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