes up short.

In a blog post last week, Aardvark’s CTO Damon Horowitz acknowledged the company’s debt to Google. The paper in which Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page describe their PageRank algorithm, he said, was the inspiration for a paper that Aardvark submitted to an upcoming technical conference, “Anatomy of a Large-Scale Social Search Engine.”

Speaking at an event called TEDxSoMa in January, Horowitz sounded like the ideal candidate to help turn Google into a social network. “The primary goal for technology should not be replacing human intelligence,” he said. “It should be facilitating human interaction.”

Google’s last social networking acquisitions, Zingku and Jaiku, occurred in September and October 2007.

Source:  informationweek.com/news/storage/data_protection/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222900105

Google ’sister’ launches in China:
A new search engine and social network provider called Goojje has appeared online in China.

The site contains very similar branding to Google, and the final syllable “jje” sounds similar to the Mandarin word for older sister (jiejie).

Goojje’s search results appear to be filtered for sensitive content in accordance with Chinese regulations.

Google has recently objected to those restrictions, but the new site appears to be urging it to remain in China.

Google said on 12 January that hackers had tried to infiltrate its software coding and the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, in a “highly sophisticated” attack.

The California-based firm – which launched in China in 2006 – said it would remain in China only if the government relaxed censorship.

According to the Reuters news agency, Goojje has a message on its site which reads: “Sister was very happy when brother gave up the thought of leaving and stayed for sister”.

While Goojje sounds like “sister”, the word Google sounds similar to the Mandarin word gege, which means “big brother”.

Google has declined to comment.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8483597.stm

For as long as anyone can remember Microsoft Office has a cheaper ‘upgrade’ price option – but not for Office 2010.

Microsoft has confirmed to Office Watch that there will be no upgrade pricing offers for existing Office users.

Everyone, existing customer or not, will pay the same prices for Office 2010 with no ‘reward’ for customer loyalty.

Over the years the ‘upgrade’ offer has been gradually limited. Many moons ago there was a ‘cross-grade’ or ‘competitive upgrade’ price to encourage people to switch from rivals like Word-Perfect.

Back in 1997 Office Watch saved our readers lots of money. Downloading the free Compuserve or AOL software or getting it from a widely available disk was enough to qualify for the cheaper Office 97 pricing. Alas Microsoft closed that loophole.

With each new Office version the rules on upgrade/cross-grade were tightened. The rival products were dropped from the list, then upgrades were limited to the past two versions. And now the whole concept of upgrades is gone from Office.

No more version hopping:

Some Office users would ‘version hop’ – upgrading every second release of Office to maintain their entitlement to upgrade pricing.

There’s no reason to do that anymore. Stick with the version of Office you have until there’s a compelling reason to change.

And if you do decide to get a new Microsoft Office suite, you’ll pay more.

In addition there is no psychological encouragement to stick with Microsoft Office by getting a cheaper price for sticking with Microsoft. Some might decide that instead of paying full price they’ll look at OpenOffice or Google Docs instead.

Presumably Microsoft figures that most people are so attached and familiar with MS Office that they stick with it regardless – and they may well be right.

Source: news.office-watch.com/t/n.aspx?a=1359&z=12

CNNIC excludes oversea registrars from .CN registrations

CNNIC, the official registry for .CN, announced that all oversea registrars will no longer be allowed to register .CN domains starting with January 6, 2010, 18:00 PM (Beijing Time). The registration stop is planned to be temporarily. According to the Chinese registry, difficulties in handling the comprehensive new application material are the reason for this drastic development. The new application material is required since the middle of December 2009, when CNNIC suddenly changed its registration policies.

CNNIC has not specified a date at which the exclusion of oversea registrars from .CN registrations is removed again. The registry has announced to further explore methodologies on how to verify the registration information with its oversea partners. As soon as a new mechanism is established, CNNIC will reopen the registration.

We hope to be able to offer you .CN domains again soon. Prior to this last change, CNNIC has carried out two more changes in its registration policies:
1. Since January 1st, 2010, China domestic registrants are no longer allowed to register a .CN domain via an oversea registrar.
2. If any registrant’s business license or personal ID are not in Chinese or English, he has to file in a notarized English translation of these documents for domain name application starting with January 15th, 2010, 9:00 AM (Beijing Time).

Source: www.rrpproxy.net/show_news.php#news1104

CCNIC Notification :

In order to further enhance the authenticity, accuracy, and integrality of the domain name registration information, now notify as following:

1. Domain name applicants need to submit the formal paper based application material when making the online application to the registrar. The application material includes the original application form with business seal, company business license (photocopy), and registrant ID (photocopy).

2. Registrar should carefully review the application material. When application is deemed qualified, registrar need to submit the application material via fax or E-mail to CNNIC, and withhold the original application material.

3. From the day of the submission of online application, if CNNIC does not receive the formal paper based application material within 5 days or the application material auditing is not qualified, the domain name to be applied will be deleted.

4. The above regulations will be executed since 9:00AM (Beijing Time), Dec 14th, 2009.