Google+Facebook+iPhone: 09/07/11

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

Apple iPhone 5 Photo Supposedly Spied in Wild

Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 (as the media terms it) will offer an 8-megapixel camera. So says the longtime rumor drifting around the Internet, now possibly confirmed by a “test photo” drifting around the Apple-enthusiast blogs.

The blog PocketNow recently uncovered animage of an artfully arranged plate of sushi. “This (very attractive) photo claims to have been taken by an iPhone 4, but the rest of its EXIF data tells a different story,” read its Sept. 7 posting. “Although the image has been cropped to 2,235x2,291 (5.12 megapixels) the original picture was a much larger 3,264x2,448—or just shy of eight megapixels.”

In addition, the blog continued, “The lens was recorded as a 4.3mm f/2.4, which is closer to that of a point-and-shoot than the iPhone 4’s actual 3.85mm f/2.8.”

Supposedly, the image’s GPS data also suggests it was snapped at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, Calif., which just so happens to be the address of Apple headquarters.

As with any iPhone-related rumor, take it with the requisite grain of salt until Apple hosts its inevitable unveiling.

In addition to an 8-megapixel camera, other rumors suggest the iPhone 5 will include a larger screen and faster processor, along with an 8-megapixel camera and possibly a redesigned body. There’s also a widespread theory that Apple intends to release a line of low-cost iPhones to complement its next-generation device, which in turn would allow Cupertino to combat the rising number of cheap Google Android smartphones on the market.

Adobe Extends Streaming Video Solutions to iPad and iPhone

At this week's International Broadcasters Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam, Adobe is delivering new tools for streaming broadcasts to more mobile devices, including Apple's wildly popular iPad and iPhone.

No longer will target devices need to have Adobe Flash-playing capability in order to display video broadcast by Adobe Flash Media Server, which was updated to version 4.5 today. But that was just one of several new technologies being unveiled or demonstrated by Adobe today, however. Others include Flash Access 3.0, Open Source Media Framework (OSMF), and Adobe Pass.

In addition to the added iOS device support, Flash Media Server 4.5 will simplify deployment of advertising-supported online video. It will also let content providers far more easily offer on-demand streaming of a single video source to multiple target devices.

Flash Access is a studio-level content protection and monetization system that has been updated to support delivery to mobile devices. The new version lets content providers use a single back-end workflow to deliver content to multiple targets, including Android tablets and phones, connected TVs and Blu-Ray players. This, however, will require the upcoming Flash Player 11 or AIR 3, which should be available this quarter. The new system will allow users to create a personal video locker accessible from any of their screens, large or small.

Adobe Pass is a mechanism that enables cable networks to directly offer "TV Everywhere" pay content to their subscribers. Pass lets viewers sign in once to access content from multiple sources. For the provider, it offers easy integration, an open framework, and security. Ninety percent of pay TV households now have access to Adobe Pass providers, which include networks like AMC, Fox, IFC, CNN, TNT and A&E. Cable carriers that have signed on include Comcast, DirecTV, AT&T, Time Warner, and Verizon.

OSMF is an open-source framework for building video players and apps. The new version 1.6 adds Stage Video support with hardware-accelerated video, which means lower battery consumption on mobile devices. It also now supports multiple languages, home-and-away options, and multiple audio tracks for accessibility needs. A new DVR-like feature will require Flash Media Server 4.5, and HTTP streaming has been improved for higher-quality video playback.

App Watch: IPhone-Assisted Dates Go Straight

For months, gay men have been using a hugely popular iPhone application, Grindr, to find nearby dates. Now the company behind Grindr is going straight with the more innocently-named Blendr.

The new free app comes weeks after OKCupid, the free dating site, launched an app that lets its members scroll through a list of other members who happen to be close by. Like Grindr, Blendr and OKCupid Locals use the mapping software on iPhones to give you a list of singles (or non-singles, for that matter) who are within walking distance and willing to meet up for, say, a drink.

Like Grindr, Blendr will also monitor profiles for inappropriate material like nude photos and profanity. Users can also report others for “offensive content and conduct.” And when necessary, the company will cooperate with authorities to track down people who have broken the law while using the service.

Joel Simkhai, CEO of Grindr, says he thinks people largely use Grindr to form platonic friendships. The fact that its users are all gay men means that they have more to talk about.

Straight people don’t necessarily have that built-in commonality, so signing up for Blendr requires expressing a handful of interests, from cats to Czech. Those interests, along with a photo and some other basic information, are displayed to people nearby interested in meeting up, according to Mr. Simkhai.

“It could be a woman meeting another woman to practice French,” he says. “It could be a 60-year-old guy trying to find a guy to play poker with.”

Imagine, for instance, a scenario in which two people were interested in a convenient French lesson. One would open the Blendr application and scroll through small photos of nearby people. Tapping a photo would open a person’s profile, showing how close the person is—for instance, 300 feet—and other details, like his or her current status. (One beta user’s profile recently offered, “Not sure why I am up at 6am when I only went to bed a few hours ago. Boo!!!”)

If compelled by a certain je ne sais quoi in this person, the Francophile could then tap an icon to send an instant message and perhaps arrange a rendezvous.

Is New Cam Shoot of iPhone 5 a Publicity Cameo?

iPhone 5 release date rumors and speculation over specs are rampant these days, and there is a palpable rumor fatigue in the market.

A few weeks ago, the rumor about Sprint planning to introduce next generation Apple iPhone was received seriously and the carrier's stock rose more than 10 percent. Sprint shares, which had received heavy pummeling of late, rose after the Wall Street Journal reported that the carrier would begin selling the iPhone 5 in mid-October.

The Journal said according to "people familiar with the matter," the new iPhone would be similar to the iPhone 4, "but thinner and lighter with an improved digital camera and a new more sophisticated operating system."

Reports show that a Sprint subcontractor was installing network repeaters in Apple Stores in an effort to improve the Sprint iPhone sales experience. And with Best Buy reports showing pre-orders starting in the first week of October and a release date of Oct. 21, it's slowly beconing clear when the iPhone 5 will be launched. While some say Steve Jobs' exit would delay iPhone 5's entry by a couple of months, others ooze confidence that Apple's flagship device will sail forth soon.

iPhone 5 release date rumors and speculation over specs are rampant these days, and there is a palpable rumor fatigue in the market.

A few weeks ago, the rumor about Sprint planning to introduce next generation Apple iPhone was received seriously and the carrier's stock rose more than 10 percent. Sprint shares, which had received heavy pummeling of late, rose after the Wall Street Journal reported that the carrier would begin selling the iPhone 5 in mid-October.

The Journal said according to "people familiar with the matter," the new iPhone would be similar to the iPhone 4, "but thinner and lighter with an improved digital camera and a new more sophisticated operating system."

Reports show that a Sprint subcontractor was installing network repeaters in Apple Stores in an effort to improve the Sprint iPhone sales experience. And with Best Buy reports showing pre-orders starting in the first week of October and a release date of Oct. 21, it's slowly beconing clear when the iPhone 5 will be launched. While some say Steve Jobs' exit would delay iPhone 5's entry by a couple of months, others ooze confidence that Apple's flagship device will sail forth soon.

Iridium Unveils Satellite-Enabled Wi-Fi Hotspot

Mobile-satellite operator Iridium has unleashed a new Iridium Force product line that will enable large enterprises, humanitarian organizations, government agencies and the military to use standard smartphones, tablets and notebook PCs to communicate via satellite from remote locations around the world.

Iridium's satellite constellation -- which consists of 66 cross-linked communication platforms in low earth orbit plus seven in-orbit spares -- collectively provide blanket coverage of the entire planet, said Iridium CEO Matthew Desch. By contrast, traditional telecom networks cover less than 10 percent of the earth's surface.

"This is why Iridium is poised to greatly expand the role of satellites in personal mobile communications," Desch said.

The company's new Iridium Extreme handset and lightweight Iridium AxcessPoint work in tandem to create a Wi-Fi hotspot on the fly that can be accessed by a variety of Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices, including Apple's iPhone and iPad , Blackberry handsets, as well as Android smartphones and tablets.

"It is evident that consumer expectations have changed dramatically in a relatively short period of time," Desch said. "Connectivity is no longer something that we want; it is something we expect anywhere, anytime."

Instant SOS
Iridium Force technology will undoubtedly benefit larger companies and organizations with workers based in remote and potentially dangerous locations where traditional land-line and cellular networks are unavailable. The new Iridium Extreme handset includes an instant SOS capability that will enable users to send an emergency message containing their GPS coordinates and status at the push of a button.

However, the company's new Iridium Force technology will be priced well beyond the reach of most individual users. Iridium distribution partner Transsat USA is pricing the new Iridium Extreme at $1,449, while the new Iridium AxcessPoint may cost as much as an additional $200.

Still, equipment rentals may eventually be offered by distributors that will provide an additional safety option for hikers visiting remote areas right here in the United States. On Wednesday, Iridium demonstrated how the new handset's built-in GPS technology could be used to display the path of a group of hikers on a map as well as to send email messages to family members concerning the group's progress.

Turntable.fm Is About To Rock An iPhone App; We Have Screenshots

For the past few months, few things on the web have been hotter than Turntable.fm. The Stickybits pivot got so hot, so fast, that a “trough of disillusionment” was inevitable — and we’ve probably been seeing that the past couple of weeks. But something is coming very shortly that should supercharge the service once again: an iPhone app.

Yes, it was both obvious and inevitable that Turntable.fm would go mobile. But we’ve managed to obtain some details — and most importantly, screenshots.

We’re told that the company is hoping to release the app next week. It has been in testing with a few dozen people for the past few weeks, and is solid on WiFi connections, but less so over 3G, we’re told. That’s probably the last issue they have to address given the screenshots below — it looks very polished. We’re told it was built by one teenage iOS developer.

Did Morgan Stanley Just Get a Leg Up on the Facebook IPO?

Facebook today added another bold-face name to its board. Ho-hum. That seems to happen every day, as Facebook stuffs its director Koi pond with the likes of Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Washington Post scion Donald Graham.

But today’s addition of former Clinton chief of staff Erskine Bowles comes with an interesting footnote. In addition to his stellar Washington résumé, Bowles also is on the board of Morgan Stanley, and he is close with Morgan Stanley Chairman and former CEO John Mack, and with current CEO James Gorman.

We couldn’t help wonder if Bowles may help gift-wrap the present Morgan Stanley’s honchos would dearly love to pieces: Leadership of Facebook’s eventual IPO.

Oprah gets ready for Facebook Live

Facebook Live has already had an A-list roster of guests, including President Obama, former President George W. Bush, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, actors Vin Diesel and Rainn Wilson, singer Katy Perry and Microsoft's Bill Gates.

But Facebook's online TV show may hit new heights Thursday when Oprah Winfrey, the former queen of daytime TV, comes to the social-networking company's Palo Alto headquarters for a live one-hour chat with chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Go directly to the site at on.fb.me/fblivehq. They're still looking for questions from the social-media audience.

Still, it's Oprah who might stand to gain from her exposure to Facebook's audience of 750 million active users worldwide. The TV star and media mogul's "Oprah Winfrey Show" ended its long and successful run in May, but ratings for her Oprah Winfrey Network, launched this year, have not taken off.

And while Winfrey has 6.3 million fans of her Facebook page, the Oprah Winfrey Network could use a boost because it has only 866,000 fans.

Winfrey's appearance on Facebook Live coincides with her private meeting with Silicon Valley leaders at Sandberg's home. The New York Post reported that Oprah is seeking advice on boosting traffic to her website, Oprah.com. Traffic has dropped since the show ended.

Jeff Weiner, CEO of the professional social network LinkedIn, is one of the invited guests. Reportedly, so is Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, and Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt.

We're told that the meeting will also include executives from Harpo, Winfrey's TV production company, along with Susan Casey, editor in chief of O, the Oprah Magazine, which is published by The Chronicle's owner, Hearst Corp. Winfrey's best friend, Gayle King, an editor at large at the magazine, is also on the list.

Read more at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/07/BUIQ1L1AG3.DTL#ixzz1XLCXqxrH

Employees Pink-Slipped for Griping About Work on Facebook Get Re-Hired

Five workers who were fired for complaining to each other about their jobs on Facebook will go back to work and receive back pay, following a National Labor Relations Board ruling in their favor.

According to Inc., this was NLRB's first social media ruling that didn't target a specific company policy, and it was also the first social media case that didn't involve a unionized workplace.

The brouhaha began when an employee at Hispanics United of Buffalo, a non-profit, took to Facebook to complain about a co-worker. “[A co-worker] feels that we don't help our clients enough at HUB," the employee wrote. "I about had it! My fellow co-workers: how do u feel?”

Several other employees chimed in, defending themselves but criticizing working conditions and staffing issues. When Hispanics United got wind of the conversation, the company then fired five employees, on the grounds that they were harassing one of their co-workers.

One of the employees complained to the NLRB's regional office, alleging that Hispanics United was "interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of rights" under the National Labor Relations Act. A judge agreed, ruling that the employees were within their rights to converse among themselves about working conditions.

Read more at http://techland.time.com/2011/09/07/complaining-about-work-on-facebook/#ixzz1XLCBwqSa

App turns iPad into Facebook photo album

While iPad owners still await the arrival of a Facebook app, your choices for Facebooking on the iPad boil down to using third-party apps or accessing the site through Safari. For the specific purpose of viewing and commenting on Facebook photos, there's a new app that lets you browse your or your friends' photos as if you were flipping through an old photo album. Let's take a quick spin through the free and appropriately named Facebook Photo Album app, which was released only last week.

After launching the app for the first time, you'll be asked to enter your Facebook login info and then allow access to the app. The app lets you view four pictures on a page, whether you're in landscape or portrait mode. You can swipe to go to the next page, and if you tap on a photo, you can view a larger image of it inside a digital photo frame. In settings, you can select from five different frames and can also choose white or black pages for the album view. From the photo frame view, tap on the small four-arrows icon in the upper right corner and you can view full-screen versions of photos.

Android 'Ice Cream Sandwich' Coming in October or November?

Last Friday, Google chairman Eric Schmidt slipped that Android 4.0, the next major overhaul to the mobile operating system, will be released in "October or November."

Speaking to Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff at the Dreamforce conference, Schmidt said, "We have a new operating system, internally known as Ice Cream Sandwich for some reason, which is being released in October, November." Scroll down to watch the entire keynote; Schmidt slips at 30:28 mark, as reported byAndroidandMe.com.

Up to now, Google hasn't provided a release date for Ice Cream Sandwich, but perhaps Schmidt thought it was an obvious point given unconfirmed reports of Verizon possibly launching the Droid Prime, the first Android 4.0 device and believed to be the third Google Nexus smartphone, this October.

DigiNotar Hacked; Faces Google, Microsoft Rejection

A hack of DigiNotar, a Dutch company that supplies digital certificates to authenticate websites, is giving the firm credibility issues and perhaps much more.

The incident occurred in July when the perpetrator or perpetrators hacked into the Certificate Authority (CA) infrastructure. This resulted in the fraudulent issuance of public key certificate requests for a number of domains, including Google.com.

DigiNotar said most of the certificates were revoked, however a few had not been. According to a report from security firm Fox-IT, at least 531 digital certificates were issued after they were hacked.

The affected domains included CIA.gov, Google,Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft's Windows Update service. Google, Microsoft and Mozilla, three of the most popular web browsers in the world, are now making DigiNotar pay for their mistake.

Google Docs suffers 30-minute outage

Update 3:25 p.m. PT: As of 3:10 p.m. Pacific Time, users from locations around the world are reporting the services are coming back online. Google's Apps Status Dashboard is still showing that Docs and Drawings are not working.

Update 3:35 p.m. PT: The status dashboard has been updated to reflect that all services are back online. Apparently, the word processing and drawing apps (Google Docs and Google Drawings) and the main document listing page (Docs List) were nonfunctional during the outage, but other files, in particular spreadsheets, were still available for people who had direct links to them. Google has not disclosed the cause of the outage yet.

Google's suite of productivity apps under the Google Docs banner--the word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, and drawing app--are suffering an outage as of 2:35 p.m. Pacific Time. Users of the free Google Docs and enterprise customers of Google Apps are affected.

The services were down for about 10 minutes and simply not responding before an error page finally surfaced.
Google Mail and Calendar services are not affected.

Google kicks off daily deal site in Hub

Boston small businesses that have been turned off by daily deal sites and their hefty demands for a piece of the action.

Google Offers launched in the Hub today, joining a crowded field that includes daily-deal titan Groupon. But its more established competitor, the new Google program does not demand 40 percent of sales made from the daily deal.

“We are very happy with our agreement with Google because the 40 percent arrangement with Groupon is what has been so burdensome for many participating restaurants,” said Gus Rancatore, owner of Toscanini’s ice cream shop. The Central Square merchant is Google Offers’ Hub launch “deal.”Rancatore notes that lower percentage cuts are also offered by Cambridge-based Scvngr’s daily deal site LevelUp, which got $4 million in financing from Google Ventures

and other firms in late 2009.

Google Offered to Split Mobile Revenue With Sun, Papers Show

Google hoped at one time to codevelop Android with Sun, and was prepared to offer Sun a share of its mobile service revenue in return for making Java open source, according to newly released documents in Oracle's lawsuit against Google.

The documents also show that Google raced to get Android to market, because it feared Microsoft dominating the market for mobile phone software, and that Google considered selling a mobile phone service to users.

The documents, which include emails and presentations from Google executives, cast new light on Google's negotiations with Sun in the early days of its Android development. They were filed by Oracle last month as exhibits in the case and unsealed on Tuesday.

In a 2006 email to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Andy Rubin, head of mobile at Google, wrote that he was close to convincing Sun to open source Java.

"Initially this was a foreign concept to them and took some educating. Now we're at a point where they have conceptually agreed to open java and additionally they desire to broaden the relationship and become a customer of the Android system and Google," Rubin wrote. "Sun is prepared to walk away from a $100M annual J2ME licensing business into an open source business model that we together crafted. This is a huge step for Sun, and very important for Android and Google."

Rubin is apparently referring to money that Sun made from licensing Java to third parties. Oracle acquired the rights to Java when it bought Sun and is now suing Google, alleging infringement of its Java patents and copyrights in Android.

Rubin went on to say that Sun's president and CEO at the time, Jonathan Schwartz, was so excited about the idea of open sourcing Java that he wanted to "pick up the phone and call" Brin.

Google Hands HTC Patents to Use Against Apple

HTC Corp. (2498), Asia’s second-biggest smartphone maker, is using nine patents bought from Google Inc. (GOOG) last week to pursue new infringement claims against Apple Inc.

Google had taken ownership of the patents less than a year ago, with four of the patents originating from Motorola Inc., three from Openwave Systems Inc. and two from Palm Inc., according to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records. Jim Prosser, a spokesman for Mountain View, California-based Google, wouldn’t discuss reasons for the nine transfers to HTC.

HTC now has more ammunition in its fight to fend off multiple patent-infringement claims lodged by Apple that contend phones running Google’s Android operating system copy the iPhone. Google’s involvement in aiding HTC represents a new front in an industrywide dispute over smartphone technology that has also ensnared Android customers Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

“That’s a bit of a game-changer,” said Will Stofega, a technology analyst at Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC. “Google was interested in protecting its licensees with Android. It shows they need to support their customers in order to make sure the customers stick with them.”

HTC sued Apple yesterday in court and filed a complaint at the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging infringement of the patents obtained from Google.

The Mystery Of The 8MP iPhone 5 Sushi Picture

That rather bland looking meal right there could have been captured with an iPhone 5. That’s what the Internet says at least. The picture’s EXIF says it was taken with an iPhone 4, but the cropped image resolution of 2235×2291 (5.12 megapixels) is larger than the iPhone 4′s sensor can capture. The original, unedited picture was just shy of 8MP, which is in line with the rumors concerning the iPhone 5. Plus, as if that evidence wasn’t enough, the image’s embedded data gives the GPS coordinates of 37.33216667,-122.03033333 — that’s 1 Infinite Loop, Apple’s HQ.

The evidence just keeps pilling on: the f-stop is slightly higher than that of the iPhone 4, the maker of the camera is labeled of Apple, and the image is marked with AppleMark, somewhat indicating that the image was imported to a OS X computer through Image Capture.

But images can be edited. EXIF info can be altered. A similar image popped up before the iPad 2′s launch claiming to be captured from the upcoming iPad 2. However, it turned out to be taken with an iPhone 4 and uploaded to Flickr through an app that changed the photo’s data. That could be happening here although the AppleMark seems to say a computer was used somewhere in the process.

Pre-order your iPhone 5 ... in Germany

Internet speculation about when Apple will release its new iPhone is a cottage industry unto itself, replete with scores of websites entirely dedicated to churning out the latest speculative rumors about what features the iPhone 5 will include and when it will go on sale.

Unfounded innuendo, however, is increasingly giving way to facts that indicate release of the iPhone 5 is imminent. To that end, both Bloomberg and Forbes are reporting Deutsche Telekom is already taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5 in Germany.

"The parent company of T-Mobile is reportedly taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5, despite the fact that Apple has not announced details on the device's release, price, or even its very existence," Forbes reports. "Deutsche Telekom has not commented on the reports and is supposedly keeping the pre-ordering process low profile. The carrier is allegedly not taking online reservations and only letting customers pre-order the device in-store."

The looming launch of iPhone 5 isn't preventing consumers from buying the iPhone 4, which was still the best-selling phone in the U.S. for both Verizon and AT&T in August,ZDNet reports.

"Most companies have to worry about upcoming models cannibalizing sales of existing ones, but not Apple. The next generation iPhone, presumably the iPhone 5, is expected to be launched in October, so logic would dictate smart-phone buyers might wait on the new one. That's not the case as the iPhone 4 is still outpacing other smart-phones at the two big carriers."

Apple Seeks 'New Product Security Manager' After iPhone Prototype Debacles

Lose an iPhone prototype once, shame on you. Lose an iPhone prototype twice, and you may need to tighten security.

That's apparently what's on Apple's mind, after a company employee reportedly left an unreleased iPhone prototype in a San Francisco bar. Last year, Apple had a similar incident on its hands, after another employee left an iPhone 4 prototype in a different bar.

After these consecutive blunders, Apple may be seeking new managers to oversee its soon-to-launch products and ensure that future products remain safely within company hands.

9to5Mac has come across two job listings on Apple's career portal, offering the position of New Product Security Manager. Only one position was advertised at the time of this writing, presumably because the other has been filled.

According to the listing, Apple is seeking an employee who "will be responsible for overseeing the protection of, and managing risks to, Apple's unreleased products and related intellectual property." Though Apple did not specify the types of products that this new manager would be in charge of, it did list ideal qualifications for the candidate, including "[a]dvanced degree, such as M.S. in Risk Management, Information Assurance, Security Management or equivalent degree" as well as "CPP, PSP, CISSP, CISA, CISM, CRISC or equivalent certification" and "5+ years of security assessment and/or audit experience."

Photo from iPhone 5 may have surfaced

PocketNow has come across a photo that appears to be from a future iPhone model, in all likelihood the iPhone 5 that’s expected to be introduced in the next few weeks. Although the image has been cropped to a squarish 2235 x 2291, it would seem the shooter did that simply to frame the image around the plate of his meal — the original resolution was 3264 x 2448, which works out to a perfect 4:3 aspect ratio at around 8 megapixels, which is the sensor resolution generally expected in the new model. The EXIF data claims it’s from an iPhone 4, but we wouldn’t expect Apple’s prototype firmware to give up a new model’s name pre-announcement that easily — not to mention the fact that the iPhone 4 has a 5-megapixel sensor, not 8.

It’s extraordinarily easy to fake a photograph’s EXIF data to make it look like it came from an iPad 9, a Nikon D4, or any other imaginary device of your choosing — but in this case, we’ve personally seen the original source, and we can say that there’s a pretty healthy pile of evidence supporting the iPhone 5 theory: most importantly, the shooter is an Apple engineer, and it seems unlikely that Apple employees would be fudging EXIF data to simulate an unreleased iPhone.

And there’s one final, very important detail: the data tells us the image was taken on Apple’s Infinite Loop campus, which means you’re looking at some pretty high-end cafeteria fare (then again, we wouldn’t expect any less). Follow the break for a map of the location, which points to Building 1 as the source.

SF police launch probe into iPhone search

SAN FRANCISCO--Police here have begun looking into what role officers played in a search by Apple for a missing unreleased iPhone.

Lt. Troy Dangerfield, of the San Francisco Police Department, told CNET today that an internal investigation has begun into determining how officers assisted two Apple security employees in their July search of a home in the Bernal Heights neighborhood for the handset.

A week ago, CNET reported that members of the SFPD and the two Apple employees showed up to the home of Sergio Calderon and started questioning him. Apple had gone to police for help after an employee lost possession of the handset at a San Francisco tequila bar. Apple told police that it had electronically tracked the phone to the Bernal Heights address where Calderon resides.

Calderon told SF Weekly following CNET's story that when police arrived, he told them he had no knowledge of the phone or its whereabouts. He did, however, acknowledge being at Cava 22 the night the phone went missing. A source close to the investigation said police asked to search the house and told Calderon that if he declined they would return with a search warrant. Calderon then consented.

Dangerfield confirmed that police participated in the search, but according to Dangerfield, the officers never entered Calderon's home. After Calderon agreed to the search, the policemen stepped aside and allowed Apple to go through his house, car, and computer.

SFPD Chief Greg Suhr told the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday that it isn't uncommon for police to assist private investigators. "The reason we do civil standby is to make sure there isn't a problem," Suhr said, according to the Chronicle. "Whatever conversations the (Apple) employees had with the resident, I can't say."

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Reached outside his home on Tuesday, Calderon declined to discuss the specifics of the incident. He told CNET that he's "talking to an attorney," but didn't specify the reasons for the discussions.

Criminal defense attorneys in San Francisco say that some of the allegations are worrisome if true. According to Calderon's statements to SF Weekly, he suggested that "officers" tried to intimidate him and his family into cooperating with the search. They asked whether everyone living in the house was in the United States legally.

Police aren't supposed to try to obtain permission to search a home by putting someone under duress, said Ginny Walia, of Ginny Walia Law Offices.

Calderon also claims that the Apple security personnel entered his home without identifying themselves as Apple employees. He told SF Weekly that he was under the impression that the group on his doorstep were all police officers. He said he would not have allowed the two Apple employees to conduct the search had he known they were not police officers.

Read more at http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20102892-37/sf-police-launch-probe-into-iphone-search/#ixzz1XJitBHS6

Apple seeks product security boss after iPhone loss

Apple is advertising for a new head of product security, following the second loss of an iPhone prototype.

The new hire, based at Cupertino, will be required to handle “the protection of, and managing risks to, Apple’s unreleased products and related intellectual property,” the job ad reads. Given that not one but two iPhone prototypes have apparently been left in drinking establishments, a strong liver might also be an asset – as would a cozy relationship with California police.

Apple isn’t looking for a traditional thick-necked security guard however. The new hire will need an advanced degree, certification from security authorities or at least five years experience in the industry. They’ll also need to handle risk assessments and recommend new security strategies for the company.

Some have questioned whether Apple has been deliberately leaving prototypes out as a publicity stunt. After all, to lose one prototype in a bar is understandable but two looks slightly fishy. However, this looks unlikely given Apple’s legendary secrecy fetish and its heavy-handed response in both cases.

Droid Bionic Debuts Ahead of iPhone 5: 5 Things to Know

The Motorola Droid Bionic has been released on the Verizon network after months of build up and speculation.

The spiffy phone has all the makings of another classic from the Verizon and Motorola tandem, which have both seen lots of success from the sale of Droid phones in the past.

Neither Motorola Mobility, which was recently acquired by Google, or Verizon have given exact numbers on sales. However, the co-chief of Motorola Mobility, Sanjay Jha, once said the only thing stopping the Droid from selling more phones was component shortages.

The Droid phones from Motorola have helped the Android operating system expand its scope. According to the most recent numbers from research company Gartner Inc., Google's mobile operating system accounted for 43.4 percent of all smartphone sales, up from 17.2 percent last year.

The Droid Bionic is the latest and greatest. It comes with a lot of the standard qualities which have made Droid a household name in smartphones. This includes a 4.3-inch HD screen with a Corning Gorilla scratch-free screen, two cameras: front-facing for video chat and 8-MP back camera, Adobe Flash preloaded, 32 GB of memory and a slim frame.

Sushi photo could come from the iPhone 5

The above photo of a plate of sushi could be one of the first public photos taken with Apple's next iPhone.

The photo, picked up this morning by Pocketnow, was snapped by Apple software engineer Anton D'Auria and is entitled "lunch at work." Posted to Flickr (but now labeled private), the photo sharing site notes that it's been taken on an iPhone 4, but as Pocketnow points out, the photo's EXIF data details a camera with different specs than what's available on Apple's current model. That includes a higher resolution picture at 3,264-by-2,448 pixels (versus the iPhone 4's 2,592-by-1,936 pixels), and a slightly narrower 4.3mm lens (compared to the iPhone 4's 3.85mm lens).

Apple has a track record of improving the camera with each generation of the device. That's expected to continue with the next model of the device, which could be hitting store shelves next month. The rumored provider of that new hardware is OmniVision, who is said to be offering an 8-megapixel CMOS sensor, a step up from the existing 5-megapixel sensor on the iPhone 4.

Read more at http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20102671-248/sushi-photo-could-come-from-the-iphone-5/#ixzz1XJ69iZmW

Chilean airplane crash located via Apple's Find My iPhone

Apple's Find My iPhone feature led searchers to find a Chilean Air Force airplane that crashed and is believed to have killed 21 people.

Search and rescue teams were unable to find the airplane, which prompted one of the victims' relatives to try locating them with the Find My iPhone functionality, which uses an iPhone's GPS receiver to track the device's location. According to infobae.com (via Gizmodo), the relative shared the location data with military officials in charge of the search operation.

"One of the passengers carried (an iPhone). When it fell into the sea, it was located and one of the relatives sent us hat information," the military official reportedly said.

Unfortunately the remains of the CASA 212 vehicle were found with no survivors. Parts from the destroyed plane were found floating in the sea near Tierra Banca and Playa Larga.

The plane was said to have been severely damaged by the crash, with no pieces larger than 20 inches recovered from the crash site thus far. It is unknown how the iPhone managed to broadcast the location of the crash site following the crash.

Poor weather conditions are said to be hampering officials' efforts to recover the victims' bodies from the sea floor. Four have been discovered thus far.

Suspected bank robber who called himself 'Willie Sutton Jr.' on Facebook busted by FBI

The FBI has arrested a busy bank robber who dubbed himself "Willie Sutton Jr." on Facebook, in a tip to the legendary bandit.

Jesse Hippolite, who was charged in three stickups and suspected of 16 others in Brooklyn and Queens, apparently idolized Sutton, who robbed banks because "that's where the money is."

Hippolite offers a glimpse of a motive on his Facebook page which, if true, would hardly earn him a spot in the pantheon of prolific bank robbers.

"What If We All Got Fed Up With This Recession And Started Running Inside Every F------ Bank T0 Give Us The Money That Belongs To Us???" he wrote on July 29, according to an affidavit unsealed Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

FBI agent Bradford Rice noted the rant was posted on the same day Hippolite changed his Facebook profile name to Willie Sutton Jr.

Hippolite, 23, was ordered held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Defense lawyer Douglas Morris could not immediately be reached.

The feds say Hippolite's spree began unraveling on July 1 after an employee at a Chase Bank on Flushing Ave. in Brooklyn noted the first three letters of the license plate on the getaway Nissan Altima.

Only one vehicle in the state had the letter combination.

Hippolite's web page had an incriminating nugget: 47 minutes before the July 1 robbery he posted "I Gotta Get That $$$ Man!!!"

Read more at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/09/07/2011-09-07_fbi_facebooks_crook_in_bank_heists.html#ixzz1XJ5VoWX9

Revised 'Facebook law' clears Missouri Senate committee

JEFFERSON CITY • Lawmakers took the first step Wednesday towards resolving a lawsuit over a law restricting electronic communication between teachers and students.

The Senate Education Committee unanimously passed a revised version of the so called “Facebook law,” narrowing its scope and pushing back when provisions regarding social media policies would go into effect.

The original law, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Jane Cunningham of Chesterfield, contained a provision aimed at limiting private interaction between students and teachers on social networking sites like Facebook. These limits were included in a broader education bill passed unanimously by both legislative chambers and signed into law by Gov. Jay Nixon.

However, despite initially supporting the bill the Missouri State Teachers Association sued to block enforcement of the electronic communications provision, arguing that it was too sweeping and violated teachers’ First Amendment rights.

Last month Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem agreed with the bill’s critics and issued an injunction blocking it from going into effect. In his ruling, Beetem said the restrictions “would have a chilling effect” on free speech rights.

The bill passed Wednesday repeals the controversial social media provision and replaces it with a mandate that school districts have their own social media policy in place by March 1, 2012. Those policies must include “the use of electronic media and other mechanisms to prevent improper communications between staff members and students.”

“At its heart, this is a local control bill,” Cunningham said, adding that most districts already have such a policy in place.

Testifying on behalf of the revised legislation were representatives from the Missouri State Teachers Association, the Missouri School Boards Association and the Missouri National Education Association.

However, in establishing the agenda for the special session, Gov. Jay Nixon limited action on the education law to repealing the provisions that led to the lawsuit, specifically saying lawmakers could not revise the law or replace the provision.

Read more at http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/article_b5250164-d990-11e0-8782-0019bb30f31a.html#ixzz1XJ4mpCjZ

Facebook to stream Kennedy Center's 9/11 tribute

WASHINGTON (AP) — A tribute concert at the Kennedy Center to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks featuring Wynton Marsalis, Emmylou Harris and Denyce Graves will be streamed live on Facebook.

ABC's Christiane Amanpour is hosting the Thursday evening concert in Washington. Readings will be offered by former Secretaries of State Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright. The National Symphony Orchestra will perform under the direction of John Mauceri.

Games Are Facebook’s Fastest Growing Applications

Many of the top 20 items on our weekly growth leaderboard are holding strongly to their positions for a second consecutive week. Social games have a unanimous lead, and the closest competition comes from page creation tools. Read on below, and be sure to take a closer look at all Facebook applications using our detailed statistic tool.

Games

Though its lead has simmered in comparison to the previous seven days, The Sims Social continues to lead with a 7,434,539 weekly growth total. Holding steady four places behind, The Smurfs & Co welcomes 1,565,340 new players.

Zynga continues to have two games making waves on the leaderboard. Words With Friends appears to be glued in sixth place; the final tally comes in at 1,421,784 synched accounts.FarmVille takes a huge step forward to kick off the second half of our countdown collecting 945,784 new gamers.

Wooga racks up successful weekly growth numbers with two of its gaming applications. Magic Land is found hanging on in 14th place, due to a 890,435 increase. Returning after a very long absence, Diamond Dash accrues a 732,102 comeback total.

Kama Games’ Poker Club returns, and 835,765 more vitual card players are throwing their chips on the table. Making its first appearance in the 16th spot with a 684,733 seven-day total, the premise of Chinese game Fruit Ninja is as simple as its name: Slash the fruit as it rolls forward.

Social Insight’s Social Empires has 649,719 people creating their own fantasy worlds, a finish good enough for the 18th position.

Mystery Manor, developed by Game Insight, takes the final spot witnessing an additional 580,370 Facebook users searching for hidden items in pictures.

Page Creation Tools

With a strong second place week once again, Welcome Tab leads the page creation tools with a 2,208,710 weekly growth increase. Woobox’s Static Iframe Tab climbs back into the top 20 in the eighth spot compiling tabs built and view total of 1,235,178.

The tool’s success pushes Static HTML: iframe tabs back one place, and a 1,139,978 finish places it in ninth place. Iwipa‘s notable return last week may be short-lived as the application slips to 16th settling for a decreasing 706,440 total.

Judge Forces Employer To Rehire Workers Who Vented On Facebook

After a group of New Yorkers took to Facebook to complain about the non-profit they all worked for, the non-profit took action to rectify the situation — by firing the five discontent employees. They took their case to the National Labor Relations Board, and now a NLRB judge has ruled that National Hispanics of Buffalo has to hire the Facebook venters back along with back-pay.

Employers, take note. The NLRB has recently been outspoken about when employers can and can’t retaliate against employees over their perceived social media misbehavior. Private employers have to respect workers’ right to “protected concerted activity” — in other words, the right to talk among themselves about horribleworking conditions — per the National Labor Relations Act. In the case of the New York non-profiteers, administrative law judge Arnold Amchan ruled that after-hours Facebook wall complaints about being over-worked constituted legitimate “concerted activity.”

After Mariana Cole-Rivera posted a status update about a co-worker who accused her of not doing enough for her impoverished clients, other co-workers chimed in to make comments such as, “What the f… Try doing my job. I have 5 programs,” “Tell her to come do [my] f***ing job n c if I don’t do enough, this is just dum,” and “I think we should give our paychecks to our clients so they can ‘pay’ the rent…(insert sarcasm here now).”

The defamed co-worker saw the messages (doh!) and passed them along to a supervisor. In firing the vocal Facebook users, the supervisor cited the company social media policy’s ban on cyber harassment of co-workers. This all took place in October 2010, and the non-profit has not since replaced the workers, instead distributing their tasks to others.

Facebook for iPhone 3.5 Update: Easier Sharing and Increased Privacy Settings

The latest Facebook for iOS devices (no official iPad app yet) brings a host of features including more sharing options, external link sharing, and increased privacy control via the app.
Tagging friends and places to an update

Similar to a Twitter @Mention, when you add a friend or friends to a status update, that person can see the post as well. Be careful, based on their privacy settings, the person(s) friends you tagged will see that post as well. By tapping the "man with the plus symbol sticking out of his shoulder" your list of friends will pop up: tapping a friend will add a check by their name and will share the post to their wall.

Adding locations to an update

This takes the place of the separate and now defunct Places check-in feature. The ability to add a location to an update is now available every time you post an update to your wall. If your location is visible in the lower-left half of the update, you can turn it off by tapping the location image (easier to describe) and tapping the "x" in the lower right corner of the app window.

Sharing external links

This is another feature that is already a second-thought in other mobile apps just now making its way to Facebook app. If you click an external link in FB, you can now Share that link on your wall. Doing so will display the link heading and url with the ability to add your own $0.02 cents to the update for personalization.

Facebook names Erskine Bowles to its board of directors

Facebook has added to its board of directors Erskine Bowles, the former White House chief of staff who recently co-chaired President Obama's Bipartisan Deficit Commission.

Bowles, who served as chief of staff under President Clinton, was also the president of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system.

"Erskine has held important roles in government, academia and business which have given him insight into how to build organizations and navigate complex issues," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive and co-founder, in a statement. "Along with his experience founding companies, this will be very valuable as we continue building new things to help make the world more open and connected."

Bowles said that Facebook has "clearly emerged as a transformative force in the world. It's no wonder given the talent Mark has put in place and the company's focus and dedication to its mission. I'm really looking forward to getting to work and helping Facebook however I can."

A native of North Carolina, Bowles also holds board positions with the financial services firm Morgan Stanley, southern retail chain Belk Inc., real-estate developer Cousins Properties Inc. and the railway company Norfolk Southern Corp.

Bowles also led the Small Business Administration under Clinton and was later appointed to Clinton's Cabinet on the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. Bowles has a bachelor's degree from UNC and an MBA from Columbia.

A Guide To The Action At Eric Schmidt's Testimony, Part 2

This is part two of a two-part series. Read part one here.

Part 2 -- What I Would Want to Learn if I Could Ask Questions at the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Hearings
Next month the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights will heartestimony from Eric Schmidt, Google's Executive Chairman and former CEO. The following provides a brief summary of what I expect to see the Subcommittee investigate with Mr. Schmidt when he testifies before them, and indeed what I would investigate if I were able to ask questions. In plain text the paragraphs below describe why these questions are of interest to me, to Google and its competitors, to companies that bid in Google's keyword auctions, to all of us who use search, and indeed to all consumers. [In italics and within square brackets I identify the legal issues these questions address, and thus why these questions are of interest to the Senate, to the Federal Trade Commission, and to the Department of Justice3.]

One Click Away?
My first priority would have to be to get an assessment of the "just one click away" argument that Google uses to argue that no abuse of competition law or of consumer rights is possible, since consumers are only one click away from changing search engines. If Google's enormous market share in search were based on its loyal users using only Google, then Google has tremendous market power. If 70% of searchers use only Google, than companies that do not achieve a high Google page position may not be found. In contract, if users truly act as if they are one click away from changing search engine providers, or if users compare search results from Google and other search engines a significant fraction of the time, then Google's power over corporations may be reduced. When we understand the behavior of consumers when searching, we have far more insight into Google's ability to influence shopping, to promote its own brands, or to demand higher payment for keywords.

If users do not act as if they are one click away from other search engine providers then it would be interesting to know why:

Google Maps Needs Constant Double-Checking

Given the latest numbers by Pew and Nielsen about how many people use Google Maps and the similar services offered by Bing and Yahoo! it is disconcerting just how many errors there are. All three of the services make it easy for users to report problems. If a business is listed at the wrong place on a map, then it is important that an ability to fix that error is easy to do. Not only are business owners depending upon the accuracy of these services, but so too are the mapping services themselves. The competition among these services is intense, despite Google Maps’ dominance, because there is so little to distinguish them from each other.

Improved accuracy is the upside of making errors easy to report. The downside is that when there is an error, it is likely to be catastrophic for the business in question. Usually this catastrophe is about the “permanently closed” designation. When enough people click on the “closed” designation, whether through an innocent error or through a malicious and increasingly common tactic, then the mapping service will denote the business as “reportedly closed.” The closing is then reviewed, but it is easy to imagine that a small business easily slips through this review process and then earns a “permanently closed” designation.

This happened recently when being evacuated from the Hamptons and heading to Hershey PA. The Hershey Lodge was permanently closed on Google maps, which really threw us for a loop as we were using Google Maps to find the hotel. It actually was open and busy as ever.

Read more at http://technorati.com/technology/article/google-maps-needs-constant-double-checking/#ixzz1XJ14PDNt

How to Search for Google+ Posts & Profiles With Google

The lack of a search function within Google+ is driving me crazy. It takes me way too much time to find the posts I want to save and refer back to, and it's counter-productive for Google to launch their social networking product without an integrated search.

Although Google has been incorporating Google+ posts into their search results, they're not easy to filter. Luckily, you can search for Google+ posts and profiles without going mad. Here are a few methods you can use.

Use Google
This may seem obvious, but it's a little trickier than you think. If you are logged into your Google account, and perform a basic search, you'll see some social data attached to your search. In this example, I searched for "wonderhowto", and you can see the icons of people who have +1'd the site.

If you want to search Google+, type in the following:

site:plus.google.com keyword(s)

If you want to use more than one keyword, add quotation marks so that Google will search for the words together. As an example, let's use the "nym wars" as our keyword, since it's a popular topic.

If you've noticed, we received a lot of results that are linked to "JWZ", a popular blogger. What if you don't want to see results from him? The solution is simple. Add the minus sign, and the words you don't want showing up in your search. For example, type in the following:

site:plus.google.com "nym wars" -jwz

As you can see, our results are different.

If you want Google to limit your search only to Google+ posts, without having it search user names or profiles, add the following to your search query: inurl:posts/*

Use Extensions & Plug-ins
Here is a list of new and previously covered extensions and plug-ins that will make your life easier.

Helper for Google+ is a Chrome extension we've covered before. It adds many functions to Google+. You can bookmark posts, and search within Google+ for posts and profiles.
Google Plus Search is a Firefox add-on that allows you to search Google+ without having to log in.
Search Extension for Google Plus is the Chrome version of Google Plus Search and allows you to filter results by posts, profiles, posts from Google Buzz, and posts from Google Reader.
Search App for Google Plus is the Android version of the search tool, and will also show you the latest trends within Google+.
Gooce+ is a Chrome extension that lets you add other social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to Google+. Recently, a new feature allows you to search for people and posts within Google+. (It's a little unclear on the page, but they are also asking for a one-time fee of one Euro.)
G+ Search Engine is a Chrome extension that allows you to search for public Google+ content, as well as Google Buzz and Reader posts.

Google, Oracle head to settlement talks over Android lawsuit

Google and Oracle appear to be headed to the mediation table as their lawsuit over whether Android infringes on Java gets closer to the courtroom.

In court filings, both Google and Oracle agreed to mediation in an attempt to settle a lawsuit over Android.

Google said:

Google recognizes the importance of having top executives of the parties attend the Court-ordered mediation. Google proposes that Andrew Rubin, who is Senior Vice President,
Mobile and reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer, attend for Google together with Kent Walker, Vice President and General Counsel of Google. Mr. Rubin’s executive responsibilities include all of Google’s mobile business, of which the Android business is a part. Mr. Rubin is knowledgeable regarding the issues in this case and he is fully empowered to resolve this matter on reasonable terms.

Oracle said:

As suggested by the Court, Oracle considers it essential that both parties bring top-level executives. Accordingly, Oracle’s executive representatives in the mediation before the Magistrate Judge will be Safra Catz, President of Oracle Corporation, and Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President of Oracle Product Development. Oracle will strive to make its representatives available as necessary and proposes that the mediation occur before the end of September.

China Renews Google's Internet License as Local Market Share Dwindles

Chinese authorities have renewed Google's license for another year, as the search engine's beleaguered local market share continues to wane.

"We can confirm that the government has renewed our [Internet Content Provider] license," Google said in a statement to various media outlets. The commercial license simply allows Google to operate its local Web portal, Google.cn, and continue syndicating search results to other local search engines.

Google may be the leading search engine in the world, but it's the underdog in China after butting heads with the government on numerous occasions over the past two years.

According to China-based Analysys International, Google China's market share in the second quarter slid 0.3 percent to 18.9 percent of the online search market. Baidu, a local search provider, has inched its way up over the years to 75.9 percent.

At its three-year peak, Google China held 35.6 percent of the market versus Baidu's 58.4 percent, back in 2009.

In January 2010, Google said there were attempts to hack into the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. At the time Google pledged to no longer censor search results in China, even if that meant pulling out of the country entirely, and re-routed all Google.cn traffic to the uncensored Google.com.hk. Unsurprisingly, a Chinese minister warned of "consequences" if Google continued redirecting its results. Finally, the two parties settled on a hybrid solution. PCMag analyst Sascha Segan got a taste of how Google subtly censors its search results during a recent trip to China; seeLife Behind the Great Firewall of China and slideshow below for more.

Groupon in the Crosshairs: Google Offers Launches in Five New Cities

Less than a year ago, Google reportedly offered to buy Groupon for around $6 Billion. After Groupon declined the serious multi-billion dollar offer, Google decided to enter the daily deal marketplace by developing Google Offers. Earlier today, the Google commerce blog announced the launch of Google offers in Austin, Boston, Denver, Seattle, and Washington D.C. Despite the recent closure of many Google products and projects, the rollout of these cities indicates a continued commitment to the Google Offers program.

The current landscape of the daily deal marketplace has been rapidly changing. Due to recent market turmoil and amidst SEC complications, Groupon recently decided to delay the company’s IPO. According to Experian’s Hitwise, Groupon’s traffic has fallen by 50% (compared to the peak) and LivingSocial’s traffic increased by 27% during the same time period. It will be interesting to watch the impact both LivingSocial and Google Offers have on the Groupon IPO.

Gmail Makes You 80 Times Greener, Says Google

In its ongoing quest to convince businesses and individuals to abandon the archaic practice of operating their own servers and shift their IT operations to the cloud, Google has frequently asserted that cloud computing is more cost efficient than servers run on-premises.

Now Google can argue that the cloud is more energy efficient, too. Citingits own research, supported by related findings from the Carbon Disclosure Project and from a consulting professor at Stanford, the company says that Gmail is almost 80 times more energy efficient than in-house email.

Google green engineering product manager David Jacobowitz explained in a blog post that Gmail's superior energy efficiency is due to the fact that cloud-based services come from optimized data centers that utilize their servers more fully than in-house systems. Small businesses, he says, seldom build systems that operate as efficiently.

Google's report notes that for a 50-person office, choosing Gmail instead of a locally hosted server "can mean an annual per-user power savings of up to 170 kWh and a carbon footprint reduction of up to 100 kg of CO2." The gains for larger organizations, the report said, are smaller--enterprises already benefit from economies of scale--but still appreciable.

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Wednesday, 7 September 2011