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Archive for February, 2010

8pxi Aicon Gallery Presents Home and the World Pho

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

They examine what is at stake in trying to document a country which has quickly moved from independence to being a nascent superpower; where different groups clamor for their own self-determination and the forces of globalization bring both welcome and unwelcome change.

Exhibition runs from January 28th 2010 to February 27th 2010

Aicon Gallery Presents Home and the World Photography Exhibition

The exhibition takes Rabrindranath Tagore’s novel ‘Home and the World’ (Ghare Baire) and Satyajit Ray’s film as its starting point and examines the ways in which artists in India have used photography to capture the state of affairs unfurling in concentric circles from within their most immediate space, and moving outward to the shared environments of the nation and the region.

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fjid Aicon Gallery Presents Home and the World Pho

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Exhibition runs from January 28th 2010 to February 27th 2010

Aicon Gallery Presents Home and the World Photography Exhibition

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wkxm Apple wins laptop tech-support showdown_593

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple.

Comparing it to the other companies involved in the showdown, Acer received a C-; ASUS (B-); Dell (C-); Fujitsu (B-); Gateway (B-); HP (C-); Lenovo (B+); Sony (B+); and Toshiba got a “B.”

Laptop magazine’s Tech Support Showdown 2009 rates 10 computer companies’ tech support, with Apple coming out the overall winner. Apple’s overall grade for 2009 was an “A,” scoring an “A” for both phone and Web support.

Apple’s support performance over the last few years, coupled with the popularity of theiPhone andiPod, have propelled Apple’s Mac sales. In its 2009 fiscal third quarter, Apple reported selling 2.6 million Macs, up 4 percent from the year ago quarter.

“Virtually no computer vendor–or retailer, for that matter–is immune from the wrath of users who have become intimately familiar with the ‘Blue Screen of Death,’ and other PC foibles,” the magazine said in its introduction to the tests. “But, it’s how manufacturers handle their customers’ hardware and software problems that ultimately determine their true reliability, and, you would think, future sales.”

“Apple has consistently offered some of the best Web and phone support of any computer vendor, and this year was no different,” the magazine said in evaluating Apple. “Its Web site is brimming with well-ordered FAQs, query-based search, and PDF manuals, the latter of which quickly answered our external monitor question.”

Apple wins laptop tech-support showdown

If a top-notch customer support program is high on your list of features when buying a new computer, you should be looking at aMac, according to a new ranking.

Apple also received “A” ratings in 2007 and 2008 from the magazine for its tech support.

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oyuy Apple’s Schiller Defends iPhone App Approval

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Apple is also vigilant about potentially illegal use of trademarks, particularly its own. "If you don’t defend your trademarks, in the end you end up not owning them," Schiller says. "And sometimes other companies come to us saying they’ve seen their trademarks used in apps without permission. We see that a lot." Still, the trademark rules can be applied inflexibly, he concedes.

But in his first extensive interview on the subject, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice-president for worldwide product marketing, outlines the many reasons Apple keeps close tabs on which applications can be downloaded onto the iPhone and iPod Touch. He also outlined ways the company is trying to become more flexible in its approval process. "We’ve built a store for the most part that people can trust," he says. "You and your family and friends can download applications from the store, and for the most part they do what you’d expect, and they get onto your phone, and you get billed appropriately, and it all just works."

Apple's Schiller Defends iPhone App Approval Process

Apple (AAPL) is under fire from some developers for the way it vets applications that can be sold on its online App Store. Facebook developer Joe Hewitt goes so far as to say he’s "philosophically opposed" to the very notion of a company deciding which applications can and can’t be used on its hardware. The presence of "gatekeepers" in software development "sets a horrible precedent," he says.

About 1% or fewer of returned apps fall into some gray area that Apple hasn’t anticipated—for instance, applications intended to help the user cheat at gambling in casinos. "We had to go study state and international laws about what’s legal and what isn’t, and what legal exposure that creates for Apple or the customer," Schiller says. The verdict: Apps that help a user learn how to play are O.K.; those designed to help a person cheat don’t make the cut.

In a widely reported case, developers at Rogue Amoeba, a maker of popular Mac apps, built an app called Airfoil Speakers that transmits audio playing on a Mac or Apple TV to an iPhone or iPod Touch that’s connected to external speakers. In an effort to make clear the audio source, Rogue Amoeba used images of Macs, Apple TVs, and other Apple products. The app was initially approved. An update was rejected for running afoul of Apple’s rules forbidding the use of Apple images in apps. The current version contains a non-Apple icon that links to a Rogue Amoeba Web page explaining the flap.

Most are approved and some are sent back to the developer. In about 90% of those cases, Apple requests technical fixes—usually for bugs in the software or because something doesn’t work as expected, Schiller says. Developers are generally glad to have this safety net because usually Apple’s review process finds problems they actually want to fix, he says.

Rogue Amoeba’s Run-In

In some 10% of cases where an app is sent back, that’s because it’s inappropriate. "There have been applications submitted for approval that will steal personal data, or which are intended to help the user break the law, or which contain inappropriate content," Schiller says.

The number of applications available at the App Store is now north of 100,000, and about 10,000 are submitted each week. As the volume rises, so does the number of potential problems. Schiller compares Apple’s role to that of a retailer determining which products line store shelves. "Whatever your favorite retailer is, of course they care about the quality of products they offer," he says. "We review the applications to make sure they work as the customers expect them to work when they download them."

About 10% of rejects: "inappropriate"

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saqm Apple, Microsoft Discuss Giving Bing Top iPho

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Google Rivalry Unfolds

Apple and Microsoft are rivals, too, though cooperation between them is not unprecedented. Microsoft builds Mac versions of its Office suite of business programs, such as Word. When Apple co-founder Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, one of his first acts was to settle intellectual-property infringement claims in exchange for $150 million in much-needed cash and a promise from Microsoft that it would continue developing upgrades of Office for the Mac. Back then, Apple was in dire financial straits and desperate for friends. Now it’s in a position of strength. "If you have to do a deal with the devil, you might as well deal with the devil that needs you most," says Forrester Research (FORR) analyst James McQuivey.

Even if it’s consummated, an Apple-Bing deal may prove short-lived. The person familiar with Apple’s thinking says Apple has a "skunk works" looking at a search offering of its own, and believes that "if Apple does do a search deal with Microsoft, it’s about buying itself time." Given the importance of search and its tie to mobile advertising—and the iPhone maker’s desire to slow Google—"Apple isn’t going to outsource the future."

Clinching the coveted default spot on the iPhone would also help Bing gain market share in the quickly growing area of mobile search. Of people who use mobile search, 86% used Google in November, according to the Nielsen Co. Only 11% used Bing.

The discussions could still unravel and may not be concluded quickly. Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw and Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton declined to comment.

"Apple and Google know the other is their primary enemy," says one of the people, who’s familiar with Apple’s thinking. "Microsoft is now a pawn in that battle." Apple is also working on ways to manage ad placement on its mobile devices, a move that would encroach on Google’s ad-serving business, the person says.

Apple initially agreed with little hesitation to use Google as the default search engine in the iPhone before it was launched in 2007, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. Besides using the search bar, the companies worked together to create special versions of Google Maps and the YouTube video player tailored to run faster on the device. At the time, Apple had little hesitation because Google’s popular software could help drive the popularity of the iPhone—and because Google wasn’t seen as a potential rival.

The discussions reflect the accelerating rivalry between Apple and Google, now the main provider of Web search on the iPhone. While the two companies have worked as partners in the past and Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt had a seat on Apple’s board, Apple and Google have more recently begun competing in several markets, including mobile phones. Google sells a smartphone, the Nexus One, that competes directly with the iPhone and it has spearheaded development of a wireless handset operating system that rivals the iPhone OS.

Apple, Microsoft Discuss Giving Bing Top iPhone Billing

In 2003, when Apple said its iTunes music software would work on PCs using the Windows software of its age-old rival, Microsoft, Apple made up posters that read "Hell Froze Over." Hell may be getting frosty again.

Default Reaps Financial Benefits

Apple (AAPL) is in talks with Microsoft (MSFT) to replace Google (GOOG) as the default search engine on its iPhone, according to two people familiar with the matter. The talks have been under way for weeks, say the people, who asked not to be named because the details have not been made public.

That began changing more than a year ago as the two companies encroached further on each other’s turf. Apple has refused to approve two Google applications for distribution in its App Store—including one called Latitude that uses GPS data and other types of information to show users which friends are nearby.

Being the default search engine on the iPhone carries financial benefits for Google, which collects revenue from ads placed alongside its search results and shares a portion of that with Apple. Most mobile advertising now is viewed on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch, according to mobile advertising company AdMob. To clinch the deal, Microsoft may be willing to share a higher portion of its revenue or pay a larger flat annual fee than Google does. Neither Apple nor Google discloses the financial terms of their search partnership.

A deal between Apple and Microsoft may mean iPhone owners would automatically get Microsoft’s Bing as the main search engine, possibly requiring users to actively change phone settings if they want to search via Google. Google is now the default search engine on the iPhone. To search via Bing, a user needs to download a Bing application or go through the browser to call up www.bing.com. Microsoft may also be lobbying to make Bing an alternative on Apple’s Safari browser for Mac users. Currently, Mac users can choose either Google or Yahoo search through the Safari browser.

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bdzp Apple’s Jobs unveils new tablet computer, the

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

The cheapest iPad model, with Wi-Fi connectivity and 16GB of memory, is 499 US dollars while the most expensive — which includes 3G connectivity and 64GB of memory — costs 829 US dollars.

“We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product,” said Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant last year and was making just his second public appearance since September.

Jobs said he expected the device to carve out a place between the laptop computer and the smartphone.

Besides serving as an e-reader, the iPad runs almost all of the applications available through the Apple App Store for the iPod and iPhone.

“Amazon has done a great job of pioneering this functionality with the Kindle,” Jobs said. “We are going to stand on their shoulders.”

The New York Times, Time magazine and National Geographic were among the partners whose content was displayed on the iPad on Wednesday.

Apple shares gained 0.94 percent to close at 207.88 US dollars on Wall Street, but slipped a tad in after-hours electronic trading.

Apple said it would start shipping the Wi-Fi version of the iPad, which has a virtual keyboard but can also dock with an external keyboard, in late March.

The 3G version will reach the market in late April. The iPad is “unlocked,” meaning buyers can pick preferred telecom service providers. Related article: Apple’s cult tech inventions

Apple's Jobs unveils new tablet computer, the iPad

GLENN CHAPMAN January 28, 2010

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs revealed the culture-changing company’s latest must-have device, a touchscreen tablet computer anointed the “iPad.”

He showed off various iPad features which include browsing the Web, checking email, working with spreadsheets and charts, playing videogames, listening to music or watching video.

“I think it’s a home run,” said Gartner analyst Van Baker. “It becomes a viable alternative to a netbook and I get the 140,000 applications in the App Store. It is a pretty compelling value.”

Apple simultaneously released a kit for software developers to tailor applications for the iPad. Related article: The iPad? Also available with wings?

“I have a hard time believing after seeing this that folks are going to want an e-reader that just does plain text and doesn’t do format or colour,” he said.

He said it has about 10 hours of battery life.

“If you are thinking about buying a Kindle, you are probably reconsidering that decision. If you are a developer, you have one more reason to develop applications for Apple,” said Interpret analyst Michael Gartenberg.

“We are going to be able to bring all of the other great EA games for the iPhone from the App Store to this device in no time,” said Travis Boatman of EA’s mobile studios.

“You can have black-and-white, colour, video in your books — whatever the author wants,” he said. “We think the iPad is going to make a terrific e-book reader, not just for popular books but for textbooks as well.

Gameloft and Electronic Arts showed off slick games they had crafted with just a few weeks of preparation, saying the iPad opens countless “new doors.”

“We want to make something that combines the best of print and the best of digital,” Times digital operations vice president Martin Nisenholtz said as he showed off an early version of an app for the device. “We are incredibly psyched to pioneer the next stage in digital journalism.”

Enderle believed iPads could also pose a threat to hand-held gaming systems and eventually videogame consoles.

“Do we have what it takes to establish a third category of products in between a laptop and a smartphone?” he asked. “We think we’ve done it.”

Jobs, who appeared thin but healthy, said Apple was launching an online “iBookstore” for the iPad and touted its abilities as an electronic reader of books, newspapers and magazines.

The iPad is “so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smartphone,” he said.

Dressed in his trademark blue jeans, black turtleneck and sneakers, Jobs walked around the stage and sat on a couch at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater as he unveiled the hotly anticipated gadget.

Analyst Rob Enderle of Silicon Valley’s Enderle Group said the iPad could be “disruptive for a lot of markets.”

The long-awaited iPad has a 9.7-inch (24.6-centimeter) colour screen and resembles an oversized iPhone. It is 0.5 inches (1.3 cms) thick, weighs 1.5 pounds (0.7 kgs) and comes with 16, 32, or 64 gigabytes of flash memory. Related article: Apple defies sceptics to shake up S.Korea phone market

Jobs said the iPad has support from five big publishers and Apple will “open the floodgates for the rest of the publishers starting this afternoon.”

Some technology analysts believe the iPad will render other e-readers obsolete, while a number of publishers are counting on it to sell digital versions of their publications.

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Qmxp Apple, Microsoft Discuss Giving Bing Top iPho

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Apple, Microsoft Discuss Giving Bing Top iPhone Billing

Default Reaps Financial Benefits

Google Rivalry Unfolds

The discussions could still unravel and may not be concluded quickly. Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw and Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton declined to comment.

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zjea Are You Following BroadwayWorld Yet on Twitte

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Are You Following BroadwayWorld Yet on Twitter & Facebook?

Are you one of the thousands already following BroadwayWorld.com, the biggest theatre site on the net on Twitter and Facebook?

If not, you’re missing out on instant updates of the biggest stories,special offersand more as they happen!

BroadwayWord.com’s Main Twitter Feed:
http://www.twitter.com/broadwayworld

TheBroadwayPulse, by Editor-in-Chief Rob Diamond:
http://www.twitter.com/broadwaypulse

Facebook Group:

Regional Twitter Feeds:

BroadwayWorld UKBroadwayWorld ChicagoBroadwayWorld LABroadwayWorld SeattleBroadwayWorld San DiegoBroadwayWorld AtlantaBroadwayWorld NashvilleBroadwayWorld DenverBroadwayWorld Philippines

From Twittergate to ticket specials and more, we’ve got the news, photos, videos and specials that you just don’t want to miss!

http://www.facebook.com/broadwayworld

Tags: BroadwayWord.c, Facebook Group, TheBroadwayPul
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Imni Abortion doctor’s killer to face court_230

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

But the judge galvanised both sides of the debate when he refused to bar the defence from trying for a conviction on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter by arguing Roeder believed Tiller’s killing would save “unborn children”.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Roeder’s public defenders have yet to make their opening statements, but are expected to try to build a case for a conviction of voluntary manslaughter.

DNA evidence linking Tiller to Roeder, forensic analyses of bullet casings and video of Roeder at local hotels are expected to follow – but no mention of abortion, at least for as long as they can avoid it.

District Judge Warren Wilbert banned a so-called necessity defence, which would argue Roeder should be acquitted, and insisted the trial would not turn into a battle over abortion.

Abortion is still controversial in the United States decades after the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalised it nationwide.

On Friday, the prosecution began presenting a murder case focused on emotional eyewitness testimony, recordings of frantic emergency calls and photos of Tiller’s body lying in a pool of blood in his church foyer.

Scott Roeder is on trial on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault for death of Dr George Tiller, who was shot while serving as an usher at his church in May, 2009.

Roeder publicly admitted killing Tiller, saying he did so to save “unborn children”.

The second day of testimony on Monday is expected to draw more spectators from both sides of the abortion debate.

The judge has warned them that would be difficult because the facts indicate Tiller posed no immediate danger while acting as an usher in church.

Wilbert won’t rule on whether to let jurors consider the lesser charge until after the defence rests its case.

In Kansas, voluntary manslaughter is defined as “an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force”.

Prosecutors in the US state of Kansas are expected to present evidence on Monday that a man meticulously planned the murder of an abortion doctor by stalking him and gunning him down inside a Kansas church.

Roeder, of Kansas City, Missouri, said in a court filing that the trial would be a charade if he were not allowed to argue that the killing was necessary to save “preborn babies” from abortion.

Abortion doctor's killer to face court

ROXANA HEGEMAN January 25, 2010

Tags: AP
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Wuad ACLU chapter flags Facebook app privacy_92

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Side note: Creating a Facebook quiz app to draw attention to the pratfalls of Facebook quiz apps is very meta.

Facebook does not deny this, but notes that “sensitive” information like contact details are not available to third-party apps, and that Facebook has settings for users to tweak exactly how much their friends’ apps can see.

The ACLU chapter recommends that Facebook make it an opt-in, rather than opt-out process for apps to access a user’s friends’ data and require that apps list the specific profile data fields that they will be accessing.

According to the ACLU chapter, “millions of people on Facebook who use third-party applications on the site, including the popular quizzes, do not realize the extent to which developers of quizzes and other applications have access to personal information. Facebook’s default privacy settings allow nearly unfettered access to a user’s profile information, including religion, sexual orientation, political affiliation, photos, events, notes, wall posts, and groups.” For the promotion, it’s put together a quiz about how much you know about Facebook-based quizzes.

“We generally agree with (the ACLU’s) recommendations and have already made public announcements about relevant changes that are under way,” Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said in an e-mail. “Specifically, we recently disabled hundreds of applications, including quiz applications, that were inconsistent with Facebook Platform policies…We’ve also had productive discussions with the Canadian Privacy Commissioner about improving user data controls on Platform. We’d be glad to also have productive discussions with the ACLU and generally catch them up, if they want to give us a call.”

So are the ACLU-NC’s claims legitimate? The most damning one asserts that “regardless of whether a user’s Facebook profile is ‘private,’ by taking a quiz the user allows its developer to gain access to the user’s profile information…by Facebook default, every time one of a user’s friends takes a quiz, the quiz has access to that user’s profile information.” That could have particularly alarming security implications if an app turns out to be malicious.

Last month, the company modified its privacy settings to make them more user-friendly.

The office of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, which has taken issue with Facebook’s privacy policies, is holding a press conference on Thursday to address the subject, and Facebook plans to hold a conference call with reporters in response.

“It’s time for Facebook to upgrade its privacy controls so that quizzes can only see what people want them to see,” Chris Conley, technology and civil liberties fellow at the ACLU of Northern California, said in a release. “Users need stronger protections than Facebook currently provides.”

ACLU chapter flags Facebook app privacy

The Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has put out a campaign designed to raise awareness of the privacy implications of Facebook’s developer platform. It’s focusing specifically on the popular “quiz” applications, like “Which Cocktail Best Suits Your Personality?” and “Which Wes Anderson Movie Character Are You?” These are largely one-time-use apps that many a Facebook user clicks on and tries out with little concern.

Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.

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