By Jackie Dove
Macworld.com
May 15, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO - After building in an extra four days of anticipation, Adobe Systems has now made available its Creative Cloud software suite. Creative Cloud, a set of pro-level applications that target individual artists, graphic designers, videographers, and others in the creative arts, was originally slated to be released alongside Creative Suite 6, which made its debut on Monday morning. At the last minute, Adobe decided to hold the release of all of its subscription services and upgrades for several days to make sure they were all working properly and to ensure the smoothest user experience.

Two years in the making, Creative Cloud now offers Adobe’s creative software for download to your desktop–the entire CS6 collection and more–to individuals at a flat rate of $50 per month, based on a year’s subscription. Month-to-month subscriptions cost $75 per month. A special introductory offer of $30 per month for CS3, CS4, CS5, and CS5.5 individual customers is also available. Adobe has more details about the special offer on its website.

Adobe’s brand new Creative Cloud includes, but is not limited to, all CS6 applications plus an assortment of subscription-only online apps and services. Membership is available to customers in 36 countries and in multiple languages.

Bundled into four distinct packages, CS6 features upgrades of Photoshop and Photoshop Extended, Premiere Pro, InDesign, Dreamweaver, After Effects, Illustrator, Flash Professional, Audition, and Fireworks, as well as companion apps Bridge and Encore. It also debuts two new video-related software packages–Prelude and SpeedGrade.

Muse and Touch releases

With the release of Creative Cloud, Adobe has also released the first commercial version of Adobe Muse, which enables designers to create HTML 5-based websites without writing code. It’s available only to Creative Cloud members and included in the overall price of the membership, or via subscription to individuals at $15 per month with an annual subscription, and $25 per month for a month-to-month subscription. Adobe has more information about Muse 1.0 on its website.

In addition, two new Touch Apps–Adobe Proto and Adobe Collage–are now available for iOS devices, as are new features and additional language support for both Photoshop Touch and Adobe Ideas.

Cloud debut

Creative Cloud focuses on four major aspects of artistic workflow: Delivering content creation tools; integrating sync and storage services to and from the cloud; publishing services for creating websites, digital publications and mobile apps; and updating current and future software releases.

In addition to the slate of 14 CS6 programs and Muse 1.0, Creative Cloud features subscription-only software such as Edge Preview, an HTML 5 animation program; Business Catalyst, a content management system and Web host that works with Muse; TypeKit which provides Web fonts for site creation; Adobe Creative Cloud Connection for syncing and storing files, 20GB of online storage space that lets you sync and access content directly from Creative Cloud, and the Adobe Touch suite of applications.
However, even with the availability of Creative Cloud, users will have to wait for the service’s more high-profile, long-term features.

For example, Adobe promises additional community offerings over time, such as support, training, and social networking. Additional software like Edge 1.0, the Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition, for individual designers and small design shops creating one-off applications for iOS devices; and Lightroom 4 will also be added to the Creative Cloud offering later in the year at no additional cost. Team subscriptions for $70 per month, catering to workgroups rather than individual designers, complete with IT functionality and management tools, are also planned for later this year.

With a Creative Cloud membership, users will be able to use CS6 on two computers just like they are able to do with the perpetual-license product. However, one difference is that Creative Cloud provides flexibility of platform. For example, if you have a Mac at home and a Windows machine at work, Creative Cloud allows you to open your projects and the apps on both Mac and Windows. The same thing applies to the use of two languages.

Along with Creative Cloud, Adobe is also making the CS6 upgrade available via its Subscription Editions program, which debuted last year. Individual subscriptions for major packages such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash Professional, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and SpeedGrade are $20 per month based on a year’s subscription, or $30 a month for month-to-month subscriptions.

Education offering

Alongside the launch of CS6 and Creative Cloud for the professional community comes similar availability to the academic community. The Adobe Creative Cloud Student and Teacher Edition–coupled with the Adobe Creative Suite 6 Student and Teacher Edition–is targeted to educational institutions, teachers, and students, and designed to help K-12 and higher education institutions enhance teaching, learning, and career preparation via Adobe’s software.

While there were always academic versions of Creative Suite products, Adobe is also delivering cloud connectivity to the academic community for all of its creative products. The Student and Teacher Edition of Adobe Creative Cloud is available for $30 per month. More details on educational pricing are available on Adobe’s website. Volume licensing for Creative Cloud is available via the Adobe Transactional Licensing Program, with more information available on Adobe’s website.

Adobe envisions students and teachers exploring, sharing, and delivering content with a variety of CS6 desktop tools, as well as its new HTML 5 tools, Muse and Adobe Edge Preview. And just like their professional counterparts, students would also use the Adobe Touch apps to create mobile workflows on the iPad and Android devices.

Adobe sees the cloud as the future of its creative software line because it provides flexible access to all of its applications and services for both limited and extended time frames, at a single price. Thus, the now-complete Creative Suite-Creative Cloud rollout offers the choice of purchasing applications the traditional way at 12-to-18-month intervals or via two types of subscriptions at an annual or month-to-month price.

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By Jeremy Kirk
IDG News Service (Sydney Bureau)
May 15, 2012

SYDNEY - Megaupload filed a motion in federal court on Thursday asking to delay a civil suit filed against the file-sharing site while it prepares a defense for its criminal case.

Two companies, Microhits and Valcom, filed a civil suit against Megaupload on March 21, alleging the site induced and contributed to infringing copyright.

Microhits holds the copyrights for recordings by artists such as Billie Holiday, Marvin Gaye and Rod Stewart, while Valcom owns audio and video rights to films featuring entertainers such as Bill Murray, Jackie Chan and Ryan Seacrest.

The civil suit names Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, the company itself; Vestor, a company owned by Dotcom; and Mathias Ortmann, Megaupload’s CTO. The suit came about two months after Megaupload was shut down on Jan. 19 and charged with criminal copyright infringement, the first time a cloud storage service provider has faced such charges in the U.S.

In its motion, Megaupload said the civil suit allegations “appear to be copied verbatim” from the indictment filed in January. If the civil suit progressed in parallel with the criminal case, Megaupload’s defendants may be forced to assert their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination but then waive it as part of the civil case, the motion said.

“This would be an unfair burden on their constitutional rights,” the document contends.

Further, Megaupload argued it is broke, as its assets were frozen in January. The company has been asking the U.S. government to unfreeze some funds in order to pay for the preservation of upwards of 28 petabytes of data stored on the service and needed for the legal cases.

Megaupload attorney Ira P. Rothken said on Thursday that negotiations are still ongoing with the U.S. government, but he expected talks would continue for “days” not “weeks.” If negotiations fail, Judge Liam O’Grady of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia will make a decision.

The data is still being stored by Carpathia Hosting in Dulles, Virginia, which says it costs US$9,000 a day to maintain. The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a brief with the court asserting that users who were not breaking copyright law should be able to recover their data.

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By Nancy Weil
IDG News Service (Boston Bureau)
May 15, 2012

BOSTON - Embattled Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has left the company, Yahoo announced Sunday, after more than a week of controversy over questions about embellishments to his resume.

Ross Levinsohn, who is the company’s head of global media, will serve as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement. Fred Amoroso has been named chairman of the board, Yahoo also announced. Those changes are effective immediately.

Thompson was hired in early January and was the third CEO to be tapped in just a little over three years, and this latest incident is sure to continue the ongoing turmoil that Yahoo, a pioneer in the Web portal space, has endured.

Besides the executive shuffling, the company also struck a deal to end a proxy fight by activist shareholder Daniel Loeb, who leads the Third Point investment fund, which owns about 5.8 percent of Yahoo. Loeb was the one who brought the resume embellishment to light and notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of it, plunging the company into its latest controversy. Loeb and two of four other people that he had pushed the board to name as directors will be seated on the board. The other two are Michael J. Wolf and Harry Wilson. Former NBC chief Jeff Zucker, who was the fourth candidate proposed by Loeb, has been withdrawn as a board nominee.

Five current members of the board who were to leave their positions at the company’s upcoming annual meeting will resign their posts as of Wednesday, the company said. Besides non-executive Chairman Roy Bostock, whom Amoroso replaces, they are Patti Hart, VJ Joshi, Arthur Kern and Gary Wilson.

“The Board is pleased to announce these changes and the settlement with Third Point, and is confident that they will serve the best interests of our shareholders and further accelerate the substantial advances the Company has made operationally and organizationally since last August,” Yahoo said in a statement announcing the changes.

Thompson’s departure comes “after a poorly handled controversy,” Jeff Kagan, an independent technology analyst said in an email Sunday. “Yahoo has been struggling over recent years and this new incident only makes matters worse for the company.”

He predicted that “this CEO mess is going to leave Yahoo all tied up for at least several more quarters.”

Thompson, who was previously an executive with eBay, was hired by Yahoo to try to get the struggling Internet company back on track after years of leadership changes in the midst of unsteady financial performance and competitive pressure from Google and more recently from Facebook. But then Loeb pushed his own slate of candidates — himself included — for the board of directors and as part of that, revealed that Thompson did not have a college degree in accounting and computer science, contrary to what was on his resume and information in the company’s financial filings.

Thompson sought to quell the situation by saying it was the fault of the head-hunting firm Heidrick and Struggles, which he said was responsible for the mistake when he was in the running to become president of eBay’s PayPal unit in 2000. However, Heidrick and Struggles replied that it was “verifiably not true” that the firm was responsible for the mistake. The firm told Yahoo’s board that it had a copy of the resume Thompson submitted that included the computer science degree on it, according to published reports.

He also reportedly met with Yahoo employees in two meetings to try to clear up the matter and in a statement released by Yahoo he apologized that questions about his resume had become a “distraction.” However, those attempts were unsuccessful and the controversy continued.

Thompson was hired in January as CEO to replace Carol Bartz, who was fired by the board last September. Her blunt approach, complete with often colorful language in public speeches, was at first seen as a breath of fresh air for the ailing company, but that quickly changed.

Bartz was hired in 2009 to replace Jerry Yang, the company’s co-founder who had stepped in to the CEO role in mid-2007.

Thompson quickly took steps to try to improve the company’s ailing fortunes, cutting 2,000 jobs and making management changes. Yahoo’s first-quarter sales figures beat analyst estimates and it also reported the first revenue increase in more than three years, bolstering hopes that the company was on the mend.

But Loeb found fault with Thompson’s approach and began his public campaign in earnest to unseat the CEO, saying in April that Thompson should not have announced job cuts without having first provided more detailed plans for the company. He also argued that Yahoo should have accepted Microsoft’s previous acquisition bid.\

News that Yahoo would soon announce Thompson’s departure first broke on the All Things D blog published by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, with The New York Times soon after reporting that the announcement could come as early as Monday. The board of directors reportedly held a conference call to discuss the matter Sunday.

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By Christina DesMarais
PC World (US)
May 15, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook users are increasingly accessing the online social network via their mobile devices, a trend the company expects to capitalize on through advertising as it prepares for its IPO.

In March, the average Facebook mobile user engaged with the social network for more than 7 hours, according to comScore. That’s a lot of head-down time to which Facebook has to respond.
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, who was on the road last week talking with investors about the company’s growth strategy, said his top priorities this year are to transform Facebook’s mobile and advertising experiences and further integrate online apps into the platform, reports Reuters.
[See more: 25 Facebook Apps for Savvy Users]
With more people than ever using smartphones and accessing sites like Facebook on them, the big question is how the company can make more money with advertising on mobile. You can bet Facebook will figure it out considering advertising is the reason Zuckerberg and other insiders are about to become extremely rich.
For users, more advertising on mobile is somewhat of a drag, but there’s utility involved as well. A lot of what we’re doing on and with our mobile devices is being tracked by scads of application developers and device makers who aim to improve their products and marketing activities because they know what we like, where we go and how we spend our money.

Facebook wants that data, too.

The ads we’ll be seeing on mobile will increasingly be highly relevant and the time is coming when we’ll get offers and ads pushed to our phones the minute we step over a retailer’s threshold at the mall.

Facebook is “just getting started” with its mobile app, said Zuckerberg, who explained last week at an investor event that as Facebook collects more data, such as location and which friends “like” certain products mobile ads will be better targeted to users.

Facebook’s initial public offering is set for this week and media outlets are stirring up a frenzy, reporting on everything from whether the company is overvalued at $96 billion to which character traits propel Zuckerberg to give speeches to groups of big-shot investors wearing a hoodie sweatshirt. Facebook’s mobile future is also getting a lot of attention.

What’s your take? Are you looking forward to getting offers and personalized ads on your phone that can steer you to products Facebook knows you or your friends like? Or will they merely be a deterrent to using Facebook while on the go?

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By Nancy Weil
IDG News Service (Boston Bureau)
May 15, 2012

BOSTON - Negotiations between LightSquared and its lenders remained “far apart” over the weekend, leaving the beleaguered would-be data carrier likely to file for bankruptcy protection Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing anonymous sources involved in the negotiations.

LightSquared has until 5 p.m. Monday to negotiate a deal with lenders to keep from defaulting on loans. Sources told the newspaper that lenders are unlikely to grant LightSquared an extension to a debt-term violations waiver that expires at that time.

Hedge-fund manager Philip Falcone, whose firm Harbinger Capital Partners is the venture’s primary backer, and lenders have been unable to agree on how much ownership LightSquared should turn over to lenders, the sources were quoted as saying. Other terms of any potential deal are also sticking points in the negotiations, the sources said.

LightSquared’s board was tentatively planning to meet Sunday to talk about whether to authorize the bankruptcy filing, which sources said is expected to be filed before Monday evening.

Lenders have sought an independent board that didn’t include Falcone to oversee LightSquared and although he “tacitly agreed” to that, financial restructuring of the venture “created a gulf” between the sides, the Journal reported. Lenders also wanted to hold Falcone liable for a bankruptcy filing under circumstances not specified in the newspaper report, which said that Falcone would not agree to those terms given that the he would no longer be on the board or be making decisions for LightSquared.

After Harbinger acquired SkyTerra and part of TerreStar, which are both satellite mobile data providers, it formed LightSquared in 2010. LightSquared operates satellite-based services and had planned to built a land-based LTE-network and sell on a wholesale basis capacity of both systems to other carriers. However, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced in February its intent to kill the land-based component of the initiative because tests showed it would interfere with GPS receivers.

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By Jay Alabaster
IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)
May 15, 2012

TOKYO - Panasonic said Friday it booked a loss of nearly US$10 billion for the fiscal year that ended March 31, the largest ever loss by a Japanese manufacturer according to local media.

The Osaka-based electronics firm is in the midst of company-wide restructuring that includes the continued integration of Sanyo Electric and a shift to green technologies such as solar power and rechargeable batteries. It is also implementing a management shift, with Kazuhiro Tsuga, the head of its consumer electronics and TV business, to take over as President from Fumio Ohtsubo in June.

Panasonic, like many of its domestic rivals, is struggling to make its consumer products profitable as price drops squeeze margins. The company’s results announcement comes a day after Sony said it booked a record net loss last fiscal year. Both companies are weighed down by their loss-making TV businesses, with Panasonic paying for heavy bets it has made on plasma flat-screen technology.

Like Sony, Panasonic predicts a recovery in the current fiscal year: It is targeting a ¥50 billion profit, less than one percent of its revenue forecast.

Panasonic said Friday it swung to ¥772 billion (US$9.7 billion) in the red, down from a ¥74 billion profit a year earlier. While much of the massive loss came from one-off restructuring charges and tax expenses, the company saw revenue fall 10 percent and operating profit, often viewed as a reflection of actual business performance, plunge 86 percent.

The loss is the biggest ever for a Japanese manufacturing company, according to Kyodo News agency and local newspapers.

The company’s restructuring plan includes closing over half of its TV panel production lines and reducing its number of workers through voluntary retirement offers and transfers to outside companies. It has said it will combine its myriad of businesses into three main divisions: consumer, electronic components, and a “solutions” division that targets large projects in areas such as health care and manufacturing.

As with many Japanese companies, Panasonic’s fiscal year runs from April to March.

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By Computerworld Philippines Staff
May 14, 2012

Emerson Network Power has announced strategic appointments in its regional channel structure which support plans for aggressive reseller network expansion in Asia.

Daniel Sim has been appointed distribution business director for Emerson Network Power in Asia, and will report to Hitesh Prajapati, senior director for channel business and market development. Meanwhile, Mario Leonardo Tjandra will serve as regional manager for distributed channels in Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan, reporting directly to Sim.

“Over the last few years, Emerson Network Power has made excellent progress in channel development and successfully developed teams focused on driving our distribution and managed partners businesses,” said Prajapati. “As we pursue aggressive growth plans for channels after posting record growth in FY11, having Daniel and Mario onboard will significantly boost our channel traction.”

In his new position, Sim will drive sales and business strategies to increase Emerson Network Power’s market coverage through distributors and resellers. Sim will also be responsible for growing Emerson’s market share in standard distributed products, with focus on uninterruptible power supplies , enclosure and data center infrastructure management offerings for small and medium businesses . Tjandra, meanwhile, will support Sim’s initiatives while developing distribution sales and reseller programs for his region.

Emerson Network Power kicked off its reseller network expansion efforts by launching a regional event series titled Partner Connect Experience, a half-day activity that helps prospective resellers unlock business growth opportunities through partnership with Emerson. Featuring product updates, a comprehensive introduction to Emerson’s channel program and onsite consultations with Emerson subject matter experts, the event series was piloted in Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and the Philippines with favorable results.

“Resellers who partner with Emerson Network Power gain access to valuable support in terms of product information, service programs, promotions and rebates, and marketing resources,” said Sim. “By expanding our reseller network, we make Emerson products more accessible to new customer markets, while boosting our resellers’ businesses.”

“Apart from our reseller acquisition efforts, we also run programs for the benefit of our resellers,” added Tjandra. “Offering rebates, marketing support, and extended warranty, among others, these initiatives make Emerson Network Power a true partner for resellers’ success.”

Sim has been in the IT industry for 17 years, and holds a Computer Science degree from United Kingdom Open University. Tjandra has 12 years of experience in distribution and channel sales management. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Universitas Katolik Atmajaya Jakarta.

For more information, visit www.Emerson.com.

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By Computerworld Philippines Staff
May 14, 2012

Destiny Cable Inc (DCI), Solid Broadband Corporation (SBC), and Uni-Cable TV Inc (UNI) have forged an agreement with Sky Cable Corporation (SKY), to further improve the services provided to their Destiny cable television and MyDestiny broadband internet subscribers. The agreement entails the sale of the cable TV and broadband internet assets and subscribers of DCI, SBC, and UNI to SKY.

Mr David Lim, President of DCI, SBC, and UNI, said “, The pay TV and broadband markets require continuous significant investments, if we are to keep up with our major competitors, particularly the direct-to-home satellite (DTH) and telco companies. We are gratified by the loyalty of our Destiny Cable subscribers and MyDestiny broadband subscribers all these years, and would always want to give them the best products and services possible. However, we realized that this will entail resources, for digitizing our cable network and expanding our broadband services, that we do not have. We believe our agreement with SKY will allow subscribers to enjoy the benefits of the latest technologies.”

Added SKY Chief Operating Officer Rodrigo P. Montinola, “We are happy with the opportunity to extend the unique advantages of the digital cable TV and cable broadband internet platforms to Destiny and MyDestiny subscribers. As we plan these out, we will take extra care not to disrupt the existing services of the current subscribers – they will continue to pay same monthly fees for their subscribed plans, at the same payment centers, and can continue to reach Customer Service at the same numbers. We will make announcements on new services to be made available, at the appropriate time.”

Mr Lim also mentioned that “, our tie up with SKY came at an opportune time as it allows us to focus on our other core businesses.” Our holding company Solid Group Inc (SGI), markets and distributes the leading Filipino mobile phone brand MyPhone.”

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By Ashleigh Allsopp
Macworld U.K.
May 14, 2012

LONDON - A new patent application filed by Apple reveals face-recognition technology that could be used to improve security on iOS devices.

The patent, which is titled “3D Object Recognition”, refers to a new facial recognition technology that creates a 3D shape from a 2D representation of a 3D object (a face, for example) to recognise that object when faced with it again.

The application, which was filed in November 2011 and published on Thursday, describes: “The present invention relates to automated object recognition and in particular to automated object recognition of 3D objects using statistical shape information.”

Apple notes that the technology could be used to identify a person for purposes such as immigration, ID cards, passports, computer logon, intranet security, video surveillance and access systems.

The application describes that the recognition process is fully automatic, and the 3D shape could be created using one or several images of the object.

The technology could also be used in medical environments to identify organs, for example, or installed in CCTV cameras to identify wanted criminals or missing people.

The technology could be used in the next generation of iOS devices or Macs to provide a better security system. Users would be required to hold their device so that their face is in view of the front-facing camera, and let the device perform the face recognition process, rather than type in a password or PIN to access the device.

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By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
May 14, 2012

FRAMINGHAM - After being pummeled by customers and security experts for telling users to spend hundreds of dollars on upgrades because it wasn’t going to patch critical bugs in older versions of its software, Adobe has reversed course.

The company will now fix the eight vulnerabilities in the one-year-old Illustrator and Flash Professional CS5.5, and the two-year-old Photoshop CS5, an Adobe spokeswoman said via email late Friday.

There will be no charge for the updates.

A post by Adobe’s product security response team to its official blog spelled out the change.
“We are in the process of resolving the vulnerabilities addressed in these security bulletins in Adobe Illustrator CS5.x, Adobe Photoshop CS5.x and Adobe Flash Professional CS5.x, and will update the respective security bulletins once the patches are available,” the team wrote.

Neither the response team nor the Adobe spokeswoman gave a reason for the change, or even acknowledged the brouhaha prompted by the firm’s earlier announcement.

Last week, Adobe said it would not quash the bugs — one is in Flash Professional, two in Photoshop and five in Illustrator — and told customers to upgrade to the Creative Suite 6 (CS6) editions if they wanted the patches.
Adobe launched CS6 last month.

The steep upgrade prices, however, triggered anger among users and incredulousness among security researchers.

“For all that they have been doing to revise their face of security, this just brings them right back into the dunce cap seat,” said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Security, in a Friday interview before Adobe changed its tune.

Upgrade prices for the three applications range from $99 for Flash Professional to $249 for Illustrator, while an upgrade to CS6 Design & Web Premium, the least-expensive edition that includes all three, costs $375.

On Saturday, Storms noted Adobe’s reversal.

“So it looks like Adobe is going to patch Photoshop CS5 after all,” Storms said on Twitter. “Maybe they listened to all the mad people?”

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By Christina DesMarais
PC World (US)
May 14, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple, Asus, and Samsung, look out — HP is again jumping into the tablet fray.

At a conference in Shanghai this week Hewlett-Packard executives have been touting the company’s reentry into the tablet market, this time with models running Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system. That’s according to the Bangkok Post, which quotes HP big shots who say the move capitalizes on the high numbers of consumers investing in tablets and the fact that Windows 8 will let them share and store content online between different devices.

This isn’t HP’s first foray into tablets. If you recall, last summer the company introduced the short-lived TouchPad but by the end of August was already clearing out inventory by drastically reducing the price of its webOS slate. By the end of the year HP announced it would release webOS to the open-source community, following its decision to stop making phones and tablets using the software.

But with Windows 8 on board, HP’s new tablet will likely fare far better than the TouchPad did.

“The concept of a worthy Windows tablet has been a sort of Holy Grail since the launch of the Apple iPad. Windows 8, with its Metro interface, and compatibility with ARM architecture devices has established an expectation that Windows 8 tablets will fill the void Android tablets have been unable to, and provide some worthwhile competition for Apple — especially in the business market,” writes PCWorld’s Tony Bradley.
He’s right; it appears tablets are in growing demand by business users.

A recent survey by ChangeWave Research finds that nearly one-third of the companies expecting to buy tablets in the next few months are using them as replacements for PCs for at least some users. Not only that, the number of people using tablets for work is increasing, with 22 percent of the businesses surveyed expecting to buy a tablet soon.

Will the Windows 8 tablet put a dent in iPad sales? Clearly nobody is taking down Apple anytime soon, but if the price is right HP’s new offering, which is expected in the third quarter of this year, could very well be a popular alternative. In the very least, the space is about to get a lot more interesting.

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By Cameron Scott
IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)
May 14, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook said on Friday that it intends to make further changes to its privacy policy in order to respond to an audit by the Irish government, but privacy advocates saw the move as an inadequate attempt to quell privacy concerns prior to Facebook’s planned initial public offering.

The proposed changes, which the company put out for public comment on Friday, don’t appear to reflect any major shifts in policy. For the most part, the document makes more explicit how Facebook is already using user data. The company has also updated the policy to reflect newer features, such as cover photos.

The proposed changes are not final. A document highlighting the proposed changes is available on the website in PDF form, along with an explanation of the changes. The company is asking for user feedback and will host a web question-and-answer session about the changes May 14 at 9 a.m. Pacific time.

Sarah Downey, a privacy analyst and attorney at privacy software vendor Abine, said the more explicit language was required by a consent decree issued last year as part of a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and by the audit by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner.

Downey said once Facebook goes public, it will face pressure to generate more revenue and will probably accomplish that goal by using personal information to sell targeted advertising. The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to take place on May 18.

“Their financial success really requires them to collect more usable personal information and make that information available and accessible to advertisers. We expect that more private information about users is going to be disclosed,” she said.

Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, also said the upcoming IPO will lay the groundwork for greater threats to user privacy.

“Facebook can’t possibly protect the privacy of its users and grow as publicly traded company. It’s going to be increasingly difficult for them to grow their business significantly without collecting and monetizing more of its data,” he said.

Downey said one apparent change could be significant for consumers: Even if a Facebook user does not share his or her phone number or email address publicly, default settings will make it possible for others to search for the user on Facebook using that information.

The information Facebook obtains and provides to third-party advertisers, a sensitive topic among privacy advocates, was also the subject of substantial revision. For example, where the existing policy says that Facebook can use “the information it receives about you … to measure or understand the effectiveness of ads you and others see,” the new policy makes clear that that includes “deliver[ing] relevant ads to you.” Delivering such user-specific advertising often involves sharing user data with third-party advertisers.

Immediately following that section, the proposed changes add, “We store data for as long as it is necessary to provide products and services to you and others, including those described above.”

“They’re talking about expanded use of your data with lots of little changes that are important. And Facebook is the master of these little changes adding up to big things,” Downey said.

But the changes announced Friday also include some that allow users to better protect their privacy. An “activity log” feature will show users all of their activity on the network in one place, rather than across several timelines. Facebook also rolled out a centralized hub, where users can find all relevant documents.

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By Ashleigh Allsopp
Macworld U.K.
May 14, 2012

LONDON - Apple has been preparing its operating systems for high resolution Macs, adding evidence to the rumour that the next generation line-up of MacBooks will have Retina displays.

The OS X 10.7.4 update released by Apple on Wednesday was hiding some changes that may seem minor at first glance, but could indicate that Apple is about to launch something major.

Apple Insider reports that Apple’s built-in TextEdit application’s icon’s highest quality version has been increased to 1,024-by-1,024 pixels, double that of the previous 512-by-512 pixels in the icon before the update. The increase in pixels readies the icon for a Retina display.

The file size of the icon also grew from 209 kilobytes in OS X 10.7.3 to 1.7 megabytes in 10.7.4, reveals the report.

This could this mean that Apple’s new MacBook line-up, which is expected to arrive within weeks, will feature Retina displays like the one found on the new iPad, which has 3.1 million pixels, a million more than a HDTV.

Apple describes a Retina display as having pixels that are “so close together, your eyes can’t discern individual ones at a normal viewing distance.”

When Apple launched the beta of OS X 10.7 Lion, the App Store icon and the Launchpad icon were increased to 1,024-by-1,024 pixels, and in February, some cursers were improved to a higher resolution.

In April, Intel revealed that its new Ivy Bridge processers have been built for Retina display, which also indicates that Apple will launch Retina display MacBooks, as the company is expected to be the first to use the new chips in its products. The Ivy Bridge processor could power 2560-by-1600 displays, which is an impressive four times the amount of pixels currently found in the 13in MacBook Pro’s display.

When testing OS X Mountain Lion, which is predicted to launch in June at Apple’s WWDC in San Francisco, developers have also found double-resolution icons.

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By Ashleigh Allsopp
Macworld U.K.
May 14, 2012

LONDON - Foxconn boss, Terry Gou, has reportedly confirmed that Apple is working on a HD television set, dubbed the iTV.

According to China Daily, Gou has said that Apple manufacturer Foxconn is working with Sharp in Japan to prepare for production of the highly anticipated Apple television set.

“Gou said Foxconn is making preparations for iTV, Apple Inc’s rumoured upcoming high-definition television, although development or manufacturing has yet to begin,” says the report.

China Daily says that the ‘iTV’ will feature aluminium construction, the iPhone 4S’s Siri, and FaceTime.

Last week, we reported that a prototype of the Apple television set, which resembled a larger Apple monitor, has been spotted. The prototype HDTV has a built-in iSight camera for FaceTime, which has facial recognition, as well as Siri.

Another report suggests that Apple could be making a television set which looks like a transparent screen with a glass bezel that you can fix to the wall in every room of your house.

Apple’s HDTV could also come with an Apple branded games console.

The latest predictions suggest that the Apple HDTV will arrive in 2014.

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By Juan Carlos Perez
IDG News Service (Miami Bureau)
May 11, 2012

MIAMI - The new version of Windows Server will feature improvements in its hosting capabilities that end users can tap into remotely from a variety of client devices.

Windows Server 2012, which is in beta testing phase, will ship with enhancements to its Remote Desktop Services (RDS) component intended to improve RDS performance over WANs.

The product’s RDS piece has also been re-worked to simplify the setup of session and virtual machine infrastructures as well as its administration, Microsoft said in a blog post.

The WAN performance improvements center on RemoteFX, a technology Microsoft introduced in Windows Server 2008 to improve the rendering of graphics, including videos and animation on client devices.

In Windows Server 2012, RemoteFX no longer uses a single codec for all graphics, applying instead specialized codecs for multimedia, images and text.

Also new is the ability to progressively render graphics, which should improve the experience in low-bandwidth or busy networks, as well as a new codec that cuts down bandwidth use by up to 90 percent for media content.

RemoteFX will also toggle between UDP (User Datagram Protocol) and TCP, based on what’s best at any given point, and automatically detect the network and connect the client device to it, whereas before end users had to do that manually.

Other improvements include a simplified process for end users to find remote workspaces on Windows Server 2012 using only their e-mail address, as opposed to having to enter a long URL. In addition to IE, Remote Desktop Web Access will also work with Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Also new is the support for touch-based commands, like pinch and zoom, between the client device and the host, in scenarios where the client device uses a touch interface, like tablets.

In the second area of improvement — infrastructure simplification and cost reduction of deployments — RDS in Windows Server 2012 features the ability to consolidate on a single virtual entity multiple virtual machines, allowing IT departments to provide a desktop to multiple users without having to maintain a full operating system for each.

In this scenario, which Microsoft calls “pooled virtual desktop collection,” Windows Server 2012 will also have a feature called User Profile Disk, which, despite the consolidation of multiple devices on a single virtual entity, makes it possible for each user to have personal documents, settings and configurations.

Windows Server 2012 will also feature technology that gives each user a “fair share” of CPU, disk and network resources.

For the third area of improvement, IT management simplification, Windows Server 2012 will come with a single RDS management interface — as opposed to several — that lets administrators do a full RDS deployment, monitor it, configure options and manage all components and servers, according to Microsoft. The RDS management console is part of the product’s Server Manager component.

Windows Server 2012 will also feature a setup wizard designed to simplify and automate RDS deployments.

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