Supercomputer predicts revolution (BLOG)

Feeding a supercomputer with news stories could help predict major world events, according to US research.

A study, based on millions of articles, charted deteriorating national sentiment ahead of the recent revolutions in Libya and Egypt.

While the analysis was carried out retrospectively, scientists say the same processes could be used to anticipate upcoming conflict.

The system also picked up early clues about Osama Bin Laden's location.

Kalev Leetaru, from the University of Illinois' Institute for Computing in the Humanities, Arts and Social Science, presented his findings in the journal First Monday.Mood and location

The study's information was taken from a range of sources including the US government-run Open Source Centre and BBC Monitoring, both of which monitor local media output around the world.

News outlets which published online versions were also analysed, as was the New York Times' archive, going back to 1945.

In total, Mr Leetaru gathered more than 100 million articles.

Reports were analysed for two main types of information: mood - whether the article represented good news or bad news, and location - where events were happening and the location of other participants in the story.

Mood detection, or "automated sentiment mining" searched for words such as "terrible", "horrific" or "nice".

Location, or "geocoding" took mentions of specific places, such as "Cairo" and converted them in to coordinates that could be plotted on a map.

Analysis of story elements was used to create an interconnected web of 100 trillion relationships.Predicting trouble

Data was fed into an SGI Altix supercomputer, known as Nautilus, based at the University of Tennessee.

The machine's 1024 Intel Nehalem cores have a total processing power of 8.2 teraflops (trillion floating point operations per second).

Based on specific queries, Nautilus generated graphs for different countries which experienced the "Arab Spring".

In each case, the aggregated results of thousands of news stories showed a notable dip in sentiment ahead of time - both inside the country, and as reported from outside.

For Egypt, the tone of media coverage in the month before President Hosni Mubarak's resignation had fallen to a low only seen twice before in the preceding 30 years.

Previous dips coincided with the 1991 US aerial bombardment of Iraqi troops in Kuwait and the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Mr Leetaru said that his system appeared to generate better intelligence than the US government was working with at the time.

"The mere fact that the US President stood in support of Mubarak suggests very strongly that that even the highest level analysis suggested that Mubarak was going to stay there," he told BBC News.

"That is likely because you have these area experts who have been studying Egypt for 30 years, and in 30 years nothing has happened to Mubarak.

The Egypt graph, said Mr Leetaru, suggested that something unprecedented was happening this time.

"If you look at this tonal curve it would tell you the world is darkening so fast and so strongly against him that it doesn't seem possible he could survive."

Similar drops were seen ahead of the revolution in Libya and the Balkans conflicts of the 1990s.

Saudi Arabia, which has thus far resisted a popular uprising, had experienced fluctuations, but not to the same extent as some other states where leaders were eventually overthrown.Mapping Bin Laden

In his report, Mr Leetaru suggests that analysis of global media reports about Osama Bin Laden would have yielded important clues about his location.

While many believed the al-Qaeda leader to be hiding in Afghanistan, geographic information extracted from media reports consistently identified him with Northern Pakistan.

Only one report mentioned the town of Abbottabad prior to Bin Laden's discovery by US forces in April 2011.

However, the geo-analysis narrowed him down to within 200km, said Mr Leetaru.Real time analysis

The computer event analysis model appears to give forewarning of major events, based on deteriorating sentiment.

However, in the case of this study, its analysis is applied to things that have already happened.

According to Kalev Leetaru, such a system could easily be adapted to work in real time, giving an element of foresight.

"That's the next stage," said Mr Leetaru, who is already working on developing the technology.

"It looks like a stock ticker in many regards and you know what direction it has been heading the last few minutes and you want to know where it is heading in the next few.

"It is very similar to what economic forecasting algorithms do."

Mr Leetaru said he also hoped to improve the resolution of analysis, especially in relation to geographic location.

"The next iteration is going to city level and beyond and looking at individual groups and how they interact.

"I liken it to weather forecasting. It's never perfect, but we do better than random guessing."

bbc

Apple wins German court ruling on Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets

DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Apple Inc scored a symbolic legal victory in efforts to keep its lead spot in the tablet computer market when a German court upheld a ban barring Samsung's local unit from selling its Galaxy 10.1 tablets in Europe's biggest economy.

Samsung, which said it will appeal the decision, and Apple have been locked in a global battle over smartphone and tablet patents since April.

Samsung's Galaxy devices are seen as among the biggest challengers to Apple's mobile products, which have achieved runaway success.

Samsung said it was disappointed by the ruling and that it believed that the ruling restricts design innovation and progress in the industry.

It said it would take all available legal options, including continuing to aggressively pursue Apple for what Samsung said are violation of its wireless technology patents around the world.

The temporary injunction upheld by the court on Friday bars Samsung Germany from selling the Galaxy 10.1 tablet in Germany.

But retailers such as consumer electronics chain Media Markt will still be able to sell the device by selling off existing stock or getting new supplies from the South Korean group's parent Samsung International.

"The ruling affects Samsung Germany and Samsung International, not the retailers or the consumers," a court spokesman said.

Patent expert Florian Mueller said in his blog www.fosspatents.com that the sales ban in Europe for Samsung Germany has no practical consequences.

The German subsidiary is also barred from selling the tablets in Europe, excluding the Netherlands where Apple requested a separate injunction.

SLAVISHLY COPYING

Giving the ruling, Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann said in court in Duesseldorf that the overall impression of the tablet was too similar to the design of Apple's iPad.

"It (the tablet) is distinguished by its smooth, simple areas," Brueckner-Hofmann said.

By contrast, a Dutch court ruled last month that it found no infringement for Samsung's tablets.

Apple repeated its usual statement saying that: "This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

In a global intellectual property battle, Apple has claimed the Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets "slavishly" copied the iPhone and iPad and has sued the Korean company in the United States, Australia, Japan and Korea as well as in Europe.

Samsung, whose tablets are based on Google Inc's Android software, has counter-sued Apple.

On Thursday, Apple filed a suit against Samsung in Japan, seeking to ban sales of some of its gadgets there.

That same day smartphone maker HTC said that it extended its lawsuit against Apple to include more patents the Taiwanese company acquired from Google as legal battles become increasingly common in the hi-tech industry.

5 Reasons Droid Bionic Will Steal the iPhone 5's Throne(BLOG)

(BLOG)COMMENTARY | Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated: The smart phone war is far from over. When the iPhone broke into the scene back in January 2007, it was clear it intended to remain there. However, the recent onslaught of high-quality and low-cost Android-fueled phones to make it to the market in the last year are leaving some skeptical. In fact, with Steve Jobs now out of the picture, many can't help but ask: Is the iPhone's time up?

That is where the new Droid Bionic from Motorola comes in. The Droid Bionic, released Thursday, is no weak contender in this fight to the top. Running on Android 2.3.4, the phone is miles ahead of even some of the most far-stretched rumors of the iPhone 5's capabilities. With that being said, there are five reasons the Droid Bionic will be taking over the throne:Price:



When the Bionic hits shelves early Thursday morning, it will not be undersold. With prices confirmed, such as $280 at Costco with free accessories, this phone is coming out swinging. As always, Apple plans to keep its customers in the dark, so no pricing is confirmed. However, knowing Apple's past release of iPhone 4, one can expect a minimum $600 price tag.



Battery:



Anyone who has ever owned an iPhone knows one thing: There is no such thing as charging your iOS-powered phone too much. The Droid Bionic will operate using state of the art Lithium Ion battery with a capacity of 1,735 mAh, which is 315 more than the last iPhone released. Due to this, talk time is clocked in at 10.83 hours and stand a whopping 200 hours!



Flash:



Steve Jobs' campaign against Flash compatibility has been a fight against what the people want. Bionic comes equipped to handle Flash and Flash-enabled software. This means no more sacrificing Web browsing or staring at error boxes where the flash content should be!



Music:



You would think that coming from having roots in an MP3 player the iPhone would have much more muscle in this field. However, the Droid Bionic once again outdoes Apple with the ability to handle formats such as WMA, eAAC+, AMR, and OGG. These formats, especially eAAC+, are some of the highest-quality, lowest-loss music media to date in the digital world.


Memory:



With no word from Apple yet on the iPhone 5's ability to hold microSD cards, it is safe to assume the Droid Bionic is at the very top of its class. The microSD cards are already known for being some of the cheapest and most efficient ways to store data and Droid Bionic makes use of this. In fact, the new Motorola Smart Phone will be able to hold up to 32 GB of additional microSD or microSDHC memory!





The days of Apple's rule over the kingdom are over. The new smart phone on the block, the Droid Bionic, is going to clean the floor with the lagging iPhone 5.

Apple suppliers cranking out 150,000 iPhone 5 units per day (BLOG)

Apple has yet to confirm a single detail about its next-generation iPhone, but reports out of Taiwan suggest the company believes it’s going to be a hit.

According to Apple supply chain sources, production of Apple’s so-called iPhone 5 at Foxconn Electronics plants have ramped up to about 150,000 units per day, reports DigiTimes. In addition, lens maker Largan Precision, touch-screen maker TPK Holding, glass supplier G-Tech Optoelectronics and battery suppliers Simplo and Dynapack are all currently operating at maximum capacity, the sources said.

With this level of production, iPhone 5 shipments are expected to reach between 5 million and 6 million in September, which equals out to more than 22 million units for the fourth quarter of this year. Shipments of iPhone 4 (both GSM and CDMA versions) will drop to make room for iPhone 5.

Of course, it is still not known when Apple plans to announce the iPhone 5, let alone when anxious customers will be able to get their hands on one. General consensus of the iPhone 5 rumor mill is that the next-generation Apple handset will launch sometime in October, though it’s possible Apple will make an announcement about the device this month — a prospect that grows increasingly unlikely as the days roll on.

An October iPhone 5 launch has become so commonplace, in fact, that some reputable outlets (likeAllThingsD, for example) refer to the time frame as if its been set in stone by Steve Jobs himself (or maybe Tim Cook).

Other rumors that are beginning to appear more sure include iPhone 5 coming packed with an A5 processor (possibly dual-core), and include an 8 megapixel camera. It’s also likely that the iPhone 5 will have an edge-to-edge screen, a thinner profile, and be compatible with both GSM (AT&T) and CDMA (Verizon) radio signals. Sprint, which uses CDMA, could be added to the list of carriers in the US.

In addition, we were told recently by a Verizon representative that the iPhone 5 “will be 4G,” which is as much of a confirmation as we’ve seen that the next iPhone will have that capability.

Google to acquire restaurant review company Zagat (BLOG)

Deal expands local content in niche marketplace that includes Yelp and Yahoo:

Google has bought Zagat, the popular restaurant recommendations and ratings authority, to expand its local content in the niche marketplace that includes Yelp and Yahoo.

In an entry on the search giant’s official blog titled “Google just got ZAGATRated!,” Google Vice President Marissa Mayer said Thursday that Zagat will now become “a cornerstone” of Google’s local offering, adding “reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world.”

Mayer said the 32-year-old Zagat, which polls consumers and compiles reviews on restaurants around the world, will work in tandem with its mapping services and core search engine.

“With Zagat, we gain a world-class team that has more experience in consumer based-surveys, recommendations and reviews than anyone else in the industry,” Mayer said.

Founded by Tim and Nina Zagat, their eponymous service provides pocket-sized guides to restaurants in more than 100 cities. It may be one of the earliest forms of user-generated content, Mayer said in her blog post.

"We are thrilled to see our baby placed in such good hands and to start today as official 'Googlers,'" Tim and Nina Zagat said in a joint statement.

Zagat will go up against competing services popular with users on the Internet, including Yelp.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.



reuters

Carol Bartz: Yahoo's Board "F***ed Me Over" (BLOG)

Carol Bartz says Yahoo's board of directors "f***ed me over" and intends to remain on the board after being fired as CEO.

Bartz made the statements during a passionate and blunt interview with Fortune. During the interview, she recalls how Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock read from a script when he fired her over the phone.

[More from Mashable: Yahoo Forms “Executive Leadership Council” to Replace Carol Bartz]

"I said, 'Roy, I think that's a script,'" Bartz says. "Why don't you have the balls to tell me yourself?' She adds one more jab, claiming she told Bostock, "I thought you were classier."

In the interview, Bartz blamed the board's impatience and incompetence for Yahoo's steady decline, stemming from its decision to turn down Microsoft's $40+ billion acquisition deal. "The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country," Bartz says. "Now they're trying to show that they're not the doofuses that they are."

[More from Mashable: Carol Bartz’s Memo to All Employees: I’ve Just Been Fired]

Bartz claims their impatience stopped her from implementing a plan that would have started revenue growth in 2012. "They want revenue growth, even though they were told that we would not have revenue growth until 2012."

Finally, Bartz claims she intends to remain on the board of directors of Yahoo. She wants "to make sure that the employees don't believe that I've abandoned them," adding that she has "way too many purple clothes" to completely abandon the company.

Bartz, however, doesn't get to decide whether she remains on Yahoo's board. That's up to the shareholders. She certainly isn't likely to fine many allies on Yahoo's board of directors.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

What you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S II (BLOG)

It seems like new Android devices come out every day — and with so many of them floating around, it's hard to get very excited about the launch of the "next great phone." But there's a new mobile lineup that's definitely worth a look: The Samsung Galaxy S II series. This trio of phones continue the smartly-designed, powerful pedigree of their predecessors — and they just might be the best phones money can buy.

But the Galaxy S II phones aren't without competition. With the anxiously-awaited Droid Bionic finally making its debut, it just goes to show that no single Android device can be king of the hill — for long, at least. Just like the new Samsung line, the Droid Bionic on Verizon touts a full set of bells and whistles — 4G and a bright 4.3" screen among them. But will Samsung's new mobile generation stay on top? We think so — read on to find out why.

Like Samsung's original Galaxy S fleet, these slick new Android smartphones will be available across carriers — this time with the exception of Verizon. The original phones, which sported flashy names like the "Fascinate" and "Captivate," were highly reviewed when they debuted almost exactly a year ago, and the Galaxy S II line aims to keep the bar high.

The original model of Galaxy S II has been available abroad for some time now, but three new variations of the phone — one on AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile — are about make a splashy U.S. debut.

What they have in common
Since the whole Galaxy S II pack shares most of its feature set in common, we can run through what to expect from any of the three devices, regardless of which model you might be eyeing. All three phones run Android 2.3 (the newest version of Android for phones), which means they'll offer staples of the Android experience like widgets, a high level of customization, and the Android Market's cache of apps and games. Samsung has tweaked the software a bit with its own user interface, known as TouchWiz, which offers a distinct look and some unique built-in features like an integrated task manager.

The most noteworthy (or at least eye-catching) feature of the trio might be the Super AMOLED Plus screens, which are stunningly bright and make for an extremely sharp, colorful display. Each phone is photo-ready with a built-in 8 megapixel rear-facing camera, with a 2 megapixel cam up front for video chat. All three devices can record video in 1080p HD.

The three phones will all be capable of connecting to a flavor of 4G on their respective networks — HSPA+ in the case of AT&T and T-Mobile and WiMax on Sprint. These networks offer speeds far outstripping 3G, though you'll need to have coverage in your area for that to mean much.

While they share the same bloodline and most of the same tech specs, the phones do have a few distinctions — we'll look into those next.




AT&T: Samsung Galaxy S IIAT&T: Samsung Galaxy S II
If you had fallen head-over-heels for the international version of the Galaxy S II, you'll find a lot to love in AT&T's variant. The phones share their good looks and slender, squared-off design in common. Unlike its two brethren, the AT&T Galaxy S II sports a 4.3" screen — a more reasonable size if you've got hands on the small side, or if a 4.5" phone seems a bit too beastly for your liking.



At a wafer-thin 8.89mm thick, this version might squeak by as the thinnest of them all — but still not as svelte as the international version's 8.49mm. (For perspective, the famously thin iPhone 4 is 9.3mm thick.)

Beyond its silhouette, this variant is reportedly running a power-packed Samsung Exynos dual-core 1.2Ghz processor (which is lauded for gaming and graphics) and the ability to jump on AT&T's HSPA+ 4G network.

The AT&T Galaxy S II is rumored to be available on September 18, but there's no word yet on pricing.




Epic Touch 4GSprint: Epic Touch 4G
Sprint is opting to stick with a familiar naming scheme, dubbing its Galaxy S II the "Epic Touch 4G." The Epic Touch 4G's 4.5" Super AMOLED Plus screen is a step up from its 4.3" AT&T cousin, which is either a blessing or a curse depending on how sold you are on megaphones.



The name probably tipped you off, but the Epic Touch 4G will be able to hop on Sprint's 4G WiMax network, which makes for a big speed boost if you live in a Sprint 4G coverage area. The Sprint version strays a bit from the original Galaxy S II that's been available overseas, and features more rounded edges. It also has one of Samsung's own Exonys processors under the hood, and with a top-of-the-line 4.5" Super AMOLED Plus screen, games and graphics should look stunning.

Sprint's Epic Touch 4G will go on sale September 16 for $199 with a 2-year contract.

T-Mobile: Samsung Galaxy S II
T-Mobile's variant shares most of the same DNA as its relatives, but is a bit closer to Sprint's version on the family tree. Like Sprint's epically-named Epic Touch 4G, the T-Mobile version boasts a massive 4.5" Super AMOLED Plus screen.

The T-Mobile Galaxy S II strays a bit further from the design of its progenitor, with curves reminiscent of the original Samsung Galaxy S line. This version will also be 4G capable, so it can speed along on T-Mobile's newly speed-bumped HSPA+ network.

T-Mobile has been a bit dodgy on the details, so pricing and a release date are not yet confirmed. The T-Mobile version is also rumored to sport a different dual-core processor than its peers, possibly to enable even faster speeds (42 MBps) on the new network.

Dutch woman calls ex-boyfriend 65,000 times (BLOG)

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch prosecutors are charging a 42-year-old woman with stalking after she allegedly called her ex-boyfriend 65,000 times in the past year.

The 62-year-old victim from The Hague filed a police complaint in August due to the persistent phone calls. Police arrested the suspected stalker Monday, seizing several cell phones and computers from her home in Rotterdam.

Hague prosecution spokeswoman Nicolette Stoel said Thursday the woman argued to judges at a preliminary hearing she had a relationship with the man and the number of calls she placed to him wasn't excessive. The man denied they had a relationship.

The court ordered her not to contact him again.

2 Mexicans deny terrorism, face 30 years for tweet (BLOG)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Think before you tweet.

A former teacher turned radio commentator and a math tutor who lives with his mother sit in a prison in southern Mexico, facing possible 30-year sentences for terrorism and sabotage in what may be the most serious charges ever brought against anyone using a Twitter social network account.

Prosecutors say the defendants helped cause a chaos of car crashes and panic as parents in the Gulf Coast city of Veracruz rushed to save their children because of false reports that gunmen were attacking schools.

Gerardo Buganza, interior secretary for Veracruz state, compared the panic to that caused by Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds." But he said the fear roused by that account of a Martian invasion of New Jersey "was small compared to what happened here."

"Here, there were 26 car accidents, or people left their cars in the middle of the streets to run and pick up their children, because they thought these things were occurring at their kids' schools," Buganza told local reporters.

The charges say the messages caused such panic that emergency numbers "totally collapsed because people were terrified," damaging service for real emergencies.

Veracruz, the state's largest city, and the neighboring suburb of Boca del Rio were already on edge after weeks of gunbattles involving drug traffickers. One attack occurred on a major boulevard. In another, gunmen tossed a grenade outside the city aquarium, killing an tourist and seriously wounding his wife and their two young children.

On Aug. 25, nerves were further frayed when residents saw armed convoys of marines circulating on the streets, making some think a confrontation with gangs was imminent.

That is when Gilberto Martinez Vera, who works as a low-paid tutor at several private schools, allegedly opened the floodgates of fear with repeated messages that gunmen were taking children from schools.

"My sister-in-law just called me all upset, they just kidnapped five children from the school," Martinez tweeted.

In fact, no such kidnappings occurred that day. Defense lawyer Claribel Guevara said the rumors already had started and that Martinez Vera was just relaying what others told him. She said he never claimed to have firsthand knowledge of the incident.

But in a subsequent tweet about the kidnap rumor, he said, "I don't know what time it happened, but it's true." He also tweeted that three days earlier, "they mowed down six kids between 13 and 15 in the Hidalgo neighborhood." While a similar attack occurred, it didn't involve children.

Prosecutors say the rumors were also sent by Maria de Jesus Bravo Pagola, who has worked as a teacher, a state arts official and a radio commentator. She says she was just relaying such messages to her own Twitter followers.

"How can they possibly do this to me, for re-tweeting a message? I mean, it's 140 characters. It's not logical,'" said Guevara, quoting her client.

Better known on the radio and social networks as "Maruchi," her Facebook site now features the Twitter logo, a little bluebird, blindfolded and standing in front of the scales of justice, with the slogan "I too am a TwitTerrorist."

Online petitions are circulating to demand her release, and the pair's cause has been taken up by human rights groups that call the charges exaggerated. Amnesty International says officials are violating freedom of expression and it blames the panic on the uncertainty many Mexicans feel amid a drug war in which more than 35,000 people have died over the past five years.

"The lack of safety creates an atmosphere of mistrust in which rumors that circulate on social networks are part of people's efforts to protect themselves, since there is very little trustworthy information," Amnesty wrote in a statement on the case.

In violence-wracked cities in the northern state of Tamaulipas, citizens and even authorities have used Twitter and Facebook to warn one another about shootouts.

Anita Vera, Martinez Vera's 71-year-old mother, said her 48-year-old son still lives at her house with his girlfriend. She said he told her that had posted his messages after the panic had already started.

"He told me "Mom, I didn't start any of this, I just transmitted what I was told,'" Vera Martellis said after visiting her son in prison.

"He used the computer, but I swear that my son never wanted to do anybody harm, or start a revolution, like they say he did," said Vera, who ekes out a living selling flowers.

Raul Trejo, an expert on media and violence at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the terrorism charge is unwarranted, but described the case as "a very incautious use of Twitter."

He noted that in Mexico, "Twitter has been used by drug traffickers to create panic with false warnings." In one case, a wave of messages about impending violence shut down schools, bars and restaurants in the central city of Cuernavaca last year.

Trejo said Twitter users must learn "not to believe everything, and simply take the Twitter messages as an indication that some (report) is making the rounds."

But the real problem appears to be that governments cannot prevent drug cartel violence or even accurately inform citizens about it. Local news media are often so battered by kidnappings and killings of reporters that, in many states, they are loath to report about it.

"These Twitter users had accounts with a few hundred followers," Trejo noted. "If these lies grew, it is not so much because they propagated them, but because in Veracruz as in most of the rest of the country, there is such a lack of public safety that the public is inclined to believe unconfirmed acts of violence ... The government doesn't make clear what is happening."

Defense attorneys also say their clients were held incommunicado for almost three days, unable to see a lawyer.

It appears one of the most serious sets of charges ever brought for sending or resending Twitter messages.

Tweeter Paul Chambers was fined 385 pounds and ordered to pay 2,000 pounds ($3,225) in prosecution costs last year for tweeting that if northern England's Robin Hood Airport didn't reopen in time for his flight, "I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"

Venezuelan authorities last year charged two people with spreading false information about the country's banking system using Twitter and urging people to pull money out of banks. They could serve nine to 11 years in prison if convicted.

In 2009, a Chinese woman was sentenced to a year in a labor camp for posting a satirical Twitter message about the Japan pavilion at the Shanghai Expo.

Police join search for missing prototype (BLOG)

San Francisco police have assisted Apple in the search for a prototype of the latest iPhone that went astray in a bar in a repeat of an embarrassing loss that took place last year.

An Apple employee lost a yet-to-be-released iPhone 5 in a tequila bar in San Francisco's Mission District in July, technology news site CNET reported this week.

After the device was electronically tracked using GPS technology to a San Francisco house, four police officers and two Apple employees visited the home, the San Francisco police said in a statement distributed to news outlets.

"Apple employees called Mission police station directly, wanting assistance in tracking down a lost item," the press release said.

"The two Apple employees met with the resident and then went into the house to look for the lost item," it said. "The Apple employees did not find the lost item and left the house."

The statement did not identify the item being searched for but the title of the document carried a tantalizing hint: iPhone5.doc.

A resident of the home, Sergio Calderon, 22, told SF Weekly that he has visited the bar where the phone was reportedly lost but he did not have the device. He said the search of his house took place in July.

Cupertino, California-based Apple began selling the iPhone 4 last year and is expected to unveil the latest model, the iPhone 5, in September or October.

Word of another unreleased iPhone model disappearing in a bar came just weeks after prosecutors decided not to pursue criminal charges against Gizmodo technology bloggers who got hold of a lost iPhone 4 prototype last year.

Gizmodo published pictures and details of the iPhone prototype after buying it for $5,000 from a man who claimed to have found it in a beer garden where it was lost by an Apple software engineer.

Criminal charges have been filed against the man who purportedly found the iPhone 4 prototype and another who brokered the deal to sell it to Gizmodo.

The pair pleaded not guilty on Thursday to misdemeanor charges in San Mateo County Superior Court.

yahoo

Fans set sights on first 'Call of Duty' convention (BLOG)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The inaugural "Call of Duty XP" convention more closely resembled Disneyland than an actual battleground as the two-day event celebrating the shoot-'em-up video game franchise took flight Friday at an old airfield in Los Angeles.

More than 6,000 fans lined up for game previews, real-world recreations of "Call of Duty" levels and facetime with developers at the first-ever gaming extravaganza.

"It kind of sucks to have to wait in lines, but I think we'll get a chance to do everything," said Daniel Gonzalez of Imperial County, Calif. Gonzalez, 18, said he was most looking forward to blasting zombies at one of the hundreds of gaming stations erected inside a mammoth hangar on the 12-acre compound where Howard Hughes built the Spruce Goose.

"Call of Duty" devotees joined snaking lines for everything from hands-on time with "Modern Warfare 3" to grilled hamburgers from an eatery resembling the game's fictitious Burger Town fast food chain. Attendees also waited anxiously for a chance to spar on paintball courses modeled after "Modern Warfare 2" levels and glide over the event on a zipline.

"It was perfect — not too fast and not scary," said Ray Usoro, who drove up with two friends from San Diego to attend "Call of Duty XP," after braving the zipline. Usoro, 27, said his $150 ticket to the event was worth it because it included a special edition of "Modern Warfare 3" and the "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see 'Call of Duty' brought to life."

The sold-out event honoring the Activision Blizzard Inc. franchise kicked off Friday with the unveiling of the multiplayer mode of the upcoming "Modern Warfare 3." The developers promised a more balanced online experience, adding the ability to upgrade weapons, eliminating shotguns as secondary weapons and giving the infamous "killstreak" feature an overhaul.

Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, said the game publisher organized the immersive event to thank hardcore fans and build hype for "Modern Warfare 3" and the new "Elite" online service. He said all proceeds from ticket sales would go to the Call of Duty Endowment, a nonprofit organization that Activision founded to assist military veterans.

A mention that Kanye West would be performing at the convention Saturday night by Robert Bowling, the creative strategist at "Modern Warfare" developer Infinity Ward, elicited several boos from the crowd. Hirshberg called the notoriously spontaneous rapper "one of greatest performers in the world" and said he wasn't fearful of any of West's antics.

"When you hire Kanye, you hire Kanye," said Hirshberg.

For those who can't attend "Call of Duty XP" but still want in on the action, Activision enlisted supermodel Marisa Miller to host streaming videos from the event. Miller, who will make her film debut in the upcoming supernatural thriller "R.I.P.D." with Jeff Bridges, said she's no stranger to "Call of Duty." Her father and husband are both die-hard players.

"The way we play is my husband will show me what's up in the specific map that we're going to play through and then he'll give me the controller, and I'll have a go at it," said Miller. "My husband is really intense about it. He's really good. I'm just the type of player who likes to sit behind the wall with my sniper rifle and pick people off that way."

For the past four years, the action-packed "Call of Duty" franchise has enjoyed unprecedented success. The latest title, "Black Ops," has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide since its launch last November, and more than seven million people play online every day. The upcoming globe-trotting "Modern Warfare 3" edition is scheduled for release Nov. 8.

Other activities at "Call of Duty XP" include sumo duels inside puffy suits resembling the game's "juggernaut" bomb diffusion uniforms, an armory showcasing gear and art from the "Call of Duty" franchise, a performance by the punk-rock band Dropkick Murphys, and several game tournaments, including matches pitting basketball players against U.S. soldiers.

Steps to Sudoku success (BLOG)

A staple of in-flight magazines, the pen-and-paper puzzler has become one of the most popular logic games in the world. Requiring no specialized know-how to play, it's a simply designed but tremendously challenging game. Yes, it involves digits, but it requires absolutely no math (and properly done, it requires absolutely no guesswork, either.)

It's a game of pure, cold, applied logic. Follow these tips, and your Sudoku career -- not to mention your brain -- will live long and prosper.

The rules

You're not going to get far if you don't understand the rules. Luckily, there are only three of them, and they're pretty straightforward.

-- Imagine the puzzle divided into nine horizontal rows. Each row has nine squares in it, and each number from one to nine should appear once -- and once only -- in that row.

-- Now picture the puzzle split into nine vertical columns. Again, each column has nine squares, and each one should contain all the numbers from one to nine.

-- Finally, you'll notice the puzzle is cut into nine three-by-three squares. Each of these larger squares contains nine small squares -- and each has to contain the numbers one to nine.

Easy, right? All those blank spaces might look daunting, but with just a few simple techniques you'll be equipped to handle just about anything those sneaky Sudoku masters throw at you. Read on.

The basics

Sherlock Holmes was fond of saying, "Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." He wasn't talking about Sudoku (though we suspect he would have enjoyed the game), but Holmes's principle works for Sudoku as well as it works for finding crooks.

There are only nine possible answers (or "candidates") for each blank square, and the answers already on the grid will eliminate some of them. Once you've eliminated eight, you can be sure the one that remains is correct.

So for the first step, grab your pencil -- you are using a pencil, right? -- and mark each cell with its possible answers. Just look across the cell's column and row, and the other cells in its three-by-three square, and jot down the numbers that don't appear anywhere else, nice and small in a corner.

Once you've done that, look for any squares that are left with just one candidate. Fill those in with the answer; you're done there. Then, look for any squares that are the only occurrence of a particular candidate in their row, column, or three-by-three. If you have a square with candidates 2, 3, and 6, but 6 doesn't appear as a candidate anywhere else in its row, you know that square has to be a 6. Whenever you pin down a number, go through its row, column, and three-by-three, and cross out any other occurrences of that number from the possible candidates. Repeat those steps until you get stuck.

Pick out the twins



Next, look for cells in the same column, row, or three-by-three that have the same two candidates, and no others. Find a match, and you can strike out those two candidates from all other cells in that row, column, and three-by-three. Often that'll be enough to nail down another few cells and start the cycle all over again.

Track down the triplets



Still stuck? The twins technique also works for triplets, but you need three cells that share the same pool of three (and only three) candidates. So if you have a cell with candidates 1 and 8, another with candidates 4 and 8, and another with candidates 1 and 4 that share a row, column, or three-by-three, you can strike out all three of those numbers in all other cells in that row, column, or three-by-three.

"Slice and dice"

Finally, here's a classic technique for filling out a three-by-three region. Suppose you have such a square, and suppose you have already pinned down the locations of the 1, 2, 4, and 7. Pick one of the numbers that's missing -- say, 6 -- and look for 6s in the three-by-three boxes to the left and/or right of the one you're trying to complete. If you find a six, strike out its entire line. Do the same for columns. If you find you've struck out all the numbers in the three-by-three except one, you've found your 6. If not, try another number.

Never, ever guess

Remember: Sudoku games don't require guesswork. If you find yourself tempted to fill in an answer "just to see where it gets you," resist it. You've missed something elsewhere on the grid.

Lines of reasoning that are based on uncertain answers or trial-and-error lead to rabbit-warrens of confusing possibilities, dead ends, and frustration. Yes, it's possible to play that way -- guessing an answer and seeing if that line of thinking leads to an unsolvable grid -- but it's rarely wise, and never necessary.

Best Buy's BlackBerry PlayBook Price Cut: Just For Labor Day (BLOG)

TORONTO (Reuters) - Big box retailer Best Buy (BBY.N) has slashed up to $150 off the U.S. price tag for Research In Motion's (RIM.TO) PlayBook tablet computer for the Labor Day weekend.

The 7-inch PlayBook launched in April to scathing reviews that it was not ready, as it can only connect to RIM's servers for corporate systems such as email via a BlackBerry smartphone.

The 64 GB and 32 GB versions, which usually sell for $700 and $600, respectively, were both advertised at $549.99 on Best Buy's website on Thursday. The retailer was offering the 16 GB version for $449.99, a $50 discount. All the deals end on Monday.

It is not uncommon for retailers to discount smartphones and other electronic devices during the busy back-to-school shopping period.

Apple's (AAPL.O) iPad still dominates the tablet computer market.

RIM said in June it had shipped 500,000 PlayBooks.

Apple has sold close to 30 million iPads, whose prices start at about $500. Apple launched the iPad early last year, and spawned a string of copycat devices.

Current versions of the PlayBook cannot connect to cellular networks, giving carriers little incentive to promote them. RIM is expected to launch cellular-enabled PlayBooks soon.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) has killed off its TouchPad tablet, but will produce one last run after a sales frenzy caused by its price cut for the device to $99 from $399 and $499. 

reuters

Ohio teacher sues computer tracking company for sex spying (BLOG)

When Susan Clements-Jeffrey struck up a webcam chat with her boyfriend, she assumed — like all but the most paranoid among us would — that the interaction was entirely private. Little did she know that her laptop was actually stolen property being aggressively monitored by Absolute Software, a private security company that specializes in tracking stolen computers.

The odd tale began when Clements-Jeffrey, an Ohio substitute teacher, purchased the used laptop from one of her students for a thrifty $60 in 2008. While that probably wasn't the best-advised idea to begin with, Clements-Jeffrey claims to have had no idea the laptop was actually stolen — the student had bought it for $40 at a bus station and made a quick buck by passing it off to the naive instructor.

What Clements-Jeffrey probably didn't see coming is that the laptop was property of Ohio's Clark County School District. The school, through a contract with Absolute Software, installs hidden tracking software on all of its machines to assist in recovery in the case of theft. Absolute's software, known as LoJack for laptops, gives the company total remote access to the computer's data, which it records. LoJack is a highly-rated security service — and an entirely legal one — but in this case, Absolute is under fire for potentially violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act, which details guidelines for virtual privacy.

Had Absolute merely tracked the stolen laptop through its unique IP address, there wouldn't be much to debate. Instead, through LoJack, Absolute's theft officer Kyle Magnus began recording the unsuspecting teacher's keystrokes, web habits, and even snapped three sexually explicit screenshots of Clements-Jeffrey's video chat with her boyfriend. Magnus passed this data on to the Springfield, Ohio police department. Clements-Jeffrey and her partner are currently suing Absolute, Magnus, the city of Springfield, and two police officers for violating their Fourth Amendment rights.

LoJack isn't the only security software out there capable of recording images remotely. Another company, GadgetTrak, employs a stolen laptop's built-in webcam to collect data on a suspected thief after the computer is reported as stolen, but that information is transmitted directly to the property's owner rather than to a security's group's servers. While most gadget recovery anecdotes end with a victim having the stolen goods returned to them thanks to the wonders of modern technology, this murky case is treading some ethically-ambiguous water while legal proceedings continue.

Skype now works with any home phone through new adapter (BLOG)

While analog telephone adapters aren’t exactly advanced technology these days, a version that works with Skype notes a mention. Skype announced the Freetalk Connect-Me home phone adapter, a piece of technology that acts as the middle man between a broadband Internet connection and an ordinary wired or cordless telephone. The adapter also allows the user to keep a traditional landline and switch between the two services. On the bottom of the device, users will find an Ethernet port as well as two ports for phone lines. The device stores up to 100 numbers for speed dialing and is priced at $39.99.

While a user can make free Skype-to-Skype calls, they will have to purchase a plan in order to call landlines from the Skype handset. While the initial $39.99 adapter comes with 60 minutes of free landline calling, an more expensive $59.99 model comes with 12 months of landline calls as well as 200 minutes of international calls. Pricing for the year-long phone service is identical to Magic Jack which is priced at $19.99 per year. For users looking for a more friendly international calling package, another package priced at $59.99 allows for 3 months of unlimited international calling.

In addition to the adapter, Skype also announced a new Skype-ready cordless phone manufactured by General Electric. The phone is priced at $69.99 and users can purchase similar calling packages up to $89.99 for unlimited nationwide calling for 12 months or unlimited international calling over three months.

Skype also recently announced the rollout of a rebranded version of Skype Access. Attempting to provide low cost Wi-Fi access for business travelers, the Skype WiFi application allows users to fund the Skype credit account and purchase Wi-Fi access when in airports, hotels and other public places. While prices vary based on the location, prices start as low as 6 cents minute and users only pay for time rather than for bandwidth used.

U.S. moves to block AT&T, T-Mobile deal (BLOG)

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration sued to block AT&T Inc's $39 billion acquisition of wireless rival T-Mobile on concerns it would harm competition, launching its biggest challenge yet to a takeover and dealing the carrier a potentially costly blow.

AT&T, led by Chief Executive Randall Stephenson, plans to fight the government's decision in court, and analysts say it might have to make big concessions -- including selling major assets -- to mollify regulators.

Shares of AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. carrier behind Verizon Wireless, fell as much as 5.4 percent. If AT&T's purchase of the No. 4 carrier T-Mobile USA falls through, it may have to pay a huge break-up fee and benefits, such as spectrum grants, worth an estimated $6 billion to Deutsche Telekom.

The Justice Department in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday said eliminating T-Mobile as a competitor would be disastrous for consumers and raise prices, particularly because the smaller provider is considered a pioneer in low-cost service plans.

"The biggest surprise is the timing. Many expected, because of how big the merger (is), the complexities, how big the stakes were, that it would take longer," said Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeffrey Silva.

The lawsuit is a serious attempt to halt a "fundamentally flawed" deal, not a tactic to wring outsized concessions from AT&T, a source familiar with the lawsuit said, adding that the companies would have to give up "so much" to win approval.

"Were the merger to proceed, there would only be three providers with 90 percent of the market, and competition among the remaining competitors on all dimensions, including price, quality and innovation, would be diminished," said Deputy Attorney General James Cole.

The department said it remains open to negotiations with the company, but most likely it will be up to the courts.

A DEFINING DEAL FOR STEPHENSON

AT&T's Stephenson has argued that his company needs T-Mobile to get more wireless airwaves to meet growing demand for high-speed services.

The planned acquisition is a career-defining move for Stephenson, who has lived under the shadow of predecessor Ed Whitacre, said a source close to AT&T. Stephenson put himself on the line with this deal so he has no choice but to double down, the source said.

The government's lawsuit caught AT&T and Wall Street by surprise, coming hours after the telecoms carrier said it would bring back 5,000 call center jobs to the United States if the deal closed.

If the Justice Department succeeds, it would be a black eye for not just Stephenson, but also T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm. Shares of Deutsche Telekom fell 7.6 percent.

AT&T representatives met with Justice Department officials as recently as Tuesday, and received no indication that the lawsuit was coming, a second source with knowledge of the meetings told Reuters.

Another source close to the deal said the two sides were just beginning the back and forth in the review and no detailed discussions about remedies occurred, nor were specific concessions on the table.

"Clearly AT&T didn't expect this," said Pacific Crest Securities analyst Steve Clement. "It changes things for them with respect to the spectrum flexibility they'd have."

BIGGEST CHALLENGE

The lawsuit is the biggest challenge to a takeover by the Obama administration, which includes former AT&T executive William Daley, who serves as White House chief of staff.

The agency has been working for months on the deal, despite the departure of the antitrust division's chief, Christine Varney. She left for private practice and was replaced by her chief of staff Sharis Pozen on an acting basis.

The federal government has challenged past deals, some of which were abandoned, but on other occasions the companies have fought and been able to close the transactions. The Obama administration has cleared other big deals like Comcast Corp's purchase of NBC Universal.

It remains unclear how the federal courts would treat the case, but one thing most experts agree on is that it would take a long time to wind its way through the system.

The question is whether the companies are willing to pursue that route and for how long, or go their separate ways.

"We plan to ask for an expedited hearing so the enormous benefits of this merger can be fully reviewed," said AT&T General Counsel Wayne Watts.

The $3 billion break-up fee would be the largest-ever triggered, according to Thomson Reuters data. Seven investment banks could also face forfeiting almost $150 million in fees.

"This is an administration that came in saying it was going to have a more aggressive approach," said Michael Sohn, an antitrust attorney with Davis Polk Wardwell LLP.

Another complicating factor is the deal also needs approve by the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates wireless communications. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said he is concerned about the deal's impact on competition.

"Ultimately, post concessions, we still expect the deal to be cleared -- eventually," said Liberium Capital analyst Mark James.

A scuppered acquisition could prompt Sprint Nextel Corp, the smallest of the top three U.S. carriers, to consider buying T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, analysts said.

More immediately, the decision is a letdown for the German carrier and puts a cloud over the senior executives there and at AT&T who exuded confidence about the deal and touted plans to reach underserved areas.

"(Deutsche Telekom) will gain some short-term consolation from the penalties it can exact from AT&T," said John Delaney, an analyst at technology research firm IDC. "But in the end, DT would still be stuck with the problem of how to turn around a sub-scale national operator with a declining subscriber base."

AT&T shares fell $1.36, or more than 4.6 percent, to $28.26. Stock in rival Sprint, which called the lawsuit a "victory for consumers," rose 6 percent to $3.76.

Despite a spike in its shares, some analysts say the picture is not all good because the removal of T-Mobile -- which has a reputation for aggressively under-cutting rivals on price -- could have helped Sprint in certain market segments.

"It's mixed for Sprint. On the one hand, they were potentially going to lose T-Mobile USA as a competitor at the low end of the market," Clement said. "Now it's going to face a T-Mobile that's in a better position prior to the merger proposal, with extra cash and spectrum and a new roaming agreement with AT&T."

The case is USA v. AT&T Inc et al, No. 11-cv-1560 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Even with low prices, T-Mobile customers flee (BLOG)

NEW YORK (AP) — The Justice Department's move to block AT&T Inc. from buying T-Mobile USA is motivated by the desire to keep a low-priced competitor in the game. But that's a game T-Mobile is losing.

Despite low prices and a peppy pitchwoman in a polka-dot dress, T-Mobile customers have been fleeing to other carriers in the last year and a half.

T-Mobile's 33.6 million customers may be relieved that the federal government is trying to block the merger, so they can keep their wireless service plans. But in the long run, T-Mobile is in an unsustainable position. Analysts say the company's past decisions have painted it into a corner.

The No. 4 wireless carrier is being squeezed by competitors from two directions. At the high end of the market, it can't compete with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., the market leader and no. 2, respectively. At the low end, T-Mobile is struggling against competitors like Sprint Nextel Corp., which sells government-subsidized "lifeline" service, and MetroPCS Holdings Corp., which targets urban, working class consumers with cheap "unlimited" plans.

Essentially, T-Mobile is seen as a cheap brand by those who can afford better, and as an expensive one by those who pinch every penny.

"We're stuck in the middle from a brand point of view," T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm said in January.

The most valuable customers, the ones who buy smartphones and sign up for two-year contracts with lucrative data plans, are leaving T-Mobile the fastest.

It's not because T-Mobile's customers are particularly dissatisfied with the service — they like their provider better than AT&T customers theirs, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Instead, the lure of the iPhone and wider network coverage is what draws high-paying customers to AT&T and Verizon.

So, even though T-Mobile is profitable, its revenue is shrinking fast — in the latest quarter, it was down to the level of 2007.

Customer flight could speed up even more this fall, if Sprint gets to start selling the iPhone, as The Wall Street Journal reported recently. That would make T-Mobile the only one of the four national wireless carriers that doesn't sell Apple Inc.'s coveted phone.

In about two years, T-Mobile will face another problem: limited wireless spectrum, or space on the airwaves. While other carriers have been bulking up their spectrum holdings in the last five years, T-Mobile stayed mostly on the sidelines. That means growing smartphone data use could fill up T-Mobile's airwaves in a few years, according to the company's own estimates.

Even before AT&T's $39 billion deal to buy T-Mobile was announced in March, T-Mobile's corporate parent, Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany, said it's not interested in investing more in its U.S. subsidiary. It gave CEO Humm a mission to stop customer flight and start growing revenue, but he'll have to do it with the U.S. subsidiary's own resources.

Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner traces T-Mobile's current troubles in part to Deutsche Telekom's unwillingness to invest in T-Mobile's spectrum and network in the last few years. It waited until 2009 to start building out a wireless broadband network, several years behind Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint Nextel Corp.

Entner said Sprint, the industry's No. 3, is a good example of a carrier that has overcome a lot of adversity. It has slowed subscriber flight in the last few years through improvements in customer service.

"The US market is competitive and companies can come back from near death when they do things right. The problem is that T-Mobile USA's parent Deutsche Telekom is not committed to the US market the same way its competitors are," Entner said.

When the AT&T deal was announced in March, it came as a surprise. Industry rumors, instead, hinted at a linkup between T-Mobile and Sprint. If AT&T fails its appeal, that buzz could reemerge. But T-Mobile and Sprint use different network technologies, which would make any merger difficult.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett also thinks the Justice Department's reasoning in the AT&T case would preclude a Sprint-T-Mobile merger.

There would be a silver lining for T-Mobile if the deal falls through. AT&T would have to pay T-Mobile $3 billion in cash and transfer to it some unused spectrum. In addition, T-Mobile would get a renegotiated roaming agreement with AT&T. None of those are likely to change Deutsche Telekom's reluctance to invest in T-Mobile.

Beyonce's baby news bumps Twitter to new record (BLOG)

Beyonce's baby news, shared at the MTV Video Music Awards, not only eclipsed the evening's other winners, it also broke a record on Twitter: 8,868 tweets per second.

It's not surprising, perhaps; many fans of Beyonce and husband Jay-Z have been waiting for such an announcement since the couple wed three years ago.


Until now, the record-holding event for tweets per second was set at 4 seconds after midnight in Japan on New Year's Day, with 6,939 tweets per second. Twitter explained on its blog why that was:


Japan virtually shuts down as people spend the day with family and the people with whom they are closest. People make it a point to call their friends and connect with everyone they know to celebrate. With a population of over 127 million, Japanese mobile networks have been known to crash under the strain of this collective cheer. This year, on New Year’s Eve, many people turned to Twitter to celebrate.

Here are some other top tweets-per-second events:
5,500: East Coast earthquake last Tuesday
5,530: TPS peak rate during the Japanese earthquake and tsunami
5,008: The death of Osama bin Laden
4,064: Current TPS record for any sporting event, set during the 2011 Super Bowl
3,966: TPS peak rate during the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

We all know bad news travels fast on Twitter. But it reassures our faith in humanity to see that often, good news does, too.

When a slimmer iPhone just isn't good enough (BLOG)

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tim Cook has big shoes to fill and he can't do it by just pushing out snazzier versions of the iPhone or iPad.

Apple Inc's newly minted CEO needs a revolutionary product to prove he has the chops to succeed Steve Jobs, and that may be a full-on assault on the living room by as early as 2013, analysts and industry experts say.

Jobs has called Apple TV -- a 4-inch-square box launched in 2006 that connects your plasma or LCD TV to the Web -- a hobby, but it is also one of the rare missteps in the course of Apple's meteoric ascendance.

If Cook can succeed where Jobs has failed, he would put to rest questions over whether he has the vision to lead Apple, in addition to widely respected operational skills.

"The TV is the obvious gap in Apple's product line up," CCS Insight's John Jackson said. "There's pressure to constantly innovate, (but) there's more than sufficient momentum at Apple right now that they don't need to reinvent the movie screen the TV, the car or the horse and buggy in the immediate term."

Getting Internet programing off computers and onto television sets has long been viewed as the next big thing for consumer technology companies, but none has succeeded so far with a product that has gained wide appeal.

Cook and the $350 billion company he now leads would be jumping into a field crowded with Microsoft, Google, Sony and Samsung.

"The Holy Grail is the living room," said David Rolfe at Wedgewood Partners, which devotes 9.5 percent or about $1 billion of its portfolio to Apple. "They would get into it, only if they can make a significantly better product than what currently exists."

OBSTACLES

It remains far from clear what Jobs -- and now Cook -- intends on the TV front. There are persistent rumors that Apple may produce an actual television to go along with content in an iTV, as part of the ongoing debate over whether the beleaguered television industry is ripe for an Apple-style shake-up.

The current market offers a confusing array of options -- from video streaming through game consoles like Microsoft's Xbox to Google-powered TV sets from Sony, Samsung and others.

Apple has "been the early follower in the iPad-tablet space, been the early follower in the music space, the early follower in the smartphone space," said independent digital media strategist Mark Mulligan. "They wait for a market to get primed, learn from the mistakes and then go and do everything better than anybody has done before."

Analysts estimate Apple takes roughly five years to develop a wholly new product, so either Jobs has already started down the TV road or Cook needs to start thinking now.

Chief among the obstacles would be concerns in the entertainment industry about potentially aggressive video licensing terms that Apple would seek -- and has gotten in the past for music and video licenses on iTunes. Executives say Apple had asked for 30 percent of rental fees for iTunes, which is blamed for smothering the music recording industry.

THE ROLE OF CHARISMA

Jobs' charisma and negotiating power were crucial to the launch of iTunes in 2003 and the then-unprecedented sale of songs rather than albums on the Web. Cook remains untested on this front, despite his deft hand dealing with the supply chain partners that make Macs, iPhones and iPads.

"It was Steve's rock-star status that convinced these guys, they were in awe of him," said a former major recording label executive involved in the negotiations before iTunes was launched. "Without him Apple would never have been able to pull off that deal."

There's some evidence that Cook can be as tough at the negotiating table. Peter Misek at Jefferies cites Cook's command of the iPad 2 rollout, and his firm stance this year when the Japan earthquake and tsunami threatened to turn off one of the world's largest semiconductor-component spigots.

"Cook was able to double or sometimes triple source component suppliers," Misek said. "To date, no competitor has been able to gain meaningful share in the tablet market and ... Cook's leadership during the introduction was critical to this."

Now, the former Compaq executive needs to prove that he can not only execute his boss's vision and keep Apple's fabled product pipeline alive, but that he can also make that intuitive leap to tell consumers what they want.

Wall Street will be watching.

"The market and the organization needs to see that Tim has the judgment to pick a winner," said Jane Stevenson, vice chairman of Board and CEO Services at Korn/Ferry International.

"The market will need to see a continued stream of innovation that has his fingerprints on it," ranging from launching new products to turning around products that haven't much success, like Apple TV.

Verizon Wireless customers lose in court (BLOG)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Reversing its view from a year ago, a federal appeals court said Verizon Wireless customers must resolve disputes over alleged fraudulent cellphone charges individually through arbitration rather than as a class.

The ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia came four months after a divided U.S. Supreme Court, in a case involving AT&T Inc , gave businesses a big victory in upholding individual arbitrations to resolve customer disputes.

Some consumer advocates say arbitration favors companies by making it too costly for consumers to bring small claims.

Verizon Wireless customers had claimed that a 2006 New Jersey Supreme Court decision made it "unconscionable" to enforce a clause in their service contracts requiring them to arbitrate small administrative charges they deemed unfair.

A three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit, which includes New Jersey, had ruled in their favor in May 2010.

But on Wednesday, the same panel said the U.S. Supreme Court's April 27 decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, by a 5-4 vote, now requires it to rule the other way.

As a result, the panel reinstated a 2008 decision by U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson in Trenton. She said the Federal Arbitration Act "establishes a strong federal policy" favoring arbitration, and takes precedence over the New Jersey case.

The Concepcion holding is "broad and clear: a state law that seeks to impose class arbitration despite a contractual agreement for individualized arbitration is inconsistent with, and therefore preempted by, the FAA, irrespective of whether class arbitration is desirable for unrelated reasons," Judge Kent Jordan wrote for the 3rd Circuit panel.

Verizon Wireless is the largest U.S. mobile service provider. It is based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Britain's Vodafone Group Plc .

Lawyers for the plaintiffs Keith Litman and Robert Wachtel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Verizon had no immediate comment.

The case is Litman et al v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 08-4103.