February 18, 2009
Facebook abandoned several changes to its privacy policy in the face of a backlash from privacy groups concerned it could take too many liberties with a member’s personal data.
A substantial revision to the policy in coming, says Mark Zuckerberg
The social networking site reverted to its old terms of use late Tuesday, promising a “substantial revision” to the policy sometime in the future “written clearly in language everyone can understand,” according to a blog post by founder Mark Zuckerberg.
“More than 175 million people use Facebook,” Zuckerberg said. “Our terms aren’t just a document that protect our rights; it’s the governing document for how the service is used by everyone across the world. Given its importance, we need to make sure the terms reflect the principles and values of the people using the service.”
Two weeks ago, Facebook had changed the terms of service guidelines giving it the right to use personal data in the way it wanted, even if a user removed it. This included after a member terminated his or her Facebook account.
In response, the Electronic Privacy Information Center had threatened legal action and consumer-rights blogs were in full lather.
The terms are now back to the way they were: “You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content. Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather…you retain full ownership of all of your User Content…”
1 Comment | 
news, web 2.0 | Tagged: Facebook, Privacy Policy, Terms Of Service Policy | 
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Posted by Mark Boslet
February 18, 2009
The United States remains the primary destination for investments from domestic venture firms.
But 2008 saw these partners and general partners continue to place more money overseas as the industry follows the general economy and globalizes.
China investments were up 50% last year
According to Dow Jones VentureSource, U.S. VCs increased their investing overseas by 5 percent last year, putting more than $13.4 billion to work in deals in Europe, Israel, China and India.
That represented about 32 percent of the money they spent. (Domestic startups got $28.8 billion, VentureSource says.)
The growth was particularly strong in energy investing, which accounted for more than 10 percent of overseas dollars. In Europe, for instance, energy startups attracted 89 percent more money than in 2007, or $816 million.
In China, VCs set a record by investing $4.2 billion last year, up 50 percent. Information technology startups got a significant share –$1.6 billion.
Investment growth was slower in India, where $864 million went into 80 deals, a 3 percent increase.
Leave a Comment » | news, startups, venture capital | Tagged: 2008 Investing, China, Dow Jones VentureSource, Europe, Globalization, India, Israel, startups, venture capital | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet
February 18, 2009
After a strong multi-year run, the market for portable music players – including Apple’s insatiable iPod – is posed to shrink.
Revenue peaked in 2008, says In-Stat
The economy is only part of the story.
In-Stat projects growth will temper considerable over the next five years because of market maturity and the competition that is arising from cellular handsets that offer multimedia capabilities.
At the end of 2008, for instance, market growth dipped below 10 percent for the first time since the category’s inception, In-Stat estimates.
“Revenue for portable media players and MP3 players peaked in 2008 at $21.6 billion and will decline annually through 2012,” the research firm says.
Manufacturers are adding Wi-Fi wireless connectivity to the devices, but this won’t be enough to revitalize the market place, says In-Stat.
Leave a Comment » | hardware, news | Tagged: Apple, In-Stat, iPod, Market, MP3, Multimedia Handsets, Music Players | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet
February 18, 2009
After an initial embarrassing delay, AMD stockholders finally approved today the spin off of the company’s manufacturing operations to a joint-venture with Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Investment dubbed “The Foundry Company”.
Last week, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chip maker had failed to meet the required 50% quorum, prompting concerns that the spin off plan may fall through.
The transaction is expected to close on March 2nd.
1 Comment | chips, news | Tagged: AMD | Permalink
Posted by TechPulse 360
February 18, 2009
The rise of Atom sales could spell trouble for Intel's margins
That’s rather a good news in this otherwise morose environment.
In an interview given to Reuters at the Mobile World Congress, the general manager of Intel’s Ultra Mobility Group, Anand Chandrasekher, said it expects sales of the low-power Atom chip to grow 50 per cent in 2009, year-over-year.
Last quarter, Atom sales already jumped 50%, reaching $300 million. And for the same period, Intel’s total sales dropped 23% compare to the year before, at $8.2 billion.
This year, Intel’s Atom chip will find its way in smartphones as well as in MIDs (mobile Internet devices) and netbooks; analysts suggest this rapid growing category to double in size and reach 35 million units in 2009.
Intel wrongly dismisses ARM competition
In the same interview, Chandrasekher dismissed the ARM-based competition – from Freescale, Nvidia, Qualcomm or Texas Instruments – as being architecturally “fragmented”.
Not sure what the Intel exec tried to say, as the most innovative smartphones released so far are all based on ARM cores, including the Apple iPhone. And on the netbook front, ARM licensees are getting ready to ship sub-$200 (and sometimes less) laptops running Windows or Ubuntu Linux.
Some fierce competition ahead for Intel.
Leave a Comment » | computers, hardware, news, wireless | Tagged: arm, Atom, Chandrasekher, freescale, Intel, netbook, nvidia, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments | Permalink
Posted by TechPulse 360
February 18, 2009
Silicon Valley will not go through this recession untouched.
According to the annual report released yesterday by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the region is being hard by the global economic recession; and bankruptcies – of venture capital firms, startups and even people – are as common as hybrid cars in the Valley.
Here is a summary of the 2009 Silicon Valley Index:
People: more immigrants, less homeless
- Silicon Valley’s population grew 1.6% in 2008, and continued to surpass the state’s growth rate of 1.2%. Foreign immigration witnessed a net increase of 27% in 2008.
- The number of homeless people in Santa Clara County decreased from 7,491 in 2005 to 7,202 in 2007.
Homes: less affordable, more foreclosures
- Home foreclosure sales went up faster in Silicon Valley (184%) than California as a whole (126%) in 2008. The number of foreclosure sales rose from 2,429 in 2007 to 6,900 in 2008.
- In housing affordability, Silicon Valley has now become the least affordable region for housing in California—with less than 30% of first-time homebuyers able to afford a median-priced home. After a large increase in apartment rental rates of 7.8% between 2006 and 2007, rates rose only 2% between 2007 and 2008.
Jobs: unemployment rises amid needs for more jobs to fill
- After holding steady until October, employment of residents in the region began to drop in November. The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara Metropolitan Statistical Area posted a 1.3% drop in December 2008 over December of the previous year.
- Silicon Valley needs to fill 30,000 jobs annually until 2016, particularly in population-driven industries such as health services, education, retail, transportation, government administration and other local serving industries.
- Clean technology and related businesses have increased in number by 29% since 1995. This sector has seen 88% job growth since 1995 and 23% just since 2005. Job growth since 2005 has been strongest in Green Building (424%), Transportation (140%) and Advanced Materials (54%).
- In the past decade, employment at companies with payroll has dropped 5 percent while the number of nonemployers grew 21 percent, illustrating a structural change in the nature of employment.
Investments: VCs focus on clean technology but that might change this year
- After rising steadily since 2005, total venture capital investment in Silicon Valley dropped 7.7% from 2007 to 2008. Nationwide, investment dropped 11.4%. While investment is slowing, Silicon Valley continues to account for 29% of total U.S. VC investment.
- Investment in cleantech in Silicon Valley increased 94% from 2007 – valuing almost $1.9 billion in 2008. In 2007, Silicon Valley alone accounted for 55% of California and 31% of U.S. investment. The bulk of this investment was in energy generation followed by energy infrastructure.
Driving habits: less miles, more hybrids
- Silicon Valley residents have been driving fewer miles since 2002, and vehicle miles of travel per capita dropped 2% between 2006 and 2007. The number of new registrations for gasoline-powered cars in Silicon Valley has dropped by a quarter since the beginning of the decade.
- Silicon Valley is on the forefront of alternative fuel vehicles—particularly hybrids. The region now accounts for 15% of newly registered hybrids, 10% of electric, and 5% of natural gas vehicles in California. Alternative fuel vehicles now comprise 3.4% of all newly registered vehicles in Silicon Valley—up from very few vehicles (0.11%) in 2000.
Commercial real estate is down
- Silicon Valley’s demand for commercial real estate dropped precipitously in the last quarter of 2008. The net change in occupied space (absorption rate) entered negative territory for the first time in four years with a net loss of 7.6 million occupied square feet.
Leave a Comment » | economy, news, startups | Tagged: Silicon Valley | Permalink
Posted by TechPulse 360
February 18, 2009
A thing of the past: the universal phone charger kit
The micro-USB port will become by 2012 the unique way to charge your cell phone.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, 17 wireless operators and handset makers – including AT&T, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, T-Mobile and Vodafone – agreed to standardize chargers shipped with their cell phones.
“A universal charger will also make life much simpler for the consumer, who will be able to use the same charger for future handsets, as well as being able to charge their mobile phone anywhere from any available charger,” explains the GSM Association (GSMA).
The Universal Charging Solution (UCS) uses the handset’s micro-USB port to deliver a 5 volts charge at up to 2.5 watts.
According to the GSMA, these energy-efficient chargers will result in an estimated 50 per cent reduction in standby energy consumption, 50 per cent less chargers being manufactured each year, resulting in the potential elimination of up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers.
UCS is good for the environment, cheaper to make and more convenient for the consumer. Now why did it take so long?
1 Comment | hardware, news, wireless | Tagged: at&t, gsma, motorola, nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, ucs, usb, Vodafone | Permalink
Posted by TechPulse 360
February 17, 2009
Nokia on Tuesday became the first major cell phone maker to agreed to install Skype Internet calling software on its cell phones.
Nokia's N97 will be the first phone shipped with Skype
The Finnish manufacturer said its Nseries line of high-end cell phones will include Skype, with the N97 the first to ship with the software in the third quarter.
Second tier producer INQ already integrates Skype with several of its models and the Skype is available as a download for phones running Windows Mobile from Microsoft and Google’s Android operating systems.
Phone makers have long resisted integrating Skype, which is owned by eBay, because carriers have feared the Internet service would cannibalize their businesses. Skype can be used to make free computer to computers and, for a fee, connect calls to other phones.
Nokia said the Skype software will let N97 users make free calls to computers and other N97 phones, as well as see when other Skype users are online.
The announcement was made at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Leave a Comment » | news, web 2.0, wireless | Tagged: android, Google, INQ, Microsoft, Mobile Phones, nokia, Skype, windows mobile | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet
February 17, 2009
Canadian Solar offers more proof of the difficult environment for solar cell producers with over supply leading to sharp cuts in pricing.
The company said Tuesday fourth-quarter sales came in under its estimate.
Demand for solar cells is suffering from weak economy, Canadian Solar says
“The rapid decline in solar equipment costs makes the return on solar systems much more attractive,” Canadian Solar said. “On the other hand, the company expects that near-term solar demand and pricing are still being impacted by the current credit environment, winter weather in Germany and market-wide inventory clearance efforts.”
The company now expects to ship significantly fewer systems in 2009.
According to a press release, fourth-quarter revenue is expected to be between $66 million and $71 million, compared with expectations for $70 million to $85 million.
The company now expects to ship between 300 and 350 MW of capacity in 2009, down from its earlier target of 500 to 550 MW.
Leave a Comment » | Alternative Energy, Clean Tech, news | Tagged: Canadian Solar, Downturn, Over Supply, Pricing, Solar Cells | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet
February 17, 2009
Cisco Systems said Tuesday it will install security software from Trend Micro in some of its Linksys wireless-network routers for home use.
Security service comes with an annual fee
Trend Micro’s software package includes anti-phishing, anti-virus and parent-control programs and comes with a network-activity-monitoring feature.
Cisco said in a press release that the router would boost security not just for home computers, but for game consoles, Wi-Fi enabled phones and personal media players.
The company will charge $59.99 for an annual subscription to the service and its offering a special 60-day price of $49.99.
Leave a Comment » | communications, news, online security | Tagged: Anti-Virus, Cisco Systems, linksys, online security, Phisphing, Routers, Trend Micro | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet
