Saturday, December 29, 2012

Google embeds indoor Street Views in search results


Google has added indoor Street View results to general searches, allowing you to see if the ambiance of that downtown restaurant matches the online review. Google began mixing indoor business Street Views in search results this week for those companies that have supplied the Google with panoramic interior imagery.
The 360-degree tours inside businesses and shops are not actually taken with Google Street View cameras. They are panoramic photos taken by "Google Trusted Photographers," who charge businesses to take them, stitch imagery together, and publish the virtual tours on Google Maps.
These indoor Street Views use the same controls as their roadside counterpart, but are so far only available in the U.S., U.K, Australia, New Zealand, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Canada.
The tours were available since September through Google Maps, and now they will also show in Google Search results. When you search for a business, you will see on the right side a panel with photos of the business, its location on a map and a new "See inside" tag that takes you to the 360-degree tour of the premises.
The interface for the tours is just like the controls for Street View imagery, where you can zoom in, pan around a room or move through the building. The interior tours are particularly useful when you have to pick between restaurants, or check out shops ahead of your vacation.
Business owners outside the countries where Google is running its Trusted Photographer scheme can also upload their photos on Google Maps, but users won't be able to walk around the shops like with the indoor Street Views.
Meanwhile, you'll be able to use Google Maps to track Santa's journey around the world.

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EC: Samsung may have abused FRAND patents


Samsung's efforts to seek injunctions against Apple for standards-essential patents in the mobile phone market may be an abuse of its dominant position and a violation of European Union antitrust rules, the European Commission said Friday.
The commission, in releasing a statement of objections to Samsung's patent conduct, said it was concerned that Samsung was seeking injunctions on patents where Apple is willing to negotiate a license on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms. The objections released Friday represent a preliminary position from the commission.
"Intellectual property rights are an important cornerstone of the single market," Joaquín Almunia, the commission's vice president for competition policy, said in a statement. "However, such rights should not be misused when they are essential to implement industry standards, which bring huge benefits to businesses and consumers alike."
Earlier in the week, as the commission readied its objections against Samsung, Samsung announced that it would withdraw all its injunctions against Apple in European countries.
Samsung gave a commitment in 1998 to license its patents considered essential to certain telecommunication standards on FRAND terms. However, Samsung filed several lawsuits in a number of European countries in 2011, asserting that some of its competitors' products, including Apple devices, infringed on patents it considered essential for mobile communications devices, and sought injunctions preventing distribution of the products in Europe.
Samsung said it was studying the commission's objections. The company "will firmly defend ourselves against any misconceived allegations," Samsung said in a statement provided by an outside public relations group. "Samsung is confident that in due course the Commission will conclude that we have acted in compliance with European Union competition laws."
The Samsung patents being examined by the commission relate to the European Telecommunications Standardisation Institute's (ETSI) 3G UMTS standard, an industry standard for mobile and wireless communications.
A statement of objections is a formal step in commission investigations. The commission informs the companies involved, the companies can reply in writing and request an oral hearing.
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.

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Facebook's $1 message test opens inboxes to strangers


For a small number of Facebook users, a buck is now all it takes to get a message into someone's inbox, even if the recipient isn't a friend.
The experiment seems enabled in part by Facebook's new policies, which remove the capability to block messages from people you aren't friends with. Under this policy, the main Inbox is reserved for messages from friends, or for other messages that Facebook's algorithms deem important. Everything else is routed to an "Other" section.
In the test, users can pay $1 to make sure their messages land in the Inbox, rather than the Other section. Facebook thinks this could be the best way to deliver important messages from non-friends while keeping spam out of the Inbox.
"For example, if you want to send a message to someone you heard speak at an event but are not friends with, or if you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their Inbox," Facebook wrote in a press release. "For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them."
Facebook says the test only works between individual users in the U.S., and users will have no more than one message per week routed from their Other folder to the Inbox.
Where's the benefit to Facebook?
The timing of the experiment is certainly odd, given that Facebook is already dealing with blowback from its own privacy policy changes, as well as Instagram's new terms of service (which have now been rescinded in response to user backlash).
While this doesn't sound like it would be a huge revenue source for Facebook, as a way to solve messaging it seems like a kludge. Besides, regular email has worked just fine for the scenarios Facebook describes--no dollar required.
The immediate concern with $1 messages is that it could open the door to spam or other unwanted messages--for instance, harassment from an ex-boyfriend or bullying students--even if that's not Facebook's intent. And now that there's no way to prevent non-friends from sending messages, there's no way for users to opt out of getting paid messages.
The experiment reminds me of Facebook's promoted posts, which let users pay $7 to send their status updates to the top of friends' news feeds. It's a quick-and-dirty solution, rather than one that users will love.

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Facebook launches Poke app, reinventing feature


Facebook has reinvented its Poke feature with a new standalone iOS app that lets you send messages, photos and videos to your friends on the social networking service that disappear within 10 seconds of someone opening them.
While it might have been a while since any of your friends on Facebook have used the feature, now you can check out the app released Friday.
Supposedly coded with help from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Poke joins a handful of other standalone Facebook apps, including Instagram, Messenger and Camera.
Poke is similar to another popular app called Snapchat, which also erases messages once they're viewed and has millions of users who send roughly 50 million messages a day.
Poke lets you send a 120-character note, take a photo and annotate it with doodles or words or make a short video. You can also choose how long recipients can view your message -- 1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds.
Apps like Snapchat and Poke certainly have utility for some people, especially considering how much trouble a person can get into if the wrong kind of message surfaces beyond its intended audience.
Consider former CIA Director David Petraeus, who recently resigned because of sexually charged emails discovered by the FBI, or New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, who was accused of sending a lewd picturevia Twitter to a college student in Washington state.
While a Poke message recipient can take a screenshot to preserve a particular communication, the app smartly alerts a sender when someone does so as well as gives instructions about what they can do about it.
The app's help center also links to information about what to do if an adult is making a minor uncomfortable as well as guidance regarding nude photo requests.
"If you ever see something you're uncomfortable with, you can click the gear menu and report it," Facebook wrote in a blog post.
Facebook seems to be keen on amping its messaging capabilities and also on Friday announced that it was testing a capability that lets people pay $1 to deliver a note to someone's inbox, even if that person isn't a friend.

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After claiming Verizon attack, hacker and the spoils disappear


Hours after boasting about the theft of 3 million records from Verizon Wireless, the hacker claiming responsibility for the attack and the purloined data posted to Pastebin have disappeared from the Web.
A search for the hacker's Twitter handle, @TibitXimer, produced a "Sorry, that page doesn't exist!" message.
Meanwhile, the data claimed to belong to Verizon Wireless appears to have been removed from Pastebin, a popular site for hackers to post stolen data.
Verizon Wireless is denying that the file that was posted to the Internet contained information from its customers. "We have examined the posted data and we have confirmed that it is not Verizon Wireless customer data," Verizon spokesperson Alberto Canal told ZDNet. "Our systems have not been hacked."
The hacker later revised his story about the origin of the data, telling ZDNet the data was from Verizon FiOS files, not Verizon Wireless.
Old hack?
Security researcher Adam Caudill, who viewed the data before it disappeared from Pastebin, wrote on Twitter that the information was posted months ago to the Internet. "The file that's going around is one of the files that we discussed back in August," he tweeted. "Nothing new."
"It's part of a set of files that was posted in August; I strongly suspect it's a telemarketing file or similar," he added.
ZDNet broke the theft story on Saturday, reporting that a hacker had posted 300,000 database entries belonging to Verizon Wireless.
The hacker told ZDNet that he'd breached the Verizon database on July 12 and downloaded an estimated 3 million records containing names, addresses, mobile serial numbers, the opening date of each account, and account passwords.
The hacker added that he decided to post a portion of the pilfered information to Pastebin because Verizon had not fixed the vulnerability since the hacker had exploited it.
Although sympathetic with the hacktivist collective Anonymous, the Verizon hacker told ZDNet he had no affiliation with that organization.
Verizon spokesman Canal confirmed to ZDNet that a breach had taken place months ago and had been reported to law enforcement authorities.
Many of the details about the incident claimed by the hacker were incorrect or exaggerated, he added. All customers affected by the incident were notified at the time, and safeguards were taken to protect their data and privacy.
Twitter tries to tame boasts
It's believed that Twitter suspended the hacker's account after learning about his claims.
Twitter has been fighting its "dark side" for years with mixed success.
It has also attempted to add more transparency to enforcement actions it takes on members' accounts. For example, Twitter launched a new policy in November calling for takedown messages to be posted to a member's tweet feed when one of their tweets had been removed for an alleged copyright violation.
Before the policy change, such tweets just disappeared from a feed stream without explanation, making it more difficult for whomever posted the tweet to challenge the takedown.

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Craig Mundie takes new role at Microsoft, will retire in 2014


Craig Mundie has left his role as Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer to become senior adviser to the CEO, as he winds down before retirement.
Mundie had led strategy since founder Bill Gates stepped down from full-time work at the company in 2006.
Ina Fried of All Things D first reported the move Monday morning, noting that it was announced in an internal memo from CEO Steve Ballmer on Dec. 14, which also included news that Mundie plans to retire in 2014.
Chief Technical Strategy Officer Eric Rudder has taken over most of Mundie's former duties, including overseeing Microsoft research.
Mundie, who will turn 65 in 2014, joined Microsoft in 1992 in the consumer platforms division, where he managed production of Windows CE. Before then, he had co-founded Alliant Computer Systems, which filed for bankruptcy in 1992, and previously was director of Data General's advanced development facility at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
"Over his career, Craig has brought great value to the groups and initiatives he has started and overseen and now brings that wealth of experience to his new role," Ballmer said in the email, according to All Things D. "Craig has also been instrumental in building relationships with governments and policymakers around the world."
Mundie has been the company's primary technology-policy liaison to the U.S. and other governments, according to his biography on the Microsoft website, which was updated Dec. 17 to reflect his new role. Mundie has particularly focused on China, India and Russia in the liaison role, and also served on the U.S. National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age. President Barack Obama appointed Mundie to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in April 2009.
As senior adviser, Mundie works on "key strategic projects within the company, as well as with government and business leaders around the world on technology policy, regulation and standards," according to his biography.

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Windows 8's uptake falls behind Vista's pace


With just a week left in the month, Windows 8's usage uptake has slipped behind Vista's at the same point in its release, data from a Web measurement company showed.
According to Net Applications, Windows 8's online usage share through Dec. 22 was 1.6% of all Windows PCs, an uptick from 1.2% of November. Windows 8 publicly launched on Oct. 26.
At the same two-month mark in Vista's release timetable, that OS accounted for 2.2% of all Windows systems, double the month prior.
Net Applications measures operating system usage by recording the specific operating system and version used by the machines of visitors to approximately 40,000 sites it monitors for clients.
The slowdown in uptake of Windows 8 and its poor performance compared to Vista is a troubling sign for the new operating system. Vista has been labeled a rare Microsoft failure, in part because it was adopted by far fewer customers than either its predecessor, Windows XP, or its successor, Windows 7.
Vista's online usage share peaked in the fall of 2009 at 20.3% of all Windows systems.
While there are nine days of Windows 8 data for December still to be released by Net Applications -- including Christmas, when a substantial number of Windows 8 PCs may have been given as gifts, and thus not included in the online estimates -- the new OS would have to record an amazing usage jump during December's final week to put it on par with Vista's 2007 pace.
By Computerworld's calculations, Windows 8's share of all Microsoft-powered PCs would have to leap to 4% in December's final week to equal Vista's second-month total. To give an idea of the magnitude of that required fourth-week increase, Net Applications said that Windows 8's share of all Windows PCs for the week ending Dec. 22 was 1.7%, and for the week ending Dec. 15, was 1.6%.
Net Applications' statistics continue to corroborate data from others that show Windows 8 has not generated the PC sales "pop" historically seen after the launch of a new Microsoft OS. In late November, the NPD Group said that in four weeks surrounding Windows 8's Oct. 26 debut, 21% fewer PCs were sold to U.S. consumers than during the same period in 2011.
Newer NPD numbers, cited by the New York Times last weekend, said U.S. consumer sales of Windows machines from late October through the first week of December were down 13% compared to the same stretch last year.
And even if Windows 8 makes a showing strong enough this month to match Vista, it will continue to have difficulty keeping pace: By the end of Vista's third month, it accounted for 3.3% of all copies of Windows. To equal that, Windows 8 would have to double its current share by the end of January 2013.
Windows 8's uptake trajectory fell behind Vista's for the first time this month. Note: Windows 8's usage share is through Dec. 22 only. (Data: Net Applications.)
Windows 8's uptake was even more sluggish when compared to Windows 7, the 2009 operating system that has flourished as much as Vista flopped.
By the end of its second month of availability, Windows 7 accounted for 6.2% of all Windows machines, or nearly four times that of Windows 8 as of Dec. 22.
At this point, it looks virtually impossible for Windows 8 to do as well as its immediate predecessor, at least in the short run: At the end of Windows 7's third month -- analogous to Jan. 31, 2013 for Windows 8 -- it had gained another two percentage points to end with an 8.2% share of all Windows systems.
In fact, Windows 7 continued to gain share in December, according to preliminary numbers from Net Applications. Through Dec. 22, Windows 7's usage share of all personal computers was 45.6%, or nine-tenths of a percentage point higher than at the end of November.
To put that in perspective, Windows 7 gained more than twice the share through Dec. 22 than did Windows 8.
Windows 8's failure to stay abreast of Windows 7 or even Vista is not hard to explain, said analysts, who have been predicting a weak reception for the new operating system, blaming a weak economy, the OS's confusing dual user interfaces, enterprise upgrade fatigue after migrating to Windows 7, and competition from rivals' tablets -- including Apple's iPad, Amazon's Kindle and Google's Nexus -- for customers' technology dollars.
Neither Vista nor Windows 7, of course, had to face competition from tablets.
And that, experts have said, is paramount. Because Windows' success is directly tied to the number of new PCs sold, sluggish system sales caused by defections to tablets translates into a slow-down in operating system's uptake.
And people, whether consumers or enterprise workers, are increasingly turning to tablets -- virtually all of which run a non-Microsoft OS -- as their preferred mobile device, reducing sales growth of Windows notebooks and generally stretching everyone's PC refresh cycle. Research firm IDC, for instance, recently raised its 2012 tablet sales forecast to 122 million devices, up 72% from 2011.
Earlier this year, IDC said that total worldwide PC shipments would reach 367 million in 2012, less than 1% above 2011's 364 million.
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed. His email address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.
Read more about windows in Computerworld's Windows Topic Center.

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Toshiba to launch 20-megapixel image chip for digital cameras


Toshiba is preparing a 20-megapixel image sensor for digital cameras that it says will be the highest resolution of its kind.
The Tokyo-based firm said the new chips will be able to support capturing 30 frames per second at full resolution. They will also be able to shoot video at 60 frames per second at 1080P or 100 frames at 720P.
Toshiba said it will begin shipping samples of the new CMOS chips from next month, with mass production to begin in August of 300,000 units monthly. Toshiba is best known in components for its NAND flash memory, which it develops with partner SanDisk, but is also a major manufacturer of LSI and other semiconductors.
Digital point-and-shoot cameras are steadily falling in price, squeezed between brutal competition among manufacturers and the increasing threat of smartphones and mobile devices. While the number of pixels a camera can capture is not always a direct measure of the overall quality of its images, it is a key selling point to consumers.
The image resolution of top-end smartphones now often meets or exceed that of digital cameras. The Nokia 808 PureView launched earlier this year has a 41-megapixel image sensor.
The Japanese manufacturer said it has increased the amount of information pixels in the new chip can store compared to its previous generation of CMOS, producing better overall images. It has also reduces the size of pixels - the new 20-megapixel version has individual pixels that measure 1.2 micrometers, down from 1.34 micrometers in its 16-megapixel product.
CMOS, or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, sensors contain rows of electronic pixels that convert light into digital signals, as well as on-chip processing technology that can enhance images or speed transfers.
Toshiba says its goal is to achieve a 30 percent market share in CMOS sensors for digital cameras in the fiscal that ends in March of 2016.

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Apple gives Tim Cook 51 percent salary rise, but his total compensation drops 99 percent


Apple CEO Tim Cook received compensation totalling US$4.17 million in 2012, down 98.9 percent on last year -- although his 2011 compensation of $378 million consisted mostly of a one-off stock grant, worth $376.2 million at the time.
Cook's salary, on the other hand, rose 50.8 percent, to $1.36 million, and his additional incentive payments more than tripled, to $2.8 million, the company revealed in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday.
His predecessor, Steve Jobs, famously took an annual salary of just $1. He received no additional incentive payments, although Apple picked up the tab for his private jet, paying $1.1 million from 2008 through 2010.
Apple's compensation committee considered that Jobs was amply compensated by the growth in value of Apple's stock, of which he held around 5.5 million shares. Its grant of 1 million restricted stock units (RSUs) to Cook on Aug. 24, 2011 was an attempt to motivate him in a similar way. Half the shares will vest in 2016, five years after he became CEO, and the other half in 2021, assuming he is still with the company.
Jobs' holding of Apple stock was dwarfed by his stake in Walt Disney Co., of which he owned around 7 percent as a result of his sale of animation studio Pixar to the company. That reportedly netted a 2011 dividend payment of $82.8 million for the trust fund to which he bequeathed his shares.
Overall, compensation by stock price has been good for Cook. His one-million-share holding is now worth around $515 million, up 36 percent over the last 16 months, based on Friday's stock price.
That, though, is nowhere near the $705 high Apple shares hit on Sept. 21, the day the iPhone 5 went on sale. Since then, Cook has made a paper loss of $190 million.
The stock price decline was triggered, in part, by disappointment that the new iPhone did not exceed the numerous rumors about its capabilities, and also with dissatisfaction with the new mapping application that Apple included in iOS 6. Its poor performance prompted Cook to issue a rare public apology, and led to the departure of Apple software chief Scott Forstall, once seen as a contender for the role of CEO.
To get Apple's stock back on an upward track, Cook will have to deliver more inspiring products than the iPad Mini -- perhaps including an Apple TV. There are signs that Apple may be moving to extend its TV offering beyond the diminutive AppleTV set-top box and the sale of TV show episodes through iTunes. Earlier this month, Cook described TV as "an area of intense interest," a stark contrast to his predecessor's dismissal of it as a "hobby."
Peter Sayer covers open source software, European intellectual property legislation and general technology breaking news for IDG News Service. Send comments and news tips to Peter atpeter_sayer@idg.com.

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Apple drops bid to add Samsung Galaxy S III Mini to patent lawsuit


Apple has dropped its patent-infringement accusations against the Galaxy S III Mini, a mid-market Android smartphone that Samsung Electronics says it is not selling in the U.S.
In a filing in the U.S. District Court for Northern California on Friday, Apple said it would withdraw its request to include the Galaxy S III Mini in a patent infringement case against Samsung that is set for trial in 2014. On Nov. 23, Apple had asked to add the Mini and five other recently released Samsung products to its complaint, which originally was filed in February. The case is one of many in an ongoing set of disputes between the two companies in several countries.
When Apple asked to add the Mini to its case, the phone was expected to be released in the U.S. soon. Samsung subsequently filed an opposition to that request in which the South Korean company said it was not selling the Mini in the U.S.
In its filing on Friday, Apple said the Mini apparently was available for sale in the country, because its attorneys had bought multiple Minis from Amazon.com's U.S. online store and successfully had them shipped to addresses in the U.S. The company also said it appeared the device was still on sale at Amazon on Wednesday.
However, Apple wrote that because Samsung had represented it wasn't "making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the Galaxy S III Mini in the United States," it would drop the patent allegations against the Mini.
Apple's move may rely on Samsung staying true to its statement. Apple withdrew its allegations "without prejudice," reserving the right to make the accusations again "if the factual circumstances change."
Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

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