Volume 11, Issue 50 Atari Online News, Etc. December 11, 2009
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2008
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
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A-ONE #1150*9 12/11/09
~ You've Got Freedom AOL ~ People Are Talking! ~ Dell Android Tablet?
~ MS May Speed Up Money! ~ Mozilla Ups Thunderbird ~ Google Finds Scammer!
~ $150 Million Web Scam! ~ Apple To Launch Tablet! ~ Down Year for Games?
~ 2010: Year of Tablet? ~ Games Role in Education ~ Avatar Is Stunning!
-* M.U.L.E. Is Reborn Online! *-
-* Facebook Rolls Out New Privacy Tool *-
-* Savvy Kids Access Explicit Online Worlds! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
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As has been the norm lately, I'm way behind getting this week's issue
ready, and out to our readers. Another long and tiring week, topped off
with a wet snowstorm during my only day off this week, on Wednesday. I
spent most of that day cleaning up the 6+ inches of the heavy, wet white
stuff. It didn't seem like we got that much snow, but that's what our
local weather guy said was the official measurement. Whatever it was, I'm
tired and sore from cleaning it up! At least the dogs love being out in
it, so all is not lost!
So, I don't have anything really thought-provoking to talk about this
week. I need to get this issue out, and have a little time to plan
tomorrow's holiday shopping adventure (I hate holiday shopping!!) with my
wife. Fortunately for me, my wife has done a lot of shopping already,
without leaving the house! Shopping online does have its advantages!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, another week has come and gone and
we find ourselves a week closer to Christmas. I don't know about you, but
I'm not even close to being ready for it. So many loved ones to buy
things for, so many cards to write out, so many arrangements to make.
But to quote Arlo Guthrie, "but that's not what I came to tell ya about".
I came to talk about politics. [grin]
Last week I mentioned Charles F. Johnson and his change toward the far
right. Well, that's not exactly fair and not exactly accurate. Let's call
it his... formal break with the far right, shall we?
Now Charles has his own reasons for breaking with the "birthers" and
"teabaggers" and all the rest. And his reasons, not to put too fine a
point on it, were my reasons almost a decade ago. Well, 8 years ago,
anyway. And it wasn't that I EVER agreed with the far right either. I've
always been a liberal... and actually, Charles had too. But I'll not put
words in his mouth. You can probably find his own words right there on
his own website: http://littlegreenfootballs.com
I've checked in on the blog every once in a while over the past couple of
weeks, and I'm still not sure of what I think of it. Technically, I'm in
awe. It's very well done. Content-wise? I'm still undecided.
One thing I'm NOT undecided about, though, is everybody's favorite horny
drunken cheerleader turned Governor turned author, Sara Palin.
Mrs. Palin has been making "the rounds", talking about various things
that make her feel good... evidently, if she were a male, she'd be waving
a particular appendage around and slamming it on any available table.
Now, I know people born and raised in Alaska (which she was not, by the
way), and they ARE an odd breed of people. They're proud, hard working,
very resilient and ALMOST as cocky as Texans. [chuckle]
There is, however, a line that one must be aware of whether one chooses
to cross it or not. That line, my friends, is the dividing line between
science and politics. You thought I was going to say 'faith', didn't you?
That's okay. People often see the two as in opposition. But the fact is
that they are not... or at least they don't have to be.
But that's not my point today. My point is that if you're going to label
scientists and science as "troublemakers" and "scare tactics", you
probably should at least have an inkling of what you're talking about.
And I don't think that's the case with Mrs. Palin (Is it proper to refer
to her as Governor even though she quit... to prove, she says, that she
isn't a quitter?).
The fact that Sarah honey supports the idea that global warming is a myth
AND that it's real, but a 'natural fluctuation' tells me that she's
willing to play to whatever audience she happens to find herself in front
of.
"Well, that's politics" some will say. Sorry. I couldn't disagree more...
that's dogma. Something that has no place in American politics.
To begin with, global warming IS happening. The ice sheets, glaciers and
ice caps are all decreasing in size. That tells us that there is
something going on. And it doesn't take a genius to realize that ice
reflects more light and, therefore, heat than ocean water does. Less ice
because of warming means more warming. That part really IS as simple as
that.
What isn't as simple is the idea of what drives weather on this planet.
THAT is a very complex concept. Where people tend to diverge here is that
some will LEAVE it to the scientific minds who have spent years and, in
some cases, decades studying and struggling to understand the intricacies
of what we call climate.
One of my favorite 'gag lines' is when there's a heavy snow somewhere in
the 'States and a late-night comedian says, "Due to the snowstorm, the
conference on global warming has been canceled".
Yeah, it's funny.. unless you happen to be stuck in it. You see, one of
the 'features' of global warming is that it happens more at the equator
than at high latitudes. That makes the temperature difference between
extreme north and extreme south and the equator much larger. And when two
weather systems of vastly different temperatures get together? Blammo!
(Yes folks, that's a technical term [grin])
Another thing to take into account is that water absorbs more light and,
therefore, more heat than land. There're two points here: First that
water is dynamic... it moves. Land is more static. The heat built up in
land tends to stay where it is. The ocean currents, however, spread it
around. The other thing to keep in mind is that there's more land than
ocean in the northern hemisphere, and more ocean than land in the
southern... so right there, there's the makings of a big difference.
The ocean currents are fueled by temperature differences. Change the
temperatures and you change the currents. Change the currents and you
change the temperature even more. Change the temperature even more and
you change the currents even more... get the idea?
Now, for those who deny that change is taking place, all I can say is to
look out their window. If you can see Russia, strip down to your skivvies
and go for a swim.
For those who say "yeah, the climate IS changing, but it's a natural
thing and Mankind couldn't possibly be responsible because the Earth is
so big and, damn, all we're doing is putting a little bit of smoke and
some invisible gas into the air... and it gets carried away"... well,
where do I even start? The most conservative estimates I've seen are in
the many tens of billions of tons of CO2. Yes, the Earth itself absorbs
some of that through the oceans, but that tens of billions of tons is the
EXTRA we're pumping into the atmosphere. Mother Earth can only do so
much. And what does it matter to her anyway? She'll be fine regardless.
She's got all the time in the... well, world. She'll just sit back and
wait for us to purge ourselves from her visage and then start over again
as if nothing ever happened.
And yes, there's history in the global record that says that the climate
varies, but is that really any consolation? If the U.S. 'Grain Belt'
becomes an arid desert, will it make any difference whether we caused it
or not? Will THAT make corn grow without rainfall? Will the belief that
nature has its own rhythm make it any easier to buy summer produce from
Siberia all year long?
My point here is that, if you accept that global warming IS happening,
whether due to humanity or not, you should also accept that it only makes
sense to do everything we can to stop it.
It galls me to hear the words "scare tactics" used in talking about
global warming by the very same conservatives who ran around 8 years ago
yelling "Fear! Osama! Nine-Eleven! Fear! Saddam! Dubya-Em-Dees!
New-Q-ler! Fear!" and I'm left to wonder if they don't, in fact, see the
folly, or if they simply decide that they're 'allowed'.
Well, that's it for this week, friends and neighbors. Please consider
picking up an extra can or bag or box of something at the grocery store
and dropping it off at the local food share, shelter, church, temple or
whatever. Tune in again next week, same time, same station, and be ready
to listen to what they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - 'Avatar' - Stunning, But Average!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Video Games in Education!
M.U.L.E. Reborn Online!
And more!
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->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
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'Avatar' Game A Stunning, Average Shooter
Video games based on movies are often pushed through as afterthoughts,
so word that director James Cameron and Ubisoft have been collaborating
for years on his sci-fi epic, "Avatar," offered hope to gamers longing
to explore the lush, brightly colored jungles of Pandora.
"James Cameron's Avatar: The Game" ($59.99 for the Xbox 360 and
PlayStation 3, $49.99 for the Wii and PC) does nail the visuals, but it
falls a bit short on gameplay as just an average third-person shooter.
The story line is a prequel to the movie, which opens in theaters next
week.
Your character, "Able" Ryder, arrives on Pandora as a soldier working
for the RDA Corp., which is mining the picturesque moon for rare
minerals.
The corporation is engaged deep in a scientific experiment that allows
Ryder and other soldiers to take the shape of their avatars - hybrid
blends of human DNA and that of Pandora's indigenous species, the
10-foot-tall blue Na'vi.
Early in the quest, Ryder must choose to fight alongside the Na'vi to
push back the military onslaught or lock and load as an RDA soldier
battling the native inhabitants. This decision not only has moral
implications, it also branches the player off on one of two completely
different game experiences.
The military path offers Ryder a healthy arsenal of handguns, rifles and
shotguns, and he can earn experience points throughout the quests to
unlock upgrades and new weapons and armor. Buggy vehicles, Gator
riverboats and Scorpion attack helicopters allow the soldier to cover
more ground, and his ammo can be replenished at A-POD stations placed
throughout the landscape.
There's no "Gears of War"-style cover system, so Ryder must move and
target or charge in with guns blazing.
Fighting as a Na'vi arms Ryder's avatar with seemingly primitive yet
effective weapons such as fighting staffs, dual blades and a bow and
arrow. The staffs and blades are effective for up-close melees, but
he'll often need to rely on his bows, an occasional machine gun or
special powers.
The Na'vis can't jump into vehicles, but their towering size and agility
allow them to traverse Pandora with ease. They can also jump on
Direhorses to gallop or take control of the dragonlike flying Banshees
for air strikes.
I enjoyed playing from this perspective, but the camera angles often
proved frustrating during battle. And when your character is 10 feet
tall, the puny humans disappear into the colorful scenery, making them
tough to spot and target.
The game is visually stunning, and the chromatic landscape is filled
with myriad plants and creatures to encounter and identify.
But the linear quests grow tedious, and the story doesn't draw you in
enough to make you feel engaged while gathering a list of objects or
killing multiple enemies.
Two-and-a-half stars out of four.
Video Games Take Bigger Role in Education
Teachers trying to get students interested in molecular biology or space
now have a new tool - video games.
As more children grow up playing video games, educators are partnering
with game developers and scientists to create new interactive
experiences for the classroom.
A trio of new games were developed to make subjects like world culture,
molecular biology and space exploration more accessible and fun for
young minds.
According to a new "Kids and Gaming 2009" report from The NPD Group,
among all children in the United States aged 2-17, 82 percent, or 55.7
million, are currently gamers.
Of these gamers, 9.7 million are aged 2-5, representing the smallest
segment, while 12.4 million are aged 9-11, making up the largest segment.
Just as kids have embraced music videogames like Activision's "Guitar
Hero 5" and MTV Games' "The Beatles: Rock Band" and sports games like
Electronic Arts' "Madden NFL 10" and "FIFA 10," educators and
researchers are hoping games like "Immune Attack," "Discover Babylon,"
and Virtual Heroes' "Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond" will engage and
educate youngsters.
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) game developer Escape Hatch
Entertainment created "Immune Attack" to plunge 7th through 12th graders
into the microscopic world of immune system proteins and cells.
The goal of the game is to save a patient suffering from a bacterial
infection. Along the way, players gain an understanding of cellular
biology and molecular science.
"This is a first-person shooter in which the objects you need to
activate with your ray gun are proteins on the interior surface of the
veins," explained Melanie Ann Stegman, PhD, a program manager at FAS.
"This integration of molecular science with the game took a big
collaboration between scientists at Brown and our game designer."
Stegman said data from kids who played the game show that they're
picking up much more than just vocabulary.
Students are learning intuitively how the cellular world works,
including complex concepts like the functions of Monocytes and the
molecular interactions among human complement factors and bacterial
surface proteins. A sequel is already in development for next year.
"As long as games are designed to be engaging, exciting and competitive
I think they can be easily tailored toward educational purposes," said
Tad Raudman, a science instructor at University Preparatory School in
Redding, California, whose students played "Immune Attack."
"Approximately 10 percent of lifetime learning happens in the formal
(K-12)educational setting. If games are played several hours a week on
average, they can have a significant outcome on learning in both formal
and informal settings."
The FAS also worked with UCLA's Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and
the Walters Art Museum to create "Discover Babylon," a game aimed at 8
to 12 year-olds that teaches about the significance of Mesopotamia in
world culture using library and museum objects.
"Quality videogames are very important in education because they reach
some students who otherwise could not be taught," said Clara J. Heyder,
physiology and pathology teacher at Bayside High School in Virginia
Beach, Virginia.
"Cideogames encompass visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning which
are very important for learning."
On January 18, serious games developer ARA/Virtual Heroes will release a
free downloadable prototype game called "MoonBase Alpha," which has been
designed in conjunction with NASA engineers and astronauts to teach STEM
(science, technology, engineering and math) education to students across
the United States.
The first-person perspective game thrusts players 30 years into the
future and requires players to team up and use real match and scientific
thinking to overcome challenges that astronauts might one day face.
"MoonBase Alpha" is a free predecessor to a new massively-multiplayer
online game, "Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond," which will be released
later in 2010.
Jerry Heneghan, founder and CEO of ARA/Virtual Heroes, said the game
will be an immersive platform, allowing multiple curriculum modules for
teachers to incorporate the game into learning about science,
technology, engineering and math for both the classroom and at home.
"Students can pick a role like a roboticist, science officer, commander,
or space engineer and work as a team on missions to perform experiments,
solve space problems, and save the colonies from a myriad of potentially
catastrophic situations," he said.
Video-Game Weakness May Result in a Down Year
Despite record-breaking sales of a single video-game title and a good
showing from Nintendo, the gaming industry showed weakness in November.
Research from the NPD Group found strong possibilities of a down year
for the video-game industry.
NPD reports video-game software and hardware revenue declined 7.6
percent in November from the year-ago period to $2.69 billion. Although
many in the industry expected slight growth in video-game sales in
November, the numbers show a 3.1 percent decline.
Indeed, declining video-game sales are especially surprising - and
telling - given the blockbuster performance of Activision's highly
anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 title that debuted in
November. Activision sold 6.1 million units of the popular franchise and
poised the industry for gains. But other game titles didn't hit their
sales targets and ultimately dragged down the results.
"In order to break even to last year, December sales would have to be up
36 percent over December 2008," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.
"Breaking even seems more out of reach."
It wasn't just software sales that took a hit. Hardware sales were also
down in November. Sales of video-game consoles dropped a collective 13.4
percent despite the sales rush on Black Friday. Nintendo fared well
overall, selling 1.26 million Wiis to lead the hardware pack.
Microsoft sold 820,000 Xbox 360s and Sony sold a third-place 710,000
PlayStation 3 units. Still, despite its low position, Sony posted
year-over-year growth with its PS3s. Sales of the console rose nearly 90
percent over November 2008, while Xbox sales were down two percent and
Wii sales plunged 35 percent.
"Nintendo products top Amazon.com's most-wished-for and most-gifted lists
for video games, and Wii remains at or near the top of the
most-searched-for video-game terms on Yahoo," Nintendo. "As families and
friends gather for the holidays, Nintendo games offer the best shared
experiences."
Based on NPD's forecasts, video-game industry growth doesn't look good
for 2009. Still, as Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret,
sees it, it's too early to call winners and losers.
"We are in the midst of the buying season right now," Gartenberg said.
"It's going to be a question of whether or not consumers will reach down
into their wallets and what are they seeing as compelling items. It does
seem like overall technology is going to do well."
While it's possible that consumers won't invest in new devices, new
ancillary services and new software - consumers may look to spend on
other categories this year - Gartenberg cautions against drawing
conclusions too early.
"I think we are going to see consumers tempted by various bundles or to
pick up things they don't currently have," Gartenberg said. "Any way you
look at it, it's still going to be a fairly challenging season. It's not
necessarily going to be the growth we saw a few years go."
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
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M.U.L.E. Reborn Online
M.U.L.E., released in 1983 by the fledgling Electronic Arts, and
designed by Dani Bunten of Ozark Softscape, is one of the original
multiplayer strategy games. Originally released for the Atari 400/800,
and later the Commodore 64, IBM PC Jr, and Nintendo Entertainment
System, M.U.L.E. was a four-player strategy game that relied heavily on
its simulation of an economic system. Set on the fictional planet of
Irata (that's Atari backwards) players were tasked with balancing the
supply and demand of an assortment of different resources; food, energy,
smithore, and crystite by buying and selling them with other players.
The M.U.L.E.s of the title were "Multi Use Labor Elements" - mechanical
beasts of burden that were used to develop and harvest resources on Irata.
Not only was the game unique for its reliance on economic systems,
rather than combat for its strategic gameplay, it was also unusual in
that it was always a four-player game, whether other human players were
present or not. In this regard, it paved the way for numerous other
multi-faction strategy games, including spiritual successors like Sid
Meier's Civilization. According to lead designer Bunten the game was
somewhat inspired by Monopoly, and the setting of Irata themed on Robert
A. Heinlein's Time Enough for Love.
Why the quick history lesson? Well, after years of fans saying "someone
should remake M.U.L.E. and make it an online game," someone finally has.
Developed by Swedish studio Turborilla with the blessings of the Bunten
family, the free-to-play Planet M.U.L.E . is
a faithful reproduction of the original (albeit with slightly updated
visuals) that works either online, or over a local network. Currently
there are (free) clients for both the PC and the Mac with a Linux
version pending. Given that the game only launched yesterday, and it is,
to all intents and purposes a labor of love, it's not without some
quirks. As a multiplayer game, it relies on community involvement,
obviously, but it should also be noted that any kind of matchmaking is
done the old-fashioned way; you show up in the game's forums
and find some buddies to play with.
Also, we've noticed that some folks are having some issues with this
initial release. Mac owners, in particular, have noted that they've had
some troubles getting the game to run. Bizarrely the game is a
downloadable Java application. Nope, not a web app and not a Flash app -
Java. Also, it's not exactly the friendliest game in the world to set
up. Players wishing to host a game are informed that they must change
settings to their firewall in order to do so. If you can't affect the
settings on your home network, you're not going to be able to host a
game and control the people that come into it. You'll still be able to
join other games, just not start your own.
While all of this is more exciting to those of us of an... ahem... older
persuasion, newbies are welcome in the Planet M.U.L.E. community, and
there's a full tutorial on how to play the game that you can find here
. It should probably be noted
that the game is an incredibly faithful revival of the original game.
While the gameplay stands the test of time remarkably well, some of the
quirky content that made the original so amusing back in 1983 seems a
little weird now. References to joysticks notwithstanding, there are
also some comments that may seem a little off-color in today's society.
Things like "Space Gypsy Cousins" may prompt the occasional wince.
If you want to try the game out, you can download it for free at the
Planet M.U.L.E. website.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Savvy Kids Can Access Explicit Online Worlds
Even a minimally savvy youngster can figure out how to access violent or
explicitly sexual content in some virtual or Internet worlds, the Federal
Trade Commission said on Thursday.
In its survey of online worlds, where users create digital alter egos
called avatars and interact with other users' avatars, the commission
found that seven of the worlds with the most explicit sex and violence
set a minimum age of 13 and an eighth set a minimum age of 18.
If children below age 13 attempted to register, they were rejected at
five of the sites.
"However, two worlds, Kaneva and There.com, rejected child registrations,
but then immediately permitted users to re-register as an adult from the
same computer," the report said.
Kaneva did not respond to an attempt to reach it for comment but Michael
Wilson, CEO of There.com, said that they were looking to address the
situation and that they tried to keep their world relatively free of sex
and violence.
"We recognize that that's a problem and we're trying to deal with it,"
he told Reuters. "The amount of violent content and sexual content that
they'll find in There is minimal."
Red Light Center, which sets a minimum age of 18 and whose home page
contains nudity, also allowed users who were rejected as too young to
immediately try again with a different birthday.
"Red Light Center's main purpose is to offer sexually explicit content,"
the FTC report said. "Yet it employed no mechanism to limit access to
underage users at the time of the Commission's study. Indeed, when the
Commission selected the virtual world for inclusion in its review,
demographic data from comScore, Inc. indicated that nearly 16 percent of
Red Light Center's users were under age 18."
Red Light did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
As part of the report, which was requested by Congress, the commission
recommended virtual world operators develop better mechanisms to screen
out children and ensure that adults in these virtual worlds do not
interact with children or teens.
The commission also urged better enforcement of the online world's rules
regarding profanity in sites aimed at children, and training for
community enforcers or moderators to enforce any rules.
Facebook Rolls Out New Privacy Tool
Facebook on Wednesday began calling on users to get a better grip on their
online privacy by dictating who sees what in profiles at the world's
leading social networking service.
All of Facebook's more than 350 million members will be required to
refine settings with a new software tool that lets them specify who gets
to be privy to each photo, video, update or other piece of content
uploaded to the website.
"We care so much about this that we will require people to go through it
to get access to the service," Facebook vice president of global
communications, marketing and public policy Elliot Schrage told AFP.
"The idea is to evolve, to give users better control of with whom they
share when they share."
The change promises to help Facebook users prevent embarrassing images
or overly revealing updates from being seen by business acquaintances,
bosses or others not part of inner circles of online friends.
"You will have the opportunity to customize even individual pieces of
content when you upload a picture or a video," Schrage said.
"If you want to share a photo with just your family, you could do that
as well. It is much more straightforward."
The new privacy tools let Facebook members pre-determine accessibility
to profile content in categories designated "Friends," "Friends of
Friends," "Everyone" and "Customized."
Facebook members can select a privacy setting for each post by using
lock icons next to "share" buttons on profile pages.
"It is going to be far more intuitive for users," Future of Privacy
Forum director Jules Polonetsky said of the Facebook privacy control
change.
"When we post something is when we think of whom we want it to go to,
and this is the first time we will be able to do that."
Regional networks - geographical community groupings that Facebook
recently eliminated - led members to unwittingly share profile content
with as many as millions of users, according to Polonetsky.
"Facebook has balanced more sharing with less of a chance people won't
realize who they are sharing with," Polonetsky said.
This is the first time Facebook users will be able to make "decisions on
the fly" about individual posts and updates, he added.
The new tool stems from a revamped privacy policy unveiled earlier this
year and is not connected with any advertising or revenue-making scheme,
according to Facebook.
"We hope users will recognize this is an unprecedented approach to
engaging them around the issue of privacy and control," Schrage said.
"No service or site has ever asked their users to go through this
process; it is privacy by design."
Facebook is braced for complaints given that changes at the social
networking service routinely trigger protests in the community.
"We will have people who will love what we've done and embrace it, and
we will have people distressed and concerned by it," Schrage predicted,
adding that Facebook appreciates how passionate its members are about
the service.
"We focus on patterns of use afterward, and what we found is when we
make changes it is followed by substantially greater involvement on the
site and growth," he said.
The new privacy controls also limit the visibility of content created by
minors, definded as users under the age of 18.
Even if a minor selects "Everyone," the information they share will be
restricted to their "Friends", "Friends of Friends" and school or work
networks.
Microsoft May Speed Up to $150 Million in Yahoo Payments
Microsoft Corp. may accelerate up to $150 million in reimbursements due
Yahoo Inc. if their proposed Internet search partnership is approved by
regulators.
The new timetable disclosed Thursday was among the minor changes that
Microsoft and Yahoo made to an agreement reached in July. The companies
signed the final contract last week.
Yahoo may now collect the entire $150 million by June 30 next year if
it's working with Microsoft by then. The letter of intent had called for
Yahoo to receive $50 million installments from Microsoft during the
first three years of their 10-year contract.
Yahoo will also get to keep 88 percent of the revenue generated from the
ads appearing alongside the search results, even though Microsoft will
be supplying the technology.
In another tweak to the July agreement, Microsoft gave Yahoo the option
to continue showing ads from other parties alongside search results in
Hong Kong and Korea. If Yahoo exercises this right, it won't receive the
same revenue guarantees from Microsoft as other countries covered in
their proposed partnership.
Microsoft and Yahoo want to team up in a bid to undercut Google Inc.'s
dominance in the lucrative Internet search market.
The companies are hoping antitrust regulators will approve their
alliance early next year.
You've Got Freedom: AOL Ends Ties with Time Warner
AOL is shaking loose from Time Warner Inc. and heading into the next
decade the way it began this one, as an independent company. Unlike the
1990s, though, when AOL got rich selling dial-up Internet access, it
starts the 2010s as an underdog, trying to beef up its Web sites and grab
more advertising revenue.
Despite a few bright spots in its portfolio of sites, such as tech blog
Engadget, AOL has a long way to go until Web advertising can replace the
revenue it still gets from selling dial-up Internet access. One
especially popular property, entertainment site TMZ, is a joint venture
with a Time Warner unit that will keep TMZ and its revenue after AOL
splits off.
Now investors are getting a chance to place bets on AOL. On Wednesday,
Time Warner shareholders as of Nov. 27 will get one share of AOL for
every 11 of their Time Warner shares. The next morning, AOL CEO Tim
Armstrong is set to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock
Exchange, and AOL will begin trading under the ticker symbol of the same
name - the one it had when it was known as America Online and used $147
billion worth of its inflated stock to buy Time Warner in 2001.
The parent company was even known as AOL Time Warner in the heyday. At
the time, Time Warner thought its movie, TV and magazine content would
benefit from ties with AOL's Internet access business. The media
conglomerate announced AOL's spinoff in May after years of trying
unsuccessfully to integrate the two companies.
AOL will initially be worth about $2.5 billion, based on the value of
preliminary AOL shares that have been trading ahead of the formal
spinoff this week. AOL will have no debt, and the company is profitable,
though falling - operating income dropped 50 percent to $134 million in
the third quarter compared with last year.
In the past year, AOL hired Armstrong, 38, a former Google advertising
executive, to engineer a turnaround that eluded the company while it was
part of Time Warner.
In those years, AOL struggled to complete its transition away from
relying on its dial-up business. The service peaked in 2002 with 26.7
million subscribers, and has declined steadily as consumers switched to
broadband. In the third quarter, AOL had 5.4 million dial-up
subscribers, who paid an average of $18.54 per month.
Even with the decline, this business brought in $332 million during the
quarter, or 43 percent of AOL's total revenue. But that's down from $1.8
billion, or 82 percent of revenue, during its peak quarter seven years
earlier.
Overall third-quarter revenue dropped 23 percent from last year to $777
million.
AOL has tried to offset the fading service by moving away from its
origins as a "walled garden" with subscriber-only content to a network
of online destinations with free material, supported by ads. AOL even
began giving away AOL.com e-mail accounts.
The results have been mixed. After initially showing promise, AOL's ad
revenue fell last year and in each of the first three quarters of this
year. AOL's advertising shortfall in the third quarter - an 18 percent
decline from the same period a year ago - was much worse than the 5.4
percent drop in overall Web ad market, according to
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Another problem: AOL's more than 80 Web sites are struggling to keep
their viewers. In the third quarter, AOL's network had 102 million
unique visitors in the U.S., according to comScore, a 7 percent drop
from 110 million a year ago. By contrast, Google and Yahoo both showed
gains of more than 10 percent.
AOL has responded partly with plans to shed up to 2,500 jobs, or more
than a third of its employees, in an effort to save $300 million a year.
That comes on top of thousands of other cuts in recent years and will
leave the company at less than a quarter the size it was at its peak in
2004. The cost-cutting has allowed AOL to stay profitable despite
shrinking revenue.
AOL also is trying to produce online material far more cheaply. It plans
to launch dozens of new sites next year and populate much of them with
work done by freelancers. These freelancers will be paid by the post -
some with a flat rate, some with a share of revenue based on the amount
of traffic the post generates.
Ned May, an analyst with Outsell Inc., believes AOL can use this
low-cost method to experiment with building lots of new sites and see
what sticks with viewers.
To stimulate the process, AOL is counting on a content-management system
it calls Seed. It shows information about the kinds of things people are
searching for online so that writers and editors can quickly create
material people presumably want to read.
For example, a site might traditionally write about Halloween costumes
in mid-September, but search data showed that people were looking for
costumes in August, said Bill Wilson, AOL's head of media.
"There was this whole window we were missing," Wilson said.
Gabelli & Co. analyst Christopher Marangi believes AOL will have to
figure out how to better integrate social networking into its sites. AOL
owns a social site called Bebo, which is popular overseas but gets about
6 percent as many visitors as Facebook does in the U.S., according to
comScore data.
Being its own company again means AOL will regain the freedom to use its
resources solely for its own benefit, rather than worrying about how
they fit into the Time Warner empire. If the stock performs well, it
could become a currency AOL can use to snag employees and acquire other
companies.
Of course, now the world also will be able to more closely follow
whether AOL is making progress on its strategy.
"That may be a challenge," Armstrong said, "but I think it's a challenge
we knew we were signing up for whether we were public or private."
Dell To Reveal Android Tablet At CES?
Various sources hinted this Thursday that Dell could be gearing up to
reveal a new tablet device at January's Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
If the rumors are true, it could really make 2010 the year of the tablet.
A source, speaking to Pocket-Lint, detailed that the tablet is expected to
run on Google's Android OS and feature a distinctly sized 5-inch
touchscreen. The product, which could be the previously sighted Dell
Streak, is rumored to launch in the UK first, with a US date to follow.
Word on Dell's next foray into the tablet market comes at an interesting
time, with ongoing rumors of an Apple tablet, and plenty of discussion
surronding Fusion Garage's recently renamed JooJoo.
When pressed further about Dell's plans, the company officially
responded with a typical cover-all statement: "Dell continually develops
and tests new products that extend the mobile experience. We have not
made any product announcements and do not comment on speculation, rumor,
or unannounced products."
Of course rumors surrounding a Dell tablet are nothing new, but it looks
like we will have to wait and see what comes out of Las Vegas this January
at CES.
Apple To Launch Tablet in Spring 2010
Apple Inc is preparing to launch a tablet personal computer in late March
or April, with manufacturer partners poised to roll out as many as 1
million units per month, according to an Oppenheimer research note.
The highly anticipated tablet is expected to pitch Apple into the
digital book market popularized by Amazon.com's Kindle e-reader. Apple
declined to comment.
Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner said the new tablet could boost Apple's
earnings per share by 25 cents to 38 cents per quarter, assuming that it
sells 1 million to 1.5 million units each quarter at an average price of
$1,000 and a corporate average net income margin of 22 percent.
"Our checks into Apple's supply chain indicate that the manufacturing
cogs for the tablet are creaking into action and should begin to hit a
mass market stride in February," Reiner wrote.
"The February ramp schedule suggests a late March or April commercial
release, since Apple will need to build at least 5-6 weeks of inventory
before going live."
He said the tablet will have a 10.1-inch multitouch LCD screen similar
to that of Apple's iPhone.
Apple has also approached book publishers to distribute their content
electronically, and has offered them a revenue cut of 70 percent without
requiring exclusivity, Reiner said.
He said that compares favorably to the Kindle's 50 percent deal, and
that Kindle only offers a 70 percent cut to publishers that give Amazon
exclusive rights.
"As innovative as it is, we believe the Kindle has disgruntled the
publishing industry (book, newspaper, and magazine) by demanding
exclusivity, disallowing advertising, and demanding a wolfish cut of
revenue," Reiner wrote. "The tablet is set to change that."
Thunderbird 3 Adds Tabs and E-Mail Searching
Mozilla on Tuesday launched Thunderbird 3, a revamped version its e-mail
application, hoping it will do for Mozilla Messaging what Firefox 3 did
for Mozilla's browser. With the same web-page rendering and graphics
infrastructure as Firefox, Thunderbird is available for Windows, Mac OS
X, and Linux.
The free program supports 50 languages and allows each message to be
opened in its own tab, rather than a window. The tab system is also
Firefox's claim to fame. When the program is restarted, it remembers
which tabs were open.
But the highlight of Thunderbird 3 is its search and tracking abilities.
It provides a bar graph for a visual time line of when messages arrive.
An intelligent filtering system allows users to display messages by
month, date, year or recipient and receiver. Search results are saved in
a virtual folder.
According to Mozilla's web site, the search feature will allow users to
"accurately pinpoint the exact e-mail by word matches, correspondents or
even attachment types at the moment they need it, all based on analysis
of the user's own e-mails."
Thunderbird 3 also boasts a quick address-book update that allows users
to add contacts just by clicking on a star icon in the new message.
Numerous available add-ons, such as the Google calendar, can also be
displayed by tab.
"We have some of the most passionate users on the planet who want a
personal and familiar e-mail experience - they choose Thunderbird
because it's flexible and they can customize it to be exactly how they
want," said David Ascher, CEO of Mozilla Messaging, a subsidiary of the
Mozilla Foundation.
Simplicity is a selling point, and Mozilla said getting started with the
setup wizard is easier than in previous versions. The new wizard works
with e-mail addresses and passwords instead of torturing users for their
IMAP, SMTP and SSL/TLS settings.
According to ARS Technical blogger Ryan Paul, who tested the program,
the only weakness is that there isn't enough room to display all the
search results.
"You have to click a 'More' button at the end of the excerpts to
retrieve additional items," he wrote. "This can be frustrating in cases
where I don't remember enough specific details about a desired message
to get to it quickly with the filtering features."
Thunderbird isn't likely to put a dent in Microsoft Outlook or Exchange
usage.
"Typically these types of e-mail clients are for the home or casual
users, for personal e-mail, not corporate stuff," said Mordy Hackel of
New York-based KJ Technology, a consulting firm for residential and
midsize businesses. "Although I'm sure it can be integrated to a Linux
Notes or Microsoft Exchange server, you are better off with the native
client."
2010 Will be the Year of the Tablet Computer
In China, 2010 will be the year of the Tiger. In the tech world, 2010
will be the year of the Tablet - or so it seems. A bevy of tech
companies have teased, talked, and have not denied rumors that they are
working on a fabled tablet computer. Here is a look back at 2009 tablet
buzz with a look forward to 2010 - the year of the Tablet.
Asustek is rumored to be working on an Eee Pad, according to Digitimes.
Rumors of a Dell tablet won't go away. Earlier this year, rumors of a
Microsoft two-panel tablet appeared after Gizmodo got its hands on one of
Redmond's concept videos. And starting Friday, the JooJoo Web tablet is
supposed to go on sale for $499 at thejoojoo.com.
And of course there is the ever-present Apple rumor that "soon" it will
introduce a tablet.
Let's take a look at the hottest tablets that may, or may not, be
hitting store shelves next year.
**The JooJoo **
Many of the tablets being discussed online are highly fictional at the
moment, but the JooJoo is one tablet that's already here. This device has
a 12-inch touchscreen with 1366-by-768 resolution capable of displaying
720p high-definition videos. The processor is rumored to be a 1.6GHz Intel
Atom chip, other specs include 1 GB RAM, 4GB solid-state drive for caching
Web content, one USB 2.0 port, Webcam, microphone, headphone jack, and
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity (no 3G).
The device is supposed to go on sale online as of Friday, December 11
for $499. But at the time of this writing the Website was still not
accepting preorders, and that functionality may not come online today.
As you may know, the JooJoo is mired in controversy due to its previous
incarnation as the CrunchPad, which was to be a joint venture between
TechCrunch and Fusion Garage. Early Friday, TechCrunch Founder Michael
Arrington confirmed that his company had filed a lawsuit against Fusion
Garage. It's not clear what effect this lawsuit might have, but Fusion
Garage could be forced to suspend sales of the JooJoo, at least
temporarily.
While you're waiting for the legal system to settle the matter, check
out PC World's first-look video and hands-on review to learn more about
the JooJoo.
In June, rumors of an iPod Touch-like device from Dell started surfacing,
and now there are reports that Dell is set to reveal this 'tablet' at the
Consumer Electronics Show in January. Details are scarce, but according to
the latest rumors, the Dell device would run Google's Android operating
system and have a 5-inch touchscreen.
Of course, it's a bit of a stretch to call this device a tablet in the
Apple sense, in fact, this device sounds more like a mobile Internet
device (MID). MIDs are nothing new and have been around for some time.
Samsung made a splash at this year's CTIA trade show in Las Vegas when
it introduced the Mondi: a 4.3-inch LCD touch display device, with 4GB
of onboard memory running Windows Mobile, hardware QWERTY keyboard, and
WiMax support.
Dell's device could also be a multimedia player designed to compete
directly with the iPod Touch and Zune HD. The Dell device will
supposedly be available first in the U.K. on an unspecified date, with a
U.S. launch to follow. Check out this video below that purports to show
off this Inspiro-tablet.
Details about Asustek's plans are even more scarce than information
about Dell's device. DigiTimes says the device will be called the Eee
Pad, and will have a 4- to 7-inch touchscreen, and will include a
combination of MID and regular PC functions. Again, another device that
sounds like a prime competitor for the iPod Touch and Zune HD. DigiTimes
says the Eee Pad suggests may have been inspired by Apple's rumored
device.
Tablets have been on Asustek's agenda for some time, and the company
recently got into multi-touch with the release of the T91MT, a tablet
notebook with an 8.9-inch screen. Asus has also been working on a
dual-panel laptop/e-reader that was supposed to be released by the end of
2009.
Courier, this device would sport two 7-inch screens (presumably in color),
a built-in camera on the back and Wi-Fi. Instead of a physical keyboard,
the device would use a combination of multitouch and stylus inputs.
(Image of Courier, right, is from Gizmodo.
Unlike the other tablets that have a multimedia focus, the concept
reportedly being considered by Microsoft is geared toward creating a
digital recreation of a two-page paper day planner. Of course, that
description doesn't do the Courier concept complete justice, as the
device would include sketching and design capabilities as well.
I almost forgot; no tablet roundup would be complete without mentioning
that rumored device from Cupertino, California. The supposed Apple
Tablet would be a device with a 9- to 10-inch screen, and would
basically be a larger iPod Touch priced as high as $1000. Although there
is no verifiable proof this tablet exists it has already been hailed as
the possible savior of books, newspapers, magazines and a
better-than-average movie experience.
You have to hand it to Apple. Even when the company officially says
nothing, while rumors of the device run rampant, the team at 1 Infinite
Loop has managed to influence the future plans of rival computer
manufacturers and other industries that have an eye towards the digital
future. Now that's influence.
Google Says Utah Company Behind Online Scam
Google Inc. says a Utah company is using its name to defraud consumers.
The Internet leader filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Pacific
WebWorks Inc., a Salt Lake City company that claims it pays people
thousands of dollars a month simply to post links for certain Web sites.
The Utah Better Business Bureau say it's just another work-at-home scam
that lets the company charge people's bank accounts for useless
moneymaking kits.
Utah incorporation records list a Christian Lars as president of Pacific
WebWorks Inc. in the warehouse district of Salt Lake City.
A man who answered Pacific WebWorks' phone refused to answer questions
Tuesday from The Associated Press.
FBI: Rogue Antivirus Scammers Have Made $150 Million
They're the scourge of the Internet right now and the U.S. Federal
Bureau of Investigation says they've also raked in more than US$150
million for scammers. Security experts call them rogue antivirus programs.
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center issued a warning over this fake
antivirus software Friday, saying that Web surfers should be wary of
sudden pop-up windows that report security problems on their computers.
This software can appear almost anywhere on the Web. Typically, the scam
starts with an aggressive pop-up advertisement that looks like some sort
of virus scan. Often it's nearly impossible to get rid of the pop-up
windows. Of course, the scan turns up problems, and the pop-up windows
say the only way to get rid of them is to pull out a credit card and pay.
This is always a bad idea. At best, the software is subpar. At worst, it
"could result in viruses, Trojans and/or keyloggers being installed on
the user's computer," the IC3 said in its warning. The IC3 is run in
partnership with the National White Collar Crime Center.
"The assertive tactics of the scareware [have] caused significant losses
to users," the IC3 said. "The FBI is aware of an estimated loss to
victims in excess of $150 million."
Scareware peddlers have pushed their ads on legitimate ad networks. The
New York Times was tricked into running rogue antivirus ads in September
by a scammer pretending to work for Vonage. Sometimes, the scammers
simply hack into Web sites and use attack code to put their software on
the victim's computer.
Last month, webcams sold by Office Depot contained links to a hacked Web
site that tried to download rogue antivirus.
The IC3 says that users who see these unexpected antivirus pop-up
warnings should shut down their browsers or their computers immediately
and then run an antivirus scan to see what's going on.
=~=~=~=
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