11/02/2010
WASHINGTON – Google
WASHINGTON – Google
Inc. plans to build a handful
of experimental, ultra-fast
broadband networks
around the country to
connect consumers to the
Internet and ensure that
tomorrow's systems can
keep up with online video
and other advanced
applications that the search
company will want to
deliver.
The Google project,
announced Wednesday, is
also intended to provide a
platform for outside
developers to create and
try out all sorts of cutting-
edge applications that will
require far more bandwidth
than today's networks
offer.
The company said its
testbed fiber-optic
networks will deliver speeds
of 1 gigabit per second to
as many as 500,000
Americans. That would be
roughly 50 to 300 times
faster than the DSL, cable
and fiber-optic networks
that connect most U.S.
homes to the Internet
today, at speeds typically
ranging from 3 megabits to
20 megabits per second.
Google envisions systems
that will enable consumers
to download a high-
definition, full-length
feature film in less than five
minutes; allow rural health
clinics to send 3-D medical
images over the Internet;
and let students collaborate
with classmates around the
world while watching live 3-
D video of a university
lecture.
"Our goal is to trial new
technologies and figure out
what kinds of applications
you can send over these
big pipes," said Richard
Whitt, Google's
Washington-based counsel
for telecommunications and
media. "There may be next-
generation applications that
are being held back right
now."
Facebook10/02/2010
the past few years.
NEW YORK – Sprint Nextel
Corp. managed to slow
down the rate of subscriber
loss in the fourth quarter,
an encouraging sign for a
wireless carrier that has lost
millions of customers over
the past few years.
Sprint, the third-largest
U.S. wireless carrier, said
Wednesday that it lost a
net 148,000 subscribers
during the last three
months of 2009, far fewer
than the 545,000 who fled
in the third quarter.
However, much of the
improvement came from the
recruitment of lower-paying
subscribers to prepaid
services such as Boost
Mobile, and that has been
getting more difficult as
competition increases.
Sprint reported a quarterly
loss of $980 million, or 34
cents per share, for the last
include the effects of a
three months of 2009. That
compares with a loss of
$1.62 billion, or 57 cents
per share, a year earlier.
Analysts were expecting a
loss of 19 cents per share,
but that figure did not
include the effects of a
noncash $306 million tax
charge. Sprint did not
provide a per-share figure
comparable to the analyst
estimate.
Revenue slipped 7 percent
to $7.87 billion, slightly
below the $8 billion
expected by analysts
surveyed by Thomson
Reuters.
Sprint shares fell 34 cents,
or 9.3 percent, to $3.31 in
midday trading Wednesday.
Sprint's Boost Mobile and
Virgin Mobile USA prepaid
services added 435,000
customers during the
quarter. The Sprint-
subscribers are still fleeing
branded service also
reversed losses and added
3,000. Sprint CEO Dan
Hesse credited that partly
to big strides in improving
customer service.
However, Nextel
subscribers are still fleeing
in large numbers. Sprint has
struggled to keep them
since it bought that network
in 2005.
Also, Sprint added far
fewer prepaid subscribers
than it did earlier last year.
Although it started
attracting lots of customers
last January with a heavily
promoted $50-per-month
unlimited-calling plan on
Boost Mobile, competitors
have struck back.
MetroPCS
Communications Inc. and
Leap Wireless International
Inc. have cut prices, and
there's even a $45-per-
disappointing, offsetting
month plan for unlimited
calling on Verizon Wireless'
network, sold under the
Straight Talk brand.
Analyst Craig Moffett at
Sanford Bernstein said the
results in prepaid were
disappointing, offsetting
the progress in keeping
traditional customers who
sign long-term service
contracts.
He compared Sprint's
progress in signing contract
customers to that of "the
student who studied
furiously to turn around a
string of bad grades in
math."
"They passed. But Mom isn't
going to be happy about
what happened in English,"
Moffett said, referring to
Sprint's performance in
prepaid service.
On a conference call, Hesse
said the company would re-
subscriber numbers to keep
energize its prepaid
business with a strategy
revamp in the second
quarter, using a range of
brands to appeal to
different segments of the
market. He expects overall
subscriber numbers to keep
improving this year.
Although prepaid service is
helping turn around
customer flight, it's not
necessarily a huge help for
Sprint's results. Prepaid
service costs an average of
$31 per month, compared
with $55 for customers who
agree to long-term service
contracts. Sprint is also
heavily subsidizing new
handsets for contract-
signing customers to
compete with the two larger
carriers, AT&T Inc. and
Verizon Wireless, and its
profit margins are much
slimmer than theirs.
took over management of
To curb costs, Sprint cut
about 10,000 jobs last
year, ending with 40,634
employees. It also
transferred 6,000 workers
to LM Ericsson AB, a
Swedish contractor that
took over management of
Sprint's network. Chief
Financial Officer Bob Brust
said he doesn't expect more
job cuts soon.
Sprint, which is based in
Overland Park, Kan., ended
the year with 48.1 million
customers, down from 49.3
million the year before.
That's a little more than half
of the 91.2 million served
by market leader Verizon
Wireless. It's also far
behind AT&T, with 85.1
million.
For the full year, Sprint lost
$2.4 billion, or 84 cents per
share, on $32.3 billion in
revenue. That compares
largest music company
with a 2008 loss of $2.8
billion, or 98 cents per
share, on $35.6 billion in
revenue.
LONDON (Reuters) –
Britain's Lucian Grainge will
take the helm of the world's
largest music company,
Vivendi's Universal Music,
after leading the firm's drive
to seek new technology
partners and grow digital
sales.
Grainge, who had long been
seen as the next chief
executive, has been
chairman and CEO of
Universal's International
division for the last five
years and behind the
careers of artists including
Amy Winehouse, U2, and
the reformed Take That.
He has also led the push to
increase digital sales with
such partners as websites,
mobile phone operators and
interview he hoped to take
TV groups, and taken the
company into more buoyant
sector, including
merchandise, live event
production and artist
management.
He told Reuters in an
interview he hoped to take
his findings in recent years
into his new role.
"Managing 50 or 60 active
and live countries means
you have a kind of
laboratory of how
consumers react and how
different technology
partners and different
business partners
respond," he told Reuters in
an interview.
"So there's a lot that we
have learnt and hopefully
we'll be able to apply the
best of everywhere."
The music industry has
been hammered in recent
years by rampant illegal
Grainge said his job had
downloading and the move
from selling albums on CDs
to single tracks. Universal
has used its position as the
largest of the "big four"
majors to sign a host of
new digital deals.
Grainge said his job had
changed in that time from
dealing with retailers to
dealing with thousands of
tech, telecom and
entertainment firms, as well
as directly with the
consumer. That was on top
of the creative requirement
to develop new artists.
He said he had been
encouraged by the
development of subscription
services, where customers
can access music for a set
payment each month, and
said advertising-supported
services needed to offer a
premium option to allow
customers to pay extra to
being pilfered out the back
avoid the ads.
"There needs to be enough
opportunity for business
partners who have never
sold music before to have a
reason to do it and part of
that reason is that it isn't all
being pilfered out the back
door," he said, of illegal
downloading.
Grainge, who is a high
profile figure within the
British creative industry, will
take over the top job at the
start of 2011.
He will succeed Doug
Morris, who will remain as
chairman, and will move to
New York to work alongside
Morris from July. Morris,
who said he had "groomed"
Grainge for the job, is a
former songwriter who co-
wrote "Sweet Talkin' Guy"
in
1966 and which was made
famous by The Chiffons. He
revenues and building new
has led Universal Music
since 1995.
"His track record speaks for
itself," Vivendi Chief
Executive Jean-Bernard
Levy said of Grainge.
"Finding stars, growing
revenues and building new
business models.
"He has the right
combination of experience
and innovation to take UMG
forward as the migration
into the digital era
accelerates."
EMI Music, one of
Universal's smaller rivals,
has particularly struggled in
recent years and is
currently engaged in a legal
battle with Citigroup.
Warner Music Group is
widely expected to be
interested in buying EMI's
recorded music assets if
they are sold. Asked if
Universal would be
hub in its e-mail service on
interested in any part of
the company, Grainge said
there were certainly some
very strong assets, without
commenting further.
SAN FRANCISCO – Google
Inc. opened a new social
hub in its e-mail service on
Tuesday, leaving little
doubt that the Internet
search leader is girding for
a face-off with Facebook.
The new Gmail channel,
called Google Buzz,
includes
many of the features that
have turned Facebook into
the Web's top spot for
fraternizing with friends and
family.
It comes less than a week
after Facebook made
changes of its own. Among
other things, Facebook now
shows a list of friends
available for chatting on the
left side of the page, similar
will appear on the top left
to where Gmail now displays
its chat feature.
The Google Buzz features
won't reach all of Gmail's
estimated 176 million users
worldwide for several more
days. A link to the service
will appear on the top left
of the page, in a prominent
position just under Gmail's
inbox tab.
Like Facebook, Google
Buzz
will let Gmail users post
updates about what they
are doing or thinking and
share those with the rest of
the world or with only a
select group of people.
Gmail users also will be able
to track other people's
updates and instantly
comment on them for
everyone else in the social
circle to see.
And, just like Facebook,
Google Buzz can serve as a
of up to 140 characters. A
showcase for video, photos
and Web links to interesting
stories.
Google Buzz also shows
similarities with Twitter, an
online communications tool
that broadcasts messages
of up to 140 characters. A
mobile phone application of
Google Buzz is particularly
Twitter-like: It allows people
to see the public updates of
other people in the same
vicinity.
Some of Google Buzz's
features mirror social tools
already available in instant-
messaging services and
other Web-based e-mail,
including Yahoo Inc.'s and
Microsoft Corp.'s. Google
Chat, which is incorporated
into Gmail, already has
limited ability to display
status updates.
Google launched a social
network called Orkut six
has emerged as a cultural
years ago, just a few
weeks before Facebook
began in a Harvard dorm
room, but Orkut has gained
little traction outside of
Brazil. Meanwhile,
has emerged as a cultural
phenomenon with more
than 400 million users
worldwide.
Google co-founder Sergey
Brin seemed confident that
Google Buzz will enjoy
broader success.
"Every couple years
something new and
revolutionary emerges and
thanks to the Internet it
can really emerge very
quickly and affect many
people in a short period of
time," Brin said. "I certainly
hope that trend will
continue and I hope we will
make our own contribution
with this set of capabilities."
the ones most likely to
Without mentioning
Facebook specifically, other
Google executives
predicted the new service
will do a better job of sifting
through the clutter of
personal updates to pull up
the ones most likely to
pique each individual user's
interest.
Although Google remains
far more powerful,
Facebook poses a threat
because much of the
personal information shared
on the site remains boxed in
a "walled garden" that can't
be indexed by search
engines.
And Facebook has become
a more alluring marketing
magnet as more people
spend more time there.
That status threatens to
siphon revenue from
Google, which makes
virtually all of its money
more open and are
from advertising.
Facebook had little to say
about Google Buzz on
Tuesday. "Generally, we're
supportive of technologies
that help make the Web
more social and the world
more open and are
interested to see how
Google Buzz progresses
over time," the company
said in a statement.
Facebook also declined
Tuesday to comment on a
report by the blog
TechCrunch that Facebook
is developing a new e-mail
service, which would
encroach on Gmail and
other Web-based e-mail
services.
The rivalry between
Facebook and Google has
been heating up since
Facebook sold a 1.6
percent stake to Microsoft
in 2007. Facebook stirred
selected Alcatel-Lucent and
things up further by luring a
Google advertising
executive, Sheryl
Sandberg, to become its
chief operating officer.
NEW YORK – AT&T Inc.
has
selected Alcatel-Lucent and
LM Ericsson AB to supply
the equipment for a new
wireless network that will
provide data speeds that
are at least ten times faster
than today's wireless
broadband.
AT&T plans to start service
on the network in some
cities next year, using a
technology called LTE, or
Long Term Evolution.
Dallas-based AT&T is about
a year behind Verizon
Wireless in building out an
LTE network and has been
boosting speeds on its
existing network in the
meantime. Verizon is
two of the biggest suppliers
focusing on getting LTE out
early because its current
network has limited upgrade
potential.
Alcatel-Lucent of France
and LM Ericsson of
Sweden,
two of the biggest suppliers
of wireless network
equipment, will supply cell-
tower equipment for the
LTE network. Ericsson, in
particular, has been on the
forefront of LTE
development. A year ago,
Verizon Wireless picked the
same two vendors for its
LTE deployment.
Other companies making
LTE equipment include
Motorola Inc. of
Schaumburg, Ill., and Nokia
Siemens Networks, a
German-Finnish joint
venture. Huawei
Technologies Co. of China
has been a surprisingly
NEW YORK – Sprint Nextel Corp. managed
strong competitor as well.
New gadgets will be needed
to take advantage of LTE
speeds. The first ones on
the market are likely to be
PC modems, with phones
following later.
NEW YORK – Sprint Nextel Corp. managed to slow down the rate of subscriber loss in the fourth quarter, an encouraging sign for a wireless carrier that has lost millions of customers over the past few years.
Sprint, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, said Wednesday that it lost a net 148,000 subscribers during the last three months of 2009, far fewer than the 545,000 who fled in the third quarter.
However, much of the improvement came from the recruitment of lower-paying subscribers to prepaid services such as Boost Mobile, and that has been getting more difficult as competition increases.
Sprint reported a quarterly loss of $980 million, or 34 cents per share, for the last three months of 2009. That compares with a loss of $1.62 billion, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts were expecting a loss of 19 cents per share, but that figure did not include the effects of a noncash $306 million tax charge. Sprint did not provide a per-share figure comparable to the analyst estimate.
Revenue slipped 7 percent to $7.87 billion, slightly below the $8 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Sprint shares fell 34 cents, or 9.3 percent, to $3.31 in midday trading Wednesday.
09/02/2010
processing unit) that offers
Does your laptop have
switchable graphics? You
know, both an integrated
graphics chip that sips
energy and gives you long
battery life along with a
discrete GPU (graphics
processing unit) that offers
better 3D graphics and
video performance?
Notebooks with switchable
graphics have been
shipping for years, but they
haven't lived up to user
expectations. Nvidia hopes
to change that with their
new Optimus technology.
The first notebooks with
switchable graphics had a
physical switch to toggle
between the integrated and
discrete GPU, and required
you to reboot the system to
switch from one to the other.
More recently, you could
change between the
integrated and discrete GPU
with software - using a small
tool-tray icon or changing
the power profile in
is a little obtuse for the
Windows. The screen would
then blank out for a few
seconds, and you'd be up
and running with the
discrete GPU or back to the
battery-saving integrated
graphics. Unfortunately, this
is a little obtuse for the
average user, and many
who own laptops with
switchable graphics never
actually switch.
Optimus promises to make
this much easier. When the
system detects a 3D
application or video (if it's
decoded using the DirectX
Video Acceleration plugin,
as most are), the GPU simply
turns on. When you're done
with the 3D app or video, it
goes back to the integrated
GPU. There's no screen
blanking, no buttons to hit or
switches to flip. The
technology promises
discrete GPU power when
you need it, integrated
graphics when you don't,
automatically.
was costly, and required
How does it work? It's really
rather clever. Laptops with
previous switchable
graphics tech had to have a
serious of multiplexers
(MUXes) connecting both
the integrated and discrete
graphics to the display. This
was costly, and required
software to change the
system's rendering between
the two graphics systems.
Optimus is a lot cleaner.
When the discrete GPU is
called for, it powers up in a
split second and copies the
results of its frame-buffer to
the frame-buffer of the
integrated graphics chip
over the PCIe bus. Because
the system is technically
always displaying the
contents of the integrated
graphics chip's frame buffer,
there is no flicker or blanking
of the screen, and no series
of MUXes required to
connect them both to the
display.
The rest is all software - a
as are built-in applications
sophisticated bit of driver
work by Nvidia to detect
certain applications and fire
up the discrete GPU as
needed. After all, the
Windows desktop is
technically 3D accelerated,
as are built-in applications
like Solitaire or Chess, but
you don't need or want the
discrete GPU for those.
This relies on Nvidia's
drivers having application
profiles for the games or
applications you wish to run,
of course. Fortunately, the
Optimus driver incorporates
a new cloud-based
approach whereby a small
application profiles update
will be automatically pushed
to users, without the need to
download and install new
drivers. This profile-pushing
technology will ultimately find
its way to other Nvidia driver
features that require profiles,
like SLI and 3D Vision.
The Optimus technology
supports most of the
"Pine Trail" platform for
currently shipping notebook
platforms, outside of AMD's
offerings. The Core i3, i5,
and i7 "Arrandale"
notebooks are supported, as
are Core 2 Duo platforms
and the new Atom N4xx
"Pine Trail" platform for
netbooks. If you've been
wondering how Nvidia will
offer Ion for netbooks now
that the Pine Trail Atom
processors have the GPU
integrated into the CPU,
there's your answer.
Optimus-enabled GPUs from
Nvidia will be found in the
GeForce 200M, 300M, Ion,
and future-generation
notebook GPUs.
Optimus isn't what one
would call a "sexy"
technology - there's not
much to see. As boring as it
may be, it's really quite cool.
If it works as advertised, it
will be a huge boon to
laptop users. The average
consumer probably assumes
that switchable graphics
cheaper for laptop makers to
already works the way
Optimus does, so here we
have a technology that
finally delivers on customer
expectations. And without
the MUXes needed in older
switchable graphics tech, it's
cheaper for laptop makers to
implement, too.
We are currently testing one
of the first notebooks to
feature Optimus technology,
the ASUS UL50Vf. Stay
tuned for our full review of
that notebook to hear our
thoughts on how well the
technology works.
San Francisco – Why
choose between Windows 7
and Snow Leopard when
you can have both? A Mac
with virtualization software
is a great platform for
running Mac OS X,
Windows, Linux, or other
Intel-based operating
systems, all at the same
time. There's also Mac OS
X's native Boot Camp, but it
only supports Windows and
improvements over
doesn't give you access to
Mac OS X without
rebooting.
The latest versions of the
Mac virtualization products
from Parallels, VMware, and
Sun offer significant
improvements over
previous versions, and all
are worth the upgrade.
They're faster with better
3-D graphics, are better
integrated with Mac OS X,
and in two cases, are
optimized for running all the
features of Windows 7.
[ Also on InfoWorld.com:
Virtualization isn't the only
way to run Windows apps
on your Mac. See
"CrossOver: Windows apps
without Windows." ]
Overall, Parallels Desktop 5
for Mac is the top virtualizer
for Mac OS X. VMware
Fusion 3 is a close second,
with Sun's VirtualBox 3.1
running a distant third.
VirtualBox has a few unique
features and is free, but
Furthermore, these new
doesn't support many Mac
OS X features. Parallels
Desktop 5 and VMware
Fusion 3 also automate the
installation of guest
operating systems and
support multiple monitors.
Furthermore, these new
versions add support for
Windows 7 Aero features,
such as Aero Peek and
Aero
Glass. VirtualBox doesn't do
any of these.
Parallels Desktop 5 provides
the best overall
performance. Not that
VMware Fusion 3 is slow,
but it can stumble with
graphics-heavy tasks and
uses more of the Mac's
processor, leaving less CPU
bandwidth for Mac
applications.
On interface and Mac OS X
integration issues, the
merits of Parallels and
VMware are more
subjective. Both do a good
job of hiding the Windows
X Server in a virtual
desktop and integrating
Windows applications in the
Dock, Expose, and Spaces.
Both are far more advanced
than VirtualBox's Seamless
mode.
If you want to run Mac OS
X Server in a virtual
machine, however, VMware
Fusion 3 is the clear choice,
providing the most trouble-
free and solid experience.
Parallels can have trouble
installing or importing
Apple's server in a virtual
machine, and VirtualBox
just doesn't support it.
Parallels Desktop 5 and
VMware Fusion 3 both have
new support for DirectX
9.0c Shader Model 3,
OpenGL 2.1, and the
Windows WDDM driver.
These graphic hardware
acceleration technologies
enable support for Aero in
Windows 7 and Vista, as
well as 3-D gaming. Parallels
Desktop 5 goes one step
further and supports