AT&T to disclose government requests for user data

AT&T has joined Verizon Communications in promising to report on government requests for information about its customers, setting the stage for semiannual disclosures from both the dominant U.S. wireline carriers starting early next year. The company's announcement came just a day after Verizon had promised similar reports, a fact AT&T acknowledged. Earlier this month, AT&T had asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to support its removing a shareholder proposal about such disclosures from its annual proxy statement. In a statement, AT&T said it would report the total number of requests from law enforcement agencies in criminal cases; information about subpoenas, court orders and warrants; the number of AT&T customers affected; and details about legal demands that the carrier receives. The first such report will cover 2013 and will come out early next year, the company said in the statement, which was attributed to Senior Vice President and General Counsel Wayne Watts. AT&T said when governments ask for subscriber data, it works to ensure that each request is legal, and it sought to reassure consumers it doesn't feed information directly to authorities. "We do not allow any government agency to connect directly to our network to gather, review or retrieve our customers' information," Watts said. In addition, AT&T only provides wireless customer location data except in response to court orders and in emergencies such as missing-child cases, he said.w3dmmglb dd8 d3dx9 43.dll minitab 16 full version crack plant vs zombie jar touch quickcam e1000 drivers ham on rye bukowski epub gericom bellagio 1440 drivers yahoo password hacking software free full version flatout 3 chaos and destruction pcdvd+crack multi8 castellano 2012 usb disk security con serial gratis docuprint c525a driver windows 7

The 2013 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders: On the fast track

Editor's note: Each year, Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders awards program honors the best and brightest IT executives. This year's class of 100 men and women are no different, moving their businesses forward with potent technology and ROI-rich projects. Explore the full package by viewing the listing of this year's honorees, along with their photos, predictions, cool projects and more. This year's class joins a fellowship of hundreds of Premier 100 alumni, each of whom has demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities throughout their careers. To revitalize your own IT career, check out the best management advice from Computerworld's editors and learn more about the 14th annual Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference, which draws together these IT leaders, alumni and other top IT executives to network and exchange ideas. It started as a research project to explore how Steelcase's customers might benefit from products with built-in collaboration technologies. What emerged is Media:Scape, a line of high-tech multimedia office equipment that is now on the sales fast track at the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based office furniture manufacturer. Steelcase's IT department was front and center in the innovation effort, developing, building and managing the first prototypes of the products, which feature high-definition videoconferencing capabilities. "You have to show the business the possibilities," says Steelcase CIO Bob Krestakos, who with another colleague holds the patent for the HD video technology. "One of the big insights IT was able to bring [to product development] is the power of video in sharing data and collaboration." Show -- don't tell -- the business how to capture a competitive lead: That's the mantra of today's IT leaders, who increasingly are making their mark by devising new products and services that generate revenue and set their companies apart from the competition. Rather than simply proselytizing about innovation, the 2013 class of Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders and their teams are bringing to life what IBM CIO Jeanette Horan calls "the art of what's possible with IT." At $8 billion W.W. Grainger, CIO Tim Ferrarell's team is the driving force behind cost-cutting inventory management processes and services that the Lake Forest, Ill., industrial supply giant first used internally and is now selling to customers as an application. Over the years, Grainger's catalog, which contains more than 900,000 products, has grown to the point that it is no longer easily portable, Ferrarell explains. Now, thanks to inventory management services provided at customer locations and via mobile technology, Grainger can insert itself directly into a customer's purchasing process. "These technologies are fundamentally changing how we serve customers and how we do our work," Ferrarell says. "We are the first in our industry to offer mobile apps to customers and are rapidly expanding mobile capabilities into new features designed to save customers time and money and to ensure Grainger's offer is accessible real-time and closest to the point of need." The upshot: Over the past year, mobile traffic to Grainger's site has increased 400%. At Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels, IT is "the real thought leader" in developing new services that differentiate the hotel chain in what John Prusnick, director of IT innovation and strategy, calls "the sea of sameness" permeating the hospitality industry. One recent innovation: an airport-based check-in service that lets guests bypass the front desk and go directly to their rooms on arrival. The iOS application, which was designed and built by IT, can scan credit cards and encode room keycards at the airport shuttle center. "Guests became quickly enamored with the experience. They felt like they received VIP treatment," says Prusnick.screencast o matic for chromebook linksys lne100tx v5 1 driver skype per lg t310i sunage battle for elysium remastered skype app blackberry z10 hp laserjet 1320 pcl5 driver windows 7 64 bit lexmark t420 driver for win7 uc browser for samsung corby plus gt b3410 bluesoleil crack windows 7 freedom fighters 2 soldiers of liberty pc

Google may go from Google Glass to Google Robot

Google, the worldwide leader in online search, is also the company behind the dominant Android mobile platform, Google Glass wearable technology and the Google Maps app. Are Google Robots the next move? That's right. Google today confirmed to Computerworld that it's been buying up robotics companies for the past six months as part of an effort to develop its own robotics technology. As first reported today in the New York Times, Google is developing robotic technology for use by its manufacturing operation, which conducts electronics assembly among other things. Google officials told the newspaper that the robotics effort will be led by Andy Rubin, the man behind the creation and worldwide adoption of Google's wildly successful Android software. Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, says it's not surprising that a company like Google would seek to venture far afield from its core technology, in this case Internet search tools. The company has already moved into several new businesses, including browsers, Chromebook computers, mapping software, autonomous cars and computerized eyeglasses. "I expected Google to ultimately get into robots, as it's not too far from an autonomous vehicle, only more flexible in its use cases," said Moorhead. The technology used to make "a very good robot would be similar to that in a super-sophisticated autonomous vehicle." While he adds that Google risks losing focus by continuing to go far afield from the core search business, the company can easily use some of its existing technology in the new products. "Technologies behind search and targeted advertising can play a part in robotics," said Moorhead. "Object recognition can be used by a robot and for visual search. Google Now uses predictive analytics to determine what you want to see and when you want to see it, and can also be used by robots to become more autonomous." Nonetheless, Google must walk a fine line between taking risks and getting lost in the weeds.temple run in corby 2 free cooking academy 2 full game free online hotspotshieldlaunch17 dragonvale free gems hack online java jdk for windows xp 32 bit adobe photoshop cs6 crack picasa mobile android apk enlga-1320 driver windows 8 puffin web browser apk full audio c3dx cm18738 device driver pci

Researchers create graphite memory only 10 atoms thick

Researchers at Rice University have demonstrated a new data storage medium made out of a layer of graphite only 10 atoms thick. The technology could potentially provide many times the capacity of current flash memory and withstand temperatures of 200 degrees Celsius and radiation that would make solid-state disk memory disintegrate. The team, lead by professor James Tour, included postdoctoral researchers Yubao Li and Alexander Sinitskii. In an interview, Tour said laboratory tests started a year and a half ago but his team only recently published a paper on the results. Laboratory tests showed that they were able to grow graphene, which technically is 10 or fewer layers of graphite, atop silicon and use it to store a bit of data. The sheets were roughly 5 nanometers in diameter. Graphene is a form of carbon. "Though we grow it from the vapor phase, this material is just like graphite in a pencil. You slide these right off the end of your pencil onto paper. If you were to place Scotch tape over it and pull up, you can sometimes pull up as small as one sheet of graphene. It is a little under 1 nanometer thick," Tour said. The new solid-state memory is one of many next-generation technologies that could someday replace NAND flash memory at the 20 nanometer (nm) node size. Others include race track memory and phase-change memory. Currently, NAND flash memory can be as small as 45nm in size, but projections show the technology will reach its limit of 20nm by around 2012. By using graphene, Tour said, bits could be made smaller than 10nm in size. Unlike NAND flash memory, which is controlled by three terminals or wires, the graphene memory requires two terminals, making it more viable for three-dimensional or stacked graphene arrays -- multiplying a chip's capacity with every layer, according to Tour. But like flash memory, chips made with graphene will consume virtually no power while keeping data intact. Tour also said graphene generates little heat, making it more suitable to three-dimensional or stacked memory. Graphene also distinguishes itself from future storage mediums through its "on-off ratio" or the amount of electricity a circuit holds when it's on compared with when it's off. "It's huge -- a million to one," Tour said. "Phase change memory, the other thing the industry is considering, runs at 10-to-1. That means the 'off' state holds, say, one-tenth the amount of electrical current than the 'on' state.special enquiry detail full crack apk blast thru game full version wechat terbaru untuk s60v3 angry birds kindle fire walkthrough edimax rt6x wireless lan card driver gateway 450rgh ethernet controller driver pingchat for android tablet do adobe flash player gratis Brazilian heroes of might and magic 4 the gathering storm

Cutting the cable: Wireless charging becomes a reality

Imagine sitting down at work, plopping a mobile device on the desk and having it wirelessly charge itself while, at the same time, synchronizing new data to your PC. In that world, one could also wirelessly charge a phone set on a car's dashboard or armrest while it plays music through the speakers, and never have to search for the one open electrical outlet at the coffee shop or airport. That world may not be too far off for the masses of smartphone, tablet and other mobile device users. With the launch of the Windows Phone 8-based Lumia 920 smartphone last week, embedded wireless charging is hitting the U.S. mainstream. The built-in wireless charging capabilities offered in the Nokia 920 doesn't require that widgets be plugged into the USB port of a smartphone in order to charge it from a magnetic induction power pad. That's the typical wireless charging process today. The Lumia 920 only has to be laid on a power pad to be charged. Charging Pads William Stofega, an IDC mobile device analyst, said wireless charging pad business is currently dominated by Duracell's Powermat technology, which is based on magnetic induction technology, one of two forms of wireless charging. Duracell's Powermat wireless phone charger But that choice is likely to change soon, thanks in part to the Wireless Power Consortium's Qi (pronounced "chee") open wireless charging standard, Stofega said. Already, some products from 120 companies are certified as compliant with the Qi standard. The certified products run the gamut, from the LG Optimus LTE2 and Panasonic Eluga smartphones, to charging pads, gaming controllers, Blu-ray Disc recorders, smartphone docking speakers, automobile phone chargers, alarm clocks, battery packs and charging modules that can be installed in tabletops and furniture. Magnetic induction vs. resonance charging Analysts note, though, that there are some slight differences in the Qi-compliant wireless charging products being developed today.oracle java jdk 7 mac winrar macbook air iconpackager 5 1 full version quake usb adsl modem driver indir google earth for mac os x 10.5.8 free f talk setup winzip for win7 32 bit billiards go locker theme mobile9 style me girl para pc simlab skp md2 exporter for maya dozen games apartment escape 3 walkthrough

Google's Andy Rubin steps aside as Android gets new leader

Android head Andy Rubin is stepping aside, and that could mean big changes for Google's mobile platform and for its Chrome operating system. Google CEO Larry Page announced the move in a blog post on Wednesday, saying Rubin will remain with the company but will take on a new role. Rubin, who is Google's senior vice president for mobile and digital content, joined Google in 2005, when the search giant acquired Android, then a startup company that Rubin had co-founded. Sundar Pichai Andy Rubin "The pace of innovation has never been greater, and Android is the most used mobile operating system in the world," Page wrote. "Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android, and with a really strong leadership team in place, Andy's decided it's time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google." Page said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and Apps, will take Rubin's place and will lead both the Chrome and Android divisions. "Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use -- and he loves a big bet," wrote Page. "So while Andy's a really hard act to follow, I know Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward." Related: JR Raphael: What will Andy Rubin's departure mean for Android? Industry analysts said they were surprised by the news, and some wonder whether Rubin decided himself to move on or if he was asked to step aside. Regardless of why he's leaving, this is a big shift for Android. Rubin brought Android to prominence on the global mobile stage, creating a two-horse race with Apple's iOS. With more than 60 partners, Android has become the most popular smartphone operating system in the U.S. "[Rubin has been] working his tail off on Android, and he's made it extremely successful," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J.Gold Associates. "I don't think anyone can say he hasn't been pretty damn successful.... They have become a major mobile leader. Could he have done it faster, better, smoother? Sure... but I haven't seen any huge mistakes." Gold said he doubted Rubin was pushed out. He speculated that Rubin probably wants to try his hand at something new. "Every so often these guys have to take a breath and say, 'I've done a really good job, but where do I go from here?'" Gold said. "He's got a lot of creative juices. He may want to go do some new things and start something else. They said he'll stay at Google. I'd be surprised if he left. He's got a lot of freedom and opportunities there."hijab woman photo montage for ipod light rock music radio for android slices for twitter for ipod alchemy android game for pc halo waypoint for android free face in hole free for iphone5 rat on a snowboard for iphone women jumpers dress suit for ipad old telephone ringtones for ipad hong kong drama for android

OS X Mountain Lion: A big cat for business?

Apple surprised the tech world on Thursday by unveiling a developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, the next generation of its desktop operating system set to ship this summer -- just a year after OS X 10.7 "Lion" arrived. Based on the information Apple has released so far, Mountain Lion will continue in the footsteps of its predecessor and bring more features from iOS to the desktop as well as strengthen ties to Apple's iCloud service. (iOS powers Apple's iPhone and iPad.) That makes Mountain Lion something of a mixed bag for enterprise environments: it has some features that are very useful for business users, while others -- like its near-total integration with Apple's personal cloud service -- will likely raise red flags in the minds of CIOs and IT professionals. Even so, the new OS offers some changes that will be particularly welcomed by mobile business users. Here's a look at some of what's new as well as a look at some of the concerns to keep in mind if you plan to update to Mountain Lion later this year. AirPlay Mirroring If you're someone who does presentations, you'll like AirPlay mirroring, a feature that Apple first introduced on the iPad 2 and included with the iPhone 4S. AirPlay Mirroring allows a Mountain Lion Mac to wirelessly broadcast whatever is on its screen to an HDTV using the Apple TV set-top box. No doubt, this feature will be great for home uses like gaming and watching web-based video on your TV with next to no effort (something unlikely to sit well with Hollywood execs or companies like Netflix and Hulu that have gone to great lengths to secure licensing deals for streaming to set-top box devices). What makes AirPlay mirroring for Macs valuable in the workplace is the ease of setup and the ubiquity of HDTVs (or projectors that can accept HDMI video). Pairing an Apple TV box with an Apple laptop creates a presentation system that can plug in virtually anywhere with just two cables (AC power and HDMI), no configuration needed. You don't even need to be on a Wi-Fi network, because a MacBook Air or Pro can create an ad hoc network the Apple TV can join. That's something that can easily be done in advance of a presentation. Files in iCloud The biggest business feature, however, has to be Apple's iCloud. In Mountain Lion, iCloud will put cloud storage front and center. Mountain Lion's open and save dialogs will include an iOS-like view of a user's iCloud storage space, including iOS-style "folders" for grouping documents. Any documents stored in this space immediately propagate changes to versions of the documents on all of a user's devices and Mountain Lion Macs. Updates take place in real time and you can even see the edits appear if you have a document open on two devices at the same time. You don't even need to remember to save changes.mobikids child taken for ipod data football manager handheld 2014 android bachelor party invitation for android stick stunt biker for ipod meme maker for android apk farewell party invitation for ipod nightbird trigger x for iphone cut the rope time travel ipa free bike or die 2 for ipod free retrica camera plus for android

Mountain Lion upgrades take from 13 to 57 minutes, says Apple reseller

Mountain Lion upgrades can take as little as 13 minutes and as long as almost an hour, a New York City Apple reseller said today. Tekserve, which bills itself as "New York's largest independent Apple store," timed the Mountain Lion upgrades it installed on various Mac desktops and notebooks, averaged the scores for each model, and posted the results on its blog Wednesday. 9to5Mac.com first reported on Tekserve's time trials. Earlier today, Apple launched OS X Mountain Lion from its e-mart, the Mac App Store. Mountain Lion costs $19.99, and can be installed on most recent Macs running either OS X Lion or Snow Leopard. "Unsurprisingly, the new [Retina] MacBook Pro was far and away the fastest to update, with the new MacBook Air models close behind," said Tekserve, which is located on West 23rd Street in Manhattan. "Their speed can be attributed to having solid state drives [SSD], which can access data much faster than a standard magnetic hard drive." The Retina MacBook Pro, the 15-in. notebook with a higher resolution screen that Apple unveiled last month, completed the Mountain Lion upgrade in just 13 minutes, while the 11-in. and 13-in. MacBook Airs needed 17 minutes. As Tekserve noted, those models rely on SSDs of various sizes to store data, applications and the operating system. Machines with traditional platter-based drives, including the newest 13-in. and 15-in. MacBook Pros, and the two iMac models, required much more time to process the upgrade, ranging from 40 minutes for the 21.5-in. iMac to 57 minutes for the non-Retina 15-in. MacBook Pro. Reviewers reported different upgrade times. Michael deAgonia, who examined Mountain Lion for Computerworld, said an upgrade to a SSD-equipped 15-in. MacBook Pro took approximately 35 minutes. Dan Frakes of Macworld -- like Computerworld, a site owned by IDG -- said his stopwatch recorded 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the Mac. TUAW.com, or The Unofficial Apple Weblog, reported even-longer times of 30 to 50 minutes. The Mountain Lion upgrade is a hands-off affair once the user has downloaded the 4GB installer from the Mac App Store, allowing Mac owners to step away from the machine and come back when the new OS is installed. As in such cases, mileage may vary: Tekserve, for example, was upgrading new systems that lacked the digital detritus that accumulates on well-used Macs.mogo the monkey in operation jungle bungle for ipads gmd gesture control for android santas christmas village for ipod blobs for iphone 4 6.1.3 galaxy on fire 2 ipa alien shooter 2 for android delicious official app for android the smurfs 2 3d live wallpaper for ipads xmas photo frames new for ipod asphalt 5 for android free

Macs at risk from 'super dangerous' Java zero-day

Hackers are exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Java 7, security experts said today. The unpatched bug can be exploited through any browser running on any operating system, from Windows and Linux to OS X, that has Java installed, said Tod Beardsley, the engineering manager for Metasploit, the open-source penetration testing framework used by both legitimate researchers and criminal hackers. David Maynor, CTO of Errata Security, confirmed that the Metasploit exploit -- which was published less than 24 hours after the bug was found -- is effective against Java 7 installed on OS X Mountain Lion. "This exploit works on OS X if you are running the 1.7 JRE [Java Runtime Environment]," said Maynor in an update to an earlier blog post. JRE 1.7 includes the most-current version of Java 7, dubbed "Update 6," that was released earlier this month. Maynor said he was able to trigger the vulnerability with the Metasploit code in both Firefox 14 and Safari 6 on OS X 10.8, better known as Mountain Lion. Although the exploits now circulating in the wild have been aimed only at Windows users, it's possible that Macs could also be targeted. "What is more worrisome is the potential for this to be used by other malware developers in the near future," said Intego, a Mac-specific antivirus vendor, in a post to its own blog Monday. "Java applets have been part of the installation process for almost every malware attack on OS X this year." The largest Mac malware campaign to date also involved Java. Flashback, which exploited a Java bug that at the time had not been patched by Apple, infected hundreds of thousands of Macs starting in early April 2012. Apple stopped bundling Java with OS X starting with last year's Lion, a practice it continued with Mountain Lion. Those users, however, may still have Java installed; when a browser encounters a Java applet, it asks the user for permission to download the Oracle software. People running the older Snow Leopard (2009) and Leopard (2007) are even more vulnerable to attacks, as Java came with those operating systems. Apple still maintains Java 6, but Oracle is responsible for patching Java 7. "The vulnerability is not in Java 6, it's in new functionality in Java 7," said Beardsley. Beardsley called the bug "super dangerous," noting that it was "totally a drive by," meaning that attackers could compromise a Mac, or other personal computers, simply by duping users into browsing to a malicious or previously-hacked website that hosts the attack code. Beardsley recommended that users disable Java until Oracle delivers a patch, advice seconded by virtually every security expert commenting on the new-found flaw. Mac owners can disable the Java plug-in from within their browsers, or remove Java 7 from their machines. To do the latter, select "Go to Folder" from the Finder's "Go" menu, enter "/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/" and drag the file "1.7.0.jdk" into the Trash.securecrt 64 bit full rtl 8187 driver patch for omnipeek hidden beauty danto the transfiguration of the commonplace dragon knight 4 3d blender nlite addons s polish kamus lengkap for mobile harman kardon computer speaker soundcard driver italian qsi dvd sdw 082 driver acer flatbed scanner driver 640bu skype for sony ericsson e15i

Wall Street Beat: It's business as usual for tech, but gov't crisis casts shadows

The tech sector appears to be going about business as usual in the face of the U.S. federal government shutdown, but some industry insiders are nervous about a long-term stoppage or, even worse, the possibility of a debt default if a political compromise on the budget is not reached. Conventional wisdom among economists holds that for every week the government remains shut due to the budget impasse over the U.S. health reform law, or "Obamacare," about 0.1 percent is shaved off economic growth for the quarter, according to Andrew Bartels, chief economist at Forrester Research. "That's about .4 or .5 percent off the economy in about a month, which translates into about 1 percent off tech spending in the U.S. for the quarter," Bartels noted. If Congress later this month fails to raise the debt limit to fully fund government spending, a full-scale global economic crisis, with repercussions for tech, could follow, Bartels said. Republican John Boehner of Ohio, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, declared Friday that he would work to prevent a debt default. But there are landmines along the path to a compromise, among which are a possible effort on the part of some Republicans to depose Boehner as speaker. "The failure to raise the debt ceiling could have serious consequences for the U.S. economy and have a ripple effect globally," Bartels said. The amount of money taken out of the U.S. economy and the potential of a rise in interest rates could cut gross domestic product by up to 5 percent to 6 percent, bringing it into decline, Bartels noted. That would mean a 10 percent decline in tech spending in the U.S. and likely an 8 percent drop in global tech spending. Tech sector leaders appear to be spooked. "It is unthinkable that the United States could default on its financial commitments, and it would be the height of irresponsibility for any public official to consider such a course," reads a statement issued by AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. "In fact, even the discussion of default poses great risk to our economy and to our country." Government spending disruptions would stall what so far appears to be solid business as usual for tech. While there has been some turbulence in the stock market lately, shares on major exchanges, including tech company stock prices, edged up Friday on Boehner's comments. The Nasdaq Computer Index of more than 100 tech companies closed at 1814.15, up by 12.34 points, and is up by almost 17 percent for the year.pdf password cracker pro 3 2 crack game angry birds season 2 full version for pc skystar 2 dvb pci drivers v 4 4 teamspeak 3 server admin hack latest uc browser handler gom video converter serial xbox 360 controller emulator v3 0 for pc games using xinput instalar adobe flash player ultima version 2012 all2mp3 mac kostenlos canoscan fb620p xp driver

5 Ways to Rethink Software Projects

CIO - My coverage of the panel discussion on how to get beyond project estimates at Agile2013 Nashville garnered a great deal of positive feedback. There was one recurring question, though - Where do we start? - and another common refrain - "My boss would never go for that. This article will answer the question and provide at least a few hints for conquering the boss' lament. NoEstimates Means Estimates Aren't Bad, Just Not Essential Woody Zuill, a development manager at Hunter Industries, introduced the #NoEstimates Twitter hashtag and addressed the concept in blog posts such as Doing Scrum Without Estimates. Zuill is quick to point out that, while he has experienced some success with the ideas at Hunter, they represent his own opinion. That might be wise, considering the large public pushback on the idea. That pushback may be due to a misunderstanding. Zuill didn't claim that estimates are "bad" in all cases; rather, they're not always essential to the software development process. Alternative decision-making approaches are possible. In other words, while estimates solve a problem, what problem do they solve, exactly? What other ways are there to solve the problem? That's the discussion Zuill wanted to start. Instead of arguing can/cannot, let's define estimates and look at some examples of where #NoEstimates is working, in the field, right now. Woody Zuill made quite a splash with his introduction of #NoEstimates on Twitter. For the purpose of this article, an estimate is "a length of time it will take to develop software, determined by human judgment and based on experience." There are many ways to do this. You can break the work down into chunks and add it up, you can look at a variety of similar projects to compare, or you can stick your finger in the air and guess. All of those are estimation techniques. We'll define #NoEstimates as running a software project without any human estimation process. If customers asks, "How long will it take?" that's estimating. If they never have to ask, that's #NoEstimates. Notice that this means we can still estimate the budget for the department, or the rate of customer adoption to do financial projects. The term #NoEstimates is specifically tied to humans using their judgment to predict development effort for a solution that have not yet fully developed. Here are five ways to do just that. 1. Make Starting Amount of Money Small; Deliver Working Software Often J.B. Rainsberger, the author of jUnit Recipes, points out that his first solo software project was just like this. Rainsberger made no promises up front, offering instead to show working software every two weeks - and also allowing the client to fire him with as little as two weeks' notice. This technique may work best for outsourced projects. It also represents a significant amount of risk for the outsourced company, and minimizes risk for the customer. The team turns over working software - not designs, specifications or in-process code - that may have little or no value to the economic buyer. This is essentially what happened with Chrysler's Comprehensive Compensation System (C3). The car maker dropped the existing project, already in progress, in order to "reboot" it as a project that would deliver working software every two or three iterations, each of which was two weeks long. For Chrysler, in 1999, that was a fast deployment process. For internal projects with an existing team, a larger organization might want to look at another approach to #NoEstimates. 2. Fund a Pilot That Delivers Working Software; Then Use Modeling to Forecast Schedule Imagine a high-functioning software team pulling pieces of work from a queue. If the effort involved for each piece of work averages within some reasonable deviation, the team can count the pieces of work accomplished per week and predict, in a sense, when the project will be done. (Management can also change which pieces of work are "required" to change the date.) That may not be as easy as it sounds. To work, the amount of effort per feature needs to normalize, or approach a bell curve, and there can't be any "black swan" events lurking in the weeds. For example, bugs discovered late in the cycle may create extra work that's not modeled. The team also needs a fair amount of data to do this kind of modeling. This typically requires a funded pilot with no defined scope. It might, however, be possible to pull the data from previous projects that were delivered with estimates - by throwing away the estimates and assembling predictions from data. Troy Magennis, a former executive at Sabre Holdings and Travelocity, now with Focused Objective, has done some of the most prominent work in this space. Magennis has also developed predictive models that include complex elements like deviation, cycle time, defects/time for repair and so on. Modeling, Simulation & Data Mining: Answering Tough Executive Questions (Agile 2012) Magennis & Maccherone) from FocusedObjectiveTroy Magennis and Larry Macherone presented on predictive modeling at Agile2012; the algorithm is now a part of LeanKitKan's project management suite. Even without a complex model, most agile teams are capable of producing a burn-down chart that can answer the question, "Is this date and this scope possible?" Someone just has to ask. 3. Move From Contract Negotiation to Partnership The Dynamic Systems Development Method, or DSDM, predates the agile movement. It recognized that, on most projects, people, money and time remain fixed. Quality is something that probably should be fixed, too, as non-working software doesn't actually work. The one thing most flexible is actually scope. Most planning work is eliminated here in favor of developing high-level goals in collaboration with the customer. The team promises to deliver something on week 30, and the two groups meet every week or two to show progress and design the next step. If that sounds a bit like a fairy tale, I understand. At the same time, that's essentially the business model of Menlo Innovations. Based in Ann Arbor, Mich. and founded by Richard Sheridan, former VP of product development at Interface Systems, the Menlo team may establish scope at the outset of a project, but it lets the customer adjust and plan specifics each week. By the end of a budget period, the customer could steer to a place very different that the original goal. The customer gets what it needs in the moment - not what it thought it needed six months ago. In May 2003, Sheridan made the cover of Forbes for his successful gamble to found Menlo. In the 10 years since, the company has continued to grow. Sheridan's current project is a new book, Joy Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love. 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Apple's iPad set to rock e-reader biz, says survey

Apple's iPad could seriously disrupt the e-reader business of Amazon, Sony and others, according to a survey last month that queried American consumers on their purchase plans. "The iPad is all but certain to have a transformational impact on [the e-reader market] going forward," said Paul Carton, director of research for ChangeWave Research, in a report issued Friday. "While a handful of e-reader manufacturers -- most prominently Amazon -- clearly have a major head start, the survey findings show the iPad is poised to profoundly shake up this market." Earlier today, Apple announced that the iPad will go on sale April 3, and that it would begin taking pre-orders for the device, which is priced starting at $499, on March 12. ChangeWave polled more than 3,100 U.S. consumers in the first half of February -- days after Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad -- and asked whether they were considering purchasing an e-reader, and if so, which one, in the next 90 days. Of those who said they would probably buy a device, 40% said they planned on purchasing an iPad, compared to 28% who ticked off Amazon's Kindle, 6% who said they would buy a Barnes & Noble Nook and 1% who voted for the Sony Reader. Carton issued a caveat. "Amazon and the others are not going to just sit there and twiddle their thumbs, they'll react," he said during an interview Friday. But if they don't, and the iPad is as successful as the ChangeWave poll indicates, he added, the Kindle, Nook and Sony Reader could find themselves playing catch-up. He also warned against awarding the iPad top prize in the e-reader sweepstakes based on one poll. "The iPad has not been launched, so declaring victory before the army has landed is premature," he said. Other results from the survey, however, pointed to the iPad's future success, whether or not it unseats the Kindle. Both the 4% who said they were "very likely" to buy Apple's new device and the 9% who confirmed that they were "somewhat likely" to purchase an iPad were larger numbers than said the same in a similar survey in April 2007 prior to the launch of the first-generation iPhone. In 2007, just 3% of American consumers polled said they were very likely to buy Apple's first smartphone, while 6% said they were somewhat likely to. "There was far more skepticism before the iPhone's launch than now with the iPad, both from analysts and from consumers," said Carton. "No one remembers now, but before the iPhone [went on sale], some analysts said who was Apple to dare to go into the cell phone market." The takeaway from the survey, Carton continued, isn't that the iPad's numbers were larger by a point or two, but that demand for it is at least equal to, if not greater than, the pre-sales demand for the iPhone. ChangeWave also measured the cannibalization impact that the iPad will have on other Apple products by asking consumers whether they would now be buying a tablet in place of one or more devices they had been considering. One in 10 said they had put an iPhone purchase on hold because they planned to buy an iPad; 9% said they would delay plans to buy either an iPod or Mac laptop. In the end, a quarter of those with plans to buy an iPad acknowledged that they would delay other Apple product purchases.bb multi unlocker key v16 hytek meet manager alpha arabic school software 1 0 w810i camera driver car finder ar app dolphin browser hd 8 6 1 creeper world free mac plants vs zombies blackberry storm 9550 spanish tonka construction computer game logmein hamachi windows 7 64 bit diamond stealth drivers portuguese

Twitter reverses policy that would allow blocked persons to follow user

Twitter reversed a controversial policy change announced Thursday that would let a user block others on Twitter, but the blocked users could continue to follow and see the user's tweets and interact with them. "We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users -- we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe," wrote Michael Sippey, Twitter's vice president of product, in a blog post. The policy changes proposed by Twitter earlier in the day were sharply criticized by users. Before the new policy, if a user was being harassed or trolled by spam accounts, clicking the "block" button would prevent the persons from following the user and also remove them from mentions and timeline, according to a petition on Change.org. "Now, even if you block someone who is harassing you, that person becomes invisible to you but they are free to follow you and RT you into their timeline," wrote petitioner Zerlina Maxwell. Her petition collected 1,500 signatures a few hours after it was put up. Twitter's proposed new blocking policy stated that when a user blocked someone, the user would no longer see the person in the follower list, updates from that person in their home timeline, or their replies or mentions in the Connect tab on Twitter. The blocked person would also not be aware of being blocked. "Now when you block a user, they cannot tell that you've blocked them," said Twitter CEO Dick Costolo in a Twitter message, adding that it was a longstanding request from users of block. But "blocking a user does not prevent that user from following you, interacting with your Tweets, or receiving your updates in their timeline," if your account is public, according to the now-reversed policy update. If the user's tweets are protected and available to a select group, then blocking the person will cause them to unfollow the user, it added. On Twitter, users said that the new policy would make abuse easier. "If Twitter sticks to this new block policy we're going to see people go protected. Less community. More walled gardens. Everyone loses," one user wrote in a Twitter message.deity wars for pc driver ess solo 1938 ati d33a27 drivers photo grid for android antivirus avg gratis da scaricare utorrent 3 2 1 beta vf0070 webcam driver lineage 2 indonesia brilliance 200p driver lg lpc u30 driver

Amazon's new Kindle rachets up e-reader price battle

Amazon.com's announcement late Wednesday that it will launch a new version of its Kindle e-book reader in August could further stoke a price battle in the e-reader market. E-book reader prices have been slowly falling for months but price cuts began to gain pace since late June, when Barnes & Noble cut the price of its Nook reader and introduced a new model at $149. The price made it the cheapest e-book reader from a major retailer. It still holds that distinction today, but might not hold it much longer. Amazon.com's third-generation Kindle will come in two models, one with 3G wireless and one without, and the cheaper of the two will cost $139 when it goes on sale on Aug. 27. It's an impressive price decline for the Kindle, the cheapest model of which cost $259 in the middle of June. In late August, barely two months later, the Kindle entry point will have dropped by almost half. "At that price it's now almost an impulse buy for some consumers," said Tim Renowden, an analyst at Ovum in London. He said he wouldn't be surprised if Barnes & Noble further cut the price of the Nook, but that the competition would most be felt by lesser-known brands. Many of these companies have used price as a key selling point, but with the Kindle so cheap it will be hard to compete when Amazon.com offers additional benefits, such as tight integration with its online store and a huge library of books. The lower price also increases the gap between e-readers and a slew of tablet PCs that are now coming to market. Led by Apple's iPad and including several promised machines based on Google's Android OS, the tablets offer many more functions than e-readers but are heavier, have much shorter battery life and are typically more difficult to read for long periods of time. Amazon.com is banking on the lower price translating into more sales, and there is evidence that could already be happening.. . . . . . . . . . . .

Amazon to demo Kindle for the Web on Tuesday

Amazon plans to demonstrate a new version of Kindle for the Web on Tuesday, one day after Google launched its Google eBooks and eBookstore strategy. (See correction below.) An Amazon spokeswoman said via an e-mail to Computerworld late Monday that the new Kindle for the Web will "enable users to read full books in the browser and [enable] any Website to become a bookstore offering Kindle books." The spokeswoman didn't elaborate. The Kindle for the Web concept first surfaced in September and the Tuesday announcement could be a "natural evolution" of Amazon's e-book strategy, said Allen Weiner, an analyst at Gartner. Amazon first launched Kindle for the Web as a beta application in September to allow customers to discover new books by sampling first chapters of the books directly through Web browsers without the need for a software download. Based on the spokeswoman's statement on Monday, the new version would allow book purchases of Kindle books through various Web sites offering them. It also would also allow reading of the full book, not just samples. Google announced Google eBooks and Google eBook store on Monday, giving customers e-book purchasing and browsing access through dozens of devices including, importantly, various Google-backed Android smartphones and tablets. In addition, the e-books can be purchased from Google's eBookstore or independent booksellers. The open, cloud-based system might look like a sure winner for Google, but analysts noted that Amazon is well-established with years of experience selling e-books. Amazon has also sold millions of proprietary Kindle e-readers, although there is disagreement on the actual figure. Some believe the number is 5 million to 6 million, although Amazon has not said. Gartner and other analyst firms estimate that Amazon's Kindles make up about half of the market for black-and-white e-readers, not including devices like Apple's iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab. In addition to its Kindles, Amazon supports other platforms for reading its e-books, including Android-based devices, the iPad, the iPhone and the BlackBerry, as well PCs and Macs.kamus korea untuk handphone belkin f5l009 driver canon scanner lide 50 driver skateboard park tycoon 2004 tpb blister in the sun instrumental dxg model 202v digital camera driver archos xs2 driver angry birds space for symbian belle badboy v5 cheat hack for cs 1 6 aimbot speedhack intex it 105wc driver

Kobo Wireless eReader

The Kobo Wireless eReader aspires to compete with the big kids in the e-reader arena. This iteration represents a marked improvement over its predecessor, offering higher contrast, a sharper E Ink display, and better performance. Unfortunately, the Wireless eReader still lacks the polish and finesse of the leaders. And at $139 (as of December 13, 2010), it's the same price as an Amazon Kindle. While the general design of the Kobo Wireless eReader remains the same, the company has made some tweaks to enhance the chassis. Now you can buy it in black, white and lavender, or white and silver; regrettably, though, the matte-black finish is prone to getting scratched in daily use. As on the Amazon Kindle, the black border greatly enhances readability. Kobo joins Amazon and Sony in offering an E Ink Pearl display, which provides better contrast and clarity than earlier E Ink displays (such as the one on the original Kobo). Inside, Kobo has overhauled the Wireless eReader to provide faster page turns and performance. Indeed, in comparison with the original version, this model feels like a fleet-footed marathoner. The improved performance addresses my biggest complaints about the first-generation Wireless eReader (which suffered from poor usability, sluggish performance, and stiff buttons). However, while the enhancements go far, they don't go far enough. The Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader Touch Edition still offer better performance. I could perceive significant page flicker and some lag while turning pages and navigating within the Kobo reader. And although the buttons are no longer stiff monstrosities and are more responsive than before, I still had an issue with trying to navigate precisely, in spite of the raised dots that are supposed to help one know precisely where to push; often, I invoked the wrong command, or I failed to select the option I wanted. Kobo, for those unfamiliar with the company, is an international e-book service and hardware provider backed by Canada's Indigo Books & Music, the U.S.-based Borders Group, REDgroup Retail, and Cheung Kong Holdings. The company differentiates its e-reader by complementing the fairly stock hardware with pleasing touches (textured and rubberized backing, softer-touch buttons) and above-average original software. The Wireless eReader model makes for a compelling, more open (with its support of ePub and Adobe Digital Editions content) e-reader that costs significantly less than the Sony Reader Touch Edition. Kobo marries its Kobobooks.com online store--which has more than 2 million e-books as well as periodicals--with mobile apps for Android, iPad, iPhone, and BlackBerry, as well as its value-priced, connected e-reader. The Wireless eReader makes it easy to sync a book with other devices by updating your library while you're reading a text. (The process isn't as automated on Amazon's Kindle, for example, but it is an option now.) You can access your account via the Web, or through an app that you can install off the e-reader.audio driver for windows 2003 navicat lite for ubuntu remove windows 7 wga remover intel proset wireless wifi software 12 0 0 x cheat engine bejeweled blitz facebook epson tm u950p driver huawei unlocker by clubs adobe flash player for ziio hellgate london x64 trainer mci cd audio driver

Libre Touch Color E-Reader Has Usability Flaws

More and more devices are blurring the lines between ebook reader and tablet, but the Aluratek Libre Touch isn't one of them. While it does support basic Web browsing, email, and multimedia playback, the Libre Touch is first and foremost an e-reader with a color touchscreen and integration (via Wi-Fi) with an online bookstore. But although its feature list is respectable, usability flaws make the Libre Touch a tough sell, even at its attractive price ($150 as of August 5, 2011). Tall, narrow, and slim (8.0 by 4.9 by 0.5 inches), and reasonably lightweight (just under 12 ounces), the Libre Touch looks like many of the 7-inch readers and tablets we've seen lately, with a couple of minor modifications. Its charcoal-gray bezel has three hardware buttons on the right side, including two concealed by the case itself; these are for turning pages forward and back. The third button is a short, vertical silvery bar for returning to the preceding task: If you're reading a book, for example, pressing that button moves you to the library screen where you selected the book. On the top edge is the large, silvery power button. Along the bottom edge are, from left to right, a Mini-USB port (for charging the Libre Touch and connecting it to a PC), a MicroSD card slot (if you want more than the internal 4GB of memory), a volume rocker control, and a standard 3.5mm headphone port. Most of the action occurs through the display's touch interface. The first time you turn it on, the Libre Touch runs a calibration routine that immediately betrays its Android underpinnings: The process is directed by the little Android bot. However, the device is based on an older version of Android (1.5), so it doesn't have all the goodies associated with more current versions. For example, the browser lacks support for Adobe Flash, so you can't access all Web content. And you don't get any tools for downloading additional Android apps. The screen uses resistive technology, which is less fingertip-friendly than capacitive touchscreens are--but the Libre Touch's designers apparently expect you to use your fingertips, since they didn't include a stylus. It isn't the greatest experience--sometimes you have to tap a few times to get a response when you're trying to follow a link or type something on the software keyboard--so it's a good thing that Aluratek built in those hardware buttons for page turns.yahoo messenger pentru telefon htc du meter crack 4 01 trivial pursuit digital choice windows 7 nitya pavan smaran mantra avast antivirus for pc asus n13219 motherboard drivers driver going wrong way turkish acute email id generator skype for samsung gt s5230 star brazilian assault team 3d 1 0

Goodbye e-books, hello apps

"It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore ... Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year." - Wired quoting Steve Jobs on e-readers in 2008 Steve was right. I used to love to read, but how many books do I manage to get through these days? It's a fraction of what I used to, and seeing Jobs' comment recently got me thinking about why this should be. When e-readers first came out I was excited. This meant I could jump on a plane or sit in my back yard or on a beach with a huge selection of titles without lugging around pounds of paper and, if I felt the need to switch books, well, my library was potentially limitless. Many other people felt the same way. Sales of e-readers and e-books exploded over the last few years. But according to my friend Doug Pardee, who follows the e-book world closely, "The latest US trade book sales figures, for November 2011, just came out from the Association of American Publishers [and] e-book sales (USD, wholesale, from AAP's reporting publishers) have now remained flat at about $80 million per month for the past six months." This is an unexpected result given the huge sales of Nooks, iPads and all of the other e-book capable devices. Doug theorized that the reason for this phenomenon is that "Today's buyers aren't e-book readers; they're online-media consumers. Videos, music, whatever. But sit down and read an e-book?" I think Doug's hit on a key issue: A physical book is expected to be just a book but that same content on an e-reader has to offer much more to be compelling. I recently saw a video of a 1-year-old baby poking an iPad. She was able to turn pages, click buttons ... to her it was a completely intuitive experience. Then her parents gave her a glossy magazine which she proceeded to poke and prod and get frustrated with. Her parents concluded that, as far as she was concerned, a magazine was an iPad that didn't work (the author also noted that "Steve Jobs has coded part of my daughter's OS"). I think the same problem exists with e-books. I recently purchased "Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral" by Mark Bitterman for the Nook app on my iPad. While I found the writing over the top and the content somewhat repetitive, it was the layout that really disappointed and annoyed me and made me feel I'd wasted my money.vimicro diamond audio model emc 2 0 driver sound card driver for linux nforce 430 linux drivers polish wechat custom emoticons angry birds for psp 3004 lucida grande bold font kamus al munawwir visual basic express edition 2010 tutorial pdf driver oracle jdbc driver oracledriver

Learn the Basics of Using Pinterest for Business

Should businesses be interested in Pinterest? On the surface, you might not think so: the service would appear to be little more than a showcase for cool jewelry and favorite recipes. However, it's also a great way to drive traffic to your site. That's according to a new HubSpot e-book: "How to Use Pinterest for Business". This free 43-page tome introduces you to the white-hot social network and explains how you can leverage it for lead generation. For starters, what the heck is Pinterest, and why does it matter? The explanations here are clear and straightforward, with some interesting stats to back them up. For example: - In October, the website of Time Inc.'s real Simple magazine got more traffic from Pinterest than Facebook. - In February, 2012, Pinterest has been driving more referrals to HubSpot's blog than Google+. This insight proves that Pinterest presents a serious challenge to other social media channels and offers a competitive advantage to businesses that have started leveraging its potential. The book teaches you how to set up a Pinterest account, attract followers, and use the service to generate B2B leads and e-commerce sales -- often a tricky proposition when you're selling a product or service that doesn't have much in the way of visual content. One sample tip: - Infographics are all the rage right now, and they are doing very well on Pinterest. If you have any industry data that you can visualize, do so before someone beats you to it. HubSpot also recommends holding contests, adding the Pin It button to your Web site, and letting other users contribute their own pins to your pinboard -- especially if their content includes your product. Perhaps best of all, "How to Use Pinterest in Business" concludes with examples of companies that are already on Pinterest (like Etsy, below), and what they're doing right. In short, there's a lot of good material here, all of it neatly and attractively presented. The only price you pay for this freebie is a bit of personal information: name, e-mail address, and a few details about your company. Seems like a fair trade to me. Of course, you'll also find plenty of helpful resources right here, including What You Should Know About Pinterest and Copyright and Pinterest Under Siege By Scammers. buying essays online vimi custom research paper troubus term paper ghosar buy term papers online prefle college homework danto english essays for students niro who can write my essay witjai custom written essays disen help me write an essay tangei cheap article writing service geuton

Target to stop selling Amazon Kindles in its stores

Target plans to stop selling Kindle e-readers in its brick-and-mortar stores after seeing buyers test the devices in its showrooms only to later buy them online from Amazon. Target's decision was reported this week in The New York Times, after analysts reported in January that the company wasn't willing to let online-only retailers use its 1,800 stores to showcase their products while undercutting Target's prices. Target's decision could influence other retailers that sell Kindles, including Wal-Mart, Staples and Best Buy, analysts said. Amazon and the other physical retailers didn't respond to a request for comment. "Target's problem is a common problem for brick-and-mortar companies," said Rob Enderle, an analyst at Enderle Group. "Customers will find what they want at the store, then leave and shop for the best price online." Smartphone apps now available allow customers to scan a barcode on a product in a store and instantly look for better prices at other stores in the area and online, Enderle noted. What has made matters worse at Target is that Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet also serves as Amazon's online storefront to everything Amazon sells, Enderle added. "So that's like Target is promoting all of Amazon, and Target's not a fan of doing that," Enderle said. Enderle said if other brick-and-mortar retailers stopped selling Kindles, Amazon's physical shelf space could dry up and Amazon would have to find shelf space by opening stores in malls or kiosks. Barnes & Noble has one advantage in selling Nook e-readers and tablets because it can offer a place for users to test out the devices before buying them, analysts said. Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, said he would not be surprised to see Best Buy or Staples, among others, "push back on selling Amazon Kindles as a result of this frustration with Amazon." However, even if large retailers stop selling Kindles in their stores, Gold sees a "minimal effect on Amazon and Kindle sales" simply because most of their devices are sold directly. Also, offline retailers wouldn't see much material impact if they stopped selling the devices, since there was probably only a small mark-up for them, Gold added. Amazon has sold its Kindles at a loss, primarily to encourage purchases of books and other merchandise with the device where it can make a profit, Gold noted. "It's not a real penalty to Amazon to only have direct sales of the device," he said.a level history essay mark scheme does music help you with your homework essay my hero life write my science paper why do we need an education essay aiou economics assignments gun control argumentative essay pdf a&e nurse personal statement help starting a research paper essay for violent video games i need money asap what can i do

Apple faces threat from China, bellwether in battle against Android

Apple faces a threat from an unexpected quarter: Chinese developers crafting Android apps, an analytics firm said today. Chinese developers build nearly two-thirds of the mobile apps used by Chinese consumers -- an even higher percentage than U.S. developers contribute to U.S. consumers' app usage patterns -- illustrating not only the difficulty outsiders face in breaking into the massive market, but reinforcing one analyst's claim that Apple will face a crisis next year if it continues to shed smartphone share. According to Flurry, a U.S.-based mobile analytics firm, U.S. developers are losing their grip on the mobile app ecosystem, and have accounted for just 36% of all smartphone and tablet apps published so far this year. That's down from 45% over the last two years. The U.S.'s contribution to the overall app market -- Android and iOS -- looked better when Flurry weighted the data by time spent with apps: There, U.S. developers accounted for 70%. But that, too, was smaller than in years prior, when U.S. programmers held app usage shares of 75% and 76% in 2011 and 2012, respectively. While Flurry's data was meant to push U.S. developers to think globally -- something they've not done nearly as successfully as those in other countries -- it also revealed an interesting trend in China. China, said Simon Khalaf, president and CEO of Flurry, is not a big software exporter at the moment. But that will change. "The software export market [for China] is nascent now, it doesn't look like a big software exporter yet," said Khalaf in an interview. "But Chinese developers are starting to see some adoption in Japan and Korea. That's their focus now: CJK [China, Japan and Korea]." And Chinese apps, localized for export, will continue to grab global share by expanding into other neighboring markets, including Southeast Asia, India and Indonesia. "The sheer numbers in India ... that's a lot of market [for Chinese apps]," said Khalaf. The Chinese maneuver may seem inconsequential to Apple at first glance, but Khalaf begged to differ. That's because Chinese consumers are more likely to be using an Android-based smartphone, one tied to the Android ecosystem, than they are to own an iPhone and rely on Apple's app market. In earlier studies by Flurry, the firm pegged the Android-iOS split in China at about 2 to 1, with Apple's installed base accounting for just 35% of the country's total. The remaining was all Android. And Chinese developers, like all developers, follow the money. If Android dominates the installed base, Android is what developers will write for. "When you look at the apps being submitted to Flurry, you do see an interesting shift happening, with Chinese developers releasing Android and iOS apps at the same time," said Khalaf. "But an 'Android-first' release could be the next shift down the road." And that's where things start to get ugly for Apple. Or so Benedict Evans, an analyst with U.K.-based Enders Analysis, has argued. In a report published in early August, Evans maintained that without a low-priced iPhone in its portfolio -- and by low, he meant as low as $200 to $300 -- Apple risked losing mind share among developers. In other words, Apple needs market share as much as profit margin for the iPhone to continue being a credible smartphone brand. Like Khalaf, Evans saw the danger stemming from developers' decisions. "Developers are starting to move from creating new products on the basis 'iPhone, then maybe Android' to 'iPhone and then Android' or even 'iPhone and Android at the same time,'" Evans said in his report. "We do not see Android becoming a first choice this year, but it is no longer optional for any publisher seeking real reach. If total Android engagement moves decisively above iOS, the fact that iOS will remain big will be beside the point -- it will move from first to first-equal and then perhaps second place on the roadmap." If that happens, Apple is in a world of hurt.custom paper writing quesol custom thesis poni write an essay for me mesni english homework help zipum college essay help piatof academic english writing wane law assignment help verwo essay writing sites sersa assignment helper prowab writing essays for money flanxi

With new iPhone 5s, Apple launches the 64-bit smartphone war

The 64-bit smartphone clash has been joined between rivals Apple and Samsung. But will everyday smartphone buyers even care, much less notice? Not in the short term, but then technology is often ahead of buyer awareness or popularity. Samsung this week confirmed it will have ARM-based 64-bit processors in its next top-line Galaxy-branded smartphones. That move came almost immediately after Apple on Tuesday announced the iPhone 5s, saying it will ship Sept. 20 with a 64-bit A7 processor. The iPhone 5c and the older iPhone 5 use a 32-bit A6 chip. Down the road, a 64-bit processor would be able to handle code for more demanding high-end games or health-related apps using bio-sensors that spit out tons of data. It could help in data-intensive video editing or for playing ultra high-definition 4K video, which has potential for businesses as well as consumers. "Yes, our next smartphones will have 64-bit processing," JK Shin told the Korea Times shortly after the iPhone 5s was announced. He also said that Samsung, based in Korea, should be trying harder for Samsung sales in China, a renewed target for Apple. In one sense, Samsung's move to match Apple in 64-bit computing indicates that 64-bit is an important advance for smartphones, similar to the way that PCs went from 32-bit to 64-bit several years ago. But with 64-bit apps for smartphones not available yet and with puny memory allotments of 2GB or less in most smartphones, Apple's move -- and therefore Samsung's planned move -- are seen by many analysts as more of a marketing play than anything else. "64 bits only adds memory addressability, nothing else, and that doesn't bring any value to mobile today," said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "Right now, the 64-bit race is silly, as it doesn't bring anything to users.... Tomorrow, as memory densities get higher and apps get more sophisticated, there will [be benefit]." British chip designer ARM first announced the ARMv8 architecture, which is being licensed by Apple and others, in 2011. Moorhead and other analysts believe that these same 64-bit ARM-based chips could be used to replace Intel chips in laptops, or used in a coming Chromebook. Apple's iOS 7 update, rolling out for free to iPhone 4 and later versions on Sept. 18, is designed to handle the A7 64-bit architecture. But analysts noted that Samsung and Google don't even have Android ready yet for 64-bit hardware. "It seems to me that Samsung is more interested in showing they can technically do 64-bit, too, although...Android is not being built for 64-bit," said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Gartner. It's likely that Android 5.0 will be the first version to fully take advantage of the ARMv8 design, according to various sources. Apple's new iPhone 5s uses a 64-bit A7 processor. It was an interesting move by Samsung to seek to compete with Apple on 64-bit smartphones, analysts said, given that Samsung has so done well with phones and phablets that focus on larger displays, while Apple has stuck with a 4-in. display -- even in the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. The Galaxy Note 3, announced by Samsung earlier this month, will sport a 5.7-in. display with a digital stylus and is set to ship in the U.S. in October. Consumers will probably be far more interested in having a larger display than a 64-bit processor, analysts said, which should give Samsung and Android, and future Android apps, plenty of time to catch up to Apple. "Other smartphone features will probably be more meaningful to buyers than 64-bit," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. "But in a mature market where every marketing ploy is useful, 64-bit is one more weapon for Apple to wield. How important it will be remains to be seen, but it could sway some consumers."algebra help online vifit best essay writing service reviews borgstar custom coursework ferke assignment writing service thyouder customer writing watmi essay help online fiwar research help sforhealth

The M7 motion coprocessor in the iPhone 5s is a big deal

In unveiling the iPhone 5s this week, Apple executives proudly pointed to several hardware firsts. Among the most obvious are the new Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the home button and the move to the 64-bit Apple-designed A7 processor. (Samsung was quick to announce that it's developing devices with 64-bit chips, too.) Along with those under-the-hood advances comes the most intriguing change: the new M7 "motion coprocessor." Apple's iPhone 5s. Apple hasn't publicly detailed just how the the M7 works, though it has added a new set of APIs, dubbed CoreMotion, that developers can access when writing iOS 7 apps. Nike, in fact, has already announced the first M7-enabled app. Apple did at least offer a broad overview of its intentions for the coprocessor: "Every iPhone 5s includes the new M7 motion coprocessor that gathers data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass to offload work from the A7 for improved power efficiency." That's from Apple's press release announcing the 5s, and it mirrors what Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said on stage during the iPhone announcement Tuesday. This defines a huge function of the M7 -- to process the increasingly large amounts of data people can generate while carrying a sensor-laden device. Triangulating this data takes processing power, but not a huge amount of it. (Remember, earlier iOS devices, including those that used less powerful non-Apple processors, were able to work with this kind of data.) Essentially, the A7 would be overkill for the more basic tasks of aggregating and processing motion data. Offloading that low-level data capture and processing to a low-power processor delivers two big advantages: It increases battery life (always an important goal for any mobile device), and it reduces the heat generated by the main processor. That should increase the life expectancy of a device and keep it from getting hot. As processors grow in capacity and performance, they typically need more power to function (and therefore, typically, produce more heat). One explanation for the M7 is simply that Apple needed to offset some of the increases in power demand and heat production that are a consequence of the A7 chip's improved performance. The second big advantage of the M7 is that it effectively boosts the performance of the main A7 processor. With less work to handle during iPhone use, the A7 has more processing cycles available for other needs like launching and running apps. With iOS 7 being better at multitasking, this gives the iPhone 5s additional performance dividends. Apple is also touting the M7 for tasks that take place when you're not actually using your iPhone. Since it uses less power than the A7 processor (and potentially less power than earlier A-series processors), iOS 7 and apps coded to take advantage of it can perform continuous monitoring in a way that might otherwise be impossible or unwieldy because of power constraints. Apple is specifically pitching this as an advantage for fitness and activity-tracking apps, saying that, thanks to the M7, the iPhone 5s "continuously measures your motion data, even when the device is asleep, and saves battery life for pedometer or other fitness apps that use the accelerometer all day." Keith Shaw and Ken Mingis discuss a few surprises from the Sept. 10 Apple event, at which the iPhone 5s and 5c phones were announced.epson c42 driver ess es1868f drivers targus pa070 drivers edit n stitch crack yao ming a life in two worlds epub keepvid for android tablet inventel uro54g driver world of goo samsung galaxy s2 ms 6382 driver hotspot shield for blackberry torch 9860

Facebook offers real-time feed of user data to online and TV news

Facebook revealed a new tool that enables news organisations to tap into user comments and display them online or on TV in real-time. The social network launched two tools on Monday, the Keyword Insights API (application programming interface) and the Public Feed API, it said in a blog post. The Public Feed API displays a real-time feed of public posts for a specific word, while the Keyword Insights API aggregates the total number of posts that mention a specific term in a given period, Facebook said. The keyword API is also able to display anonymous, aggregated results based on gender, age and location, the company added. A TV show can for instance use this option to include how many people on Facebook talked about a topic and show where they are located while showing if it is most popular among men or women and in which age groups, Facebook said. The public feed API will only gather public posts. If a post is not public it will not be shown, a Facebook spokeswoman said in an email. She compared the feed to similar services provided by Twitter. News channels often use public Twitter messages during their broadcasts. If someone doesn't want a Facebook message to be used in the new feed, the proper audience for the message can be selected when posting it, she said. Access to the APIs is starting today for a limited selection of news organizations including Buzzfeed, CNN, NBC's Today Show, The Economist, Slate, and Sky TV in the U.K., Facebook said. "For example, CNN's New Day can now easily incorporate what people on Facebook have to say about the latest, breaking news event during their show," Facebook said. Facebook will also offer the service to some of its "preferred marketing developers." It named the first of those as Mass Relevance, a social engagement platform for discovering and filtering content, which will use the new tool to highlight trends and conversations for its media clients, according to Facebook. The tool will be made available to additional partners in the coming weeks, the spokeswoman said, but she declined to say who those additional partners are. Facebook has been rolling out a series of products over the past few months to track popular conversations on its platform, including hashtags, embedded posts and trending topics. Last week's kick-off of the National Football League (NFL) season in the U.S. for instance garnered over 20 million likes, comments, and shares on Facebook by over 8 million people, it said.gothic 3 save game 100 oki s900 scanner driver plants vs zombies adventure 2 3 fantastic ferrari screensaver with sound asrock 945gcm s drivers intel 845 motherboard drivers book of mormon musical script asus eax1600pro driver turkish dc unlocker setup

Snapchat seen overmatched in fight with Facebook

Social startup Snapchat may be batting out of its league if it plans to take on social behemoth Facebook. Snapchat, a photo messaging app that pioneered self-destructing messages and became a teen phenom, announced on Thursday that it's updating the app with a new feature dubbed Stories that lets users share photos and videos for a day before they disappear. The company released the updates for iOS- and Android-based devices. With the new feature, called Stories, users can choose which photos and videos they want to add to that day's Story and to whom the package should be sent. It's the first time the two-year-old company has veered away from its trademark of having content disappear in 10 seconds or less. By focusing on pictures and video that self-destruct in a matter of seconds, users have felt free to share images they wouldn't want to remain permanently on a friend's device. The new Stories feature lets Snapchat users share the experiences of their days with friends a bit longer. Analysts say the update gives Snapchat a very Facebook-like quality, comparing the Stories feature to Facebook's News Feed. The popular Facebook feature lets users keep up to date on what friends are doing with their day. The question for Snapchat is whether it has the muscle to worm in on some of Facebook's vast territory. "Snapchat is a phenomenon with teenagers, who incessantly send short videos and pictures to their friends," said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. "Now Snapchat is attempting to out-Facebook Facebook. This is a neat test, but Snapchat is getting into dangerous territory muddying their core value proposition, which is immediacy and privacy," Moorhead added. "If your claim to fame is pictures that have very limited shelf life, you'd think extending that shelf life would be counter strategic," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. Thus, the company is in dangerous territory taking on Facebook, he said. "[Snapchat is] a very specialized service going after a more comprehensive and powerful offering. That switches them from being unique to being overmatched. In their own area they were unmatched. In Facebook's they are insignificant," Enderle said.roulette bot plus 2 microsoft richcopy windows 7 marvell lan driver v6 30 whql minolta di350 driver lego digital designer 5 free skype for sony ericsson w995 skype sony ericsson zylo post air quality checker brazilian v gear mobidtv drivers compaq presario sr1000 video drivers

Irish High Court to review Facebook Prism complaint

The Irish High Court is going to review whether the Irish Data Protection Commissioner's refusal to investigate Facebook's involvement with the U.S. government surveillance program Prism was lawful. In June, the Austrian student group Europe-v-Facebook filed a complaint with the Irish DPC against Facebook Ireland, which is responsible for the data of the company's users outside the U.S. and Canada. When Facebook collects user data, exports it to the U.S. and by doing this giving the National Security Agency (NSA) the opportunity to use it for massive surveillance of personal information without probable cause, Facebook is violating European privacy laws, according to the group. The Irish DPC however argued that there were no grounds to start an investigation under the Irish Data Protection Act because "safe harbor" requirements have been met. Europe-v-Facebook maintained that the Irish privacy regulator should start an investigation and applied for a judicial review of this refusal with the Irish High Court in late August. The High Court decided to start such a review on Monday, according to a court document that was published by Europe-v-Facebook on Thursday. In Ireland, a judicial review can be used to supervise lower courts, tribunals and other administrative bodies to ensure that they make their decisions properly and in accordance with the law. If such a decision was unconstitutional or illegal the High Court can choose to quash the decision. If Europe-v-Facebook's complaint is successful, Facebook could eventually "be forced to limit the access of the NSA to Europeans' data or would otherwise need to keep Europeans' data within the E.U.," the group said in a news release. Europe-v-Facebook filed a similar complaint against Apple in Ireland which was denied on the same grounds. Currently, the group is only pursuing the case against Facebook in Ireland. While the Irish privacy regulator appears reluctant to investigate Facebook and Apple, other European privacy regulators did start investigations on the basis of similar complaints filed by Europe-v-Facebook and others. The Luxembourg data protection authority, for instance, is investigating Microsoft-owned Skype for its alleged links to the Prism spying program. It will probably publish its findings before the end of next week, said a spokesman for the authority. Meanwhile, Yahoo is under investigation by the German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, said Juliane Heinrich, a spokeswoman for the Commissioner, in an email on Tuesday. "Yahoo has submitted a first statement that raised further questions," she said, adding that she could not share Yahoo's statement or give more detailed information during the examination phase. She expects the investigation to be finished in December.amplitube metal full registry reviver license key alaris wee cam driver 003400 ip1880 driver windows skype for samsung star 3 duos net framework 2 0 offline airport mania 2 hd apk hp laserjet 1536dnf mfp driver for linux nvidia geforce 4 mx420 driver facebook hacking software for windows 7