Nikon India today announced the new Nikon 1 imaging system. This series includes two models- the Nikon 1 J1 and the Nikon 1 V1. The Nikon 1 J1 is an advanced camera with interchangeable that lets user capture pictures and High Definition (HD) movies. The camera features an electronic viewfinder (EVF), 4 interchangeable lenses, continuous shooting and auto-focus system.
The name itself was inspired by the idea of developing a completely new camera system that would be a leader in the digital age by starting from "0", and giving birth to "1".
Nikon 1 J1 features new hybrid Autofocus (AF), Motion Snapshot mode, Smart Photo Selector which automatically capture image and is capable of recording recording Full HD 1080p movies simultaneously.
The Nikon 1 V1 has a magnesium alloy body and features 1.4 million dot high resolution EVF. The V1 also features a microphone and a Multi-Accessory Port for attaching SB-N5 compact speed light, or the GP-N100 GPS module.
The Nikon 1 J1 with 10-30mm VR kit lens will be available at a price of Rs. 29, 950, while the Nikon 1 V1 with 10-30mm VR kit will be available at Rs 43, 950.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Oracle investor sues co's Board
An Oracle Corp investor sued the company and members of its board of directors on Thursday for allegedly trying to "stonewall" a whistleblower lawsuit that ultimately resulted in a $200 million settlement.
The lawsuit filed by investor Jordan Weinrib in Delaware state court said the defendants, including Oracle CEO Lawrence Ellison and other past and present members of the company's board of directors, breached their duty to shareholders by engaging in prolonged litigation over the whistleblower's allegations, which the defendants allegedly knew to be true.
"The board forced the government to expend additional resources litigating the action when the board knew the company was in a significant liability position and that additional litigation would certainly raise the ultimate price of settlement," Weinrib said in the complaint.
The settlement in question was the result of a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2007 by Oracle's former senior director of contract services, Paul Frascella, who accused the company of violating price-reduction clauses in federal contracts covering $775 million in goods, extending discounts to commercial clients without doing the same for government buyers.
The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the lawsuit in 2010. In 2011, Oracle paid more than $200 million to settle the lawsuit, including interest and payments for the whistleblower, the largest of its kind under the federal False Claims Act.
"Despite substantial evidence of wrongdoing, Oracle's board of directors did not admit that these acts had occurred, enact remedial measures and negotiate a resolution that involved a small payment," Weinrib said in the complaint. Instead, by litigating the case, Oracle drove up the ultimate settlement price, harming taxpayers and shareholders alike, Weinrib said.
Weinrib is seeking an unspecified amount in damages on behalf of shareholders. A spokesman for Oracle did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
The lawsuit filed by investor Jordan Weinrib in Delaware state court said the defendants, including Oracle CEO Lawrence Ellison and other past and present members of the company's board of directors, breached their duty to shareholders by engaging in prolonged litigation over the whistleblower's allegations, which the defendants allegedly knew to be true.
"The board forced the government to expend additional resources litigating the action when the board knew the company was in a significant liability position and that additional litigation would certainly raise the ultimate price of settlement," Weinrib said in the complaint.
The settlement in question was the result of a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2007 by Oracle's former senior director of contract services, Paul Frascella, who accused the company of violating price-reduction clauses in federal contracts covering $775 million in goods, extending discounts to commercial clients without doing the same for government buyers.
The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the lawsuit in 2010. In 2011, Oracle paid more than $200 million to settle the lawsuit, including interest and payments for the whistleblower, the largest of its kind under the federal False Claims Act.
"Despite substantial evidence of wrongdoing, Oracle's board of directors did not admit that these acts had occurred, enact remedial measures and negotiate a resolution that involved a small payment," Weinrib said in the complaint. Instead, by litigating the case, Oracle drove up the ultimate settlement price, harming taxpayers and shareholders alike, Weinrib said.
Weinrib is seeking an unspecified amount in damages on behalf of shareholders. A spokesman for Oracle did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
T-Mobile cutting 1,900 call centre jobs
Cellphone carrier T-Mobile USA Inc said Thursday that it is cutting 1,900 jobs nationwide as it consolidates its call centers in an effort to reduce costs and remain competitive.
Seven of its 24 call centers will be closed by the end of June. About 3,300 people work at the centers slated to be shuttered, but T-Mobile said it plans to hire up to 1,400 people at the remaining 17 centers.
The call centers slated for closure are in Allentown, Pa.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Frisco, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; Lenexa, Kansas; Thornton, Colo. and Redmond, Ore.
The company said that workers whose jobs are eliminated will have a chance to transfer to the remaining call centres.
"These are not easy steps to take, but they are necessary to realize efficiency in order to invest for growth," Philipp Humm, T-Mobile CEO and president said in a statement.
T-Mobile, based in Bellevue, Washington, is the smallest of the four national carriers and is dealing with steep subscriber loses, resulting in fewer calls to its call centers.
In last year's fourth quarter, T-Mobile lost a net 802,000 subscribers on contract-based plans, which are the most lucrative. It is the only national carrier not offering the iPhone, the popular Apple Inc. device now carried by all three of the company's larger rivals.
In addition, a $39 billion bid by AT&T Corp to take over T-Mobile was thwarted last year by antitrust concerns.
T-Mobile said it will restructure other parts of its business during the second quarter. That includes plans announced previously to modernize its network, add new technology and hire more sales staff. The company employs about 36,000 people.
It announced in February that it will revamp its wireless data network this year, making it compatible with iPhones and other smartphones.
Seven of its 24 call centers will be closed by the end of June. About 3,300 people work at the centers slated to be shuttered, but T-Mobile said it plans to hire up to 1,400 people at the remaining 17 centers.
The call centers slated for closure are in Allentown, Pa.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Frisco, Texas; Brownsville, Texas; Lenexa, Kansas; Thornton, Colo. and Redmond, Ore.
The company said that workers whose jobs are eliminated will have a chance to transfer to the remaining call centres.
"These are not easy steps to take, but they are necessary to realize efficiency in order to invest for growth," Philipp Humm, T-Mobile CEO and president said in a statement.
T-Mobile, based in Bellevue, Washington, is the smallest of the four national carriers and is dealing with steep subscriber loses, resulting in fewer calls to its call centers.
In last year's fourth quarter, T-Mobile lost a net 802,000 subscribers on contract-based plans, which are the most lucrative. It is the only national carrier not offering the iPhone, the popular Apple Inc. device now carried by all three of the company's larger rivals.
In addition, a $39 billion bid by AT&T Corp to take over T-Mobile was thwarted last year by antitrust concerns.
T-Mobile said it will restructure other parts of its business during the second quarter. That includes plans announced previously to modernize its network, add new technology and hire more sales staff. The company employs about 36,000 people.
It announced in February that it will revamp its wireless data network this year, making it compatible with iPhones and other smartphones.
New telecom operators adding users despite uncertainty
New telecom operators, led by Uninor and Sistema Shyam (MTS India), continue to add new subscribers in February notwithstanding the uncertain environment after the Supreme Court judgement cancelling 122 2G licences.
Uninor, a joint venture between Unitech and Norway-based Telenor, registered the maximum growth of 6.04 per cent in additions as it added 2.34 million users in the month. Its total user base was at 41.14 million.
According to the GSM users data released by Cellular Operators of India today, all operators added 8.77 million new users in February to take the country's GSM user base to 656.86 million.
In January, GSM operators had added 8.44 million new users taking the total to 648.08 million.
Another new operator Videocon, which added 0.34 million new subscribers, posted the second highest growth rate of 5.97 per cent in February. The user base of Videocon stood at 6.19 million.
CDMA player MTS India said it added 0.23 million new customers, taking its user base to 15.43 million.
Idea Cellular added maximum number of users at 2.58 million taking its subscriber base to 110.70 million.
However, state-run BSNL failed to add even a single new subscriber for the month. Its user base stood at 93.42 million.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel added 1.82 users as its total subscriber base was at 178.77 million. It had a market share of 27.22 per cent.
Vodafone Essar, with a 22.75 per cent market share, added 0.83 million new subscribers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 149.44 million in February.
Aircel added 0.79 million customers taking its subscriber base to 63.25 million, whereas MTNL added 38,757 new users taking its base to 5.53 million in February.
Both Etisalat and Stel, which have expressed their intentions to exit business after their licenses were cancelled by the Supreme Court, did not add any new user.
Circle-wise, the highest number of additions were in Maharashtra which saw 1 million new users being added in February.
GSM is the leading standard for mobile telephony systems in the world. The other technology platform on which telcos offer services is CDMA, where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), RCom and Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) are the main operators.
TTSL and RCom offer both GSM as well as CDMA services.
Uninor, a joint venture between Unitech and Norway-based Telenor, registered the maximum growth of 6.04 per cent in additions as it added 2.34 million users in the month. Its total user base was at 41.14 million.
According to the GSM users data released by Cellular Operators of India today, all operators added 8.77 million new users in February to take the country's GSM user base to 656.86 million.
In January, GSM operators had added 8.44 million new users taking the total to 648.08 million.
Another new operator Videocon, which added 0.34 million new subscribers, posted the second highest growth rate of 5.97 per cent in February. The user base of Videocon stood at 6.19 million.
CDMA player MTS India said it added 0.23 million new customers, taking its user base to 15.43 million.
Idea Cellular added maximum number of users at 2.58 million taking its subscriber base to 110.70 million.
However, state-run BSNL failed to add even a single new subscriber for the month. Its user base stood at 93.42 million.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel added 1.82 users as its total subscriber base was at 178.77 million. It had a market share of 27.22 per cent.
Vodafone Essar, with a 22.75 per cent market share, added 0.83 million new subscribers during the month, taking its subscriber base to 149.44 million in February.
Aircel added 0.79 million customers taking its subscriber base to 63.25 million, whereas MTNL added 38,757 new users taking its base to 5.53 million in February.
Both Etisalat and Stel, which have expressed their intentions to exit business after their licenses were cancelled by the Supreme Court, did not add any new user.
Circle-wise, the highest number of additions were in Maharashtra which saw 1 million new users being added in February.
GSM is the leading standard for mobile telephony systems in the world. The other technology platform on which telcos offer services is CDMA, where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), RCom and Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL) are the main operators.
TTSL and RCom offer both GSM as well as CDMA services.
New Apple iPad in wi-fi trouble?
Apple's new iPad has trouble picking up and holding on to wi-fi signals, say users.
A thread on Apple's official forums has 144 posts from angry users, and has been read by 5,000 people, Daily Mail reported Thursday.
"This is a problem Apple - you need to fix it," says one user.
"The laptop wifi reception is as strong as it gets, but the iPad only registers a weak signal. Anyone else having similar problems? Any suggestions?" Daily Mail quoted one user as saying.
Other Apple launches have been blighted by similar problems, including the original iPad and some models of iBook, the newspaper said.
The news comes as users complain that a hidden "upgrade" to the new machine has meant that many older "Smart Covers" - the magnetic covers used by Apple which turn on the machine automatically when opened - won't work.
The problem is particularly bad with third-party covers made by companies other than Apple, but older official Apple covers also fail to work, the paper added.
Google imagines environment-aware mobile adverts
If you have ever stood in the rain wondering where the nearest umbrella shop is, then the latest Google patent may interest you.
The search giant has secured intellectual rights to a system that would serve ads based on environmental conditions.
Google said forward-looking patents were useful for its portfolio, but it had no current plans to act on it.
But privacy advocates have warned it could set a dangerous precedent.
Spying device?
The patent, first reported by PC World magazine, potentially paves the way for a mobile phone fitted with sensors that would allow it to record data such as temperature, humidity, light, and sound or air composition, which would trigger relevant adverts.
"Advertisements for air conditioners can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures above a first threshold, while advertisements for winter overcoats can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures below a second threshold," explains the patent document.
The patent would allow Google to search offline data as well as online
Gus Hosein, executive director of Privacy International, is not impressed.
"Not content with collecting vast amounts of information from your online activities, it seems Google are looking to start exploiting the offline space as well. Patents like this may never come to fruition, but they force us to ask ourselves: how many aspects of our lives will advertisers try to exploit, and where will it end?
"This is an attempt to turn our devices into personal spying devices, just so a company can try to sell you a coat on a cold day."
Google was keen to put the patent in context.
"We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications," said a Google spokesman.
'Minority Report'
Patents are the new battlefield for tech firms, and as well as seeking to gain as many device-specific patents as possible, many are also lodging forward-thinking ideas to future-proof themselves.
Andrew Alton, a patent lawyer with law firm Urquhart-Dykes and Lord, said it was a logical extension of Google's context advertising.
"There are elements of things from the film Minority Report happening in the real world but this is just an extension of context-based advertising. It is what Google does anyway - combining people's past history with search results or searches based on GPS location," he said.
He said that such "blue sky patents" were becoming increasingly popular with firms.
"Lodging patents on stuff you are already doing puts you behind the times. To guess what will happen next, to step back and look at the next generation of products that puts you in a dominant position," he said.
"If you spend money on research and development of new products, the costs may be massive but getting licensing rights when someone else invents it is free money for firms," he added.
The search giant has secured intellectual rights to a system that would serve ads based on environmental conditions.
Google said forward-looking patents were useful for its portfolio, but it had no current plans to act on it.
But privacy advocates have warned it could set a dangerous precedent.
Spying device?
The patent, first reported by PC World magazine, potentially paves the way for a mobile phone fitted with sensors that would allow it to record data such as temperature, humidity, light, and sound or air composition, which would trigger relevant adverts.
"Advertisements for air conditioners can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures above a first threshold, while advertisements for winter overcoats can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures below a second threshold," explains the patent document.
The patent would allow Google to search offline data as well as online
Gus Hosein, executive director of Privacy International, is not impressed.
"Not content with collecting vast amounts of information from your online activities, it seems Google are looking to start exploiting the offline space as well. Patents like this may never come to fruition, but they force us to ask ourselves: how many aspects of our lives will advertisers try to exploit, and where will it end?
"This is an attempt to turn our devices into personal spying devices, just so a company can try to sell you a coat on a cold day."
Google was keen to put the patent in context.
"We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications," said a Google spokesman.
'Minority Report'
Patents are the new battlefield for tech firms, and as well as seeking to gain as many device-specific patents as possible, many are also lodging forward-thinking ideas to future-proof themselves.
Andrew Alton, a patent lawyer with law firm Urquhart-Dykes and Lord, said it was a logical extension of Google's context advertising.
"There are elements of things from the film Minority Report happening in the real world but this is just an extension of context-based advertising. It is what Google does anyway - combining people's past history with search results or searches based on GPS location," he said.
He said that such "blue sky patents" were becoming increasingly popular with firms.
"Lodging patents on stuff you are already doing puts you behind the times. To guess what will happen next, to step back and look at the next generation of products that puts you in a dominant position," he said.
"If you spend money on research and development of new products, the costs may be massive but getting licensing rights when someone else invents it is free money for firms," he added.
After 6 years, Twitter has 14 crore users
Twitter on Thursday revealed that over 140 million active users make 340 million tweets everyday. The company disclosed the figure in an official blog posted after it completed six years of operations .
"At last check, there are more than 140 million active users and today we see 340 million Tweets a day. That's more than 1 billion every 3 days. Howeverconcisely, it turns out there's plenty to say," the company said. Twitter is a microblogging website where users cannot post a message bigger than 140 characters. However, this limit has been one of the reasons why the service has grown so rapidly as it allows people to post quick and concise thoughts in real time.
In the blog, Twitter revealed that the idea of the website was born when @jack (Jack Dorsey, the company's current executive chairman) sketched out his notion in March 2006. "No one could have predicted the trajectory of this new communication tool (then)... Now it seems that there are as many ways to express yourself in 140 characters as there are people doing it," Twitter said on the blog.
"At last check, there are more than 140 million active users and today we see 340 million Tweets a day. That's more than 1 billion every 3 days. Howeverconcisely, it turns out there's plenty to say," the company said. Twitter is a microblogging website where users cannot post a message bigger than 140 characters. However, this limit has been one of the reasons why the service has grown so rapidly as it allows people to post quick and concise thoughts in real time.
In the blog, Twitter revealed that the idea of the website was born when @jack (Jack Dorsey, the company's current executive chairman) sketched out his notion in March 2006. "No one could have predicted the trajectory of this new communication tool (then)... Now it seems that there are as many ways to express yourself in 140 characters as there are people doing it," Twitter said on the blog.
Samsung seeks killer design to shed "copycat" image
When Samsung Electronics rushed its first smartphone to market in a panicky response to the smash-hit debut of the Apple iPhone, some customers burned the product on the streets or hammered it to bits in public displays of disaffection.
Complaints ranged from dropped calls and a clunky touchscreen to frequent auto rebooting and a dearth of applications.
"It was just awful," said Kim Sang-uk, 27, who bought the Omnia in late-2009 just before starting his first job. "I just wanted to throw it away, but couldn't because I was on a 2-year contract. It was the kind of phone where you'd say 'no', even if someone gave it to you for free."
Samsung Mobile President JK Shin admitted it was a tough time. The company had seen a 1 trillion won profit in its telecom sector in the first quarter of 2010 halved in the following quarter after Apple Inc's latest iPhone took the market by storm.
"We were facing a really serious crisis," Shin said later.
Soap vs. perfume
Yet on the 9th floor of Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seoul housing the mobile division's design center, Lee Minhyouk said he was not feeling the heat. Samsung Mobile's vice president for design and his team were already working on its next smartphone, the Galaxy, and this would be truly a worthy opponent to the iPhone.
Samsung has sold 44 million Galaxy units since its launch in June 2010 on its way to displacing Apple last year as the world's top-selling smartphone maker. Its success evolved from the Omnia, said Lee, who at 40 is the company's youngest senior executive.
"Without Omnia and Samsung's previous models, there would have been no Galaxys. There's a design link among these products," he said in an interview at his office. "They shouldn't be viewed as fragmental design. They share our deep deliberation on technology, colour and design language."
Samsung's chequered entry into the smartphone market is emblematic of the South Korean conglomerate's strengths and weaknesses.
Its strategy has always been to be the "fast executioner", the first in the market with a copycat product when a new opportunity is presented. But it is not known as a great innovator or a company like Apple that can literally create a new market with an iconic product.
To become a truly innovative company, Samsung needs to explore the art, as well as the science, of what it does, critics say.
"Samsung is like a fantastic soap maker," said Christian Lindholm, chief innovation officer of service design consultancy Fjord based in Finland. "Their products get you clean, lathers well. However, they do not know how to make perfumes, an industry where margins are significantly higher. Perfume is an experience. Perfume is meant to seduce, make you attractive and feel good. You love your perfume, but you like your soap."
Designing something people can love is an art, which requires risk taking and is based more on experience than data. "Samsung needs to learn to lead more. They analyze all creativity to death, they lack self confidence," Lindholm said.
"Korea has to leap into the experience industry," she added. "I think they have only five years before they are the new Japan, outmaneuvered by the Chinese who are quickly learning the soap business."
Evolution vs. creation
Lee's office atmosphere and his comments seem to reinforce an image of a company whose culture leans more to evolution than big-bang creationism.
His design sanctum looks much like any other Samsung department, a Dilbert sprawl of desks and cubicles with framed aphorisms from the founding family on the walls: "Be with Customers" and "Create Products that Contribute to Humanity" and also this one: "Challenge the World, Create the Future".
The office may lack the exotic art, exercise balls and creative toys of Silicon Valley decor, but Lee and his team are borrowing some start-up techniques for tapping the design muses.
Lee, who has acquired the moniker of "Midas" for his golden touch with the Galaxy series, h as travelled to Brazil's Iguazu Falls and the ancient city of Cuzco in Peru for inspiration. Samsung sends the design team on such trips across the world to stoke their imaginary fires.
Images or emotions they pick up on these trips can be "naturally expressed in design languages or lines and colours", said Lee, who started out designing cars for Samsung's failed auto joint venture with Renault in the 1990s.
The design process can also be more mundane, he adds.
"Designing is just part of your life. You study, do some research on future trends and experience stuff you haven't done before. All this stuff interacts to create a new design."
If money was the answer to innovation then Samsung Electronics would certainly rank among the best in the world. Samsung spent 10 trillion won on research and development in 2011.
Indeed, the annual Bloomberg BusinessWeek survey of most innovative companies ranks Samsung 11th on its list of top-50 most innovative companies, though it trails local rival LG Electronics in 7th and Sony in 10th.
Part of Samsung's design philosophy is to leverage the conglomerate's ability to manufacture inhouse the components in its products, including microchips and flat screens - an advantage over Apple for instance, which has to outsource most of that.
Samsung readily acknowledges it has yet to attain Apple's innovative spark. And Lee concedes he is no match - yet - for Jonathan Ive, the genius designer behind the distinctive look and feel of Apple's range of phones, tablets and other must-have consumer gadgets.
By most accounts, Ive's success at Apple stemmed from his close personal relationship with Steve Jobs - a classic marriage between gizmo-maker and entrepreneur.
Lee, who said he has never met Ive, has a more corporate relationship with top managers at Samsung. He believes, however, that paradigmatic breakthroughs are a matter of the right product coming at the right time.
"I might not be at (Ive's) level yet, but I believe Samsung will produce such iconic products one day. It's not just effort that makes it possible for a new product to be a massive hit. It also has to be timely, and technology should be ready to make a certain design a reality."
Apple aptitude
That Samsung might eventually wind up with some Apple aptitude has to worry company executives at its Cupertino, California headquarters.
Samsung and Apple are locked in an escalating global patent battle, as they jostle for top position in the booming smartphone and tablet markets. Apple fired the first salvo in April last year, arguing Samsung had "slavishly" copied its iPad and iPhone. Since then both have taken legal action against each other in several countries claiming patent infringements.
Lee takes personal affront at the copycat charge.
"I've made thousands of sketches and hundreds of prototype products (for the Galaxy). Does that mean I was putting on a mock show for so long, pretending to be designing?"
"As a designer, there's an issue of dignity. (The Galaxy) is original from the beginning, and I'm the one who made it. It's a totally different product with a different design language and different technology infused."
And a different marketing approach. While Apple has a simple product line-up for the iPhone and iPad, Samsung has bombarded the market with varieties of the Galaxy, the Wave phone, which uses Samsung's own 'bada' platform, and most recently with a phone-tablet.
Lee sees no harm in this tweaking-rather-than-innovating approach, saying it plays to the company's corporate strengths.
Samsung's vertically integrated structure allows it to use prototype components and new technology developed elsewhere in the company in the design lab. The company has overseas design labs to help uncover consumer trends in the various global markets in which it competes.
Designers have to be integrators, researching user behaviour, discovering what's happening in the market, as well as searching for a unique aesthetic, Lee says.
"As a designer, my job is to blend new functions and technology with aesthetic beauty, as far as possible."
"There are different teams studying new technology trends, working on future design trends and Samsung's own design identity, and they're all regularly exchanging ideas with designers."
Fab-let?
Lee's latest project - a follow-up to the Galaxy model called the Note - is a mini-tablet and phone, with a throwback stylus. Although it looks huge compared with a standard phone, its pinpoint apps and high definition screen should please those using it for video and gaming.
The phone-tablet - or phablet - has sold more than 2 million units since its October launch, and was a crowd pleaser at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
Lee said the design risk with the note was "breaking a taboo" about keeping handsets small enough to fit easily in your hand.
"But smartphones are more about entertainment. The Note was created by simply breaking that taboo and focusing more on the new functions that smartphones require."
Handsets are now Samsung's biggest earner - bringing in 8.3 trillion won in operating profit last year - and the group's confidence has grown in tandem with its fattening patent book - it registered over 5,000 patents last year alone.
"We were told so many times until the early part of last year that Samsung is not good at software. We're not hearing that as often any more," Samsung Chief Executive Choi Gee-sung said at the CES event in Las Vegas.
Late last month, Choi went further and told reporters at the world's biggest annual mobile show in Barcelona that Samsung would not unveil its new Galaxy model at the Mobile World Congress for fear of rivals copying it.
Yet there's not one software engineer or designer among the 17 Samsung Fellows, Samsung Group's inhouse equivalent of the Nobel prize winners to reward those making a significant contribution to its success. Lee hopes his time will come.
Complaints ranged from dropped calls and a clunky touchscreen to frequent auto rebooting and a dearth of applications.
"It was just awful," said Kim Sang-uk, 27, who bought the Omnia in late-2009 just before starting his first job. "I just wanted to throw it away, but couldn't because I was on a 2-year contract. It was the kind of phone where you'd say 'no', even if someone gave it to you for free."
Samsung Mobile President JK Shin admitted it was a tough time. The company had seen a 1 trillion won profit in its telecom sector in the first quarter of 2010 halved in the following quarter after Apple Inc's latest iPhone took the market by storm.
"We were facing a really serious crisis," Shin said later.
Soap vs. perfume
Yet on the 9th floor of Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seoul housing the mobile division's design center, Lee Minhyouk said he was not feeling the heat. Samsung Mobile's vice president for design and his team were already working on its next smartphone, the Galaxy, and this would be truly a worthy opponent to the iPhone.
Samsung has sold 44 million Galaxy units since its launch in June 2010 on its way to displacing Apple last year as the world's top-selling smartphone maker. Its success evolved from the Omnia, said Lee, who at 40 is the company's youngest senior executive.
"Without Omnia and Samsung's previous models, there would have been no Galaxys. There's a design link among these products," he said in an interview at his office. "They shouldn't be viewed as fragmental design. They share our deep deliberation on technology, colour and design language."
Samsung's chequered entry into the smartphone market is emblematic of the South Korean conglomerate's strengths and weaknesses.
Its strategy has always been to be the "fast executioner", the first in the market with a copycat product when a new opportunity is presented. But it is not known as a great innovator or a company like Apple that can literally create a new market with an iconic product.
To become a truly innovative company, Samsung needs to explore the art, as well as the science, of what it does, critics say.
"Samsung is like a fantastic soap maker," said Christian Lindholm, chief innovation officer of service design consultancy Fjord based in Finland. "Their products get you clean, lathers well. However, they do not know how to make perfumes, an industry where margins are significantly higher. Perfume is an experience. Perfume is meant to seduce, make you attractive and feel good. You love your perfume, but you like your soap."
Designing something people can love is an art, which requires risk taking and is based more on experience than data. "Samsung needs to learn to lead more. They analyze all creativity to death, they lack self confidence," Lindholm said.
"Korea has to leap into the experience industry," she added. "I think they have only five years before they are the new Japan, outmaneuvered by the Chinese who are quickly learning the soap business."
Evolution vs. creation
Lee's office atmosphere and his comments seem to reinforce an image of a company whose culture leans more to evolution than big-bang creationism.
His design sanctum looks much like any other Samsung department, a Dilbert sprawl of desks and cubicles with framed aphorisms from the founding family on the walls: "Be with Customers" and "Create Products that Contribute to Humanity" and also this one: "Challenge the World, Create the Future".
The office may lack the exotic art, exercise balls and creative toys of Silicon Valley decor, but Lee and his team are borrowing some start-up techniques for tapping the design muses.
Lee, who has acquired the moniker of "Midas" for his golden touch with the Galaxy series, h as travelled to Brazil's Iguazu Falls and the ancient city of Cuzco in Peru for inspiration. Samsung sends the design team on such trips across the world to stoke their imaginary fires.
Images or emotions they pick up on these trips can be "naturally expressed in design languages or lines and colours", said Lee, who started out designing cars for Samsung's failed auto joint venture with Renault in the 1990s.
The design process can also be more mundane, he adds.
"Designing is just part of your life. You study, do some research on future trends and experience stuff you haven't done before. All this stuff interacts to create a new design."
If money was the answer to innovation then Samsung Electronics would certainly rank among the best in the world. Samsung spent 10 trillion won on research and development in 2011.
Indeed, the annual Bloomberg BusinessWeek survey of most innovative companies ranks Samsung 11th on its list of top-50 most innovative companies, though it trails local rival LG Electronics in 7th and Sony in 10th.
Part of Samsung's design philosophy is to leverage the conglomerate's ability to manufacture inhouse the components in its products, including microchips and flat screens - an advantage over Apple for instance, which has to outsource most of that.
Samsung readily acknowledges it has yet to attain Apple's innovative spark. And Lee concedes he is no match - yet - for Jonathan Ive, the genius designer behind the distinctive look and feel of Apple's range of phones, tablets and other must-have consumer gadgets.
By most accounts, Ive's success at Apple stemmed from his close personal relationship with Steve Jobs - a classic marriage between gizmo-maker and entrepreneur.
Lee, who said he has never met Ive, has a more corporate relationship with top managers at Samsung. He believes, however, that paradigmatic breakthroughs are a matter of the right product coming at the right time.
"I might not be at (Ive's) level yet, but I believe Samsung will produce such iconic products one day. It's not just effort that makes it possible for a new product to be a massive hit. It also has to be timely, and technology should be ready to make a certain design a reality."
Apple aptitude
That Samsung might eventually wind up with some Apple aptitude has to worry company executives at its Cupertino, California headquarters.
Samsung and Apple are locked in an escalating global patent battle, as they jostle for top position in the booming smartphone and tablet markets. Apple fired the first salvo in April last year, arguing Samsung had "slavishly" copied its iPad and iPhone. Since then both have taken legal action against each other in several countries claiming patent infringements.
Lee takes personal affront at the copycat charge.
"I've made thousands of sketches and hundreds of prototype products (for the Galaxy). Does that mean I was putting on a mock show for so long, pretending to be designing?"
"As a designer, there's an issue of dignity. (The Galaxy) is original from the beginning, and I'm the one who made it. It's a totally different product with a different design language and different technology infused."
And a different marketing approach. While Apple has a simple product line-up for the iPhone and iPad, Samsung has bombarded the market with varieties of the Galaxy, the Wave phone, which uses Samsung's own 'bada' platform, and most recently with a phone-tablet.
Lee sees no harm in this tweaking-rather-than-innovating approach, saying it plays to the company's corporate strengths.
Samsung's vertically integrated structure allows it to use prototype components and new technology developed elsewhere in the company in the design lab. The company has overseas design labs to help uncover consumer trends in the various global markets in which it competes.
Designers have to be integrators, researching user behaviour, discovering what's happening in the market, as well as searching for a unique aesthetic, Lee says.
"As a designer, my job is to blend new functions and technology with aesthetic beauty, as far as possible."
"There are different teams studying new technology trends, working on future design trends and Samsung's own design identity, and they're all regularly exchanging ideas with designers."
Fab-let?
Lee's latest project - a follow-up to the Galaxy model called the Note - is a mini-tablet and phone, with a throwback stylus. Although it looks huge compared with a standard phone, its pinpoint apps and high definition screen should please those using it for video and gaming.
The phone-tablet - or phablet - has sold more than 2 million units since its October launch, and was a crowd pleaser at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
Lee said the design risk with the note was "breaking a taboo" about keeping handsets small enough to fit easily in your hand.
"But smartphones are more about entertainment. The Note was created by simply breaking that taboo and focusing more on the new functions that smartphones require."
Handsets are now Samsung's biggest earner - bringing in 8.3 trillion won in operating profit last year - and the group's confidence has grown in tandem with its fattening patent book - it registered over 5,000 patents last year alone.
"We were told so many times until the early part of last year that Samsung is not good at software. We're not hearing that as often any more," Samsung Chief Executive Choi Gee-sung said at the CES event in Las Vegas.
Late last month, Choi went further and told reporters at the world's biggest annual mobile show in Barcelona that Samsung would not unveil its new Galaxy model at the Mobile World Congress for fear of rivals copying it.
Yet there's not one software engineer or designer among the 17 Samsung Fellows, Samsung Group's inhouse equivalent of the Nobel prize winners to reward those making a significant contribution to its success. Lee hopes his time will come.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
London's iconic buses are back
London's iconic double-decker buses have gotten an update that looks uncannily like the past.
Seven buses with an open hop-on hop-off platform at the rear hit downtown streets on 20 February, running on route 38, between Victoria Station and Hackney, an east London neighbourhood.
Between the 1950s and 2000s, royal red double deckers sported distinctive open platforms in the rear. But in 2005, authorities took that Routemaster model out of service, replacing it with versions that only have an entrance at the front.
The city also added so-called “bendy", or articulated, buses, because they could carry more passengers, thanks to hinged midsections. But locals loathed the replacement vehicles. A common complaint was that the extended length of the buses snarled traffic on many narrow, twisting streets. So the city pulled that design off the streets in 2011, leaving regular double-decker buses in service and shipping the bendys off to other cities in the United Kingdom that have more spacious streets. Officials then ran a design competition to see if a better bus could be invented. The design that won, by Thomas Heatherwick and Wrightbus, restored the open rear platform.
The revived Routemaster design adds a second staircase to speed up passenger movement. It also claims to get a low 12 miles to gallon thanks to energy efficient engines and interior-heating systems. That efficiency means it produces 40% fewer emissions than the current double deckers, which run on diesel.
The success of this design depends on the outcome of this spring's mayoral election. If candidate Ken Livingstone defeats current mayor Boris Johnson, he may kill the new Routemasters, which are Johnson's pet project and cost about £1.3 million each, significantly higher than more prosaic models. A Johnson victory, on the other hand, may mean that hundreds of the buses are put into services within the next few years.
In the meantime, original 1950s buses with the open platform in the rear are still in service on parts of route 9, running between Trafalgar Square and Kensington, and route 15, running between Trafalgar Square and Tower Hill. Check the Transport for London website for route maps and schedules that say "heritage".
The other New Orleans soundtrack
While some tourists worry that the “real” New Orleans music-scene is made up of only never-ending jazz venues, in reality, the musical city’s voice and beat manifest in a staggeringly diverse set of genres. Indeed, New Orleans would not be the birthplace of jazz if it had not blended the other musical traditions that already had deep roots here.
Related article: Living in New Orleans
Many people seem to think that jazz is moody music played with brass instruments. But in New Orleans, “brass” is a genre in and of itself, a rocking, danceable sound that is definitely not what you listen to while reading Albert Camus in a coffee shop. New Orleans brass is dynamic; older bands may sound like the Dixieland-style Big Band orchestras from the early 20th Century, while younger bands frequently blend in hip hop and R&B.
Check out the Soul Rebels at Les Bons Temps Roule (4801 Magazine Street; 504-895-8117) on Thursday nights, and Rebirth brass band at the Maple Leaf on Tuesdays, to have all your preconceptions about brass music blown out of the water. Both of these bars are relatively near Tulane University, in leafy, lovely neighbourhoods. Other venues in this area include Neutral Ground, a coffee shop that doubles as a singer-songwriter stage, and Carrollton Station, a bar that features similar sounds plus plenty of college rock.
In downtown New Orleans, near the city’s emerging arts and warehouse district, seeing a band at the Circle Bar (1032 St Charles Avenue; 504-588-2616) is like watching a show played in your living room. But because it is so small, the Circle regularly books singer-songwriters and indie talent that the bigger clubs pass up. Chickie Wah Wah, near the Mid-City neighbourhood, offers a similar-sized venue and similar line-up of independent talent that is much beloved by local music connoisseurs.
If you intend to stay in the French Quarter, check out One-Eyed Jacks, consistently one of the best rock music venues in the American South. Local and international talent regularly take the stage, and it also hosts a fantastic regular burlesque revue. Walk 10 minutes from Bourbon Street towards Frenchmen Street (arguably the best place in the world to listen to jazz music) and you will find the Dragon’s Den, which usually looks (and sounds) like the set of a Metallica video. The Den always has a crazy line-up, and regularly hosts all styles of metal and dubstep nights. Just across the street is Maison, where the jazz line up is supplemented by plenty of local dance DJs and indie rock talent. Nearby, d.b.a serves up some of the most diverse musical offerings in town and has a great beer menu to boot.
Head north of here to St Claude Avenue in the Bywater neighbourhood, an emerging part of town where artists have been drawn by cheap rent. The Bywater is packed full of music venues: the Saturn Bar (3067 St Claude Avenue; 504-949-7532) regularly hosts punk shows; the Hi Ho lounge (2239 St Claude Avenue; 504-945-4446) has Monday bluegrass jam sessions and bluegrass, folk, country and rock concerts throughout the week; and at BJs (4301 Burgundy; 504-945-9256) you can catch the blues-y rock tunes of King James and the Special Men on Monday nights. Just around the corner is Vaughan’s (4229 Dauphine Street; 504-947-5562), where local legend Kermit Ruffins tears up some trumpet-funk-brass fusion sounds on Thursday nights.
For a unique New Orleans evening, head to Club Fusion on AP Tureaud Avenue to hear bounce – a New Orleans-born style of dance music that mixes hip-hop, call-and-response and a high dose of synchronized dancing.
Do not forget large venues like Tipitina’s (go to the Uptown location, not the more touristy version in the French Quarter), a New Orleans classic hotspot, and of course, the Rock ‘N’ Bowl, where you can get in some time on the lanes before catching regular zydeco shows, rock, rap and yes, jazz – because seriously, do not come to New Orleans without hearing some jazz.
Related article: Living in New Orleans
Many people seem to think that jazz is moody music played with brass instruments. But in New Orleans, “brass” is a genre in and of itself, a rocking, danceable sound that is definitely not what you listen to while reading Albert Camus in a coffee shop. New Orleans brass is dynamic; older bands may sound like the Dixieland-style Big Band orchestras from the early 20th Century, while younger bands frequently blend in hip hop and R&B.
Check out the Soul Rebels at Les Bons Temps Roule (4801 Magazine Street; 504-895-8117) on Thursday nights, and Rebirth brass band at the Maple Leaf on Tuesdays, to have all your preconceptions about brass music blown out of the water. Both of these bars are relatively near Tulane University, in leafy, lovely neighbourhoods. Other venues in this area include Neutral Ground, a coffee shop that doubles as a singer-songwriter stage, and Carrollton Station, a bar that features similar sounds plus plenty of college rock.
In downtown New Orleans, near the city’s emerging arts and warehouse district, seeing a band at the Circle Bar (1032 St Charles Avenue; 504-588-2616) is like watching a show played in your living room. But because it is so small, the Circle regularly books singer-songwriters and indie talent that the bigger clubs pass up. Chickie Wah Wah, near the Mid-City neighbourhood, offers a similar-sized venue and similar line-up of independent talent that is much beloved by local music connoisseurs.
If you intend to stay in the French Quarter, check out One-Eyed Jacks, consistently one of the best rock music venues in the American South. Local and international talent regularly take the stage, and it also hosts a fantastic regular burlesque revue. Walk 10 minutes from Bourbon Street towards Frenchmen Street (arguably the best place in the world to listen to jazz music) and you will find the Dragon’s Den, which usually looks (and sounds) like the set of a Metallica video. The Den always has a crazy line-up, and regularly hosts all styles of metal and dubstep nights. Just across the street is Maison, where the jazz line up is supplemented by plenty of local dance DJs and indie rock talent. Nearby, d.b.a serves up some of the most diverse musical offerings in town and has a great beer menu to boot.
Head north of here to St Claude Avenue in the Bywater neighbourhood, an emerging part of town where artists have been drawn by cheap rent. The Bywater is packed full of music venues: the Saturn Bar (3067 St Claude Avenue; 504-949-7532) regularly hosts punk shows; the Hi Ho lounge (2239 St Claude Avenue; 504-945-4446) has Monday bluegrass jam sessions and bluegrass, folk, country and rock concerts throughout the week; and at BJs (4301 Burgundy; 504-945-9256) you can catch the blues-y rock tunes of King James and the Special Men on Monday nights. Just around the corner is Vaughan’s (4229 Dauphine Street; 504-947-5562), where local legend Kermit Ruffins tears up some trumpet-funk-brass fusion sounds on Thursday nights.
For a unique New Orleans evening, head to Club Fusion on AP Tureaud Avenue to hear bounce – a New Orleans-born style of dance music that mixes hip-hop, call-and-response and a high dose of synchronized dancing.
Do not forget large venues like Tipitina’s (go to the Uptown location, not the more touristy version in the French Quarter), a New Orleans classic hotspot, and of course, the Rock ‘N’ Bowl, where you can get in some time on the lanes before catching regular zydeco shows, rock, rap and yes, jazz – because seriously, do not come to New Orleans without hearing some jazz.
Mail containing suspicious powder sent to US Congress
Two officials of the US Congress have received letters that contained a "suspicious powdery substance", following which officials sent out a warning cautioning other staffers to be on the lookout.
In an email to Congressional offices, Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer warned staffers to be on the lookout for letters containing "a suspicious powdery substance", Xinhua reported citing the Hill newspaper, which specialises in reporting the Congress.
The email said a Senate state office and a house district office received threatening mail on Tuesday that contained the substance.
The names of the lawmakers whose offices were targeted were not disclosed.
Gainer said the letters were tested and the enclosed substance found to be harmless.
But there were threats of more letters to come, the report said.
Gainer said his office was working closely with both federal and local law enforcement officials in an investigation into the incident.
Recently, a Moroccan terror suspect was arrested for plotting an attack near the Capitol.
In an email to Congressional offices, Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer warned staffers to be on the lookout for letters containing "a suspicious powdery substance", Xinhua reported citing the Hill newspaper, which specialises in reporting the Congress.
The email said a Senate state office and a house district office received threatening mail on Tuesday that contained the substance.
The names of the lawmakers whose offices were targeted were not disclosed.
Gainer said the letters were tested and the enclosed substance found to be harmless.
But there were threats of more letters to come, the report said.
Gainer said his office was working closely with both federal and local law enforcement officials in an investigation into the incident.
Recently, a Moroccan terror suspect was arrested for plotting an attack near the Capitol.
Sachin Tendulkar must quit ODIs, say 57% in TOI poll
After former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, is it time for the world's greatest run-maker to bid adieu to one-day cricket? As many as 57% of respondents in a TOI online poll have answered with a 'yes', indicating that the public anger over Team India's dismal performances Down Under also extends to Sachin Tendulkar's poor ODI form.
The poll went online on TOI's website on Tuesday afternoon and by 9.30 pm on Wednesday, almost 47,000 people had responded. The question asked was, 'Should Sachin retire from ODIs?' While 19,127 voted 'no' (41%), as many as 26,813 votes were polled in favour of the question. Around 2% (817) people were undecided.
The surprising results came a day after Sachin's former opening partner Sourav Ganguly had hinted that the maestro should reconsider his ODI future and concentrate on Test cricket.
Ganguly said it was up to Tendulkar to decide if "he's still good enough to play in the ODIs". The former Indian skipper said, "I think Sachin deserves to decide on his own if and when to leave international cricket or one-day cricket... I don't think the selectors have got the right to ask him to go."
The poll went online on TOI's website on Tuesday afternoon and by 9.30 pm on Wednesday, almost 47,000 people had responded. The question asked was, 'Should Sachin retire from ODIs?' While 19,127 voted 'no' (41%), as many as 26,813 votes were polled in favour of the question. Around 2% (817) people were undecided.
The surprising results came a day after Sachin's former opening partner Sourav Ganguly had hinted that the maestro should reconsider his ODI future and concentrate on Test cricket.
Ganguly said it was up to Tendulkar to decide if "he's still good enough to play in the ODIs". The former Indian skipper said, "I think Sachin deserves to decide on his own if and when to leave international cricket or one-day cricket... I don't think the selectors have got the right to ask him to go."
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz's 155th birth anniversary: Google pays tribute with a doodle
Wondering what is that electromagnetic wave that greets you on opening the Google home page? It is Google's doodle marking 155th birth anniversary of German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.
Hertz through his experiments proved that electricity can be transmitted via electromagnetic waves. It was this discovery that later paved the way toward development of wireless telegraph and radio. In fact, the unit of frequency of a radio wave is called hertz in honour of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.
Hertz's findings expanded on theory of light put forth by British physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1884. Hertz measured Maxwell's waves and showed how the velocity of radio waves is equal to the velocity of light. He also calculated the electric field intensity and polarity.
Through his experiments, Hertz expanded the field of electromagnetic transmission. He proved how radio waves can travel through different types of media, which later helped in the development of radar technology.
Hertz was born in Hamburg, then a sovereign state of the German Confederation, into a prosperous Hanseatic family. He studied science and engineering in the German cities of Dresden, Munich and Berlin. In 1880, Hertz completed his PhD from the University of Berlin.
Google doodles are the decorative changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists. The first Google doodle was created by Larry Page and Sergy Brin in the year 1998 to mark the celebrations of the Burning Man Festival. Google currently has over 1000 doodles.
Hertz through his experiments proved that electricity can be transmitted via electromagnetic waves. It was this discovery that later paved the way toward development of wireless telegraph and radio. In fact, the unit of frequency of a radio wave is called hertz in honour of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.
Hertz's findings expanded on theory of light put forth by British physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1884. Hertz measured Maxwell's waves and showed how the velocity of radio waves is equal to the velocity of light. He also calculated the electric field intensity and polarity.
Through his experiments, Hertz expanded the field of electromagnetic transmission. He proved how radio waves can travel through different types of media, which later helped in the development of radar technology.
Hertz was born in Hamburg, then a sovereign state of the German Confederation, into a prosperous Hanseatic family. He studied science and engineering in the German cities of Dresden, Munich and Berlin. In 1880, Hertz completed his PhD from the University of Berlin.
Google doodles are the decorative changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists. The first Google doodle was created by Larry Page and Sergy Brin in the year 1998 to mark the celebrations of the Burning Man Festival. Google currently has over 1000 doodles.
Indian school in Bahrain to get 600 Aakash tablets
Students of an Indian school in Bahrain will soon get the world's cheapest tablet computer 'Aakash', developed by India's Human Resources Development Ministry.
Class 12 students of the Indian School Bahrain will get a tablet each soon, executive committee chairman of the school Abraham John has said.
He said that about 600 Aakash laptops will be made available to the students.
"Students will be able to enhance their knowledge, improve their projects and correspond with teachers and experts as they learn and expand their vision," John told Bahrain's Gulf Daily News.
"The laptops will help in more positive output in examinations and help students make informed decisions, especially in their careers," he said.
He said that the first consignment will be distributed to class 12 students and followed by class 11. "The distribution is in line with Indian government's directives," he said.
The Aakash is a low-cost tablet computer with a 7-inch touch screen priced around USD 35. It was launched in New Delhi on October 5, 2011.
The device was developed as part of the HRD ministry's aim to link 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an e-learning programme.
Aakash was developed in two versions by British-Indian company Datawind. The advanced model is Akash Ubislate 7, while the less advanced version is for lower level students.
Class 12 students of the Indian School Bahrain will get a tablet each soon, executive committee chairman of the school Abraham John has said.
He said that about 600 Aakash laptops will be made available to the students.
"Students will be able to enhance their knowledge, improve their projects and correspond with teachers and experts as they learn and expand their vision," John told Bahrain's Gulf Daily News.
"The laptops will help in more positive output in examinations and help students make informed decisions, especially in their careers," he said.
He said that the first consignment will be distributed to class 12 students and followed by class 11. "The distribution is in line with Indian government's directives," he said.
The Aakash is a low-cost tablet computer with a 7-inch touch screen priced around USD 35. It was launched in New Delhi on October 5, 2011.
The device was developed as part of the HRD ministry's aim to link 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an e-learning programme.
Aakash was developed in two versions by British-Indian company Datawind. The advanced model is Akash Ubislate 7, while the less advanced version is for lower level students.
Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Hewlett-Packard sign privacy pact
Six of the world's top consumer technology firms have agreed to provide greater privacy disclosures before users download applications in order to protect the personal data of millions of consumers, California's attorney general said on Wednesday.
The agreement binds Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Hewlett-Packard -- and developers on their platforms -- to disclose how they use private data before an app may be downloaded, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said.
"Your personal privacy should not be the cost of using mobile apps, but all too often it is," said Harris.
Currently 22 of the 30 most downloaded apps do not have privacy notices, said Harris. Some downloaded apps also download a consumer's contact book.
Google said in a statement that under the California agreement, Android users will have "even more ways to make informed decisions when it comes to their privacy."
Apple confirmed the agreement but did not elaborate.
Harris was also among US state lawmakers who on Wednesday signed a letter to Google CEO Larry Page to express "serious concerns" over the web giant's recent decision to consolidate its privacy policy.
The policy change would give Google access to user information across its products, such as GMail and Google+, without the proper ability for consumers to opt out, said the 36 US attorneys general in their letter.
EU authorities have asked Google to halt the policy change until regulators can investigate the matter.
Can and will sue
California's 2004 Online Privacy Protection Act requires privacy disclosures, but Harris said few mobile developers had paid attention to the law in recent years because of confusion over whether it applied to mobile apps.
"Most mobile apps make no effort to inform users about how personal information is used," Harris said at a press conference in San Francisco. "The consumer should be informed of what they are giving up."
The six companies will meet the attorney general in six months to assess compliance among their developers. But Harris acknowledged "there is no clear timeline" to begin enforcement.
The attorney general repeatedly raised the possibility of litigation at some future time under California's unfair competition and false advertising laws if developers continue to publish apps without privacy notices.
"We can sue and we will sue," she said, adding that she hoped the industry would act "in good faith."
There are nearly 600,000 applications for sale in the Apple App Store and 400,000 for sale in Google's Android Market, and consumers have downloaded more than 35 billion, said Harris.
There are also more than 50,000 individual developers who have created the mobile apps currently available for download on the leading platforms, she said.
These figures are expected to grow. She said an estimated 98 billion mobile applications will be downloaded by 2015, and the $6.8 billion market for mobile applications is expected to grow to $25 billion within four years.
The agreement binds Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Hewlett-Packard -- and developers on their platforms -- to disclose how they use private data before an app may be downloaded, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said.
"Your personal privacy should not be the cost of using mobile apps, but all too often it is," said Harris.
Currently 22 of the 30 most downloaded apps do not have privacy notices, said Harris. Some downloaded apps also download a consumer's contact book.
Google said in a statement that under the California agreement, Android users will have "even more ways to make informed decisions when it comes to their privacy."
Apple confirmed the agreement but did not elaborate.
Harris was also among US state lawmakers who on Wednesday signed a letter to Google CEO Larry Page to express "serious concerns" over the web giant's recent decision to consolidate its privacy policy.
The policy change would give Google access to user information across its products, such as GMail and Google+, without the proper ability for consumers to opt out, said the 36 US attorneys general in their letter.
EU authorities have asked Google to halt the policy change until regulators can investigate the matter.
Can and will sue
California's 2004 Online Privacy Protection Act requires privacy disclosures, but Harris said few mobile developers had paid attention to the law in recent years because of confusion over whether it applied to mobile apps.
"Most mobile apps make no effort to inform users about how personal information is used," Harris said at a press conference in San Francisco. "The consumer should be informed of what they are giving up."
The six companies will meet the attorney general in six months to assess compliance among their developers. But Harris acknowledged "there is no clear timeline" to begin enforcement.
The attorney general repeatedly raised the possibility of litigation at some future time under California's unfair competition and false advertising laws if developers continue to publish apps without privacy notices.
"We can sue and we will sue," she said, adding that she hoped the industry would act "in good faith."
There are nearly 600,000 applications for sale in the Apple App Store and 400,000 for sale in Google's Android Market, and consumers have downloaded more than 35 billion, said Harris.
There are also more than 50,000 individual developers who have created the mobile apps currently available for download on the leading platforms, she said.
These figures are expected to grow. She said an estimated 98 billion mobile applications will be downloaded by 2015, and the $6.8 billion market for mobile applications is expected to grow to $25 billion within four years.
Sudden cardiac death: Time of day link found in mice
How the time of day can increase the risk of dying from an irregular heartbeat has been identified by researchers.
The risk of "sudden cardiac death" peaks in the morning and rises again in the evening.
A study published in the journal Nature suggests that levels of a protein which controls the heart's rhythm fluctuates through the day.
A body clock expert said the study was "beautiful".
The inner workings of the body go through a daily routine known as a circadian rhythm, which keeps the body in sync with its surroundings. Jet lag is the result of the body getting out of sync.
As the chemistry of the body changes throughout the day, this can impact on health. US researchers say they have identified, in mice, how the time can affect the risk of sudden cardiac death, which kills 100,000 people a year in the UK.
'Insights'
They identified a protein called kruppel-like factor 15 (Klf15), which was controlled by the body clock and whose levels in the body went up and down during the day. The protein influences ion channels which control heart beat.
Genetically modified mice which produced too much Klf15 and those which produced none at all both had an increased risk of developing deadly disturbances in cardiac rhythm.
Prof Darwin Jeyaraj, from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, said: "Our study identifies a hitherto unknown mechanism for electrical instability in the heart.
"It provides insights into day and night variation in arrhythmia susceptibility that has been known for many years."
There are important differences in the way that human and mouse hearts work, so it is unknown whether the same mechanism exists in people.
Fellow researcher Prof Mukesh Jain said: "We are just scratching the surface. It might be that, with further study, assessment of circadian disruption in patients with cardiovascular disease might lead us to innovative approaches to diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment."
Dr Michael Hastings, from the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology, told the BBC: "It's a great paper, it gives a beautiful molecular mechanism which explains a phenomenon that's been kicking around for a long time."
He said translating the findings into medicine was all about "targeting the most vulnerable stage" such as slow-release blood pressure drugs, which become active first thing in the morning when the risk is highest.
The risk of "sudden cardiac death" peaks in the morning and rises again in the evening.
A study published in the journal Nature suggests that levels of a protein which controls the heart's rhythm fluctuates through the day.
A body clock expert said the study was "beautiful".
The inner workings of the body go through a daily routine known as a circadian rhythm, which keeps the body in sync with its surroundings. Jet lag is the result of the body getting out of sync.
As the chemistry of the body changes throughout the day, this can impact on health. US researchers say they have identified, in mice, how the time can affect the risk of sudden cardiac death, which kills 100,000 people a year in the UK.
'Insights'
They identified a protein called kruppel-like factor 15 (Klf15), which was controlled by the body clock and whose levels in the body went up and down during the day. The protein influences ion channels which control heart beat.
Genetically modified mice which produced too much Klf15 and those which produced none at all both had an increased risk of developing deadly disturbances in cardiac rhythm.
Prof Darwin Jeyaraj, from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, said: "Our study identifies a hitherto unknown mechanism for electrical instability in the heart.
"It provides insights into day and night variation in arrhythmia susceptibility that has been known for many years."
There are important differences in the way that human and mouse hearts work, so it is unknown whether the same mechanism exists in people.
Fellow researcher Prof Mukesh Jain said: "We are just scratching the surface. It might be that, with further study, assessment of circadian disruption in patients with cardiovascular disease might lead us to innovative approaches to diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment."
Dr Michael Hastings, from the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology, told the BBC: "It's a great paper, it gives a beautiful molecular mechanism which explains a phenomenon that's been kicking around for a long time."
He said translating the findings into medicine was all about "targeting the most vulnerable stage" such as slow-release blood pressure drugs, which become active first thing in the morning when the risk is highest.
'Third of UK postcodes' have slow broadband speeds
A third of homes in the UK have broadband speeds well below the national average, according to research from price comparison site uSwitch.
While half of addresses get broadband speeds of 6.7Mbps or above, a third struggle to get speeds above 5Mbps, 1.7m speed tests found.
The East Sussex village of Winchelsea was the slowest, with an average speed of 1.1Mbps, according to uSwitch.
Hereford was the slowest city, with average speeds of 3.1Mbps.
The government wants to see super-fast broadband as the gold standard in most UK homes, and has pledged to make the UK the fastest broadband nation in Europe by 2015. By that time, it also promises to make sure that all homes have speeds of at least 2Mbps.
The uSwitch data - based on 1.68 million speed tests carried out over the last six months - suggests that there could still be some way to go.
"Britain might be riding the wave of a super-fast broadband revolution, but for 49% who get less than the national average broadband speed, the wave isn't causing so much a splash as a ripple," said Julia Stent, director of telecoms at uSwitch.
"And what's really surprising is the number of cities and towns such as Hereford and Carlisle that are suffering from slow broadband speeds, dispelling the view that it's just rural areas and small towns that have issues with their broadband," she added.
Other towns and cities to offer average broadband speeds of below 5Mbps include Kilmarnock (3.2Mbps), Dumfries (3.6Mbps), Canterbury (4Mbps) and Shrewsbury (4Mbps).
Fast pipes
The government has provided £530m to help local councils fill in the UK's blackspots. Cumbria, which has several areas in the top 10 slowest postcodes, received the biggest amount, with more than £17m to cope with its 96% of homes eligible for subsidies.
Councils will have to put some of their own money towards the costs, and some have been slow to get the projects off the ground.
For those in well-connected postcodes, the news is much better.
Both Virgin Media and BT have recently turned up the speed dial on their broadband services.
Virgin announced that broadband with speeds of up to 100Mbps was now available to 10 million homes, while BT pledged to offer some homes speeds of up to 300Mbps by 2013.
While half of addresses get broadband speeds of 6.7Mbps or above, a third struggle to get speeds above 5Mbps, 1.7m speed tests found.
The East Sussex village of Winchelsea was the slowest, with an average speed of 1.1Mbps, according to uSwitch.
Hereford was the slowest city, with average speeds of 3.1Mbps.
The government wants to see super-fast broadband as the gold standard in most UK homes, and has pledged to make the UK the fastest broadband nation in Europe by 2015. By that time, it also promises to make sure that all homes have speeds of at least 2Mbps.
The uSwitch data - based on 1.68 million speed tests carried out over the last six months - suggests that there could still be some way to go.
"Britain might be riding the wave of a super-fast broadband revolution, but for 49% who get less than the national average broadband speed, the wave isn't causing so much a splash as a ripple," said Julia Stent, director of telecoms at uSwitch.
"And what's really surprising is the number of cities and towns such as Hereford and Carlisle that are suffering from slow broadband speeds, dispelling the view that it's just rural areas and small towns that have issues with their broadband," she added.
Other towns and cities to offer average broadband speeds of below 5Mbps include Kilmarnock (3.2Mbps), Dumfries (3.6Mbps), Canterbury (4Mbps) and Shrewsbury (4Mbps).
Fast pipes
The government has provided £530m to help local councils fill in the UK's blackspots. Cumbria, which has several areas in the top 10 slowest postcodes, received the biggest amount, with more than £17m to cope with its 96% of homes eligible for subsidies.
Councils will have to put some of their own money towards the costs, and some have been slow to get the projects off the ground.
For those in well-connected postcodes, the news is much better.
Both Virgin Media and BT have recently turned up the speed dial on their broadband services.
Virgin announced that broadband with speeds of up to 100Mbps was now available to 10 million homes, while BT pledged to offer some homes speeds of up to 300Mbps by 2013.
Dell misses analyst estimates
Dell Inc forecast fiscal first-quarter revenue below Wall Street's expectations, stoking fears the PC industry has not fully emerged from its downturn and sending the company's shares more than 4 per cent lower.
The world's No. 3 personal computer maker projected sales would be down 7 per cent this quarter from the previous quarter, when it posted revenue of $16 billion. That translates into about $14.9 billion, below the average forecast for roughly $15.2 billion.
Dell's fiscal fourth quarter earnings also came in below Wall Street's view as strength in its corporate business unit was offset by the weakness in the division that caters to public businesses.
Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden said profit margins for the quarter were hurt by a combination of weakness in US public spending, discounting of the leftover inventory of its previous generation phones and the lingering impact of the Thailand flood on its product mix.
"We just didn't get the mix of drives that we wanted and it really forced us to sell less configured lower-end systems and prevented us from accessing higher margin more highly configured systems," he said.
Gladden said he expected the hard-disk drive issues to continue this year.
PC makers have grappled with slackening demand as mobile devices such as Apple Inc's iPad erode market share, while a shortage of hard drives after flooding in Thailand crimped supply.
Investors were disappointed by the "lack of the upside in the quarter," ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall said. "It's going to take a little bit of time for Dell to turn around the tanker ship."
"They have $65 billion revenue and it takes a long time to move the needle to more strategically relevant revenue sources and we are just not seeing signs of progress yet," he said.
Dell has been trying to boost profit margins by getting out of low-margin businesses and focusing on being a one-stop-shop for business customers.
For fiscal 2013, the company said it expects non-GAAP earnings per share to exceed $2.13.
Enterprise business shines
Revenue in Dell's fiscal fourth quarter was up 2 per cent at $16 billion, in line with the average analyst estimate of $15.96 billion according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company posted a net income slide of 18 per cent to $764 million, or 43 cents a share, for the period, down from $927 million, or 48 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, it earned 51 cents a share, a penny below the 52 cents expected.
Dell's large-enterprise business held up well, increasing sales 5 per cent in the quarter to $4.9 billion, as corporations continued to upgrade aging hardware.
Gladden told Reuters that he expects business spending in Dell's enterprise unit to continue to be strong this quarter.
Dell's public business generated revenue of $3.9 billion, which was down 1 per cent from a year ago due to weakness in the United States and Western Europe while Dell's sales to consumers fell 2 per cent over the same period.
Dell's gross margin rose to 21.1 per cent from 20 per cent a year earlier.
The shares of Dell, which vies with market-leading Hewlett Packard Co, slid to $17.36 in extended trading after closing on Nasdaq at $18.21.
The world's No. 3 personal computer maker projected sales would be down 7 per cent this quarter from the previous quarter, when it posted revenue of $16 billion. That translates into about $14.9 billion, below the average forecast for roughly $15.2 billion.
Dell's fiscal fourth quarter earnings also came in below Wall Street's view as strength in its corporate business unit was offset by the weakness in the division that caters to public businesses.
Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden said profit margins for the quarter were hurt by a combination of weakness in US public spending, discounting of the leftover inventory of its previous generation phones and the lingering impact of the Thailand flood on its product mix.
"We just didn't get the mix of drives that we wanted and it really forced us to sell less configured lower-end systems and prevented us from accessing higher margin more highly configured systems," he said.
Gladden said he expected the hard-disk drive issues to continue this year.
PC makers have grappled with slackening demand as mobile devices such as Apple Inc's iPad erode market share, while a shortage of hard drives after flooding in Thailand crimped supply.
Investors were disappointed by the "lack of the upside in the quarter," ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall said. "It's going to take a little bit of time for Dell to turn around the tanker ship."
"They have $65 billion revenue and it takes a long time to move the needle to more strategically relevant revenue sources and we are just not seeing signs of progress yet," he said.
Dell has been trying to boost profit margins by getting out of low-margin businesses and focusing on being a one-stop-shop for business customers.
For fiscal 2013, the company said it expects non-GAAP earnings per share to exceed $2.13.
Enterprise business shines
Revenue in Dell's fiscal fourth quarter was up 2 per cent at $16 billion, in line with the average analyst estimate of $15.96 billion according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company posted a net income slide of 18 per cent to $764 million, or 43 cents a share, for the period, down from $927 million, or 48 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, it earned 51 cents a share, a penny below the 52 cents expected.
Dell's large-enterprise business held up well, increasing sales 5 per cent in the quarter to $4.9 billion, as corporations continued to upgrade aging hardware.
Gladden told Reuters that he expects business spending in Dell's enterprise unit to continue to be strong this quarter.
Dell's public business generated revenue of $3.9 billion, which was down 1 per cent from a year ago due to weakness in the United States and Western Europe while Dell's sales to consumers fell 2 per cent over the same period.
Dell's gross margin rose to 21.1 per cent from 20 per cent a year earlier.
The shares of Dell, which vies with market-leading Hewlett Packard Co, slid to $17.36 in extended trading after closing on Nasdaq at $18.21.
Russia shuts 9,000 child porn websites
Russia has shut down more than 9,000 internet pages of child pornography in 2011, senior official said in a conference.
"Some 20,000 complaints from citizens and organizations were processed by the League last year," Denis Davydov, the executive director of the Safe Internet League said yesterday.
He said most complaints, some 19,000, were against the circulation of child pornography. "Over 9,000 pages of child pornography were closed after we turned to the law enforcement bodies last year." Davydov added.
Complaints against narcotics propaganda rate second (637 complaints). "After the protests of the Safe Internet League, hazardous contents were removed from 164 cites," Davydov said.
As many as 18 criminal proceedings were instituted last year on the basis of the information the Safe Internet League had supplied.
"Some 20,000 complaints from citizens and organizations were processed by the League last year," Denis Davydov, the executive director of the Safe Internet League said yesterday.
He said most complaints, some 19,000, were against the circulation of child pornography. "Over 9,000 pages of child pornography were closed after we turned to the law enforcement bodies last year." Davydov added.
Complaints against narcotics propaganda rate second (637 complaints). "After the protests of the Safe Internet League, hazardous contents were removed from 164 cites," Davydov said.
As many as 18 criminal proceedings were instituted last year on the basis of the information the Safe Internet League had supplied.
Longest organ donor chain links 60 people in US
The world's longest chain of organ donations has been completed in the US, with 30 patients receiving a kidney from 30 living donors.
The chain connected people who had wanted to donate a kidney to a family member or friend, but were incompatible, with a suitable stranger.
Their loved one then received a kidney from someone else along the chain.
The complicated process lasted for four months and involved 17 hospitals across 11 states.
It started in August with a man called Rick Ruzzamenti, a 44-year-old electrician from California who decided he wanted to donate a kidney to a stranger.
It ended in December with 46-year-old Don Terry, of Joliet, Illinois, who has Type 2 diabetes and was at risk of dying of renal failure.
Because he had been unable to find a suitable donor within his family, Mr Terry had been put on a transplant waiting list and told it could take as long as five to 10 years.
A diabetes patient on dialysis typically does not have a long life expectancy and Mr Terry worried that he might not live to see his 50th birthday.
"What bothered me the most was the possibility of leaving family members like my mom and dad by themselves, and having them see their son pass away from an excruciating disease," he said.
'Love the stranger'
Mr Ruzzamenti's kidney was taken to New Jersey, to help a man whose own family wanted to donate but could not provide a suitable match.
The process continued until it reached the last donor in the chain - a 59-year-old California woman.
Her kidney was removed at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and flown to Loyola in Chicago to be given to Don Terry.
Mr Terry was unable to keep the chain going because his only sibling, a brother, is dead, and his elderly parents were unable to donate for medical reasons.
Following the surgery, Mr Terry, who is now back at work, said: "I think I have more energy now than I had when I was in my 20s.
"I have made it my life's mission to make people aware of kidney chains."
Mr Ruzzamenti told ABC News: "There's some virtue to being kind and helpful to your family and friends but that's easy.
"If the world can be kind and love the stranger and be as kind to them as to their family and friends, world problems would be solved."
Among the others who took part in the chain were Paulette Behan of West Chicago, and her younger sister, Sunni Stupka of Baldwyn, Mississippi.
Ms Behan needed a kidney transplant, but Ms Stupka's kidney did not match her immune system.
"It broke my heart," Ms Stupka said. "I felt like a failure, like I had let her down."
But thanks to the chain, Ms Behan received a kidney from a donor in Pittsburgh who matched her. In return, her sister donated a kidney to a matching patient in California.
Doctors hope that more donations like this record-breaking one can take place.
Dr John Milner, a transplant surgeon at Loyola University Medical Center said: "This is the best way for patients with incompatible donors to be transplanted quickly with the best results."
Around 400,000 Americans with kidney failure currently undergo daily dialysis, and 4,500 die each year while waiting for a transplant.
The first pooled kidney transplants in the UK took place in 2009.
The transplants involved a donor and recipient couple, who were known to each other but incompatible for transplantation, so were paired with two other donors and recipients in the same situation.
The chain connected people who had wanted to donate a kidney to a family member or friend, but were incompatible, with a suitable stranger.
Their loved one then received a kidney from someone else along the chain.
The complicated process lasted for four months and involved 17 hospitals across 11 states.
It started in August with a man called Rick Ruzzamenti, a 44-year-old electrician from California who decided he wanted to donate a kidney to a stranger.
It ended in December with 46-year-old Don Terry, of Joliet, Illinois, who has Type 2 diabetes and was at risk of dying of renal failure.
Because he had been unable to find a suitable donor within his family, Mr Terry had been put on a transplant waiting list and told it could take as long as five to 10 years.
A diabetes patient on dialysis typically does not have a long life expectancy and Mr Terry worried that he might not live to see his 50th birthday.
"What bothered me the most was the possibility of leaving family members like my mom and dad by themselves, and having them see their son pass away from an excruciating disease," he said.
'Love the stranger'
Mr Ruzzamenti's kidney was taken to New Jersey, to help a man whose own family wanted to donate but could not provide a suitable match.
The process continued until it reached the last donor in the chain - a 59-year-old California woman.
Her kidney was removed at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and flown to Loyola in Chicago to be given to Don Terry.
Mr Terry was unable to keep the chain going because his only sibling, a brother, is dead, and his elderly parents were unable to donate for medical reasons.
Following the surgery, Mr Terry, who is now back at work, said: "I think I have more energy now than I had when I was in my 20s.
"I have made it my life's mission to make people aware of kidney chains."
Mr Ruzzamenti told ABC News: "There's some virtue to being kind and helpful to your family and friends but that's easy.
"If the world can be kind and love the stranger and be as kind to them as to their family and friends, world problems would be solved."
Among the others who took part in the chain were Paulette Behan of West Chicago, and her younger sister, Sunni Stupka of Baldwyn, Mississippi.
Ms Behan needed a kidney transplant, but Ms Stupka's kidney did not match her immune system.
"It broke my heart," Ms Stupka said. "I felt like a failure, like I had let her down."
But thanks to the chain, Ms Behan received a kidney from a donor in Pittsburgh who matched her. In return, her sister donated a kidney to a matching patient in California.
Doctors hope that more donations like this record-breaking one can take place.
Dr John Milner, a transplant surgeon at Loyola University Medical Center said: "This is the best way for patients with incompatible donors to be transplanted quickly with the best results."
Around 400,000 Americans with kidney failure currently undergo daily dialysis, and 4,500 die each year while waiting for a transplant.
The first pooled kidney transplants in the UK took place in 2009.
The transplants involved a donor and recipient couple, who were known to each other but incompatible for transplantation, so were paired with two other donors and recipients in the same situation.
Four die in Afghanistan Koran burning protests
At least four people have been killed and 20 injured in Afghanistan after protests spread over the burning of copies of the Koran at a US airbase.
One person was killed in Kabul, one in the eastern city of Jalalabad and two in Parwan province.
US officials apologised on Tuesday after Korans were "inadvertently" put in an incinerator at Bagram airbase.
Officials at Bagram reportedly believed Taliban prisoners were using the books to pass messages to each other.
The charred remains of the volumes were found by local labourers.
Pro-Taliban slogans
Protesters in Kabul shouted, "Death to America!" and threw stones at Camp Phoenix, the main US base in the city.
Riot police used water cannon to disperse protesters, some of whom were blocking the road leading to Jalalabad, one of the main trade routes into the capital.
Witnesses said security guards were firing into the air. There were also reports of people chanting pro-Taliban slogans.
One protester in Kabul was killed and 10 wounded.
Two further deaths were reported in the Shinwari district of Parwan province, north of Kabul.
A doctor in Jalalabad told the BBC one person had been killed and 10 injured.
Protesters burned an effigy of US President Barack Obama in Jalalabad, and BBC Afghan reporter Babrak Miakhel said oil tankers had been set on fire.
One protester, 18-year-old Ajmal, told Reuters: "When the Americans insult us to this degree, we will join the insurgents."
The US embassy in Kabul is on lockdown and all travel is suspended.
"Everyone is emotional," Kabul resident Mohammad Naseer Malikzai told the BBC. "I am hurting and disappointed.
"I created a Facebook group where I was disputing with a lot of people. The American apology is useless."
Isaf investigation
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said he and Gen Allen apologised to the Afghan people "and disapprove of such conduct in the strongest possible terms".
After previous incidents, many Afghans find it hard to understand how US forces could have allowed the Koran to have been burned, says the BBC's Andrew North, in Kabul.
Afghanistan is a very religious country, he adds, but also one where many people are illiterate and susceptible to attempts to whip up anger.
Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.
The Nato-led Isaf force is now investigating the incident, a spokesman told the BBC.
"It was the local workers who discovered the nature of the material and therefore stopped worse things from happening," said Brig Gen Karsten Jacobson.
"But it was a mistake and that's what we're investigating at the moment: how did this come to be, what orders were given?
"But at the end of the day we have to stand to the fact a mistake was made and the commander apologised."
Last year, at least 24 people died in protests across Afghanistan after a hardline US pastor burned a Koran in Florida.
On Tuesday, one person was wounded and five detained after troops at Bagram, 60km (40 miles) north of Kabul, fired rubber bullets at protesters.
One person was killed in Kabul, one in the eastern city of Jalalabad and two in Parwan province.
US officials apologised on Tuesday after Korans were "inadvertently" put in an incinerator at Bagram airbase.
Officials at Bagram reportedly believed Taliban prisoners were using the books to pass messages to each other.
The charred remains of the volumes were found by local labourers.
Pro-Taliban slogans
Protesters in Kabul shouted, "Death to America!" and threw stones at Camp Phoenix, the main US base in the city.
Riot police used water cannon to disperse protesters, some of whom were blocking the road leading to Jalalabad, one of the main trade routes into the capital.
Witnesses said security guards were firing into the air. There were also reports of people chanting pro-Taliban slogans.
One protester in Kabul was killed and 10 wounded.
Two further deaths were reported in the Shinwari district of Parwan province, north of Kabul.
A doctor in Jalalabad told the BBC one person had been killed and 10 injured.
Protesters burned an effigy of US President Barack Obama in Jalalabad, and BBC Afghan reporter Babrak Miakhel said oil tankers had been set on fire.
One protester, 18-year-old Ajmal, told Reuters: "When the Americans insult us to this degree, we will join the insurgents."
The US embassy in Kabul is on lockdown and all travel is suspended.
"Everyone is emotional," Kabul resident Mohammad Naseer Malikzai told the BBC. "I am hurting and disappointed.
"I created a Facebook group where I was disputing with a lot of people. The American apology is useless."
Isaf investigation
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said he and Gen Allen apologised to the Afghan people "and disapprove of such conduct in the strongest possible terms".
After previous incidents, many Afghans find it hard to understand how US forces could have allowed the Koran to have been burned, says the BBC's Andrew North, in Kabul.
Afghanistan is a very religious country, he adds, but also one where many people are illiterate and susceptible to attempts to whip up anger.
Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.
The Nato-led Isaf force is now investigating the incident, a spokesman told the BBC.
"It was the local workers who discovered the nature of the material and therefore stopped worse things from happening," said Brig Gen Karsten Jacobson.
"But it was a mistake and that's what we're investigating at the moment: how did this come to be, what orders were given?
"But at the end of the day we have to stand to the fact a mistake was made and the commander apologised."
Last year, at least 24 people died in protests across Afghanistan after a hardline US pastor burned a Koran in Florida.
On Tuesday, one person was wounded and five detained after troops at Bagram, 60km (40 miles) north of Kabul, fired rubber bullets at protesters.
MPs warn over nuclear space bombs and solar flares
The government must take more seriously the threat of a nuclear weapon being exploded in space by a rogue state, MPs have warned.
The Defence Select Committee said the resulting radiation pulse could disrupt power and water supplies, UK defence and satellite navigation systems.
Its chairman, Tory MP James Arbuthnot, said an attack was "quite likely".
The committee is urging ministers to invest in more "hardened" technology to cope with such an event.
It looked at the threat to the UK's technological infrastructure from "electromagnetic pulse" (EMP) events in space, which could also include the eruption of solar flares.
'Quite likely'
The committee found the government was "somewhat complacent" about the risks to technology, such as the destruction of computer chips, which could put defence systems out of action.
Mr Arbuthnot told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The defence really is to build up the resilience of the electronic infrastructure by, over a period of time, replacing the incredibly delicate and vulnerable systems and chips and connections that we now have with the more hardened chips and connections and systems that are available at a not very expensive price, as you're doing your routine maintenance."
On the possibility of a nuclear missile being fired into space and exploded, he said: "I personally believe that it's quite likely to happen. It's a comparatively easy way of using a small number of nuclear weapons to cause devastating damage.
"The consequences if it did happen would be so devastating that we really ought to start protecting against it now, and our vulnerabilities are huge."
Mr Arbuthnot added: "it would actually have a far more devastating effect to use a nuclear weapon in this way than to explode a bomb in or on a city. The reason for that is it would, over a much wider area, take out things like the National Grid, on which we all rely for almost everything, take out the water system, the sewage system.
"And rapidly it would become very difficult to live in cities. I mean within a matter of a couple of days.
"I wish the government would address this with rather more energy and cohesion and focus. I think sooner rather than later."
Currently a severe "space weather" event would most likely be considered an "emergency" under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and require help from the armed forces.
But the committee called for a clearer picture of who has responsibility in such an event.
'Global threat'
The report insisted such threats should be considered by the National Security Council and civil contingency planners, with standards of protection developed for industries most in danger.
Conventional defence alone could not protect against the threat, it said.
In February last year a large solar flare erupted, disrupting flights over Pacific, but the bulk of the material emitted by the Sun passed by Earth.
The committee said sudden fluctuations in the magnetic field caused by weather in space or nuclear attack, could wipe out electricity and GPS, used by the military and financial markets.
It added: "Space weather is a global threat and may affect many regions and countries simultaneously."
This, the report said, meant countries should work together, but also that there was no guaranteed safe place from where help could come.
The report also urged the Ministry of Defence to plan for the loss or degradation of satellite-based communications systems in case they are damaged by severe space weather.
The Defence Select Committee said the resulting radiation pulse could disrupt power and water supplies, UK defence and satellite navigation systems.
Its chairman, Tory MP James Arbuthnot, said an attack was "quite likely".
The committee is urging ministers to invest in more "hardened" technology to cope with such an event.
It looked at the threat to the UK's technological infrastructure from "electromagnetic pulse" (EMP) events in space, which could also include the eruption of solar flares.
'Quite likely'
The committee found the government was "somewhat complacent" about the risks to technology, such as the destruction of computer chips, which could put defence systems out of action.
Mr Arbuthnot told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The defence really is to build up the resilience of the electronic infrastructure by, over a period of time, replacing the incredibly delicate and vulnerable systems and chips and connections that we now have with the more hardened chips and connections and systems that are available at a not very expensive price, as you're doing your routine maintenance."
On the possibility of a nuclear missile being fired into space and exploded, he said: "I personally believe that it's quite likely to happen. It's a comparatively easy way of using a small number of nuclear weapons to cause devastating damage.
"The consequences if it did happen would be so devastating that we really ought to start protecting against it now, and our vulnerabilities are huge."
Mr Arbuthnot added: "it would actually have a far more devastating effect to use a nuclear weapon in this way than to explode a bomb in or on a city. The reason for that is it would, over a much wider area, take out things like the National Grid, on which we all rely for almost everything, take out the water system, the sewage system.
"And rapidly it would become very difficult to live in cities. I mean within a matter of a couple of days.
"I wish the government would address this with rather more energy and cohesion and focus. I think sooner rather than later."
Currently a severe "space weather" event would most likely be considered an "emergency" under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and require help from the armed forces.
But the committee called for a clearer picture of who has responsibility in such an event.
'Global threat'
The report insisted such threats should be considered by the National Security Council and civil contingency planners, with standards of protection developed for industries most in danger.
Conventional defence alone could not protect against the threat, it said.
In February last year a large solar flare erupted, disrupting flights over Pacific, but the bulk of the material emitted by the Sun passed by Earth.
The committee said sudden fluctuations in the magnetic field caused by weather in space or nuclear attack, could wipe out electricity and GPS, used by the military and financial markets.
It added: "Space weather is a global threat and may affect many regions and countries simultaneously."
This, the report said, meant countries should work together, but also that there was no guaranteed safe place from where help could come.
The report also urged the Ministry of Defence to plan for the loss or degradation of satellite-based communications systems in case they are damaged by severe space weather.
Sentinel project research reveals UK GPS jammer use
The illegal use of Global Positioning System (GPS) jammers in the UK has been revealed in a groundbreaking study.
GPS jammers are believed to be mostly used by people driving vehicles fitted with tracking devices in order to mask their whereabouts.
In one location the Sentinel study recorded more than 60 GPS jamming incidents in six months.
The research follows concern that jammers could interfere with critical systems which rely on GPS.
The team behind the research believes it is the first study of its kind in the UK.
Its findings will be presented at the GNSS Vulnerability 2012: Present Danger, Future Threats conference held at the National Physical Laboratory on Wednesday.
Road watch
The Sentinel research project used 20 roadside monitors to detect jammer use.
"We think it's the only system of its kind in the world," Bob Cockshott of the ICT Knowledge Transfer Network and organiser of the conference told the BBC.
The sensors recorded every time a vehicle with a jammer passed by.
"We believe there's between 50 and 450 occurrences in the UK every day," said Charles Curry of Chronos Technology, the company leading the project, though he stressed that they were still analysing the data.
He told the BBC that evidence from the project suggested that most jammers were small portable devices with an area of effect of between 200m and 300m.
The project received £1.5m funding from the Technology Strategy Board and involved a number of partners including the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
Mr Curry said the research had also resulted in the detection and confiscation by the police of one jammer.
"We detected a pattern and they [the police] were able to go and sit and wait," he said.
Mr Curry said the research was also able to establish that jammers were responsible for interference experienced by Ordnance Survey equipment.
GPS jammers are widely available online, one reason Mr Cockshott believes the law around jammers needs tightening.
He thinks the Sentinel project should now work towards developing systems that will help catch those using jammers.
"The next step is to develop the system further so that it can be used for enforcement, so that you can detect a jammer in use and then relate it to the driver that's using it," he said.
Car headlight
Logistics and other companies often install GPS trackers so they can follow the movements of vehicles.
They are also used so vehicles carrying valuable loads can be tracked.
Researchers believe most GPS jammers are used to stop these devices working.
"A GPS satellite emits no more power than a car headlight, and with that it has to illuminate half the Earth's surface," Prof David Last, a past president of the Royal Institute of Navigation, told the BBC.
"A very, very low power jammer that broadcasts on the same radio frequency as the GPS will drown it out.
"Most of them are used by people who don't want their vehicles to be tracked," he said.
But the jamming technology can cause problems for other safety-critical systems using GPS.
In mobile phone and power networks GPS satellite signals are sometimes used as a source of accurate timing information.
GPS is even used to provide accurate time information for some computerised transactions in financial markets.
And other GPS navigation devices used by ships and light aircraft could also be affected by jammers.
In 2009 Newark airport in the US found some of its GPS based systems were suffering repeated interference.
The problem was eventually traced back to a truck driver using a GPS jammer.
GPS jammers are believed to be mostly used by people driving vehicles fitted with tracking devices in order to mask their whereabouts.
In one location the Sentinel study recorded more than 60 GPS jamming incidents in six months.
The research follows concern that jammers could interfere with critical systems which rely on GPS.
The team behind the research believes it is the first study of its kind in the UK.
Its findings will be presented at the GNSS Vulnerability 2012: Present Danger, Future Threats conference held at the National Physical Laboratory on Wednesday.
Road watch
The Sentinel research project used 20 roadside monitors to detect jammer use.
"We think it's the only system of its kind in the world," Bob Cockshott of the ICT Knowledge Transfer Network and organiser of the conference told the BBC.
The sensors recorded every time a vehicle with a jammer passed by.
"We believe there's between 50 and 450 occurrences in the UK every day," said Charles Curry of Chronos Technology, the company leading the project, though he stressed that they were still analysing the data.
He told the BBC that evidence from the project suggested that most jammers were small portable devices with an area of effect of between 200m and 300m.
The project received £1.5m funding from the Technology Strategy Board and involved a number of partners including the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
Mr Curry said the research had also resulted in the detection and confiscation by the police of one jammer.
"We detected a pattern and they [the police] were able to go and sit and wait," he said.
Mr Curry said the research was also able to establish that jammers were responsible for interference experienced by Ordnance Survey equipment.
GPS jammers are widely available online, one reason Mr Cockshott believes the law around jammers needs tightening.
He thinks the Sentinel project should now work towards developing systems that will help catch those using jammers.
"The next step is to develop the system further so that it can be used for enforcement, so that you can detect a jammer in use and then relate it to the driver that's using it," he said.
Car headlight
Logistics and other companies often install GPS trackers so they can follow the movements of vehicles.
They are also used so vehicles carrying valuable loads can be tracked.
Researchers believe most GPS jammers are used to stop these devices working.
"A GPS satellite emits no more power than a car headlight, and with that it has to illuminate half the Earth's surface," Prof David Last, a past president of the Royal Institute of Navigation, told the BBC.
"A very, very low power jammer that broadcasts on the same radio frequency as the GPS will drown it out.
"Most of them are used by people who don't want their vehicles to be tracked," he said.
But the jamming technology can cause problems for other safety-critical systems using GPS.
In mobile phone and power networks GPS satellite signals are sometimes used as a source of accurate timing information.
GPS is even used to provide accurate time information for some computerised transactions in financial markets.
And other GPS navigation devices used by ships and light aircraft could also be affected by jammers.
In 2009 Newark airport in the US found some of its GPS based systems were suffering repeated interference.
The problem was eventually traced back to a truck driver using a GPS jammer.
Indian American achieves breakthrough in computing technology
A firm headed by an Indian American has claimed to have achieved a breakthrough in Physics which will profoundly change the IT world and cut down ever-rising demand for power in computing.
At the core of this breakthrough is to get the element Germanium to act as a laser, for use as a light source on a new generation of mass produced silicon semiconductor chips using light particles or photons, instead of electronics for its functions- i.e. photonic chips.
The breakthrough by entrepreneur Dr Birendra Raj (Dutt) along with a top team of researchers at his own company APIC Corporation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University will result in computer chips providing much greater performance at a tiny fraction of current power usage.
IIT Kharagpur alumni Dutt is CEO of APIC Corporation.
"APIC has achieved creating a Germanium LASER, until now thought to be impossible. Take these results as the Kitty Hawk demonstration where it was shown that manned flight was achievable," said Tony Tether, former Director of US Defence research organisation DARPA.
Dutt and APIC have teamed with the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in New York State (CNSE), with a plan of producing a fully manufacturable photonic chip in 2 years using this technology.
"Both the scientific community and industry have been waiting for a breakthrough like this and I am extremely proud of my team," Dutt said.
"But I am most excited about the practical effect on the world. We will now be able to use photons for many of the information functions that electrons have performed on silicon computer chips -- drastically reducing their power consumption while supercharging their performance," he said.
"This could contribute immensely to India's efforts to put make online services widely available for the public, and especially in isolated areas," Dutt said.
Dutt said the computer industry may feel the biggest effects of this groundbreaking feat.
The explosion in Internet requirements and data centers worldwide has resulted in enormous amounts of energy needed to satisfy the demand of all these power-hungry
electronic processors.
Not only would Photonic chips use a fraction of the power currently needed, but because photons do not generate heat, much of the cooling used in computers and data centers also would be unnecessary, cascading the savings effect on the energy needed.
It will also reduce land and building requirements to accommodate the space and cooling equipment normally associated.
"Photonics is good for the environment." said Dutt.
"Photonic microprocessors will bring two enormous related advantages over conventional computing: speed-of-light communications and parallel processing," said Dutt.
"We have solved the latency problem that plagues multicore processors and complex computing," he added.
Programming has become extremely complicated to accommodate tiny differences in the times of arrival among electron signals to their cores, he noted adding that in in a photonic chip, all cores can talk to all other cores simultaneously, at the speed of light, so there is no delay.
"Photonics brings true parallel processing, emulating the human brain," said Dutt.
"Even the fastest computers today perform every function in serial, one after another, the same as they did last century. But the reason even a child can outthink most computers is that we process our information in parallel; we can access each memory and experience simultaneously, at once, to make a decision. Photonic microprocessors will be able to do that."
At the core of this breakthrough is to get the element Germanium to act as a laser, for use as a light source on a new generation of mass produced silicon semiconductor chips using light particles or photons, instead of electronics for its functions- i.e. photonic chips.
The breakthrough by entrepreneur Dr Birendra Raj (Dutt) along with a top team of researchers at his own company APIC Corporation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University will result in computer chips providing much greater performance at a tiny fraction of current power usage.
IIT Kharagpur alumni Dutt is CEO of APIC Corporation.
"APIC has achieved creating a Germanium LASER, until now thought to be impossible. Take these results as the Kitty Hawk demonstration where it was shown that manned flight was achievable," said Tony Tether, former Director of US Defence research organisation DARPA.
Dutt and APIC have teamed with the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in New York State (CNSE), with a plan of producing a fully manufacturable photonic chip in 2 years using this technology.
"Both the scientific community and industry have been waiting for a breakthrough like this and I am extremely proud of my team," Dutt said.
"But I am most excited about the practical effect on the world. We will now be able to use photons for many of the information functions that electrons have performed on silicon computer chips -- drastically reducing their power consumption while supercharging their performance," he said.
"This could contribute immensely to India's efforts to put make online services widely available for the public, and especially in isolated areas," Dutt said.
Dutt said the computer industry may feel the biggest effects of this groundbreaking feat.
The explosion in Internet requirements and data centers worldwide has resulted in enormous amounts of energy needed to satisfy the demand of all these power-hungry
electronic processors.
Not only would Photonic chips use a fraction of the power currently needed, but because photons do not generate heat, much of the cooling used in computers and data centers also would be unnecessary, cascading the savings effect on the energy needed.
It will also reduce land and building requirements to accommodate the space and cooling equipment normally associated.
"Photonics is good for the environment." said Dutt.
"Photonic microprocessors will bring two enormous related advantages over conventional computing: speed-of-light communications and parallel processing," said Dutt.
"We have solved the latency problem that plagues multicore processors and complex computing," he added.
Programming has become extremely complicated to accommodate tiny differences in the times of arrival among electron signals to their cores, he noted adding that in in a photonic chip, all cores can talk to all other cores simultaneously, at the speed of light, so there is no delay.
"Photonics brings true parallel processing, emulating the human brain," said Dutt.
"Even the fastest computers today perform every function in serial, one after another, the same as they did last century. But the reason even a child can outthink most computers is that we process our information in parallel; we can access each memory and experience simultaneously, at once, to make a decision. Photonic microprocessors will be able to do that."
Nokia to unveil cheaper Windows smartphone
Nokia will next week unveil a new, cheaper smartphone using Microsoft's Windows Phone software, targeting a wider market for its new range of smartphones, two sources close to the company said.
Cheaper phones are the key for Nokia and Microsoft in their battle to win a larger share of the market, analysts say.
In addition to the new Lumia 610 Nokia will also unveil at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona a global version of its high-end Lumia 900 phone, which AT&T is scheduled to roll out in the United States, the sources said.
Nokia is set to unveil the phones at a news conference next Monday, on Feb 27.
Nokia last year dumped its own smartphone software platforms in favour of Microsoft's Windows Phone, which has so far had a limited impact due to the high prices of phones using it.
Microsoft's share of the smartphone market fell to a mere 2 per cent last quarter, compared with 3 per cent a year ago and 13 per cent four years earlier, according to Strategy Analytics.
Cheaper phones are the key for Nokia and Microsoft in their battle to win a larger share of the market, analysts say.
In addition to the new Lumia 610 Nokia will also unveil at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona a global version of its high-end Lumia 900 phone, which AT&T is scheduled to roll out in the United States, the sources said.
Nokia is set to unveil the phones at a news conference next Monday, on Feb 27.
Nokia last year dumped its own smartphone software platforms in favour of Microsoft's Windows Phone, which has so far had a limited impact due to the high prices of phones using it.
Microsoft's share of the smartphone market fell to a mere 2 per cent last quarter, compared with 3 per cent a year ago and 13 per cent four years earlier, according to Strategy Analytics.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Cloud computing, apps power jobs growth in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is creating jobs and wealth for highly skilled workers but may be leaving some residents behind as employment closes in on pre-Great Recession levels, according to a report released Tuesday.
The 2012 Silicon Valley Index found job growth in the high-tech hub far outpaced America as a whole last year. The region added 42,000 jobs, a jump of nearly 4 percent, compared with a nationwide increase of little more than 1 percent.
The current unemployment rate in the region stands at 8.3 percent, the same as the national average but well below the overall state rate of 10.9 percent.
Job growth occurred in all major sectors of the Silicon Valley economy except manufacturing. Key industries adding jobs included cloud computing, mobile devices, mobile apps, Internet companies and social media.
"Silicon Valley does seem to be mounting a fairly impressive recovery," said Russell Hancock, president and chief executive of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a non-profit that compiles the index annually along with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. "We were the last to succumb to the national recession, and we appear to be the first emerging out of it."
Hancock said the improving economy hasn't resulted in the same widespread benefits as previous periods of growth. In the past, he said, advances in the high-tech industry would also create many mid-level jobs that served as the "spine" of Silicon Valley.
This time around, what Hancock called a "bonanza" for highly educated workers hasn't trickled down.
Per capita income for the four-county region covered by the index rose to $66,000 last year due to rising wealth among high earners.
The report does not provide a median income figure for 2011, but the number dropped by 3 percent between 2009 and 2010, and the percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches rose.
"Technology used to be this tide that would rise and lift all the boats," Hancock said. "That doesn't seem to be the case anymore."
Optimism among investors has helped drive the region's return to prosperity for those with the right science, engineering and business skills. Venture capital investments rose by 17 percent last year, the third increase in as many years following a sharp drop after the 2008 economic downturn.
Investments in software jumped in 2011, but the biggest leap was a doubling in backing for so-called clean technology. Most of the $3 billion poured into the industry went toward efforts to develop alternative energy sources.
Other signs that Silicon Valley was retaining its reputation as the country's innovation engine included a 30 percent surge in patent registrations in 2010 compared with the year before. The region's 13,300 new patents represented 12 percent of all the patents registered in the US that year, the report said.
The 2012 Silicon Valley Index found job growth in the high-tech hub far outpaced America as a whole last year. The region added 42,000 jobs, a jump of nearly 4 percent, compared with a nationwide increase of little more than 1 percent.
The current unemployment rate in the region stands at 8.3 percent, the same as the national average but well below the overall state rate of 10.9 percent.
Job growth occurred in all major sectors of the Silicon Valley economy except manufacturing. Key industries adding jobs included cloud computing, mobile devices, mobile apps, Internet companies and social media.
"Silicon Valley does seem to be mounting a fairly impressive recovery," said Russell Hancock, president and chief executive of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a non-profit that compiles the index annually along with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. "We were the last to succumb to the national recession, and we appear to be the first emerging out of it."
Hancock said the improving economy hasn't resulted in the same widespread benefits as previous periods of growth. In the past, he said, advances in the high-tech industry would also create many mid-level jobs that served as the "spine" of Silicon Valley.
This time around, what Hancock called a "bonanza" for highly educated workers hasn't trickled down.
Per capita income for the four-county region covered by the index rose to $66,000 last year due to rising wealth among high earners.
The report does not provide a median income figure for 2011, but the number dropped by 3 percent between 2009 and 2010, and the percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches rose.
"Technology used to be this tide that would rise and lift all the boats," Hancock said. "That doesn't seem to be the case anymore."
Optimism among investors has helped drive the region's return to prosperity for those with the right science, engineering and business skills. Venture capital investments rose by 17 percent last year, the third increase in as many years following a sharp drop after the 2008 economic downturn.
Investments in software jumped in 2011, but the biggest leap was a doubling in backing for so-called clean technology. Most of the $3 billion poured into the industry went toward efforts to develop alternative energy sources.
Other signs that Silicon Valley was retaining its reputation as the country's innovation engine included a 30 percent surge in patent registrations in 2010 compared with the year before. The region's 13,300 new patents represented 12 percent of all the patents registered in the US that year, the report said.
Mobiles can affect pacemakers: DoT
People with medical implants like pacemakers must not keep their cellphones in their shirt pockets.
The latest directive by the department of telecommunication says that "people having active medical implants should preferably keep the cellphone at least 15cm away from the implant" . An office memorandum circulated by the ministry of communications and IT on January 25 says manufacturer's mobile handset booklets will have to contain the safety precaution.
Sachin Pilot, MoS for communications and IT, said this was one of the recommendations made by the inter-ministerial panel that DoT has accepted . "Necessary changes in the design and packaging for compliance with this instruction will have to be in place by September 1," Pilot said.
Dr Aparna Jaswal, senior cardiologist at Escorts Heart Research Centre, said it is safe for patients with implants to talk on a cellphone, but they must avoid placing it directly over the pacemaker.
"The pacemaker could misinterpret the cellphone signal as a heartbeat and withhold pacing, producing symptoms such as sudden fatigue . The phone must be kept six inches away from pacemaker and the patient must talk on the phone from the ear not close to the site," he added.
According to the US FDA, radio frequency energy (RF) from cellphones can interact with pacemakers which are called electromagnetic interference (EMI). If EMI occur, it could affect a pacemaker in three ways: stopping the device from delivering the stimulating pulses that regulate heart's rhythm, cause it to deliver the pulses irregularly or cause the implant to ignore the heart's own rhythm.
The ministry's memorandum says cellphone manufacturers must mention the following : use wireless or handsfree with a low power bluetooth emitter, make sure phone has a low SAR, keep calls short or send SMS instead.
The latest directive by the department of telecommunication says that "people having active medical implants should preferably keep the cellphone at least 15cm away from the implant" . An office memorandum circulated by the ministry of communications and IT on January 25 says manufacturer's mobile handset booklets will have to contain the safety precaution.
Sachin Pilot, MoS for communications and IT, said this was one of the recommendations made by the inter-ministerial panel that DoT has accepted . "Necessary changes in the design and packaging for compliance with this instruction will have to be in place by September 1," Pilot said.
Dr Aparna Jaswal, senior cardiologist at Escorts Heart Research Centre, said it is safe for patients with implants to talk on a cellphone, but they must avoid placing it directly over the pacemaker.
"The pacemaker could misinterpret the cellphone signal as a heartbeat and withhold pacing, producing symptoms such as sudden fatigue . The phone must be kept six inches away from pacemaker and the patient must talk on the phone from the ear not close to the site," he added.
According to the US FDA, radio frequency energy (RF) from cellphones can interact with pacemakers which are called electromagnetic interference (EMI). If EMI occur, it could affect a pacemaker in three ways: stopping the device from delivering the stimulating pulses that regulate heart's rhythm, cause it to deliver the pulses irregularly or cause the implant to ignore the heart's own rhythm.
The ministry's memorandum says cellphone manufacturers must mention the following : use wireless or handsfree with a low power bluetooth emitter, make sure phone has a low SAR, keep calls short or send SMS instead.
Samsung Galaxy S III to be 7mm thick
As widely expected, Samsung is not unveiling its Galaxy S III smartphone at forthcoming the Mobile World Congress show. The company reportedly seems to be going the Apple way and plans to host it own big event to tout the device.
There are speculations that Samsung may be timing its launch around iPad 3 unveilng, to steal the Apple tablet's thunder.
As for specs, Galaxy S III is reported to have Super AMOLED HD display similar to the Galaxy Nexus, but in a 4.65-inch size and with a 720p resolution. Also, the upcoming smartphone is expected to be just 7mm in thickness.
There are speculations that Samsung may be timing its launch around iPad 3 unveilng, to steal the Apple tablet's thunder.
As for specs, Galaxy S III is reported to have Super AMOLED HD display similar to the Galaxy Nexus, but in a 4.65-inch size and with a 720p resolution. Also, the upcoming smartphone is expected to be just 7mm in thickness.
U.S. to Clear Google's Deal
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Justice Department is poised to clear Google Inc.'s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, giving Google a powerful armory of technology patents to deploy in the smartphone wars.
However, antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and Europe remain concerned about Google's commitment to license Motorola patents to competitors on fair terms, those people said, and will closely monitor Google's use of the patents. The European Commission has set a Monday deadline to decide whether to approve the acquisition.
The Justice Department also is set to clear a second tech-patent deal that has raised antitrust concerns in the smartphone industry. It will allow a consortium of tech companies including Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. to acquire a trove of patents from bankrupt Canadian telecom-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. for $4.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said. Investigators had been looking at whether those tech companies were planning to use the patents to unfairly hobble competing smartphones using Google's Android software.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
The decisions by the Justice Department and European Union come as such tech-industry companies as Apple, Samsung Electronics Co., HTC Corp. and Motorola have locked horns in courtrooms around the world over patent issues. While the lawsuits have spanned a range of patents, some have alleged infringement of patents for technologies such as Wi-Fi and 3G communications that are essential to making smartphones.
When those technologies were turned into industry standards, the companies involved agreed to issue licenses for their patents under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, also known as FRAND. Questions about those commitments have become a hot topic as some technology companies have sought injunctions barring sales of products alleged to have infringed FRAND patents.
Motorola, for example, alleged in a German court that some of Apple's iPhones and iPads infringed its FRAND patent, and it got an injunction. As a result, Apple last week suspended some sales at its German online store until the injunction was lifted.
As the lawsuits have continued, some companies, including Apple, have expressed interest in creating frameworks for how FRAND patents should be licensed and litigated. Microsoft, for example, promised on Wednesday to license its FRAND patents in a fair way. It said it wouldn't seek court injunctions against any company that it believes has violated its standard essential patents. It also said it wouldn't transfer those patents to a third party, such as a patent-litigation firm, unless they adhere to Microsoft's promise.
Apple has made similar promises, while also becoming a proponent of the issue. In November, the iPhone maker sent a letter to a European standards organization recommending a framework for creating consistent FRAND royalty rates and ensuring that no company attempts to block sales of allegedly infringing products through an injunction.
"It is apparent that our industry suffers from a lack of consistent adherence to FRAND principles," wrote Bruce Watrous, Apple's head of intellectual property.
Cisco Systems Inc. has also spoken out on this issue. In a previously undisclosed letter written at the end of January, the company said it supported Apple's efforts, adding that "the telecommunications industry would benefit from a more consistent and transparent application of FRAND."
On Wednesday, Google sent letters to dozens of standards organizations promising that it would offer licenses for FRAND patents in Motorola's portfolio. Unlike Apple and Microsoft, however, it didn't rule out seeking injunctions against any potential violators.
"Google will not apply for injunctive relief against a willing licensee," the Internet company wrote in its letter. A willing licensee, according to the letter, would meet certain conditions that include providing sales estimates and paying royalties into an escrow account. Google didn't say how it would act toward unwilling licensees, though it added that it "reserves its right to seek any and all appropriate judicial remedies against counterparties" that refuse to license its FRAND patents.
Microsoft said in a blog post on Wednesday that it, along with other tech companies, had been discussing these concerns with antitrust enforcers in recent months. "In these discussions, we have offered our view that any patent holder that promises to make its standard essential patents available on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms should do just that. That means that such patent holders should not seek to block shipments of competing products just because they implement an industry standard," it said.
However, antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and Europe remain concerned about Google's commitment to license Motorola patents to competitors on fair terms, those people said, and will closely monitor Google's use of the patents. The European Commission has set a Monday deadline to decide whether to approve the acquisition.
The Justice Department also is set to clear a second tech-patent deal that has raised antitrust concerns in the smartphone industry. It will allow a consortium of tech companies including Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. to acquire a trove of patents from bankrupt Canadian telecom-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. for $4.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said. Investigators had been looking at whether those tech companies were planning to use the patents to unfairly hobble competing smartphones using Google's Android software.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
The decisions by the Justice Department and European Union come as such tech-industry companies as Apple, Samsung Electronics Co., HTC Corp. and Motorola have locked horns in courtrooms around the world over patent issues. While the lawsuits have spanned a range of patents, some have alleged infringement of patents for technologies such as Wi-Fi and 3G communications that are essential to making smartphones.
When those technologies were turned into industry standards, the companies involved agreed to issue licenses for their patents under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, also known as FRAND. Questions about those commitments have become a hot topic as some technology companies have sought injunctions barring sales of products alleged to have infringed FRAND patents.
Motorola, for example, alleged in a German court that some of Apple's iPhones and iPads infringed its FRAND patent, and it got an injunction. As a result, Apple last week suspended some sales at its German online store until the injunction was lifted.
As the lawsuits have continued, some companies, including Apple, have expressed interest in creating frameworks for how FRAND patents should be licensed and litigated. Microsoft, for example, promised on Wednesday to license its FRAND patents in a fair way. It said it wouldn't seek court injunctions against any company that it believes has violated its standard essential patents. It also said it wouldn't transfer those patents to a third party, such as a patent-litigation firm, unless they adhere to Microsoft's promise.
Apple has made similar promises, while also becoming a proponent of the issue. In November, the iPhone maker sent a letter to a European standards organization recommending a framework for creating consistent FRAND royalty rates and ensuring that no company attempts to block sales of allegedly infringing products through an injunction.
"It is apparent that our industry suffers from a lack of consistent adherence to FRAND principles," wrote Bruce Watrous, Apple's head of intellectual property.
Cisco Systems Inc. has also spoken out on this issue. In a previously undisclosed letter written at the end of January, the company said it supported Apple's efforts, adding that "the telecommunications industry would benefit from a more consistent and transparent application of FRAND."
On Wednesday, Google sent letters to dozens of standards organizations promising that it would offer licenses for FRAND patents in Motorola's portfolio. Unlike Apple and Microsoft, however, it didn't rule out seeking injunctions against any potential violators.
"Google will not apply for injunctive relief against a willing licensee," the Internet company wrote in its letter. A willing licensee, according to the letter, would meet certain conditions that include providing sales estimates and paying royalties into an escrow account. Google didn't say how it would act toward unwilling licensees, though it added that it "reserves its right to seek any and all appropriate judicial remedies against counterparties" that refuse to license its FRAND patents.
Microsoft said in a blog post on Wednesday that it, along with other tech companies, had been discussing these concerns with antitrust enforcers in recent months. "In these discussions, we have offered our view that any patent holder that promises to make its standard essential patents available on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms should do just that. That means that such patent holders should not seek to block shipments of competing products just because they implement an industry standard," it said.
Wolfram Alpha unveils premium 'Pro' analysis service
Wolfram Alpha is about to allow users to analyse and manipulate their own data - including pictures and sounds.
The service is part of a new "pro" version of the data search and analysis engine to be launched on Wednesday.
Chief executive Stephen Wolfram said it was his firm's "biggest single step" since launching the computational tool two-and-a-half years ago.
Users need to pay for advanced features. The firm said it hoped this would become its main source of money.
At present, users of Wolfram Alpha's free "knowledge engine" are able to ask it plain language questions or input mathematical equations. The site then computes answers, making reference to the firm's restricted store of verified information where appropriate.
Under the pro version, users can upload their own data sets or other information which can then be cross-referenced against the company's own records.
'Program on the fly'
Mr Wolfram gave an example of providing the site with murder statistics for different countries in the world. The advanced service was then able to compute murder rates based on its own knowledge of the various states' population sizes, and offered maps and other readouts showing comparisons.
"What's happening is you are giving freeform input, and Wolfram Alpha is creating a program on the fly to create the interactivity that you use," he said.
Results can then be exported as customisable graphs, 3D interactive objects and other formats for use elsewhere.
Mr Wolfram also showed off the site's ability to cope with pictures uploading a picture of an ostrich. After a short pause the site provided information about dominant colours in the photo and other characteristics. Limited editing functions were possible including user-defined blurs and edge tracing.
The site can also provide linguistic analysis. Mr Wolfram demonstrated its ability to provide information about sentence lengths and the most common words used in an uploaded text of Alice in Wonderland.
Wolfram Alpha pro screenshot The site can accept scanned text - and then analyse its contents
Other types of analysable data include sounds, 3D object designs and molecules. In total about 60 different formats are compatible with the site.
Subscription fees
For the time being, size limits will apply - any file requiring minutes, rather than seconds, worth of analysis will be rejected. However, Mr Wolfram said that might change in the future.
He also said there were ambitions to add features such as the ability to count identical objects in a photo, such as buttons - and even report what it showed.
"We hope to offer more elaborate image recognition - but it's a tough problem," Mr Wolfram said.
The British-born inventor said his firm was already profitable thanks to Wolfram Alpha app sales, deals to provide the service to third parties and licences for its Mathematica software that powers its website.
However, he said he hoped plans to charge users for subscriptions to the new service would alter its business plan.
The standard fee will be $4.99 (£3.15) a month and $2.99 for students.
"We would like it to be the dominant revenue stream as our personal model is to provide services straight to users," he said.
Apple's iPhone 4S will continue to access the basic version of the service - but mobile apps will be made available to help smartphone and tablet users access the advanced engine for a charge.
The announcement was welcomed by one UK-based university lecturer.
"What's already on the market are relatively expensive stand-alone software products that can cost several thousand pounds for a licence - even to an academic," said Professor Alan Woodward, from the department of computing at the University of Surrey.
"Not all professors or students do data analysis on a regular basis - but would like access ad hoc.
"This kind of software-as-a-service will be useful to people in social sciences, engineering, management studies and a wide range of other disciplines."
The service is part of a new "pro" version of the data search and analysis engine to be launched on Wednesday.
Chief executive Stephen Wolfram said it was his firm's "biggest single step" since launching the computational tool two-and-a-half years ago.
Users need to pay for advanced features. The firm said it hoped this would become its main source of money.
At present, users of Wolfram Alpha's free "knowledge engine" are able to ask it plain language questions or input mathematical equations. The site then computes answers, making reference to the firm's restricted store of verified information where appropriate.
Under the pro version, users can upload their own data sets or other information which can then be cross-referenced against the company's own records.
'Program on the fly'
Mr Wolfram gave an example of providing the site with murder statistics for different countries in the world. The advanced service was then able to compute murder rates based on its own knowledge of the various states' population sizes, and offered maps and other readouts showing comparisons.
"What's happening is you are giving freeform input, and Wolfram Alpha is creating a program on the fly to create the interactivity that you use," he said.
Results can then be exported as customisable graphs, 3D interactive objects and other formats for use elsewhere.
Mr Wolfram also showed off the site's ability to cope with pictures uploading a picture of an ostrich. After a short pause the site provided information about dominant colours in the photo and other characteristics. Limited editing functions were possible including user-defined blurs and edge tracing.
The site can also provide linguistic analysis. Mr Wolfram demonstrated its ability to provide information about sentence lengths and the most common words used in an uploaded text of Alice in Wonderland.
Wolfram Alpha pro screenshot The site can accept scanned text - and then analyse its contents
Other types of analysable data include sounds, 3D object designs and molecules. In total about 60 different formats are compatible with the site.
Subscription fees
For the time being, size limits will apply - any file requiring minutes, rather than seconds, worth of analysis will be rejected. However, Mr Wolfram said that might change in the future.
He also said there were ambitions to add features such as the ability to count identical objects in a photo, such as buttons - and even report what it showed.
"We hope to offer more elaborate image recognition - but it's a tough problem," Mr Wolfram said.
The British-born inventor said his firm was already profitable thanks to Wolfram Alpha app sales, deals to provide the service to third parties and licences for its Mathematica software that powers its website.
However, he said he hoped plans to charge users for subscriptions to the new service would alter its business plan.
The standard fee will be $4.99 (£3.15) a month and $2.99 for students.
"We would like it to be the dominant revenue stream as our personal model is to provide services straight to users," he said.
Apple's iPhone 4S will continue to access the basic version of the service - but mobile apps will be made available to help smartphone and tablet users access the advanced engine for a charge.
The announcement was welcomed by one UK-based university lecturer.
"What's already on the market are relatively expensive stand-alone software products that can cost several thousand pounds for a licence - even to an academic," said Professor Alan Woodward, from the department of computing at the University of Surrey.
"Not all professors or students do data analysis on a regular basis - but would like access ad hoc.
"This kind of software-as-a-service will be useful to people in social sciences, engineering, management studies and a wide range of other disciplines."
Iberry Plans ‘India’s first’ Android 4.0 Tablet Launch in March
A Hong Kong based electronics manufacturer, iberry is all set to launch India’s first Android 4.0 tablet. This tablet will be called as Auxus AX02 and it will run Ice Cream Sandwich.
A Hong Kong based electronic manufacturer, iberry HK is said to have established a shop in Chennai and is looking for launching India’s first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich based tablet. The company is expected to successfully launch the tablet as apart from the existing tablets featuring ICS all the other big companies will be introducing Android 4.0 based tablets later.
The tablet to be launched by iberry will be called as the Auxus AX02 and will run the Ice Cream Sandwich. As of now, company offers two products and both of them run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
The AX02 is expected to sport a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen, HDMI-out and also a dual-core CPU. From the images revealed by the company, it seems that the tablet will come equipped with front facing camera and a physical home button kind of. Thus, it will be really interesting to see India’s first Android 4.0 based tablet especially in physical form.
A Hong Kong based electronic manufacturer, iberry HK is said to have established a shop in Chennai and is looking for launching India’s first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich based tablet. The company is expected to successfully launch the tablet as apart from the existing tablets featuring ICS all the other big companies will be introducing Android 4.0 based tablets later.
The tablet to be launched by iberry will be called as the Auxus AX02 and will run the Ice Cream Sandwich. As of now, company offers two products and both of them run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
The AX02 is expected to sport a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen, HDMI-out and also a dual-core CPU. From the images revealed by the company, it seems that the tablet will come equipped with front facing camera and a physical home button kind of. Thus, it will be really interesting to see India’s first Android 4.0 based tablet especially in physical form.
Coalition fails to agree cuts
Greek PM Lucas Papademos has failed to secure the support of his coalition for a raft of new austerity measures, after more than seven hours of talks.
He met officials from three parties to try to secure a deal leading to a fresh bailout package.
The main stumbling block was proposed pension cuts, reports said.
Immediately after the talks ended, Mr Papademos held a meeting with officials from the "troika" of bailout creditors which broke up after several hours.
A statement issued by the prime minister's office said the aim of the meeting with the troika - representatives from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - was to "conclude the agreement" before Thursday's meeting of eurozone finance ministers.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is travelling to Brussels to explain the sticking points of the deal to the Eurogroup.
"I leave for Brussels with hope that the Eurogroup will take a positive decision concerning the new aid plan," Mr Venizelos said prior to his departure from Athens.
"There was broad agreement on all the program issues with the exception of one, which requires further elaboration and discussion with the troika," the prime minister's office said.
'Serious reservations'
The main problem appears to be pension cuts worth 600m euros reportedly proposed in a draft text agreed by the troika and the prime minister. The document is also said to include a 20% minimum wage reduction and the sacking of 15,000 public sector workers.
The details were put to the leaders of Pasok, New Democracy and the far-right Laos party on Wednesday morning.
The government was said to be looking for 300m euros to be cut from supplementary and basic pensions while the creditors are reported to have allowed a further 15 days for the rest of the money to be found in savings elsewhere.
Continue reading the main story
Greek deadlines
This week: Eurozone finance ministers to hold a meeting or conference call to approve the latest bailout, as soon as Greek politicians agree to conditions
15 February: The latest a deal can be finalised in order to allow enough time for the Greek debt exchange, according to the Commission
20 March: Greece must have received its next tranche of bailout cash to meet a 14bn euro debt payment
April: Greek elections expected
Gavin Hewitt: Europe waits on Athens
According to Laos leader George Karatzaferis, the bulk of Wednesday's late night meeting was spent discussing the issue of supplementary pensions.
Mr Papademos's office said Mr Karatzaferis had expressed "serious reservations" during the meeting.
As he left, Mr Karatzaferis told reporters: "I made my positions clear from the beginning... I wanted to support Mr Samaras (New Democracy leader) on that issue (pensions)."
Antonis Samaras said he had felt obliged to bargain hard.
"We want to ease the people's suffering,'' he said.
However, the BBC's Mark Lowen, in Athens, says the package of cuts and reforms would go down very badly with an austerity weary Greek nation.
According to unconfirmed reports in the Greek media, the measures were aimed at trimming 3.2bn euros (£2.7bn; $4.2bn):
Minimum wage to be cut by 22% from 751 euros per month to 600 euros.
Supplementary pensions to be reduced by 15% but basic pensions also likely to be cut
15,000 public sector jobs to go by end of 2012
But holiday bonuses, known as 13th and 14th month salaries, expected to be saved
As part of Greece's new 130bn euro ($170bn; £110bn) bailout deal - Greece's second international bailout - Mr Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos have also been engaged in a separate strand of negotiations with private creditors over a write-off of up to 70% of the value of the money owed by the Greek government.
Three officials from the the International Institute of Finance (IIF), which is negotiating on behalf of the private creditors, completed talks on Tuesday night and returned to Paris.
Zebra stripes evolved to keep biting flies at bay
Why zebras evolved their characteristic black-and-white stripes has been the subject of decades of debate among scientists.
Now researchers from Hungary and Sweden claim to have solved the mystery.
The stripes, they say, came about to keep away blood-sucking flies.
They report in the Journal of Experimental Biology that this pattern of narrow stripes makes zebras "unattractive" to the flies.
They key to this effect is in how the striped patterns reflect light.
"We started off studying horses with black, brown or white coats," explained Susanne Akesson from Lund University, a member of the international research team that carried out the study.
"We found that in the black and brown horses, we get horizontally polarised light." This effect made the dark-coloured horses very attractive to flies.
It means that the light that bounces off the horse's dark coat - and travels in waves to the eyes of a hungry fly - moves along a horizontal plane, like a snake slithering along with its body flat to the floor.
Zebra (Equus grevyi) (c) Journal of Experimental Biology
There are many theories about why zebras are striped
Scientists have proposed that the mass of stripes in a large herd confuses predators
Others have shown that stripes may help the animals regulate their temperature, and that zebras recognise other individuals by their stripes
Studies of zebra embryos show that, early in development, they are black and they develop their white stripes later
Horses, donkeys and zebras videos, news and facts
Dr Akesson and her colleagues found that horseflies, or tabanids, were very attracted by these "flat" waves of light.
"From a white coat, you get unpolarised light [reflected]," she explained. Unpolarised light waves travel along any and every plane, and are much less attractive to flies. As a result, white-coated horses are much less troubled by horseflies than their dark-coloured relatives.
Having discovered the flies' preference for dark coats, the team then became interested in zebras. They wanted to know what kind of light would bounce off the striped body of a zebra, and how this would affect the biting flies that are a horse's most irritating enemy.
"We created an experimental set-up where we painted the different patterns onto boards," Dr Akesson told BBC Nature.
She and her colleagues placed a blackboard, a whiteboard, and several boards with stripes of varying widths into one of the fields of a horse farm in rural Hungary.
"We put insect glue on the boards and counted the number of flies that each one attracted," she explained.
Horsefly (c) Gabor Horvath Horseflies prevent the animals they bite from grazing, as well as carrying blood-borne diseases
The striped board that was the closest match to the actual pattern of a zebra's coat attracted by far the fewest flies, "even less than the white boards that were reflecting unpolarised light," Dr Akesson said.
"That was a surprise because, in a striped pattern, you still have these dark areas that are reflecting horizontally polarised light.
"But the narrower (and more zebra-like) the stripes, the less attractive they were to the flies."
To test horseflies' reaction to a more realistic 3-D target, the team put four life-size "sticky horse models " into the field - one brown, one black, one white and one black-and-white striped, like a zebra.
The researchers collected the trapped flies every two days, and found that the zebra-striped horse model attracted the fewest.
Prof Matthew Cobb, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Manchester pointed out that the experiment was "rigorous and fascinating" but did not exclude the other hypotheses about the origin of zebras' stripes.
"Above all, for this explanation to be true, the authors would have to show that tabanid fly bites are a major selection pressure on zebras, but not on horses and donkeys found elsewhere in the world... none of which are stripy," he told BBC Nature.
"[They] recognise this in their study, and my hunch is that there is not a single explanation and that many factors are involved in the zebra's stripes.
Stockholm’s vintage style
With Stockholm Fashion Week currently taking place (6 to 12 February), Sweden’s prowess for fashion is on full display. While the city’s Nordic chic style – simple, clean, monochromatic and layered – is internationally renowned, the city’s general lifestyle is all about reuse, recycling and sustainability, which is reflected in the ever-growing popularity of vintage and secondhand shops.
Stockholm has a slew of offbeat boutiques and vintage crannies, most of which are clustered within walking distance in the bohemian neighbourhood of Södermalm. “SoFo” – an area south of Folkungagatan in Södermalm – has arguably more vintage stores per block than any other area in the city.
Throwback style
Sweden has always been open to importing fashion trends, especially from the United States. You can find 1940s and 1950s clothing and accessories at boutique Sivletto, spanning different fashion subcultures like Rockabilly, Tiki and Hot Rod. The store also sells interior decor and vintage furniture, and has a pinball machine and hair salon.
Judits Second Hand also pays homage to the 1950s, as well as the ‘60s and ‘70s, and carries selected vintage items from fashion designers like Chanel, Chloe, Dior, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. It has an adjourning men’s section (Herr Judits) that caters to male vintage style. Dating back to the late 1960s, Emmaus Second Hand is a collection of three interlinked stores: a children’s store, a designer/vintage store and the original general shop.
If you are looking for more classic turn-of-the-century wear, you can find dresses, jewellery and hats inspired by the 1920s at Old Touch, with their oldest vintage item on display from the 1890s.
Rocking footwear
You do not have to be a collector of running shoes or high tops to appreciate Sneakersnstuff’s selection of colourful, funky and limited edition sneakers. The vintage shoe store carries brands such as classic Converse Chuck Taylor’s, Adidas Stan Smith's, Puma Suedes, New Balance 577's, Nike Air Force 1's and Air Max 1's, as well as its own label SNS. The store also carries sportswear and clothing to rock along with your vintage soles.
Lisa Larsson has been around for more than 15 years and remains one of the most popular secondhand boutiques in the city. In addition to carrying vintage dresses, leather jackets and couture clothing, the store is also known for its vintage shoe selection and designer shoe brands.
Home improvement
If rare antiques, exclusive ceramics, unique interior decor and unusual souvenirs are your thing, Stockholm’s antique scene will not disappoint.
Pick up expensive porcelain and Art Nouveau ceramics from Bacchus antique, where you will find traditionally-designed wares from the early 1900s. The store carries a lot of high-priced art glass, including tableware and lamps. Modernity also serves up pricey handmade jewellery, textiles, art, ceramics, lighting and glassware.
For more moderately-priced rarities, check out Wigerdals Värld which carries a selection of glass and ceramics as well as furniture like antique sofas, easy lounging chairs and coffee tables.
Retro shopping
Located in a basement that was once used by fishmongers, Beyond Retro is one of the premier spots for vintage shopping. If you like digging through rows and rows of goods, you will have fun digging through the more than 35,000 items, available across its three city stores. You can pick through Victorian-era attire, 1920s beaded flapper dresses, 1930s evening gowns, 1980s prom dresses, 1990s grunge-rock inspired denim wear, hats, wigs, accessories and much more. A two-storey sister store is located along Stockholm’s famous pedestrian street, Drottninggatan, as well as another at Brännkyrkagatan 82.
For your classic Salvation Army-type secondhand store, Myrorna has many shops all over the country, including 11 stores in Stockholm alone. You can wade through piles of clothes, shoes, books, home decor, furnishings, kitchen items, appliances and electronics all day.
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