Popular Internet social network MySpace said on Monday it reached an accord with eight state attorneys general and has worked out a legal mechanism to hand over information on convicted sex offenders found on its service.
Last week, a coalition of U.S. law enforcement authorities criticized the News Corp.-owned service for not divulging information from profiles of convicted sex offenders lurking on MySpace.
MySpace said it had identified, blocked and deleted “a few thousand” such profiles, but had declined to hand over the information, citing a disclosure law barring it from giving away the information without a court order. By last Wednesday, MySpace and the attorneys general group reached an agreement.
MySpace officials said they had always intended to provide information to law enforcement officials, but were trying to work out a legal process for handing over the information.
“When we remove individuals from our site, we always keep in mind the law enforcement aspects of it,” MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam said in an interview.
The two parties have worked out a system to hand over information to be used to pursue offenders, although the process could differ from state to state.
22 thg 5, 2007
Vodafone unveils two phones for emerging markets
Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc on Monday unveiled two new own-branded mobile handsets it plans to sell for $25 to $45 to boost sales in developing economies of Asia and Africa.
The world’s biggest mobile operator by sales, increasingly reliant on developing markets to drive growth, said it expected to sell over a million of the two phones within a year.
Vodafone said the phones, manufactured by Chinese handset maker ZTE Corp., would be shipped to Egypt, Romania and South Africa in the next two weeks, with 15 other markets set to follow in coming months.
The new handsets will compete with entry-level phones from Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile handset maker.
The ZTE-made phones use chipmaker Infineon Technologies’ chipset.
The world’s biggest mobile operator by sales, increasingly reliant on developing markets to drive growth, said it expected to sell over a million of the two phones within a year.
Vodafone said the phones, manufactured by Chinese handset maker ZTE Corp., would be shipped to Egypt, Romania and South Africa in the next two weeks, with 15 other markets set to follow in coming months.
The new handsets will compete with entry-level phones from Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile handset maker.
The ZTE-made phones use chipmaker Infineon Technologies’ chipset.
What’s hot? Google offers daily updates on trends
The art of trend-spotting is set to take a more scientific turn as Google Inc., the world’s top Web search company, on Tuesday unveils a service to track the fastest-rising search queries.
Google Hot Trends combines elements of Zeitgeist and Trends — two existing Google products that give a glimpse into Web search habits, but only in retrospect based on weeks-old data.
Hot Trends, a list of the current top-100 fastest-rising search trends, will be refreshed several times daily, using data from millions of Google Web searches conducted up to an hour before each update, the company said.
What’s hot and what’s not will be knowable to the masses in ways pioneering social philosophers could never have imagined.
“There are events going on all the time that most of us aren’t aware of happening,” Amit Patel, a Hot Trends software engineer and an early Google employee, said in an interview.
From news to gossip, the profound to the truly inane: baffled Google users seek the meaning of the phrase “motion to recommit” in the latest congressional debate, or search the phrase “I who have nothing” — the title of a song sung by a recent contestant on televised competition “American Idol.”
And watch how the Web generation cuts corners: Each night before a national college entrance examination, Google sees heavy searches from what appears to be high-school students making last-minute preparations ahead of the test, Patel said.
TOP OF THE TOP OF THE POPS
For years, Google has compiled a list of popular searches it calls Google Zeitgeist, offering a weekly, monthly or annual retrospective look back at what its users wanted to know.
Hot Trends updates and automates this process by giving a contemporary snapshot of what is on people’s minds — at least as reflected by what goes through Google Web search each day.
Each Hot Trends response shows not just links to potentially related sites, but also links to associated Google News stories and blog searches, providing added context.
“After we find what trends that are interesting, users will want to know why are they important?” Patel said. “We are helping you find an explanation: There is some investigation that has to be done by the user.”
The experimental service also allows users to select specific dates to see what the top-rising searches were at a given point in the recent past, starting in mid-May.
The Mountain View, California-based company is also introducing changes to its existing Google Trends service, which offers charts and other data to see how a trend evolves over time or how it compares to other trends over time.
Now, in addition to viewing the top countries and cities that searched for a term, users can see how search habits around a particular trend vary from region to region in the United States, as well as across 70 different countries.
For example, political junkies can track Google search patterns for particular U.S. presidential candidates by state.
Hot Trends, at g, finds the fastest-rising trends instead of the most-popular topics, which search experts say still centers around sex, sex and more sex. Hot Trends screens “inappropriate language” and pornography.
Google Hot Trends combines elements of Zeitgeist and Trends — two existing Google products that give a glimpse into Web search habits, but only in retrospect based on weeks-old data.
Hot Trends, a list of the current top-100 fastest-rising search trends, will be refreshed several times daily, using data from millions of Google Web searches conducted up to an hour before each update, the company said.
What’s hot and what’s not will be knowable to the masses in ways pioneering social philosophers could never have imagined.
“There are events going on all the time that most of us aren’t aware of happening,” Amit Patel, a Hot Trends software engineer and an early Google employee, said in an interview.
From news to gossip, the profound to the truly inane: baffled Google users seek the meaning of the phrase “motion to recommit” in the latest congressional debate, or search the phrase “I who have nothing” — the title of a song sung by a recent contestant on televised competition “American Idol.”
And watch how the Web generation cuts corners: Each night before a national college entrance examination, Google sees heavy searches from what appears to be high-school students making last-minute preparations ahead of the test, Patel said.
TOP OF THE TOP OF THE POPS
For years, Google has compiled a list of popular searches it calls Google Zeitgeist, offering a weekly, monthly or annual retrospective look back at what its users wanted to know.
Hot Trends updates and automates this process by giving a contemporary snapshot of what is on people’s minds — at least as reflected by what goes through Google Web search each day.
Each Hot Trends response shows not just links to potentially related sites, but also links to associated Google News stories and blog searches, providing added context.
“After we find what trends that are interesting, users will want to know why are they important?” Patel said. “We are helping you find an explanation: There is some investigation that has to be done by the user.”
The experimental service also allows users to select specific dates to see what the top-rising searches were at a given point in the recent past, starting in mid-May.
The Mountain View, California-based company is also introducing changes to its existing Google Trends service, which offers charts and other data to see how a trend evolves over time or how it compares to other trends over time.
Now, in addition to viewing the top countries and cities that searched for a term, users can see how search habits around a particular trend vary from region to region in the United States, as well as across 70 different countries.
For example, political junkies can track Google search patterns for particular U.S. presidential candidates by state.
Hot Trends, at g, finds the fastest-rising trends instead of the most-popular topics, which search experts say still centers around sex, sex and more sex. Hot Trends screens “inappropriate language” and pornography.
China to back down from “real name” blog rules
China is to back down from a plan to require bloggers to use their real names when they register Web logs, following an outcry over the proposal from the Internet industry, official media reported on Tuesday.
Instead, the government would promote a ’self-discipline code’ that would encourage, but not mandate, bloggers to register under their own names, the report said, citing draft guidelines published by the Internet Society of China.
“The ISC, with the backing of the Ministry of Information Industry, is trying to rally industry players to sign up to the self-discipline code for the promotion of a less rigorous real-name system,” state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
China, the world’s second-largest Web market with some 140 million Internet users, has already imposed some controls.
The ‘real-name’ blog proposal was seen as another attempt to regulate free-wheeling Web content, but it triggered protests from the Internet industry and users, Xinhua said.
Some government departments had advocated the use of real names as a way to stop slander, pornography and the spread of what the ruling Communist Party sees as “harmful information.”
China already routinely blocks Web sites for political content that runs counter to the government’s views, and restricts participation in some on-line discussion groups.
It also imposes controls on Internet chatter about politically sensitive subjects, although postings on the country’s more than 20 million blogs often go far beyond what is permissible in traditional state-run media.
Instead, the government would promote a ’self-discipline code’ that would encourage, but not mandate, bloggers to register under their own names, the report said, citing draft guidelines published by the Internet Society of China.
“The ISC, with the backing of the Ministry of Information Industry, is trying to rally industry players to sign up to the self-discipline code for the promotion of a less rigorous real-name system,” state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
China, the world’s second-largest Web market with some 140 million Internet users, has already imposed some controls.
The ‘real-name’ blog proposal was seen as another attempt to regulate free-wheeling Web content, but it triggered protests from the Internet industry and users, Xinhua said.
Some government departments had advocated the use of real names as a way to stop slander, pornography and the spread of what the ruling Communist Party sees as “harmful information.”
China already routinely blocks Web sites for political content that runs counter to the government’s views, and restricts participation in some on-line discussion groups.
It also imposes controls on Internet chatter about politically sensitive subjects, although postings on the country’s more than 20 million blogs often go far beyond what is permissible in traditional state-run media.
21 thg 5, 2007
New software to track cities’ carbon emissions
The Clinton Foundation and Microsoft on Thursday announced a partnership to develop new technology tools to help large cities create, track and share strategies to reduce carbon emissions.
geThe new software and Web applications are part of broader set of programs being introduced by the foundation led by former President Bill Clinton, who is speaking at the C40 climate summit this week for the mayors of the world’s largest cities.
The software tools aim to create a standardized way for cities all around world to measure their greenhouse gas emissions. With a common standard, cities would be able track the effectiveness of carbon-reduction programs.
The C40 summit of leaders from the world’s major cities, which first met in London in 2005, was started with the aim of helping cities share ideas and band together to force down the price of technology to combat global warming.
Urban areas consume 75 percent of the world’s energy and produce 80 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions.
“This new software tool will be an important resource in our work with cities around the world to fight global warming in practical, measurable and significant ways,” Bruce Lindsey, chief executive of the Clinton Foundation, said in a statement.
Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, said it will provide the software and services for free and aims to have a product in place by the end of 2007.
Most of the technical details have not been finalized, but many of the tools would be Web-based and accessed through an Internet browser. They would incorporate features allowing cities to share data and effective policies.
Based on a formula developed by environmental groups, a city using the software would add up various factors like commercial space, residential buildings and transportation usage to gauge how much carbon dioxide a city produces.
geThe new software and Web applications are part of broader set of programs being introduced by the foundation led by former President Bill Clinton, who is speaking at the C40 climate summit this week for the mayors of the world’s largest cities.
The software tools aim to create a standardized way for cities all around world to measure their greenhouse gas emissions. With a common standard, cities would be able track the effectiveness of carbon-reduction programs.
The C40 summit of leaders from the world’s major cities, which first met in London in 2005, was started with the aim of helping cities share ideas and band together to force down the price of technology to combat global warming.
Urban areas consume 75 percent of the world’s energy and produce 80 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions.
“This new software tool will be an important resource in our work with cities around the world to fight global warming in practical, measurable and significant ways,” Bruce Lindsey, chief executive of the Clinton Foundation, said in a statement.
Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, said it will provide the software and services for free and aims to have a product in place by the end of 2007.
Most of the technical details have not been finalized, but many of the tools would be Web-based and accessed through an Internet browser. They would incorporate features allowing cities to share data and effective policies.
Based on a formula developed by environmental groups, a city using the software would add up various factors like commercial space, residential buildings and transportation usage to gauge how much carbon dioxide a city produces.
Microsoft sees strong Office growth potential
Microsoft said on Wednesday the growth opportunity for its Office software division is better than it was seven years ago, because the company is positioned to expand into new business areas.
The traditional Office segments of spreadsheets and word processing may be slower-growing, but new businesses like Internet-based corporate phone systems and data-crunching applications offer new opportunities, said Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft’s business division.
Speaking at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit, Raikes said Microsoft is expanding into a broader segment of business desktop software, or what Microsoft calls information work.
Raikes, who heads up Microsoft’s biggest unit, accounting for nearly a third of revenue, said its growth opportunities are “absolutely” better now than when he took over the business in 2000.
“What you’ve seen is a focus on our part to expand into a broader portion of information work,” said Raikes in a video conference with reporters.
When asked if those potential opportunities would boost the division’s growth rate over the next few years, Raikes said it would boost growth in absolute terms but comparing to historical levels would be difficult since the $14 billion division is much bigger now.
Microsoft’s Windows division and its Office unit account for more than half of its sales and nearly all of its profit.
Increasingly, Microsoft is using Office as a platform to build upon for other applications. The company’s Dynamics line of business software and its upcoming business intelligence products incorporate Office applications.
Tapping into people’s familiarity with Excel spreadsheets, Outlook e-mail or Word documents, Microsoft aims to use Office as a front door into many new businesses.
In its push to deliver office phone calls over the Web on the PC, Microsoft aims to simplify how workers communicate with one another by integrating phone calls with its Office Outlook e-mail system and corporate instant messaging programs.
Microsoft released the new version of Office 2007 earlier this year. The company introduced the new Office at a time when rivals, including Google, are offering word processing and spreadsheets online for free.
Raikes said it has seen almost no business impact from those services in terms of customer adoption for Office 2007.
“My impression is that this will be one of the fastest adoption rates of any new release of Office,” said Raikes.
Microsoft’s Office Live web service, which now offers small businesses hosted e-mail and Web sites and collaboration software for free, or for a monthly fee depending on the level of service required, will be a platform upon which it can add more services, Raikes said.
“You’re going to see us expand the capabilities of what we provide in the services area,” said Raikes, speaking about Office Live. He did not elaborate on what services it may add in the future.
Raikes also said it can still expand sales in the traditional spreadsheets and word processing business by expansion into emerging markets and the reduction of piracy rates.
The traditional Office segments of spreadsheets and word processing may be slower-growing, but new businesses like Internet-based corporate phone systems and data-crunching applications offer new opportunities, said Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft’s business division.
Speaking at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit, Raikes said Microsoft is expanding into a broader segment of business desktop software, or what Microsoft calls information work.
Raikes, who heads up Microsoft’s biggest unit, accounting for nearly a third of revenue, said its growth opportunities are “absolutely” better now than when he took over the business in 2000.
“What you’ve seen is a focus on our part to expand into a broader portion of information work,” said Raikes in a video conference with reporters.
When asked if those potential opportunities would boost the division’s growth rate over the next few years, Raikes said it would boost growth in absolute terms but comparing to historical levels would be difficult since the $14 billion division is much bigger now.
Microsoft’s Windows division and its Office unit account for more than half of its sales and nearly all of its profit.
Increasingly, Microsoft is using Office as a platform to build upon for other applications. The company’s Dynamics line of business software and its upcoming business intelligence products incorporate Office applications.
Tapping into people’s familiarity with Excel spreadsheets, Outlook e-mail or Word documents, Microsoft aims to use Office as a front door into many new businesses.
In its push to deliver office phone calls over the Web on the PC, Microsoft aims to simplify how workers communicate with one another by integrating phone calls with its Office Outlook e-mail system and corporate instant messaging programs.
Microsoft released the new version of Office 2007 earlier this year. The company introduced the new Office at a time when rivals, including Google, are offering word processing and spreadsheets online for free.
Raikes said it has seen almost no business impact from those services in terms of customer adoption for Office 2007.
“My impression is that this will be one of the fastest adoption rates of any new release of Office,” said Raikes.
Microsoft’s Office Live web service, which now offers small businesses hosted e-mail and Web sites and collaboration software for free, or for a monthly fee depending on the level of service required, will be a platform upon which it can add more services, Raikes said.
“You’re going to see us expand the capabilities of what we provide in the services area,” said Raikes, speaking about Office Live. He did not elaborate on what services it may add in the future.
Raikes also said it can still expand sales in the traditional spreadsheets and word processing business by expansion into emerging markets and the reduction of piracy rates.
Google co-founder’s bride search gets result
Google billionaire co-founder Sergey Brin married his longtime girlfriend recently in a ceremony in the Bahamas, a relative said on Wednesday.
The relative, who asked to remain anonymous, said about 60 people attended the wedding to Anne Wojcicki, which was held on a sandbar on May 5 and mixed Jewish traditions with unconventional elements.
“In most Jewish ceremonies you don’t wear your swimsuit,” the person said. “Everyone took a boat, but some people got off the boat early” to swim.
But Brin himself was not talking.
During a media question-and-answer session about Google’s new unified Web search service at the company’s “Googleplex” headquarters in Mountain View, California, on Wednesday, a reporter congratulated Brin.
A long, uncomfortable silence followed before Brin offered a faint smile and said, “Let’s keep it to search,” triggering an outburst of laughter from the audience.
Brin, 33, started Google in 1998 with Stanford University classmate Larry Page. The company went public in 2004, and the stock’s stratospheric rise has driven Brin’s net worth up to an estimated $14 billion, placing him at No. 12 on Forbes magazine list of richest Americans last year.
Wojcicki met Brin through her sister Susan, who sublet the garage in the house she was renting to Brin and Page as they were getting Google off the ground, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The relative, who asked to remain anonymous, said about 60 people attended the wedding to Anne Wojcicki, which was held on a sandbar on May 5 and mixed Jewish traditions with unconventional elements.
“In most Jewish ceremonies you don’t wear your swimsuit,” the person said. “Everyone took a boat, but some people got off the boat early” to swim.
But Brin himself was not talking.
During a media question-and-answer session about Google’s new unified Web search service at the company’s “Googleplex” headquarters in Mountain View, California, on Wednesday, a reporter congratulated Brin.
A long, uncomfortable silence followed before Brin offered a faint smile and said, “Let’s keep it to search,” triggering an outburst of laughter from the audience.
Brin, 33, started Google in 1998 with Stanford University classmate Larry Page. The company went public in 2004, and the stock’s stratospheric rise has driven Brin’s net worth up to an estimated $14 billion, placing him at No. 12 on Forbes magazine list of richest Americans last year.
Wojcicki met Brin through her sister Susan, who sublet the garage in the house she was renting to Brin and Page as they were getting Google off the ground, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
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