Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts

The world is better off with Best Buy alive than dead



A Lenovo Yoga convertible ultrabook on display at a Los Angeles Best Buy. It's still the best place to comparison shop for gadgets in a physical store.

A Lenovo Yoga convertible ultrabook on display at a Los Angeles Best Buy. It's still the best place to comparison shop for gadgets in a physical store.



(Credit:
Brooke Crothers)


Despite all the flak Best Buy gets from consumers and financial analysts, the world is probably a better place with it than without it.


For those who don't follow Best Buy as a business, existential questions have been dogging it for years. The word "Titanic" often comes up.


Not all that surprising, considering brick-and-mortar electronics retail stalwarts CompUSA and Circuit City have all but disappeared.


Here's what the new CEO, Hubert Joly, said Friday during the earnings conference call, via a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha.


"In fiscal '13, we permanently closed 49 large-format stores and expected to close an additional 5 to 10 large-format stores in fiscal 2014."


That's a lot of store closings.


"People who thought we were dead have to go through the painful process of revisiting that point of view," Mr. Joly told The Wall Street Journal on Friday.


I've wondered many times if my regular weekly visit to the local Best Buy would be my last. And still do.


But I like knowing the store is there.


Best Buy is really the only electronics specialty store besides Fry's Electronics (mostly a West Coast phenomenon) that packs lots of PCs, Macs,
tablets, and phones into relatively small abutting areas, allowing you to easily comparison shop.


And Best Buy carries a good cross section of the most popular gadgets. It had Microsoft's Surface tablet pretty soon after the device came out, despite some initial display hiccups (see photo below), and it has decent stock of
Windows 8 touch-screen laptops and tablets,
Android stuff, and of course Apple products.

Of course, there's plenty to complain about. But those same gripes apply to Fry's and to just about any big box electronics retailer that's ever existed, including Circuit City and CompUSA.

What's ahead for Best Buy? Who knows? But Apple stores and now Microsoft's expanding retail presence aren't making it any easier. And during Friday's call, Best Buy executives kept talking about expanding/improving the store's online presence.

Problem is, online is often the last gasp for physical big box retailers.


Nothing to see here. Not that atypical for a Best Buy display. I went to my local Los Angeles store looking for Microsoft's Surface tablet the other day and I found this mess.

Nothing to see here. Not that atypical for a Best Buy display. I went to my local Los Angeles store looking for Microsoft's Surface tablet the other day and I found this mess.



(Credit:
Brooke Crothers)

Updated at 5:40 p.m.: corrects reference to Windows version on touch-screen tablets.
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Crave Ep. 111: Man vs. jetpack



Man vs. jetpack, Ep: 111



Subscribe to Crave:

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A German inventor has built a DIY jetpack, so we hop onboard. Also, we get a first look at "Star Wars" pinball for iOS and
Android, and "Star Trek" fans win a major space battle when they vote to name a Pluto moon "Vulcan." All that and more on this week's episode of Crave.




Crave stories:


- Google Nexus fired into space to see if screams are audible

- Myo gesture-control armband uses muscle power

- Star Wars Pinball coming tomorrow to Android, iOS (video)


- Get a ball's-eye view with camera in football

- Trekkies conquer contest to name Pluto moons


- Inventor gets off the ground with homemade jetpack


- First-person Mario video will blow your mind

- Crave giveaway: Two leather iPad cases from Kavaj


Social networking:

- Stephen on Twitter

- Stephen on Google+


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Do Not Track privacy bill reintroduced in Senate



Senator Jay Rockefeller



A new bill intended to grant more privacy protections to Internet users was introduced today by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller.

Dubbed "Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2013," the bill would make it law for all Web browsers, online companies, and app makers to give users a choice of opting out of being tracked online, according to The New York Times. Advertisers and data brokers commonly track users to collect information on sites visited, search queries, purchasing patterns, and more.

"The privacy of Americans is increasingly under assault as more and more of their daily lives are conducted online," Rockefeller told The New York Times.

The senator proposed a similar bill in 2011 but then dropped it after industry groups said they would voluntarily develop ways for users to opt out. However, the industry groups were unable to come to an agreement with consumer rights groups about how to create such mechanisms.

"Industry made a public pledge to develop do-not-track standards that will truly protect consumer privacy -- and it has failed to live up to that commitment," Rockefeller told the Times. "They have dragged their feet long enough."

According to The New York Times, these industry groups argue that tracking is necessary because it helps advertisers show users pertinent ads, which pay for the sites. Also, tracking is more or less anonymous -- since data trackers follow IP addresses rather than users directly; so, industry groups say, no significant information about users is revealed.

Several Web browsers and tech companies have already given users Do Not Track options. Google built Do Not Track support into its Chrome Web browser in February 2012; and Yahoo implemented a Do Not Track service across its entire global network last March. Mozilla, Microsoft, and AOL have also committed to working with Do Not Track technology.

However, without a law, browsers and companies aren't required to comply with user wishes to opt out. Therefore, Rockefeller has decided to push his new bill to Congress.

In addition to giving users an opt-out choice, the Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2013 would also allow the Federal Trade Commission to go after those companies that aren't complying with the law. The FTC would also be required to create the mechanisms that would let users say whether or not they want to be tracked.

Despite many attempts to introduce legislation, federal Internet privacy laws are scarce. The last major law to be passed that regulated online companies was 15 years ago with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

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Firefox and Tizen make a move for Android



Likely by Samsung's design, the Tizen OS looks reminiscent of Android.



(Credit:
CBS Interactive)


Alongside a myriad of new tablets and phones, Mobile World Congress 2013 also gave us our first real look at Mozilla's Firefox OS and the Samsung and Intel collaboration, Tizen OS.


While
Android might dominate the smartphone landscape today, it's only five years old. I can recall plenty of headlines in 2007 and 2008 that doubted whether there was room for yet another player in the space. At that time, RIM was a powerhouse, the iPhone was brand new, Palm's WebOS was in development, and Microsoft's Windows Mobile was slipping into obscurity.


My, how things have changed. Now the question is, it can happen again? Will
Firefox OS or Tizen OS impact Android or the smartphone landscape?




Cutting a piece of the smartphone pie
I predict that both will find success in developing markets and could even prove to be a bee in the Microsoft Windows Phone 8 bonnet. In fact, the definition of success could be interpreted differently for those involved. With smartphone activations rising all the time, even a small piece of the pie might be considered tasty.


I'm not entirely sure how Mozilla plans to monetize its open-source platform; Mozilla doesn't have search and mobile advertising to fall back on. Nevertheless, there are at least 18 handset makers and carriers who have pledged support for it. Really, who could fault any company for at least sampling the new goods?


There are already four such phones on the way -- the Alcatel One Touch Fire, the ZTE Open, the Geeksphone Keon, and the Geeksphone Peak -- and, I suspect, a handful more before the year is out. As of now, these devices are nowhere near as powerful as today's typical Android but that may not matter to the average consumer. We shouldn't expect much Firefox OS in the United States, though it's possible the bigger players are taking a "wait and see" approach.


LG also did a bit of hedging this week when it added its name to Mozilla's list of partners. LG even gave WebOS a new lease on life when it announced a licensing deal for the nearly-dead platform. Currently offering a number of Google TV sets, it's unclear how WebOS fits into the big scheme of things. Though I guess that it can't hurt to try new things every once in a while.



Alcatel's Firefox OS phone





Even so, I get the feeling that for now LG's bread is buttered by Google and that Firefox OS may be employed on devices released in secondary markets. Based on its diverse Mobile World Congress announcements, LG has a lot of Android momentum right now so I don't expect the company to change things up too much.



Samsung plays the field

Samsung, for its part, seems to be doing a little bit of everything these days. It introduced the Galaxy Note 8 in Barcelona, but it saved the reveal of the Galaxy S4 for an exclusive event on March 14. And though the company told CNET that it would pass on Firefox, it also said that it would be the first manufacturer to sell a Tizen phone come July. What about Bada, you ask? Well, a Korean news outlet said that Sammy would fold its own Bada OS into Tizen.


The first images of Tizen OS are reminiscent of Android, most likely due to Samsung. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if future Galaxy experiences looked less like Android and more like Samsung. Should Samsung find success with the platform it may be possible to peel off a few Android users who have grown to use services such as Media Hub. In the big scheme of things, I imagine Samsung will create its own experience that looks the same on Android and Tizen.


It's too early in the game to forecast whether Tizen will impact its Android efforts, but whether Tizen makes it to the United States will make a big difference. While the platform has already drawn support from carriers around the globe, only Sprint has expressed interest for the U.S. market. And carriers aside, I'm more anxious to see which OEMs consider Tizen. It's hard to imagine a company like HTC, LG, or Sony, willing to use a platform created by a competitor.



Tizen OS gets early walkthrough in hands-on video




What's more, Samsung's new Knox is another signal that much attention is being paid to a broader consumer experience. Its bring-your-own-device (BYOD) solution would work well anyone who wants to want to use the same phone for work and personal use. Available for Android today, the feature might be available with other OSes like Tizen down the road. If that happens, Samsung would no doubt continue as one of Google's strongest Android partners, but the two companies may dance a little less frequently.



What's next?

Looking ahead, we may be in for more land grabs as hardware makers acquire software companies. We've seen this over the last few years with Apple, HTC, Samsung, and others. We've also seen jockeying from Amazon, Google, and other companies who scoop up services and apps. While some of these moves happen quietly and without much consequence, others are more overt and telling. One thing seems certain: nobody feels safe in this space. Rather, no one should feel safe.


In the short term, Firefox OS and Tizen will build a bit of steam; however, don't look for either to overtake RIM (especially following the launch of BlackBerry 10) or Windows Phone soon. And don't event think about a threat to iOS or Android. But then again, the growth of smartphone use in emerging markets is creating more competition. Android, after all, certainly surpassed the expectations of its early naysayers.


I am only too pleased that both of these new platforms are open-source as that should lead to more innovation. Here's to hoping that Android and iOS get some stiff competition in the future. Who doesn't want a less expensive smartphone that does incredibly cool stuff?


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Samsung Galaxy S4 rumor roundup



The next next big thing is almost here?





Editors' note: This piece was originally posted on January 24, 2013. We'll continuously update the roundup until the device's official launch. Please let us know if we missed any rumors ourselves.


Considering the popularity and success of the Samsung Galaxy S3, it's understandable that whispers of its successor (presumably called the Galaxy S4) are circulating. From iffy launch dates to spec upgrades, CNET tracks all the talk and rounds up the latest GS4 rumors here.


February 25, 2013
The invitations are out
Samsung issued the formal invitations for New York
Galaxy S4 reveal. As expected, it will take place March 14, at 7 p.m. ET. It also will be live-streamed on Samsung Mobile's YouTube page.



Visa on the Galaxy S4
Samsung said it would use Visa's PayWave mobile payment applet in its future devices and partner with Visa to make it easier for customers to tie their Samsung handsets to a financial institution and Visa account. While not referenced specifically, the Galaxy S4 will be the flagship product for Visa's program, according to a person familiar with the partnership.


February 24, 2013
March 14 will be the big day
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain Samsung confirmed that it would host a "Samsung Unpacked" event in New York on March 14 where it would unveil the Galaxy S4. Samsung told CNET that it is also was considering embedding its new security software, Knox, into the handset.


February 18, 2013
Or maybe it's March 14
Russian analyst and rumor-meister Eldar Murtazin told Sammobile that the Galaxy S4 will come on March 14, which is one day earlier than a previous rumor suggested. Sammobile also speculated that Galaxy S4's specs would include an Exynos 5 Octa (8-Core) CPU, Mali-T678 (8-Core) GPU, 4.99-inch SuperAMOLED display, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video capability, 2-megapixel front facing camera, and
Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

February 6, 2013
March 15 presser in the works
Doubling down with its April sale date prediction, SamMobile is reporting that Samsung will hold a March 15 press event to unveil the handset. Citing a "trusted insider," the site said it should expect a presser invitation after MWC finishes. Here's hoping -- because there's nothing sadder than waiting for an invite to the coolest party of the year and staring down an empty mailbox instead.





Maybe we'll see it in March
Throwing his hat into the "March debut" ring is an analyst from Canaccord Genuity named T. Michael Walkley. He predicts that Samsung will launch the handset during that month to extand its market share lead during that quarter.


February 1, 2013
Scratch that September rumor; you won't see it at MWC after all
According to a source who spoke to CNET, it looks like the Galaxy S4 will be absent at Mobile World Congress this year. Instead, the company will probably put on its own event just for the device, similar to what it did last year with the S3 in May.


January 23, 2013
You may get your hands on the GS4 in April
It's always interesting when rumors start ball-parking a release date, but SamMobile does one better and gives an exact date: Tax Day. Not only did the outlet report its launch day will be on April 15, it also said the phone will have a larger 2,600mAh battery.




Samsung Youm flex display

Samsung's Youm flex display at CES 2013. Will it be featured in the GS4?



(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)


December 6, 2012
Superstrong, bendy display?
Reuters reported that the new Galaxy phone may be equipped with a flexible, ultra-tough touch screen. Although this sounds far out, we've seen firsthand what Samsung can do with its flexible Youm display. That's not to say it'll definitely come to the market any time soon, but it is evident that the company is working with such technology.


December 4, 2012
It will get plenty of spec bumps
A 5-inch 1080p HD display, Android 5.0, and a 13-megapixel camera? Several S4 rumors from news outlets like Asiae.kr are popping up, reporting that the new handset is going to get several upgrades in hardware and software. With these rumors, a lot of cryptic code names are being associated with the handset as well, including the stale model number "Samsung GT-I9525" and the mysterious "Project J" label.


September 17, 2012
You'll see it in February, at MWC 2013
According to a "company official" cited by the Korea Times, Samsung plans to unveil the Galaxy S4 at this year's Mobile World Congress. MWC is a popular and global tech conference where many mobile companies debut their latest devices.


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Firefox betas pull the shades per-tab on 'porn mode'



Desktops get a new Download Manager in Firefox 20 Beta.



(Credit:
Mozilla)



Private browsing, or 'porn mode' for people with more prurient Web browsing requirements, will soon be available in Firefox on a per-tab basis.


The latest versions of
Firefox 20 Beta (download for Windows, Mac, and Linux)
and Firefox 20 Beta for Android (download) have been updated to allow people to choose private browsing on a per-tab basis. Private browsing disables built-in browser recording, including history and cookies.


This is a pretty big change for Private Browsing aficionados, since previously in Firefox switching to Private Browsing would save all your tabs, close the window, and open a new Private Browsing window without any previously-running tabs. The new behavior allows Private Browsing tabs to run side-by-side with non-Private tabs.




Mozilla continues to crack down on unexpected or unauthorized alterations to the browser. In this beta, Firefox will offer to reset the location bar search provider to the default if it has been changed by a third-party such as an add-on provider.


Other improvements to Firefox Beta for desktops include a new Download Manager that moves the feature to the browser's toolbar from its traditional management pane in a new window, and a plug-in warning that lets you know when a plug-in has been frozen for more than 45 seconds. It gives you the option of restarting the plug-in, instead of the entire browser.


Under the hood, the new Firefox Beta for desktops now supports getUserMedia for recording from your mic or webcam in the browser; CSS FlexBox, for having site content automatically resize depending on screen dimensions; the Developer Toolbox, for quickly accessing developer tools; and Canvas Blend Modes for improved visual effects.


In addition to the Private Browsing changes, Firefox 20 Beta for
Android comes with the ability to customize your Home screen shortcuts, and system requirements for Firefox for Android have been lowered again. The browser will now work on Android devices with 384MB of RAM and QVGA displays, including but not limited to the Samsung Galaxy Next, HTC Aria, HTC Legend, Samsung Dart, Samsung Galaxy Pop, and the Samsung Galaxy Q.


A full list of changes are available for Firefox 20 Beta for desktops and Firefox 20 Beta for Android.


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Samsung, Tim Burton brighten Oscars with rainbow-colored unicorn blood



Movies take a lot of thinking.



(Credit:
Samsung Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)


"This is getting too weird for me."


These are words you never expected to hear coming from the mouth of Tim Burton.


Yet Samsung, which these days leaves no competitive joke unturned and no Hollywood star untapped, delivered precisely that during the Oscars broadcast.


The ad, released by Samsung a little while before the show, features Burton playing a director delighted to be turning the "Unicorn Apocalypse" game into a movie.


In this context, "delighted" takes on a very idiosyncratic form.


We begin by hearing that another Samsung endorser, LeBron James, is addicted to "Unicorn Apocalypse."



More Technically Incorrect



It's surely hard for anyone not to become addicted to zombie unicorns.


Who more appropriate, then, to direct the movie of the game than Tim Burton?


The man who sees blackness in darkness and deep gray in white saunters into the gaming company and plays, well, himself.


"Did you guys know that unicorns were basically goats?" Burton informs the rapt game creators.


He follows that fascinating information with the perhaps even less-well known fact that unicorn blood is rainbow-colored with little weird sparkles in it.


Which would sum up this ad.


Yes, there are Samsung products in it.


More important, however, are the little weird sparkles that are being sprayed upon the brand with stars, cheek and, most of all, wit.


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The Facebook mistakes people make after a date



February can make people excitable.


A new year is barely old. Hope springs eternal. And then there's Valentine's Day to add a little piquancy to their emotional state.


Sometimes, though, lovers suffer from a certain lack of self-control. This can manifest itself on society's everyday manifest: Facebook.


I was moved, therefore, that someone had taken the time to list the major faux pas that occur when social contact accelerates beyond decent norms.


I am lovingly grateful to Ranker, which has taken it upon itself to reduce the rancor that might be caused by Facebooked overenthusiasm -- the site has listed behavior to avoid.



Apparently the worst thing you can do after meeting someone in whose charm and personality you might be interested is to immediately send them a Facebook friend request.


This might seem obvious to some.


You don't necessarily have any idea what the other person might really think of you. You know, inside their heads.


And, as Ranker wisely offers: "Now you've just given yourself something else to obsess over: 'Why hasn't my friend request been accepted? Why is it taking so long? Did they even see it?!'


And from one small click, a whole new series of sessions with your shrink is created.


It seems, though, that the human imagination has found many more ways of ruining the course of true love on Facebook.


People apparently pore over their new date's Facebook page, seeking secrets to their true friends, thoughts, and, who knows, other objects of affection.


Some devolve into what seems utterly psychotic behavior, such as liking old photos of their new potential paramour. Who does that? Twisted humans, that's who.


But Facebook offers so many more opportunities for self-destruction.


There's revealing too much in your status update. Sample: "I just went on the best date ever with Marie Dupree and her sexy knees."



More Technically Incorrect



Some people, though, go even further and attempt to insert themselves into comments on their love-object's Facebook page, should they already be Facebook friends. Sample: "You look so WONDERFUL when you're saluting the sun, Shoshanna. Can't wait until we do some saluting together!!"


No, it doesn't end there.


The Facebook gauche end up stalking every second of their new friend's Timeline. ("She dated a clown in 2008? Why would she DO that?")


Worse, there are apparently instances of enthusiasts who get so carried away that they start friending the families of their new objects of affection. ("Hi, Mrs. Aziel, you don't know me, but your daughter and I...." Oh, you finish the sentence.)


Facebook offers so many avenues of potential despair that there is only one way that you can use it to avoid complication, pain, sorrow, heartbreak, sleepless nights, and that bottomless feeling of lost opportunity: Don't go anywhere near it.



Top 10 Facebook Mistakes to Avoid After 1st Dates
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Crave Ep. 110: Prevent a hangover with the worlds first 'sober pill'?



Prevent a hangover with the worlds first 'sober pill'? Ep 110



Subscribe to Crave:

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RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ)

This week on Crave, William Shatner has some choice words for J.J. Abrams, and we toss one back in the greatest drinking game ever invented. Cheers! Plus, we dodge a bullet the size of a football field as an asteroid nearly collides with Earth. Phew.




Crave stories:


- Russian meteorite fragments pop up for sale online

- Amazon opens celebrity memorabilia store

- Nanotech 'sober pill' could one day de-drunk you

- This sheet turns your windows into mirrors

- Man to get first bionic hand that can 'feel'

- Sony PS4 event skewered in animated parody


- Crave giveaway! Kanex Sydnee four-port recharging station

Social networking:

- Stephen on Twitter

- Stephen on Google+


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Social media aggregator Memolane to shut down



Memolane's timeline service.



(Credit:
Eddie Echo/CNET)



Memolane, a social-media aggregator that promised trips down memory lane, announced today that it is shutting down immediately and will delete users' account content tomorrow.


Launched in 2010, the Web app extracted each moment users shared on popular social-networking services such as Facebook, Last.fm, Twitter, Foursquare, and others and combined them into one visual timeline. Posts, comments, tweets, and so on were organized by their respective dates and posted as memos under each date.


The San Francisco-based company had raised $2.5 million in venture capital but announced today in a company blog post that it is joining another company that it did not identify that would "utilize the Memolane features in an expanded way, adding more value to all the great memories captured on social media."


Our goal was to make it exciting to relive great adventures with friends. We are proud that we could bring joy to people's lives by sending out daily e-mails with fun memories from the past. As well, it has been a thrill to share in the excitement when one of our fans rediscovers a precious moment that was once lost.


It wasn't immediately clear if Memolane had been acquired by another company, and if so, who that company might be. But Memolane said the "merger" means that all accounts and their contents would be deleted Friday but noted that the content would still be available at users' original social-media sources.


The company also suggested users try formerly competing services offered by Timehop and Jolicloud.


CNET has contacted Memolane for more information and will update this report when we learn more.


(Via TNW)


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Samsung TV Discovery service launches this quarter



Samsung America Senior Vice President Joe Stinziano describes new features for TVs, including a feature that allows users to search all video services and live TV in one screen.



(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

Samsung today revealed more details about its TV discovery service -- except for the finalized name for the U.S. version -- as the Korean electronics giant gears up for the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona. Samsung first unveiled the service last month during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. At that time, it said users would be able to use one app to navigate all of their different video services on their smart TVs and
tablets, and use their mobile devices as remotes to control their TVs.

Today, it noted that the service will give consumers a way to find live TV and video content, as well as glean personalized recommendations based on viewing and preference history. In the U.S., the offering initially will aggregate content from Netflix and Blockbuster.

The offering will be called "TV Discovery" in most regions, though the U.S. branding has not yet been finalized.

It will launch on Samsung 2013 smart TVs this quarter in the U.S., Korea, and 14 European countries such as the U.K., France, Italy, and Germany. It will expand to mobile devices in the second quarter.

One of the biggest criticisms of smart TVs like those from Samsung is that they're too difficult to use. It can be frustrating and time consuming to navigate between all the different video streaming services on a device, as well as including live TV in the mix. Samsung has said it's making a big push this year to simplify its products, and TV Discovery is one product it hopes will appeal to customers.

"The more you engage with the service, the more relevant the returned recommendations for TV, movies, and other on-demand entertainment," Won-Pyo Hong, president and head of Samsung's Media Solution Center, said. "It could not be simpler."


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Apple, Facebook, Twitter hacks said to hail from Eastern Europe



While many security experts have been pointing the blame at China for the recent wave of cyberattacks on U.S. companies and newspapers, Bloomberg reports that some of the malware attacks actually may be coming from Eastern Europe.

Investigators familiar with the matter told Bloomberg they believe a cybercriminal group based in either Russia or Eastern Europe is carrying out the high-level attacks to steal company secrets, research, and intellectual property, which could then be sold on the black market.

Evidence that the attacks may be coming from Eastern Europe is the type of malware being used by the hackers, which is more commonly used by cybercriminals than by government spying. Also, investigators have tracked at least one server being used by the hackers to a Ukrainian hosting company.

Roughly 40 companies have been victims of cyberattacks over the past several months. These companies included tech businesses, such as Apple, Facebook, and Twitter, and newspapers, such as The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press.

Apple announced today that hackers targeted computers used by its employees, but that "there was no evidence that any data left Apple." In a statement, the company said it discovered malware that made use of a vulnerability in the Java plug-in, and that it was sourced from a site for software developers. Apple blocked Java from some of its Macs late last month using its XProtect antimalware tool and citing security vulnerabilities.

A report by The New York Times yesterday claimed that an "overwhelming percentage" of the cyberattacks on U.S. corporations, government agencies, and organizations came from an office building in Shanghai with ties to the People's Liberation Army. These allegations remain unconfirmed and flatly denied by Chinese authorities.

The hack on The New York Times itself was months long and included the theft of corporate passwords of Times employees, as well as spying on personal computers. The attacks on Facebook, Twitter, and Apple were a bit different in that reportedly only a small number of systems were infected and the hackers got in via the Java vulnerability.

This isn't the first allegation of cybercriminals operating out of Eastern Europe. Security firm McAfee Labs published a report in December that warned of increasing attacks on U.S. financial institutions from Eastern European hackers. Dubbed Project Blitzkrieg, McAfee said the possible attacks would be done with a highly developed Trojan that could infect victims' computers, plant software, and allow cybercriminals to steal information and money.

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Google doodle does circles around Copernicus' birthday



Google doodle of Copernicus' model of the universe.



(Credit:
Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET)



Google is invoking the name Copernicus again, but this time it's not a joke.


The Web giant is celebrating the 540th birthday of the Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who changed the way people look at the universe with a doodle. Nicolaus Copernicus, who was born in 1473, is perhaps best known his heliocentric theory, which asserted that the sun, and not the Earth, was at the center of our universe.


The doodle is a representation of Copernicus' model for the solar system -- a golden sun encircled by six planets on stylized plane.


In an effort to improve the calendar, the Catholic church appealed to Copernicus in 1514. His heliocentric theory was central to "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" ("On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres"), which Copernicus finished in 1530. The theory challenged the long-held belief that the Earth was the stationary center of the universe with other planets, including the sun and moon, rotating around it.




"De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" was published in 1543, shortly before Copernicus died on May 24 at age 70. (Legend has it the first copy was placed in his hands the day he died.) After centuries of searching, his grave was located in 2005, allowing his remains to be re-interred under a tombstone that bears a representation of Copernicus' model of the solar system.


In what is widely regarded as one of the greatest Internet hoaxes, Google borrowed the great astronomer's name in 2004 in a recruiting effort for the Copernicus Center -- its new "lunar hosting and research center." The Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (G.C.H.E.E.S.E.) was described as a research center for high-density high-delivery hosting (HiDeHiDeHo).

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Why Google's stores shouldn't look so much like Apple stores



Is this really different enough?



(Credit:
Crave CNET UK)


Some engineers have never dated a real person.


They've tried to, but it's hard for them to appreciate that real people don't necessarily use data to make decisions -- especially when it comes to love.


Perhaps their most embarrassing moments come when they try to mimic what non-engineers do in order to make themselves more attractive.


This mirrors some of the little issues that the Google brand has had over the years in becoming, well, human.


When you've spent you life believing that facts are everything, it's hard to imagine that people might prefer, oh, rounded corners or that ephemeral thing sometimes known as taste.


Google has made progress through some of its advertising. The "Jess Time" ad for Chrome was one of the very best tech ads of the 2012.


Yet when Google has wandered into retail, it has either believed that all you need is online or that an offline store ought to look rather like Apple's.


This is something against which Microsoft also struggles. It was almost comical when one Microsoft employee explained to me that its store looked -- at first glance -- a lot like the Apple store because the company used the same design firm.


This week, rumors surfaced that Google wants to make the next step in coming toward humanity by having its own shopping-mall retail presence.


The evidence so far from its pop-up stores -- as the picture above shows -- is that Google isn't thinking different. Or, at least, different enough.


If it fully intends to come out to the people -- to be itself-- then instead of having nice, clean retail staff in blue T-shirts (what brand does that remind you of?), it should embrace its true heart.


It should have real house-trained nerds, replete with bedhead and bad taste clothing, there for all to see. Yes, you could have nice, normal members of staff there to translate for them.


But the purpose of a retail store isn't merely to sell. It's to create street theater. Apple has its own version. Google must find its own too.


Instead of the now almost cliched clean lines and permanent white, it should make its stores look like excitable, sophisticated college playrooms, where books about dragons and vast Hulk hands are lying about and episodes of "Star Trek" and "Game of Thrones" are playing on huge screens.



More Technically Incorrect



It should expose itself fully as a brand that came out of nerdomania by parading its nerdomanic tendencies for all to see and making it lovable.


You might think this marginally insane. You might think that I am suffering from delusions of brandy.


Yet "The Big Bang Theory" has proved to be one of the most popular TV shows, not because the nerds are hidden away, but because they are in full view, with a beautiful counterpoint in a real person called Penny.


Imagine taking your kids, your lover, or your granny into a Google store and having them actually enjoy learning something about, say, comic books or Hermann von Helmholtz.


Imagine walking in and one of the Google nerds has dressed as The Flash, Batman, or Wonder Woman for the day, yet still finds a way to sell you a fascinating
Nexus 7.


In fact, wouldn't it be an excellent human resources idea, as well as a stimulus to make more uplifting products, if every Google engineer had to spend a certain period working in a Google retail store?


Mountain View should surely mine the more lofty, fantastic elements of its reality in order to create something unique and dramatic.


Otherwise, its stores might simply be accused of being Apple rip-offs.


And you know where that will ultimately end up. Yes, in front of Judge Lucy Koh.


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Russian meteorite: The conspiracy theories



A strange time for a military attack?



(Credit:
CNN; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)


A good hearty conspiracy theory can shine a sharp light on two of humanity's most enduring traits.


One, of course, is humanity's boundless imagination. The other is humanity's essential suspicion of humanity.


So while you might be deeply immersed in Bill Nye's explanation of the Russian meteorite, those with darker sensibilities have filled the Web with their fears and hauntings about the phenomenon.


There are few nations with greater awareness of dark sensibilities than Russia. The fact that there seems to be little evidence of meteorite fragments on the ground has encouraged some Russians to offer their own suspicions.




As the Toronto Globe and Mail reports, nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky hasn't been slow to offer something of a Hot War perspective.

"It's not meteors falling. It's a new weapon being tested by the Americans," he was quoted as saying.


We know from our recent experience of North Korea that weapons testing is an imprecise science.


But if you were an American in the mood to test a weapon, would Chelyabinsk, Russia, be your very first choice of place for the experiment?


Perhaps Tallahassee; Area 51; and Bialystok, Poland, were all unavailable due to prior commitments. Or perhaps it wasn't the Americans, but, say, the North Koreans, who mistook Chelyabinsk for, say, Chelsea.


Zhirinovsky's rather emotionally manipulative offering was countered by Russia's Emergency Ministry, which dedicated itself to an extensive rebuttal of his belief (and that of others) that this was some sort of military thing. The rebuttal? "Rubbish."


But that wasn't going to put off the local media, was it? Not only do they have papers to sell, they also have theories to expound to a troubled nation and world.


So, as The Atlantic reports, the local Znak newspaper accepted that this was a meteorite but insisted the explosion was caused by military defense blowing it up.



More Technically Incorrect



Yes, of course it has a source in the military. You thought it didn't?


Though I've watched a few movies in which exciting things happen, I don't find it easy to imagine that some sort of terrestrially created missile-laden aircraft could really explode a meteorite in such a manner.


It is easier to imagine, though, that politicians like Zhirinovsky might take the opportunity to foment a little rage.


Indeed, Alex Jones' infamously well-guarded Infowars site offered that Zhirinovsky insisted that America -- in the person of Secretary of State John Kerry -- had tried to give Russia advance notice of its "attack."


The Drudge Report led me to a piece at Foreign Policy that explained that Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, simply hadn't called Kerry back.


Which all suggests that Russia isn't, after all, living in fear of an attack from the U.S. Especially one over Chelyabinsk.


On balance, I prefer to currently believe Nye. He is the science guy, after all. And science guys know scientific events when they see them.


I hope.


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With Microsoft as tablet rival, will HP go Android?



First a Chromebook, next an Android tablet?

First a Chromebook, next an Android tablet?



(Credit:
Hewlett-Packard)


If Hewlett-Packard introduces an Android tablet, the newfound rivalry with Microsoft will be one motivating factor, according to analysts.


"I can see why they would go down this route instead of sticking with Microsoft for everything," said Ben Bajarin, a principal at Creative Strategies.


That may be putting it charitably. "[PC makers] are pissed off at Microsoft. That's the general mood," said Roger Kay, principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies, referring to Microsoft's entry into the PC/tablet market with Surface.


Surface practically precluded HP from coming out with a Windows RT tablet based on an ARM chip -- the same silicon used for
Android devices -- Kay said.


In fact, HP scuttled plans last year to bring out an RT
tablet and then dissed Microsoft's device publicly, calling it "slow...kludgy" and "expensive."


But that of course isn't the only reason HP would do an Android tablet. It could, for instance, try to take the lead in bringing Android tablets to large corporate customers, Bajarin said.


To some extent, Samsung is doing that in phones now, but HP, being the largest PC maker in the world, could spearhead Android for business, according to Bajarin. "They could see that as a big opportunity," he said.


And being late to the Android market isn't all bad. "All the development in Android up to this point accrues so they can claim to be on board without a whole lot of development that they have to do independently," Kay said.


This would come about two years after HP's WebOS tablet debacle. In August of 2011, the company terminated its TouchPad only a month and a half after the device's introduction.



It also ended plans for a WebOS-based phone at that time.


HP currently offers the
Windows 8-based ElitePad 900 tablet and a Windows 8 hybrid tablet-laptop: the Envy x2. Both are based on Intel's power-efficient -- and relatively slow -- Atom processor.

And it already has one product based on a Google operating system. It's selling a Chromebook for $330.

HP declined to comment.


Remember the WebOS-based HP TouchPad? This time HP will adopt Android. The company already has a Windows 8 tablet.

Remember the WebOS-based HP TouchPad? This time HP will adopt Android. The company already has a Windows 8 tablet.



(Credit:
Hewlett-Packard)

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Iceland works to block Internet porn



If Iceland's Interior minister gets enough support, his country could be the first in the West to ban all Internet pornography. Ogmundur Jonasson is working on new legal measures that could make access to online porn nearly impossible, according to the Daily Mail.

"We have to be able to discuss a ban on violent pornography, which we all agree has a very harmful effects on young people and can have a clear link to incidences of violent crime," Jonasson told the Daily Mail. He added that the move isn't about censorship but rather the safety of women who appear in porn and children who may be exposed to it.

Jonasson's proposals include blocking porn IP addresses and making it illegal to use Iceland-based credit cards on X-rated Web sites.

Iceland has long held an adversarial stance against pornography. According to the Daily Mail, the country has already made it illegal to print and distribute porn. Now, Jonasson seems to want to bring Iceland's laws up to the Internet age.

The country's move to prohibit all porn stems from a 2010 government study. The study found that the violent nature of pornographic photos and videos, which are widely available on the Internet, have increased the rate of sexual abuse and rape in the country. It also concluded that children who were exposed to violent pornography showed signs of trauma.

Several other countries have tried to block online porn. In July, Indonesia shut down 1 million porn sites, and in November, Egypt also attempted to censor online pornography by blocking Web sites.

Like Iceland, the U.K. has also worked to keep Internet porn away from children. Last year, the government suggested putting rules on how X-rated sites are accessed. These rules included content filters where ISP customers would receive, by default, a filtered version of the Internet. Customers who did not want restricted Internet access would have to "opt in" to get the Internet uncensored.

Iceland's plan to totally block Internet porn seems to take the U.K.'s idea one step further.

"There is a strong consensus building in Iceland. We have so many experts from educationalists to the police and those who work with children behind this, that this has become much broader than party politics," Jonasson's political adviser Halla Gunnarsdottir told the Daily Mail. "At the moment, we are looking at the best technical ways to achieve this. But surely if we can send a man to the moon, we must be able to tackle porn on the Internet."

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Hackers can easily breach Emergency Alert Systems



Hackers broke into several television stations' Emergency Alert Systems this week and broadcast that zombies were "rising from their graves" and "attacking the living."

While a comical hoax, security consultancy firm IOActive warns that this type of behavior is dangerous and not that hard for hackers to do, according to Computerworld. This week it's zombies, but next time it could be something that might make people really panic, such as an anthrax or terrorist attack.

IOActive says that devices used by TV and radio stations to air emergency alerts have critical vulnerabilities that make them susceptible to cyberattacks. If these devices are breached, hackers could feasibly broadcast anything they like to millions of viewers and listeners.

"We found some devices directly connected to the Internet and we think that it's possible that hackers are currently exploiting some of these vulnerabilities or some other flaws," chief technology officer of IOActive Cesar Cerrudo told Computerworld.

Cerrudo says that at least two types of Emergency Alert System devices are especially vulnerable to attacks. "We contacted CERT [U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team] almost a month ago and CERT is coordinating with the vendor to get the issues fixed," he said.

The hacker that got into the television stations' systems for the zombie hoax reportedly used a "back door" attack.

"It has been determined that a 'back door' attack allowed the hacker to access the security of the EAS equipment," station manager for ABC 10, one of the stations affected, Cynthia Thompson wrote in a blog post. "The nature of the message Monday night was not necessarily dangerous, but the fact that the system was vulnerable to outside intrusion is a danger."

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Apple reportedly has 100-person team working on 'iWatch'



Is Apple eyeing an iWatch?

Is Apple eyeing an iWatch?



(Credit:
Sarah Tew and Christopher MacManus/CNET)



As the Apple "iWatch" rumor mill gets wound up, a new report holds that Apple already has a team of 100 people working on the rumored smart wristwatch, including some prominent Apple employees.


Following initial reports earlier this week that Apple was developing an iOS-based wristwatch, unnamed sources tell Bloomberg that the team working on just such a device has grown over the past year and includes employees from its marketing, software, and hardware units who had previously worked on the iPhone and
iPad.

Key members of the team are said to include James Foster, Apple's senior director of engineering, and Achim Pantfoerder, a program manager who is credited with 13 Apple patents, including an electronic sighting compass and ambient light sensor.




The report comes on the heels of a New York Times report over the weekend that said Apple was experimenting with wristwatch-like devices that sported curved glass. However, a team of this size and with such prominent membership suggests the company might be farther ahead than the experimental phase.


CNET has contacted Apple for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

Previous reports held that Apple had partnered with Intel to develop an iOS wristwatch that would be Bluetooth-enabled and sport a 1.5-inch OLED screen.

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LG updates Optimus L-Series handsets for MWC 2013




LG L Series II handsets

The successors of LG's L Series handsets, which include the L7 II, L5 II, and L3 II.



(Credit:
LG)


Mobile World Congress will kick off in Barcelona in two weeks, but that doesn't mean the news will wait until then.


LG announced today that it will unveil the next iteration of its L-Series line of mid-tier devices at the mobile conference later this month.



The series includes the successors of the LG Optimus L7, L5, and L3.


The updated L7, aptly called the LG Optimus L7 II, will have a dual-SIM version that will launch in Russia this week.


Its processor will be bumped up from a single-core to a 1GHz dual-core CPU, and it will get a bigger 2,460mAh battery.


And while it will retain a 4.3-inch WVGA IPS display, it now has an 8-megapixel camera (the previous generation had a 5-megapixel camera), and it will run on
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.


The L5 II will have a 4-inch WVGA display and a 1,700mAh battery, while the lowest-tiered phone, the L3 II, will have a 3.2-inch QVGA IPS display and a 1,540mAh battery.


Although LG didn't release any U.S. availability date about these handsets, I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of U.S. carriers nab an L II handset later on.


Boost Mobile and U.S. Cellular both brought the L7 to our shores (but it was renamed the LG Venice and LG Splendor, respectively) and T-Mobile had the Optimus L9, though there was no mention of a successor for that smartphone, unfortunately.


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